Around 300 freelancers have attended 12 online masterclasses and workshops funded by the Animation Skills Fund since the beginning of lockdown. Thanks to the contributions from UK animation productions we have been able to offer this training for free to animation professionals at all levels across the UK.
This included large turnouts for online sessions with animation director Ruth Ducker, studio owner Milana Karaica and animation director Lorraine Lordan. Revisit how Lorraine Lordan balances making a short film with lead roles on features and how Milana Karaica built a successful female-led production studio.
The Animation Skills Fund has also supported a series of remote sessions on giving and receiving feedback as a freelance animator, led by independent development coach Kate Lander.
Funding was awarded to enable lead animators and riggers to improve their knowledge of ToonBoom Harmony software.
The fourth iteration of the Animated Women UK’s Achieve programme was also modified for online delivery, with support of the the BFI, awarding National Lottery funds as part of its Future Film Skills strategy.
In upcoming weeks, the Animation Skills Fund is investing in further online training opportunities for animation professionals:
- Technical directors can apply now for a five-day Toon Boom Harmony course. The online training will cover topics including analysing production pipelines and developing new scripts to optimise the production workflow.
- Professionals can attend an online panel discussion about inclusion in animation on 18 June, featuring animation art director Tanya Scott, concept artist Bimpe Alliu, VFX and CGI freelancer Mel Garber, stop motion animator Rita Sampaio and 2D animator Rizwan Rafiq.
- The Children’s Media Conference SkillBuilder workshop on 6 July .
More training opportunities on topics such as budgeting in animation, stepping up to production management and line producing, writing pre-school series, as well as a panel on skills development and finding work, will be announced shortly.