COM7024 Animals & Creatures Starts 7 July 25

COM7024 Animals & Creatures Starts 7 July 2025

For our MA students studying for their Online MA in Animation, Module COM704 (Animals and Creatures) started on Monday 7 July 2025. This is the fourth module tackled by our students on our Online MA in Animation.

COM7024 focuses on animal and creature animation, with an emphasis on the kind of photo-realistic animation in which London VFX houses specialise.  COM7024 PR1 is due on Friday 12th September 2025 at 2pm.

Leopard Animation by Alex Southcombe

BNU Master's degree student Alex Southcombe did this excellent piece of animation above, for Module DA703 "Animals and Creatures", in which our MA students tackle the art and craft of animal and creature locomotion.  Alex used the Leopard Rig by Truong, available for free download at Gumroad, which we recommend for animal and creature animation at BNU. 

Module DA703 PR1- Animals and Creatures

Hermit crab animation by Joe Gamble

This week our students begin DA703 - Animals and Creatures - the third module tackled by our students studying our online MA in 3D Animation.

DA703 focuses on animal and creature animation, with an emphasis on the kind of photo-realistic animation in which London studios like Framestore, MPC and DNeg specialise.

Best Horse Rigs for Maya Animators

Right now we're encouraging all our animation students at Bucks to make sure they have plenty of horse animation on their demo reels, as one of our favourite London studios crews up for a big horse-related project.

The Animation Apprentice official site (to which all our students have access) has a series of horse video tutorials, teaching students how to animate a walk, a trot and a run.

Andreas Deja, The Lion King, and Animal Locomotion

Andreas Deja and Alex Williams outside the Disney Animation Building

A few weeks ago at Disney in Los Angeles I met up with Andreas Deja, Disney lead animator and the man responsible for bringing "Scar" to life.

I was lucky enough to work on Andreas' team on Lion King back in 1992, when he took me under his wing and helped train me as a Disney animator.

I got to animate a few memorable shots on Scar, but it was Andreas who designed the character and, working with actor Jeremy Irons, gave him life and personality, creating one of Disney's most memorable villains.

Lion King - Film Review

On Monday night the Empire Leicester Square hosted a preview of The Lion King for BAFTA members. I went along fully prepared to dislike the new film - how could anyone top the original? And why bother with a re-make of such a great movie, other than to please the Disney shareholders?

Of course, I am very biased, having worked on the original film back in 1993, so I was doing my best not to enjoy it, and to persuade myself that the original film would still be the One True King.

But MPC, the London VFX house that did all the animation, have raised the bar for animal and creature animation to such a level that it's impossible not to be impressed by the sheer skill of the digital artistry.

The Lion King is a triumph not just of technology but of great storytelling, as the film-makers kept most of the original film but wove in new elements to keep the story fresh.

How to Plan Out a Creature Animation Shot

Kiwi by Oliver Canovas

Our master's degree animators are embarking on their third animation assignment, DA703 PR1, which involves the creation of a piece of animal or creature animation, combined with a performance.

Animal and  creature animation is among the most challenging work an animator can tackle, because it involves creating believable animation - usually based on live-action reference - and also an element of anthropormisation - making the animal or creature act in a believable way, perhaps including dialogue and lipsync.

So, how should our students plan out a piece of animal or creature animation? Start by watching the 10 minute video below.

Stuart Sumida in London 12 December

Paleontologist and animal locomotion expert Stuart Sumida will be in London next week, and on Wednesday 12th December at 4.30pm he will be giving a free talk at Escape Studios at 190 High Holborn, London WC1.

Stuart occupies a rare cross-over space between science and entertainment, advising Hollywood studios on the development of movies such as "The Lion King" and "Spirit - Stallion of the Cimarron".

Sydney Padua at the Natural History Museum

Animating Nature by Sydney Padua

Bucks Animation lecturer Sydney Padua is giving a talk today at the Natural History Museum in London.  Sydney Padua is an accomplished animator, graphic novelist (The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage) and, of course, an animation teacher.

Sydney’s work has covered many formats including feature films and graphic novels. Join her today in London at the Natural History Museum from 6.30 to 9.30 pm for an interactive demonstration of the art of animation in the Images of Nature gallery. You can sign up for this free event here.

"Arc the Dragon", from Josh Sobel Rigs

Josh Sobel is an excellent rigger and animator who has brought animation students a number of excellent rigs, including the excellent Kayla rig, and also the very useful (and free) Bonnie rig.

He has now released a completely new rig - "Arc the Dragon", which isn't free, but is priced at a very reasonable $18.

Arc is described as "a full quadruped with expressive facial control, intuitive body setup, full picker, pose library and limitless customization."

Introducing The Shaththan Rig

Shaththan Rig

Here at Bucks we're always on the lookout for great creature rigs that are capable of producing a full range of facial expressions so that our students can study creature animation and get an excellent performance. One rig that has been giving us good results is the free Shaththan Rig, created by the very talented Revanth Ravi, and now available - free for student use - at Creative Crash.

Reminder - Creature Animation Masterclass on Friday 29 May

Framestore did the character animation for Paddington

Don't forget! This coming Friday 29 May we welcome an expert in character and creature animation from Framestore, one of London (and the world's) leading visual effects houses.  Marion Strunck, a graduate of the excellent Animation Workshop in Denmark and a rising talent at Framestore, will be coming to Bucks to give our students a masterclass in creature work. So, what can our students at Bucks expect?

How Do DreamWorks Animators Train Their Dragons?

How do animators train their dragons? Or, rather, how do they approach the complex and daunting business of creating a beautifully animated flying dragon? All animators start with a blank screen, and as professional artists we need methods that we can rely on to produce work we can be proud of, every time.  In this excellent documentary about the making of How To Train Your Dragon, DreamWorks animators talk about going to Flight School, analysing reference, and making sure that their animation was based on real, credible material that helped to bring their fantasy creatures to life.

Animation Masterclass at Bucks on Friday 27th March

This coming Friday 27 March we welcome veteran VFX animator Marc Stevenson who will be coming to Bucks to teach a masterclass in animal locomotion. Marc's credits include Moon, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, X-Men Last Stand, and Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. Marc is an expert animator with a wealth of professional experience who will be teaching our students some special techniques for animal locomotion, strategies that are directly relevant to finding work in the growing VFX industry in Soho.

How to Use Live Action Reference to Create Believable Animation

Horse in Motion by Edward Muybridge

How can animators use live action reference to create believable animation?  Back in the old 2D days of hand-drawn animation, rotoscoping (as it was called) was a legitimate, if much debated, method of achieving a realistic look and feel to your animation.  Today, the technology has changed, but 3D animators can also benefit from using live action to help inform their animation, and this is especially the case when doing complex animal or creature animation. So how, in practice, does a MAYA animator use live action reference to get a great result? Below are some techniques for making it work.

Quadruped Locomotion Explained - and Some Fun With Rusty...

Rusty explains Quadruped Locomotion

How do quadrupeds walk? On four legs? Or on two? We decided to seek a little assistance from Rusty, the official mascot of Bucks New University,  to help us figure it all out. Animation course leader Alex Williams got Rusty to demonstrate how real deer walk, trot and run. Sort of.

Animals and Creatures Reel from Animation Apprentice

Here at Bucks we are committed to training animators not just in character animation but also in creature work, doing the kind of animation that is in high demand at Soho visual effects houses like Framestore, MPC, Double Negative and Cinesite. Our second year animators will devote at least a quarter of their time just to the business of animating animals and creatures, preparing them for a successful career in visual effects.

I teach animation not just at Bucks but also at my online school at www.animationapprentice.org, founded in September 2012. Animation Apprentice is still a very young animation school, but we have just put together the first compilation of animal and creature work, showcasing some of the best work done by the students.

Free live animation webinar at Escape Studios on Wednesday 26 March at 6pm

I'll be doing a live animation webinar courtesy of London's Escape Studios on Wednesday 26 March at 6pm. We'll be tackling the animation of multi-legged creatures, and I'll be demonstrating a technique that allows you to animate apparently complex creatures in a simple way, creating sophisticated animation in a clean and efficient workflow. It's only an hour long, it'll be fun - and it's completely free!