First year students celebrating Halloween:

Third year student visiting the police stables as part of the animal drawing course:

Student drawings done on the site:

Guest Speaker: Kalman Andrasofszky, Comic Book Illustrator

Our Illustration students had a chance to get a slice of real life and answers to such questions as:

• How much money do inkers make per page on the entry level, intermediate and advanced?
• Do these rates vary from publisher to publisher?
• Who are the best paying publishers?
• How long does it take to complete a page from script to ink?
• How do you get work as a comic book illustrator?
• How does one best present and promote ones work?

The answers came from Kalman Andrasofszky, a Toronto-based comic book illustrator, during a dynamic and straight-to-the point slide presentation of his work; the presentation included samples of pages in progress from his current project NYX:No Way Home, for Marvel comics.

General message?
As a comic book illustrator you will work your fingers to the bone, twelve hours a day, weekends included, yet none of it really matters if you love and enjoy what you do.”

October 26, 2008

November 29

January 31, 2009

February 21 & 22

March 28

April 23
Featuring 1st year work–family and friends

April 24-May 1

Featuring 1st year work–Open to the public

May 27 – Industry Night

May 28
Graduate Work Event

May 29-June 30 – School Open House

Open House

Date: Saturday, November 29, 2008
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Information Sessions 10:30 a.m. or 12:00 p.m.

Visit Max the Mutt Animation School in the heart of Toronto’s Art & Design
District. If you have not already booked a tour, this is your opportunity to
see our facilities, view our student demo reels and find out what Max the
Mutt Animation School is all about!

Remember, we’re more than Animation – we’re also Illustration, Comic Books &
Graphic Novels, and Concept Art for Animation & Video Games!

RSVP to Information Sessions: Carla Drmay – cdrmay@maxthemutt.com or 416-703-6877

Bring your family and friends!
CHECK OUT OUR COMPLIMENTARY WORKSHOP!

Comic Book Boot Camp Workshop with Ty Templeton

Date: November 29 (after information session)
Time: 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Workshop Content: scripting, comic book story telling, and constructing figures and faces. Materials required: paper and pencil

Maximum 15 students in the workshop – call or email now to reserve your spot.
RSVP: cdrmay@maxthemutt.com or 416-703-6877 x223

Location: Max the Mutt Animation School
952 Queen Street West
Toronto, Ontario416-703-6877 1-877-486-MUTT

On Monday October 13th, Max the Mutt was pleased to welcome Scott Caple,
veteran Layout and Concept Artist to address our Concept Art students about
his experiences in the industry, both here and abroad.

Scott has worked for Nelvana. Don Bluth Studios, Disney, Dreamworks and
Pixar.

Some of the feature films he’s worked on include ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’,
‘Rock & Rule’,'Rockadoodle’ ‘Fantasia 2000′, ‘Hercules’ Mulan’ and ‘The
Incredibles’.

Lately he’s been more involved with designing elements for games that are
feature film spin-offs. Presently he is working on game design components
for the latest Pixar film ‘WALL-E’.This is work he can do comfortably from
his Brampton home, and he enjoys doing it.

It was very inspiring to see Scott’s work for the films he’s worked on, and
he stressed the importance of good drawing- it’s what’s kept him in steady
employment these past 3 decades!

After the presentation, Scott was gracious enough to look over some of the
students’ sketchbooks and offer some suggestions to our aspiring future
concept artists.

Thank you for coming to visit us, Scott!

Hotel Canzine
Canada’s Largest Zine Fair and Festival of Alternative Culture

Feel the Funny!
This year’s Theme: “Comedy”

Sunday, October 26th, 2008 1pm-7 pm The Gladstone Hotel Downtown Toronto, 1214 Queen St. West (Queen just East of Dufferin) $5 admission comes with a free copy of the Fall issue of Broken Pencil Magazine – issue 41 “Comedy”

Giant Zine Fair! Over 150 zines from across Canada on display and for sale! The heart of the event, indie publishers both in print and online come from across the country and the continent to show their wares! Be amazed at the creativity, ingenuity, and sheer weirdness! (Those interested in booking tables can register online at www.brokenpencil.com.)

All Day Comedy! On our upstairs main stage some of Canada’s weirdest, wildest and funniest comedians perform. Featuring the wild antics of Anand Rajaram, the off-kilter singing of Devon Hyland, the standup comedy of Pat Thorton, the improvisational offences of Kayla Lorette and Alana Johnston, and the absurdly hilarious monologues of Kathleen Phillips’s many alter egos .

The One-Two Punch Book Pitch
We still have a few spots open for this! Tell your writer friends! Register now!
A new Canzine feature: live on our mainstage in front of a crowing crowd, you get two minutes to pitch your book to our panel of judges. They get one minute each to tell you why you’ll never get published in a million billion years (or why they want to see your manuscript in their in-box asap!). Best pitch wins a Broken Pencil Prize Pack worth $150! Guest judges are ECW Press editor Michael Holmes, Literary Agent Samantha Haywood, and writer Hal Niedzviecki. Participants must register in advance: to do so email canzine@brokenpencil.com.

The Funniest Readings Ever!
You never knew CanLit could be so damn funny. The best of funny, featuring new writers with hot Fall books and some of Canada’s proven snarky meisters of poetry and prose. Watch them turn a boring reading into a cross between a fart machine and a whoopee cushion! Starring: Stacey May Fowles, Daniel Allen Cox, Derek McCormack, Sarah Steinberg, Jon Paul Fiorentino, and Elyse Friedman.

Hotel Room Installations Canada’s brightest and weirdest will be creating one day unique environments to explore in 5 of the Gladstone Hotel’s Rooms. Don’t miss Jim Munroe’s Room of Indie Video Games, Plus the weird worlds of Sonja Ahlers and Lisa Smolkin, and an all day sing-along with the High Heels Lo Fi!

All Day Underground Video Screening
Open Screening and curated program by James King. Special comedy film program will start with a screening of the poet Sandra Alland’s short film Slippery, a silly meditation on the slippery nature of overused or supposedly universal words. All are welcome to bring videos (VHS or DVD only, 10 minutes and under) to show to the world. Register in advance by emailing canzine@brokenpencil.com. Or just show up with your video.

Workshop: Start Your Own Cooperative Zine and Book Distribution Outlet We’re thrilled to host a workshop by Joe Biel, brainchild behind Portland, Oregon micro-publisher and distributor Microcosm. Biel’s workshop will go step-by-step through the process of setting up a co-op distribution business by working with similarly-minded publications to get independently published zines, comics and books out into the world. Skills and techniques will apply to smallest scale publications. D-I-Y!

Hotel Canzine is made possible by grants from the Toronto Arts Council and the Ontario Arts Council. Hotel Canzine also is supported by the following most excellent sponsors: Magazines Cana da, The Toronto Reference Library, Fantagraphics Comics, Insomniac Books, Open Book Toronto, Pages Books and Magazines, Mint Records, The Diesel Playhouse, CKLN 89.5, CIUT 88.1, Eye Weekly and the Gladstone Hotel.

Canzine is an annual event organized by Broken Pencil, the Magazine of Zine Culture and the Independent Arts.
Broken Pencil, PO Box 203, Station P, Toronto, ON, M5S 2S7
email: editor@brokenpencil.com, phone 416 204 1700

In September 1996 I started teaching a few private classes out of my studio. Before I knew it, students were asking if I knew anyone who could teach perspective, layout for animation…and so it began.

I  had planned to continue what I’d been doing – teach one or two days a week and paint the rest of the time -  but there was a hunger at that time for certain kinds of knowledge and I knew the people who could teach, and soon my studio was being used evenings and weekends for classes.

I might not have let it keep growing if I didn’t have a strong conviction that we are obligated to pass on our knowledge and skills, especially if those skills are in peril of being lost, and I definitely felt traditional  fine art skills were getting lost.  I was also reacting  strongly to what I perceived as a dangerous change in popular culture,  and popular culture affects us all.  The world had changed around me while I was lost in my own painting and my private life.

Songs that glorified beating your woman,  games that made heroes of villains and let people play that they were the criminals, killing and raping…I was profoundly shocked.  This tone in our popular culture may have expressed the state of our culture, but it was also helping to create an even more dangerous  culture.

I hoped that we could at least get students to think about the impact their creations could have on the world and get them to take responsibility.  Is what we are creating a positive addition to the world?  Will it encourage the growth and well being of living things?

At the same time, it seemed to me that we might be able to come together to create  a community of artists and students dedicated to high standards, aesthetics,  and  entertainment value.

In this time of instant everything,  perhaps we could create an environment where people could take the time to develop themselves and their craft, respecting the past and learning from it, while honing the skills to unlock their creativity and create the future.

Perhaps we can contribute to a popular culture that will help us laugh at ourselves, enhance our humanity, and add to our enjoyment of life.

Popular culture surrounds us.  Our senses are bombarded by it… the visual world we live in, and the aural one as well.  It affects the young disproportionately because they, like all mammals, are learning through play, trying to make sense of the world and figure out what ‘s admirable. What kind of man or woman are they supposed to become?

Whether we intend it or not, the stories we tell through animation, comics and video games are part of a communal fantasy life and the attitudes they embody will be, for better or for worse, part of  the next generation’s value system.

Humor, wit, tolerance, generosity of spirit, chivalry, courage, playfulness -  is this what is embodied in our popular culture?  Sometimes…Monsters Inc. pops into my mind, and Toy Story, and Wallace and Grommit.  Unfortunately in the last 20 years they’ve been outweighed by the overwhelming love of violence, gore and superficial sexuality that has flooded popular music, music videos, movies and TV.

Nonetheless, I’m happy to say that after 12 years, I find myself  optimistic about the future. I’ve met so many sensitive, gifted young people,  so many  mature artists  willing to share what they know.  There is a real hunger for something deeper than an adrenalin high. There is a need to create something of value.  I think we may actually be on the verge of a cultural renaissance.

Every year students go through an adjustment period as many of our first year students who received their high school education in North America struggle to learn how to organize their work week,  how to be fully attentive, how to listen and follow directions.

These are  important requisites for learning effectively, and it seems that our grade school and secondary school systems are letting students down by not making reasonable demands and not helping students develop “the habits of mind”  that will make them successful in life.

Without a school culture that supports focus, everything breaks down.  No matter how excellent the curriculum, the instruction, and the potential of the students, an unfocused  environment will not enable students to develop to their maximum potential.  It’s essential that they respect the school, each other,  and their own talent.

What we need is a focus on effort.  This includes what Confucius called “qualities of attention,” that is an ability to pay attention, listen, hear and follow directions.  No one can ask students to do more than give their best efforts.  When they do that, no matter what the outcome they can respect themselves.  Not surprisingly, if they can learn to listen to instructions, focus, and give the work their best shot, they are surprised by how much they learn and how good the work is.

It’s painful to suddenly have to be responsible and hard working.  For some people, focus and concentration are a new experience.  They thought they were concentrating before, but they’ve never been asked before to be 100% behind their work.  They didn’t know they weren’t  really listening because a lower level of attention was acceptable.

We’ve  just finished week 5 of first semester.  The turn-around for people who aren’t really working as hard as they should, has to happen now.  They have to realize that what they are doing is for themselves, – not for grades, diplomas or degrees, but for the development of their talent.  God is generous with talent.  The “habits of mind”  are what enable some people to develop while others languish.

Now we have to hope that we can communicate this and give those of our first year students who, in my opinion, have up to now been poorly educated,  the greatest gift we can pass on: how to actualize your own potential.

MAX THE MUTT’s
Fall Open House

Come visit Max the Mutt Animation School, in the heart of Toronto’s Gallery District. If you are interested in a 2009 post secondary school option and have not already booked a tour with us, this is your opportunity to see our facilities, view our student demo reels and find out what Max the Mutt Animation School is all about! (And we are more than just Animation!)

DATE: Sunday October 26, 2008

TIME: Information Sessions
12:00PM
1:30PM
3:00PM
LOCATION: Max the Mutt Animation School
952 Queen St. West
Suite #300 ~ 2nd Floor
RSVP: Carla Drmay cdrmay@maxthemutt.com or 416-703-6877

Call today to book your information session!
We look forward to meeting you soon.

Bring your family and friends!