In any art form what matters is what you have absorbed during your education, what you understand deeply enough to give you the resources to use your past experiences to meet the new challenges you face. For hopeful animators this includes a deep understanding of animation basics. There never will be a better way to do this than studying classical animation first.

What I like about programs outside the academic system is their ability to be professional schools, to dedicate all the student’s time to hands on courses.  I’m old enough to remember when if you wanted to be a fine artist you went to art school, if you wanted to be a classical musician you went to music school, if you wanted to be a dancer you studied at one of the schools associated with a dance company. If you wanted to be an animator, once you had art skills you’d get hired and be trained on the job by an animation company.

With the advent of computer animation, there is simply so much for the student to absorb that I’m hard pressed to understand how a degree program can do it in less then six years. I’ve been watching as Tina, in consultation with some top retired animators and animation teachers, has redesigned Max the Mutt’s animation program to enable students to start animating sooner, concentrate more on character animation, and take those skills into 2D and 3D computer animation. Even with all of our curriculum directed towards the career the student is aiming for, we find ourselves short of time (which is why year 4 has become so essential).

The big news at Max the Mutt is that for the first time the year one students, in addition to their Visual Arts Literacy courses, are taking Intro to Animation and are having a great experience in that course. We are also working to introduce 3D animation earlier to those students who have committed to the Advanced Diploma. The plan is to offer them  3D workshops in years 2 and 3 so that they’ll  walk in to the Advanced Diploma program already familiar with Maya.

Our current year 1 students are the first students who will experience the new animation program in its entirety. However, Tina has been offering summer animation workshops, and this year students will also be able to submit work for review through Concept Share, so current year 2 students will also get additional training. Those going on to year 4 will take a 3D workshop during year 3 to give them  preparation.

Any art form takes practice, practice, practice. One needs first to understand the principles, but that’s a long way from being able to use those principles well.  Animating is no different than any other art. It takes passion, dedication and lots of hard work to develop as an artist.

It also takes passion and dedication to work to keep Max the Mutt, in the face of all obstacles, as good as it can be!

Hats off to all our hardworking students, staff and instructors. The dream lives on.

Date: The last Saturday of each month
Time: 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Information Session 11:30 a.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!

Dates to Remember!

September 26

October 31

November 28

January 30

February 27

April 24 (Features first year show)

May 29 (Features graduate show)

June 26

Whatever the magic is, the Concept Art Diploma Program students (we have 5 in year 3, 15 in year 2, 11 in year 1 with 4 more starting in January who will join them for year 2 next September)  are everything an educator could ask for.  How could it be that group after group exhibit the same passion, work ethic, kindness, and generosity of spirit towards each other?  It won’t be long now until I can post some of the  work they’re doing this semester.  In fact, I’ll try to add some of it to this column by next week.

I’m happy to announce that Alex Ahilov has had an excellent experience with the year 3 students in Advanced Environment Design and Painting in Photoshop, and will return to teach it to year 2 students in January.  Sasa Radosavcevic will be teaching Drawing Props & Objects, a follow-up to Structural Drawing, to year 1 students. I’ll b teaching Figurative Painting once again to year 2 students,  Roksolana Tchotchieva will be teaching Sustained Figure Drawing, using the Russian Academic approach, to year 3 students. There’s too much  to list everything.

When the students are serious, and eager to learn, it motivates instructors to give more than is required. We have passion for the subjects we teach, and it’s exciting to share what we have learned over the years with younger people who share that passion. That’s when teaching generates energy and creativity.

Thank you all, staff, instructors, models and students for contributing to this really unusual learning community.

Maxine

We were one of the first, if not the first, schools to offer an in-depth program dedicated to Concept Art.  The general level of work produced at the school by Max the Mutt Concept Art students is very high, and very prolific! If you can’t make it to the school to see the year end show,  when the new web galleries are finally live (sometime in the middle of July)  you’ll get to see the work produced by first and second year CA students.  Please let me know if you agree with me about the quality of work produced during the ‘08-’09 academic year.

I was also very happy to see the Illustration for Sequential Arts year two work. These second year Max the Mutt Comics and Graphic Novels students are a very dedicated, hard working group and produced impressive work!

I’ll be writing soon about some of the amazing new instructors joining us this year. They are interested in teaching at Max the Mutt because of the quality of work on exhibit.

It was easy to go to my studio today and concentrate on nothing but my own painting! I am feeling so good about the way things are going.

I haven’t mentioned animation, and I should have. Steve Sayer and Steve Barnes really are a dynamic duo!  you can see them on the grduation/ industry evening video. The 3D work is outstanding, and I’m sure the group film, as well as several of the year 3  Toon Boom films, will be contenders for awards.

Max the Mutt is definitely the school for Concept Art, Illustration for Sequential Arts, and, of course, Animation!

Have a good summer everyone!

I thought I would just stop by to share my experiences at the Year 3 & 4 Graduation Show and Showcase of the Year 2 Animation/Concept Art/Illustration.

Another year has passed by so quickly, and I hope all you current students at Max had a successful year. As well, to all teachers, I hope you all had an enjoyable year teaching and hope to see you back in September.

I would just like to share with you all my experience at this year’s graduation show for the 3rd year and 4th year students. First and foremost, I would like to congratulate this year’s graduating class, wish them all the best and luck in their future endeavors. To all the graduating 3rd year students, it was a pleasure entering the school at the same time as you, and I am truly impressed by the hard work you put in your final films, even though you only had 3 weeks to put it all together. Kudos.

To the 4th year students, I was truly in awe at all of your 3D projects on display in the theater, especially the short films you all produced. The quality of work produced just blew me away. If you can, I urge you all in this group to go to the school to see the films that were produced. Sitting in there watching both 3rd and 4 year films, along with newly graduate and close friend, Richard Truong, gave me an excitement and inspiration into creating my own short film. I can’t wait to produce mine!

The 2nd Year Showcase was just as awe-inspiring as watching the films. The level of quality in the 2nd year’s was totally beyond what I had expected. Just the amount of work displayed from all 3 programs was enough to keep me at school for hours ( I had arrived at 5PM), to just look through the student work. It was that much!

I encourage all students who have finished year 1, and those of you who are about to attend Max the Mutt, to go to the Open House and get a preview of work you will produce in Year 2 and Year 3.

Aside from that, I hope you all keep doing what you love to do, which is DRAW (DUH!), party hard, but have a safe summer. And to the recent grads, all the best!

~Daniel Racelis
(Year 2 Animation Student)

The first things that enter my mind in reference to “What’s different about Max the Mutt?”  are community and professional integrity.  We are a good school for passionate, hardworking individuals who care about quality.  Many of our instructors were born and educated abroad, and still have a passion for  the craft of traditional art that is sometimes missing in academic institutions in North America.

Those of us who were trained in North America are individuals who searched and scrambled to develop ourselves beyond the limits of the curriculum we were offered.  We tried to develop programs that we wish we’d had!  We find that we can now teach in several years, through a well thought-out curriculum, what it took us as individuals much longer to achieve.  There was genuine excitement among the faculty when we saw the work our students produced this year.

The point of art school is to teach basic skills, to empower individuals so that they can both communicate their creative visions,  and continue to grow as artists. To that end, we continue, with humility,  to be self-critical and will always review programs and try to improve. The process of education is, of course, also dependent on the attitude of our students and their ability to apply themselves to difficult tasks.

I find this undertaking as difficult as my efforts to keep evolving as an artist. In fact,  it seems to me that education really is an art. It  requires  knowledge, skill, passion and humility.  Maybe we can say that about anything we want to do very well.  If we don’t want to sink into mediocrity, we have to care,  and continue to care, very much about what we are doing.  I think that perhaps this is an easier state to maintain in a small, artist run community than it would be in a larger institution.

Do come to see the graduate show and share your reactions with us.

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