ONLINE 6-9pm PST
EPIC INTENSIVE
ANIMATION
4 Speakers, 4 Evenings, 12 Total Hours
Everyday Low Price: $130
WEEK ONE
TUES, Dec 5th
Danny Arriaga
Walt Disney Studios
Design Principles and Performance In Character Design
In this workshop, I’ll go over the design process I use to create authentic and appealing characters and how it relates to the animated project I’m designing for. We’ll go over searching for references and how to use them to push the poses/gestures of your designs. We’ll also cover the importance of caricature and how it relates to the authenticity of character design.
Bio
Daniel Arriaga joined Pixar Animation Studios in May 2001 as a Production Assistant in simulation & Effects on “Monster’s Inc.” and soon became the Production Assistant on the Academy Award winning “The Incredibles.” He transitioned over to the art department as a Sketch Artist on Academy Award-winning “Ratatouille” contributing to the character and set designs. He continued in the art department on other award winning feature films “WALL•E,” “Up” and became Character Art Director for “Toy Story 3.”In 2009, Arriaga began working with Walt Disney Animation as a Visual Development Artist on “Wreck-It-Ralph,” and as an Art Director for “Prep and Landing 2.” In 2011, he reunited with Pixar as a character designer on Academy Award-winning “Inside Out,” and recently served as the Character Art Director on the studio’s original film, “Coco” for which he won an Annie. As of May 6th 2019, he started working freelance for various studios including Illumination, Warner Bros and Netflix among others. He is currently now working on a feature film being created by Kuku Studios.Born and raised in Oakland, CA, Arriaga studied art and illustration at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco. He currently resides in Dublin, CA, with his family and his two beautiful beagles and cat.
THUR, Dec 7th
Steve Pilcher
Netflix, Kuku, Pixar Pictures
Character Design in context with Production Design and the importance of Traditional Art
I am an Artist involved in the collaborative art form of film making. It has been described as the greatest art form combining Story, Art, Design, Color, Lighting, Motion, Sound and Music. As a Production Designer/Art Director I will impart a different perspective on how your Character design will work and evolve contextually in film Production. I will discuss the importance of Backstory and the contextual relationship it shares with Environment and Color. Everything in film interrelates and fits into visual priorities. Environments are also Characters. They are as important as Animated Characters are in a film.
I continue to work in traditional art, drawing, painting and sculpting. A background in traditional art can pave an ideal pathway into the digital art form of film animation. I would like to show you how it all interrelates.
Bio
Steve’s early career began in 1974 at the age of 19 in Canada. The next 20 years included solo Gallery exhibitions, Children’s book illustration and Commercial illustration.
In 1995 at the age of 40 he and his wife Donna moved to California to join Warner Bros. Feature Animation.
Steve has also worked with DreamWorks Feature Animation, PIXAR Animation Studios (2005-2020) and is currently working with Kuku Studios teaming with Netflix Feature Animation and Sony ImageWorks.
Filmography representing 28+ consecutive years:
AD / Production Design – “Quest for Camelot”, “Osmosis Jones”, “Shrek 2”, “Brave”, “Finding Dory”, “Soul”, “In Your Dreams” – (2024).
WEEK TWO
TUES, Dec 12th
Charles Ellison
Netflix / Warner Brothers
3D Character Visual Development for Feature Animation
Charles welcomes you to join him in discovering how 3D Character Development plays an integral role in feature animation. Learn insights to the process in which designing characters in 3D helps evolve a character concept from 2D design, by discovering the language of 3D shapes and look-development that help bring a character to life, and how these discoveries help spearhead the efforts downstream into production. Through thoughtful examples and discussion, Charles will elaborate on his experiences, sharing his love for the craft, and hopefully inspiring those who dream of a career in 3D character development.
Bio
Originally from Venezuela, Charles has 20 years of experience in the Animation industry. During that time, Charles has served as a Head of Modeling for DreamWorks Animation where he supervised both Trolls and its sequel, Trolls World Tour, as well as offering an extensive resume as a 3D artist for such franchises as “How To Train Your Dragon”, where he helped develop characters and environments for each installment of the beloved trilogy, and other DreamWorks films such as “Kung Fu Panda 2”, “Rise of the Guardians”, “Abominable” and most recently “Ruby Gillman – Teenage Kraken”. Charles mostly serves as a Character Visual Development artist where he has helped bring to life many franchise characters from DreamWorks Animation and Netflix Animation, and currently is a Character Art Director for Warner Bros. Pictures Animation where he is helping usher in more characters for upcoming features.
THUR, Dec 14
Marcelo Vignali
Sony Pictures
Designing Character: The Purpose of Character Design by Marcelo Vignali
Good storytelling necessitates good character design. We’ll look at the process from concept to design. We’ll learn how to manage shape language, and create consistency between designs.
Bio
Marcelo Vignali trained as an illustrator and began his career as a commercial artist in 1985.
In 1989 Marcelo would establish a relationship with the Walt Disney Company that would span several decades in feature animation, theme parks, and Disney Television Animation.
He’s worked on such Animated classics as, Mulan, Lilo & Stitch, Atlantis and Brother Bear, and also helped to create Disneyland’s Toontown and Roger Rabbit’s Car-Toon Spin attraction for Disneyland. Marcelo also cowrote the creative development process for Disney Television Animation.
In 2003 Marcelo helped launch Sony Pictures Animation as one of the first artists hired at the studio. He would help develop their first animated feature Open Season. And would continue to work on Surf’s Up, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Smurfs, Spider-Man – Into the Spider-verse, and Vivo. Marcelo also developed and designed Hotel Transylvania, delivering the studio their most successful franchise. He was twice nominated for Production Designer of the Year by ASIFA.
During his professional career Marcelo has continued working as a freelance illustrator; having illustrated gaming cards for Wizards of the Coast and World of Warcraft.
Today he enjoys the reputation of being one of the best talents of his generation.
WEEK THREE
TUES, AUG 8
Gwen Enderoglu
Pixar
Practical Polish
The final 10% of the shot’s life can make all the difference in the perceived level of quality and craftsmanship of the animation. Take a deep dive into feature-level polish and shot refinement and learn tangible tricks to further refine your animation curves.
Bio
Gwendelyn Enderoglu has worked in the animation industry since 2006, starting her career at Sony Pictures Imageworks where she animated on wide ranging projects including Surf’s Up, Beowulf, I am Legend, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Hotel Transylvania. She has spent the last decade at Pixar Animation Studios contributing to such films as Inside Out, Coco, Onward and Luca. Gwendelyn most recently served as Directing Animator on the upcoming release Elemental.
THUR, AUG 10
Michael Woodside
Walt Disney
Animating a Musical Performance
There are incredible opportunities for nuance in performance to be found when animating a character singing. Join Michael as he breaks down his philosophy when crafting a musical performance in animation.
Bio
Michael is an animator who has been working in the industry for 15 years. Currently at Walt Disney Animation Studios, he has contributed as an Animator on films that include Frozen, Big Hero 6, Zootopia, and Moana. He was an Animation Supervisor for Frozen 2 and Encanto, helping to shepherd the musical sequences through Animation. In 2022, Michael received the VES Award for Virtual Cinematography for his participation in the construction of the “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” sequence.
NO AUDIO OR VIDEO RECORDING OF THE PRESENTED MATERIAL OF ANY KIND IS PERMITTED
Terms and Conditions
CANCELLATION POLICY
Ticket purchase fee includes non-refundable registration fee of $75.00 USD. Cancellations for refund of remainder of ticket purchase fee will be accepted up to 3 weeks before the event. From 20-10 days before the event, a cancellation fee of $100 USD will apply. From 9 days before the event and after, refunds cannot be provided. Event tickets are non-transferable.
EVENT CHANGES
The Animation Collaborative reserves the right to Cancel the Event if a minimum number of attendees is not reached by two-weeks before the event start date (minimum attendee deadline Jan 24th, 2023)
The event organizer, The Animation Collaborative, reserves the right to cancel or postpone this event with reasonable discretion and for any reason (inclement weather, low enrollment, instructor illness, or any other unforeseen disruptive circumstances). In the case of cancellation by The Animation Collaborative, the full event fee, including the registration fee of $75.00 USD, will be refunded. If the event is postponed, registrants will have the option to either receive a full refund, or transfer their registration to the rescheduled event. In all cases, The Animation Collaborative shall have no further liability beyond the event fee. We regret that any transportation and hotel costs, cancellation penalties, or any other non-recoverable costs incurred by registrants are not refundable. In the event of any unforeseen last-minute scheduling problems, we reserve the right to substitute an equivalent, qualified instructor who might not be listed in the class description.
AGE RESTRICTIONS: Attendees must be over the age of 18.
RECORDING: A pen and paper are recommended for taking notes. Laptop/tablet computers are permitted, but please no recording with these or other devices. NO AUDIO OR VIDEO RECORDING OF THE PRESENTED MATERIAL OF ANY KIND IS PERMITTED. Out of respect for fellow attendees and the instructors, we ask that attendees please refrain from live tweeting, texting, phone calls, etc. during the class.
QUESTIONS? Please contact The Animation Collaborative at: staff@animc.com