1. AM Blog
  2. Animation Mentor News
  3. Creatures Courses: Updated For You.

Creatures Courses: Updated For You.

by | Oct 7, 2013

You asked. Fear not, we delivered. Get ready to swoop, punch, claw, and hear the roar of fantasy creatures come to life! Broaden your imagination and learn the art of animating creatures with live-action backplates so you can truly make your creatures come alive. Top creature animators share their tips, cheats, and industry secrets on effective production and Autodesk® Maya® workflows. This course is a must for all professional and aspiring animators.

Blockbuster summer movies, hit TV shows like Game of Thrones, and a slew of games need strong creature animators like you. In 2011, we launched a program developed by top creature animators from Tippett Studio and Industrial Light & Magic. We continue to be the premier source for creature animation education, and we’re committed to improving these courses to appeal to the busy professional.

In 2013 we asked you how to take our program to the next level. You told us what you wanted. We listened.

Check out the improvements we’ve made to the program

  • Shorter course length
  • Personalized instruction from your professional creature mentor
  • Reduced weekly time commitment
  • Lower introductory pricing
  • Take either class (or both) in whichever order your prefer
  • No demo reel required
  • Assignments are optional, however must be submitted to get feedback during weekly eCritique®

Creature Animation: Fight or Flight

  • How to animate bad-ass, realistic fight scenes.
  • What it takes to make your soar to new heights.
  • Integrate your animation into live-action background plates like the pros.
  • Check out the week-by-week breakdown.

Creature Animation: Locomotion

  • Essential body mechanics for making creatures move like creatures.
  • Master the four-legged walk and predator movement.
  • Push reality with exaggeration and leverage our fantasy creature rigs.
  • Check out the week-by-week breakdown.

Limited Seats
Launching in March 2014 with limited seating: Sign up on the wait list to be the first to know when class opens for registration.

Student Work Examples

Related Articles

15 Years: Celebrating with Mentors Greg Kyle & Dave Burgess

15 Years: Happy Birthday Animation Mentor!

To learn more about the short film process, we sat down with the animators behind Snip, a brand new animated short. These talented animators are Animation Mentor alumni, and we’re very proud of them. Read on to hear how they brought our Stella and Stan rigs to life!

read more