April Webcast – animate believable creatures!

Animation Mentor will be hosting a super special webcast in April on animal and creature animation! Animation Mentor CEO and cofounder Bobby Beck and mentor Kenny Roy will be joined by Animals & Creatures: Master Class students Ijah Garfield and Amanda McCoy for a guided tour of our new course offering. The animators will showcase our new cat and ogre rigs and share their secrets on how to create realistic performances of predatory movement. They will also walk through before and after shots of student course work to demonstrate firsthand how the Animals & Creatures: Master Class develops and broadens animation skills.

Please join us for this exclusive webcast!

Time: 1 p.m. Pacific Time

Date: Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Register here!

Animation Mentor is coming to FMX 2011 in Germany!

Animation Mentor is coming to FMX 2011 in Germany! We would like to invite Animation Mentor students and alumni to join us for this special event.

What is FMX?
http://www.fmx.de/home.html

This year is the 16th annual FMX (Film and Media Exchange) conference on animation, visual effects, games and interactive media. The conference began as an event for students in 1994 and has become known for its presence in the digital imagery networking space.

The four-day conference will be held in Stuttgart, Germany, May 3 – 6, 2011. Industry professionals will gather for networking, presentations, technical demonstrations and recruiting! FMX will also present exciting trends that are taking place in the industry.

Current Animation Mentor students qualify for discounted tickets! The deadline to register for this discount is Friday, April 15 at 3 p.m. Pacific Time. To register, please email events@animationmentor.com with the following information:

After we receive your email, we will send you an online code to register and pay online for the event.

Animation Mentor students can read more about FMX 2011 at: http://students.animationmentor.com/#forum.post&ThreadID=9699

We Have a Winner!

Commercial Contest Winner Receives Free Tuition to New Animals & Creatures: Master Class

Please download Flash Player 10 to view video.
Download at http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

Animation Mentor alumnus Richard Ferrando is the winner of our Animals & Creatures Commercial Contest. The secret to his winning commercial? He listened to his mentors’ passionate pleads for video reference. “How many times have we all done these strange things to try to get inside the character and study movement? Yes, we embarrass ourselves on video, but there's no better way to feel what it's like to be the character you're animating.”

For his efforts, he receives free tuition and will join others in our new Animals & Creatures: Master Class. And if you hear Richard tell the story, it sounds as if the Animals & Creatures program was made just for him. That’s because he’s always considered quadrupeds like the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park, Remy from Ratatouille, Draco from DragonHeart and Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon to be some of his favorite characters. “These characters have had such a profound impact on my life, and to be able to create that — and to learn how from Animation Mentor — sounds like the greatest thing in the world to me.”

Richard is currently animating in-game cinematics for Naughty Dog, and he knows that the Animals & Creatures program will further develop and broaden his skills. “I have really struggled with getting the weight and timing right, and haven’t even gotten to the point of infusing character into the animal. To learn this art from the mentors I’ve come to love would be yet another dream come true thanks to Animation Mentor!”

We’re both thrilled that our paths have crossed again. In fact, to say that Richard is excited about our Animals & Creatures: Master Class would be an understatement. “When I heard that the classes were actually happening, I nearly soiled myself.”

Check out Richard’s winning commercial above. And visit our YouTube channel to view other entries.