Spider Animation Workshop at VIEW

Recently we hosted a creature animation workshop at the VIEW Conference, the annual VFX Animation and Games event in Turin, Italy.  This year VIEW took place online, and if you missed the original workshop you can catch up by watching the two-hour video above. The workshop shows students how to animate spiders using Autodesk Maya - demonstrating how to break down complex motion into simple parts to get a sophisticated result.  The tutorial is two hours long and is completely free.  

Creature Animation Workshop: VIEW 19 Oct

I'll be hosting a creature animation workshop at this year's VIEW Conference again this year.  The two-hour animation workshop takes place online on Monday, 19 October from 11am to 1pm Italian time.

I'll be teaching students how to tackle some creature animation using Autodesk Maya.  We'll be animating spiders - demonstrating how to break down an apparently complex motion - an eight-legged walk - into simple parts to get a sophisticated result.

So if you fancy animating some creepy crawlies, join me on Monday, 19th October from 11am to 1pm Italian Time.  To sign up, follow this link.

Simone Giampaolo: How Cartoons are Born

Simone Giampaolo at VIEW conference

Escape Studios animation tutor Simone Giampaolo was at the View Conference in Turin this past week, talking to a packed audience about How Cartoons are Born.

Simone explained the basics of animation, including the Twelve Principles, such as the importance of strong poses and silhouettes. He also explained some of the basics of design; such as the use of circles, triangles and squares to express basic contrasts between animated characters.

We're Going to VIEW 21-25 October

We're going to VIEW, the 20th International VFX & Computer Graphics Conference that takes place every year in Turin.

This year the VIEW conference runs from Monday 21st October until Friday 25th October.

On Wednesday October 23 at 2.30pm I'll be on a panel with SVA titled "Starting Your Animation Career: How to Get Noticed and Get Hired".

And on Thursday October 24th I'll be teaching a one-day masterclass in Maya demonstrating how to animate dinosaurs, from 9.30am at Piazza Mestiere.

The class is aimed at complete beginners and requires no prior experience with Maya.

VIEW Conference in Turin 21-25 October 2019

VIEW Conference 2019

Escape Studios is going to VIEW, the 20th International VFX & Computer Graphics Conference that takes place every year in Turin. This year the conference runs from Monday 21st October until Friday 25th October.

We'll be there, participating in panel talks and also running a series of one-day masterclasses in Maya demonstrating character and creature animation techniques.

Our classes are aimed at complete beginners and require no prior experience with Maya.

Dinosaurs: The Making of Jurassic World

Jurassic World

One of the highlights of last week's VIEW conference in Turin, Italy, was Glen McIntosh's presentation on  the making of Jurassic World, and Fallen Kingdom.

Glen was the animation supervisor on both projects. His talk was essentially a masterclass in creature animation, demonstrating how much careful research goes into the creation and animation of the dinosaurs.

McIntosh introduced himself as a man "obsessed with dinosaurs, obsessed with "how they looked, and how they moved."

He described the Jurassic Park series of movies as a "balance between science and entertainment", as the film-makers try to keep both audiences and paleontologists happy. 

Animation Masterclass at VIEW Turin 24 Oct

Escape Studios are running an animation masterclass at VIEW, the 20th International VFX & Computer Graphics Conference that takes place every year in the beautiful Italian town of Torino (Turin).

VIEW is a week long event showcasing the best of animation, games and visual effects.

Speakers this year include Paramount Head Mireille Soria, and music legend Hans Zimmer. 

We'll be there running a one-day workshop in Maya on Wednesday 24th October, demonstrating some sophisticated but very simple animation techniques.

The class is aimed at complete beginners and requires no prior experience with Maya.

Why Animation Recruiters Live at LinkedIn

VIEW panel. From left: Amy Smith, Giorgio Xhaxho, Alex Williams, Tiffany Feeney, Angie Wojak

What do Animation recruiters look for from recent graduates?  How do they find fresh talent? At last week's VIEW conference in Turin I sat on a recruitment panel hosted by New York's School of Visual Arts (SVA) with two recruiters, Amy Smith from Framestore and Tiffany Feeney of Talent Outpost, an independent recruitment agency based in Switzerland.  Both of them had a lot to say on the subject of student demo reels, websites and how to be easy to find online. But most of all, recruiters want just one thing from animation graduates:

ILM, Star Wars, & Virtual Reality

Vikki Dobbs of ILMxLAB

At the Turin VIEW conference this week, Vikki Dobbs Beck from Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) talked  about her company's newest venture - ILMxLab - a virtual reality pioneer that "invites audiences to step inside the world of our stories".

ILMxLab is all about "immersive experiences". Their challenge as a startup venture within ILM was to "leverage their in-house talent and create new experiences".

As Vikki put it, we are "entering an age of experiential storytelling". To create this new reality, ILMxLab needed to "take risks, to learn, explore and discover new ideas".

Kim White Reveals Secrets of Pixar Lighting

Kim White, Director of Photography on Cars 3

At this week's VIEW Conference in Turin, Cars 3 Director of Photography Kim White talked about what is involved in lighting a Pixar film.

As you'd expect, lighting a Pixar movie isn't just about technical skill - it's about helping to tell the story, supporting the narrative and solving visual problems along the way.

As Pixar movies get more and more realistic in their visualisation, the lighting department has had to draw on sophisticated reference and resources to make their work believable.

Escape Studios at VIEW Wed 25th October

Escape Studios is going to VIEW, the 18th International VFX & Computer Graphics Conference that takes place every year in the beautiful Italian town of Torino (Turin).

We'll be there running a one-day workshop in Maya on Wednesday 25th October, demonstrating some cool creature animation techniques. The class is aimed at complete beginners and requires no prior experience with Maya.

Escape Studios at VIEW - Secrets of TV Animation

Dan Sarto, Byron Howard, Simone Giampaulo and Conrad Vernon

Escape Studios is in Italy this week participaing in VIEW, the 17th International VFX & Computer Graphics Conference.

VIEW takes place every year in the beautiful Italian town of Torino (Turin), and yesterday I was there running a one-day workshop in Maya, demonstrating some cool creature animation techniques.

Meanwhile, plenty of big hitters in the animation and VFX industries were giving talks and sitting on panels, including my old DreamWorks colleague Conrad Vernon (Sausage Party) and Byron Howard (Zootopia).

Escape Studios is Going to VIEW!

Escape Studios is going to VIEW, the 17th International VFX & Computer Graphics Conference.  VIEW takes place every year in the beautiful Italian town of Torino (Turin), and we'll be there running a one-day workshop in Maya on 26 October, demonstrating some cool creature animation techniques. The class is aimed at complete beginners and requires no prior experience with Maya.