Last week, we hosted our annual Staff Party that brought MTM’s faculty and staff together to celebrate the end of another successful school year. Held at our campus, we honoured the team’s hard work and support in guiding students toward creative excellence with a wholesome potluck!
Here’s a look at some of the amazing artwork from our students this 2024-2025 school year:
Artwork by 2nd Year Animation Student Karleigh Hollands – Intermediate Character Design
Artwork by 2nd Year Animation Student J’nia Brown – Animation 2A (Background Design)
Artwork by 3rd Year Animation Student Trinity Stephens – 2D Short Film Production
Artwork by 2nd Year Concept Art Student David Gu – Portrait Painting in Oils
Artwork by 3rd Year Concept Art Student Kay Lui – Advanced Props and Objects
Artwork by 4th Year Concept Art Student Vlad Craciun – Advanced Creature Design
Artwork by 1st Year Student Isabelle Albanese – Design and Composition
Artwork by 4th Year Illustration Student Rafael Fernandez – Illustration 2
Global Education Fair
On Saturday, April 26th, we were invited to the Global Education Fair at the atrium of our campus at 95 Moatfield Drive. Thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth!
MTM Instructor Dave Ross holding up a live drawing at the Global Education Fair.
MTM Instructor Dave Ross drawing at the Global Education Fair.
On Tuesday, April 15th, 2025 MTM College had the privilege of hosting Fadi Hakim, the visionary CEO and owner of Lev Gleason Publishing, for an unforgettable guest lecture. As the driving force behind the revival of Canada’s iconic superhero, Captain Canuck, Fadi captivated students with his passion for storytelling, entrepreneurship, and preserving Canadian pop culture.
Fadi’s journey in the comic industry is nothing short of remarkable. Since acquiring the rights to Captain Canuck in 2024, he has reimagined the character for a new generation while staying true to its roots. Under his leadership, Lev Gleason Publishing—formerly Chapterhouse Comics, rebranded in 2021—has become a powerhouse for Canadian creators. With imprints like Comic House and New Friday, Fadi has championed diverse voices and expanded the company’s reach with a U.S. office. His latest projects include a striking Captain Canuck comic variant cover celebrating Canadian values and ambitious animated and live-action adaptations in partnership with Lev Gleason Studios, VVS Films, and Muse Entertainment.
During his talk, Fadi shared behind-the-scenes stories of building a modern superhero universe, from navigating creative challenges to fostering collaboration across media. His advice to MTM students resonated deeply. He encouraged aspiring artists, writers, and entrepreneurs to embrace their unique perspectives and take bold risks in their craft.
Fadi’s visit was a reminder of the magic that happens when creativity meets purpose. MTM College is grateful for his generosity and looks forward to seeing how our students carry forward the inspiration from this incredible day.
Stay tuned for more guest speaker events and opportunities to connect with industry leaders at MTM College!
“I was very impressed with the set up at MTM. The classes and courses are very well structured, and relevant to the specific subject areas. There was a good morale amongst the students I met, and the work I saw was of a very high professional standard. The staff gave me a warm welcome, and could not have been more friendly.”
PHILLIP VAUGHAN
Course Director
MSc Animation & VFX
MDes Comics & Graphic Novels
Art Director Dundee Comics Creative Space
Thanks, Phillip. We really enjoyed your visit, your positive energy, and the graduate student publications you shared with us! It would be fun to work on exploring a partnership. Your enthusiasm about the university level work you saw at Max the Mutt and interest in finding ways for our graduates to qualify to take Master’s Degree programs at your university, is both very exciting and a great endorsement of the hard work and dedication of both students and faculty at Max the Mutt!
Comic book & Graphic Novel work from U of Dundee Master’s Degree students
Max the Mutt was visited last week by University of Dundee ( Scotland) Master’s Degree program heads Phillip Vaughan ( Course Director MSc Animation & VFX) and Dr.Chris Murray ( comics publisher & editor, and head of “Studies in Comics” ). Although they had contacted to ask about visiting the school, and had connected with Kent Burles ( head of our Sequential Arts program) at a local comic book convention, we really had no idea that their visit would lead to a possible partnership! The possibilities are very exciting and are being investigated now, and we will keep you all posted .
A tour with Kent Burles from MTM Sequential Arts Program head, was followed by a surprise ( for me) meeting where we discussed exploring partnership possibilities between the two schools.
I secretly hope all of this leads to a visit by some of us to Scotland! Now, that would be fun!
You can get more info about of Dundee programs here:
Every year we speak with people who attended other schools and didn’t come out with the skills they needed for employment.
There is a difference between attending a school that has small class size and provides access to individual assistance, and a large school where classes sometimes have 25 to 30 people in a class.
It isn’t easy- YOU have to be fully present and willing to do the hard work ! You need to buy in to our emphasis on professionalism and train yourself to organize your work, meet deadlines, deal professionally with problems, including asking for help when you need it. You need the desire and the grit to stick with it and keep faith in your ability to grow and develop.
People will hire you and keep you on if you have both the skills and the professionalism required by these industries! Max the Mutt is respected by employers, but simply attending Max the Mutt, or any other school- no matter how “famous”- will not make a career for you! That’s your job- with our help.
Our goal is to help you set your imagination free by giving you the artistic and computer savvy that will build your confidence and your portfolio, and marrying that to professionalism: polite behaviour, meeting deadlines, getting to places on time, taking criticism well, following directions. This is a winning recipe for success!
This is why we believe Max the Mutt is your best choice!
Your education:Why Max the Mutt?
We care about every student and give personal attention to every student.
MTM is a school that is entirely devoted to professional training: all courses are relevant to your professional goals.
We emphasize traditional representational fine art skills that are generally not taught in today’s art schools, because we want you to have a foundation that will give you flexibility during your working life,
MTM is staffed by working professionals with a commitment to passing on the skills they value and use daily.
We stress professional commitment and attitude, and treat the school environment as the workplace. We want you to have an easy transition from being a student to entering the work world.
We ensure small class size, enabling the development of professional relationships between faculty and students,
and enabling mentoring and support for all our students.
First year drapery Study by Aurino Neto, the result of basic education in traditional art skills!
First year students learn the processes artists use to create representational art. This drawing is the culmination of a unit on drapery, utilizing all the skills learned from September on, to create the illusion of reality.
That’s what education is supposed to give you!
Tina Seemann, above with students at the Royal Winter Fair, an annual field trip that enables students to draw animals and people interacting, and use what they’ve learned both in figure and animal drawing classes. This reinforces applying the education you’ve received to get real results drawing on site.
We offer the the only in depth education for comics & graphic novels in Canada!
Kent Burles with potential applicant for the ISA program
Who should consider applying?
Ifyou want to make your living either inanimation, conceptart (character, location and prop design) for animation and/or video games, or illustration with a focus on comic books and graphic novels, and you understand and accept the commitment it takes to become an artist, if you truly want an education, this college is for you!
If you have passion about developing your skills, curiosity, the ability and desire to get out of your “comfort zone,” and the grit to stay the course when the going gets rough, this school will be a good fit for you. This is what real education demands.
Because we provide an in depth and well thought out series of courses in year one designed to give you an understanding of traditional, representational visual language, we are able to accept students who have passion and drive, and have made efforts to draw, but are in need of instruction and practice in traditional drawing and painting, skills training which can currently be difficult to find.
Whenever possible we do application interviews in person that generally last 50 minutes to an hour. We try to assess whether or not if we work hard and you work hard, you’ll succeed. We don’t expect you to already have fully developed skills in subjects we teach in year one. That wouldn’t make any sense, but your efforts to work on your own and your resourcefulness in finding ways to learn (books, YouTube videos) are cetainly an indication that you have the interest, passion and self-motivation required.
Showing the 2014 Industry Event Video
We encourage you to visit Max the Mutt and attend an Open House and Information Session, or contact us to arrange a private tour and info session! This is a welcoming, inclusive environment for focused, serious students.
Contact admissions now to get more information, admissions@maxthemutt.com, or call us at 416=703-6877.
Check out websites of some of our graduates:
Brian Zuleta www.artofzuleta.com
Damjan Lazic newtiful.blogspot.ca
Vanessa Noller vanessanoller.weebly.com
Florence Young floyoung.ca
Denis Bejtic: denisbejtic.weebly.com
Matthew Chan: Www.matthew-chan.weebly.com
Laura Massingham: http://lauramassingham.weebly.com/
All graduating Illustration for Sequential Arts students at Max the Mutt will now have their their first professionally published credits by the time they graduate!
Max the Mutt is the only college in Canada offering an in depth program focused on Sequential Arts for Comic Books and Graphic Novels. Now, with the latest addition to this program, all graduating students will enter the industry with their first professionally published work available, kickstarting their careers in a way that no other program we know of offers.
As part of the third year Digital Media for Artists class, not only will students now learn how to use computer technology to produce line work, colours and digital painting illustrations, they will also learn how to use computer technology to layout and design publications for print and web. They will design and self-publish their own print and digital books, and that work will be made available worldwide through print on demand and digital download markets such as Kindle, through Amazon.com.
Self publishing is a vital and important step in the start of any new artist’s career, and something that many people strive for years after graduation. No other art school we know of offers the ability to graduate with professional quality, published work in hand.
Sequential Arts – 2013 – Year3 – Digital Media
For information or to book a tour contact us now at admissions@maxthemutt.com, or call us at 416-703-6877, 1-866-486-MUTT toll free in North America!
