Save 40% on the Adobe Creative Cloud until June 3rd

Adobe-Cloud-40-percent-off

Seeing as how Adobe dominates the animation industry, and you can no longer purchase Adobe software outright, I figure this might be of use to some of you out there. Right now until June 3rd you can get 40% off a subscription to the Adobe Cloud. Click here for more info.

You’re welcome! 😉

“Fric Frac” by Oscar Malet

Animation student Oscar Malet’s 3rd year animation film made in 2 months at MOPA (formerly Supinfocom Arles). malet.oscar(at)gmail.com

Wow! What a great little film. It has ambience, mood, some really nice slapstick and a pleasing character design. And I can NOT get over the rendering of that Bug! AmaZing to see the quality that the animation schools are turning out these days.

A thief goes into a garage to steal a car, but things don’t turn out as expected… Made with 3dsmax/VRay/Zbrush/Marvelous/Substance Painter/After Effects/Premiere Pro/Audition

Gary Blatchford

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What is your name and your current occupation?

Gary Blatchford. Owner and director of “illusion Animated  Productions”. I have lots of hats, I direct, draw storyboards, animate, create layouts, I used to slug and write x-sheets in the good old 2-D TV animation days. Increasingly I have been putting together teams of freelance artists to provide pre-production services to other animation companies.

 

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I never really worked before getting into animation, I worked for Richard Taylor Cartoons after leavingSt. Martin’s School of Art in London. Dick was one of my tutors and became a major influence and mentor to me. While I was a student I used to draw portraits in my local pub to earn beer money. The craziest thing I did was, I was the singer in the worse pub band in the world. We were quite capable of emptying a busy bar in 10 minutes.  I taught animation at Dun Laoghaire college of art and design (now called IADT) in the mid 1990’s, but that is not really crazy is it?

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I am proud to have been associated with just about all the projects I have been part of. Even the less successful were learning curves. I have also met some really talented people along the way. In 2004 I directed a seven minute short 2D animated film called “The Pope’s Visit”, with funding from the Irish Film Board, RTE and the Arts Council. The great Aidan Hickey wrote a terrific script and acted as producer for me. It is being shown at the Annecy Festival this June as part of the Irish Animation show. In recent years, I have been providing storyboards for the TV series made by Brown Bag Films, including: “Olivia”, “Noddy”, “Octonauts”, “Doc Mc Stuffins” etc. They have lovely projects and a fantastically talented team of creative people. For most of the 1990’s I was studio director at Murakami Wolf Dublin, which became Fred Wolf Films Dublin. Starting with “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”. We also worked on “Speed Racer”, “Sinbad”, “Zorro”, “Dino Babies” and I directed all three seasons of “Budgie the Little Helicopter”. In  2005/ 2006 I directed the “Slim Pig” series for Cheeky Animation. I have animated on a lot of commercial spots and music videos, for which you seldom receive a credit, but they are often the projects where you get to stretch yourself creatively.

 

How did you become interested in animation?
As a child I loved cartoons on the TV, particularly Bugs Bunny and Tom and Jerry shorts. I loved the Jerry Anderson “Telemarionation” puppet series, like “Thunderbirds” and “Captain Scarlett”. They were not animation but they showed that you could make a film without a cast of actors in front of the camera. The idea that Continue reading

Walter W. Wirtz

What is your name and your current occupation? 

Walter W. Wirtz, Current occupation Freelance Animator and Illustrator by day, caped vigilante and batman lookalike by night.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
That’s an easy one, being a dad.  Kids are a full time job with no paid OT.

 

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
One of the most interesting ones was working as an intern for a SFX studio in Santa Monica where we were working on Hostel: Part II.  Specifically in Animation I was very happy to work on a 5 part mini series done for a Central American government about a 10 year old girl and her Social reality.  It was an interesting eye opener.

How did you become interested in animation?

I’ve always been a story teller, first with illustrations, later on I dabbled in a little writing, Animation was the natural step to take to merge both.  Aside from that, Continue reading

Daryl-Rhys Taylor

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What is your name and your current occupation?
 Daryl-Rhys Taylor :and I am an animation graduate freelancing from home.
 What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I worked in a gallery called ‘The Animation Art Gallery’ (now Art You Grew Up With) and they had a stock room full of Mickey Mousde merchandise received from the manager of Blue. I had to catalogue all of it and sell it on Ebay.
 What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
 I enjoyed working on my student film. We were the only ones to ever do a 2D film in our college. I really enjoyed my week at Brown Bag Films being a storyboard conformer on the upcoming Disney Junior show “Doc Mc.Stuffins” and any time I’ve visited Phil Vallentin at Espresso  Animation. Also I’m proud of “The Booger Monster” children’s book I’m illustrating right now for the Koncept Factory.
How did you become interested in animation?
I have always known I wanted to be an animator. All I ever did when I was little was watch cartoons and draw. I loved the Looney Tunes and the Disney Classics. I read all the books when I was growing up. One of my happiest memories was when

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