ANgiE tAYLoR 🧷

Tag: Brighton

Creative software training in Brighton & London

One-to-one training near Brighton
Angie Taylor is a renowned artist, sculptor and animator. She runs bespoke training courses at her private art school, Creative Cabin. She also runs art classes for children of all ages. Please contact Angie to find out more about these.

Most of her training classes are taught remotely. She can also provide one-to-one training courses at her studio, near Brighton, UK. Courses include;
All course are customised, one-to-one training courses, tailored to suit each individual’s needs.

Read reviews from people who have benefited from Angie’s training on the Creative Cabin website. Angie has worked with a wide range of people including graphic designers, editors, film-makers, artists, illustrators and photographers. Previous clients include; BBC, JCDecaux, Modern Toss, Sky Creative, ITV, Cartoon Network, T he Post People, European Parliament, JCDecaux, BBH London, Adobe , Skype, Axa Healthcare and Barton Willmore.

Be trained by a working designer and author

Angie is a motion graphic designer with over thirty years experience, working in the film and television industry. She has written several books, articles and video training courses about creative software applications and motion graphic design.

When the Cabin is not being used for training Angie creates motion graphic and animation projects from the Cabin for her own clients who she works for on a freelance basis. You can see examples of Angie’s work here.

Angie is also a published author with five books published on the subjects of Adobe After Effects and motion graphic design. She is also an author of training courses at Lynda.com.

Angie’s unique style of software training is delivered on a one-to-one basis and courses are customised for each individual client.

Work on real world projects

Anyone can follow step-by-step tutorials but we don’t believe that this “watch and follow” technique is the best approach for learning software – it doesn’t cultivate confidence. Our aim is to get you to a stage where you use the software intuitively.

Angie designs bespoke one-to-one training courses to cover more specific or unusual requirements for those who prefer to concentrate only on specific features of the application?

All levels of experience are catered for. You can choose from pre-designed training courses that cover all levels of user from beginners to advanced power-users.

Problem solving

The best way to master any software application is to go through a process of problem-solving on your own projects. Together, you and your trainer will work out the best approach to get the results you want from the software.

We can provide purpose-built training files to teach you certain concepts and techniques but we can also work on your own projects if you’re happy to bring them along. If you’re interested in booking the cabin accommodation, training or a package that includes both, please book here.
August 9, 2023
Creative Training in Brighton
Angie Taylor runs her own private art school, called Creative Cabin. Here she teaches art, design, sculpture, 3D and animation to artists and designers. Angie also runs classes for children in art & design subjects.

Angie Taylor’s advanced After Effects Training courses are like no other. This is not just simply software training.

You will receive professional training by an industry professional with over fifteen years experience in the TV and Film industry. Learn how to create visually stunning animation, motion graphics and visual effects using professional post production techniques.

Angie has trained designers at most of the top TV and film companies in the UK, including; BBC, Sky, Channel 5, ITV, MTV. Angie also works regularly for Adobe as an industry expert in their digital video products, speaking at seminars, conferences and trade shows.

Other complimentary products can be included too including; Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere Pro, Cinema 4D, Final Cut Pro and Motion. Learn the software plus additional nifty little tips and tricks that will project your work a mile above the rest. You’ll get training in the product features and, if required, design and animation training from an experienced After Effects professional. Learn from Angie’s own successes (and also learn how to avoid mistakes!)

Angie teaches four levels of After Effects course: Fundamental, Intermediate, Advanced and Power User. Each course is designed to give you the skills to get the most from After Effects enabling you to produce professional motion graphics and visual effects for film, video, the web and mobile devices.

To receive a detailed course outline and pricing please use the Contact page form to express your interest.
- Angie can provide individual one-to-one training on site, at your place of work.
- On-site training for groups between 2 and 5 people can also be provided at your own place of work.
- Having trouble getting a job done? Angie also offers a one-to-one consultancy service to help you with real world projects.
- If you prefer an off-site classroom situation, Angie works with reputable training companies in the UK and can offer training at premises in most major UK cities at a discounted rate. Please contact Angie directly for more details.
After Effects Learn by Video is included in the course

Training includes all source files and fourteen hours of video training written by Angie Taylor and Todd Kopriva (Adobe’s technical support lead for professional video software). You can use these files to extend your knowledge and retrace your steps again after the course.

Please contact Angie Directly using her contact page to find out more.

“Of all the After Effects books I looked at whilst trying to learn it,
I found Angie’s was the most user friendly and creative.”

Chris Cunningham, Director of music videos, commercials and video art.
August 9, 2023
Book training at Creative Cabin

Author and designer, Angie Taylor delivers custom, one-to-one Adobe software training courses at Creative Cabin near Brighton and London. Please use the Contact page to contact Angie for more details about course content and availability. To see examples of Angie’s training you can watch free video tutorials here.

Creative Cabin is a completely self-contained studio apartment with amazing sea views.

It’s the perfect escape for artists, authors, designers or musicians wishing to retreat from their daily routines and responsibilities.

Getting away to an inspirational space like this can enliven creative development and focus attention.

Angie offers very reasonable prices for customised, one-to-one training courses, tailored to suit each individual’s needs.

To find out more check out the other tabs on this page or visit the Creative Cabin website.

November 4, 2015
Character Animation Courses
Learn how to bring your artwork to life with Angie Taylor’s character animation courses at Creative Cabin.
- Discover methods for setting up artwork for animating in Adobe’s new Character Animator software.
- Learn the principles of animation and how to apply them to your characters.
- Learn useful scripts and add ons for Adobe After Effects, including DUIK, Puppet Toolsand Head Rig.
- Find out how to compose a scene and a storyboard and get hundreds of tips and tricks for making compelling and enjoyable character animations.
- Enjoy focussed attention from our trainer on our unique, one-to-one character animation courses.
Book now to hold your place at the special introductory price of £249.95 per day.

More about character animation courses at Creative Cabin

At the Creative Cabin guests can enjoy custom, one-to-one, Adobe software training from a professional industry expert.

In this indyllic location near Brighton – Angie Taylor creates her own motion graphic designs and animations from her studio in the Creative Cabin.

In between freelance jobs she offers this lovely self-contained studio/ apartment to other designers, editors and artists who need a quiet, inspiring place to work, learn and relax.

Benefits of one-to-one character animation courses

Angie Taylor’s courses are one-to-one and totally unique. There’s only you and Angie in the Cabin so you get her complete attention for the entire course – unlike corporate training courses where you often have to share the training with several other delegates.

Employers!

You can have employees trained individually for less than the cost of a group training course at a dedicated training centre – making sure they learn exactly what the techniques they need. It’s more cost-effective than you may expect.

No need for all of your designers or editors to be out of the office on the same day, leaving you short-staffed. Send them to the Cabin one-at-a-time for the individual training they need.

Go at your own speed

With a one-to-one training course at the Creative Cabin you can explore the software at your own speed while Angie guides you and suggests best practices with the software.

Work on meaningful projects and files

Angie provides well-designed, structured training exercises for you to follow that will get you up to speed in no time. If you prefer you can bring along your own projects so you and Angie can work on those together.

Solve problems and come up with solutions

Problem-solving and coming up with new ideas is Angie’s speciality – she loves to suggest ways to improve and refine your workflow to get the very best from your software.

Be trained by a working designer and author

Angie only offers training for a few days every month. When the Cabin is not being used for training Angie creates motion graphic and animation projects from the Cabin for her own clients who she works for on a freelance basis.

Over the past 20 years Angie has trained hundreds of motion graphic designers, video editors and artists on software applications such as; Adobe After Effects, Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Illustrator and Maxon Cinema 4D.

Angie is a published author with five books published on the subjects of Adobe After Effects and motion graphic design. She is also an author of training courses at Lynda.com.

Make your training a vacation

The Creative Cabin is situated in an idyllic spot near Brighton in the UK with panoramic views across the English Channel.

All training packages include accommodation in the private, comfortable self-contained studio apartment – this is yours for the duration of your stay. Kick back and relax when you’re not training, enjoy some home-cooked food while watching movies on the HDTV or playing Playstation games. The more adventurous guests may want to take a trip into the centre of Brighton to unwind in style.

Accommodation

Designers and Artists can rent the Cabin for as little as £99.95 per night. It is a completely self-contained studio apartment with sleeping area, shower room, kitchen and work area. Find out more about the facilities here.

Training packages

At the Cabin Angie offers customised, one-to-one training courses, tailored to suit each individual’s needs. Previous clients include designers from BSkyB, ITV and Barton Willmore. Find out more about these affordable courses near Brighton and to view course outlines, please visit the Training page.

Booking the Cabin

Please use the Contact page to contact Angie for more details about course content and availability. If you’re interested in booking the cabin accommodation, training or a package that includes both, please book here.
June 19, 2015
Kinetic Typography Techniques with After Effects
Kinetic Typography

Kinetic typography is an art form that combines text and motion to express ideas in the form of animation designed to accompany spoken word or music. Join author, and motion graphic designer Angie Taylor as she shares her considerable knowledge of this form.

Work along with her in this unique course as she builds a complete kinetic typography project from start to finish. Along the way, discover how to create and animate text layers directly within Adobe After Effects using animators and 3D features, set up Photoshop files for animating in After Effects, and use a variety of effects and techniques to create numerous text animation styles within a single project. The course also offers lots of tips and tricks for animating 3D cameras and lights and using expressions and scripts to simplify the processes involved.
Topics include:
- Working with audio
- Preparing source files
- Structuring your After Effects project
- Working with shapes and effects
- Optimizing performance
- Animating text
- Creating 3D animation
- Using expressions to create motion
- Rendering your final movie
July 6, 2014
Creative Cabin Review

I wanted to share my very first Creative Cabin Review for my new training venture at Creative Cabin. This review is written by motion graphic designer extraordinaire, Phil Bearman.

Training with Angie Taylor at Creative Cabin

Like many motion graphics designers, I’m entirely self taught. In the early years of my career I spent a lot of time following tutorials, reading the Meyers’ fantastic books, and watching Total Training videos, alongside doing a lot of experimental work in After Effects.

10 years later, and I’ve been fortunate to build a successful business which has kept me very busy and earning a comfortable living throughout.

When you stop learning, your work can start to look tired and repetitive

I’m a firm believer that you should never stop learning, and with software applications as mature and ‘deep’ as After Effects there’s always something new to discover. Unfortunately the downside to being very busy all of the time is that it’s difficult to find time to learn. When you stop learning, your work can start to look tired and repetitive, and you can end up working on ‘auto pilot’ which is both boring and unsatisfying.

Whilst browsing Facebook recently, I landed on Angie Taylor’s page, and one of her posts was promoting something called the “Creative Cabin”.

For those who aren’t familiar with Angie, she is a long-established motion graphics designer who has become well known for her teaching, through books, video tutorials, seminars and classroom teaching, as well as being a regular contributor to community forums.

The Creative Cabin is a residential studio space near Brighton, UK, which Angie has set up. The studio can either be booked as part of a one-to-one training course with Angie or purely as accommodation, providing a space for you to work on creative projects away from your usual working environment which can be a great boost to creativity.

The Creative Cabin appealed to me in three ways:

• Firstly, as an opportunity to take a break from work (as with many self-employed people, I don’t take nearly enough holiday time!)

• Secondly, to do some much needed learning to reinvigorate my passion and creativity, away from the pressures of deadlines, emails and the phone ringing

• Thirdly, to spend some time talking with a fellow motion graphics designer.

Unlike the USA, with it’s many “After Effects User Groups”, the UK doesn’t really have a social scene for motion graphics

Although I’ve been ‘in the business’ for 10 years, I’ve never actually spent any time in the company of fellow motion graphics designers. Unlike the USA, with it’s many “After Effects User Groups”, the UK doesn’t really have a social scene for motion graphics and this makes it difficult to meet other designers if you are self-employed. So the closest I’ve come to socialising is via the online forums, which just isn’t the same as being face-to-face with somebody.

So I booked a two day course at the Creative Cabin and a few weeks later took a train from Manchester to Brighton. From here I took a short bus journey out to the Creative Cabin which is actually situated out of town, slightly further along the coast. Before getting down to work, Angie showed me around the newly refurbished studio which has a picturesque view out over her garden to the sea.

The studio is equipped with basic cooking facilities to allow self-catering (sink, fridge, combi microwave oven), a comfortable double bed, and shower room with underfloor heating, plus there’s an outdoor patio area so you can sit and enjoy the garden and sea view.

At the ‘business end’, there is a large desk which you can either set your own computer up on, or use a provided Mac which has the Adobe Creative Collection installed along with Cinema 4D.

Prior to arriving, I had discussed my requirements with Angie by email. I knew Angie was experienced at 2D character animation, which is an area I’ve shied away from in the past but needed to master for a forthcoming project. So I brought some illustrated characters with me, and together we worked through bringing them to life in After Effects, starting with preparing the artwork in Illustrator, then breaking it down and animating the various components using a combination of methods.

Despite ten years of using After Effects, there were still loads of little AE tips and shortcuts that I picked up from Angie over the course of the two days, but where I actually gained most was from what Angie taught me about using Illustrator.

I’ve been using Illustrator for as long as I’ve been using After Effects, but have only scraped the surface of what it’s capable of – I’ve never explored its features properly (always wanting to jump back to After Effects at the soonest opportunity!) and was really excited to discover just what is possible with Illustrator when you delve in a bit further.

We also did a bit of training in Cinema 4D – another package I’ve been using for years, but only as a secondary tool to AE, so had a list of ‘weak areas’ which we explored.

she’s a great teacher, and has a warm, friendly personality which immediately puts you at ease

I found Angie extremely easy to learn from and get along with – she’s a great teacher, and has a warm, friendly personality which immediately puts you at ease (important when you’re going to spend two days sat at a desk together!). An added bonus is her Scottish East-Coast accent which, as anyone who has watched her tutorials video will know, is very easy on the ears!

Stunning cliff-top view on my morning run

In the evening I decided it would be nice to try one of the local pubs for dinner, as recommended by Angie, and she was kind enough to give up her evening and join me for dinner. We had a great chat about how we’d got into the industry, the highs and lows of being a self-employed motion graphics designer, and discovered shared interests (DJing, cooking and gardening) which gave us plenty to chat about. It was really refreshing to chat to somebody about work without fear of boring them(!) and who had been through all the same kind of experiences along the way. The food was also good, as promised!

I like to go for a run first thing in the morning (an essential stress-buster and counter-balance for the sedentary day sat in front of a monitor) – the Creative Cabin is situated close to a cliff-top, which provided a picturesque route for jogging and fresh sea air – a perfect start to the day!

I came away feeling relaxed, refreshed, and rejuvenated

My two-day stay was everything I hoped it would be – I came away feeling relaxed, refreshed, and rejuvenated, excited to use the new skills and tricks I’ve picked up from Angie. It’s been a pleasure to meet her and we will undoubtedly keep in touch.

I would recommend Angie and the Creative Cabin to anyone who wants to sharpen up their creative skills – whether you’re a complete novice, or an experienced professional – or to anyone who wants a change of scenery to work on a creative project, and I wish Angie every success with this new venture.

http://creative-cabin.co.uk/

http://178.79.164.181/

April 15, 2014
Example of Angie’s Photoshop Tutorials

I was very pleased to be invited by John Dickinson to create a Prosentials video tip for Motionworks. This tip is for Photoshop CS6 and demonstrates how to removing dust from video frames. I’d love to hear what you think of my first Prosentials tip so please add comments. I recorded this tutorial at my studio, Creative Cabin in Brighton.

John Dickinson is a motion graphic designer who I admire greatly. His work as Senior Broadcast Designer at Foxtel in Australia is impressive enough but on top of that full-time role, he aslo manages to run one of the most inspiring and useful resource sites for other motion graphic designers. It’s called Motionworks. Here you can find all sorts of tips, tricks, tutorials, presets and templates designed by John and his contemporaries.

September 14, 2012
The Women of Punk 01

After receiving good feedback for my blog on the influence of punk on design, I thought I’d keep on subject and write about the women of “punk” who inspired me personally, not just creatively, but in almost everything I do.

A still from the videos I shot at the Underworld gig in Camden

Ari at the last Slits gig in Brighton

The Last picture I took of Ari on Brighton Beack earlier this year.

I went to see my old friends The Slits last week in Brighton Concorde 2. They were just as amazing as ever, I don’t know how Ari, Tessa and the others have the energy to get up there every night and do their thing, as well as travelling. I was lucky enough to work with The Slits a few years back, producing and directing a live shoot of their gig at the Royal Festival Hall, part of Morrisey’s Meltdown Festival.

It’s funny, I was slightly concerned that it may be a mistake to meet my old punk heroes after so many years (I originally met them briefly in 1979) but I needn’t have worried, they were just as inspiring, revolutionary and refreshing as they ever were. Still continuing to break new ground and fighting against a music establishment that still considers it a novelty when women can write and play innovative and accomplished music.

What I really loved about The Slits, growing up was their originality. They were unlike any of the other “punk” bands. They didn’t seem to want to conform to the usual punk stereotypes of girls in fishnets and bondage clothing, their dress sense and music was taken from a wide range of different styles and cultures, uniquely “Slitsy”.

Their lyrics were confrontational, witty and anti-establishment in the most personal and positive way, they sang songs about the lives that “Typical Girls” led. They, like me, looked as if they would have had trouble “fitting in” before the punk movement came along, I could identify with them. And on top of that, I loved their music, a mix of reggae, dub, punk, soul and all sorts of other influences meant there was nobody else quite like them. Their rendition of Marvyn Gaye‘s “Heard it Through the Grapevine” is still one of my favorite cover-versions of all time.

It was a funny old day, the day of the Brighton gig. I regularly take my niece out on a Saturday morning, we go down to our local beach cafe for breakfast and to talk about life, the universe and everything! And who should we bump into but Ari, Tessa and co having breakfast! So we sat with them and they invited my niece Frankie along to the gig that night.

We all popped along there in the evening and had the best night out ever, The Slits were amazing, the crowd were lovely, lively and very friendly. Ari looked after us well, making sure that we got a safe spot, right at the front so that Frankie, and her friend, Faye didn’t get squashed.

They have a new album out, Trapped Animal, which I haven’t yet heard but has got good reviews. And Island Records are re-releasing their brilliant, seminal album, Cut as part of their “top 50 Island Records”.

So, it’s inspired me to start a series of blogs on women who have inspired me in my work. I’ll start with the ones considered to be “punks” and see where that takes me. Next week I’ll go back in time a little and look at some of my musical heroes from across the pond including Patti Smith and Nico.

Read Part 5

October 17, 2009
Life of a demo-dolly – rotating suitcases

I went to Amsterdam earlier this month, with the Gridiron gang, to attend IBC 2009. I had several meetings to attend, demo’s to do and an interview or two to give. So I packed my suitcase with all my usual accoutrements, everything I would need for a business trip in a distant land! I get especially nervous when packing for a trip like this, what should I bring, and what is it OK to leave behind?

These seem like life-threatening decisions in terms of the anxiety they produce. The bag mustn’t be too heavy, otherwise I may aggravate my old shoulder injury. On the other hand, I mustn’t be caught short in front of my colleagues by forgetting a vitally important piece of equipment. I need to make sure I have backups of every item in case a cable stops functioning, or a hard drive breaks down so I usually pack two of each small item. Bigger items, like my Macbook Pro cannot be duplicated so they are packed in my carry on bag along with other fragile items.

Then there’s the bloody palaver with liquids to contend with! Do I take shampoo, or do I use the crappy ones the hotels provide? And what about conditioner? I’ve just had a fresh bleach-job done on my hair so I’ll need that too. So I pack all the lotions and potions I could possibly need, end up using a very small percentage of them, and then over-packing my bag for the journey home with more bad-quality toiletries pilfered from the hotels, it’s craziness. Plus, I’m always tempted by those cute little 100 ml containers of essential gunk that they sell to us in the airports – Listerine have made a fortune out of me in the last six months!

Anyway, after a day of decision-making, un-making, then re-making. Irritating my partner with “do you think I’ll need this?” every two minutes. I finally decide on the perfectly packaged selection of items and board the plane with a sense of relief. Time for my customary British Airways G&T, I can finally relax. “I’m sorry Madam (I hate being called Madam!) we no longer serve ice and lemon in standard class” I’m told by the air steward. So, my one solitary treat that I allow myself to make the ordeal of packing and flying bearable has now been removed by British Airways and their continual penny-pinching ways. That’s it, the straw that finally broke the camels back, I’ve flown with BA regularly for years but that’s it, no more am I paying a premium for a service that’s no better than the budget airlines. Sorry, digressing but had to get that off my chest! I mean, it’s not a G&T without ice and lemon, really!

So, finally I make it to Amsterdam and the RAI where I’ve attended IBC, and other events for the last 12 years. I love this city, and it’s people. In fact if I was to live anywhere else in the world than my dear, dear Brighton, it would be Amsterdam. IBC was really good for us at GridIron, we were partnering with Apple on a few events and briefings at the Miranda Pavilion which were very well attended by an excellent, highly qualified group of individuals. We showed Flow and had amazing responses from them. Apple also hosted a party for us at the pavilion where Mark Coleran gave an excellent presentation on his journey from Screen Designer on Holywood movies to becoming the graphical interface designer of Flow.

I also saw some cool stuff, I was impressed by JVC’s HM series of cameras (and I’m a Sony-girl!) These cameras record direct to SD cards in MPEG (for ingest through Log and transfer) or Quicktime for direct drag and drop into the Final Cut Pro timeline. Very nice indeed. Adobe Story looks like an interesting product for scriptwriters, a new market for Adobe, interesting to see how it fairs. Object Matrix is a compelling product that you must see if you’re at all interested in affordable, scalable, secure storage, they make it a piece of cake. And of course the improvements made to Apple’s own Final Cut Studio and Final Cut Server continue to impress.

So, of course I came home with a much heavier suitcase, packed with brochures, receipts, giveaways and all sorts of other flotsam and jetsam. That was two weeks ago and I’m only just unpacking now! In fact I’ve done two other events since returning, have stayed in two other hotels and now have two suitcases to unpack! It’s a sorry state of affairs when you have to have rotating suitcases – two cases, each with enough clothing, toiletries and other essentials so that you can leave on a second trip before you feel like you’ve completed the first. I really am a trolley-demo-dolly!

Angie’s shuffle track of the day – Another Girl, Another Planet, The Only Ones – Listen free on Last FM

September 29, 2009