Animation Student Spotlight - Michael Allred

Animation Student Spotlight: Michael Allred shares his journey, from stop-motion to iAnimate, refining his creature animation skills and pursuing his passion.

“I decided to enroll in iAnimate to improve my skills in creature animation…it worked!”

From Stop-Motion to 3D: Michael Allred’s Animation Journey

iAnimate Student Spotlight features Michael Allred, a 3D animator from New Zealand. His love for animation started at a young age—creating stop-motion videos as a kid. That early spark grew into a passion, leading him to refine his skills in creature animation through iAnimate. Now, with his training complete, Michael is eager to take the next step in his career and bring dynamic, lifelike characters to the screen.

After completing a short film at university, Michael was encouraged by a friend to explore iAnimate’s creature animation course. Having touched on the subject during his studies, he was eager to dive deeper and refine his skills. Enrolling in iAnimate proved to be a great decision—it not only enhanced his technical abilities but also strengthened his passion for creature animation, confirming his desire to pursue it as a career.

Animation Student Journey

Michael Allred took Creature Workshop at iAnimate:

• Creature Animation 1 with Johnny Spinelli (Eidos-Montréal)

Michael approaches each animation assignment with careful planning and attention to detail. His creative process includes:

• Gathering Strong References: He takes the time to study various reference materials, focusing on different angles and movement types to ensure accuracy in his creature animations.
• Blocking Key Poses: Before moving forward, he ensures that his key poses look strong and readable from all angles, setting a solid foundation for the animation.
• Refining the Motion: Once the key poses are in place, he moves into the splining stage, refining the motion for smoother transitions.
• Polishing the Animation: In the final stage, he carefully polishes the animation, making adjustments to enhance realism and appeal.

This structured approach allows Michael to create dynamic and believable creature animations, continuously improving his craft.

“As an Artist, I really plan out the animation from the start. The best thing I learned from the class was to use a combination of many different references and to create an animation with the weight and detail people need. ” Michael responds with what he has learned on iAnimate.

[Michael's Current Reel]

You can reach Michael via:

iAnimate Student Spotlight Q&A with Animator Michael Allred

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

Michael: Johnny was a really great instructor! I learned a lot from his process about taking things in a layered approach, it helped me to get more accurate results in my animation and learn how to use existing cycles to build and edit upon. It was cool to learn animation from someone who has both a feature background and game knowledge. He really made sure to teach the "why" behind the process which helped me learn a lot! thank you!

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

Michael: iAnimate helped me to refine my workflow and realize what I need to work on technically to improve in particular, getting the blocking/ splining process smoother and faster. It introduced me to some new tools like Reparenter or Studio Library which helped me to produce animations at a quicker rate and introduced me to work with animation layers.

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

Michael: I'm definitely more confident about my work and know a lot more about the process, I'm looking forward to creating more work with a focus on the polish phase of animation.

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

Michael: I would love to work on VFX/Film-related projects in terms of animation I like to create realistic performances. I love all the work Weta Digital, Framestore, MPC ,and DNEG do, and it would be amazing to work there someday!