The Animator Letters Project

How to hold a pencil correctly You can have the best pencils in the world, but unless you know how to draw with them, they're pretty useless. You're fairly sure you know how to hold a pencil, right? Well of course you do... but are you holding it correctly to draw? J's stuff - Pixar's John Lasseter Answers Your Questions Ian Gavan/Getty ImagesJon Lasseter, the director of “Cars 2,” before the movie’s British premiere in London in July. Pixar Animation Studios hasn’t made a big deal of turning 25 this year. But it can celebrate several achievements, including its perfect 12-hit record at the box office, capped this year by “Cars 2,” which is being released on DVD on Tuesday. It hasn’t been an easy year, though: There was the passing of Steven P. Jobs, who helped build Pixar Animation Studios and who was crucial to the company’s success, and unusual for a Pixar film, “Cars 2″ met with mixed critical reaction. Still at this quarter-century milestone, John Lasseter, the studio’s chief creative officer, agreed to answer selected reader questions.

Animation Tips & Tricks: Six key skills to succeed as an animator I love my job. I get to see students — who have a massive desire and passion to tackle their challenges internally and externally — make their dreams come to life. Not everyone succeeds, yet there are common threads that tie those who do together. Here are six key areas of personal development I’ve seen in those who succeed as animators: Be humble. Attitude plays a MAJOR role in your success. The Ultimate Guide to Animation Schools What does it mean to get hired before graduation? In my case, it meant 2 sunrises from the air with a 30-hour flight to Singapore. Never having traveled beyond North America before –it’s lacking to say that – this was an adventure.

The Key to Memorable Animation If you want a job as an Animator – you need to leave a lasting impression. I’ll never forget watching Inception at the theater. The camera slowly tightening on the Spinning Top. Will it continue Spinning?! Flour Sack Exercise For the last couple of weeks I've been helping the Level 2 animation students in Dundee with their Flour Sack Exercise. Here are some drawings I made in the process. Some of the poses are mine, and some are from the Illusion of Life and other sources. Here are some quick thumbnail sketches I made, with rough inbetween charts, to demonstrate how a basic jump could be approached.

Character Animation The Increasing Role of Character Animation in Video Games Animation Mentor graduates share their insights about working in gaming industry By Heidi Landgraf of Animation Mentor. For more information about Animation Mentor visit www.animationmentor.com. Video Games have certainly evolved since the arrival of one of the earliest video games, Pong by Atari, more than 30 years ago. Back in the day, people were content to play this two-dimensional sports game that simulates table tennis.

Andrew Blodgett <div class='message error'><strong>Javascript Disabled Detected</strong><p>You currently have javascript disabled. Several functions may not work. Please re-enable javascript to access full functionality.</p></div><br /> Submit your Portfolio, or more then one Image from Project. Character Rigging London 51 Great Animation Exercises to Master Quickest way to improvement? Practice. It’s a simple bit of advice that rings with absolute truth. Articles, tips, mentors, and study will never get you as far as rolling up your sleeves and getting down to work, be it animation or any other skill. bodies-in-motion - scott-eaton.com 30 second sequences from BiM Not long ago, I had twelve artists from Natural Motion (of Morpheme and Clumsy Ninja fame) into Somerset House, my home away from home, for a four day anatomy workshop. At the end of each day we would take about 20 minutes to draw from the Bodies in Motion library. sketching from BiM