Why does it hurt so much to see students sell themselves short?  I had a teacher once, Gregory D’Alessio, who told me that in our work we completely expose ourselves. It is all there for the world to see- how much we cared, or didn’t care, how sensitive or insensitive we were to the subject at hand, how much respect or lack of respect we had for what we were creating, for the process.

The people who respect art too much to ever create without care, without giving it full attention and their best effort, are the people who grow and thrive and end up with successful careers. It really is as simple as that.

Art demands that we care. Today I saw a room full of beautiful drapery studies by first year concept art students. It was clear that they were focused, involved, and behind every mark they made on the page.

I was privileged to see part of the animation students’ year 4 film project, and I think it will be, perhaps, the best fourth year film done at Max the Mutt…..and then I saw some really poorly done drawings  I can’t get  out of my head…and they were done by people who’ve also done some terrific work.

Because I know the students, because I know what they’ve already been taught and are aware of,  because I’ve seen them produce good work, the work I was looking at told me they’re  treating parts of their education with little or no respect for the subject, the instructor, or themselves. They were working as  though no one had ever taught them composition and design, or spoken about a felt line, or talked about choosing  pencils wisely and preparing them properly. Poorly composed, unfelt, with  lines that do not communicate form in space…they know and I know they are capable of more.

Being a professional means you give your best effort to every job, not just the ones that appeal to you. it means you apply your self to the difficult technical parts of drawing because they are the underpinnings that your creativity will travel on.

Excellence demands caring. At the very least, one has to make an effort to bring what one already knows to the task at hand. Ask for an extension if you need one, but take  pride in what you’re doing! Every time you work poorly, without focus, without care, you damage yourself.

That’s what kept me up.

Max the Mutt has helped so many people develop real skills and make careers, but at least 80% is up to the student. You have to catch what’s being given to you, grab it, treasure it, use it…and work!  Practice makes perfect.

And you have to care every time you pick up a pencil and draw a line.   That’s what it means to be an artist.

Max the Mutt was visited by Nalini Sharma from CP24′s breakfast crew. Here’s the clip:

All classes resume as normal.

Max the Mutt Animation School will be closed on Wednesday February 27 due to weather. We presently expect to be open on Thursday.

Please check our blog for more updates: http://blog.maxthemutt.com

At Max the Mutt Animation School,  I’m frequently  asked questions , especially by parents, about jobs for animators.

I was surfing the net, looking for information about new uses for animation and came upon a WebPage from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, “Handheld Devices for Ubiquitous Learning Project (HDUL),” which explores “exemplar examples of educational software designed for handhelds, general information about probeware and peripherals, and exemplar uses of handhelds in education.”

Animation will be a growing player in education. One exciting example given describes students visiting a natural history museum. The students can use their hand held devices to connect with the museum’s system:

“Alec’s favorite exhibits were those augmented by virtual environments. For example, at a panorama showing the bones found at a tar pit, Alec’s HD depicted a virtual reconstruction of the dinosaurs that were trapped at that prehistoric location. In the virtual environment, he could assume the perspective of each species and walk or fly or swim through its typical habitat. Other types of exhibit-linked virtual environments enabled “time travel” to show how a particular spot on the earth’s surface had changed over the eons.” I’ve zoned in on the part of this learning experience that specifically uses animation, but the entire vignette is fascinating, exciting, intellectually stimulating, and inevitably coming our way. (http://gseacademic.harvard.edu/~hdul/whd-overview.htm).

Animation is also becoming part of the teaching of science. ://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC520841/ The paragraph below is from an article by Bradley J. Stith form the journal “Cell Biology Education.”

“Although video microscopy has long been used as a valuable teaching tool (see C.D. Watters’ “Video Views and Reviews” column in CBE), the use of computer animation in teaching has recently expanded (as noted by the numerous animations now accompanying textbooks). Animation can have advantages over video microscopy, including simplification; unlimited resolution and magnification; ability to highlight certain symbols within a complex background; control of motion, shape, or color changes; and the stepwise fading in and out of symbols. Although this review centers on the teaching of cell biology, the discussion is readily applicable to the teaching of all fields of science.”

Starts Saturday, May 18, 2013  (Cancelled)

Adobe Flash software is used for everything from websites to animated TV shows. You will come away with an understanding of how content is created using Flash and the knowledge to apply it to design characters and create basic animation for your own projects.

(more…)

Very exciting news came yesterday that Max the Mutt Animation School will be visited by CP24 Live- Eye on March 6th!  Featured guests from DreamWorks Animation are  Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco, directors of the new DreamWorks animated feature film, “The Croods”  who will speak with our animation students and look at their work! The whole school is also invited to a preview!

All of us at Max the Mutt  would also like to offer  congratulations to Max the Mutt animation graduate Brendan Beesley!  Brendan is currently  a character animator working on the feature “The Nut Box,” produced in Toronto by ToonBox Entertainment, and previously worked for Starz on Gnomeo and Juliette. Rumor has it that he’s being seriously considered by a a major company.

Congratulations as well to Ashley Vanchu, year 4 animation student, recently hired as a texture artist by Rocket 5 Studios.

I just spoke with Kent Burles who co-ordinates the ISA program. He literally said to me that he often finds it hard to go home because there is so much positive energy at Max the Mutt… and so much creative energy…that he can’t tear himself away!

Tomorrow is the overnight comic book marathon event. Max the Mutt students from all diplomas are invited and they’ll be creating comics, penciling and inking pages, non stop through the night.

It’s work week, but there seemed to be people working everywhere today. Students told me that even though the workload is intense, they appreciate being pushed and the excitement of seeing themselves develop and get better makes it worth the effort. We talked about how they could access the skeleton, and especially the skull, to do more drawings than can be assigned for a class that meets three hours a week. We looked at a variety of anatomy books together. I had fun.

I don’t think Max the Mutt has ever been a happier place.

Max the Mutt Animation School amazes me. The students at Max the Mutt amaze me, The faculty amazes me. This is what a school is supposed to be about, and so often isn’t. I’m grateful to be a part of it, and of course it wouldn’t be the same with a different name.
Max the Mutt is a friendly, inclusive school.  For me it’s an environment that allows talent to flourish, a place for whimsy and creativity, hard work and commitment, a school that says in it’s name that we take our work, not ourselves, seriously.

Max the Mutt, I can hardly wait to see the year end show. I know the work will blow me away. Thank you all for letting me continue to be part of this world.