SPRING IS HERE!

And so is Animgather!

See you next Saturday ;)

For more details check out our facebook group or @Animgather on twitter.

This is our third event so far. We usually meet at a certain time (this time being 2pm) and then carry on for as long as people want to hang out! People have attended from all over Europe and we always have a ton of fun. You can check out our past shenanigans here:

Photos
Videos

2pm at www.thedoodlebar.com London, UK. Feel free to bring a packed lunch/picnic type thing, snazzy pizza take out is available too, and there's bar in the venue. Also, places to doodle for the doodlers!

Be sure to bring your cameras and film equipment, as we always like to post pictures throughout the day and after the event.

Here's a video to celebrate spring time

Can't wait to meet you all :D

Framestore even tweeted about us :)

Spring is here, which means it's time for another @Animgather, run by one of our animators, India http://t.co/kAB8gCLbA7
— Framestore (@Framestore) March 24, 2014

Animgather Spring is here!

Animgather, the Spring edition, has been announced!

We've already had someone book their flight from Sweden! Woop! The venue looks super fun too. We hope to see you there!

Join our group and event on facebook.
Follow us on Twitter @Animgather

and check out out past shenanigans on youtube and flickr

The Doodle Bar
29th March 2014
Battersea, London
2pm

Animgather Christmas edition

With busynesstimes I haven't had chance to review Animgather 2.0, until now!

It was another gigantic success. I'm so thrilled that a whole load of human beans turned up, a bunch of old faces and a bunch of new ones too. We were located in a pub function room near Waterloo, which housed a giant mirror, for the vain ones ;). I think at the peak of the day there was about 45-50 gatherer's. Everyone was in high Christmas spirits. We had origami paper available, sketch pads, pens, music (not that that could be heard from all the chatting!) and of course we attempted a human stop motion animation again (totally optional to all attendees). This time we created a human Christmas tree, and here it is:

I adore meeting new people, it's such an inspiring experience. Some of the feedback I got was that people were a little confused by the title of our gather, "ANIM"gather, (and rightly so) but it really is an invitation to ANYONE who is creative. It just happened to be named by a bunch of animators. I really want to encourage a more diverse crowd. This time we had people that love games, film, commercials, art, drawing, socializing  and I think our furthest travelling member was from Norway! You don't have to be an animator to join us :). It's all about meeting creative people, having some fun, and getting inspired! You never know who you might meet, and where it might lead. 

As people got into the origami making, we predictably has to have a paper aeroplane contest:

It was a fab day, and we have a brand new exciting venue for the next gather in the pipeline as I type this sentence. It's definitely going to be a good one if it get's approved, lots and lots of opportunity for fun!

Here is the photographic evidence from the last event, be sure to give them a gander. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/animgather/

And to keep up to date with any news, event dates or general chit chat, you can follow us on:

Facebook Animgather group - be sure to add yourself to get invited to the events :)

Twitter @Animgather

HAPPY NEW YEAR from Animgather, here's to an awesome 2014, and we look forward to meeting you soon :)

Christmas & New Year!! :D

Hello PlingPlongers.

So, another year has vacuumed up into the atmosphere.  How was yours? Did you remember to keep inspired? Did you achieve all your goals? Was it a great year? Was it not so good? Fear not! As there is another year upon us, and we can make this one count, or count even more!

When I first started this blog, it was all based upon New Year Resolutions. To do a drawing a day for every day of that year. And somehow I kept to it. But rarely have I (or most people I know) ever kept to one of those "resolutions" - it's much easier to set a vaguer/bigger aim, and complete little goals along the way.

I think it's important to think about "resolutions" (whatever time of year that may be) and re-asses your goals and what you want.Whether it's to learn something new, practise something you haven't done in a while, or keep practising something you already do. There's no need to wait until New Year's day to start something.

For the coming year I plan to focus more on the characterful side of things (rather than all the VFX personal shnizzle I've been doing over the past year) and I want to produce a lot more creative art work, not just related to animating; painting, drawing, making, you name it. So watch this space ;). After making things for Christmas presents and painting some pictures for people, I've forgotten how nice it is to be surrounded by cut up card and paint brushes everywhere! Meeting Claire Keane back in November really inspired me. Just to take some time out and actually make art in the way you love and want to, makes so much sense, because it will always reflect into your other work too.

And also she said to "Never give up!".

It's fun to collaborate and bounce ideas with your peers. I'd love to see what people produce over the next 12 months. I'm sure there's some interesting things in the making already. Hopefully I'll have a few more updates on my short film too this year, lots have things have taken shape over the past month, very exciting!

I've got my eye on The Dam Keeper

Animation process in The Dam Keeper from Erick Oh on Vimeo.

Shaun Tan - Having just received one of his books as an early Christmas Present "The Rules of Summer". I also just found out he made "The Lost Thing". It's such a beautiful book, full of marvellous poetic snippets, teamed with the most extraordinarily wonderful paintings. They look van Gogh-esque. They are rather yummy.

Be sure to keep up to date with what's out there, adverts, films, art work, local exhibitions, you never know what might trigger an idea for your next piece.

This year has also been a success for Animgather! Two successful outings have been arranged so far, so definitely watch this space for more in the coming 12 months. Check out our shenanigans here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/animgather/ - hopefully we'll see some of you there!

I hope you guys are all ready for the New Year crashing our way, and remember to keep inspired!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, and here's to a VERY Happy (creative) New Year! :)

Animgather

The photos from Animgather are now up online

http://www.flickr.com/photos/animgather/

The venue plans are brewing for the next event, so watch this space!

Animgather 2013

Phew, Animgather was a great success!

The sun came out, about 55 people showed up, and everyone had a great day!

There was food, ice cream, drinks, and most importantly PEOPLE!

We even created a small stop-motion film of a walk cycle, each pose had a different person, and we attempted to do it in size order.

The overall reaction, I got from the day, was that everyone really enjoyed themselves, and the question I got asked the most was “When is the next one?” – so watch this space!

We've had a mention on www.splinebomb.com here

Framestore mentioned us on Twitter

All the photos will be uploaded here shortly - http://www.flickr.com/photos/animgather/

If you’d like to keep updated on the next event, check out the FaceBook page  www.facebook.com/groups/animgather/ , twitter account @Animgather, and for any more information email me at animgather@gmail.com