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!

Anna Castore, Year 1, Classical & Computer Animation Basics

” I learned more at Max the Mutt in one week than I learned in four years at my last school! “

MAX THE MUTT congratulates Animation student RAECHEL DICKEY for winning the TELETOON SCHOLARSHIP PRIZE for her TOONBOOM short, ‘AVIATION’.

We were excited to hear that Raechel had been nominated for her film and thrilled to hear the announcement at the Ottawa Animation Festival that she had won!

There was a collective roar of laughter that went up from the audience when they saw the film- that was really exciting to hear-’ said Carla Drmay who was int he attendance during the screening.

CONGRATULATIONS, Raechel!

PS: This marks the second film prize to be awarded to a Max the Mutt student- the last TELETOON scholarship prize was awarded to Lubomir ARSOV in 2005.

It’s hard to believe that classes for first and second year are already in week three! Third and fourth year students are in week  four!! I will do my best to resume writing this column weekly, but find life at Max the Mutt very busy these days. Am I always saying that?

This year, under Nina’s leadership, we are holding “Comic Book Jams” every other Sunday. I haven’t been to one, but they sound like lots of fun. Everyone in the school is welcome to attend, and we hope to publish the best work at the end of the year.

What else is new? More and more companies are on board for giving our students summer paid internships. The feed back on last summers interns was universally positive, and we’ll start work early on lining up placements for summer 2009.

The new Advanced 3D Animation and Production room is great! Its one of the biggest studios we have and has a lounging area, lockers, microwave and coffee station at one end. All the equipment is brand new. When I looked in today, Stephen Barnes  (he worked as a lead animator for Pixar before returning to Toronto ) was busy teaching the animation part of Maya. It gave me real pleasure after all the hard work of the summer,  reorganzing and setting up, to see it all working so well. Hats off to Niall and Tina who bore the brunt of moving classical animation and setting that studio up, as well as creating a brand new (from the wiring up) fourth year space.

So far the year seems to be going well. The first year students seem to be motivated and full of energy. The second year Concept Art students are excited about their courses. We are already holding early application interviews, and are busy looking for students for  ‘09 who are right for us and for whom we are the best choice.

Our programs are great for really motivated students, hungry to learn and willing to work hard. You also have to be able to deal with frustration and delayed gratification  and you need faith in your potential. Developing high level skills takes time and practice.

Please feel free to leave comments! I enjoy hearing from you.

Character Maquette Building For Animation and Video Games Part 2: with Steve Millard

Starts November 15, 2008

This is a continuation from Part 1. A maquette is a three-dimensional sculpture made from a drawn character design. In this course students will learn how to build a character maquette based on their own original designs.

Steve Millard worked in the animation industry both for Disney and Nelvana, where he was a character designer. Most recently he has been teaching Life Drawing, Anatomy, Character and Background Design while focusing on his painting which has been recently exhibited in Toronto and Oakville.

Date: November 15, 22, 29, 2008
Time: Class Size: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Limited to 15
Cost: $300 + G.S.T. (3 Saturdays)

Contact: Carla Drmay, Max The Mutt Animation School 952 Queen Street West, Suite 300 Toronto, M6J 1G8Tel: (416) 703-6877 / Toll Free 877-486-MUTT Fax: (416) 703-3930

Email: cdrmay@maxthemutt.com

I’m amazed that it’s time for the new academic year to begin! Everyone has been working hard to get the school ready. Special thanks to all the students who’ve been giving us a hand ! When you graduate, it will be easy to answer questions about you from recruiters- they always seem to ask about generosity and team spirit.

Niall Dowdell, besides being a 3rd year animation student, is sharing his wealth of computer knowledge with us and has helped us to set up the new fourth year room. He is now part time staff.

Besides the computer desks, the fourth year animation room includes a meeting and lounging area, classical animation desks, lockers, and a microwave. No coffee maker or kettle yet!

Tina and Niall have also moved and redesigned the classical animation room. You will be surprised! The line testing lab and the computer lab have also had an overhaul.

Which reminds me: OUR HEARTFELT THANKS TO EVERYONE AT TOON BOOM! Their technology is making it possible for everyone - including students - to produce first rate work more efficiently. It amazes me that they aren’t better known to the general public since shows like The Simpsons use their software, and all the major companies (Disney, Pixar, Warner Brothers) are using their software. The beautiful part is that you can animate classically with Toon Boom…or any other way…or combine elements of classical, 2D computer and 3D! This has to revolutionize animation. We are now introducing their line testing program, so that classical work can be easily imported straight into 3rd year films using Toon Boom software. I imagine that some students will design backgrounds with the computer, but animate classically. I can hardly wait to see the ‘09 film projects!

We are also excited about running the second year of Concept Art for the first time!

We have amazing new faculty joining us, including Don Gauthier who was an environment designer for Nelvana, and has now joined a new 3D animation company as Art Director (head of concept art). He’s teaching Intro to Concept Art, and will also help 4th year animation students with the concept designs for their group film.

(I know the web site needs an update: we need to add new faculty to the faculty page, and add the ‘08 gallery pages. We are working as fast we can and have had to prioritize. We should get it all done within the next few weeks and thank you for your patience.)

I’ve been having a great time preparing slide shows for Concept Art students! So far I’ve completed one on Velasquez and two on Degas , one on Cezanne, and I’m in the middle of putting something together as an intro to direct and indirect painting methods.

Several important announcements :

Congratulations to Raechel Dickey who is a finalist for the Teletoon scholarship!

We also want to thank Richard Pace, Van Olson , and Bev Maguire for everything they contributed to Max the Mutt.

Richard helped to organize both the Illustration and Concept Art Diploma Programs, and is now very busy with his own work in comics.

Van helped set-up many wonderful aspects of our recruiting and admissions procedures, including real support for out of town and international students (including the tour of Toronto and picnic on the Toronto Islands), and the BBQ, which all of us are looking forward to!

Bev Maguire has returned to working as a Production Manager.

We wish them all the best luck as they pursue other goals.

Incoming and returning students and faculty, the excitement is building and we really look forward to this academic year!

To those of you who are visiting the Blog, please don’t hesitate to visit us in person ! We are happy to give tours. just give us a call and book a time.

 The following note was attached to a basket of treats left at reception for the staff! Thanks, Glo-Dawn.

“Max the Mutt Staff: Just a little treat to say thank you so much for a wonderful two weeks.  I have learned so much and am inspired to have a lot of fun “playing” with Flash in the following months.  The care, compassion and kindness you exhibit is phenomenal.  Your full time students are so lucky to be able to attend Max the Mutt for the high calibre of instruction and attention to their every need!”

Glo-Dawn Warkentin-Coulter, Faculty, Richmond Hill High School

Hi Carla,
The maquette class was really fun, I think everyone got a lot out of it ! Steve Millard was a great teacher for the class, I hope he enjoyed it as much as we did. I’ll keep my eyes open for more fun sounding classes !
Have a great summer and best of luck with things at Max the Mutt !
Many thanks,
Tammy

The below testimonial was written by a student enrolled in our Character Maquette workshop this summer with Steve Millard.

“I’ve written, deleted, and rewritten this post a couple times and am still a bit at a loss for words to describe how much I like this place.

So, instead of a huge wall of text, I’ll just say that if you guys are interested in the school, after you talk to the people there, or meet them, you certainly wont want to go anywhere else ”
Visit www.conceptart.org to view comment. This post is #372.
Fernando.

Concept Art Site