Toon Boom Training Launched in Turku
The launch of the Turku Animation project and Pikkuli children’s animation series are set to enhance the growth and international scope of the Turku animation industry. Twice selected as the best animation school in the world, the animation course offered by Turku University of Applied Sciences’ Arts Academy has been producing animation professionals for the past two decades. Local know-how will be further bolstered by the Toon Boom training course launched 28 February.
The month-long training course will be taught by top Finnish and international animation professionals. Toon Boom is a Canadian 2D and cut out animation software programme that is ideally suited for large productions. It is used by companies such as Rovio, Disney and Film Roman, responsible for the enduringly popular Simpsons series. Toon Boom skills are a genuine asset for animation professionals and audio visual sector enterprises. All participants will have the opportunity to gain practical experience of animating a series and exposure to the animation series production pipeline.
New animated show to be created in Turku
In Turku, Toon Boom will be used in the making of the forthcoming Pikkuli series, produced by Turku-based Sun in Eye Productions. Aimed at 3–7-year-olds, the series tells the story of Pikkuli, the youngest member of a family of small birds, who doesn’t want to learn to fly like his siblings, preferring to do things his own way.
The series was conceived with extensive international distribution in mind and the first season comprises 26 five-minute episodes. In Finland, the series will be screened on Yle FEM, the Finnish public service broadcasting company’s Swedish-speaking channel.
This Sun in Eye Productions animation will be a pilot production for the Turku Animation project. Run by the West Finland Film Commission, the project sets out to establish the Turku region as a nationally and internationally significant animation hub and to raise the region’s animation sector to an international standard.
The project will harness the animation production capacity in the Southwest Finland region and establish a cost-effective production model to enable the creation of large-scale animation productions in the area.
Toon Boom training course
The training will be provided as a training course and is free to jobseekers and those facing redundancy. Interested parties were able to apply for a place on the course via TE Services. Participants will have the possibility of being hired as animators on the Sun in Eye Productions Pikkuli animation project.
The Toon Boom training course is funded by the Southwest Finland Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment and is delivered by Sun in Eye Productions, the Continuing Education Centre of TUAS’s Arts Academy and the West Finland Cinema Commission.
The Turku Animation project receives funding from the Regional Council of Southwest Finland and the Turku Region Development Centre. The training will be provided at the Arts Academy on Linnankatu.