Create Your Own Content

Here at The Animation Academy we've structured our program around the concept of independent authorship. As the industry rapidly changes we've encouraged our students for the past several years to create their own content and position themselves for a future that is moving away from creative labor towards one of content creation and ownership.

This is the first trailer for a project I've produced that was the motivation behind forming the school. I've kept at it and now it's an episodic series on YouTube called "Montgomery Thump and Timbuk Too". Our students have been heading in a similar direction with their own properties for a long time. Keep Creating your own content and you'll be in a good position for the era of the New Hollywood that's emerging.

Academy's Kelsey Mann is an Oscar Nominee

It was bound to happen. The Animation Academy's Kelsey Mann is an Oscar nominee! Kelsey is the Director of Pixar's blockbuster "Inside Out 2". It was announced yesterday that he is a nominee for Best Animated Feature Film. Kelsey was with us in the early 2000's as a student. He then became one of our instructors. Now he is at the top of the animation world. A big congratulations to you Kelsey! You are an inspiration and an awesome talent. 

The Academy is 27 - Our New Direction

In honor of the 27th anniversary of The Animation Academy we are looking to do new things with a focus on content creation and all that entails. Here's a video of what to expect. Keep Creating! It's the key to the future.

Academy's Kelsey Mann - Director of Disney Pixar's "Inside Out 2"

The director for Disney Pixar's latest animated feature film "Inside Out 2" is our very own Kelsey Mann.

Kelsey was a highly talented student at The Animation Academy in the early 2000's. He was also an instructor with us briefly before he was snatched up by Cartoon Network and thus began his great career. A few years later he joined Pixar and now he is the director of this summer's blockbuster movie "Inside Out 2" which has grossed more than $1.68 billion as of this writing. A huge success as that is the highest grossing box office ever for an animated feature.

You may recall that last year's blockbuster animated feature was "The Super Mario Bros Movie". That too was directed by former Academy student Aaron Horvath and is the third highest grossing animated movie in history.

Dedicate yourself to the development of your art at its highest levels. Keep Creating and you'll be ready for the opportunities that will come your way throughout your life.

To get started follow this link to our Affiliate Instructor Program.

Affiliate Instructor Program

The Animation Academy has initiated a new system. Our instructors are now conducting their own classes independently. We're calling this our Affiliate Instructor Program. Students can enroll directly with the instructor of their choice in the subject they are looking for.

CHANCE RASPBERRY - Character Design 101 - Character Design For Kids - Art Income 101 - AI Art 101 - Contact Chance Raspberry

JOEL VALDEZ - Advanced Character Design - Background Design - Visual Development - Contact Joel Valdez

RENEE VANCE - Digital Illustration Basics - Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator - Contact Renee Vance

GREG MANWARING - Masterclass Character Animation - Contact Greg Manwaring

ANDRES ALVAREZ - Storyboarding - Contact Andres Alvarez

The Academy recognizes the creative education you will receive from these instructors as we no longer enroll students directly into our program. We will instead focus on generating creative and educational content full time. I thank the thousands of students we've had over our many wonderful years for making The Animation Academy legendary through your success and enthusiastically look forward to what comes next. 

KEEP CREATING !!

Charles Zembillas / Director / Founder - The Animation Academy

Video Art Show

Enjoy a minute long video of assorted demonstration based art in multiple mediums presented in a thematic fashion. This is something we'll be doing more often as we organize the vast archive or educational content that's been created over the years at the Academy.

Spyro the Dragon Time Lapse Painting

This video features a class demonstration from a Visual Development session at the Academy completed in October 2019.
 
After each phase I would scan the painting in progress. You can see how it develops from a pencil drawing on illustration board to the final image. This was done in acrylics. The character is Spyro the Dragon which I created. The palette I used was unusual and as such I wound up with colors that are slightly off model from Spyro. So I figure he could be Dark Spyro instead.
 
I encourage students to work with traditional mediums as often as they can as I believe it makes one a better digital artist. It helps to stay grounded with fundamentals.
 

 

"Zenibeasts" premieres on YouTube

I'm thrilled and delighted to present a wonderful animated pilot video produced by our long time student Molly Heady-Carroll. She created "Zenibeasts" as a class project and now it's taking off with online viewers on YouTube. Molly has been developing her Zenibeasts franchise along with a comic and a board game. This is the debut of Zenibeasts in animation. Congratulations on this fantastic accomplishment Molly!

The Animation Academy is 26 !!

Cheers !! It was 26 years ago on January 19 1998 in the back room of a local restaurant in Burbank California that The Animation Academy held its first class. And the rest is history! We're heading in a new and exciting direction in 2024. Stay tuned, stay productive and Keep Creating !!

Crash Bandicoot on McDonald's Happy Meals

In 1994 I was fortnate enough to be invited by my friend and professional colleague Joe Pearson to participate in the creation and development of a video game project for a new technloigy called PlayStation by Sony. Now 30 years later Crash Bandicoot has once again been featured on McDonald's Happy Meals for kids for December 2023. Here's a commercial that is running in a nationwide campaign. Animation is an exciting and dynamic industry. Keep Creating !!

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