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| Animation by Joris Van Laar |
Our New Year’s Animation Class begins on Monday 6th January 2026. It’s not too late to book a place; all you need to do is visit the main Animation Apprentice site and go through a few simple steps.
If you want to learn 3D animation to a professional level, and start your new career as an animator – your journey starts here.
Getting started
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| The book we recommend for studying animation |
Below is a brief list of stuff to get you under way. You don’t have to do all of it, but tick off a
few of the things on this list and you will be a making a great start on
your animation career.
The animation industry continues to thrive here in the UK and overseas – there’s never been a better time to learn the art and craft of character and creature animation.
Reading List
First, here is a short reading list to get you started. We’ve narrowed it down to one key book that we recommend for all our students.
The Animator’s Survival Kit.
Any serious student of animation should buy a copy of The Animator’s Survival Kit,
by Richard Williams. It is now the standard textbook for animators and
easily the most comprehensive book available for learning animation.
The next thing to do is get yourself a free educational license of Autodesk Maya.
Maya is the main software we animate with; it’s still the industry standard. You can find a free educational license here.
Workstation
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| Ball Throw by Joris Van Laar |
You will also need a decent laptop or workstation capable of running Maya. To see our guide to buying a suitable laptop, read this blog post.
Watch Our Free Videos
Once you have done that, take a look at the week 1 videos at the Animation Apprentice website.
The week 1 videos are all free and this gives you a general
introduction to animation, helping you to get familiar with the
language of the medium.
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| Free Beginner Animation Tutorials |
To get started with animation basics, why not not Animate a Telephone Ringing in Maya, Animate a Flag Waving in Maya, or Animate a Submarine Underwater.
Welcome to Animation Apprentice!
If you do some or all the things on this list – you will have a great head start! I look forward to meeting you.