Computer Animation Arts

It's still very early days on Computer Animation Arts .  Briefs have been briefed and brain cells are firing again after the hazier, lazier days of the long hot Summer.  Our latest recruits are beginning to lose their expressions of bewilderment as new routines start to feel less overwhelming. Returning students are revving up.  While the next edition of the Post With The Most will be the usual cornucopia of ideas-in-the-offing, this month's PWTM has a retrospective feel as we catch up with some of our alumni and the Course Leader answers that question beloved of school teachers everywhere, "What did you do over the Summer holidays?". Before all of that - an exciting announcement: after several years of preparation, reflection and improvement, Computer Animation Arts has been accredited by Creative Skillset , and if you don't know what that means or why this news is very good news indeed, let's hear from Skillset themselves: "Creative Skil...

I just bumped into this post on facebook from the New Designers page. There are some shots from the CG Arts and Animation stand. This was the description of it below: "New Designers Showreel - Best of 2012's show Far from twiddling our thumbs for the past few months we've been hard at work on a few little projects. One of them is a fantastic showreel that brings together the highlights of last year's show in a 3 minute video. It's pretty difficult to encapsulate the energy,quality and breadth of design disciplines typical of New Designers in such a short amount of time, but we think we've done a pretty good job."

See below - Tom 'Class of 2011' Beg showcased in latest edition of Digital Arts Magazine after being talent-scouted at New Designers 2011 . Congratulations, Tom - the course team is very proud! If you haven't done so already, you can view Tom's graduating animations and accompanying 'making ofs' here . (This time last year, CGAA graduate, Dave Keefe was showcased in Digital Arts after his successful stint at New Designers 2010. )

Tom Beg's cg adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray garnered much praise and attention when it was exhibited at New Designers 2011 . Visitors found its striking visuals and bold embrace of theatricality refreshing, prompting Selina Meaning at Arts Thread to observe: "Tom’s creation from start to finish is a work of art, retaining the watercolour quality from his initial drawings." 'ARTS THREAD bridges the gap between education and the creative industry. For the first time ever, design students, graduates, universities, schools and the creative industry can network worldwide.' Check it out here .

At six o'clock on Saturday, 8th July, New Designers 2011 came to an end. The event itself is a marathon, but the 'take down' is a sprint. With just 2 hours to get everything down, out, and into the awaiting van, the experience is a stampede. It took no time at all for the CGAA exhibit to go from 'seductive showroom' to 'non-place'. Everyone was tired and pleased to be going home, but, as in previous years, the end of ND 2011 was not without some melancholy and reflection - rather like the 12th day of Christmas when the tree is finally ejected onto the wet pavement and the house seems bare without it. Congratulations to all graduates who participated in New Designers 2011 - you distinguished yourselves, and our fingers are firmly crossed in the hope that transformative stuff now results from all your many conversations with interested parties and those more mysterious visitors. And many thanks too to all those who helped make it happen, a list in...

Diginate.com - sponsors of the CGAA Class of 2011 @ New Designers 2011 exhibit - have blogged about us - go here!

It's late, the free Absolut Vodka cocktails have diminished my typing speed appreciably and, like everyone who was on the CGAA exhibit today, I'm footsore and weary after a very long day. Below - a selection of images from the ND 2011 Private View - a nice evening, with a fascinating mix of visitors and some valuable contacts made - here's hoping! * *Edit - no 'best stand award' for us this year, but the organisors were kind enough to take the course team to one side just prior to the announcement to inform us that CGAA Class of 2011 was one of the top 4 on the shortlist...

There is a natural law that states the weather must be insufferably warm and sticky on day one of the New Designers 'build-up' - and ND 2011 conformed to this principle accordingly. It was with much huffing, puffing and perspiration that Simon Holland, Chris Hunt and myself manhandled all those specially constructed cubes out of the CGAA baseroom, into the lift, out through reception and into the back of a UCA minibus. Meanwhile, Alan - already at the venue - was measuring, drilling and wiring in readiness for our arrival. The sun shone down, London simmered - and so did we! Many thanks to CGAA course leader, Chris, who sat his minibus drivers' exam especially for us, and to Simon for stepping in as calm and collected navigator when my notoriously poor sense of direction threatened to send us careening at speed into uncharted sidestreets... Happily, the big, white, empty space awaiting us at Islington's Business Design Centre didn't take long to transform. Afte...