Animation Mentor

[BudLight]

Hello all,
I am planing in attending animation mentor and i have read and seen some of the good work coming out of there. I would just like to ask some of your views and what good or bad thing you heard about animation mentor.

Thanks.

[Kristopher_Lee]

I just finished my first quarter there so Im lookin forward to class 2.

You learn nothing but animation, nothing else; and you learn from the people in the industry. My mentor in class 1 works for Blue Sky Studios and had done work for Ice Age Meltdown and Robots and working on the upcoming Horton Hears a Who..

..its a great place and I enjoy every bit of it.

About 6 students that graduated from their final class, have been employed already by several animation studios so if that tells you anything about the instruction you get there and the talent you can achieve, I don't know what else will.

[BudLight]

That's coll. I just got a couple of question for you.

1) Is there a special time you have too meet with your mentor or the mentor just does a lecture on record and then you check it out?

2) The models are they provided or do you have to make them?

3) Software is there a particular software they teach.

4) Is it only one class a term?

Thanks

[Kristopher_Lee]

1) My mentor classes were on Wed nights for an hour but thats subject to what mentor you got.. it could be Mondays or any other day of the week except Sat and Sun.

2) They provide all the rigs for each class, permitting you use Maya for your animation. Otherwise, you'll have to have a rig of your own.

3) They dont teach any software specific animation as it applies to everyone out there. They dont care if you do 2D or stop motion animation, as long as you re doing what the class calls for. I use Max for everything, however for this school, I decided to use Maya for the animation since they supply the rigs for it.. and really, its not that hard to learn.

4) You have 12 classes a term. The term is divided into quarters so one term is 3 months.. so you will learn alot.. and trust me, its alot to take in.

[BudLight]

so there is only one class a week?

Do you get a diploma when you are finished?

[Kristopher_Lee]

One class a week, yes. Its more than enough trust me.

You get a diploma or some kind of certification in the art of animation at the end.. I dont care about the paper, the animation Im learning is bomb enough.

[BudLight]

So after animation mentor do you plan to go to another school or will you just go and find a job.

[Kristopher_Lee]

I already got a job working from home doing cg arch modeling for a company in Conneticut so Im good.

As far as trying to find a job doing animation for a studio, I doubt it. I just needed a leg up in the industry for the animations I do myself and for maybe if I want to do more for a company I open up one day later.