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Fadi Hakim Brings Captain Canuck’s Legacy to Life at MTM College
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!
The Royal Winter Fair, Annual Drawing Event for MtM Students & Faculty 2016
Every year Max the Mutt takes a trip to the Royal Winter Fair. The fair is filled with excellent exhibits and animal shows, offering an opportunity for our students to practice their animal drawing, and gain more experience with on location studies that include people as well as animals.Â
Here are some thoughts from one of Max the Mutt’s Drawing Instructors, Ed Shawcross, about this year’s visit:
..… the event was quite successful with most students seeking feedback and exhibiting excitement as they worked throughout the copious arenas finding of diverse subject matter to draw. It was also great to see some recent grads who joined us, continuing the tradition started at MtM, and now attend to draw for themselves.
Ian Culley, a former instructor, was a special surprise guest. I was delighted to have him assist us as an added member of the teaching team.
Tina made a good suggestion for next year:  perhaps we should extend an offer to all our grads to join us on the day we visit the Royal Winter Fair! They could benefit from the reduced entry fee and enjoy the camaraderie of drawing on location with  mentors and peers.
A quick note of thanks to everyone for all efforts-Â both physical and artistic – as we worked with the students on location at the Royal Winter Fair. A big hurrah goes to Noelle for organizing the tickets and scheduling the event; it went as smoothly as silk
Max the Mutt’s 2016 ROM Visit
MtM Has A Foal (baby horse) Skeleton!
It started as a pile of bones, carefully cleaned and sorted. Now,our foal is finally part of our skeletal menagerie for Animal Drawing!
It’s been a few years since an intrepid SA group accompanied Tina Seemann to Orangeville to Stuart Johnston’s horse farm to dig this animal out of the ground.
And  (drum roll please!) finally, here he is!
MtM student Kris Manser-Hart was the architect and he did an amazing job- building an armature worthy of the ROM!
In these photos  year 3 Concept Art students are seen drawing the recently completed skeleton.
The foal  (* it was only 6 months old when it was put down, due to illness) is perfect for the school setting, where it seems VERY LARGE !
<img class=" wp-image-6355" src="https://mtmcollege.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/20161014_114305-1-300×169.jpg" alt="Animal Drawing class with the new foal skeleton." width="568" height="320" srcset="http://a1gyv49udwj217e981sqhxva.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/20161014_114305-1-300×169.jpg 300w, http://a1gyv49udwj217e981sqhxva.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/20161014_114305-1-768×432.jpg 768w, http://a1gyv49udwj217e981sqhxva.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/20161014_114305-1-1024×576.jpg 1024w, http://a1gyv49udwj217e981sqhxva.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/20161014_114305-1-475×267 lowest price levitra.jpg 475w” sizes=”(max-width: 568px) 100vw, 568px” />
Animal Drawing class with the new foal skeleton.
Alwyn Hunt – The Rookies – Paid Max the Mutt A Visit
Max the Mutt was happy this Tuesday to welcome Alwyn Hunt from ‘The Rookies,’  www.therookies.co.  Alwyn, visiting from Australia, has worked in VFX in England, Toronto, as well as Australia, and is now working full time on The Rookies. Part of his job is travelling to visit recruiters and art directors at companies all over the world. The purpose of The Rookies is to foster talent and help young artists launch their careers.
In addition to stressing that the entertainment arts industries are now global, Alwyn shared some valuable insights about how to approach professionals to ask for feedback. He encouraged students to research studios that they might wish to work for early on to find out the level of skills necessary to get hired..
“Don’t wait until you graduate-“Alwyn said. “You want to be ahead of the curve, not beginning your research when you have grads from all the schools to compete with.”
Alwyn also discussed why uploading work onto the The Rookies website is an excellent  idea, a way to create a page about yourself and your work so that recruiters and artists world wide can see your work. In addition, top professionals will judge what you’ve done, rate your work (the rating is not made public), and give you an idea of what you need to do to create a competitive portfolio.
Apart from valuable exposure, the sponsors for this website include major animation and video game companies who award internships. There are also cash awards.
 The Rookies also has school pages, and top schools (Max the Mutt included) are profiled. Last year was the first time MTM participated, and, although it was announced late, most of the students who entered made it to the finals! We hope that this year all MTM students will take advantage of this opportunity and post their work.
After his presentation, Alwyn  looked at work from many animation, concept art, and illustration students and seemed genuinely impressed by what he saw. “It’s not the size of the school,” he said, “but the talent and drive of the students to make it in these industries.” We can’t wait until June when this years entries will be judged! We think we’ll do very, very well!
Thanks for the visit, Alwyn!
Congratulations to @prplstarstudio !! Winner of our ‪#‎cartooningatmtmgiveaway‬
Congratulations to @prplstarstudio !! Winner of our‪ #‎cartooningatmtmgiveaway‬ !!
Check out this lovely entry. A digital painting called “spirit of the lake”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHIi5vsgnx-/…
Thank you to all our contestants for participating. Keep Drawing and watch for our next contest!…
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Welcome To Max the Mutt’s New Website!
Finally, we are live! We hope you’ll find that this new website does a good job of showing you just what our students learn and produce, and what our graduates are achieving, and that you’ll find the whole site user friendly.
Our thanks to George Arabian and nvision for all their creativity, hard work, and dedication to creating a website that is user friendly and clearly shows what happens at Max the Mutt.
Please let us know what you think, and if you find any of the inevitable glitches that occur on a new site!
All the best, and hoping to see you at our Open House( Sept 26, Sept 27).
#MaxtheMutt Stakes A Claim In The East End! #TheTorontoObserver
http://torontoobserver.ca/…/max-the-mutt-stakes-a-claim-in…/ Max the Mutt is in the news!
Schacker spoke about the programs and the hands-on teaching style one would experience if enrolled in the school. She also discussed the core principles that all students and faculty at the school …
TORONTOOBSERVER.CA|BY BEN RAPPAPORT