Nationwide Talent Search for Animation

LOS ANGELES - Jan. 2, 2015 - PRLog -- YouTube channel, Awesome Dudeness is kicking off its inaugural year with a party! The channel is hosting a competition known as the Animation Dance Party, open to animation students and amateur animators in the continental United States. Sponsored by the Wacom Technology Company, Autodesk, and Smith Micro Software.

With competition registration beginning December 10, 2014, participants have the opportunity to animate in two categories, the “Dance Cycle” competition, and the “Pit Battle” competition. Pick the category you want and get drawing. The Dance Cycle contest consists of animating a dance cycle to a music beat track within 85 frames of animation. The Pit Battle contest gives animators a chance to prove their skills in a challenge 256 frames (about 10 sec.) or less, animating to the provided beat track, incorporating animation to enter and exit the frame. Submissions will be featured on the Awesome Dudeness YouTube Channel, then ultimately all composited into one movie, showcasing them as a whole. Submitted animation can be in any style or method of animation, provided the technical requirement of sequentially numbered 1080p PNG files with a transparent background is met. Deadline for submissions will be January 31st, 2015, 11:59pm PST. Submissions will then enter the judging phase, concluding in late February, winners to be announced at Long Beach Comic Expo on February 28th, 2015, in Long Beach, CA.

Submitted animation will be judged in a two-phase process, including both social media and Animation Industry Judges. Public voting takes place on the Awesome Dudeness Facebook Page, and YouTube Channel at www.facebook.com/awesomedudeness and www.youtube.com/awedudeness respectively. The submissions with the highest number of social media votes will then go to the judging panel, who will assign each submission a score from 1 to 100, and the highest aggregate score between social media and judges scores will win prizes from our Sponsors. Our judges include Jorge R. Gutierrez (“The Book of Life”, “El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera”), Mike Kunkel (“Herobear and the Kid”, “The Life and Times of Juniper Lee”), Kathy Zielinski (“Frozen”, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”), Paul Linsley (“Monsters vs. Aliens”, “Adventure Time”), and Nick Butera (“Dick Figures: the Movie”, “The Ricky Gervais Show”).

Top prizes include a Wacom Cintiq Companion Hybrid, a Maya Entertainment Creation Suite 2015, and a software prize pack from Smith Micro, which includes Anime Studio Pro, Poser Game Dev, and Manga Studio. Each category having a Grand Prize Winner, a First and Second Runners Up, and 5 Honorable Mentions. For Official Rules and Details, see our website, AwesomeDudeness.com/Contest, and for updates, go to www.facebook.com/awesomedudeness.