Every year students and members of the drawing faculty attend the Royal Winter Fair to sketch. Tina Seemann does a tutorial prior to this event for those who haven’t yet taken Animal Drawing. Here are some pictures of students and faculty at that event taken by Sara Guira.

Max the Mutt has been very fortunate in attracting a wonderful and dedicated group of artists to its faculty. Now another great concept artist is joining our community.  Branislav Perkovic has art directed on animated features (Anne of Green Gables, Pippi Longstocking) as well as video games. He’s been in Vancouver for some time, and is now moving back to Toronto. We are really excited that he’ll be joining us.

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.

I constantly tell myself that we can only assume responsibility for our own actions, that my job is to do my best  to live up to my sense of values and create and try to maintain an environment we all can be proud of. The world I expected to inhabit as an adult was a world of generosity of spirit, powered by more than the profit motive.

In my view, we all have a right to be successful, but only if we’re  providing something genuine and worthwhile, only if we treat everyone fairly. This is the core of Max the Mutt’s business model, and this is what we try our best to do. I believe in the power of integrity. I believe that all of us together can do meaningful work and earn a good living, and have some fun along the way. So far, the power of these beliefs has taken a couple of classes in a studio and turned them into an excellent school. Let’s see where the next decade takes us….We’ll give it our best shot, you can count on that.

The animation world keeps changing. I’ve been watching this since nineteen ninety. Because I’m  not an animation professional- I got into this because I could teach life drawing, movement, and anatomy- my view point is from the outside. I’m not the goldfish in the bowl. I’m outside the bowl. I’ve watched everyone jump from classical to 2d computer to 3D. I’ve watched as all the layout jobs suddenly went abroad…and watched as they returned. I’ve watched the ebb and flow of big studio jobs.

But I was young when people said painting was dead, and I’ve lived to see  developed representational painting skills become what the market place wants! Maybe that’s why I believe in following your passion, following your heart no matter what the current market is, but making sure that you develop solid knowledge and skills and aren’t too narrow in your focus. For myself, I finally decided that I didn’t want to grow old and look back and have regrets. I simply had to have the courage to do what I needed to do – paint. It was more important to me than being rich or famous. There are no guarantees in this life, not for any profession. I followed my heart and I watched friends who chose more conventional paths for the wrong reasons struggle with boredom and misery and give it all up after a while to pursue goals closer to their natures and needs. I remember Robert Beverly Hale’s comment that New York was full of neurotic people whose problem was that they couldn’t accept the fact that they were artists!

So what’s the answer? Knowledge is power. if you plan to follow a difficult path, be sure you’re ready to work very hard. Have the depth of passion that will keep you striving, learning, growing forever. Know your field. Be current. try new things. (Right now mobile uploads are earning $ for designers and animators.)

The more I see, the more convinced I am that we owe our students a broad based general education, and enough skills to potentially find new paths in a quickly changing world. For one thing, they need the basic skills to make their own animated shorts. The software is certainly moving in that direction. This industry will continue to change during the working lives of our current students: the continuing development of software and the growth of the web  are already impacting  the marketplace, and, in my opinion will release creative energy and enable young animators to earn a living in new ways.

Right now the “scene” is changing: many animation jobs are going to countries that have lower paid work forces. At the same time the demand for “product” is so great that China and India can’t fill it! I keep getting emails wanting to know if we have features, shorts or series for sale!  Does that mean that if the means for a small group here to create product at low cost exists, there’s a market out there? I would suggest that this may be the case.

We’re going through another “passage.” I see software getting easier to use, less expensive, distribution on the verge of becoming accessible to smaller companies or individuals. The business models have to change, and they will. In the near future, our graduates may be using their skills to form small groups that struggle at first, but will eventually be producing animation at a cost that will make their films attractive to a huge world market.

But lets start at the beginning: passion, drive, intelligence, lots of hard work and imagination, a can-do attitude, an ability to endure calculated risk. There is always some risk in life.  There’s no adventure without it. We just want that risk to be manageable, calculated risk.

I keep remembering “My Dog Tulip,” and “The Illusionist,” both recently produced and animated in Europe and North America.  They are visually beautiful films, paperless classical animation….

Max the Mutt remains committed to a broad based, general animation education. Knowledge is power. A narrow knowledge base doesn’t give you enough possibilities. Might our graduates seek or need further specialization or development after they graduate? Its certainly a possibility! There’s no way we can teach everything in 4 years.  We aim to create  the foundation so that  graduates are positioned to go after more specific and developed skills if they want them.

We’ve decided to do two things in the future: first, develop on site evening workshops to teach advanced level skills; second, launch Max the Mutt Productions, a separate company, to develop (among other things)  e- learning courses for professional development. Our goal is excellence at a fair cost, and a system that makes the animation specialists teaching these courses on line part owners. Our business model remains fair play, a win/win scenario where we provide the best we are capable of, charge a fair price, and share the profits.

Once people have had basic education,  E- learning  is viable, more affordable and flexible: it can be done while individuals are employed.

Alot to think about….please offer your reactions, comments and suggestions!

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.

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The mandate of a career college is to prepare  students for careers. I value general, liberal arts education but feel that to teach the skill base necessary for careers in animation, sequential arts and concept art, as well as liberal arts subjects, we would need a longer program. We would also be weakened by the inability to have the best instructors available teaching: in a degree program in Canada, the instructor must have a higher degree than the one the students are trying to acquire. We would therefore lose some of our best and most qualified instructors, most of whom are outstanding working professionals. They know what the industries are looking for and how the industries are growing and changing.  we constantly benefit from our ability to respond quickly to their input and make adjustments to the curriculum without having to go through lengthy procedures.

As a career college,  we also have the freedom to create a serious, focused community environment that prepares individuals for the realities of  the workplace. Skills are only part of this. Professionalism and the ability to be a team player are equally important. Our students are expected to take direction, meet deadlines, get to class on time, be inclusive, and treat everyone with respect.  Any behavior that would not be acceptable at work, is not acceptable at Max the Mutt.  These are not just words for us. We have a commitment to protect every student’s right to an optimum learning environment, and every instructor’s right to teach respectful, serious students. The intensity of the course of study in all our diploma programs, means that we aren’t the right school for everyone. Quite honestly, not every student is interested in having to work as long and hard as these programs demand. We need students  who are excited by learning, are self motivated,and appreciate high standards. For these individuals, there’s palpable excitement as skills grow.

Our graduates tell us  they had no difficulty making the transition to the work world, and employers tell us that they consistently find our graduates great to work with.

We are in the midst of redesigning our website, and have also been incredibly busy with Industry Night and graduation,  so please excuse our being behind in updating information on the website!

Both evenings were positive events  and  graduates have many job opportunities. Megan Leonard was tested the next day for a job animating for 9 Story…and starts work Tuesday! Congratulations, Megan.

Former Max the Mutt students and graduates  Tess Tolmatchev, Matt DiLallo,  Matt Mozgiel and Kelley Conley attended as representatives of their companies!  It was great to see them again.

Maxine Schacker and Tina Seemann with former graduates Tess Tolmatchev, Matt DiLallo, Matt Mozgiel and Kelley Conley

We’ll let you know as other graduates start working. Of our 14 animation graduates, 4 are international students returning to their own countries and 5 are returning to Max the Mutt in September to do the Advanced Diploma in 3D Computer Animation and Production.  Of the 4 remaining graduates, one is a competitive rider and is considering taking a year to be with her horses. That leaves 3, and we think the chances are very good that they’ll be employed very soon. Animation jobs in Toronto, after a hiatus, have opened up.

The Illustration graduates are entering a different kind of field. They will be freelancing, speaking with editors and art directors, going to comic book conventions to show their work. Art editors from several Toronto publishing houses were very impressed with the work they saw and plan to contact graduates. One graduate is already working with Ty Templeton. We’ll try to keep on top of their employment success and report it.

Thanks to Justin Gabrie from Marvel who took the time to fly up from New York City, address students in the afternoon, and attend Industry Night. We really appreciate your joining us, Justin, to celebrate the first graduating class in Illustration for Sequential Arts.

Dave Ross and Justin Gabrie (MARVEL)@ Industry Night

Justin Gabrie (MARVEL) and Dave Ross having fun posing with Te'Shawn Dwyer, a Max the Mutt student

Have a nice weekend everyone! Photos will come soon….

Max the Mutt is retooling the animation program to put more emphasis on acting, storytelling, and character animation. In fact we will specialize in character animation. The culmination of this, is the fourth year: students not only deepen their knowledge of Maya, they work under a professional director on a real film project in which they are the animators.

In today’s world knowledge of 3D, married to a solid drawing and classical background and good timing and acting, will get good jobs for animators. in addition to the plethora of video game companies that will be looking for animators, we now have Pixar in Vancouver, and Starz in Toronto. The following article will be of interest to all current and incoming animation students.

by: Etan VlessingNov 24, 2009