Animation Mentor is putting the student highlight back into the hands of the students themselves.  We let students create whatever they want – revealing themselves by sharing video, text and anything else they feel is appropriate.  If you are currently an Animation Mentor student and you’d like to participate in this, send an email to newsletter (at) animationmentor.com and we’ll do our best to fit you in!

Teresa Nord - Class 3, Introduction to Acting

I have always loved animation for as long as I can remember.  I had the Mickey and Minnie birthday cake, sleeping bag, shoes, clothes...etc.  My favorite thing of all though was looking forward to getting the Disney videos on VHS each year. I have 4 other siblings and every year my parents would purchase a couple Disney movies for us. We had quite the selection and would spread them out on the floor before slumber parties to try and narrow down the choices. There were some complaints about selecting a certain movie because it was the one watched last time...but I have always been able to watch movies over and over again without getting bored (when DVDs starting coming out, I would watch the movie and then turn around and watch it with the commentary). There is always something new to see, something I missed the last time, just so much animation goodness left to discover!  At this early age I didn't quite understand what animation was, I just got lost in the magical world and mesmerized by the medium (I didn't know that there were people behind the scenes who drew out those characters frame by frame)!

I really have to thank my parents for providing such an awesome learning environment growing up, which, I feel really prepared me for this particular career path. My dad would teach us art lessons every week and my mom, being the Kindergarten teacher she is, made us use our imaginations all the time. None of us were ever allowed to own video games until my brother reached high school and finally talked them into it, (I think this might have a little to do with why I lean more toward wanting to animate for feature film...however, I am a pretty tough competitor in Mario Kart ;). I have also been the type of person that can be absolutely silent in school and public places, because I just get so fascinated by what is going on around me. I have always loved to observe! Doodling on all of my school assignments was not a rare event growing up. I frequently read the newspaper comics and created my own.  For the longest time my career goal was to own my own board game company (well, until the age of 6 anyways). When I was 7 everything changed as Toy Story was released.

At first I was reluctant to go and watch Toy Story on the big screen. I thought it was a movie for "boys" from the look of the trailer. I was just 7 years old and didn't understand what a huge step Toy Story was as far as technology goes, but after I watched it, the characters were so alive and the story was so amazing! The rest is basically history :O). After Toy Story I knew that I wanted to be a part of that process, I wanted to make characters come to life!
 
I joined the video production club in high school and became heavily involved. I learned how to edit video and I helped produce the video yearbook. I attempted some very, very rudimentary stop-motion animation...but on the first day of my senior year my teacher put an animation program into my hands. I spent the year teaching myself animation as best as I could for my senior project. When I got stuck, however, I found my way to an internet forum that opened up the world of animation to me. I discovered all of the great sites and resources out there and most importantly Animation Mentor! Animation was no longer such a pipe dream...it was suddenly a realistic possibility!

I waited one year after high school until I joined Animation Mentor. During that year I spent my time really concentrating and learning the fundamentals of fine art. I took many figure drawing classes out at the local community college and I read as many books as I could get my hands on (The Illusion of Life, Of Mice and Magic, Acting for Animators, Story, The Animators Survival Kit, etc).
These are two portraits I did with experimental mediums...one is collaged and the other is an abstract self portrait of myself created entirely with little black rubber stamps.

I came into Animation Mentor with the drive and passion that I've had my whole life and the knowledge from what I have read, but my actual animation experience was very limited (if non-existent). It's so crazy to think about how far I've come in the short two terms that I've been here. I couldn't be happier with my experience thus far with Animation Mentor! I have grown closer to my classmates than I ever would have imagined (I can't wait to meet them)! It surprises me everyday how close the school community is for being online. The school is different from anything that I have ever experienced or been a part of. The atmosphere around the place is just so contagious that you just can't help but feel inspired. It feels so good to be surrounded by like-minded people who understand you! There is just a wealth of information flowing on the site daily and it's one gold nugget after another. Not only have I learned a great deal from the weekly lectures and my mentors, but I have learned a crazy amount from my fellow students! Whether it's critiquing/watching their work or vice versa, I never imagined that I would learn and grow so much with the help of my peers.

I have learned so much at Animation Mentor that it is hard to pin point the one most important or interesting lesson, but I would definitely have to choose planning. The school definitely stresses planning and I am so thankful for it! I don't know what I'd do without it! Planning just makes the workflow so much more efficient. I also love using a more traditional approach and really stress posing (making it clear and readable, including weight and overlap, just putting all of that good stuff into the posing from the get go). I love it, love it, love it!
Here are my first 2 assignments from my current Body Mechanics Class:

I also thought that it might be fun to throw in some pictures of where I'm currently working part time while attending Animation Mentor. When I'm not animating I can usually be found working the projection booth at the movie theater (it's really great to see how the audience reacts to different films)! I build and break down movies on Thursday nights as well as thread and start all the projectors for their regular showings. Building a movie requires me to take the 6 to 8 small reels that come in the film canisters and splice them together onto the large metal reels, and of course attach the trailer packages (the trailers are stacked on the two shelves above the build tables). Building a movie normally takes at least one hour if it's a small print and breaking a movie down to be shipped back out can be done in 20-30 min. It's such a great feeling to build a print and watch your mentor's name go by in the credits!

What I do in my spare time: besides work, school, and family/friends some things that people don't know about me are...I enjoy playing racquetball and running, as well as playing the fiddle, ukulele and mandolin. I ran cross country for all four years of high school and I took about 9 years of violin and fiddle lessons. :O)

The most important thing that I heard before I started Animation Mentor was, "You get out of it what you put into it."  I think that is probably the best advice that I can pass along to future Animation Mentor students. Participate in the community, truly put your best effort into your assignments, and have fun! Animation Mentor is such a blast and I have such a hard time pulling myself away from it to even go to bed. I am so thankful that I have been given the opportunity to learn at such a great school!

Oh, and one last thing. Here are some inspirational animators who I'd really like to thank for helping me get to where I'm at today!
Bobby, Shawn, and Carlos of course!
My mentors Fredrik Nilsson and Dimos Vrysellas!
Michael Stocker!!! :O)
Bobby Podesta and Victor Navone!
All of the awesome campus mentors at Animation Mentor!
And all of my animation buddies from ye old forum ;)