Intermediate Animation Starts on 13 August

Michael Morgan teaches at Escape Studios

This year, on 13th August, we're launching a part-time new animation evening class, Intermediate Animation.

The class is taught by animation veteran Michael Morgan, a talented and experienced animator whose work includes Guardians of the Galaxy, Beauty and the Beast, and Black Panther.



What is Intermediate Animation?
Intermediate Animation is a part-time evening class that builds upon the foundation skills learned in our Animation Foundation evening class. Animation Foundation starts with a bouncing ball and builds upwards through locomotion and mechanics, teaching animators the basic foundations of motion. Students learn a workflow and a system for planning and timing animation.

Michael Morgan worked on "Guardians"

The Intermediate Animation class builds upon the animator's existing base of knowledge, tackling complex character and creature animation, and building towards a professional-quality demo reel to help the animator find work in the industry.

Week by Week Breakdown
Below is a week-by-week breakdown of what is in the class.

Week 1: Introduction to Character Animation
“Phone Booth Man” – key poses for character on stepped curves
Add breakdowns to “Phone Booth Man” using Tween Machine

Week 2: Introduction to Character Animation
Reaction shots – animate a “take” with Monty
Reactions – animate a “take” with a human biped

Week 3: More on Character Animation - building and blocking a shot; parenting and constraints
Very short dialogue shot with Monty
Very short dialogue shot with Human biped – Norman, Morpheus or Eleven

Michael Morgan worked on "Black Panther"

Week 4: Character Animation - Dialogue
Block medium dialogue shot
Refine medium dialogue shot

Week 5: Character Animation – Dialogue & Lipsync
Block advanced dialogue shot
Refine advanced dialogue shot

Week 6: Animal locomotion, trots walks and runs
Quadruped walk
Quadruped trot

Week 7: Animal locomotion continued
Quadruped run
Birds

Week 8: Animals & Creatures – using live action
Animal locomotion using live action reference
Animal locomotion using live action reference

Week 9: Animals & Creatures
Spiders and scorpions
Vehicles and machinery

Week 10: Demo Reel, website/blog; jobs & careers
Assemble first draft of demo reel. Create a blog to host it
Demo reel review, recap.

Michael Morgan

Tutor - Michael Morgan
The class is taught by animation veteran Michael Morgan, a talented and experienced animator whose work includes Guardians of the Galaxy, Beauty and the Beast, and Black Panther. To see more about Michael's work and how he approaches the character animation process, read this post.

Start date: 13 August 2019
Tuition fees: £1,850
Mode of study: Part-time (Tuesday and Thursday evenings 7pm - 10pm)
Programme duration: 10 weeks

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To find out more about our new BA/MArt, now recruiting for September 2018, follow this link.   To apply, visit the official page here.