Our Legacy Lives In Our Students
SEMESTER 28.3a
*Online - June 2025 - Celebrating 27 Years
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
In the summer of 1996 about 1 1/2 years before The Animation Academy I had a student by the name of Jose Lopez. He was fresh out of high school and employed part time at an art supply store. I could see he had talent and I worked with him to develop his fundamental skills. In January 1998 when the Academy began Jose was a student in our very first class. He stayed with us for several years and eventually became an instructor. His experience at the Academy lead to his break in the industry. Today he is one of the most accomplished character designers in animation. He is currently at Disney working on the "Big Hero 6" TV series. He's also completed a huge mural in East Los Angeles that celebrates his family's mariachi heritage. Watch the Disney XD video below to see what Jose has to say about his great accomplishments. You can follow Jose Lopez on Instagram and see more of his art on his blog.
Fundamentals are very important when it comes to designing characters for animation. In this latest episode of Share The Lesson we take a look at how a fundamental approach to character design affects the quality and appeal of the image. Sign up with The Animation Academy on Patreon and be among the first to see video lessons that can help move you forward with your animation art.
