The Academy qualifies for Mission Small Business !!!

A big THANK YOU going out to all of our students, friends, fans and everyone associated with The Animation Academy in Burbank. Thanks to your pro-active efforts, we reached 250 Facebook votes last Friday afternoon at 1:35 pm Pacific time. Eight full days ahead of the deadline!

We are now qualified to submit our application for the Mission Small Business Grant Program sponsored by Chase Bank!

I'm very appreciative of the outpouring of support we received. We not only reached 250 votes, we're currently at 323 votes, positioning us as one of the top vote getting small businesses of the 60 registered for the program here in Burbank, California. We're currently at number 5.

My goal for this week is to prepare our application for submission by the June 30, 2012 deadline. While I'm attending to this, you can still help out! You can help us rack up some more votes so that we can further impress the Chase Bank Review Board when they consider the Academy for one of the twelve $250,000 grants they'll be awarding by September 15.

If you have a Facebook account and have not voted for The Animation Academy yet, go to MissionSmallBusiness.com and login using Facebook. Search for The Animation Academy and then click VOTE. It's very easy! There's nothing to it!

If you've already voted please contact your Facebook network and help to get the word out. Encourage your friends to vote for The Animation Academy by forwarding this link - http://MissionSmallBusiness.com.

The Academy has accomplished many great things in our 14 1/2 year existence. Think of all the good we can do if we win this grant!

Thank you everyone for your continued support of this exceptional educational experience that's called The Animation Academy. You're the ones who've make it special!

Keep Creating and keep assisting the Academy with your Facebook vote in the MissionSmallBusiness Program!

Charles Zembillas
The Animation Academy
Burbank California
USA  

The art of Jessica Willis Trousdale

One of our emerging students in the Visual Development program is Jessica Willis Trousdale. Her uncle Gary Trousdale is an accomplished animated feature film director whose credits include Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" and "Hunchback of Notre Dame" among other high profile productions. Jessica is continuing the family tradition of artistic excellence by attending the Academy.

Here's an example of some recent work she's created in class using graphite pencils to develop a distinct rendering technique as well as defining the lead character for her project. Clicking on the image will give you a better view.

Jessica has been with us since 2010. This coming fall she'll be a senior in high school and well positioned creatively for submitting her work to the college or university of her choice. Time spent with us is making a big difference in the quality of her art. We're anticipating great things coming from this young lady in the future.  

Afternoon Sessions - Academy Update - June 2012

Hi everybody.

We currently conduct classes Monday through Thursday evenings in Burbank. This month we've reached capacity in all of our evenings sessions. To make room for new students as well as our returning students, we'll be scheduling ongoing weekday afternoon sessions for the first time in our history. Starting this coming semester in July, 2012 we'll have afternoon classes in Burbank. More information with be forthcoming. For the moment we're working with both new and returning students to arrange for their attendance in afternoon classes. Once we've set up the system it will be reflected in our schedule.

Thanks to everyone involved with the Academy for making the transition to our latest location a successful one. We're with you when we say Keep Creating!

Charles Zembillas
President / Director
The Animation Academy
Burbank California

CSUN graduate Noah Amrani

Several years ago Noah Amrani enrolled at the Academy as a teenager. Today he's a graduate of California State University Northridge with a Bachelor of the Arts degree. His commencement was earlier this week.

Noah is emerging as a CG character animator and is also well versed in FX animation. He has two new demo reels to view. In honor of his achievement let's share some of his work. This is Noah's animation reel which features work he created while at Cal State Northridge...

This video features FX work that Noah has done at select studios and projects as an intern while he was studying at CSUN...

 

You're welcome to visit Noah's blog for more samples of his work. Even during his time at Cal State Northridge Noah continued to take classes with us at the Academy. He was a dedicated student and now he's emerging as a skilled professional. Noah is indicative of the quality individual we've had the pleasure and good fortune to attract to our program. I'm very confident of his success and look forward to what the future will bring as he embarks upon his career. Congratulations and good luck to you Noah! Keep Creating!  

Help the Academy with your Facebook vote!

Hello everyone and thank you for checking into the Academy's blog. 

There's a special request we're making of you. If you have a Facebook account, I hope you'll put it to use on our behalf. Chase Bank and LivingSocial are sponsoring a program called Mission: Small Business. The program involves issuing grants in the amount of $250,000 to as many as 12 small businesses in the US. The Animation Academy is eligible for this program and we're registered for it. In order to qualify for the next step in the process we need to get at least 250 Facebook votes by June 30, 2012.

If you would be so kind as to help us with your vote we would very much appreciate it. Please follow this link to MissionSmallBusiness.com. Click on the 'Log in & Support'. You'll be able to login with your Facebook account. Then in the business name box search for The Animation Academy. We're located in Burbank California. When you see our business name, click on the 'Vote' tab. It's that easy! 

If we can reach 250 votes by June 30, we'll be able to submit to the Mission: Small Business review board for consideration of a $250,000 grant. For all the good the Academy has done over the years, it would be great for an opportunity to get to this level. We started out in January 1998 with a $15 investment. Look at what we've achieved since then and how we've influenced the animation industry and the lives of the many artists that have experienced our program. Imagine what can be accomplished with a $250,000 grant.

Please vote for The Animation Academy at MissionSmallBusiness.com and please encourage your Facebook community network to do the same. I sincerely thank you for your time and effort. 

Keep Creating!

Charles Zembillas

President, Founder and Director

The Animation Academy

Burbank California

USA