Archie Dennis Special Projects Coordinator DNEG

Archie Dennis

Many congratulations to BNU Graduate Archie Dennis who is now working as a Special Projects Coordinator at DNEG in London.

Archie graduated from BNU with a first class degree in Animation & VFX, and is now working at one of the UK's leading VFX houses.

DNEG are responsible for multiple blockbuster hits and recently won their seventh Academy Award for their VFX on "Dune".

Why Animators Must Fail Upwards

Animation is a hard craft to master, requiring a lot of practice. All our early efforts are likely to be unsatisafctory. Which is why animators need to fail upwards. 

All of us fail in most of the things that we do for the first time.  The key to success is to keep failing, fail better, and fail faster.

Paul Amiras Lead Layout Artist at Brown Bag

Paul Amiras

Many congratulations to Bucks animation graduate Paul Amiras on his new position as a lead layout artist at Brown Bag Animation.  Brown Bag is one of the UK's leading animation studios, responsible for numerous well-loved TV series projects. 

Prior to working at Brown Bag, Paul worked as a Layout Artist TD at Double Negative, one of the Soho's leading animation and visual effects companies, and now a global brand, with offices in Vancouver, Mumbai, Los Angeles, Chennai, Montréal, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, and Goa.

3D Layout is one of the first interesting and challenging parts of the production process, working closely with the director to establish the cinematic look and feel of the project.

Jinng Hwee Tan Animation Reel

Animation Reel 2020 from Jinng Hwee Tan on Vimeo.

Check out the latest demo reel cut by Bucks New Uni MA animation student Jinng Hwee Tan, now an animator at Industrial Light and Magic in Singapore. Jing Hwee Tan's new reel contains some excellent work on many feature films, including Transformers: Age of Extinction, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Hitman: Agent 47, Warcraft, The Great Wall, Skull Island, and Ready Player One. Many congratulations to Jinng Hwee Tan on his continued career success.

"Jelly Cars" Wins Award at the BAIFF

Many congratulations to Bucks New University MA student Lee Caller, whose short film "Jelly Cars" has won an award at the British Amateur International Film Festival.

Lee Caller created the short film while studying at Bucks; submitting his film as one of the formally assessed modules on the Online MA in 3D Animation.

"Jelly Cars" has been selected for a number of animation festivals, but this is its first award.

Today, Lee teaches animation classes at Escape Studios in London and, assuming all goes well, he will graduate from Bucks this summer with his MA in 3D Animation.

You can see more of Lee's work at his website here.

Miles Skarin Animator at Crystal Spotlight

Animation image by Miles Skarin

Bucks animation graduate Miles Skarin founded the animaton company Crystal Spotlight with his brother Rob when he was still a first year animator at Bucks New Uni.

From the beginning, Miles and Rob were tackling professional freelance work, creating websites and animation for musicians, bands, and record labels.

Crystal Spotlight has an impressive client list - including major artists such as Jethro Tull.

David Wheeler Graphic Designer at ICE London

Many congratulations to Bucks animation graduate David Wheeler, who is the in-house graphic designer at ICE London, responsible for producing digital & print ready artwork files for product visuals, packaging design & marketing artwork.

David took on a number of freelance jobs while he was still an undergraduate at Bucks, learning his craft and getting better at both animation and graphic design and, of course , learning to deal with clients. David is celebrating two years at ICE London - and we congratulate him on forging a career in which he able to apply his artistic and digital skills.

Lyuboslav 3D Artist at Double Negative

Many congratulations to Lyuboslav Angelov,  one of our recent graduates from the Animation and VFX course at Bucks, who has landed a job as a 3D Runner at London VFX powerhouse Double Negative, now know simply as DNeg.

Jack Hubbard 3D Artist at Mandala FX

Many congratulations to Jack Hubbard,  one of our recent graduates from the Animation and VFX course at Bucks, who has landed a job as a 3D Artist at Mandala FX in High Wycombe.

Mandala FX describe themselves as a "full service, end to end creative studio...specialising in high end 3D renders and motion graphics". We congratulate Jack on a great start to his digital career. To see more of Jack's work, check out his graduation demo reel at our YouTube channel.

Lyuboslav Angelov 3D Artist at Mandala FX

Many congratulations to Lyuboslav Angelov,  one of our recent graduates from the Animation and VFX course at Bucks, who has landed a job as a 3D Artist at Mandala FX in High Wycombe.

Mandala FX describe themselves as a "full service, end to end creative studio...specialising in high end 3D renders and motion graphics". We congratulate Lyuboslav on a great start to his digital career. To see more of Lyuboslav's work, check out his graduation demo reel at our YouTube channel.

Archie Dennis at Double Negative

Many congratulations to Bucks alumnus Archie Dennis, who recently graduated from Bucks with a First Class Degree in Animation & Visual Effects.

After polishing his demo reel and applying for various jobs, Archie secured a position as a runner at London based VFX giant Double Negative. DNeg are the largest vendors of visual effects in Europe and their London studio can house over 1000 artists. We asked Archie to talk a little about his new job and how it came about.

Alexi Balian Animation Art & Design Academy

Alexi Balian was one of the first students to enroll in our Online MA in 3D animation at Bucks. He graduated last week, becoming one of the first-ever students anywhere in the world to receive his animation MA purely online.

Alexi has now made a career of teaching animation. In his capacity as Provincial and National Skills Canada Chair for 2D and 3D Character Animation, Alexi also runs workshops and seminars in Canada through his Animation Art & Design Academy.

Trish Grasham UK Stage Design Exhibition

Bucks Graduate Trish Grasham on UK Stage Design

Trish Grasham (above) is a Bucks Graduate and also an Associate Lecturer, inspiring and guiding a new generation of undergraduates. The BBC Feature highlights an exhibition of UK Stage Design, an area that the UK excels in. In the second year of the animation course, students will be involved in designing virtual sets for new artists featured in 'BBC Introducing'.  Stage design is an essential source of inspiration.

Miles Skarin Self-Starts His Freelance Career

Animation image by Miles Skarin

Miles Skarin is a first year animation and VFX student at Bucks, but he is already tackling professional freelance work, creating websites and animation for musicians, bands, and record labels. 

Miles already has an impressive client list - including major artists such as Jethro Tull. We asked him to talk about how he broke into the industry, founded a successful freelance career - while still in his first year at university.

Jason Thompson explains why students must fail, and why professors should watch video games

Jason Thompson

Last week at the SAS (Society of Animation Studies) conference in Toronto, Sheridan professor Jason Thompson gave a brief but fascinating talk on "Why our students need to fail". Citing the book by Guy Claxton What is the point of school?, Jason argued that school is important because of eight critical things that students must learn:

DreamWorks Animation Supremo Rex Grignon reveals the Nine Secrets of Animation Success

Rex Grignon

Rex Grignon is the HOCA at DreamWorks. That is to say, he is the Head Of Character Animation, and therefore holds one of the key leadership positions in the studio. He has worked on some of the biggest DreamWorks hits of the last decade, including ANTZ, Shrek, and all three Madagascar movies. Born in Canada, he came home to give the keynote speech for The Toronto Art of Animation Festival International, aka TAAFI. Rex talked about some of the key lessons he has learned over the past two decades, and most especially from his years at PDI, Pixar and DreamWorks.