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5 Great Animation Sites Every Animator Should Know About

The are no shortage of websites for an aspiring (or experienced) animator to become lost in. Unfortunately more does not equal better. Since you should be spending as much time as possible actually doing animation, you want to get right to the good stuff online and avoid any places that eat up your time and give nothing back!

#1 Temple of the Seven Golden Camels

Camel Logo
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Strange name, amazing blog. Mark Kennedy has worked as head of story at Disney Feature Animation, and he shares incredible insights that you’d be foolish to pass up. Though the blog is updated rather randomly, every post is a treasure trove of information, often breaking apart real-world films and art to give you insight into why something works so well (or doesn’t work at all).

#2 The 11 Second Club

The 11 Second Club
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It continues to surprise me how many people don’t know about the 11 Second Club! Every month a new 11 second long audio file is posted. Your mission: Animate it! You can take it in any direction you like as long as you don’t alter the audio. It’s a chance to stretch your animation muscles and get some practice in, so give it a shot! And don’t worry about where you rank at the end of the month, the important thing is trying your best.

#3 Animation Insider

Animation Insider
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Featuring constant interviews from a range of different animators, there is always something new at Animation Insider. You can also send in an email if YOU happen to be an animator offering to be interviewed! Essentially a library of knowledge from animators past and present, and a lot of great art as well.

#4 Animation Forum

Animation Forum
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One of the best animation forums dedicated to animation. There are a few out there, and while things like Facebook have in some ways diminished the world of message boards, it’s still nice to build a community and talk with other animators. One fun challenge on the AF boards is the Character Design Weekly contest, where you design a character based on a simple prompt. Win and you get to choose the prompt for the next one!

#5 Deja View

Deja View
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The home of Andreas Deja on the web. If you don’t know who Andreas Deja is, you need to go find out. Right now. Andreas offers a TON of unique art from animation masters (he’s got quite a personal collection from the great Milt Kahl) and his keen eye for appeal makes him a modern day master that reaches out to the animation community and shares his wisdom.

#6 Animator Island of course!

Animator Island
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Alright, so we said FIVE sites, and yes this is just a shameless plug, but we do our best to be a useful resource for you every week! So you’ll forgive us for tacking ourselves on to the tail end of this list. 🙂

What do you think of the websites above? Any you use frequently? Any you had never heard of but after looking into them have changed your entire animation life? Let us know in the comments below. Also if there’s a site we missed that you think should be in the Hall of Fame, post a link! Maybe it will end up in a future article sharing the best places for animators on the web!

Want MORE?
You can check out the second edition of this series with “5 More Great Animation Sites Every Animator Should Visit!”

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jeff y. t.

i will try to visit all these. cheers.

Fredrick N.

There is certainly a lot to find out about animation sites online.

Sabina K

These are great! 🙂
I also check Onanimation.com, they post new trailers/student shorts!

mona

Those are some great ones! When a friend showed me Seven Gold Camels I was hooked for life!

Jack

I used to go to Cartoon Brew which was a great animation site but then the one guy left and the other guy is super negative and mean most of the time so I stopped. Is there anyone who knows of any sites like that one is but with friendlier people running it?

CGI Calvin

Yeah that place sucks anymore. He just talks about his book and how Disney sucks. I just have a search for Animation News instead.

ZZDas

They(Cartoon Brew) lost me on the christmas card [http://www.cartoonbrew.com/shorts/merry-christmas-from-cyriak-75345.html]. I still have them on my feed reader but it’s rare to actually read any post…
The guy you’re talking, Jerry Beck, have another blog [http://blogs.indiewire.com/animationscoop/]

Nice list Riki, beyond the ones on the comments, i would ad the above link and:
Living Lines Library [http://livlily.blogspot.com/]
Speaking of Animation [http://www.speakingofanimation.com/]
Spungella [http://spungella.blogspot.com/]
Spline Doctors [http://splinedoctors.com/]
SplineBomb [http://www.splinebomb.com/]
The Animation Anomaly [http://animationanomaly.com/]
The Ghibli Blog [http://ghiblicon.blogspot.com/]
Thinking Animation Blog [http://thinkinganimationbook.blogspot.com/]
And something from a fella AnimationForum member(Lavalle Lee):
Traditional Animation [http://www.traditionalanimation.com/]
And there’s some more personal blogs from animators…but that’s another list 😉

panda

Well there’s AWN which is kind of like that…

Grant

I drop a comment whenever I like a article on a site or if I have something to
add to the conversation. This is the former, I really liked this article! I didn’t know about three of those and added bookmarks to my list of daily visiting places. Thnx.

Katlyn

Hi, just wanted to mention, there is an animation forum at AWN too which someone mentioned. http://forums.awn.com/ So you can also go there which is where I go.

PAX man

Wow strange. I just wrote an extremely long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyways, just wanted to say great list.

CGI Calvin

good list I agree.

Yamatani

Might I also suggest http://www.catsuka.com
It’s an animation news website, there’s hundreds of amazing videos and links.
While it’s primarily in french, the videos are from across the globe, and there is some english translation. 🙂
But you don’t always need to read the text, the videos are what’s important!

Lee W

Good list. One site I recommend is YouAnimator. Critique other’s animations and receive crits on yours! I haven’t signed up but it looks real cool. http://www.youanimator.com/

The Monitor

I love Andreas Deja’s blog! I can’t wait to see his film he is working on.

Virgo Eric

Voice of America! Animation is American made.

Uggsofactso

Cartoon Brew took a nosedive when they added daily featured artist. Like who cares just stick to ANIMATION. Geez.

jeffO

Great list I agree! I would also say that Tumblr is great for animation looking. So much to see from a million people. You can get lost.

jack w.

I really appreciate this post. I have been looking everywhere for good sites for animation.

greg-a-tron

Great list thanks

wavycakes

That animation forum you linked to is kind of dead if you ask me

maxi

Great list and blog! I added all the blogs to my list of daily visiting places. Many thanks! 🙂

Nicole

I really enjoy this blog for getting updates of the wonderful world of animation – http://www.canadiananimationblog.com
I am also about to check out everything you have on your list 🙂

jordan for president

Yup, those are some good ones!

Walt Newton

Great list, you should do another round because there are so many amazing sites online for animators!

Prince Pop

Nice list, thanks!

Sourav Banerjee

JUST BEAUTIFUL, KEEP IT UP

Blond

I would alos add living lines library. An important collection of pencil tests are stored here…

sathyadev

hi fr you want study At Animation Training a See At http://www.arenaporur.com/
Is A Best Training For animation Courses

pinerich

Ah excellent info.. I will check these alll out.

Smithe271

I like what you guys are up too. Such smart work and reporting! Keep up the superb works guys I have incorporated you guys to my blogroll. I think it will improve the value of my site edagadkegekbgecg

Sari Parton

Real good info can be found on here. 😉

Dibrin

Hey guys,
Have you heard about AnimationABC? It is an new online workshop for novice animators, that explains the principles of animation in depth. Students will learn to apply them to simple objects and characters in just 9 weeks! Every week there is a live Q&A and every student will have homework and personal critique.
Check this out!Maybe for somenone it’s useful.
http://www.animationabc.com/

snickity

what do you guys think about newgrounds.com? it’s not so much a source of knowledge, but has kinda become the youtube for animators, and a great place to find animator friends!
and to have an exquisite choice of animated shorts, you should visit animatedshortfilms.net

wiztech

Hi, I wish to be a regular reader of your blog. I have read your blog. Your information is really useful!

Parth

Thanks for the blog and I do visit your blog again and again and always found it more and more informative.

row williams

Very good list thanks!

Thanks for updating my knowledge, i am looking forward to use this.

Joel

some good inspiration sometimes:

nicecurves.wordpress.com

Nour el din

isnt there any japanese animation sites, im more into epic sakuga than disney”ish animation, and btw is it just me like that in here :”|?

Jame

awesome post ! thank you for sharing

priyanka

Awesome animation sites.
An incredible article. Glad I found it. Really looking forward to read more.
Thanks for sharing the brilliant ideas.

Tariq

Great!! List. Thanks for sharing this list. Keep us Updated like this.
Also check this site:- https://creativesip.net/
This is very attractive and great animation site. this site can be in your list.

Jacob

This is one of the amazing articles ever for anyone looking forward to know more about animation resources and knowing latest trends and updates over Animation Industry. I always like 11secondclub because it is giving competition for 11 second audio clip showcasing your talent and skill and getting feedback from talented people from all over the world. Still the list is very impressive.

Thanks for this amazing article.

danny

Incredible Article, It’s very useful and informative.Thanks for sharing us.once again thanks a lot

Alex Leo

I’m so amazed by your wonderful tutorial.Thanks a lot. this is so helpful for the all people.

krish

Thanks for sharing very nice information.

Dragonfly524

What if I have some questions about stages of development for a pilot? 3D

Dima

Hi, J.K. Riki!

Thank you for this list. I found your page from my Google search. I’m looking now for the animation forums to join and talk with other animators. Strange that I don’t see you mentioned the AWN forum in your list. It appears as the first result in Google search. Anyway, thank you for this list!

Saad Khan

Thank you for sharing these amazing articles it will help the beginners to take a guide from these tips. I am also a Graphic Designer at AnaxDesigns which is a graphic and web design company in USA

Very good list. Thanks for sharing!