Honoring Ollie Johnston

The creative legacy of the Walt Disney Studios was pioneered by great artists and animators. Among the greatest was Ollie Johnston, one of the legendary "Nine Old Men" and co-author of "The Illusion of Life" which helped resurrect the fine art of animation by educating and inspiring a new generation of talent in the 1980's and beyond.

On August 18, 2008 at the Sheraton Universal in Hollywood, the family of Ollie Johnston hosted a reception in his memory as he had passed away on April 14 of this year at the age of 95. I was invited to help set up for this event and while at the hotel, I met one of Ollie Johnston's sons, Ken Johnston. I had the opportunity to express to him my appreciation for his father and he was gracious enough to pose for the photo below.

The framed picture you see next to him is a remarkable image which the Johnston family brought along as a centerpiece for the memorial event. It's a shot of his father, in the company of he lady who would become Mrs. Ollie Johnston, his mother, at the Hollywood premiere of "Fantasia" in 1940.

More photos are featured on the AnimationNation forums. Follow this link to view them:

http://www.animationnation.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=013237

It was a great honor being part of Ollie Johnston's memorial and representing The Animation Academy in this way.

Andre Medina's first publication

Since the foundation of the school, The Animation Academy has always encouraged creative enterprise, entreprenuership and independence in one's career, even if the artist is employed at a studio. You see this in many of our most successful students.

I'm excited to be introducing yet another one. Andre Medina worked on "Barnyard the Movie" and is currently on "The Simpsons" crew. He's been a long time student of the Academy and is one of our recent standouts.

At our last session, Andre debuted his first publication. A 16 page collection of some of the sketches and artwork he'd been creating in class. They were quickly bought up at $5 each.

Here's the cover. Click on the image for an enhanced view.


Check out Andre's blog and you'll get an idea of how talented he is:

http://www.andremedina.blogspot.com/

Why limit your portfolio to studio submissions only, when you can package your portfolio and sell it. With this kind of creative excellence, an artist can prepare their portfolio as a publication and begin to build their own independent economy and fan based community.

I'm sure this won't be the last time we see something in print from him. Andre's very dedicated and will be entering Cal Arts this coming fall. Another Academy student on their way to Cal Arts.

Great things are on the way from Andre Medina.

Checking in...

Hello there students and friends of The Animation Academy. Thanks for stopping by. It's been several weeks since I've posted on the Academy's blog, but not for lack of activity with our school. On the contrary, there's been a lot happening.

I've just returned from Fresno, California where I was the lead instructor for the first three days at the California State University Summer Arts Program 2008, a college credit workshop in the arts that is sponosred by the Cal State University system, the largest state university system in the country. I launched the two week long animation workshop and gave a public lecture as well. The workshop began with a seminar in character design and is now taken over by the 3D modeling and animation instructors. It'll wrap up on July 26. The Animation Academy was well represented not only by myself, but with Kevin Poythress, a former student and current instructor with us who's participating in the Summer Arts Program.

Now that the Summer Arts animation workshop is under way, I'm back in Burbank where we'll be hosting the great Photoshop artist Snakebite as he returns to spend an evening in our company this coming Tuesday, July 22.

Also worth mentioning, at the end of the month, my very first book is scheduled to be shipped. A special publication that I'm excited to be offering. It's being published by The Animation Academy, and when it arrives, I'll provide more information as to the nature of the book and where it can be purchased. Just a few more days to go.

Thanks again for checking in, folks. Wishing you well and as always, Keep Creating!

Spiderman Night Spectacular!

We had the pleasure of hosting Spectacular Spiderman Night at the Academy last week, as four artists from the crew of Sony's popular animated TV series were in attendance as guest speakers. There was a great turnout, with a crowd that rivaled what we had on Animation Day last April 1.

The group included (from right to left) Walter Gatus (Character Designer and Academy alumni), Paul Harmon (Storyboard), Sean "Cheeks" Galloway (Character Design Supervisor), and Jeff Johnson (Storyboard).


When Q&A was over, everyone rushed the tables to check out their work.


Paul Harmon chatting with Academy students.


Jeff Johnson, Cheeks and the rest of our special guests talking with the crowd, while the Academy's videographer is busy catching some of the conversations.


Cheeks, up close and personal. He brought a printout of his upcoming book, the third one Cheeks will be publishing. Academy students were the first to get a sneak peek at what to expect.


The little kids drawing at the lower right are Walter Gatus' children, inspired and getting started early.


Two very special and very talented visitors from Cal Arts were with us for Spiderman Night. Kristen Campbell on the right in the company of Kris Anka, an Academy alumni and winner of the first Warner Bros Hanna Barbera Scholarship in 2007.


A Big thanks to our guest artists from Sony! It was another spectacular experience at our school.

We're booking seats for classes scheduled for July 1, 2008. It's going to be another well attended semester coming up. If you'd like to enroll, get in touch with us.

Until then, Keep Creating! It's good for ya.

Hannah McCully makes Innerspark!

Celebrating more good news. Hannah McCully, a student from our Teen Program, has been accepted into Innerspark 2008 at Cal Arts. Innerspark is a special curriculum that Cal Arts sponsors each summer for exceptionally talented teen artists. Hannah is the latest in a long list of students from the Academy to make it into Cal Arts in some capacity.

Congratulations to Hannah McCully on her achievement! We're very happy and proud!

Eddie Nieves turns it on

A new student to the Academy this semester, Eddie Nieves continues our tradition of excellence with these 2 assignments he completed, his 5 pose character rotations from concept sketches he developed earlier in class.

Clicking on the artwork will give you a better view.

Eddie's skills were commendable when he started, but they've really taken off as result of his time with us. We're happy to share his creative accomplishments with the community here on the Academy's blog, and look forward to the great things he'll be doing in the very near future. Keep up the good work, Eddie.

Animation Day 2008 a Hit!

In early 1999, The Animation Academy started a revolution in the industry by launching AnimationNation.com, a forum for animation professionals. A tradition has since grown whereby every April 1, there would be a workday gathering of the pros. A day of unity.

For the 10th year in a row, the event has occured in its most recent form as Animation Day.

Here's the turnout on Tuesday evening, April 1, with a crowd of about 100 attending and stopping by. Click on the photo for a better view.

A highly inspiring occasion with glowing words of review appearing at several places on the Web. A week later, the positive energy in the animation community is still riding the wave.

For more info, pictures and to follow the account of Animation Day 08, click on this link:

http://www.animationnation.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=013021;p=1

This year's theme of "The Future" was fitting since a big number of young people showed up, outnumbering the veterans. Groups from the Animation Design Center http://theanimationdesigncenter.com in Torrance and students in the Bachelors Degree program at California State University in Northridge swelled the numbers.

The Animation Academy continues to influence the industry.

Nelson Boles makes it 2 in a row !

I'm very pleased, proud and excited to share the news with the Academy's community.

For the second year in a row, and in only the second year of the existence of this prestigious national recognition for high school students, the 2nd Annual Warner Bros Hanna Barbera Scholarship has been won by a student from The Animation Academy!

Last year it was Kris Anka. This year, it's Nelson Boles!

Nelson came to the Academy and enrolled in our Teen Program after his family and had been flooded out of their home in New Orleans, Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Nelson came to Los Angeles to stay with relatives and spent two semesters with us while he was here. He returned to New Orleans and continued with his life, drawing and animating films.

Last week, he was contacted by phone and notified by representatives of Warner Bros that he was the recipient of this year's scholarship - $10,000 to go to Cal Arts and a paid internship to Warner Bros Animation Studios.

This link will take you to a YouTube video of the film that won it for Nelson.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zNGjruW_pEc

A huge congratulations going out to Nelson from everyone here at The Animation Academy in Burbank, California with our very best wishes for his continued success. We're looking forward to a great career from this very talented young artist, animator and filmmaker.

Keep Creating, Nelson!

Lopez brothers double up

Recently enrolled into the Academy's program, twin brothers Donovan and Dorian Lopez made a strong statement in their first semester studying Character Design I. Below is Donovan's initial attempt at his 5 pose character rotation.

This is Dorian's first character rotation. Clicking on the images will give you a better view.

The Lopez brothers contribute to the Academy's legacy of excellence in art training for the animation industry by virtue of the commendable job they did with this all important assignment. Their character rotations are professional quality and would rival many designers already working in the business.

Donovan and Dorian have a bright creative future ahead of them and we're looking forward to what they'll be accomplishing next.

Three's a charm

It was an excellent occasion at the last session of the Academy as we celebrated 2 surpise guest speakers in addition to our scheduled guest, Walter Gatus.

We had the pleasure of a visit from Snakebite, (third from the left) as well as Andres Alvarez (next to Snakebite on the right). Snakebite is a former student and instructor and a world class Photoshop artist. Andres is a former student of the Academy who went on to become an instructor with us and then founded his own school, The Animation Design Center in Torrance, California, which is in the South Bay area of Los Angeles.

Here they are in the company of a few of our admiring group.


Walter Gatus, another former student who made it big in the animation biz, stopped by to share his portfolio and recent work he's been doing as a character designer on the upcoming series "The Spectacular Spiderman" scheduled to air next month from Sony TV Animation. Walter is in the dark blue shirt to the left of the table.


The action at the Academy as Walter spends extra time with a group of students while others are channeling their inspiration by busting out their own artwork.


Andres Alvarez topped off the evening with a showing of his own, a collection of his work and those of his students from the Animation Design Center. He's the guy with the big smile on the left.


It's been an exceptional and memorable semester these past few weeks as we enjoyed the 10th anniversary of the school and a big turnout in students and creative activity. Thanks to everyone who's been a part of it. The next semester, 11.2 will begin March 4. Hope to see you there.