Tag: animation behind the scenes

Student Spotlight: Leticia Lozano

AnimSchool student Leticia Lozano offers insight into how she created an animated shot using audio from the 2023 Netflix film, We Have a Ghost. Her shot was featured in the 2024 AnimSchool Student Showcase.

Leticia explains that she received a recommendation to jump into splined animation right away in order to help see the timing of the slower and more subtle actions, such as in the face and shoulders. While she did complete a blocking pass of her animation, most of the smaller movements are much better seen after a splining pass.

Leticia mentions that she focused greatly on the facial animation, which proved to be a bit difficult as she was trying to keep the entire animation alive with breathing, eye darts, and other supporting actions for her scene. With so many subtle movements and incredible facial performance, Leticia’s scene was a success and ended up as the cover of the 2024 AnimSchool Student Showcase.

Watch her featured clip below:

Watch the full AnimSchool Student Showcase Livestream here:

At AnimSchool, we teach students who want to make 3D characters move and act. Our instructors are professionals at film and game animation studios like Dreamworks, Pixar, Sony Pictures, Blizzard & Disney. ⁠Get LIVE feedback on your Animation from the pros. Learn more at https://animschool.edu/

Student Spotlight: Maria Fateeva

AnimSchool student Maria Fateeva shares her experience creating an animation using audio from Bo Burnham’s song, “Unpaid Intern,” and offers some insight to her animation process. Her shot was featured in the 2024 AnimSchool Student Showcase.

Maria explains that, looking back, she did not end up utilizing her reference footage as much as she would have liked, which resulted in some difficulties capturing the proper body mechanics and the character flow during the animation process. However, she was still able to pull various key poses and ideas from her reference in order to make a visually entertaining and dynamic shot.

Maria also mentions that the biggest challenge she ran into was animating the main character clutching various cups and mugs, especially when he drops one and quickly grabs it again. At the suggestion of her instructor, Alek Kolev, she snuck in an additional cup near the end in order to really emphasize the large amount the character was holding.

Watch her featured clip below:

Watch the full AnimSchool Student Showcase Livestream here:

At AnimSchool, we teach students who want to make 3D characters move and act. Our instructors are professionals at film and game animation studios like Dreamworks, Pixar, Sony Pictures, Blizzard & Disney. ⁠Get LIVE feedback on your Animation from the pros. Learn more at https://animschool.edu/

Student Spotlight: Jonathan Gibney

AnimSchool student Jonathan Gibney discusses his experience and walks through the process of animating his shot featured in the 2024 AnimSchool Student Showcase. Using audio of Willem Dafoe’s monologue from The Lighthouse (2019), Jonathan explains how he crafted a villainous pirate performance.

Jonathan explains that, while he filmed a reference video for his animated shot, much of what he actually used is not on video. Rather, if he needs to, he will simply stand up from his desk and act out the shot in order to understand first hand how certain body parts move in the scene.

For Jonathan, the biggest challenge within the shot was grappling with the moving camera, as it affected animation arcs and screen space. In as early as his blocking phase, he had the camera movement planned out to allow for more freedom with the character.

To create an antagonistic character with villainous qualities, Jonathan and his instructor bounced various ideas off one another and adjusted the animation. Jonathan mentions that, in the beginning, the villain was simply going to cut the rope early on, immediately dropping the other character into the ocean. However, this was later changed to have the villain hold on to the rope after cutting it and deliberately releasing it later to maintain tension, play with shape language, and reflect how the choice—and life of the other character—is in his hands.

Watch his featured clip below:

Watch the full AnimSchool Student Showcase Livestream here:

At AnimSchool, we teach students who want to make 3D characters move and act. Our instructors are professionals at film and game animation studios like Dreamworks, Pixar, Sony Pictures, Blizzard & Disney. ⁠Get LIVE feedback on your Animation from the pros. Learn more at https://animschool.edu/

Student Spotlight: Daniela Lobo Dias

AnimSchool student Daniela Lobo Dias shares her perspective and offers behind-the-scenes insight on animating one of her shots shown in the 2024 AnimSchool Student Showcase. Featuring audio from a clip of a professional ice cream taste tester, Daniela discusses how she transforms the character into a charming sommelier with a taste for blood.

Daniela mentions that she particularly enjoys the workflow of starting in stepped animation, then later filling in the gaps and transitioning to splined. This allowed her to focus on the main poses and their silhouettes before slowly adding in-betweens as the animation became more polished.

She also explains how she thought outside of the box to achieve the look of swirling liquid in a glass without particle simulation by creating blend shapes and animating geometry.

“This was very much one of those labor of love shots where I was just really having fun with it the entire time. Despite being very hard on myself, at the end of the day I still really enjoyed the shot.” – AnimSchool student Daniela Lobo Dias

Watch her featured clip below:

Watch the full AnimSchool Student Showcase Livestream here:

At AnimSchool, we teach students who want to make 3D characters move and act. Our instructors are professionals at film and game animation studios like Dreamworks, Pixar, Sony Pictures, Blizzard & Disney. ⁠Get LIVE feedback on your Animation from the pros. Learn more at https://animschool.edu/

Student Spotlight: Carl Nyasore

In this clip from the AnimSchool 2024 Showcase Livestream, Carl Nyasore talks about his process behind what he describes as one of his “best shots at AnimSchool.” Pulling inspiration from Disney movies like Encanto, studying shots frame by frame, and utilizing AnimSchool’s network of instructors currently working in the industry all played a critical role in helping his shot shine.

Carl explains that working on his shot taught him to always look for something new to learn. Being open to exploring new styles, practicing, and talking to others about your craft is how growth is achieved.

For his shot featured in the 2024 AnimSchool Showcase, Carl mentions that he thoroughly examined Disney’s Encanto and took his shot to General Reviews to aid in refining his smooth transitions, polishing flourishing actions, and making other small changes to make a big impact.

“Before this class, I didn’t know how to do things like head accents and leading action, so I learned a lot from just studying animated films. That’s why it turned out to be one of my best shots at AnimSchool.” – AnimSchool student Carl Nyasore

Watch his featured clip below:

Watch the full AnimSchool Student Showcase Livestream here:

At AnimSchool, we teach students who want to make 3D characters move and act. Our instructors are professionals at film and game animation studios like Dreamworks, Pixar, Sony Pictures, Blizzard & Disney. ⁠Get LIVE feedback on your Animation from the pros. Learn more at https://animschool.edu/

Student Spotlight: Noemi Rajczyba

In this clip, AnimSchool student Noemi Rajczyba used dialogue from the 2006 feature film The Break-Up to create what she called a “funny, joyful, singing” moment that shows her character singing in a shower along to “Owner of a Lonely Heart” by 1970s progressive rock band Yes.

Noemi discusses her experience working on the shot for her facial performance class, coming up with entertaining dance moves to reimagine the scene.

Noemi’s animation was recently featured in the 2024 Student Showcase: “The opportunity to be featured in this showcase alongside my peers is a huge honor. I can’t help but think it’ll lead to even bigger things in my animation career.” – AnimSchool student Noemi Rajczyba

Watch her featured clip below:

Watch the full AnimSchool Student Showcase Livestream here:

At AnimSchool, we teach students who want to make 3D characters move and act. Our instructors are professionals at film and game animation studios like Dreamworks, Pixar, Sony Pictures, Blizzard & Disney. ⁠Get LIVE feedback on your Animation from the pros. Learn more at https://animschool.edu/

Student Spotlight: Igor Madeira

In this clip, AnimSchool student Igor Madeira shares his experience creating an animation using trending audio from the “Possessed by an Owl” meme, and offers some insight to his animation process from reference to final animation.

Igor explains that he was inspired by other people using the trending audio to reimagine the scene, and decided to utilize it as well for his own assignment. He mentions that he does not like to limit himself to just shooting one reference video; instead, he records himself multiple times, pushing the poses differently in each, and finds something new and worth referencing in each iteration.

Igor’s shot was featured in the 2024 AnimSchool Student Showcase, linked below.

Watch Igor Madeira’s full showcase clip here:

Watch the full AnimSchool Student Showcase Livestream here:

At AnimSchool, we teach students who want to make 3D characters move and act. Our instructors are professionals at film and game animation studios like Dreamworks, Pixar, Sony Pictures, Blizzard & Disney. ⁠Get LIVE feedback on your Animation from the pros. Learn more at https://animschool.edu/

2024 Student Animation Showcase

The highly anticipated 2024 Student Animation Showcase is here! Watch the amazing work of AnimSchool students from over the past year featured in the annual showcase. Each year, students choose audio clips from various TV shows, films, and other media and reimagine them into a new animation with guidance from AnimSchool instructors who actively work in the industry.

This year, along with the release of the showcase, AnimSchool held a livestream with some of the animators whose shots are featured in the showcase to discuss their inspirations, workflows, and other behind-the-scenes information related to their work. Check out the livestream (link below) to hear the unique perspective and insight that each animator has to offer.

Sarah Crepeau

Noemi Rajczyba

Heather Vidal

Daniela Lobo Dias

Many of the audio clips featured in the showcase include Bo Burnham’s Unpaid Intern Song, Donna Champlin’s CW “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” “The Break-Up” movie, “Booksmart”, “The Straight Story,” “Adman” short film, “Requiem for a Dream” movie, a “Funny Or Die” skit, “Young Sheldon”, “The Producers” movie, musical podcast “Loveville High : Episode 1”. “We have a Ghost” movie,  “The Equalizer” tv series, “Anthony Starr, The Boys Season 3”, “Desperate Housewives” tv series, TikTok video by @freshmozzerella, “The Lighthouse”, BBC interview with Judi Dench, “Dungeons and Dragons” movie, Neil deGrasse Tyson interview, Chris and Jack YouTube episode “Future Ex-girlfriend”.

The showcase and livestream premiered on YouTube on May 21, 2024. Watch below:

AnimSchool Student Animation Showcase 2024

AnimSchool Student 2024 Showcase Livestream with the Animators

At AnimSchool, we teach students who want to make 3D characters move and act. Our instructors are professionals at film and game animation studios like Dreamworks, Pixar, Sony Pictures, Blizzard & Disney. ⁠Get LIVE feedback on your Animation from the pros. 
Learn more at https://animschool.edu