The world’s largest live streaming platform for gamers has become home to a growing number of animation artists displaying their work, with many streaming instructional and tutorial-style content aimed at sharing their love and knowledge of the profession.
With the animation community on Twitch building large followings as a growing number of animators embrace the platform to showcase their work, the company has spotlighted for AWN a group of diverse and passionate creators, each with a stated goal of “paying it forward” to educate and mentor others who are curious about the animated world.
These animators each devote time to producing content showcasing their enthusiasm for bringing imagery to life, streaming it to Twitch’s global community so others can learn more about how animation is produced.
According to Erin Wayne, head of community and creator marketing at Twitch, “Twitch is such a unique place to find and watch content, largely because our community consists of creators across many different skillsets and with incredible talent they bring to the service. This year, we've seen huge growth in the arts community with creatives coming here not just to share their crafts, but also to learn alongside their viewers and fellow streamers. It's been especially inspiring to see the interest in animation gaining momentum and we're excited to see this community grow as more passionate animators and illustrators find a home on Twitch."
Take a moment to check out the streams of these six animators actively publishing educational content on behalf of the community:
Followers on Twitch: 14.4K
Adam Phillips, known as Chluuaid on Twitch, is a storyteller, filmmaker, and animator based in Australia. Formerly an employee at Disney, he moved on to pursue his own creative projects. Of note, Adam created the award-winning series called Brackenwood, and also worked as an assistant director on the smash hit show Bob’s Burgers.
Followers on Twitch: 857
Shawn is a professional animator currently working at Walt Disney Animation Studios. On his Twitch stream, largely shaped by his viewers, he animates, talks, answers questions, does drawovers on SyncSketch, and chats with his followers. Shawn also founded and runs a private mentorship program called KYOSIL that is meant for animators trying to improve their skills.
Followers on Twitch: 11.4K
Sir Wade, whose real name is actually Sir Wade, is a 3D Character Animator. He creates educational animation content for aspiring and professional artists and is always willing to help members of his community. He documents his creative journey on Twitch working on 3D character animation, VFX, and a bit of filmmaking.
Followers on Twitch: 1.1K
Chris Goodall is an animator and game developer. The main goal of his Twitch channel is to provide an over the shoulder view of how he approaches animation and to share his passion for all things animation and game development. He has learned a lot over the years just watching others work and wants to give others that same opportunity. The format of Chris’ streams are freeform. Viewers will tune in to observe his process and participate in an occasional Q&A.
Followers on Twitch: 1.4K
Kurtis has been working in the Entertainment & Video Games industry for 15+ years. He landed his first industry job at Blizzard Entertainment in 2004 and has been there ever since. He has worked on beautifully detailed pre-rendered movies and epic fast paced video games. Relatively new on Twitch, he firmly believes in paying it forward. His goal on his Twitch stream is to inspire and give deeper insight into the world of animation.
Followers: 2.5K
FineSpline is a professional 3D Animator that has worked on 15 theatrical films (some of which have won Academy Awards) and has lived in six different countries. Previously, FineSpline has worked at ILM and Weta Digital, and he is currently based in San Francisco, where he uses his Twitch stream to focus on virtual animation coaching.
Source: Twitch
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
