Animators quick to draw

25 November 2008

Short Courses

Earlier this year, just a few months ago, Producer Colin South from Media World, the company behind the hit animated series ‘Dog Star’, ‘Quads’ and ‘The Silver Brumby’ came to FTI and spoke passionately about the needs of the animation industry.

His audience was not students or aspiring filmmakers but the a meeting involving the boards and senior staff of both the Film and Television Institute and ScreenWest.

Amongst the many items South highlighted was the basic need for animators to have outstanding drawing skills. South was not alone, FTI had already recieved similar feedback from many other local and national employers of animators. It would seem as the work of animators became more computerised and digital – the focus on core skills had begun to fall away in many training programs.

Working with experienced Animator Susan Bresnihan the Institute quickly developed a new professional development program to address the skills shortfall. An intensive 8 session program focussing solely on drawing skills.

FTI’s Professional Development and Training Manager Graeme Watson comments,

“The vocational training program here at FTI has always had a strong drawing focus, but many new animators are entering the industry through programs catering to diverse needs including games development, multimedia and web design. The focus of this program is solely on the skills in drawing that come before animation.”

Over the eight weeks the participants have developed skills in drawing quickly, studying anatomy, focussing on perspective and many other essential base skills.

Animator Caspar Zielono comments,

“It’s like we went back to the very beginning of drawing and started all over again, and then we built our skills up to return to the world of animation.”

Classmate Cameron Thompson has also found the course benificial,

“I’ve learnt how to work my way through the frustrations and challenges that i used to encounter.”

The class has been a huge success and has been fully subscribed, surprising the Institute’s Professional Development and Training team who debated if people would be willling to commit to such a long professional development course.

‘Most of the time, filmmakers are asking us if we can do more short seminars or online events, things that take up very little time. This program has been the complete opposite, a long course that requires a serious commitment.” notes Graeme Watson.

Following it’s success on the initial delivery the program is now set to become a regular part of the Institute’s professional development program.