Steven Mirkin gets a few helpful hints from vfx houses about what they’re looking for in new hires.

Joe Strike sets out to find out how independent animators find work within the system while keeping their independence.

Taylor Jessen reviews five short films: Lemmings by Craig Van Dyke, Rex Steele: Nazi Smasher by Alexander Woo, Rock the World by Sukwon Shin, Ryan by Chris Landreth and Flashbacks from My Past: Starry Night by Irra Verbitsky. Includes QuickTime movie clips!

Christopher Harz pays a visit to one of the hottest vfx havens, London’s Soho district, which has attracted a flurry of American movies, thanks to creativity and tax incentives.

Alain Bielik meets the visual effects supervisor behind the hallucinatory images of Blueberry, a French western with a twist.

The Career Coach explains what recruiters do for their company or client and how to help them land you a job.

Bill Desowitz sits down with Ted Rae, the visual effects supervisor and 2nd unit director on The Passion of the Christ, to discuss the digital challenges of Mel Gibson’s surprising biblical blockbuster.

Dr. Toon gives the prize catch of all animated features, Finding Nemo, a bit of a tongue-in-gill tribute.

John Cawley interviews David DePatie about the creation and evolution of the Pink Panther.

Anime expert Fred Patten reviews the latest anime releases including Android Kikaider, Initial D, King of Bandit Jing, Samurai Deeper Kyo and Heat Guy J.

Henry Turner investigates the newest developments in motion capture and motion control, which brings the technology on-set. Includes a QuickTime movie clip from Hidalgo.

Who could have predicted this? I just read that Oscar winners live longer. In our case, the Oscar gave our life an instant boost, and a perpetual publicity handle. We managed five nominations, and have been living in the glow ever since. But was Bill Snyder able to melt that golden statuette down into real dollars?

Continuing our excerpts from the Inspired 3D series, Tom Capizzi presents an in-depth character construction tutorial.

Mark Ramshaw reports back regarding the impressive work being done in commercials and music video in the U.K.

John Canemaker’s The Art and Flair of Mary Blair honors a beloved Disney designer.

Bill Desowitz reports back from the VES Awards, where the best in visual effects for 2003 and the career of George Lucas were honored.

In this fifth of a six-part series, Ellen Besen looks at Oscar-nominees Finding Nemo and The Triplets of Belleville and compares and contrasts their core analogies.

Shelley Page reports back from Imagina about the daunting task of tackling a trade show, festival AND conference all at once.

VFXWorld Editor Bill Desowitz takes a sneak peek at one of next summer’s most eagerly awaited films, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, a stunning leap in bluescreen and compositing work.

Mary Ann Skweres jumps into the Slamdance Festival and returns to tell us what she discovered.