Class 1 Basic Foundations

Saturday at 5am was the official end of class 1 at Animation Mentor. What can I say, it was sooooo freak'n awesome. My mentor was Anthony Wong - who studied at CalArts, worked at Disney, worked in games, and is now working for Pixar! He was totally inspiring as he came across as a passionate artists who animated and draws because he loves it so much. He was also very knowledgeable, realistic about how the industry is, and just a great mentor overall.

The curriculum was great as each week built upon the next - gradually increasing our confidence with the animation foundations, sketching poses, and posing 3D characters. I feel ready to move onto class 2 and 3 - body mechanics: what I've been told is the hardest part of animating. Here is my progress reel from the class 1. I'm still revising a few things and may update it. We only have one week of break though, so I may not get around to everything - especially 'cos I gotta catch up with the world and all. They say it's best just to make lots of work - learning from your mistakes as you go, rather than spending ages on a shot or pose anyways.

I'd have to agree that one of the best things about AM is the community. You have your class mates and peers from other classes who you are able to give feedback to, get feedback from, and get inspired by. It's a great way to network and create friendships with people we're likely to work with one day. And one of the really cool things is that once you've joined AM, you never leave. You get continued access to the community as an alumni, as well as other things like job opportunities and refresher classes.

I was quite surprised that we pretty much had a live Q&A available to us most days if we wanted it. And the lectures and eCritiques are uber awesome.

All in all, after class 1, I feel more confident about approaching animation, know what areas are my strengths and weaknesses, and just feel really inspired to learn and practice more posing and animating. Yay for AM! It's by no means easy, but it's really encouraging and fun learning together with a community of like-minded people - all with the same goal.

Note: next post is likely to come at the end of next term.