The Animation Academy - student work

[Charles]

The Animation Academy in Burbank will be celebrating its 13th anniversary in a couple of months. A program with humble beginnings and a low key profile, it's amazing how positively its affected the course of animation in many ways, especially by virtue of the talent that has come from there.

The Academy's legacy continues to grow through the creative productivity of the great students we continue to attract. Here's the latest work from one of them.

She's one of our most promising teen students and goes by the name of IzzyGuard. This was done in Visual Development class, with markers and color pencils. Clicking on the image will enhance your view.

[Charles]

A professional working at a major studio here in Burbank related to me that he sees students from other schools who develop a hot character design style, yet once they get into the industry they don't know how to rotate their own characters.

Character design students who train at the Academy not only develop originality, they're also very well equipped to rotate what they create.

It's always a thrill for me to introduce new talent to the animation community. This past semester we welcomed Joel Valdez into our program. Joel came to the Academy from Tucson, Arizona and is wrapping up his work in Character Design I. Here's a class assignment he just completed. Click on the image and you'll get a better view.

At the Academy, we emphasize the important of a good character designer being able to handle a basic five pose rotation for the characters they create. It's a necessary skill, especially in a production situation. I'm happy to showcase one of Joel's attempts at completing something that even professional character designers are challenged by. Joel is among the many exceptional students we have at the Academy at any given time, and a big reason why our legacy looms large in the industry.

[Charles]

I gauge a student's progress based upon the artwork they create when they start with us, and then compare it with what they're doing a short while later. Here's a good example of how an individual can grow as a result of their participation in our program.

Einav Deri came all the way from Israel to take classes at the Academy. She was particularly interested in Character Design. On the left is a drawing she did the very first day of her class on September 3, 2009. On the right is what she's doing today.

Another example of Einav's creative growth. On the left, a character she drew prior to attending classes. On the right, something recent.

Here's a study of a head design she came up with for Visual Development, rendered tonally in grays and in color.

Currently Einav is attending animation school in her country and is a standout student thanks to her dedication, determination and the time she spent getting her fundamental skills down at The Animation Academy in Burbank. Her peers flock to her to pick her brain as to what she knows about design and drawing. The Academy helped put her on a solid path to professionalism. She's a rising star and there's little doubt as to the success she'll be experiencing in her career.

[Charles]

In the early years of the Academy, we had a standout student by the name of Anthony Price. He made his mark with us, then life happened and he went his way. Recently, Anthony has returned to the Academy and we're glad he did. He is now an assistant instructor in Character Design II and his presence is helping to make our students even stronger.

Anthony is an artist of exceptional ability, able to design in a variety of styles.

You can see more of his work by visiting his blog.

http://antprice.blogspot.com/

[Charles]

The Academy is a program for professional training, and we're open to teens that can show a portfolio of their work and exhibit a desire to learn what it is that we have to teach.

Here's a good example of how a talented teen can improve once they begin with us. This is the work of Marietta Semerdjian. The first sample is what she was doing just prior to enrolling this past summer.

And here's what she's doing after one semester, approximately two months later.

She still shows some anime influence in her art, but it's developed into a more sophisticated approach. Her attention to form is much better and her drawing is more solid. She's distinguishing herself with a unique style instead of mimicking one. All in all, she's done a fine job of taking her first significant steps towards professionalism.

Imagine what she'll be capable of in a couple more years when she's graduated from high school.

[Charles]

We have students at the Academy who've graduated with degrees from very high priced animation schools and they have trouble doing rotations on their own characters. In our program, this a requirement of our character design students.

Check out what Eddie Nieves did a couple of years ago when he was enrolled with us. I was going through our files and rediscovered his artwork.

Character turns of this quality are the norm rather than the exception at The Animation Academy. Our students become very proficient at doing the tough creative challenges. They develop very strong fundamental skills as a result. These are professional rotations that Eddie did, along with the look he developed for his characters.

[Charles]

Here's a class demonstration that our Background Design and Perspective instructor Robert Gold created a couple of weeks ago. He batted this out like it was effortless.

Robert came to the Academy as a student in 1999 and emerged as a great teacher. He's been with us ever since. He helped train many artists in BG Design and many of his students went on to professional careers.

[Charles]

This is something a student of mine at Cal State Northridge modeled and is in the process of rigging.

Yingbiao Han designed the character in my class last semester. He was very thorough with drawing the character and did a great job overall with his rotations. He then took the design into 3D and this is the result so far.

[Charles]

Richard Gaines recently relocated to Burbank from his home in Florida to further pursue a career in animation. He enrolled at the Academy and has gotten off to a good start.

He's a strong talent who's disciplining his approach to character design and basic drawing. Richard was quick to grasp upon the fundamental principles we impress, and as such was able to complete his first five pose character rotation in grand style.

Click on the image for a better view.