Joshua Lam - Drawing / Coloring Video

Academy alum Joshua Lam of Running Deer Publishing has created a speed drawing / painting demonstration video that highlights fundamental basics in both constructing a character and rendering the image in color. You can see more of Joshua's Running Deer content on YouTube.

Joshua Lam launches Running Deer Publishing

Another of our many exceptional students over the years has launched an exciting new venture. Joshua Lam is a professional graphic designer who studied with us at various times during his career. His latest project involves the publishing of a new iBook entitled "Water" through a new company he's formed called Running Deer Publishing. The launch date for his book will be this coming April 19 2018. You can see a preview of Water at this link to iTunes. You can also follow Water and new developments with Running Deer Publishing on Facebook. Also on Instagram and Pinterest and be sure to subscribe to RDP's YouTube channel.

Enjoy Joshua's videos as he describes what Running Deer is about and see a tutorial as he illustrates a page from Water.

Share the Lesson 10 - Head and Shoulders

An important aspect of Character Design is the relationship between the head and body of the character. In Share the Lesson 10 we explore various ways the head / neck / shoulder area relate in design.

Academy Legend - Sean Jimenez

Here's another example of the incredible talent that has come our way and contributed to our 20 year legacy. This art is from an assignment by Sean Jimenez when he was a student at the Academy back in our first year of 1998. First time it's ever been seen publicly. He created this for Visual Development and Production Design. The assignment was geared towards creating a thematic composition utilizing gray tones. Sean did a great job. We have this art featured as part of our Wall of Fame.

In today's industry Sean Jimenez is among the most accomplished of professionals working in the biz. His credits include Background Design Supervisor for Disney's "Gravity Falls" TV series. Click here to see the IMDb credits for Sean Jimenez. You'll be amazed at his designs at this link to Sean's blog.

  

We're 20 Years Old Today !!

The Animation Academy in Burbank California celebrates our 20th anniversary today! We conducted our first class on January 19 1998 with a group of 20 students in the back room of a local restaurant. Twenty years later the legacy of our school still plays a significant part in the history of the animation industry and more importantly in the lives of the many students we've had who've gone on to great creative careers.

THANK YOU to all the wonderful people and all the talented artists who've made this possible!

Academy's Jason Perdue graduates from CCA

Jason Perdue is another of our exceptional students who went on to a degree granting program. He's recently graduated from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco with a BA. Take a look at his website and view his Traditional Animation demo reel from 2016 below. You can also see more of Jason's videos including his CG animation on his Vimeo channel

John Burroughs HS Burbank - Christmas Show 2017

Greetings from The Animation Academy in Burbank California!
 
Our hometown is renowned as a creative community and a supporter of the arts. You can really see the great level of talent that young people in Burbank have at John Burroughs High School which is the local school in the Academy's neighborhood.
 
Burroughs' first graduating class was in 1948 and since that time it's become one of the most remarkable high schools in America with many graduates who went on to great careers in entertainment including Debbie Reynolds and Ron Howard among others. Their annual Christmas Show is a long standing tradition. Here's some video footage of this year's show on December 9 2017. You'll be impressed with the amazing student performances.  Please forgive the image quality as I was on the balcony but you'll still get a good idea as to how marvelous the show was.
 
Songs featured here are only a small part of the overall show. They include the opening song of "The Christmas Waltz" followed by a rousing rendition of "White Christmas" as the closing. Then there's "Silent Night" as the encore. The carol that's sung as the last song since 1972.
 

At Walt Disney's Grave On His Birthday - December 5 2017

The tenth year in a row visiting Walt Disney's grave site on the occasion of his 116th birthday. I made the mistake of saying it's his 106th birthday in the video. He was born on December 5 1901 in Chicago.

 

Hannah Smith's Latest Showreel 2017

The talented Hannah Smith - student and assistant Character Design instructor at the Academy - has updated her latest animation showreel highlighting a big leap forward with her skill level. Hannah is proficient in ToonBoom which is an industry standard software for creating traditional hand drawn animation. Take a look at her wonderful work and visit her YouTube channel for more.

Share The Lesson 9 - Molly's Monster

Molly is a talented artist in Europe who has the distinction of being our very first signup on Patreon. She's a freelance artist who creates video game apps and is active in the art scene in the Netherlands. Molly's been taking classes online and always conjures up highly imaginative content. She has unusual design sensibilities when it comes to her original and unique concepts. In this episode of Share the Lesson we take a look at one of her characters and find ways of enhancing the design appeal through fundamental analysis.

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