Welcome to antCGi.com
Founded in 2014 by industry veteran Antony Ward, author of Game Character Development in Maya (2004), Game Character Development (2008) and 3D Modeling in Silo (2010). antCGi boasts over two decades of experience in digital media, as well as a vast suite of courses available through Digital Tutors, 3DWorld and CGTuts+.
It’s with this backbone of knowledge and expertise that I supply quality digital art, game art, rigging, animation and tutoring services to a wide range of clients.
I`ve been creating 3D models for over twenty years now, with my first application being Real 3D on the Amiga 1200. This soon moved to 3DStudio R4 just as 3D was working its way into the games industry, but I soon upgraded to Autodesk Maya in 2002 when I began working on Superman: Shadow of Apokolips.
Maya has continued to be my main application of choice and in 2004 I published my first book, Game Character Development with Maya. A book whose success pushed me to write a further two before creating a series of workshops for Digital Tutors, 3DWorld magazine and CGTuts+.
As well as the more creative aspects of this industry I also love the more technical side. Building rigs and tools in Maya scratches that problem solving itch I have, and I like nothing more than developing a custom rig, from scratch, along side a client to fit their brief. Be that a simple set of controls or a more high end animation system, each pose their own challenges to be conquered.
In my career so far I have generated numerous game related rigs of varying scales and on more than one occasion I have been tasked with creating an automatic rigging system. These were used to speed up the process of building rigs for a high number of characters over a shorter schedule and also had to be flexible to take into account different proportions.
I have also worked on a number of television projects where the rigs had to be capable of a wide range of movements and emotions. These rigs had no limits so I was able to incorporate a number of high end techniques to achieve the desired result. In addition to this I also supplied a series of tools to make the rigs and their controls easier to work with.
I have always enjoyed bringing inanimate objects to life, be that using pixels or polygons, and my love of animation only grew when, in 2000, I was lucky enough to attend Richard Williams Animation Masterclasses which was held in Annecy.
This was an intensive three day course which covered all aspects of animation, ranging from basic principles of squash and stretch to more advanced areas like accents and lip syncing. All techniques which I have expanded upon over the years as I’ve produced animation for games, TV and film.
I also believe that to be a good animator you must have a good working knowledge of the rigs that drive the models. Not only to help eliminate possible bugs but its also essential to help in the rigs design and construction.
Whether you are looking for a fully automated character rigging tool or simply something to batch process a series of files, with my skills in both MEL and Python I can create a tool to not only speed up your workflow but also make your life easier.
Recent Projects
Legends Of Safety
3D Modeling, Animation, Rigging
I was approached by Mi last year and asked to help on a safety video they were creating for Wieden+Kennedy [...]
Steam Punk Portrait
3D Modeling, 3D World
Maya used to be the last application I would use for modelling. If you have followed me and my work [...]
High End Facial Rig
3D World, Rigging, Tutorial
I remember when I was first learning to create character rigs in Maya. It was way back in 2002 while [...]
Recent Illustrations
Fleeting Glance
Painting
I decided to try something different with this piece. Rather than starting with a sketch I began with a [...]
Contemplation
Painting
Again, experimenting a little with this one and also pushing the boundaries of my comfort zone. The main feature [...]
Recent Posts
Meko Stylus Review
I’ve tried to paint on my phone with my finger, but it just doesn’t work for me. I need [...]
Jison Leather Cases
Phone and tablet cases are now as common as bread and milk. Everyone has one in some shape or [...]
Wacom Stand Review
When the MobileStudio Pro was released it wasn’t just the name which was changed to move it [...]
Pro Pen 3D Review
When it comes to drawing, painting or sculpting digitally the pen you use is just as important [...]
MobileStudio Pro 16 Review
It’s no secret that Wacom’s foray into the mobile market has been a patchy one. Throughout the Cintiq Companions [...]
Instagram Posts
Testimonials
Antonys 3D work is not only precise and accurate to our designs, but the quality and turnover times are second to none. He tops it off by being a nice chap who is very easy to deal with and responsive to design changes, which is important when we have very tight deadlines from high profile clients.
Antony is an artist we go back to again and again, always professional, he consistently answers any brief he’s given to the highest standard. If you’re looking for quality and reliability I would recommend Antony every time.
Antony brings a passion and intensity to his work not often seen in a lot of artists in the industry. He is truly a top notch artist. The most impressive skills that Ant has shown me, is his ability to follow through. He met deadlines and continued to have high quality output. You can always expect Ant to put 110% effort into whatever he’s working on. I would strongly recommend Antony Ward for any professional opportunity. He will be a great asset to any company.
I had the pleasure of hiring Antony for the first time last year. He produced excellent quality work, which was both technically accurate and creative.
I have since made sure I hire Antony for regular content in 3D World magazine and his quality of work has only improved.
He has responded well to deadlines and has even jumped in to help out when other contributors have been unable to complete a task.
To top that off, he is both personable and professional. A pleasure to work with and I look forward to working with him more.
I first worked with Antony way back in the 97′ well before PS2. We were both on a secret project at Krisalis. Even then Ant was a brilliant artist and animator. Knowing this Ant joined me some years later as senior animator at EANW studio on my recommendation and didn’t disappoint.Ants a brilliant driven artist, excellent animation skills and technical skills, he proved himself invaluable to the studio. Its hard to find an Artist and animator with such technical expertise these days.
His skills are not only for himself, as a mentor Ant works brilliant with junior members of the team. Even to the point of writing books on Maya and Maya animation systems. Ant is a powerful creative asset to any studio or client.
Antony applied himself totally to build some very usual and creative rigs. With his technical expertise and calm approach, Antony has been unflappable despite the scale and refinements required for the task.
We hired Antony to create high resolution models based upon low resolution Xbox(1) models.The quality of the finished models were perfect for us, as such I can whole heartedly recommend him to others.
I served as Antony’s Acquisitions Editor for his book Game Character Development. Antony was a very reliable author who was a pleasure to work with. He adhered to his schedule, turned in high-quality material, and was a true professional throughout the manuscript process. It would be a pleasure to work with Antony again.