Newsletter #001 - School Rankings, Industry News and Something Epic

Welcome to Educator by The Rookies. The mission of this email magazine is to provide valuable information about what we are doing, share important education focused news, and connect schools and educators together.

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What's New at The Rookies

We felt it best to bring everyone up to speed with some quick notes about stuff happening at The Rookies you may have missed.

Global School Rankings

Hope you didn't actually miss this one, but our Global School Rankings for 2020 were announced recently. This year we not only pushed the analytics a bit further, but introduced a Top 50 rankings. Congratulations to everyone who was named in any of our lists!

Rankings

The most important digital entertainment school ranking system with industry credibility that others rankings just don’t have.

Andrew McDonaldDiscover | The Rookies

Upgraded Premium Pages

Our school directory is really starting to hum. A lot of effort has been put into SEO and optimisations which means more new visitors are finding us organically and being sent over to your websites. We have just released the first round of updates for pages which now include a student gallery and student profile cards. You can see an example here, and here.

School Search

Another recent upgrade has been an overhaul to our school search. Better search means better engagement. The feedback has been really positive and our analytics are proving it was worth the pain. Take it for a spin with the link below.

Search industry approved VFX, Animation and Games Schools

Discover the world’s top art schools. Explore the Rookies World School Rankings® 2019.

The ScoutDiscover

Something EPIC happened

We got funded as part of Epic MegaGrants.

Lawyers have to "pass the bar", so why shouldn't we have a similar benchmark? With the support of this grant, The Rookies is working on an ambitious task to create an open source archive that will standardise skills for digital artists on a global stage. The archive will outline the essential creative and technical skills required by all artists, before applying for industry jobs.

If you are interested in being involved and making sure your opinion in considered, we would love to hear from you! Contact by replying to this email or reach out to us via live chat on our main website.

Insider's Guide

We believe that hearing from students is the best way to truly understand what a school is like. We speak to Olga Rudi, a Technical Artist at PlayStation, about the ins and outs of studying at Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

Insider’s Guide - Academy of Art University

We speak to Olga Rudi, a Technical Artist at PlayStation, about the ins and outs of studying at Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

The ScoutDiscover | The Rookies

Speak to our team to get your school featured in Insider's Guide.

Student Challenges

Weekly Drills: Each week we’ll post a new drill prompt with a specific topic or theme - maybe it’s science, furniture, toys or something completely random. The drills are targeted at those with a passion for modeling, texturing, illustration, or pretty much anything in between. Check out this week's drill here.

Animation Contest: We're excited to announce our first animation challenge. This is a theme that should resonate with most people during these crazy days of COVID-19. We're expecting some dramatic and original animations.

Animation Challenge - Crazy in Quarantine

We’re excited to announce our first animation challenge. This is a theme that should resonate with most people during these crazy days of COVID. We’re expecting some dramatic and original animations.

The Rookies

Increase Student Engagement with Remote Device Access

Sponsored by Teradici

Teradici is a company that can help you build a secure learning and training environment online. Read this guide to discover how to leverage virtualisation technology to provide high-performance computing power with a solid user experience to students anywhere they are, with ANY device.

Download this guide to learn how virtualisation can easily help you meet security and cost efficiency challenges in a variety of training and administrative scenarios.

Animating from Reference

Zeina Masri is a judge at The Rookies and is a very impressive animator worth checking out. She recently shared the following video where she shows you a fast and effective approach to animating from reference.

Resource of the Week

Students have a lot going on and sometimes all it takes is to learn about a simple resource that can help them with their learning. This week we recommend you make sure your students know about...

Sketchfab - The best 3D viewer on the web

With a community of over one million creators, we are the world’s largest platform to publish, share, and discover 3D content on web, mobile, AR, and VR.

Sketchfab

Advice worth Sharing

We know you get it, but sometimes it takes someone else to say the same thing to really make a student listen. Download this image and share in class or on your social media channels to help build some engagement and open up a discussion.

Industry News Worth Reading

So much news, so little time. Here are some top trending stories this week that you shouldn't miss.

Epic Games Releases Free 15-Hour Virtual Production Primer

Available through Unreal Online Learning, the self-paced program of 8 courses and 10 videos teaches the fundamentals of Unreal Engine and real-time production.

AWN Staff EditorAnimation World Network

Linda Sellheim Talks Epic’s Unreal Fellowship

One of the company’s innovative new fellowship creators discusses the program’s intense virtual production workflow curriculum, participation requirements, and goals for the future.

AWN Staff EditorAnimation World Network

No Time to Die delayed until April 2021

The producers of No Time To Die, starring Daniel Craig as James Bond, announced on Oct. 2 that the film was being delayed from its Nov. 20 premiere to April 2, 2021.

Owen S. GoodPolygon

Pixomondo Building World’s Largest Virtual Production Studio in Toronto

The award-winning VFX company has teamed with tech partners Unreal Engine, LED manufacturer ROE Visual, and Nvidia on new facility, scheduled to be completed late 2020.

AWN Staff EditorAnimation World Network

The Subtle Art of Colour Grading

Working as a colourist is an exercise in working within technical constraints. Learn your colour spaces, your deliverables, how to read scopes, how certain colour tools work and feel.

The ScoutDiscover | The Rookies

Art students are switching to Procreate to sketch, paint and create

The market is pretty chock-full of painting apps for the iPad, but one that has particularly caught our attention is Procreate.

Andrew McDonaldDiscover | The Rookies

Student Showcase

Make sure your students get their work uploaded to their Rookies profile. We have plenty of recruiters trawling around these days, and we love sharing their work through our social channels. Here are some of my recent faves from MOPA, Animum Creativity Advanced School and Escape Studios:

Portfolio of Juliette Michel

Find out everything you need to know about The Rookies from rules, important dates, sponsors, prizes, internships, judging panel, and the team.

A backstreet in Italy juliettemichelThe Rookies

Portfolio of Santiago Camacho

Find out everything you need to know about The Rookies from rules, important dates, sponsors, prizes, internships, judging panel, and the team.

e-B04r - 3D Model santiagocqartThe Rookies

Portfolio of Federico Bonato

Find out everything you need to know about The Rookies from rules, important dates, sponsors, prizes, internships, judging panel, and the team.

River Town federicobonatoThe Rookies

How did we do?

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