Hi Maxine,

Thank you very much for the recommendation! My work in animation is going great and steady. I’m working on a children’s show for the next few months called “Whats Your News” that is currently on PBS kids. It’s a good looking 3D motion captured animated show with Flash animated segments and graphics. I am the only animator here and in charge of all the Flash animation that needs to be done which is a lot of fun.

Hope you’re doing well and keep in touch,
Keith

Concept artists are the people who design the look of a film or game. They design environments, characters and props and may be called upon to do other things such as cover design, poster design,and storyboards.

Concept art is a booming field and there are jobs for people who have the skills. The problem is that most people don’t have the skills. An unusually large number of  successful Canadian concept artists were trained in Eastern Europe and brought advanced representational fine art skills with them when they came to Canada. Max the Mutt is fortunate to have many of those people on our faculty.

If you want to be a concept artist you’ll need skills in a variety of areas, and this program provides training in all of them: illustration, a high level of proficiency in traditional, representational  drawing and painting, product design, animation related skills such as storyboarding and film language, and concept specific courses that include  research and idea development, character design, environment design,  prop design, creature design, advanced knowledge of photo shop,and familiarity with 3D computer software.

Our program took a full year to design and we received input from major concept artists in Canada and the USA.

This 4 year course of study requires dedication and lots of hard work. If you attend, you’ll be studying with some of Canada’s top concept artists, many of whom received their art training in Eastern European and are able to share a skill base that is hard to find in North America.

Our curriculum has been carefully planned to give you the skills you need for each new challenge.

For example, Intro to Environment  Design, which is a pencil and paper course, and Digital Background Painting, which teaches painting with photoshop, are first semester year 2 courses that  give you the background you’ll need for the second semester Advanced Environment Design and Painting in Photoshop course. You have the basic skills you need to focus on the content of Advanced Environment design.

It’s the developmental nature of the program that has enabled students to grow as artists and produce a level of work that has really astounded and pleased me.

Below: environment design by Michele Assarasokorn, 2011 graduate. Check out her blog: candycrayon.blogspot.com/

Recent Concept Art by 2011 graduate John Newton is seen in the two images above, and two images below! Check out his blog: http://johncharlesnewton.weebly.com/

Above:  work by John Newton

Recent concept art work by Natalie Lau  (Natalie is now an Assistant Art Director at Corus Entertainment). Check out her blog: http://feralsketch.weebly.com/

Below: work by Jake Griffith, year 4 CA student. Check out his blog: http://jakeg98.blogspot.com/

Hi Maxine,

I am doing great, thank you. I am still living in Madrid .
I work in a VFX-Animation company that specializes in tv comercials.
Its great to work here because the people are very talented and they put quality over quantity and take very seriously their work.
I am the “2D guy” , so Im very happy.  Im in charge of the Matte paintings, as well as anything that needs to be painted Digitally.
We recently worked on a trailer for a Spanish videgame, which I can not talk much about it cause it hasn´t been released yet, but I helped doing the concept art of it as well as some matte paintings and textures for the characters. It was a great experience.
On a personal Level, I been working very hard trying to improve my painting skills, in my spare time I go out and paint, digitally but never the less it still is painting , right? I havent achive the photorealistic look I want to achive without using phototextures, but Im working on it.
I still sketch every day , not as much as I did when I was at school , but every day in the subway on my way to work and back home.
So basically still working hard to improve and learn every day.
So how is everything over there?is school still growing more and more? I hope everything is great.
please say hi to Tina, Ed, Trudy, Bojan, Steve Millard and the rest of the staff.
Sincerely
Jordi

NOTE:  When Jordi attended, we did not yet have a Concept Art diploma. I think he was in his final year when it began! The comprehensive nature of the Animation Program, however, helped to get the drawing, cartooning, character design and painting skills he needed to get a start working in the part of the industry that really interested him. CONGRATULATIONS, JORDI, FROM ALL OF US!

A university prof who attended Industry Evening was happily impressed by the folks who came up for the event from Daemen College: they were so warm, inclusive, intelligent. They all seemed genuinely interested in excellence and impressed with the level of work at Max the Mutt. That’s exactly how we all felt when we first connected with this small, liberal arts college in Amherst NY, USA.

I’m so happy that Max the Mutt and Daemen are now partnering in curriculum development and workshops! In addition, we have an articulation agreement with Daemen that will allow qualified Max the Mutt diploma holders to apply for advanced standing into Daemen’s Bachelor of Fine Arts degree program.

Please be sure you spread the word to our alumni that you come in contact with. This BFA  opens doors for MFA programs, especially valuable for those who may want to teach at the university level.

MaxandDaemen – iPhone

Hi Diane,

Here are some brief answers to your survey questions:

1. Completed 3 year animation basics diploma and advanced diploma in Computer Animation (1 year)

2. I did not have many other options at the time for learning animation.  Nowadays there are animation schools everywhere.  I did not have a stellar portfolio going in, but MTM was willing to assess my character and willingness to work hard and take that into account.  Most other schools at the time either just wanted to see an amazing portfolio (which makes their teaching job easy) or just wanted tuition payments regardless of the quality of the potential student.

3. The experience of studying at MTM was one I really value.  It was an atmosphere of enthusiasm and comraderie and mutual exchange.  In animation school I was able to instantly feel comfortable and that I fit in because almost everyone shared the same enthusiasm for animation and film and visual arts.

4. Overall I was satisfied with the majority of the instructors.  I appreciated that most of them were either currently or recently working in the industry and could give us realistic expectations about what challenges we might face working in this industry.  I was satisfied with most of my progress made during my time there.  As with most situations, the more effort you put into it, the more you will get out of it.

5.  I started working in the industry almost immediately upon graduation and have been employed fairly consistently ever since.

6. Right now I am working as senior animator at March Entertainment

7. Under my current contract we are required to do about 21 seconds of higher quality CG animation per week on a new TV series.  MTM prepared me for this by instilling self-discipline, ability to take constructive criticisms, and a broad education background not just in cartooning and animation but in storyboarding, composition, layout, figure drawing and much more.

8.  I am happy to be employed and working on a high quality TV series in a challenging time for TV animation industry as a whole.  Of course I still have aspirations to work on major feature films and personal projects.   Canada has very few animated features produced here. . so I may have to relocate to U.S.A. in order to attain that goal.

Daniel

Max the Mutt Animation School (Toronto) and Daemen College (Amherst, New York) are happy to announce that they have signed an articulation agreement that may provide some Max the Mutt graduates with the opportunity to obtain advanced standing in Daemen College’s Bachelor of Fine Arts program, subject to meeting Daemen College’s requirements, as specified below.

Max the Mutt and Daemen first entered into a partnership in May, 2010.  Max the Mutt was able to assist Daemen in founding their new animation degree program. In the future, both schools will support and enhance each other’s programs and plan to cooperate in developing innovative educational strategies that will enhance the development of students at both schools.  Max the Mutt and Daemen are well matched: both stress small class size, foster skills and creativity, and seek to develop knowledge and skills that will make their graduates a positive addition to their fields and to the world.  Max the Mutt and Daemen will also offer relevant workshops to each other’s students.

The  articulation agreement states that Max the Mutt diploma holders  with academic secondary school diplomas and a minimum 70% average;  a recommendation from their diploma coordinator;  and a minimum average at Max the Mutt of 70%, may apply for advanced standing at Daemen.  Applicants will be interviewed and will have a portfolio review. If accepted with advanced standing, they will have the opportunity to c0mplete the BFA degree at Daemen College in one academic year.

We received an exciting email today from Tabitha Fisher, Max the Mutt graduate and recipient of our first full scholarship! Tabitha has worked in the animation industry as an animator and designer, and also recently had an exhibition of sketchbook drawings she did while in Paris.

She applied for the NFB Hothouse Program, described below.

I love this photo! Everyone is so happy. I lifted it from Facebook- I couldn’t help myself! It captures a moment I’d like to remember. That’s Tina Seemann, Stephen Sayer, Stephen Barnes and me in the front row. The two Steves are the dynamic duo of our 3D animation group project! behind us, left to right, Elizabeth Romo, Steve Seares , Tom Deak, Raechel Dickey, Liam Moher, Jesse Jind, Tracy Squires,  Randy Palo.

We hear from past students and graduates now and then, and I also try to stay in touch on Facebook. This morning I had a surprise when I found out that Thomas Williams is now a supervising Concept Artist for Rockstar in Amman, Jordan. Rockstar in Jordan?

Daniel Tynan is Senior CG Animator at March Entertainment, Ontario

Francisco Garcia is an Animator/Designer at Higtrab Inc and is also doing stop motion animation for Flemish Beauty.

Lubomir Arsov was an Art Director for House of Cool, Toronto, and is now a character designer and freelance concept artist working fir both House of Cool and Starz.

James Callahan is animating at Cuppa Coffee in Toronto.

Richard Truong is an animator at BigJump in Toronto.

Megan Leonard is a character designer for 9 Story Entertainment, Toronto.

Randel Palo is the Creative Director at Jack Lake Productions.

Ruth Ramirez is a storyboard revision artist at Nelvana (Corus Entertainment) Toronto

Sebastian Kapijimpanga is a 3D animator at Sony Imageworks in California.

Isaac Yakabuskie is an animator at Big Soul, Toronto.

Matt Rose is Associate Producer at Relic Entertainment, Vancouver.

David Martin is a lead animator for Guru Studio, Toronto

Jason Comacho is an animator at Big Soul in Toronto.

Tom Bradnam is an art supervisor for Big Blue Bubble (video games) in London, Ontario.

Timnthy Stevens -Eustace is an art lead for the game division of March Entertainment.

Adam Klassen is animating, doing storyboards, Background and character design at Big Soul in Toronto.

The last time we were in touch Chris Ramsarran was animating for 9 Story Entertainment in Toronto.

Ketan Lad is now a senior level artist at UbiSoft, Montreal.

Dale Hayward is the owner of La Moustache Productions, Montreal.

Jasmine Gulati Wall is an illustrator/graphic designer at Ganz, Toronto.

Ryan Wall is an animator for Elliott Animation in Toronto.

Keith Fukomato is a cartoon animator at Big Jump.

Dipesh Mistry is an animator at Elliott Animation, Toronto.

Brendan Beesley is a 3D animator for Starz Feature Animation (now  Arc Entertainment), and before that did a stint in the US animating for Sony Imageworks,

Karly Macdonald is a character designer for 9 Story Entertainment.

Ely Romo is an animation assistant at White Knight (Mexico).

Andreas Anler is also an animation assistant at White Knight (Mexico).

Winrik Haentjens is a 3D Generalist at Bullseye Video Productions, Toronto.

Matt Mozgiel is a colorist for 9 Story Entertainment, Toronto.

David Namisato is a freelance illustrator.

Marie Eve Provencal is a 3D Compositing and Rendering Artist at Gameloft, Montreal

Lindsey Hermann is an animator for Sophia Hilton in Peterborough, Ontario.

Robert Rodas is a 3d animator for March Entertainment.

Tracy Squires is an animator and Rigger at Big Soul Productions, Toronto.

Marcus Fryia is the owner of Media Conspiracy in Calgary, Canada

Dan Kitchen is  Application Engineer at Southpaw Technology

Raechel Dickey is animating for Big Jump in Ottawa.

Andrew Veri is a character poser and inbetweener at Cuppa Coffee in Toronto.

Kevin Scarborough is teaching animation at Daemen College, Amherst NY and working on a CA portfolio.

Tess Tolmatcheva is an animator at 9 Story Entertainment, Toronto.

Kelly Conley is a designer and animator at System Core.

Matt DiLallo is an animator at Smiley Guy in Toronto.

Sean Ng Qui Sang has returned to Canada and is animating  for Funcom in Montreal.

Tabitha Fisher was chosen and given a grant to work on her own film for the National Film Board of Canada!

There are more, but I’m getting tired. I’ll add to this list the next time I have some time! And if any of you want me to add something,  please leave a comment.

Kevin Scarborough, a graduate of both Max the Mutt’s Classical & Computer Animation Diploma Program (3 years) and the Advanced 3D Computer Animation & Production Diploma Program (1 year), will be giving us an assist with background and prop design, costuming and color for this academic year’s 3D film project.

For this project students work under the direction of industry professionals.  Willy Ashworth is the writer and story boarder, Stephen Barnes is the Animation Director, Steve Sayer is Technical Director and the year 4 students are the animators in this simulated studio experience. Each student also produces an independent film clip.

Kevin  worked for Key Frame Digital in NOL for several years after graduation. His growing passion for concept art led him to take time out to build his CA skills and he’s now working  on a concept art portfolio. Kevin has a great design sense (check out our gallery archives or You Tube to see his student film), a natural ability to paint, and a great work ethic. How can he miss?

He was recently   asked to teach  animation workshops for students at Daemen College  in Amherst, New York. The paragraph below is from an email he sent me this week.

” I had my first animation workshop on this past Saturday. It was so enjoyable and I had a great response from the people who were attending. They seem pretty fresh to animation and even though they are current art students, I was surprisingly able to provide them with a lot of information on animation and drawing. They seem in awe of the way Max the Mutt teaches and it’s truly an honor to be able to pass on the knowledge! I have three more of the workshops to go so I will let you know more as I advance. I just really enjoy teaching! wooo!”

Well, Kevin, it looks as if you have the teaching gene. That’s what it’s all about- continuing to grow and create  your own work, and sharing what you know with people who are hungry for information. We’ll look forward to hearing about the rest of the workshops.

.