Andrew Kramer is a self-taught digital compositing artist and the founder of VideoCopilot.net. He is possibly best known for his video tutorials on Adobe After Effects, which he posts freely on his website. To date, he has posted fifty-six such tutorials, covering a wide range of visual effects, and has also created a ten part training series devoted to getting new users comfortable with the common aspects of After Effects.

After Effects

Kramer is probably best known for his work in After Effects. Self-taught since the age of sixteen, he has become something of a special effects guru, and selflessly shares his knowledge with aspiring artists. Kramer admits that he has no formal training in the field, but recommends that beginners take art classes and learn as much as they possible can about the uses of color. Before becoming as well-known in the field of special effects as he is today, Kramer was posted tutorials and was a contributing editor on CreativeCow.net, another digital compositing site covering a more general range of products. People interested in learning After Effects (an Adobe product used mostly for film post-production and special effects) can visit either CreativeCow.net or Kramer's personal website, VideoCopilot.net. Kramer's tutorials collectively have accumulated over 2,500,000 views on his site alone, an achievement that can be attributed to the charisma with which Kramer presents material. His goal is to have fun, and while he does a superb job explaining his actions and any hotkeys he uses, he has a tendency to get side-tracked on small tangents that are often highly amusing.

Rarely filming himself for tutorial footage, Kramer instead makes ongoing use of his friend and associate Sam Loya, at whom he will often make comical jibes while recording his tutorials. Also featured multiple times in his tutorial footage is another friend and associate: Tino Hertz.

Career

In addition to video tutorials, Andrew Kramer has a small but growing online products page that offers a range of source materials and presets for After Effects. He demonstrates these products in some of his tutorials, and they have very solid applications for a wide variety of films. His current business associates include Bobby Hommel, Tino Hertz, Patrick Otten, Sam Loya, Jeff Wells, Marc Biorklund, Matt Kramer, and Mark Jacobs. To date, VideoCopilot.net offers eight products that can be used in Adobe After Effects or Apple's Final Cut Studio.

Life Beyond Work

On May 20, 2006, Kramer married his five-year girlfriend. In one of the few sentences devoted to his personal life that can be found on his website, Kramer claims that they had chicken and tri-tip at the wedding. However, he makes numerous references to his wife and new baby daughter, both of whom he seems to love very much. The three reside in Murrieta, California.

External links

VideoCopilot.net - Andrew Kramer's Website

CreativeCow.net - Early Associates