Animation Student Spotlight: Meet Anthony Alves, a skilled 2D/3D animator shifting to feature animation with a passion for character-driven storytelling.

“iAnimate offers the unique perspectives and accessible methods of its talented and actively working professional teachers!”

Meet iAnimate Student Anthony Alves

Student Spotlight features Anthony Alves, a passionate and experienced animator with a strong foundation in both 2D and 3D television animation. With over a decade of work on fast-paced, stylized, and cartoony TV series, Anthony has recently taken a bold step to invest in his growth by transitioning into the world of feature animation.

“After 10 years of working on fast-paced Stylized and Cartoony TV Series, I was eager to invest in myself and expand my skillset toward the more detailed and true-to-life performance of Feature Animation!

iAnimate offers the unique perspectives and accessible methods of its talented and actively working professional teachers!”

Most recently, Anthony served as an Animation Supervisor on the 2D series Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum, created in Toon Boom Harmony. Now, he’s focused on bringing his wealth of experience into the 3D animation space, ready to make his mark in the next chapter of his creative journey.

Student Animation Journey

Anthony Alves took the Feature Animation Workshop and Maya for Animators at iAnimate:

• Feature Animation Workshop 1 - Instructor Darrell Vasquez
• Feature Animation Workshop 2 - Instructor Jim van der Keyl
• Feature Animation Workshop 3 - Instructor Alexis Wanneroy
• Maya for Animators - Instructor Sean Callan

Anthony’s creative process is rooted in deep character exploration and intentional storytelling. Each assignment begins not just with a rig and an action, but with a challenge to fully embody the character, mentally and physically. By acting out scenes and capturing reference footage, he uncovers the subtle nuances and unique personality traits that bring even the simplest movements to life. This method allows him to craft performances that feel authentic, engaging, and often sprinkled with a touch of humor. For Anthony, stepping outside of himself is key to delivering scenes that are not only technically solid but also entertaining and memorable.

“By seeing the variety of past student work on the same assignments, I'm able to think about how I'd make it funnier. From there, I am able to punch it up further and flesh the scene out more while keeping it true to the character.”

You can reach Anthony via:

Student Spotlight Q&A with Animator Anthony Alves

iAnimate: What do you think of your Online Animation Instructor(s), and how do they help you?

Anthony: The teachers are infectiously enthusiastic and bring current industry standard practices to their demonstrations that are applicable in studio productions! There is a wealth of Software, tutorials, and plugins out there, but with the guidance and encouragement of the teachers, I can safely say I can better utilize these tools to save time and streamline my workflow.

iAnimate: How did iAnimate help you to evolve your animation skills as a character animator?

Anthony: iAnimate has helped me become more competent at expressing nuance and applying it with the available tools so it can be viewed as intended on screen. Utilizing Animbot to better refine my animation and apply notes has made revision far less daunting. With it, I have become far more bold when making acting choices and less hesitant to escape my comfort zone!

iAnimate: What kind of animator do you consider after taking your student workshop's?

Anthony: I consider myself a Narrative animator! Whether I'm working in 3D or 2D and Film or Games, it's not enough to simply have a character move and emote just because the boards say to, the image on screen should provide subtext that is motivated by what happened previously or foreshadowing for what is to come. I want to be able to tell stories thoughtfully and sincerely by animating characters with genuine action and emotion.

iAnimate: What kind of project do you want to work on?

Anthony: I want to work in Feature and Series where I can be involved and feel a sense of personal ownership in the overarching narrative. I want to get into a character and put myself into my work to create performances that help to piece together a whole story that audiences can get excited about. It also wouldn't hurt to work on something exceedingly silly and cartoony!!