Welcome!

In the 1930’s Don Graham held a class after hours for the staff at Disney, which were called, Action Analysis Class. These classes are one of the many reasons why huge leaps in innovation and art were made at Disney. Never content to remain static in their understanding and knowledge of what makes animation great, these artists would constantly study acting, body mechanics and drawing to improve their work.

But they would not stop there. They would also analyse why some of their pictures where successful and others not as much with audiences. What worked in a scene and how the artists achieved it so that the rest of the studio could employ that technique moving forward.

Recently I graduated from Animation Mentor; an online animation school where one of the many elements that make it so successful is the community spirit of learning. There is no feeling of guarded secrets. Everyone helps and shares what they learn as they go along.

Now that I have finished the Animation Mentor course, I wanted to start a blog that continues in that tradition.  A place where I can post anything that inspires me including short films, art, other student work and tips and tricks.

The tips and tricks however are something that must never be taken as gospel. I am still a student in animation and I certainly don’t profess to hold the final answer (and I constantly keep learning the rules are there to be learnt, bent or even broken). These are just personal observations and things that have worked (or not worked for me) along my journey of animation education.

Please feel free though to take part in this blog. Email me or post your comments to help the discussion further of any of the posts. Or, if you have a clip, drawing or tip to share on the site – please email me now at:

mikeactionanalysis(at)gmail(dot)com