As more and more schools around the globe offer game-design degrees, wannabe game makers have a variety of programs to choose from. Many schools offer vocational programs, but nowadays the academic and creative aspects of game design are also coming into play. Here, we take a look at the Game Center at New York University, one of the newest game design programs that take the latter approach.

Pat Fraley truly loves teaching and sharing his tips and advice with other voice actors, so we were excited to sit down with him and hear some of his advice for aspiring voice actors. Here is his response:

Class on Demand, a provider of professional educational products for creative markets, is pleased to announce the immediate availability of the After Effects Apprentice course for Adobe’s digital motion graphics and compositing software from industry gurus Chris and Trish Meyer.

Animation Mentor, the state-of-the-art online animation school founded by animators for animators, announced today they will be attending CTN animation eXpo (CTN-X) as an educational partner and sponsor.

Today, Full Sail University unveiled plans for the school’s 2011 Hall of Fame Week.

Nickelodeon Latin America and One Laptop per Child, a nonprofit whose mission is to help provide every child in the world access to a modern education, announced today the winner of their competition in which primary school children across Central and South America were challenged to use their XO laptops to create videos focused on creating a better environment.

Both the award winning documentary !Women Art Revolution and the associated booklet should have pride of place in libraries that collect resources on American art history.

FLIP International Animation Festival returns this October with a host ofspecial guests from the exciting world of animation and an eclectic mix of experimental animation for all ages to the West Midlands.

The festival, which takes place at Light House Media Centre in Wolverhampton from Thursday 27 – Saturday 29 October, will include a mix of feature film screenings, retrospectives of short films and international showcases of animation from around the world from as far afield as Brazil, Canada, Norway, Estonia, Russia, Tel Aviv and Beijing. There will be education workshops for young people, masterclasses and industry led panels for students, budding animators and professionals along with unique spotlights on leading animation studios. Tickets and festival passes will be available from www.theticketsellers.co.uk from Monday 26 September. Keep an eye on www.flipfestival.co.uk to view the full programme.

The festival will feature a number of special industry guests including Jim Parkyn, Animator and Modelmaker at Aardman, Barry Purves, Stop Motion Animator for Cosgrove Hall and Warner Bros, and Marc Silk, Voice-over Artist for major film releases including Johnny Bravo, Star Wars and Chicken Run. There will be a special Aardman workshop when participants can make their own Gromit character using traditional animation techniques, along with a chance to ask Jim Parkyn, the Wallace and Gromit model maker, questions about his work.

The festival will this year have a strong Gaming strand with a workshop on how to develop your own games using the X-Box XNA game platform and a session on how to develop games for the iPad run by Gamer Camp.

Back by popular demand, the ‘How to Create a Great Showreel’ session will attempt to demystify the process of creating that all important showreel to show off work in the best possible light. This example led section will impart wisdom from some of the most hardworking animators, producers and directors involved in the animation and games industry.

There will also be a number of festival premieres throughout the weekend including a screening from the award winning Brothers McLeod of their animated comedy, Isle of Spagg. Greg and Myles McLeod will also be talking about the production process for creating their new film,from concept to screen.

FLIP International Animation Festival takes place from Thursday 27 – Saturday 29 October at Light House Media Centre, Wolverhampton. Flip 2011 is organised by Light House Media Centre and is part funded by Wolverhampton City Council, Screen WM and the BFI Transitional Fund.

Tickets and festival passes will be available from www.theticketsellers.co.uk from Monday 26 September. Keep an eye on www.flipfestival.co.uk to view the full programme and for more information contact Light House Box Office on 01902 716055.

In the first excerpt, Rhoda Draws introduces us to Corel Painter 12.

Learning 2D animation on your own is very doable. This first of a four part series on the tools of the trade looks at mark making in a digital world.

Frank Forte, a 20 year veteran of the comic book and animation fields, has created a blog entitled Cartoon Concept Design to showcase the art of cartoons and animation.

Cinesite, one of the world’s leading film visual effects houses, today opened pre-registration for its highly successful annual internship program, Inspire.

Zoe Chavet profiles the career of famed animator and educator Cornelius Cole III.

In the first excerpt, Stephen Burns discusses the use of menus and palettes in Photoshop CS5.

Red Giant today announced it has teamed up with acclaimed director and filmmaker, Seth Worley, to develop new training content and presets for the Red Giant community.

Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman delves into bad directing… even from master directors like Chuck Jones.

In the first installment of a new professional training series from Luxology, instructor Rich Hurrey teaches users the skills necessary to create production-ready animation rigs in modo 501.

On October 31, Coco School Alicante will start the double major in 2D-3D Animation in Spain.

A compilation of essays on women in animation, Tricky Women: Women In Animation is a very welcome addition to current critical writing on the subject.

In this excerpt, ride along with transportation designer Dwayne Vance as he shows us how he creates really cool cars.