Keep Creating!

In 1994 I was fortnate enough to be invited by my friend and professional colleague Joe Pearson to participate in the creation and development of a video game project for a new technloigy called PlayStation by Sony. Now 30 years later Crash Bandicoot has once again been featured on McDonald's Happy Meals for kids for December 2023. Here's a commercial that is running in a nationwide campaign. Animation is an exciting and dynamic industry. Keep Creating !!

New students looking to get started with their vocational training in animation can begin with Chance Raspberry's Character Design 101. This is a fundamentals oriented class that Chance is offering independently. The class is ideal for beginners and is open to a wide range of ages. Also his Character Design 101 Art Camp is dedicated to children from 7 to 11 years old.

Chance is a former instructor with the Academy as well as an accomplished alumni and has had many years animating on The Simspons. He is an excellent instructor and highly knowledgable in marketing and promoting one's work as well.

For more information you can contact Chance through this link.

I am very happy and beyond enthusiastic about the success of the Super Mario Bros Movie from Universal / Illumination. It's the biggest motion picture in the world. As of this writing it has grossed $585,474,381 in less than 2 weeks. It has broken the record for a 5 day opening for an animated feature previously held by Disney in 2019. And to top if off it has a 96% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The reason for my excitement is that the Academy's Aaron Horvath is the director of this blockbuster movie. Aaron was with us as a student in 2002 and as an instructor in 2003 up until he broke into the industry at Comedy Central. He went on to an illustrious career and great accomplishments including the Producer / Director of the WB's widely popular series Teen Titans Go on Cartoon Network.

Aaron Horvath is a highly talented artist. He was considered one of our greatest students even when he was here. To celebrate his astounding accomplishments I'll be featuring his art from the time he was with us along with a few extra photos. One in particular where we honored him at the Academy's AnimationNation night in 2007. You can view the presentation on a public post on The Animation Academy's Patreon.

Academy students change the world with their vision and leadership. Keep Creating !!

One of our most productive and innovative students of late has been Sean Natarajan. He's recently organized his impressive art onto his own website. Sean is currently a student at the University of Southern California (USC). Take a look at his first professional online presentation by following this link.