Learn to Work like a Turkey

One of the unique things about Hand Turkey Studios is our belief in open source tools. In fact, nearly every step in our production pipeline is dominated by an open source application. Programs like Blender, GIMP, Inkscape, MyPaint, Scribus, OpenOffice.org, and FFMPEG are essential components in the Hand Turkey creative toolbox. In the spirit of open source, we want to give back to the community by periodically offering hands-on workshops and one-on-one training on our process and the tools we use.

Training sessions are lead by Hand Turkey Studios owner, Jason van Gumster – author of Blender For Dummies and co-author of GIMP Bible. As someone who uses these tools on a day-to-day basis, Jason is full of useful, practical techniques and tips that will help you work faster and more effectively. And as a trainer, he presents information to you in a way that’s interesting, energetic, and easily understood.

Blender Training

One of the tools we primarily focus on is Blender, an open source suite that is well suited for fast-paced, professional production on a limited budget. Blender’s speedy, hotkey-based workflow is ideal for television and print producers with tight deadlines. And the fact that it’s freely available with source code makes it a unique fit for independent studios and artists in need of custom 3D software. And with the recent interface and event system overhaul in the 2.5 series of Blender, it’s an even more attractive choice.

In all of our workshops, copies of Blender for all modern computing platforms and all files used in the workshop are made available on DVD for course participants. If you are interested in participating in any of the courses we offer, please contact us and we will add you to our mailing list, informing you when upcoming dates will be. We also post upcoming dates on our News page and Event Calendar.