PBS And Animator Joey Shanks Will Teach You How To Make Cool FX

People who know how to make cool FX on their computers, such as FreddieW, Corridor Digital, and Tom Antos, represent a YouTube subgenre all of their own. A new series featuring YouTube VFX animator Joey Shanks hopes to make said group a little less exclusive. Shanks is working with PBS Digital Studios to create a web series that will educate newbies on the art of DIY special effects.

Since the beginning of Shanks’ partnership with PBS Digital Studios, his channel has posted  a handful of well received videos, several of which have approached six digit views. Part of the appeal of Shanks’ channel is his easy-to-understand style. ”I don’t really know the terminology — I’m not quite sure how to talk about f-stops or depth of field,” he explained. He also makes sure to keep a singular focus and prefers to work alone. “With stop-motion and animation projects, it’s just easier to have less people around.”

Shanks’, who previous completed a successful Kickstarter campaign for his Sci-Fly stop-motion short film, has begun to build up a subscriber base and releases ones episode a week.

PBS Digital Studios has put itself at the forefront of a burgeoning network. The studio is responsible for one of my favorite channels on YouTube, PBS Idea Channel, which I am happy to see has now passed 125,000 subs and 5 million video views. Another one of the studio’s featured channels, National Film Society, recently completed a successful Kickstarter project for its new web series, Awesome Asian Bad Guys. Shanks hopes his fledgling relationship with PBS affords a similar boost.