Kiana Mosser's 'GriMagia' on Indiegogo

I'm happy to feature this project. It's a campaign on Indiegogo created by a team of young artists / entrepreneurs. Among them long time Academy student Kiana Mosser. She's a very talented young lady who is the Art Director, Editor, and an Artist on the project.

"GriMagia: Monster Girl Card Game" was launched a few days ago. It features beautifully rendered characters that are anime sexy and there's plenty of them. Their goal is $13,000 and so far they're making good headway with August 20 2014 as their deadline.

This is a direction many of our students are moving towards. Embracing the opportunities that crowdfunding presents and I'm happy to see Kiana and her colleagues heading that way.

Consider supporting this project if you would please and help spread the word about GriMagia through your networks.

Here's a look at the project along with a link to the campaign...

EDIT on August 11 2014.

With 10 days left in the GriMagia campaign on Indiegogo, Kiana Mosser and her team have just reached their $13,000 goal.

A group of high school aged artists have succeeded in their first crowdfunding venture. What a great way to start a professional career!

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/grim ... card-game/


EDIT on August 22 2014.

Kiana Mosser's Grimagia campaign on Indiegogo tallied $27,521 in 30 days. More than twice the initial $13,000 goal.

Congratulations Kiana and to everyone associated with the project! 

A peek at The Animation Academy in Burbank

We've had several incarnations of the school since we launched our first class on January 19 1998. Here we are in the summer of 2014 with 2 1/2 years at our present location and we haven't shared what we look like until now. That's what happens when you're busy creating all the time.

I'm pleased to share views of the main classroom at The Animation Academy with you. The ones you see below were taken by former student Chance Raspberry who has gone on to fame with "The Simpsons" and with his "Little Billy" franchise. Chance frequently stops by and engages in sessions. These photos were taken with his iPhone after we wrapped up one afternoon. Click on the images for a better view.

Here's a couple of shots of Joel Valdez as he conducts the Character Design 2 class this past week. We have some very talented students in this group.

Good things happen at the Academy within this special environment we enjoy. We're located in the geographical center of the international capital of the business in the heart of Burbank California. A wonderful place to be.

Something different from Joel Valdez

For the past few years Joel Valdez has been a fixture here at The Animation Academy in Burbank. He is currently a co-instructor in Character Design 2 and Visual Development. Influenced by tattoo design he recently came up with this composition in the Vis Dev class. A departure from the production design mode we usually engage in, it's a fine piece of art none the less. Hand drawn in blue pencil followed by black line. You can see more of Joel's work by visiting his blog at his link.

Philip Sha begins Background Design

Having successfully completed Character Design 1 Academy student Philip Sha has recently entered into the Background Design and Perspective. He's gotten off to a great start with his first round of assignments...

Artshark Celebrates America

For many years the Academy's official mascot Artshark would entertain our community back in the early days of the school. Here are a few samples of the compositions that were colored by Snakebite who was a student and then became our Photoshop instructor. These date from 2002 and 2003.

The character of Artshark serves an important educational purpose as he has exemplified to our students the significance of branding and how character based properties can be used to develop the identity of a creative company. Looking forward to more of Artshark in days ahead.