iAnimate Student Spotlight - Emma Spruce

Emma Spruce is an enthusiastic animator who focuses on the character's internal processes and emotions to create empathy and tell a story. Her instructor at iAnimate, Angie, used to enjoy having her in class because of her great sense of humor and quirky acting. Emma is currently working as a Junior Animator at Pop Paper City, an animated 3D craft TV series from Bournemouth, England, United Kingdom.

After finishing her studies, Emma felt the need to improve the quality of her work as it wasn't at the level she was hoping for.

“So I decided to enroll in iAnimate; to learn from top industry professionals and get their feedback on my work. It was too great an opportunity to miss.”

Emma took the following Feature Animation workshops with Angie Jones (Spicy Cricket)

• Feature Animation 4 Close up Facial Acting and Lip-Sync
• Feature Animation 5 Full Body Acting, Facial and Lip-Sync

iAnimate teaches students online to have a systematic and creative way of doing their assignments. It is to prepare them early on for the industry scenarios that a professional animator is experiencing. The following creative processes made Emma produce quality shots on her assignments:

• I think about the feelings I want to express. So I create a character and study their personality and how they feel.
• How would they react in a situation that I have created. I think about their internal process and how I can make the audience be identified and connect with my character.
• I try to get into the character with a situation in my head where I would feel the same or understand. Then I animate with the reference.

Emma learned so much from the program, and it equipped her with the right skills and knowledge she knew that the industry wanted. She acquired technical skills and understood the importance of reference, workflow, and processes in a successful animation. She also learned about comedic timing and showing emotions in characters through acting choices and body movement during the workshops.

Emma's student demo reel

You can reach Emma via:

Conversation with Emma Spruce

iAnimate: What do you think of your Instructor(s), and how did they help you?

Katee: Angie helped me understand how we express emotions and how to create a believable performance. She also demonstrated her ideas inside our animation files which I thought was an unforgettable lesson.

iAnimate: How did iAnimate help you to evolve as an animator?

“I had the experience of honest feedback, critiquing my work, and failing with my ideas. I learned that to fail is necessary to know what works and what doesn't.” - Emma

iAnimate: What kind of animator do you consider yourself to be after taking your workshop?

Katee: I am ambitious, and I love to get inspired by other animators and explore ways of creating performance through different acting choices and timing. So I appreciate the honest feedback, and I am ready to fail and try again to get to where I want to be.

iAnimate: What kind of project do you want to work on?

Katee: I'd love to work on feature films, where I have the chance to explore and create creative performances.