An introduction to 2D animation rigging

Have you ever considered a career in 2D rigging? Or wondered whether you had the right skills to pursue a career as a rigger? This ScreenSkills session will feature a panel of animation professionals ready to answer all of your burning questions as well as giving an insight into what they do in their roles day to day. 

Hear from industry specialists like Adam Oliver, a 2D animator who specializes in Toon Boom training and Niki Kehoe, who completed the Toon Boom training in 2020. Niki will share her experiences on the course as well as offering an insight into her role supervising a rigging team. The panel will be completed by experienced animators Tim Frost and Julia Young who have worked on many beloved and award-winning series and are skilled in the use of CelAction software.

The session will be chaired by Chris Carter, head of 2D animation pipeline at Blue-Zoo Productions.

There is an industry-wide shortage of riggers and, to go some way to address this, we will be supporting online Toon Boom and CelAction training courses in the next few months. We have also scheduled an introduction to 3D rigging, open for booking now.

Who it's for

This event is aimed at new entrants or anyone who is considering in transferring into the more technical roles in animation.

Speakers

Chris Carter (Chair) is head of 2D animation pipeline at Blue Zoo Productions. In the pipeline team, his goal is to empower colleagues to do what they do best; by providing tools, documentation and training to aid them in repetitive, difficult and error prone processes.

He regularly teaches technical direction and rigging in Toon Boom Harmony.  His previous roles have included: technical director, scripter, rigging lead, rigger, animator and scene build artist in Toon Boom Harmony series productions in UK & Ireland including: It’s Pony (Nickelodeon), DangerMouse (BBC), Nella the Princess Knight (Nick Jr.), Daisy & Ollie (Milkshake). 

Julia Young works in children's TV animation in London, specialising in artwork, design and rigging. She has worked on many beloved brands including Mr Bean, Simon's Cat and Love Monster. She is currently working on Winnie and Wilbur, which is illustrated by Korky Paul and produced by Winduna.

Tim Frost is an animator, designer and rigger working on BAFTA and EMMY award-winning TV and games (including Peppa Pig, Hey Duggee!, Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom and Moshi Monsters). He is a lecturer on Animation at Falmouth University’s School of Film and Television. Tim's software tools include CelAction 2D, Adobe Animate, Blender, Unity and After Effects.

Niki Kehoe has recently joined Dog Ears Animation in Derry as assistant director on their brand new 2D show. She previously worked as the pipeline director in MysteryQ on Netflix’s up-coming show Deadendia, developing the in-house and remote access workflows for the show. She was also a Toon Boom Ambassador in their inaugural year last year. 

Before working at MysteryQ, Niki was a senior rigger on It’s Pony for Blue Zoo in London and on multiple shows for Boulder Media in Dublin including Rescue Bots Academy, Littlest Pet Shop and Dorothy & the Wizard of Oz.

Adam Oliver is a 2D animator with a professional career spanning over a decade. He found his way into animation through comics and a love of sketchbooks, and is forever battling the 'too many ideas, not enough time' conundrum! Aside from making things move, Adam loves a good walk in the countryside, playing golf and binge watching Scandinavian crime dramas (very niche!). He has been specialising in Toon Boom training via Adam’s Animation Academy and a rigging consultant since 2017.

This event is supported by the ScreenSkills Animation Skills Fund with contributions from UK animation productions.

This session will take place online via Zoom. Click ‘get ticket’ to reserve your place: you must login or register before you are able to get a ticket for this event. Before the start of the session, a joining link will be sent to you via email.

If you are no longer able to use your ticket, we ask you to please contact support@screenskills.com  so that we can release your place. Our sessions are often oversubscribed, so we’d like to give other freelancers the opportunity to fill available spots. Thank you for your consideration.