Careers Archives - Page 3 of 6

Max the Mutt Ranks 3rd Worldwide, First in North America, for Digital Illustration & Concept Art !

art by: Boris Radevski - current year 3 Concept Art student — art by: Boris Radevski – current year 3 Concept Art student

“The Rookies” has ranked Max the Mutt 3rd worldwide for Digital Illustration, and first in North America, for their 2017 School of the Year Official World Rankings.

art by: Dhenzel Obeng - current year 4 Concept Art student — art by: Dhenzel Obeng – current year 4 Concept Art student

The Rookies is an international website dedicated to emerging artists and supported by major companies worldwide. Every year students around the world submit work and compete for scholarships, internships and prizes, and, most important, to get their work critiqued by major international digital artists. Each fall schools are rated based on the work uploaded by their students.

Environment Design by: Boris Radevski - current year 3 Concept Art student — Environment Design by: Boris Radevski – current year 3 Concept Art student

As stated on The Rookies: “The Best Creative Media & Entertainment Schools in the World 2017 is based on the quality and performance of student work that is submitted to our judging panel between March 2017 – May 2017.” The judging panel is composed of respected professionals from top companies.

Last year was the first year Max the Mutt students entered, and we were delighted to discover that for 2016 we’d ranked 5th in the world.

Character Design by: Zabi Hassan - current year 4 Concept Art student — Character Design by: Zabi Hassan – current year 4 Concept Art student

This year we rank 3rd! We received the highest ranking of any program in North America. Work was submitted by students in years 2, 3 and 4. Our ranking is particularly exciting because Max the Mutt’s Concept Art Program is small, especially when compared to some of the university programs both in Canada and the USA that we’re competing with. We never have more than 15 students in a class, and frequently fewer. For such a small program to have so many students with excellent work that we have come out this high, is the end result of everyone’s caring and passion, a well-thought-out curriculum, dedicated students, small class size, and inspired instruction.

Environment Design by: Desiree Moffatt - 2017 Concept Art graduate — Environment Design by: Desiree Moffatt – 2017 Concept Art graduate

Hats off to all of you!

Just an additional note: special congratulations to Zabi Hassan, who having completed a summer internship at UbiSoft Toronto, is now working for UbiSoft. by special arrangement, as a Junior Concept Artist (joining 4 other former MTM students) while completing his fourth year at Max the Mutt. Congratulations, Zabi! Well done.

Max the Mutt offers the only in-depth Concept Art Program in Canada, and we are looking for applicants who have imagination, passion, work ethic, grit, and a desire to learn and develop as designers and digital artists. Because this program prepares you for both animation and games, in addition to working digitally, it requires a serious interest in developing traditional fine art skills, including painting in oils. If this description fits you, we encourage you to contact us now!

We offer private tours and consultations, and also host one Open House weekend each month (the first is Sept 30/Oct 1).

Join the Max the Mutt students and graduates who year after year produce exciting, imaginative and artistic digital illustration recognized worldwide.

admissions@maxthemutt.com 416-703-6877, toll free in North America 1-877-486-MUTT

We look forward to meeting you soon!

art by: Damjan Lazic - 2014 Concept Art graduate — art by: Damjan Lazic – 2014 Concept Art graduate

Max the Mutt Open House: Saturday, November 4th & Sunday, November 5th!

You are cordially invited to Max the Mutt’s November Open House !

Why do our graduates do so well? Why were we ranked first in North America for 2017 for Digital Illustration, 3rd in the world, by The Rookies, an international website supported by major companies worldwide?

Visit us to find out about the unique learning environment at a college created 20 years ago by artists, animators and educators passionate about their arts, and motivated by the desire to pass on their skills. Community, professionalism, and generosity of spirit are words that best describe the culture we believe in and do our best to encourage at the college.

On Saturday, November 4th we will be open from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm:

Learn more about each of MTM’s three, in depth 4 year diploma programs and the careers each prepares you for:

Our new 4 year Illustration & Storytelling for Sequential Arts Diploma Program (replacing the 3 year illustration program)! We’ll share with you the additional courses that now make this a more secure path for people who want to study for a career in comics and graphic novels. This program now gives you additional skills for jobs that will sustain you while build build your comic book/graphic novel career!
Learn about exciting changes in the Classical & Computer Animation & Production Diploma Program. the only program in Toronto that gives you entry level skills for both 2D computer (Harmony) and 3D (Maya) animation jobs!
Learn about the many career paths open to graduates of our Concept Art for Animation & Video Games Diploma Program!

Following the info session, you’re invited to participate in a group tour of the college, where you can view student work from all 4 years and see classes in session.

Dave Ross - Author, Comic Book Artist and MTM Instructor — Dave Ross – Author, Comic Book Artist and MTM Instructor

Bring your lunch, and stay on to meet Dave Ross, Author of “Figure Drawing for Illustrators”, Internationally acclaimed Comic Book Artist and MTM Instructor.
A book signing will follow the workshop, Introduction to Figure Drawing Without a Model.
Dave’s recently published book, “Figure Drawing for Illustrators” will be available for purchase, or bring your copy with you and get it autographed!

We are also open on Sunday, November 5th from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.

Call us to book private tours, and attend one or both free Sunday workshops:

11:00 am: Introduction to Cartooning & Character Design For Animation Workshop with Tina Seemann, Co-Director of Max the Mutt and Animation Coordinator!

Tina Seemann with Cartooning Workshop student

1:30 pm: Layout for Comics Workshop with Kent Burles – Illustrator, Comic Book Artist, a MTM Instructor and Illustration Program Coordinator.

Kent Burles 4 min drawing challenge — Kent Burles, MTM Illustration Coordinator, giving instructions for a 4 min drawing challenge

Remember if you plan to take a workshop or workshops please bring your sketch book and drawing materials.

Max the Mutt graduates can be found at top companies including Pixar, UbiSoft, Warner Bros Games, Guru Studio, Nelvana/Corus Entertainment, ToonBox Entertainment, National Film Board of Canada, Sony Pictures Imageworks and many more.

Visit us to see where they got their start and find out how our programs help our students make dreams come true!

Please note: We suggest a private tour for those of you who are sure which direction you want to go in! We encourage you to include family or a good friend, and we offer, if you request it, free consultation on your art work and portfolio advice

Please RSVP to admissions@maxthemutt.com or call 416-703-6877.

Max the Mutt College of Animation, Art & Design offers three 4 year in depth diploma programs, Classical & Computer Animation & Production, Illustration & Storytelling for Sequential Arts, and Concept Artf or Video Games & Animation.

“The Life and Times of Sir Reginald Tubb” Gets Rave Review from Kirkus!

“The Life and Times of Sir Reginald Tubb,” illustrated by Tina Seemann , co-director of Max the Mutt, colour by MTM grad Laura Faber, written by David Schacker (one of MTM’s founders), received a rave review from Krikus :

Kirkus has been an authoritative voice in book discovery for 80 years. Kirkus Reviews magazine gives industry professionals a sneak peek at the most notable books being published weeks before they’re released.

Here’s an excerpt from the review: “The charming illustrations are colorful, well-detailed, and dynamic as well as expressive; Seemann… manages to make a bathtub one of the book’s most animated characters….A whimsical delight with well-written verse, excellent illustrations, and appealing characters.”

About Davd Schacker’s writing: “His rollicking verse is clever, fresh, appealing, and very funny. ”

Congratulations to all on a job well done.

Amazing News: Three of “The Rookies” 2017 Global Competition Finalists for the Illustration Category Are From Max the Mutt!

Amazing news! Three of “The Rookies” 2017 Global Competition Finalists for the Illustration Category are from one small college in Toronto, Max the Mutt!

Congratulations to 2017 Max the Mutt Concept Art graduates Angela Matinong & Desiree Moffatt, and 3rd year MTM Concept Art student Zabi Hassan who are all finalists in the Rookies 2017 Global Competition’s Illustration Category! Congratulations also to the faculty of working professionals who mentored them.

The Rookies offers International Awards for young designers, creators, innovators, and artists. The Awards were created to discover and showcase the outstanding talent emerging from higher education facilities and help launch them into careers at the world’s top studios.

“From the thousands of global entries submitted to The Rookies, the finalists for 2017 represent the very best entries selected by the official judging panel which include 62 of the most influential and respected experts of their respective creative and technical fields.The Finalists have been selected by scoring each student based on criteria including creative skills, technical skills, presentation, variety of skills, complexity, raw talent, and employment potential.The judges have now moved into stage three of their process and will vote for category winners which will be announced July 7th, 2017.”

What’s special about Max the Mutt? We stress foundation skills, traditional fine art as well as computer based training, work ethic, focus, small class size, individual attention, top instructors who are in the industry themselves. Max the Mutt’s 4 year diploma program in Concept Art for Animation & Video Games gives students entry level skills into a variety of industries (film, animation, games) for a wide range of jobs, from concept artist to game artist, digital background painter, layout artist, or matte painter. The quality of work our students produce speaks for itself!

Some openings for Canadian citizens or permanent residents are still available for September 2017 and we are starting September 2018 admissions for both Canadian and international applicants.

Good Luck to all of you!

Scene by - Desiree Moffatt Rookies 2017 Global Competition Finalist — Scene by – Desiree Moffatt

link to Desiree Moffatt on The Rookies – MTM 2017 Concept Art Graduate

Tekkonkinkreet Characters by - Angela Matinong Rookies 2017 Global Competition Finalist — Tekkonkinkreet Characters by – Angela Matinong

link to Angela Matinong on The Rookies – MTM 2017 Concept Art Graduate

Character by - Zabi Hassan Rookies 2017 Global Competition Finalist — Character by – Zabi Hassan

link to Zabi Hassan on The Rookies – MTM 3rd Year Concept Art student

Celebrate with Max the Mutt June 3 and 4! Free Workshops, Exhibition of Graduate and Under Graduate Work!

We look forward to celebrating with you!

Van Lawrence Ching, Concept Art year 3, Character Design

3rd year animation student Josh Hill, character design exploration test.

Vlad The Impaler, 2017 Sequential Arts graduate Emilie Thomas

(Featured image at top by Caroline Davis, 2017 Concept Art graduate)

You are invited! Max the Mutt’s annual year end Exhibition of 2017 graduate and undergraduate work will be held Saturday and Sunday, June 3rd and 4th.

See student films, slide shows of amazing concept art scenes, props and characters, children’s books and comic book art!

Saturday: doors open at 10:30 am

11 am: a presentation about the college, our philosophy, and the programs we offer, followed by a tour of the college.

1 pm: Bring your lunch, or return after lunch, for a free Cartooning Workshop, with Tina Seemann, Director of the 4 year Animation Diploma Program & illustrator of the recently published children’s book, “The Life & Times of Sir Reginald Tubb.”

Sunday: doors open at 11 am, Join us for coffee and doughnuts, tour the college, view student and graduate work, take free workshops!

11:45 am : Workshop with illustrator/comic book artist Kent Burles: Comic Book Layout

1 pm : Workshop with Director and Story Board artist Cilbur Rocha: visual storytelling basics for animation.

Max the Mutt draws passionate people who want to develop first-class skills. Are you one of them? Find out at our two-day Open House! We’ve been voted one of the 5 top illustration schools in the world by the international art & design website “The Rookies”

Our graduates have gone on to careers at top companies including Pixar, Corus/Nelvana, Guru Studio, Toon Box, National Film Board of Canada, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Yowza Animation, Portfolio Entertainment, UbiSoft, & Warner Bros. Games. Come see where they got their start!

Come for one or both days. RSVP to admissions@maxthemutt.com or call 416 703 6877.

(If you plan to take a free workshop, please bring your sketchbook and drawing pencils!)

UbiSoft Toronto NXT Showcase Awards, An Inspiring Annual Event!

The UbiSoft Toronto NXT Showcase annual competition Awards this past Thursday evening was a gala event, well attended despite the rainy weather. The energy was high as students and faculty from an increasing number of colleges and universities filled the hall. (Photo above: Zabi Hassan, 3rd place; Steve Hong ,center, 1st place; and Jullius Granada, 2nd place for Concept Art)

Max the Mutt congratulates all the winners, their instructors and their programs! Canada needs as many excellent programs and excellent students as possible to keep our entertainment arts industries alive and thriving, and competition is healthy for all of us testtest testtest.

The 5 finalists in each category had already been announced. The 3rd place winner, then the 2nd place winner, and finally the first place winner in each category( first place winners will have a summer internship) was introduced to the crowd. The project of each person was projected on a screen behind them, as they were introduced.

Our congratulations to all, and especially the first place winners in all categories, Programmer, Modeller, Animation and Concept Art: David Arppe, David Kolodko, Rahim Rahimi, and Steve Hong!

We were also especially proud of Zabi Hassan, Max the Mutt 3rd year Concept Art student, for coming in third in the Concept Art category before he’s even gotten to his final year!

Max the Mutt Ranked One of The Best Illustration Schools Worldwide!

Max the Mutt has been rated one of the best Illustration Schools worldwide! “The Rookies” today announced the official rankings for the best creative schools in the world for 2017. The results were calculated based on the voting of 1,800 submissions of portfolios from students and recent graduates studying at over 500 international schools and training facilities.
Each school was awarded points based on data collected from the performance of submissions from students across nine of the Award categories: Architecture, Film Making, Graphic Design, Illustration, Motion Graphics, Next-Gen Gaming, Photography, Visual Effects & Animation, Web & Mobile.

Max the Mutt College of Animation, Art & Design has been chosen one of the Best Illustration Schools 2017 worldwide! What an honour! Congratulations to all our hard working students and the committed industry professionals who are instructing them

Max the Mutt offers a 4-year diploma program in Concept Art that includes traditional representational fine art training, as well as training in character design, environment and location design, prop design, and much, much more. We are a small community of dedicated students and instructors and feature small class size, mentoring, and working professionals instructing.

(Attention all you animation and sequential arts students: your work is great! Upload it to The Rookies and try for prizes, internships, and personal critiques of your work!)

Check it out on “The Rookies” website!

Contact us, admissions@maxthemutt.com, or check out this website, for more information about our programs and how to apply! Call us, toll free in North America, at 1-877-486-MUTT.

Angela Matinong Character Design Process On “The Rookies !”

Skilled Character Designers Are in Demand Worldwide!

Angela’s article shares step by step process information….

Tekkonkinkreet Characters Designed by Jing Matinong

Jing Matinong’s article on Character Design process is currently featured on www.therookies.co, an international website devoted to emerging design talent worldwide. This truly is an honour for a student about to graduate this spring!

“The Rookies,” is dedicated to emerging artists worldwide. In addition to allowing students from all over the world to upload their work for critical review by professionals, they offer awards and internships, and articles sharing process information.

Founder Alwyn Hunt, while in Toronto on a visit from Australia, addressed Max the Mutt students and looked at their work. He was so impressed by Jing’s work that he asked her to create an article on her design process for The Rookies website. Jing’s creativity, imagination and hard work are prime ingredients of her success, but she definitely would tell you that her ability to express her vision has been helped by the depth of the curriculum offered by Max the Mutt’s 4 year Concept Art Diploma Program, the individual instruction our students receive, and the depth of knowledge their instructors, all working professionals, share with them.

Congratulations Jing! Max the Mutt is proud of you!

See more of Angela “Jing” Matinong’s work....

View more student portfolios…

For more information, or to book a tour, contact us now through this website, or email us at admissions@maxthemutt.com, or call us at 416-703-6877, 1-877-486-MUTT toll free in North America. We are still accepting applications for September 2017.

Become A Compositing Artist for Harmony!

The animation industry is actively looking for compositing artists, people with animation education, who have worked with Toon-Boom Harmony and know how to composite.

If you’ve completed a diploma or degree in animation, have worked with Harmony software, and are looking for your niche in the industry, successful completion of industry pro Sonya Hassan- Carey‘s Certificate Workshop in Compositing for Harmony will bring you to the level of someone with at least 6 months compositing work experience !

What will your job be as a compositing artist?

You’ll be responsible for constructing the final image of the film or series by combining layers of FX, animation and background elements into final composite shots, fulfilling each shot’s requirements.

As a compositing artist, you’ll need artistic sensibilities in the areas of 2D/3D animation compositing, rotoscoping, warping and particles, morphing blue/green screen keying and colour correction. All of this will be covered in our new professional development certificate workshop!.

Who is your instructor?

Sonya Hassan-Carey, currently Head of Operations for Portfolio Entertainment in Toronto (www.portfolioentertainment.com), is an animation professional with 25 years of industry experience, including compositing, producing, VFX, recruiting talent, and training studio employees for Toon Boom Harmony productions.

Her credits include Ren and Stimpy series, Disney’s The Princess and the Frog, Winnie the Pooh, The Ballad of Nessie, The Proud Family Movie. She’s also worked with live action plates, maya elements, and was a Roto Artist for Saw 111 using Digital Fusion and After FX.

Will you need other qualifications to be employable as a compositing artist?

If you choose to stay in a 2D Harmony environment, this course will do the trick. If you choose to go into a VFX or 3d studio, you’ll need to add some understanding of Nuke, Maya and Fusion.

About the certificate workshop: class size is limited to 10 to allow for individual instruction and mentoring.

This workshop will meet 8 Sundays, beginning February 26, 10 AM to 1 PM, one hour lunch break, and an afternoon class from 2 PM to 5 PM.

Pre-requisites:

completion of an animation diploma or degree program, or equivalent work experience in animation
knowledge of Toon Boom Harmony software .

Dates: 8 full days, Sundays 10 to 5 PM (one hour lunch break), starting February 26th, 2016. (closed Easter Sunday April 16, 2017)

Tuition: $1050.00 plus HST

To apply for this workshop please email info@maxthemutt.com. To meet Ministry of Education guidelines, we will need evidence of your animation diploma or certificate. Knowledge of the basic Harmony program is a pre-requisite. If you have no animation clip, or transcript showing you’ve completed Intro Harmony, you can apply and Ms Carey will contact you to discuss your ability to successfully participate in the workshop Once accepted, we’ll email your invoice and payment instructions.

Reminder: a maximum of 10 students, so apply early!