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Student Spotlight: Xin Zhao

We’d like to introduce Animschool student Xin Zhao! You may have already heard of her, because she has been previously interviewed for her outstanding work with a Malcolm mod,
and has become a reoccurring name in our character Animation Showcase.
We decided to catch up with her to ask her a few questions and see how she’s been doing.

So to start us off, tell us about yourself! What is your background? Where are you from and what brought you to the animation industry?

I grew up in a family of photographers in Beijing, so I was introduced to arts pretty early. I always loved to draw and to watch an insane amount on cartoon on TV like every kids. I also had hundreds of Mickey Mouse Magazines in my room. So my family sent me to professional fine art school on weekends since I was in primary school and then I became a full-time student there during high school. With all my skills of drawing and design, I was going to choose the path of being a Graphic or Fashion designer. But then I attended a lecture given by a lecturer from my university, he gave me the idea of being an animator! It just hit my head! Just like that, I left home to do my animation degree in UK.

My time at university allowed me to learn about 3D from zero. Right after me and my partner Florent finished our final year animation short called The Answer, which has been chosen as ”Staff Picks” on Vimeo, we landed ourselves jobs as animators at Ubisoft in 2013. I met a lot of great people at Ubisoft and it encouraged me to enroll in Animschool to continue my animation study and to become a better animator.

Sounds like a great sucess story of how a strong portfolio can get you work. Tell us what you do at Ubisoft

At Ubisoft. I’m currently working on an upcoming open world third-person shooter games named Tom Clancy’s The Division. My job is to create realistic In-game animations for the player character’s navigation system, both keyframe and motion-capture, which requires a huge amount of animation cycles and transitions to bring the Division agents to life. At the very beginning of the project, we had to prototype these animation systems and work closely with the game designers. And then we create the animations needed and implement them in the game engine. The challenge is both artistic and technical but it is always satisfying to see your system work in game.

Before that, I had chances to work on other Ubisoft games, polishing facial animations on another open world game called Watch Dogs, and some pedestrian animations for a open world racing game called The Crew.

It sounds like you have a good amount of professional experience, may I ask why you decided to join animschool even though you already have your foot in the door?

I do enjoy it if I can get home from work and just relax, but sometimes it makes me feel like I’m a lazy person. So after a few month since I started to work I decided to push myself an extra mile and join AnimSchool. Efficiently it made me feel better about myself and more importantly, It will help me build up a better portfolio and gain myself more animation skills by learning from industry experts. In a couple of years, I see myself working on either animated features or VFX films depends on what opportunities comes up and the portfolio that I will get from my AnimSchool classes will definitely help me to achieve it.

And at this early stage of my career, I have all the time I need to learn more things. So I started with Class 1 even if I already had some animation skills, just to get myself a really solid foundation and make sure I really nail down all the basics. Now I’m in Class 6 already, I feel like I have learn so much more about animation at AnimSchool and I have met other animation students here with the same goal which is also a great thing and it is really motivating.

You have a great amount of work in our student showcase, can you pick your favorite shot and tell us about it?

Yeah it was such a honor to have my work included in the student showcase 🙂 I really enjoyed animating every shots and the one that I enjoyed the most was my Class 4 Body Acting shot. I have been animating a lot of realistic shots so I listened to my Class 5 tutor Ben’s advice and tried to do something really cartoony this time, also to add some variety in my portfolio. The process was fun. It was really hard to shoot the reference because I had to move so much for hours and hours, jumping, running from a side of the room to another and fake flying on a sofa, although I didn’t end up using my video reference as much as I thought since it’s all so cartoony hahaha. When I animate, I tried to experiment the cartoony style as much as I can, playing with shapes, smear frames and multiples, it was really a great and fun process. A big thanks to all of my tutors too, they are just great!

Do you have a favorite lesson or quote from your instructor you’d like to share?

It is difficult to pick a lesson out of everything I learn during my time at Animschool. But recently, during class 5 (character performance) my instructor helped me to understand when to move from blocking to spline. It is easy to learn the workflow steps but it can be quite challenging to know when it is not helping anymore to stay in blocking on some special shots and when to move on.

Are there any animators or specific animation shots that inspire you?

I often watch frame by frame through animated features, shorts, or animation tests to learn from the others. One of my favorite film to scroll through is Hotel Transylvania, they get away with so many crazy shapes and transitions and it looks awesome, and each single poses are fun to watch. One of my favorite shots from that film is when Dracula is telling Jonathan to move his hands away from his eyeballs. I just loved how Dracula was posed and the little movements on this fingers:

Tell us about your workflow!

There are different ways to approach a shot. But normally I try to work things out in my brain at first. It includes thinking about what is the character’s situation and the emotion of the scene. Once I know my story and the style I want to go for, I like to watch some movies which fit the style to get in the mood and gather ideas for my acting. Then I usually move on to shooting references. I record a few hours and end up with 2 or 3 takes that I really like. When I create my scene and before animating, I like to waste a few hours on creating a nice environment haha. Finally, I create my key story telling poses and then I add more and more breakdowns and overshoot etc etc until my keys are on 2s. I spline and polish after that. Of course, during the whole process I receive a lot of feedback from my class instructors, the general review and sometimes my colleagues at work.

Thank you taking the time to speak with us, Xin!

Anthea Kerou – Bouncing ball Basics

In AnimSchool’s Introduction to 3D Animation, our teacher Anthea Kerou shows how to properly animate a Boucing ball.

As you may know, Bouncing ball is the first and most important animation that every aspiring animator should do, many times over. Mastering this exercise means that you began understanding Timing, Spacing as well as Arcs.

This is clip from AnimSchool’s Introduction to 3D Animation. To view more great class clips, visit and join AnimSchool: http://www.animschool.com

Drawing Class with Sylwia Bomba

In AnimSchool’s Drawing Class, our amazing Instructor – Sylwia Bomba shares some of her tips on how to approach drawing.
Similar to animation, she first blocks out the shapes, and then adds the details.

As many of you already know, drawing is so helpful in animation career. Being able to sketch out the poses or ideas quickly is a big advantage in this industry. Also, while drawing – you train your eyes to see simpler shapes, analyse everything, and what could be more useful to an animator than that?

Drawing classes (and many more) are available to all Animschool students for free. In order to enjoy this benefit come and join us at www.Animschool.com

AnimSchool’s Animation Student Showcase 2014

AnimSchool has released our new Animation Student Showcase for 2014!
We would like to salute all our students, recognizing the huge amount of work each one of these assignments represents and the level of talent they are achieving.

The quality of our students, our programs, instruction, and our appealing characters is seen in this impressive showcase.

If you want to recognize their efforts, comment on the youtube section.

To learn 3D animation skills with us, apply at www.animschool.com. Talk to an admissions advisor using our Live Chat, phone, or email.
(The work of AnimSchool’s amazing rigging and modeling students (Character Program) is featured separately in another Showcase.)

AnimSchool Interview: John Paul Rhinemiller

Animschool: Hello John, please tell us a bit about yourself:

Currently I am a Lead Cinematics Animator at Vicarious Visions, Activision Blizzard. I recently finished work on Skylanders:Swapforce, where I helped develop a cinematic pipeline and worked with the directors and writers to create story driven cinematics from concept to final render. Before VV I was a Lead Animator at Rhythm & Hues and had the chance of working with both creature and character animation. Having both film and game experience gives me a great understanding on a wide range of animation styles. I have worked on titles such as Hop, Yogi Bear, Alvin and The Chipmunks, and Red Dead Redemption.

Did you go straight for an animation job or was your career as an animator more opportunity-based?

I went straight for an animation job. When I was at SCAD studying for my Masters, I concentrated everything I had into animation and tailored my reel specifically toward that.

What game influenced you the most?

As a kid I think one of the biggest influences on me was Sonic. I was lucky enough to get a Sega Genesis one year for Xmas and it came with Sonic. That was one of the first times that I remember looking at a game and wondering how they made it. It was such an exciting game…still is fun to play.

Skylanders Swap Force – John Paul Rhinemiller Demoreel

Tell us about your normal work day? What are your responsibilities? What is the best and what is the worst part?

So that question I think has to be answers a few ways, it depends on when in development we are.

During Pre-production and early stages of development its all about Story. So I work with the writer and a small team to break the script down, develop storyboards and put everything together on animatics. This part is always super fun and exciting. It keeps me fresh and always challenges me to think outside the box and really push our ideas

Then during production I have two roles:

1. Manage the cinematics team.

– Making sure they are getting what they need for assets and tech to be able to do their jobs efficiently.

– I provide a ton of feedback and review sessions to constantly try to push the quality higher and higher.

– I work with production to make sure that we are coming in within budget and that has to do a lot with scheduling.

2. I also keep animating. Probably not as much as I would like sometimes but I always take on shots in most sequences to stay fresh and push myself.

Please share your workflow with us.

– It really depends on the shot but most of the time I start by shooting lots of reference…if I can’t find that I look for it..these days mostly on Pinterest.

– Then I may sketch out a few of the areas, maybe transitions that I still need to wrap my brain around especially body mechanics heavy shots.

– Once I get into 3D I just start blocking out my Key Poses. No timing yet just on like 2s. I can flip back and forth on those keys to see how the flow is working.

– Once I’ve worked all of those out I start to time it out and refine any poses that need it. Then send out for feedback.

– I go back and usually do a blocking plus pass to add in breakdowns, overshoots and even ease ins and outs sometimes depending on the shot. Send out for feedback.

– Then a rough pass – get feedback

– Final Polish pass – in games if we have time for this pass…unfortunately the amount of time and work you have along with a smaller team in games, doesn’t allow for the polish pass that I used to do in film.

You have been in the industry for a long time. How do you stay fresh? Do you have any fears from burning out?

I constantly am looking at other animation and framing through stuff. I think that inspires me alot, because almost every shot is going to be different whether its in film or cinematics. Every new shot seems like its own challenge and I think that will always keep me guessing and learning. Seeing other animators shots at work always motivates me to keep pushing my own shots. Getting feedback a lot always reminds me how I can learn new things and see animation differently.

I think it’s natural to feel burnt out occasionally. Animation is like a roller coaster and there are highs and lows I feel. You can get bursts of energy and motivation that last long stretches in production and then come down the hill and struggle a bit. The key is to figure out ways to help push you through the lows. Getting inspired and getting feedback have always helped me push through some of those times. Trying to strike a good balance between work and life I think can also help you not burn out as much. Its super important to turn off the animator brain occasionally even though I feel that’s easier said than done.

Since you are a Game Animator, we just have to ask – what’s your favorite game character? And while we’re at it, what’s the best character you had a chance to animate?

Well animating John Marston in Red Dead Redemption was a ton of fun, but lately Flynn in the Skylands Franchise has been a blast. He is that quirky cartoony character that always has a ton of fun dialogue.

– Do you enjoy being a teacher? At AnimSchool, you have your own Game Animation class – how’s that going for

you?

I have had a great time so far teaching. I feel lucky to have any part in future a animators career path however large or small that may be.

It has been a ton of fun working with Jarrod on the course and I especially have been having a blast teaching some creature stuff with the new Hellhound character. I think being a teacher has inspired me as well in ways that I wasn’t seeing before I became a teacher at AnimSchool.

John and AnimSchool students at the end of the term

AnimSchool Gaming Interview: Carbine Studios Cinematics Lead Seth Kendall

AnimSchool Gaming Instructor Jarrod Showers interviews Carbine Studios Cinematics Lead Seth Kendall.

Seth tell us about his career journey at Carbine, working on the MMO game Wildstar!
http://wildstar-online.com/en/

Animschool critique time – Manuel Bover

In AnimSchool’s Body Acting class, our instructor – Manuel Bover critiques early blocking of student’s work, pointing
out things to improve in later stages. In Animschool, you get these critiques once per week, and if you need additional directions – you can always head over to General and Animation critiques, offered to our students for free.

Students learn to take critique in a positive way, in order to prepare them for real life scenarios where their shots will get changed, edited or even discarded. Students are also encouraged to critique each other, which helps them advance in their animation skills.

Lecture on smear frames – Jeremy Lazare

In AnimSchool’s Body Acting, Blue Sky Animator Jeremy Lazare talks about smear frames, their advantages and disadvantages.

Smear frames are commonly used in animation industry. Our Instructor will point out some of the successful examples. This is just a short take from 2 hours lecture that can be available if you join Animschool.

Come join all the students learning online at AnimSchool: http://www.animschool.com

Buster Keaton – Performance analysis

In AnimSchool’s Body Acting, Disney Animator Tony Bonilla analyzes work of Buster Keaton, the legend of the Silent movies era.

This is a perfect example how overacting can lead to some great and funny scenes (which are perfect for animation)

According to Wiki: “Overacting is the exaggeration of gestures and speech when acting. It is often required for the role and is commonly used in comical situations or to stress the evil characteristics of a villain.”

Come join all the students learning online at AnimSchool: http://www.animschool.com

AnimSchool’s Class – Pose Analysis Tony Bonilla

In AnimSchool’s Class – Animating Characters, Character Animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios Tony Bonilla analyzes some of the best animated works and explains reasons behind every decision. He even shows some of his own professional work.

This is just a small sample of the quality of education our students get.
Come join all the students learning online at AnimSchool