Saturday, August 28, 2010

Robert Negrete's turn

Here's another head rotation that was created at a recent session of the Academy. Robert Negrete, a new student to our program enrolled in Character Design I, came up with this as part of his class assignment. For his first attempt, he did a fine job. Clicking on the image will improve the view.

As I've mentioned before, rotations are a key aspect of our Character Design curriculum. It's an essential skill that anyone who aspires to be a professional character designer should master. Even if you're not going in that direction with your art or career, rotations are an an excellent exercise in further developing your basic draughtsmanship.

Robert Negrete is a promising artist that we'll be seeing more of in days ahead. To view more of his work, follow the link below.

http://robthesentinel.deviantart.com/

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Presenting Ernesto Ochoa

It's been awhile since I've featured new artwork coming from students at the Academy. My schedule has precluded me from doing so much of the time, but in spite of that, excellent art continues to be generated through our program I'm very proud to say.

Here's a couple of samples of what's been happening this semester. This is the art of Ernesto Ochoa. These are class assignments from our basic introductory class, Character Design I. The first example of his work is a classic representation of character development through fundamental design. Ernesto is taking the time to build out the look of his character in many ways. He establishes the anatomy, fully constructs the head, even takes the time to explore the hands. Clicking on the image will give you an enhanced view.

In addition to design exploration in the concept phase of development, we have our students immerse themselves in rotations as soon as they have an image that's ready to go to models. Head rotations of their characters prepares them for full body rotations which follow in the course of their assignments.

Here's Ernesto's head rotation for one of the characters he developed for his project. It's absolutely professional in every aspect. Again, clicking on the image will enhance the view.

Notice in these samples, how he takes his time and gives his drawings all the attention they need. As with much of the work that our students create, it can be just as good or better than similar work being generated at many animation studios, with all due respect of course.

Ernesto's art is a great example of why The Animation Academy enjoys the excellent reputation that it has, and why many in the industry routinely recommend our school for appropriate training in design and related subjects. Our legacy continues to grow thanks to outstanding artists like Ernesto Ochoa and many more of our students as well.

To see more of Ernesto's work, follow the link to his blog:

http://ernieochoa.blogspot.com/

Thursday, August 05, 2010

Monthly enrollment at the Academy

Hello everyone, I hope this entry to the Academy's blog finds you well.

This year, we've experimented with mid-semester, or monthly enrollment. For many years the Academy offered six semesters per calendar year, with the opportunity to enter the program every other month. A few months ago, we decided to try something different by allowing students to enroll at the begining of each month.

I'm happy to report that this has been a very successful change. By overlapping our semesters, we've been able to welcome both new and returning students sooner, without having to wait an additional month for the chance to join us. This system has also been beneficial in better managing the new students that enter our program. Monthly enrollment has helped solved a periodic problem we've faced. That is, the volume of new students we would normally get as a result of bi-monthly enrollment. We've been able to spread new student enrollment more evenly throughout the year, thus enabling us to better facilitate new student groups.

The next window for enrolling at the Academy will be September 7, 2010.

The Animation Academy continues to enhance its legacy through the great creative success of our students. If you're looking to improve upon your basic skills as they apply to animation, you're welcome to contact us and discuss how the Academy can help you to grow.

Our office line is 818-848-6590.