In our 72nd podcast we interviewed Ricky Wood who is currently a Principal Animator at the newly formed, People Can Fly NY. Ricky has been animating games since 2003 and has helped ship 5 action packed titles - Heavenly Sword, Enslaved: Odyssey To The West, DmC: Devil May Cry, Just Cause 3 and Just Cause 4.
He got his start in games at Ninja Theory, during the pre-production phase of Heavenly Sword. Ricky's work quickly became the benchmark of quality within the company, where he spent over 10 years honing his skill as a combat, creature and action cinematic animator. Creating high quality content was one half of his responsibility there, the other was mentoring the team to achieve their very best.
If you would like to find out more about game animation visit our Game Animation Workshops page.
In our 71th podcast we interviewed Pixar animator and iAnimate alumni, Andrew Atteberry. Before joining Pixar Animation Studios Andrew got his start at Magnetic Dreams, a small studio in Tennessee where he learned many portions of the pipeline. Wanting to grow in his animation skills he joined iAnimate. After graduating iAnimate he went on to Walt Disney and joined their talent development program, Blue Sky Studios, and MPC. He's worked on such films as Rio 2, The Peanuts Movie, Coco, Toy Story 4, and most recently Pixar's Onward. Being somewhat newer to the industry, it was great to hear Andrew's journey from student to professional and some of his learning experiences.
In our 70th podcast we interviewed Pixar animator and iAnimate feature animation instructor, Tal Shwarzman. Before joining Pixar Animation Studios Tal spent over seven years at DreamWorks Animation were he animated on such films as Kung Fu Panda, Monsters Vs. Aliens, Shrek Forever After, Kung Fu Panda 2, Rise of the Guardians, and How to Train Your Dragon 2. Since joining Pixar he's worked on the short Piper, Finding Dori, Incredibles 2, and Toy Story 4.
His interest in animation started while watching animated TV shows of the mid 80's and films like The Fox and The Hound and The Land Before Time. He graduated from Sheridan College (Ontario, Canada) classical animation program in 2000. Tal shares his knowledge of animation history and his experience in feature animation industry with iAnimate students from the first semester it opened its virtual doors.
Autodesk has just released a promo video of Maya 2020 highlighting the newest features, and our 'Chase' rig made a cameo. The video touts 60+ animation features!
In our 69th podcast we interviewed industry veteran and iAnimate feature animation instructor, Jim van der Keyl. Jim has been in the animation industry since 1989, getting his start as an inbetweener on the Little Mermaid at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He later worked at Warner Brothers where he was nominated for an 'Annie Award' as best animator for his work on Brad Bird's 'Iron Giant'. Jim made the transition to CG animation early on during Osmosis Jones and later worked for such companies as Sony Imageworks, Dreamworks Animation, and Blue Sky. He's worked on such films as Shark Tale, Over the Hedge, Monsters vs. Aliens, Kung Fu Panda, Flushed Away, Kung Fu Panda 2, and Puss N Boots. Most recently Jim was an Animation Supervisor at Singing Frong Studio where he helped with the super successful feature film La Guerre des Tuques (English - Snowtime).
We are a week away from the annual CTN Animation expo in Burbank, California and have a great line up of our instructors & alumni ready to meet you and review your reel. This is such a fun show and always great to see new and familiar faces. So get your reels ready and come by our booth (Booth B86/87). We hope to see you there.
In our 68th podcast we interviewed industry veteran, and newest iAnimate Game instructor, Keith Lango. Keith is an award winning animator & animation director with over 20 years of experience. He's worked on AAA titles such as HALO, Portal, Team Fortress 2, DOTA 2, and Counterstrike, in addition to various commercials, interactive, and VR projects. Keith has been fortunate enough to work at some of the most recognized studios like Valve, Blur, ReelFX, Sony, EA, Blue Sky, Warner Brothers, Take 2 and Disney to name a few... Keith is recognized as one of the first early pioneers in training up the next generation of animators through his on-line tutorials.
