Featured Student Archives September 2006 Balqis Al-Ateeqi August 2006 Deter Brown July 2006 Gordana Fersini June 2006 Paul Sinclair May 2006 Fernanda Veloso April 2006 Francine Mangin March 2006 Scott Slater February 2006 Freddy Burgos January 2006 Elaine Reali December 2005 Peter Starostin November 2005 Rebecca Perez October 2005 Sean MacNeil September 2005 Vincent Florio August 2005 Brian Nicolucci July 2005 Aja Bogdanoff Animation Mentor: What inspired you to learn animation? Matt Wessel: This honor would probably have to go to Disney's' Beauty and the Beast. I was always interested in drawing and animation but I was truly awed by Beast. I was old enough to understand how animation worked by then and I was just amazed by the soul that was injected into a buffalo/bear type animal. I wanted to be able to have that effect on someone else someday so I began reading about animation and painting little cells and such. This is when I wanted to become a traditional animator. When toy story came out in '95 I was resistant to the idea of computer animation. To me, the computers did all the work. I hadn't worked so hard on my drawing skills just to have a computer take my future job! Then I saw the movie and I was just captivated. These toys had the same deep souls that Beast had and they were funny and endearing! I thought the visuals were way cool and I loved the look of that little lamp logo! I decided then I wanted to learn computer animation too! I finished up high school and enrolled in a private art college that had an animation program. To put it simply, it didn't go well, I was left with the feeling that I wasn't going to get too far with the reel I had, so I started looking for something else. Animation Mentor: How did you hear about Animation Mentor? What was your first impression? Matt Wessel: In my search for ways to better my reel and actually have a shot at a major studio, I came across 10secondclub.net. I did a horrendous little test and was absolutely crushed when I scored like 15 or 20 out of a possible 200! There was a little news blurb after my defeat that mentioned a program call AnimationMentor.com and said that it would be an online school made up of professional animators from major studios. There was a mailing list for a newsletter so I signed up. A week or so later I got "sample mentor list" or something to that effect that had the names and studios of SOME of the mentors that were set to be teaching, I was familiar with Victor Navone and I saw his name and many other very notable animators and I figured this was a pretty real deal! I searched around and read threads on all kinds of CG animation sites and got more and more excited! I couldn't wait! When the site FINALLY went live, I was there at 1am Colorado time to be the first in line of what seemed to be millions of eager animators. The site took a while to actually launch and I submitted my application and hoped for the best. I was elated when I was told that I would be welcome to take the course. Animation Mentor: How was your experience at Animation Mentor? Matt Wessel: Simply put... Incredible. This school is second to none in so many areas. The skill level of the mentors is just phenomenal. My mentor list is made up of people that I never would have been able to MEET let alone be schooled by. The curriculum focuses on really breathing life into your characters, not just moving them around. The characters that were released to us for the first exercises were awesome. I was geekin' out at something as simple as a squash and stretch control built into a ball. I hadn't seen anything yet! The tools that Animation Mentor has provided to me have been second only to studio level tools. And even better than some, so say some of the mentors! The rigs are of a true film quality and they made it extremely easy to just animate. I can't tell you how nice it was to be able to breathe life into this little character without having to fight an endless barrage of technical issues. Whenever there were technical issues, they were handled well and in a very timely manner. The Animation Mentor experience has been one of passion and perseverance on the part of the Animation Mentor Staff, Students, and Mentors! Animation Mentor: What was your best memory of Animation Mentor? Matt Wessel: This is a hard one as there have been so many. 3 stand out to me: Siggraph 2005: This experience was unreal. This was the first time that so many of the Animation Mentor students would come together. We were all newbies and totally excited to meet each other. Animation Mentor sent us all matching brown shirts with Spike on the front so we could recognize each other at the conference. It was a sight to behold! All these brown shirted animation geeks hugging and running around like old friends, and we had never physically met before! This was the first taste I had of the embracing community of Animation Mentor. I doubt that feeling will ever really be replicated. It was amazing! April, 2006, my visit to San Francisco: While I was in Term 3 with Doug Dooley of Pixar, I jokingly threw out the suggestion that Doug could explain some concept better in person when he gives me a tour of the studio. He called my bluff and said "Sure!" I couldn't pass that up so the wife and I booked a trip. We got to meet Doug and Carlos at Pixar and see real live animators in their real live environment! After the studio visit, we stopped by the Animation Mentor offices in Berkeley and met all the Animation Mentor staff. I will never forget Bobby running down the stairs and greeting me with a big ol' hug. This isn't just a school, you see, it's a family. We sat around and talked about animation and the school and acted like old friends. Which at this point, we truly were! [Editor’s note: We’d like to inform everyone that studio visits are not Animation Mentor sponsored events. They are entirely up to the mentors’ discretion.] 2nd annual Animation Mentor BBQ. This was HUGE! Like 100 students and 50 Mentors all converging at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge. I also got the worst sunburn of my LIFE! Animation Mentor: What’s the most important or interesting lesson you have learned while at Animation Mentor? Matt Wessel: KEEP IT SIMPLE. I have definitely learned that you can solve any scene if you just keep things direct and simple. Animation is hard enough! Don't make it harder. Also, the software doesn't matter. Animation is animation; don’t get tied up in gadgets, just animate. Animation Mentor: What feature/tool of Animation Mentor did you like the most? Matt Wessel: This would have to be the Animation Mentor shelf. This is such a comprehensive set of tools that really helps me to become "one" with the computer and really focus on animation. In all honesty though, the site and tools work so well as a whole that it is hard to pick just one thing. I am a tough customer and the whole package is just gravy to me! Animation Mentor: What is your ultimate dream job? Matt Wessel: I know in animation we are supposed to avoid cliché’s, but this one has been my dream for a loooong time. My dream job is to be a character animator at Pixar. When I visited the studio, I felt like I was at home. The people are so great and the culture there puts story above all else. I want to be an animator so I can tell stories. Pixar seems to have the same goal, so that's where I want to be. That said, I just want to animate, Give me a story and a character at ANY studio and you have one happy Matt! Animation Mentor: Who is your favorite animator? Matt Wessel: This is a hard one! I know so many personally now! I have quite a few. Many animators are good at many things. But if you are going to make me play favorites... Gavin Moran. He seems to expect nothing but the best in his own work and in that of his students. He really hammered the fundamentals into us and didn't let us get away with ANYTHING. His work is really fun to watch and he lets us in on a lot of secrets and cheats. As long as it looks good from the camera’s perspective, it is perfect! He is the one that taught me to keep it simple by example. A lot of new animators really over analyze their scenes. He would use his own work to drive home the K.I.S.S. principle and it has made all the difference. Animation Mentor: What is your favorite animated/CG scene of all time? Matt Wessel: There is only one option here. The 100 mile dash from The Incredibles. Every aspect of that scene is just mind blowing. The speed, the action, the dash discovering his powers! And it ends with the Parr family all using their powers together! It just doesn't get any better! Animation Mentor: Anything else you want to say to your fellow graduates, current students and prospective students of Animation Mentor? Matt Wessel: To new students:; this course will give back everything you give it and more. If you truly want to be an animator then there is no better place to learn, work hard, work late, work often! To my fellow Class One Graduates: CONGRATULATIONS! We did it! Now let’s take the industry by storm and begin building the legacy of successful animators that have come from AnimationMentor.com! Animation Mentor has been the best set of experiences in my life. Even if I never get a studio job, I will always have this great memory and all the friends I have made to get me through wherever I land. SEMPER ANIMO! Matt Wessel Denver, Colorado