About Workbench

Workbench offers training and tools for creatives. We're here to help artists who want to add new tips and techniques to their arsenal so that they can spend less time on repetitive tasks and more time being creative. We strive to get to the point as quickly as possible, while also providing the why to go along with how so you're not just learning how to be a robot.

Meet Joe

Hi, I'm Joe. I grew up in Tampa. Four generations of my family did too, so I've got roots here. I'm proud to live here—I even have a TPA tattoo. Still, while old people dreamed of moving here, I dreamed of moving somewhere not-hot. But I have a great air conditioner and an ice vest for summertime shoots, so I'm good.

I was always drawing in grade school. I got in a lot of trouble because I was bored and would draw and talk to people. So when I attended the University of South Florida, I decided to stick with fine arts. I did a lot of drawing, painting, and photography, but when it came time to pick a concentration for my BFA, I chose electronic media. One of my professors demoed After Effects and it changed my life.

I had to figure out a lot of the basic stuff on my own. In those days Googling After Effects got you a lot of peer-reviewed scientific journal articles. Eventually I found Creative Cow and Aharon Rabinowitz. I learned so much from him. I had access to Brian Maffitt's Total Training DVDs so I learned from that too. Then Andrew Kramer started up Video Copilot and I watched his stuff religiously.

About the time Nick Campbell started Greyscale Gorilla I wasn't watching tutorials for their topics anymore. I was just watching to see how people worked. I wanted to see if I could speed things up, or perhaps see things in a new light. And I began to think about how I wanted to give back to the community that gave me so much. I have a kick ass job and I got to where I am by standing on the shoulders of giants.

I had been working in this industry for about ten years and for myself under Yellow Dog Party aka YDP since 2010. During that time I made a lot of elements and scripts that help me to work a lot faster without having to do a lot of repetitive junk—aka the stuff computers were supposed to do—so I can focus on the stuff I'm paid to do—the creative. So in 2015, I started talking with my officemates about creating another resource for people. And I started to work on it in my spare time as 2015 ended to launch Workbench in 2016.

Thankfully, there's already so much out there for beginners now. So our tutorials will focus on those interesting little tips and tricks that can help you work faster, or maybe show you something in a new light. The weekly tutorials will always be free. And the rest of it will all be priced quite fairly so that I can get some money for stuff I've made and you can save yourself a bunch of time by using my stuff. It's win win.

So that's my story. I hope I can be a part of yours.

Meet Severo

Hi, I'm Severo. I grew up in Miami.

As far back as I can remember, I enjoyed making things with my hands on the computer. It didn't really matter what, I just wanted to create. That is what excites me and pushes me to constantly learn.

I've been working in this industry for about twenty years, and I've been working for myself since 2015. During that time, I've made a variety of animations that have run the gamut. And through it all, I've learned a lot and I still continue to do so.

Joe and I work together on projects for my own company and Yellow Dog Party. As my focus is on 3D, I'll mainly be making Cinema 4D tutorials. Like our After Effects tutorials, my tutorials will be quick looks at cool and useful techniques that I discover while I'm creating for clients and for myself. I don't plan on making lengthy step-by-step tutorials. Instead, we'll mostly stick to quick tips and tricks that highlight how I do a particular technique and the thought process behind it. I'm excited to share the knowledge that I've learned on my journey with you.