iAnimate Game Student Spotlight - Hannah Masbaum

Why did you decide to enroll into iAnimate?

I knew that I wanted to be an animator for games for a long time, but I could easily see that I was nowhere near the skill level I needed to be to land a job. Realizing that my years of largely self-teaching weren’t getting me as far as I wanted to be, I started doing some research online to see what different programs were out there, which led me to iAnimate. Watching the previous year’s game workshop reels is what really solidified the decision for me. The amazing student work, combined with the ability to have access to the vault lectures, as well as the top-tier instructors, were all more than enough reasons for me to see that iAnimate was exactly what I’d been looking for.  

How are the workshops?

All of the workshops are amazing and extremely helpful to anybody who wants to get into animation for games. They gave me real world knowledge and expertise that I could have only otherwise gained through working at a game studio. Having all of the assignments centered around projects that we could potentially be doing at an actual game studio helped prepare me for what I could expect to be doing day-to-day as an animator. Going from iAnimate to working full-time as an animator was an easy transition due to the focus each workshop had on creating game-ready animations and receiving feedback throughout the process of each animation.

Did you enjoy your time at iAnimate?

iAnimate has been a great experience. I was nervous at first that I might not be cut out for animation, as I felt I’d been at a standstill with my skills before enrolling. However, I became more confident in my skills as the classes went on and I was able to learn new workflows and animation concepts. Being able to see the progress that my classmates and I were able to achieve throughout each workshop was very inspirational and gave me the motivation to continue working hard.

Did it help you to evolve as an animator?

Looking back to when I first enrolled in iAnimate to where I am now, I feel like I was able to grow light-years beyond what I would have ever achieved if I'd just continued to learn on my own. My instructors always pushed me and my classmates to take each animation as far as we could. Every time I would think an animation was almost done, they would be able to see all the details that still needed to be ironed out. As someone who has always struggled with completely finishing an animation, this was more helpful than anything as far as growing as an animator. The program helped me to better understand what my weaknesses are and how to improve upon them. The focus on body mechanics, timing, weight and polish helped me immensely in my animation journey.

Who was your instructor? A word about him?

During my time at iAnimate, I had Richard Lico, Jeremy Collins and Simon Unger as my instructors. They were all incredible teachers who brought their own unique perspectives and workflows to the classes. Throughout the workshops, I was continually surprised at how each of them would go above even my highest expectations to help every student do the best they could. If that meant having an hour-long critique for someone or an extra review for the class on the weekend, they were always willing to go the extra mile. My time in each of these workshops has been the best educational experience I’ve ever had, and that is entirely due to these wonderful instructors.

And what about online education?

When I first decided to go the route of online education, I was somewhat skeptical about how it would stack up against a traditional brick and mortar school. I quickly realized that there was no reason to worry. My time at iAnimate ended up being the best education I’ve had in my life and I’m so glad that I took the risk.

Anything else you want to add?

I’d really like to thank iAnimate for providing such an incredible learning environment. I was able to learn the skills I needed to land an awesome job as an animator at Robot Entertainment. Since I’ve been here, I’ve been able to work alongside some amazingly talented and inspiring animators and technical artists on some very fun characters. Being able to work in such a creative and inventive environment has been a great experience and I’ve learned so much already. Thank you again to iAnimate for giving me and all the other students an opportunity to take our skills to the next level and land our dream jobs.