Each Aardman Academy course is devised by industry professionals with expertise in the specific field of study.

Stop Motion 1 is taught by highly-experienced stop-motion professionals from the Academy Award®-winning Aardman studios, through video lessons that you can watch as many times as you want. Once a week you will have a one-to-one video session with your mentor. This is a chance for you to be mentored and supported throughout the course.

Course Lead Stuart Messinger - who worked on Aardman’s feature film “The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!” before becoming one of the UK’s leading animation teachers - will deliver live-streamed lectures once a week, where the entire course cohort will meet.

Alongside that, former Aardman commercials director, filmmaker and now Head of Aardman Academy Mark Simon Hewis, will be available each week to meet-up and talk ideas as well as offer help with your weekly tasks.

The active community where you can share ideas, thoughts and problems is supported by Aardman Academy staff and mentors.

We have built a team that is passionate about supporting you and helping you grow.

Due to the pressures of our active studio productions, the final list of mentors and teachers is built during the 2 months prior to the course launch. We can promise that you won't be disappointed with the calibre of mentors and teachers we have lined up. Already confirmed for the masterclasses programme is Head of Animation Loyd Price and Aardman Co-founder and Creative Director Peter Lord.

Regular Mentors Include:

Inez Woldman

Will Becher

Maraike Kraemer

Sam Hines

Hannah Brooks

James Carlisle

Carmen Bromfield Mason

Andy Symanowski

Grant Holden

Suzy Parr

Emanuel Nevado

Masterclasses From:

Peter Lord

Laurie Sitzia

Merlin Crossingham

Andy Symanowski

Will Becher

Hannah Brooks

Stuart Messinger

Mark Simon Hewis

The Aardman Academy delivers world-class industry education and skills training as an alternative or addition to the traditional university pathway.

We are interested in your talent and the skills and passion you can offer the industry, rather than focussing on the grades you received at school, college or university.

All of our courses are written and taught by highly experienced professionals from the Academy Award®-winning Aardman studios, not academics. Our courses are less expensive than university degrees, yet we are able to offer weekly one-to-one mentoring with industry leaders and real-person support five days a week.

Each 12-week programme is taught online and follows a flexible structure that gives you time to complete your tasks at a time that best suits you, making this the perfect option for international students. We will find a convenient time for the weekly one-to-one session, whatever your time-zone and commitments, and the Academy team will be available if you have questions or need advice.  

We’ve also decided to keep the course small with no more than 38 participants on any course. That way we can offer you a personal experience; one where you never get lost in a huge teaching group and where everyone knows your name!

We’re working hard on finalising subsequent modules including Stop Motion 2, alongside other stand-alone modules which will be available to enrol onto in the very near future. These will all follow the same 12-week-programme. After successfully completing Stop Motion 1, you can join another 12-week course but are absolutely under no obligation to do so! You could even come back in a few years and start again with Stop Motion 2 if you wanted to - you are in complete control of your Aardman Academy pathway. We believe that education and professional development should be fluid and flexible; meeting the varying needs of our participant's lives and careers.

For this course, you will be sent all the specialist equipment needed.  

For Stop Motion 1 this includes your very own copy of Dragonframe, a Dragonframe USB / Bluetooth controller and a professional-grade armature. All of these are for you to keep but due to shipping regulations we can no longer send out the Dragonframe Controllers ourselves, so instead we will provide you with a coupon code before the course begins for you to redeem your free controller and get it shipped to wherever you may be! You will have to cover the shipping expenses yourself but we will cover the rest. For the Dragonframe software you will be sent your own unique download code as well. 

To partake in the course, you will need a computer than can run Dragonframe and a camera to capture your animation. Dragonframe will work with a smartphone if you do not have your own camera, but it also works with many cheap webcams and almost all DSLR’s. For more information, you can find a list of cameras compatible with Dragonframe  HERE, and specifications for a computer running Dragonframe HERE.  

We also advise you have some sort of simple lighting and a way of keeping your camera locked down securely. This can often be simple household table lamps and a cheap table-top tripod. On week one of the course, you will be presented with a lesson from the Studio Manager at Aardman with advice about how to create this simple home set-up. 

Stop Motion 1 is designed for graduates, postgraduates, those looking for an alternative to university, and those with animation experience who want to refresh their skills. Applications to the course are portfolio-based. This is not simply to “check you’re good enough”. We only ask for portfolios to make sure the level of the lessons and mentoring are appropriate and to avoid you paying for a course that isn’t right for you. If we look at your work and think there’s a more appropriate course for you, we will let you know. To apply you must provide a link to either a showreel or other moving image work created by you and a 200-word explanation to why you are applying.

Please note that applicants will not be selected due to their writing ability! We just want to know a little bit about who you are and why you’re applying. Feel free to write a short summary about you and what you’ve done as a bullet list if you’d like. In fact, use whatever style, form or structure that you find easiest.

If you would like to use your own armature and animation equipment and/or your own copy of Dragonframe we will happily reduce your fees accordingly.

• Using your own copy of Dragonframe - 5% discount

• Using your own armature and animation tools - 5% discount

• Using your own copy of Dragonframe and your own armature and animation equipment - 10% discount.

When you receive your acceptance email you will be invited to contact our Academy PA who will arrange this discount for you.

We also offer payment plans, but this is subject to there being enough time for all instalments to be paid before the course start date.

• 6 monthly payments of £466.67*
• 3 monthly payments of £916.67*
• Single payment of £2800

^{*All fees are paid in full before the course begins.}

If you need any help with this or have any questions at all, please get in touch by emailing [email protected].

We work with external Partners to run our Bursary Scheme. We usually offer between 2 and 4 places on each course and applications are made directly to those external partners. 

CURRENT AVAILABLE BURSARIES:

BABBASA - BRISTOL: deadline 25th March 2024