Animation Student Spotlight: Siddarth Prabhakar shares his journey from BFA to iAnimate, creative process & passion for animation!

“iAnimate taught me a valuable lesson I wasn't aware I needed to learn... How to bring my own personality into my animation.”

Meet iAnimate Student Siddarth Prabhakar

Student Spotlight features Siddarth Prabhakar, a passionate animator with seven years of dedication to the art of bringing stories to life! A proud holder of a BFA in Animation, Siddarth initially thought his formal education had prepared him for the industry—until a post-grad portfolio review revealed his skills needed refining. Taking a friend’s advice, he enrolled at iAnimate, and as he puts it: "Boy! Am I glad I did!"

While college gave him a strong foundation, iAnimate transformed his craft, polishing his poses, refining his timing, and even helping him develop his unique artistic style. Beyond technique, he also gained invaluable insights into workplace efficiency, equipping him for a professional studio environment.

“College taught me the fundamentals, but iAnimate polished me! Instructors really took their time to walk me through how to strengthen my poses and timing."

When he’s not immersed in animation, Siddarth enjoys walking his dog, building model kits, and gaming with friends. Though he’s still on the hunt for his dream job, his growth, perseverance, and love for the craft make him an animator to watch.

Student Animation Journey

Siddarth took the Creature Animation Workshop and Game Animation Workshop at iAnimate:

Creature Animation Workshop - Instructor Scott Holmes

• Creature Animation Workshop 1
• Creature Animation Workshop 2
• Creature Animation Workshop 3

Game Animation Workshop

• Game Animation Workshop Intro
• Game Animation Workshop 1
• Game Animation Workshop 2
• Game Animation Workshop 3

with Game Animation instructors:

• Kyle Kenworthy
• Michael Cuevas
• Marco Foglia
• Kevin Rucker

The Creative Process: Research, Refine, Repeat

For Siddarth, every great animation begins with observation and immersion. "Like every good artist, my process starts with research and reference," he says. While ideation is key, he believes real life is the ultimate teacher, so he often films his own reference footage to "feel out" the motion. "A person can really understand the weight of gravity when it is their own body weight," he added.

Once inspired, he dives into Maya, blocking out essential poses starting with the center of gravity to map spatial awareness. He spends significant time perfecting these foundational poses, ensuring they’re clear, dynamic, and engaging. Only when the poses feel right does he move into timing and polishing, where he finds his flow state.

But his work isn’t done until he seeks feedback. "I never consider an animation complete until I send it to a few people for feedback," he emphasizes. "Mentors and peers have pushed me further by asking ‘What if…?’—and when that question leads to a better solution, I take it to heart. I’m a good animator on my own, but my community makes me that much better!"

“iAnimate taught me a valuable lesson I wasn't aware I needed to learn... How to bring my own personality into my animation. Before iAnimate, my animation was believable but stale. Animation has the ability to be more than believable! iAnimate instructors showed me how to push the rig to create dynamic poses, encouraged me to explore a love of fast-paced action, and how timing can change the entire feel of a shot. I was once so focused on a shot being believable that I forgot how important the principle of appeal is. Now, I consider all the ways I can stylize my animation to connect with an audience. Sometimes I have a pose linger longer than a real person would, but it emphasizes the body language of a character. Other times, I push the rig's limbs in unnatural poses to make the motion more fluid to emphasize athleticism. The possibilities are endless! Once I was intimidated by the endless possibilities, but now I celebrate it! I like to have fun, so now I think of how to make my animation fun! I'm an energetic person, so now I consider ways to bring more energy into my animation. My personality and moods are complex, so my characters are complex. I can now build a connection with audience members by bringing a human element into my animations. Both my reel and I are so grateful that my instructors were able to guide me to this outcome. They viewed my work with industry-level expectations, which took my reel from a collection of assignments to what could be, company assets.” 

You can reach Siddarth 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?

Siddarth: I am so grateful to have been taught by such knowledgeable, dedicated, and wonderfully pleasant professionals! There is great value in iAnimate hiring working professionals as instructors. They have insight into the industry and build the students up to industry-level standards. They have personal wisdom about the creative process that acts as a springboard for students. In all of my courses, the instructors have created a space where learning is the main focus. No grades, no rules, no product was interfering with learning to be the best creative possible! Not all students within an individual course are of the same skill level, and that is ok! The courses and the instructors are flexible to tailor to help each individual on a personal level. The care the instructors put into these courses will always stay with me. For example, Scott Holmes would build the most knowledgeable and well-verbalized explanation of the mechanics of creatures I have ever seen. I will now forever remember that birds spend more time on the downstroke than upstroke! I would have claimed I knew how to collect references for fictional creatures, but Scott's way was better! Another great instructor I had was Kevin Rucker! I have never received more individual and in-depth feedback than in his class. He would create individual videos addressing each student's animation, during class and out of class! He would take the time to open each person's animation file within Maya and show the student step by step how exactly to improve or fix an animation. Having such a detailed and informative video allowed me to rewatch the material as many times as I needed to understand. If I still did not understand, I felt I had help available to me at all times. I carry so much gratitude and admiration for the instructors I have had the pleasure to work with during my time at iAnimate. 

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

Siddarth: iAnimate started by strengthening my foundational skills. By ensuring I had a profound understanding of all twelve principles of animation, I have created a rock-solid, unshakable foundation to build off of. Every animator can always brush up on their principles to build new techniques and understanding. It was through this understanding that I was able to start fleshing out animated characters that had a touch of life to them. iAnimate pushed me to observe closely what it is that makes a human and what makes an animation. Through a strong base, I have developed a confidence that gave me a combatant against impostor syndrome and the bravery to make mistakes. I have become more self-sufficient and efficient. The closeness with which my work has been evaluated has exposed areas of improvement and workflow hold-ups. Now, having been taught through such challenges, I have better quality work for less time. The evidence of improvement can be seen in the increase in interest I have received from companies from a year ago to now.

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

Siddarth: I consider myself to be a game animator! Games are so near and dear to my heart. Video games have brought me joy from a young age, inspiring me through the years! When my instructors tell me about their time working on video games, I get so hopeful that I can one day have similar stories to share!

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

Siddarth: I would like to one day work on a fighting or action game. I love animating action and combos. I've worked really hard to build skills for things like run and walk cycles, idle animation, cinematic action sequences, and takedowns. I loved working through all things high action! I get extra excited if it's challenging. I love a good challenge!