Creature & Character Design Summer Classes

Join LAAFA this summer for some creatures and characters!  

 Imaginatomy with Rey Bustos - A class created by Rey to augment entertainment and character designers by bringing in anatomy and mechanics into the thought process of character design… This class is designed for those who want to invent a completely imaginative animal or creature while keeping the same logic of human and animal anatomy.

Rey has also been teaching since 1990 and is now considered one of the preeminent artistic anatomy teachers in the country. He is known for his lively and passionate lectures and his enthusiasm is very evident and contagious. Rey currently teaches at his Art Center College of Design, California State University, Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art and he is also in the teaching staff at Disney Feature Animation. 


Class starts July 15th - Enroll Now.

Creature Design with Rob McKinnon - This course explores the creation and design of science fiction aliens, terrifying monsters, and mythological creatures for live-action motion picture and video game. Students will breathe life into their creatures exploring concepts such as research and development, sketch and technical drawings, and final rendering. Students will receive in-class demos and mentoring. 


Rob attended Art Center College of Design, where he graduated with honors with a B.A. In Illustration in 2003. Shortly thereafter, Rob began his career as a concept artist in Hollywood. He has worked for the past 9 years on a wide variety of projects ranging from theme park ride concepts and film to animation design and visual effects.

Rob has worked on over thirty motion pictures. Some of his credits include Live Free or Die Hard, Transformers III, Tron Legacy, I Am Legend, Inception, Twilight:Breaking Dawn, Terminator Salvation, and the upcoming films Total Recall and Iron Man III.

Class Starts July 17th - Enroll Now.

Character Design with Mark McDonnell - Students will design a character(s) based on a particular style. Reference will be supplied on each style at the beginning of each session for inspiration and guidelines stimulating on-job situations. Considerable draftsmanship will be needed to control the designs associated with the class. Time outside the class will also be needed to perform the tasks at hand.

Mark McDonnell’s work as a designer has touched a wide variety of skill sets while working for many of the entertainment studios. He has worked as a character designer, a layout/set designer, prop designer, look development designer and instructs at many of the entertainment studios.


Class Starts July 18th - Enroll Now.