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With animation and visual effects more ubiquitous than ever before, our Animation School’s resources will help to familiarize you with the latest software, techniques, and trends in 2D and 3D animation. Students and aspiring animators can browse through informative Q&A’s and interviews, detailed how-to guides, and articles covering the current developments in the industry.
How to Animate a Film for an Older Audience
January 12, 2017Each year, animated films give viewers of all ages something to anticipate and enjoy. If you’re an aspiring animator, one of the most important skills ...
How to Do Comic-Con Without a Badge
August 10, 2016It’s only been a week since Comic-Con and if you couldn’t make it you’ve been poring over websites, blogs, and social media trying to absorb ...
How to Make a (Good) Kinetic Typography Animation Video
December 19, 2014Kinetic typography is a fantastically engaging way of delivering text information in a visual way. It’s a great marketing vehicle for those looking to spread ...
Star Wars, Marvel, and More: Your Ultimate Guide to Disney Investor Day Announcements
December 11, 2020It’s been quite an eventful year for Disney. Like many, they were left trying to figure out a whole new theatrical release model for big-budget ...
NYFA Alum Francesco Panzieri on What It’s Like Being The Compositing Supervisor on a Netflix Film
November 13, 2020Netflix’s upcoming release of the holiday musical feature film Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (“Jingle Jangle”) will see NYFA alum Francesco Panzieri among the film’s ...
Pixar’s “Out”-standing Short Film Featuring Their First Gay Main Character Hits The Mark
June 17, 2020Oftentimes I look at my dog Zelda, a beautiful pet AmStaff troublemaker, and wish we could switch places just for a while to take a ...
Major Trends in Animation in 2020
January 3, 2020The top five grossing films of 2019 had one thing in common: they all relied heavily on visual effects & 3D animation.
The top five–Avengers: Endgame, ...
The Best Animated School TV Series
November 29, 2019Schools make for dynamic and popular settings for television series, but perhaps even more so for animated shows since the target audience is usually children. ...
9 Hilarious Animated Films for the Whole Family
August 23, 2019When it comes to animated films for children, parents resign themselves to watching the same few entries over and over and over again. That’s why ...
The Best Animation Studios in the World Outside of Disney & Pixar
April 26, 2019From today’s computer-animated films to the hand-drawn classics, there’s no denying the storytelling power of animation. For nearly a century, this art has given us ...
5 Animated Short Films That Pull At Our Heartstring
April 26, 2019Sometimes all you need is a few minutes to tell a heartfelt story that leaves an impact lasting much longer than the film itself. Here ...
The Top 3 Free 2D Animation Software Tools in 2018
December 7, 2018Certain styles of 3D animation have been around long enough that younger generations of animators and animation fans may not remember a time where they ...
The 6 Latest & Greatest Trends in Animation
July 20, 2018The art of putting together images to depict a sequence of events is much older than we think. Egyptian murals with carvings showing the steps ...
Here's What It's Like to Work for Walt Disney Animation Studios
June 30, 2017For many who grew up watching Disney movies the opportunity to work at Walt Disney Animation Studios would be an incredible experience. Many aspiring animators ...
Inspiring Advice from 3 Top Animation Studios
June 23, 2017No matter whether you’re about to start your program at The New York Film Academy’s 3D Animation & Visual Effects (VFX) School or are already ...
The 6 Best Animated Shorts From The Last SXSW Films
May 19, 2017This year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas, was another success in film showcases. Running March 10-19, the festival hosted filmmakers from all ...
Technical Innovations in Star Wars Through the Ages
May 4, 2017We have now marked 40 years since the first Star Wars, “A New Hope” astounded moviegoers with its otherworldly look and stunning special effects. Since ...
5 Great Sites for Animation References
April 7, 2017It’s a good time to be an aspiring animator. Access to many useful sites are only a few keystrokes away, giving you a look at ...
Animated Series to Watch for Inspiration
March 31, 2017Visual effects and 3D animation have really grown over the last few decades with the help of improved tools for animations. If you are interested ...
5 Types Of Animation: Finding Inspiration In All Styles
March 17, 2017As you pursue your 3D animation and visual effects studies with NYFA’s Animation School, it’s important to understand the history and techniques that shaped the ...
Kids’ Films that Broke Ground with Special Effects
March 10, 2017When you think of groundbreaking special effects, you likely think of summer blockbusters and big budget productions. But, children’s films are often a source of ...
Behind the Visual Effects of “The Man in the High Castle”
March 4, 2017One of the challenges of filmmaking is making sure your world feels believable. Even when you have “Star Wars'” many species and planets or you’re ...
NYFA Congratulates the 2017 Annie Award Winners
February 6, 2017In the midst of awards season buzz and entertainment industry busyness, the animated entertainment industry gets a chance to shine every year during the Annie ...
What Aspiring Artists Can Learn from The New Yorker Cartoons
January 28, 2017In The New Yorker you’ll find fiction, poetry, reportage — you name it. But if there’s one thing we can’t imagine disappearing from one of ...
3 Disney Renaissance Lessons on Animation
January 6, 2017The Disney Renaissance changed the way the world experiences animation. Of all the companies that need no introduction, Disney is perhaps at the top. Boasting ...
The 4 Most Epic VFX Moments That Owe It All to Green Screen Backgrounds
August 6, 2016The average person walks into their local theater and walks out mesmerized by the incredible visual effects. They talk with friends about how vivid a ...
The Average Animator Salary and How Its Changed Over Time
August 6, 2016If there’s one profession that has continually grown in demand each year, it’s animation. More and more aspiring animators dream of creating worlds as captivating ...
8 Movies Where Miniature Special Effects Trump CGI
December 11, 2015From the stop-motion animated works of the legendary Ray Harryhausen to that White House scene in Independence Day, effects involving miniatures have long been a ...
CGI Animation History: Defining (and Awesome) Moments in Cinema
November 18, 2015When done well, computer generated imagery can allow the filmmaker to achieve results that would be impractical (if not impossible) to recreate by other means.
Done badly, ...
Computers Killed the Video Star: Did CGI ruin SFX?
October 5, 2015It’s an argument as old as the hills. Did the advancement of ubiquitous CGI kill the art of moviemaking, and has it rendered many of ...
13 Groundbreaking Shows In TV Visual Effects History
August 14, 2015TV has come a long way over the years. There have been some incredible highs that have almost literally gotten the whole world talking, as ...
Five Best Options For Free Graphic Design And Animation Software
April 23, 2015Creating 3D, manipulatable models without the need to get arms-deep in clay is an attractive idea. Forking over $1,500 every year for a subscription to Autodesk ...
Disney's Next Live-Action Rehash: Winnie the Pooh?
April 9, 2015News has just surfaced that Disney Studios is continuing with its slew of live-action adaptations of old, cherished animations, this time with Winnie the Pooh ...
Stop Motion Animation: 5 Award-Winning Stop Motion Films
March 9, 2015Stop motion animation is a discipline that has been around for almost as long as the film industry itself, but it’s been in the last ...
A Quick History of Animation
February 26, 2015The animation industry has grown to become an absolute behemoth in the world of cinema. As of the last reliable estimates, which surfaced around 2008, ...
How To Do Stop Motion Animation
February 20, 2015Before the advent of fully-blown CGI animation, traditional animation – in which every single frame is drawn by hand – was the industry standard. If ...
Best Stop Motion Apps for iPad & Desktop
February 20, 2015If you’re studying the craft at animation school, you’ll have every professional tool imaginable at your fingertips. But what about when you want to work ...
10 Best Twitter Accounts EVERY Animator Should Follow
January 30, 2015Animation is a big business these days. Many of today’s top television series and major motion pictures are animated, and there’s a high demand for ...
The Most Anticipated 2015 Animated Movies
January 23, 20152014 was, all in all, a pretty decent year for animated movies. At one end of the spectrum, we saw some exemplary work coming to ...
Jobs in Animation: Average Salaries & Career Paths
January 16, 2015To someone who is passionate about animation, gaining paid work in the field can be something of a dream come true. The only downside is getting ...
The Best Free / Open Source Animation Software
January 16, 2015The Best Free 3D Animation & Drawing Animation SoftwareFor the most part, animation is not an expensive craft to pursue but it does come with ...
12 Movies That Revolutionized Visual Effects
November 20, 2014Special effects have been part and parcel of moviemaking since the days of Thomas Edison and the dawn of cinema. King Kong revolutionized stop motion animation ...
Are drawing or artistic abilities necessary to attend animation school?
November 7, 2014One of the most common questions asked in terms of prerequisites for attending animation school – like the New York Film Academy’s animation school in ...
The 7 Must-Watch TED Talks For Anyone Interested In Animation
October 30, 2014Animation is one of the most unique artforms in modern media – a unique blend of creative imagination and technical prowess, animating is something that ...
Bring Your Ideas To Life With These Simple Steps For Animating With Clay
September 22, 2014Clay animation is a unique way to express your characters and to truly connect with your subjects as you build them. Not only will you ...
Frozen Is Actually Extremely Overrated. Here Are Five Reasons Why…
September 9, 2014You’ve heard that song a thousand times. You’ve seen all the merch. If you’ve got kids, you probably know the entire movie word for word.
Frozen ...
Most Expensive Animated Movies Of All Time
July 8, 2014Forget hiring a cast of A-list actors or shooting at a number of exotic locales around the world; if you want to totally blow a ...
- NYFA Alum Francesco Panzieri on What It’s Like Being The Compositing Supervisor on a Netflix Film
November 13, 2020Netflix’s upcoming release of the holiday musical feature film Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (“Jingle Jangle”) will see NYFA alum Francesco Panzieri among the film’s ... 
Interview With Mark Reynolds: Do You Have To Be Crazy To Learn Computer Animation?
July 28, 2014NYFA: What is your personal background and what made you interested in animation?
Mark Reynolds: My Previous Life was one spent dying a little every day in a ...
Interview With Elize Ohira: How World Travel Prepares You For A Career In Animation (And Other Tips)
July 25, 2014NYFA: Can you tell us a bit about yourself, your background, and what first got you interested in animation?
Elize Ohira: I have always been more “right-brained.” As ...
From Italy To Hollywood: NYFA Animation Graduate Francesco Panzieri Shares How To Become A Visual Effects Artist
June 16, 2014In 2008 Francesco Panzieri (website, filmography) finished his studies in Italy with a degree in Audiovisual and Mass Communication Media. Soon after he moved to New ...