Spring

Workshops begin April 23rd and End the week of July 9th

Monday - Beginning Level Animation
Tuesday- Michal Makarewicz - Anim Demo & Lecture
Tuesday- Rob Thompson - Animation Critique
Thursday- Victor Navone -  Animation Critique




For more information check our workshop calendar.

This workshop is about giving students a similar experience to professional dailies; a meeting where professional animators show their work for critique to the director  

This workshop is different from a typical classroom setting, where students may be given a syllabus or curriculum to follow for the duration of the class, no matter what their skill level.  Instead, each student at the AnimC is assessed individually on the first day of the workshop to gauge their current skill level.  We ask students to tell us what they want out of the workshop, where they want to go in the industry (Games, Features, VFX ),  and what their current skill level is.  In return, we offer tailored instruction and personalized assignments to help them make progress in their work.  

The workshop sizes are small, no more than 8 Students allowing for more personal critique time. It's a comfortable collaborative environment.  Students learn from their own assignments, others critiques, instructor demos, lectures and guest speakers.  The idea is to help get your work from a "student" level, to "professional"  level.

Critique Workshop Info:

8 Students per Class, max.
12 Critique Classes, 3 hours each
1 Guest Speaker at end of Semester.
 * This Spring will have an additional 4 Guest Speakers with lectures on Animation. 

Workshop cost: 
The Spring session is  $1900. 
Please check out our FAQ for more info.

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ANIMATION "Beginners" WORKSHOP

This class is different than the Critique Workshop in that it is meant to simulate more of an internship experience.  Therefore, the class is more structured, with lesson plans aimed at teaching one good foundations of animation principles.

It is perfect for those that have started to dabble in animation, or any that feel they need to brush up on their understanding of physics and movement in general.  (Though a working knowledge of animation software would help.)

We feel very strongly about making sure every student is learning, therefore even though there is a set number of assignments, each student will progress at their own pace.  We will never move a person forward unless we feel they are ready.

Lectures will also be given that pertains to important animation principles and also the assignments themselves.
If you need to build a strong foundation in animation, then the beginning workshop would be a perfect fit.
Beginner Workshop Info:

8 Students per Class, max.
12 Critique Classes, 3 hours each
1 Guest Speaker at end of Semester.
 * This Spring will have an additional 4 Guest Speakers with lectures on Animation. 

    "I've been teaching for the last 7 years, and one thing I have come to see is how much a student can learn from watching someone animate in front of them.  It's one thing to talk about animation and another to actually do it.  With the in depth lectures I've created, I am able to reverse engineer the information, and show it in a variety of ways.  With the corresponding Live Demos, I get to show the information by building it from scratch, right in front of you.  With this combination, I truly believe it's one of the most unique and informative classes on animation you will ever get!"
                                                                                                                              -M Makarewicz

This informational workshop consists entirely of extremely in depth Lectures  which correspond with LIVE Demos given in the workshop.  Students will be provided with notes and handouts from the lectures, as well as the Maya Files that instructor works in.  By bringing home the Maya file, the students can closer examine the workflow. 
The instructors will discuss animation techniques, Graph Editor workflow,  Tips and Tricks ( Scripts / Hotkeys /  Maya-Setup ), and bring in his and others work to show progressions and thought process, to answer the common question "How do you do it?" and "Why do you do it that way?"

Live Demo's given:

• Bouncing Ball ( Bounce with squash and stretch, physics: obstacle course, different weights)
• 180 degree Turn  (Human character)
• Sit up and Stand   ( Character getting out of a chair )
• Walk      ( Human character )
• Jump 3D and 2D   ( Human character )
• Complicated Physical Shot    ( Run, Jump, Grab, Pull, Flip and Land, Human character )
• Pantomime Acting Shot   ( Acting without Dialogue, Human character )
• 1 person Acting Shot   ( Human character )
• 2 person Acting shot   ( 2 Human characters )

• With all demos I start from scratch, and end with the shot getting close to final.  I prefer to start with the      bouncing ball, even for advanced students, because to better understand my workflow, the best place to start with the simplest exercise.  From there, the live demos become more complex, covering a range of topics and a variety of the types of shots we encounter everyday in the workplace.  The Acting shots will differ in types.  A subtle more close up acting shot, and a more Physical 

Lectures discussed:

• Planning & Thought Process  - How to come up with ideas, and how to get yourself ready to animate them.  Thumbnails, Video reference,  etc... Both Kevin and I will be
  
• Graph Editor -  The Graph Editor is Extremely Important, and one of the strongest tools in 3D Animation.  Understand the splines ,and how to get the most out of the graph editor.  Spline hygiene, tips and tricks, general work flow etc.
  
• Blocking  2D and 3D - Various techniques and styles from different animators in the industry on how to block out a shot.  Understanding that there are many different affective ways of doing.  How a strictly 3D animator approaches a shot, to how a 2D Animator might.  Kevin O'Hara will be demonstrating in 2D, flipping pages right in front of you! And then showing you his thought process going into the computer.  The lecture will also cover understanding how to efficiently manage changes if needed, and successfully integrating notes.
  
• Phrases -  A good understanding of phrasing, and how it can help shape and organize your acting shots.  How phrasing alone can "make" or "break" a shot.
  
• Hands  - We say a lot with our hands so it good to understand them.  How to create strong, well thought out hand poses. What makes a strong hand pose vs a weak one.  The do's and dont's, best choices for acting etc.  Tips and Tricks from some top 2D and 3D animators.
  
• Brow's  - One of the most important and expressive pieces for showing out emotions.  Understanding the HOW and WHY we animate them.  
• Eye's  - Incredibly important in Animation; I discuss the techniques and philosophy on animating them.  HOW, and again more importantly, WHY we animate them. 
  
• Mouth and Dialogue  -Creating lip-sync quickly through Layered and also through Stepped Poses.  How important the mouth is besides just dialogue.
• Posing  - How to strengthen and fix poses, to get the most entertainment out of them and help reinforce acting choices within your animation.  Looking at posing through Live Action and Animation.  Looking at how a simple draw-over your pose, could help push it to another level.
  
• Creature Animation (Quadrupeds) -  Analysing the physical mechanics of quadrupeds by one of the best creature animators at Pixar, Kevin O'Hara.  He will be showing the differences of movement between herbivores and carnivores, due to their skeletons.  How to approach animating  Horses, Cats, Dogs,  Bears etc.  And what to look for when using live reference.
  
• Polishing  - The techniques and process on making your shot go from "good" to "Great!"  Orginally written for Animation Mentor, where I'm happy to hear it became a big favorite among the students, now expanded further and made even better! Looking at all the subtleties that go into polishing Facial Animation and Physical Animation. 
  

• Michal's Preferred Workflow  - Throught process and break down of my shots from work.  Looking at the reference, inspiration, blocking and different stages of the animation; we get to look "under the hood" and see how the shots are created. Re-animating my Pixar shots in Maya,  to help demonstrate my tips, tricks and techniques, working with constraints, as well as my approach to the Graph Editor.
  
• Other Animation Workflows  - Thought process and break down of other types of animations styles from Pixar Animators.  Looking at the Straight Ahead, Layered Technique,  Stepped Blocking,  Pose to Pose,  all these are great examples of all the different workflows animators use.
  
• Takes -  The understanding of the classic animation "take".  A simple concept, but once deeply explored, you can see how this simple concept carries a lot of information that can be applied throughout all your animations.
• Walks  -  A look at creating character walks with different workflows such as Pose-Pose and Layered, as well as a certain quick technique that allows you to create a decent walk in 20 min.  We start by looking at good physical walks, and then discuss the creation and idea of Character Walks.  

Critique Workshop Info:

12  Classes, 3.5 hours each
1 Guest Speaker at end of Semester.
  * This Spring will have an additional 4 Guest Speakers with lectures on Animation. 


Workshop cost:   $1900