A friend of mine has recently graduated with a degree in something graphic design and animation related, and while I'd seen her amazing and very Pixar-like finished products, I had no idea how much work went into it before getting to that stage!

She was showing me some extra animation tutorials she's taking online, and it's astounding how they are able to create whole worlds out of nothing!

Imagine, films like Toy Story, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo or most recently Rio, are created completely from graphics and digital animation - there's no 'film' as such.

Looking at the tutorials and having my friend show me all the different stages and the programs she uses gave me a whole other level of respect for animators and the work they do to create these films.

Photo: PrescottFoland (Flickr)