Animal and Creature Animation
Animal and Creature Animation
- You will immerse yourself in the atmosphere of realistic animation of animals and creatures. You will become one of the experts in the industry;
- You’ll get an interesting realistic shot in your portfolio;
- Animal animation experience is not required. To enroll in the course, you are required to have only basic skills of animating in Maya (see the curriculum of the course "Maya Beginner"). The course comprises 2 parts: theoretical and practical. The theoretical part is the same for all students while the practical assignments will be tailored to the student’s level of proficiency. Beginners can do simple gaits while more advanced students can get assignments with a bit more complicated characters and movements;
- Please note that the size of the group is limited to 8 people.
Demoreel
At the end of each course, the school supervisors review all the final work of the students. The best pieces are included in the annual demo reel of the course.
What you'll learn in the course
We will cover:
Approaches to the construction of animal cycles and features of running and walking cycles:
- A complex quadruped walk. Animation of the front paws and chest;
- Running animation: trot, gallop.
We will study the laws of constructing movements. We’ll go through the anatomy and mechanics of the animal body by way of analyzing a range of animation pieces.
You will start planning your scene, searching and analyzing video references for your work, and organizing work with the character. You will create a layout and learn the secrets of working with the camera.
You will learn spline blocking, which is an essential step in any animation. You will learn its principles in the framework of realistic animation of animals.
Work on possible mistakes. The instructor will work with you on ways of improvement to bring your animation to perfection.
How is the course going?
At the online webinar, the teacher goes through the theoretical part, shows what the students will later repeat as part of their home assignment, and answers any possible questions.
The student watches the recording of the lesson and does his/her assignment.
The supervisor checks the assignment, analyzes mistakes, and gives ideas for improvement.
Who is this course for?
The course is great for beginners who are familiar with Maya basics.
For those who want to learn realistic animation of animals and creatures or boost their level to work in the film industry.
The course is suitable for animators of different levels of proficiency. The course supervisor selects tasks individually for each student, depending on their skills. In this course, a student can do assignments of different levels of complexity. Starting from basic gaits to complex battles of two or more characters. The course deals with the main types of animals and creatures: quadrupeds, winged, and bipedal.
What will you learn?
After the course, you will be able to work with the body of an animal in a structured and conscious manner, form a full understanding of the anatomy of different types of animals, and learn to understand the physics of movement. And your portfolio will be replenished with realistic animation shot.
In the course, we work in Autodesk Maya (the main technical tool for professionals in animation, film, and game studios). Please note that the focus of the course is the principles of animation - the right way of approaching animation in a shot and specific skills for creating the movement of objects. Having that knowledge, you can easily make your animation using any other software.
Please note that the school doesn’t provide Autodesk Maya. However, you can download a trial version of the software.
Boost your skills and become a professional in the animation and film industry.
Course Supervisor
Alexey graduated from Bauman Moscow State Technical University majoring in "Robotics and Complex Automation" so he knows firsthand what body mechanics is. Besides he went to the Institute of Contemporary Art Problems and took the “New Norm” course at the Strelka Institute, which helps to give meaning to body mechanics. More than 10 years in animation, half of this time he spent under the guidance of Ivan Pavlov, who instilled in Alexey a conscious approach to animation. In addition, he worked in such studios as CGF (“Konek-Gorbunok” project) and Realtime (UK). In 2021, he won the Berlin Music Video Awards in the Best Animation nomination for the video "Rewind the Cassette Tape" (“Kasseta — Plenku Peremotai”).
Our students work in
Certificate
Since 2022, our school has been issuing certificates of successful course completion. The certificate is granted to those students who have completed their shots and received an “Excellent” rating from the teacher. You can check the authenticity of the document on our website.
Enrol on the course now
If paying by cards issued outside the Russian Federation, please contact the school through the “Ask a question” form.
Ask a question
Pay for the full 3-month course and get 10% off!
£45Any questions?
If you have any questions, ideas or suggestions on how to make learning at our school more interesting and rewarding, please fill out this form.