Sheridan Animation Faculty

Florian Jacot - 1st Year Painting

2011-09-06T16:07:00.000-07:00

Florian Jacot is a figurative painter and sculptor who works traditionally and digitally in his field.

Florian started his artistic journey in fine arts graduating from the Art Diploma Program of Central Tech School and then studied at the Academy of Realist Art, school of Classical Figurative Drawing and Painting. He went on to Animation and graduated from the Classical Animation Diploma Program of Max the Mutt Animation and the Digital Animation Program at Centennial College. His work has been exhibited on many occasions in shows and galleries and has won several awards. He has worked in the Animation Industry as a 3D artist doing modeling and texturing.

Florian has been teaching since 2004 in various schools and colleges. He presently teaches Painting at Sheridan College, Artistic Anatomy, Figure Sculpture and Drawing at Centennial College, as well as Traditional and Digital Sculpture at Toronto School of Art.

Florian's Website

Tim McCormack - 3rd Year Life Drawing

2011-09-02T15:58:00.000-07:00

Tim McCormack has been drawing ever since he can remember. His lifelong interest in landscape painting has evolved into his current images of utopian and dystopian space; an exploration of the intersection of the aesthetics of the Romantic paintings with present day visual culture. His recent work combines play and illusion in search of an expression of the sublime, in ink drawings that are distilled from scientific photographs, found textures and manga. Other sources of inspiration include the human figure, Japanese cityscapes and his favourite pens.

A graduate of OCAD he has had several solo shows of watercolours, oils and pastels. His work is found in many private collections.

Tim's website

Bruno Degazio - Music, Audio, 4th Year Mentor

2011-09-01T08:01:00.000-07:00

Mr. Degazio's film work includes the special-effects sound design for the Oscar nominated documentary film, The Fires of Kuwait and music for the all-digital, six-channel sound tracks of the IMAX films Titanica, Flight of the Aquanaut and CyberWorld 3D.

His many concert works for traditional, electronic and mixed media have been performed through out North America and Europe.

As a researcher in the field of algorithmic composition he has presented papers and musical works at leading international conferences, including festivals in Toronto, New York City, London, The Hague, Koln, Tokyo and Hong Kong. He was a founding member of the Toronto new music ensemble SOUND PRESSURE and of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community. He has written on his research into automated composition using fractals and genetic algorithms.

Bruno Degazio is the designer of MIDIForth and The Transformation Engine, a software musical composition system with application to algorithmic composition and sonification.

Brian Hladin - 2nd Year Life Drawing

2011-08-31T13:39:00.000-07:00

Brian Hladin is a Visual Artist and a Figure Drawing Partial Load Professor in the renowned BAA Animation and Post Graduate Digital Character Animation Programs at Sheridan College in Oakville, Canada. He also teaches Drawing based courses at the Ontario College of Art and Design University, Canada’s largest Arts University, and has taught at many other institutions including Seneca College. He comes to teaching having worked for many years as an Illustrator / Layout Artist / Art Director for numerous magazines and advertising agencies. Other work includes yearly guest lecturing at Nanyang Polytechnic in Singapore and visual art done for exhibition and commission.

Klaas Hart - 1st and 2nd Year Life Drawing

2011-08-31T13:35:00.000-07:00

Klaas Hart has worked as a teacher and a fine artist for the past 16 years. He studied drawing, painting and anatomy at the Ontario College of Art and Design, graduating in 1993. He went on to study in the Netherlands, where he worked with renowned Dutch artist Henk Helmantel in 1999-2000. Along with life drawing and anatomy instruction, colour theory and painting technique are also part of his teaching repertoire.

Seeing painting as a form of traditional storytelling, his art deals with narratives that explore myth, psychology, and allegory in painting. His work has been exhibited in North America and Europe, and in 1998 he received the Mayor's Purchase Award in Toronto.

“Working with the motivated and talented students at Sheridan College is rewarding experience. It’s encouraging to be able to share my experience with students, knowing they will build on it and take it in new directions. In a world where art is becoming more difficult to define, at Sheridan we find real knowledge transfer going on that is directly applicable to an industry. In this sense art is alive and well.”

Klass's website

Maury Whyte - 1st Year Story, 4th Year Mentor

2011-08-31T13:31:00.000-07:00

A 1977 graduate Sheridan's Classical Animation Program, Maury has experience in almost every facet of animated film production. Working as Director, Animator, Designer, Storyboard Artist and/or Writer, he has created content for more than 200 productions ranging from TV commercials to feature films. Joining Sheridan's faculty in 1988, Maury taught in both the Classical Animation Program and the International Summer School of Animation. Working as part of the team that revised Sheridan's animation curriculum when the program switched from Classical Animation diploma to the BAA - Animation.

Michael Hitchcox - 2nd Year Painting

2011-08-31T13:28:00.000-07:00

Michael A. Hitchcox is an experienced artist in both the fine arts and commercial animation background field. Having worked for Nelvana as a background supervisor, he’s worked on over 50 animated series both traditionally and CG , including Beetlejuice, Magic School Bus, Dog City, Gargoyles, Blazing Dragons, George Shrinks, Rescue Heroes, Babar, Franklin, My Pet Monster and Care Bears.

Michael has also worked for Studio B Productions, painting colour keys for a variety of productions and was a guest background artist in 1995 and 1997 to help train artists in the BG department and helping to develop the original concept for the BG style of the God Rocks made-for-video series and other studio projects at Chelsea Roads Productions.

Michael has taught color and painting technique courses for the Con-Ed program at Sheridan College and has developed an on line Fundamental painting and Background course for WebCT, hosted by Sheridan College. At present, he is instructing background painting using both traditional and Photoshop methods for the second year BAA animation course at Sheridan.

Michel Hannan - 1st Year Animation, 4th Year Mentor

2011-08-31T13:24:00.000-07:00

Michelle Hannan worked as an animator, illustrator and designer for the children's interactive software division of Vivendi Universal Games, Inc. including working on storyboarding, backgrounds, character design, animation and inking and composting, as well as working as Interactive Artist, Web 7 Children’s Interactive Developer, Animator, Illustrator, Designer and Textile mapping artist for Vivendi Universal Games, Inc.. Her other work includes time as a Project Producer for Fisher price for After the Beanstalk, Warner Brothers' Quest for Camelot and Animaniacs game pack, Western Town, Castles, Big Action Garage and the Davidson title, Kid Phonics. Before joining Sheridan, Michelle was a visiting Full Time Professor of Animation at Loyola Marymount University.

Peter Emslie - 2nd Year Character Design.

2011-08-31T13:19:00.000-07:00

Peter Emslie is a career cartoonist and caricaturist, always with a bent towards humourous illustration. His work may be seen on many children’s books for Disney, Dreamworks Animation, Rankin-Bass and Random House.

Peter has worked for Disney’s merchandising division, illustrating Disney characters for various them park collateral material and continues to work for Disney in addition to teaching Character Design at Sheridan.

Peter's website and blog.

Rob Corbett - 2nd Year Performance

2011-08-31T13:15:00.000-07:00

Rob Corbett teaches acting in the animation departments of three separate colleges; he is a graduate of Sheridan College, The University of Waterloo and is currently working toward his masters in Creative Writing at UBC. He has been on the directorial team of the Stratford Festival and is a produced playwright. In addition he is a much sought after motivational speaker and workshop leader.

Stephen Barnes - 4th Year Mentor

2011-08-31T13:13:00.000-07:00

Stephen Barnes is a graduate of the Classical Animation program at Sheridan College and is an instructor at Sheridan, a Director at Max the Mutt Animation School and a Animation Supervisor at Pipeline Studios. Stephen has worked on Disney's Toy Story 2, A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc., and Geri's Game for Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, CA. His independent works have been screened theatrically in over 15 countries, winning awards in the Berlin International Film Festival's Kinderfilmfest, CBC's Telefest, and the 8th Chicago International Children's Film Festival, among others. He has sat on the selection committees for both the Ottawa International Animation Festival (1996) and the Ontario Arts Council Awards to Artists (Film & Video, 1994) and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Toronto Animated Image Society (1991-1995)

Tony Tarantini - 3rd Year Layout

2011-08-31T13:05:00.000-07:00

Tony Tarantini is currently working on a Master Degree in Animation Studies and holds a Bachelor of Design, a communication and Design Honors Diploma, Illustration and numberous certificates. With more than 20 years of creative and management experience, Tony has worked with producers and directors on editing scripts and story ideas, supervising development, revisions and approvals of storyboards, produced storyboards, designs, art directing, assembled animatics and story reels, assisted at recordings, postproduction, editing sessions and coordinated department’s workflow in collaboration with Production Management. His work can be seen on Meta Jets, Magi-Nation, George Shrinks, Redwall, Timothy, Franklin , Mythic Warriors, Ewoks, Care Bears, Johnny Quest, Babar, My Pet Monster, Little Rosie, Beetlejuice, American Tail, Dog City, Rupert, Magic School Bus, Tales From The Cryptkeeper, Eek the Cat, Neverending Story, Sticking Around, Little Bear, Blazing Dragons, Dog City, Birdz, Sam and Max, Ace Ventura, Maggie and the Ferocious Beast.

David Quesnelle - 3rd Year Animation

2011-08-31T12:53:00.000-07:00

David Quesnelle has worked for Nelvana as Senior Animator on productions such as Ewoks, Carebears 2, My Pet Monster, Babar, Beetlejuice, and Dog City. His credits for Walt Disney Animation Canada include Senior Animator (Lead animation) of “Belle” and “Pocahontas”, production on Beauty and the Beast – Belle’s Enchanted Christmas, Little Mermaid II, Peter Pan II: Return to Neverland and Pocahontas 2: Journey to the New World, amongst many more. David freelances at a variety of companies, teaches, consults, mentors and volunteers at high schools and Artist communities.

Blair Kitchen - 4th Year Mentor

2011-03-25T17:03:00.000-07:00

Blair Kitchen is a graduate of Sheridan College's Classical Animation program (1998) and has worked as a traditional animator and storyboard artist in Toronto, Canada for over 12 years. He has directed television commercials, animated on commercials and features (Curious George, Osmosis Jones, Titan AE), drawn boards for TV and has had a small stint supervising animation in the Philippines. Blair also produces and publishes his own comic book series called The Possum.

Blair's site

Mark Komza - 1st Year Layout, 4th Year Mentoring

2010-12-31T11:40:00.000-08:00

For the past nine years I have been teaching animation at Sheridan College. , I was creatively active for twenty years in the Animation industry. I worked on a variety of projects, with a multitude of people and different studios, including my own endeavour for a while. Prior to my professional Canadian career, I was educated in Fine Art in Poland. I obtained my MFA in the Field, and had a chance to produce my own animated films and be involved in several other animation projects in Poland and Germany. I have also participated in a number of Animation Festivals, receiving some awards.

Scott Caple - 2nd Year Layout

2010-10-20T17:42:00.000-07:00

Scott Caple graduated from Sheridan College in 1980 and has been working in the animation industry for 30 plus years, as a character and environment designer, layout and story artist on features and television projects both good and bad. Titles include Horton Hears a Who (Blue Sky Studios), The Incredibles, Cars (Pixar Animation Studios) The Wild, Atlantis: The Lost Continent, Mulan, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Fantasia 2000, Tarzan, All Dogs Go To Heaven, Inspector Gadget, Ewoks, Droids, Rock’n’Rule, and even effects animation on Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and E.T. The Extraterrestrial.

Scott's Blog

Mark Thurman - 1st Year Life Drawing

2010-09-29T18:16:00.000-07:00

I've been teaching in the Classical Animation Program at Sheridan for the last 8 years, and I teach with an amazingly talented group of people.

It's also great to teach students who are focused, talented and love to draw. To see their growth as storytellers and film makers over their years at Sheridan is very rewarding.

I've earned my living mostly as an Illustrator/ Author, and designer of children's books (45 so far),with a 16 year period as co-creator and Illustrator of the Mighty Mites comic in OWL Magazine(154 episodes).

I've also pursued a career as a painter and gallery artist - with a primary focus on figurative work. I still draw the figure on Sundays at the TSA.

My one stint working in the world of Animation was one summer in the early 1960's when I painted cells for Rocket Robin Hood.

My interest in Figure Drawing and Anatomy is a natural extension of my childhood years where I spent summer holidays in an old log cabin with no electricity or running water. During day long hikes with my brothers I would collect stones,bones, sticks, feathers, frogs and snakes.

In public school I loved Illustrating my notes with detailed drawings from the world of science and nature -- and I still do.

Mark Palowich - 3rd Year Digital, 4th Year Digital

2010-09-28T15:32:00.000-07:00

A graduate of Sheridan College's Classical and Computer Animation programs, Mark has spent the last 15 years working at a wide range of Toronto Animation companies and post production houses. He has been a part of numerous feature films (Dawn of the Dead, Resident Evil 2, What the Bleep Do We Know), television programs (Peter Benchley's Amazon, Veritas, Jett Jackson) and commercials during that time, and continues to work as a freelance artist to the present day.

Mark's site

Chris Walsh - Stop Motion, Animation History, 4th Year Mentoring

2010-09-28T15:22:00.000-07:00

Chris has worked extensively as a commercial stop motion animator on a variety of internationally broadcast television programs. He holds an MFA in Film Studies (York University, 2007), a BA in Film Studies and English Literature (Wilfrid Laurier University, 1993), and a Diploma in Media Arts (Sheridan College, 1998).

At Sheridan he teaches Animation History, stop motion animation, mentors 4th year films, and lectures on aspects of story. Chris is an active filmmaker, concerned with themes such as family bonds, fairy tales, local histories, and cinema's role in our everyday lives. His films have been screened internationally, including the Toronto International Film Festival and The Ottawa International Animation Festival. Big fan of David Lynch and Felix The Cat.

Chris's Blog

Trevor Davies - 4th Year Mentoring

2010-09-27T17:00:00.000-07:00

Trevor Davies is a graduate of the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, in Vancouver. He has worked in Film & Television for over 25 years as a Broadcast Designer, Animator and Visual Effects Artist.

Trevor began his career with the NFB in Vancouver and has worked for many of the Toronto based broadcasters and studios including Nelvana and YTV. He has taught part-time for the past 10 years. Trevor currently runs CORE Animated Effects Ltd.; an independent production company where he is employed as a full-time producer.

James Caswell - 3rd Year Story

2010-09-27T14:13:00.000-07:00

James Caswell operates a freelance production service doing animation & live action/ effects design with an emphasis on storyboards, both traditional and digital. As a designer/illustrator, he has worked on a variety of projects: features, direct to video, series television and commercials. He works as a freelancer or as a team member as a director, producer, effects designer, character designer or storyboard artist. His projects cover a gamut of traditional 2D, stop motion, special effects and computer based animation.

James holds a Bachelor of Design: Illustration from the Ontario College of Art and Design and a Master of Arts: Media Production from Ryerson University.

His clients include Nelvana /Corus, Cuppa Coffee Animation, and Walt Disney Television Animation. He has worked with a number of famous characters in animation and continues to develop and illustrate on projects for independent production and studios.

Some credits are posted at:

James Caswell imdb
Jim Caswell imdb

James' Blog

Kaj Pindal - Animation History, 4th Year Mentoring

2010-09-27T05:50:00.000-07:00

Kaj Pindal is the most international member of the faculty as well as the most experienced. He has made films in Denmark, Sweden, Britain, the United States, and Canada. He has worked for George Lucas, The National Film Board of Canada, Derek Lamb and Richard Williams and studied animation under Disney director David Hand, Borge Ring and Art Babbitt.

Films that Kaj has worked on include I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, What on Earth?, King Size, Caninabus, The Big Bang, The City (Osaka), Horsing Around, Karate Kids and Twice Upon a Time.

Kaj created Peep and the Big Wide World as a short film and it was later developed into a TV series.

Kaj's Blog.

Mark Mayerson - 2nd Year Animation, 4th Year Mentoring

2010-09-26T11:28:00.001-07:00

Mark Mayerson worked in the television animation industry for 29 years, doing commercials, specials and series. He spent nine years in drawn animation working as an animator before shifting to computer animation, where in addition to animating, he did modeling, rigging and some technical direction.

Projects Mark has worked on include Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, The Red Shoes, A Jazztime Tale, Ira Sleeps Over, The Care Bears vs. the Freezing Machine, Drawing Power, and Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future (the first TV series to include computer generated characters).

Mark created the cgi series Monster By Mistake, on which he also directed, wrote and produced. He also wrote for Franklin the Turtle and Jacob Two-Two, both Nelvana series.

In addition to writing for television, Mark has written articles about animation history and technology for Animation Magazine, Animation World Network, Animato, FPS, Animation Blast, CARTOONIST PROfiles, and The Comics Journal. He has contributed to two books, Animation Art and The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes, both edited by Jerry Beck.

Mark has a B.A. from the City University of New York in Mass Communications and an M.A. from York University in Film and Media Studies.

Mark's Blog

Nancy Beiman - 2nd Year Storyboarding

2010-09-26T11:09:00.000-07:00

Nancy Beiman fell in love with animation at the age of 16 and studied animation technique with Ray Seti of Sunflower films in New York City. She knew after this that the love affair would last. Through an unlikely series of coincidences Nancy wound up in the first class of the famous Character Animation Program at the California Institute of the Arts. (After the second year, Nancy was the only female student in the class). Nancy was the recipient of a four-year Disney Fellowship Grant provided by the Disney family and received a BFA in Film and Character Animation but did not attend her own graduation ceremony. Through an equally unlikely coincidence, Nancy was hired a few months before her graduation to design, animate, and storyboard television commercials for Jack Zander’s famous New York studio, Zander’s Animation Parlour.

Since then, Nancy has produced, directed, designed, storyboarded, and animated on television commercials, specials, features, and new media in five different countries, written two published books, and produced two independent short films, Your Feet's Too Big and The Other Eden.

She has ‘performed’ as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, Snoopy, Winnie the Pooh and other famous characters for The Walt Disney Company, Warner Brothers Animation, and Bill Melendez Productions.

Nancy cofounded Caged Beagle Animation with business partner Dean Yeagle and then, through yet another unlikely coincidence, moved to Berlin, Germany where she was a designer, sequence director and animator at the Gerhard Hahn Filmproduktion studio. From there she moved to London where she was a supervising animator (Miss Kitty) for Stephen Spielberg’s Amblimation Animation Studio’s first feature film, An American Tail: Fievel Goes West.

Nancy then directed and storyboarded for Warner Brothers Animation in New York. She was the first woman to direct Bugs Bunny, who was a pleasure to work with.

After relocating to Los Angeles Nancy directed, storyboarded and animated sequences for new media projects at Philips Sidewalk Studio including The Crayon Factory, a cautionary tale about big business, and Surf City, which used the music of the Beach Boys. After this, Nancy went to Paris as a supervising animator for The Walt Disney Company on A Goofy Movie (Roxanne and Bigfoot). She then returned to Los Angeles to design and animate the three Fates in Hercules, and Billy Bones in Treasure Planet.

Nancy was nominated for an Annie for individual achievement in storyboard for Little Angelita, a charming story (written by a child) produced at Walt Disney Television Animation Special Projects, and has won the Animation category award from the National Cartoonists Society for Your Feet's Too Big.

Nancy wrote articles and interviews for Jud Hurd’s CARTOONIST PROfiles magazine for fifteen years and also interviewed and corresponded with noted animators on her own initiative. This provided much material for her two books, which are: Prepare to Board! Creating Story and Characters for Animated Features and Shorts, (Focal Press, 2007) which has been adopted as a standard text by many animation schools and recently had its third Mandarin edition. Nancy’s second book, Animated Performance (AVA Press, 2010), is newly published and covers the subject of ‘acting’ for animators (Hint: It is not done with your physical body). Now its mama is waiting to hear that she wrote it funny!

Nancy began teaching animation at the college level in 2000 and discovered a new career that continues to fascinate her. In 2007 she received her MFA in Design with a major in Computer Graphics from the Rochester Institute of Technology where she finally attended her own graduation ceremony along with some very determined parents (“I want to see her graduate from SOMETHING!” my mother was heard to say.) Nancy taught Animation, Animation History, Gesture Drawing, Storyboard, Character Design, and Layout classes for four years at RIT and her students are currently working as animators and designers at The Walt Disney Company, Blue Sky Productions, and Rhythm and Hues studios among others.

In 2008 Nancy began teaching Storyboard classes at The Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning in Oakville, Canada, where she works and resides today with her cat Gizmo, whom she shamelessly exploits in both her books.

Nancy has lectured on animation storyboard in Singapore and on animated performance at the National Yunlin University of Science and Technology in Yunlin, Taiwan.

Nancy continues to act as advisor to professional and student animators around the world. She herself doesn’t know where she will turn up next.

Nancy is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Creative Talent Network, and the National Cartoonists Society.

Nancy's Blog.

Geordie Millar - 4th Year Life Drawing

2010-09-26T10:54:00.000-07:00

Geordie Millar was born in Ontario, Canada, beginning life as an artist sketching landscapes with his father and studying the drawings of his grandfather, Architect ECS Cox. Millar went on to study drawing and painting at the Art Students League of N.Y. and the National Academy School of Fine Arts in N.Y.C. as well as actively pursuing private study.

He was the 1996 Artist-in-Residence at the Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum in Oradell, N.J. and his work can be found in their permanent collection. Millar is an elected member of the NY Society of Animal Artists, winning their 2007 Award of Excellence and the Patricia Allen Bott Award for Creative Excellence for work from his 2006 WALKING installation originally shown in Saint John, New Brunswick. Work from this exhibit is also in the permanent collections of the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and the New Brunswick Art Bank.

In 2008 Millar's exhibition, PROCESSION, won the Peter and Evelyn Haller Memorial Distinguished Young Artist Award from the Society of Animal Artists. His work has been exhibited throughout Canada, the United States and Europe.

www.geordiemillar.com

Enzo Avolio - 1st Year Character Design

2010-09-26T10:50:00.001-07:00

I have worked as an Animator and Character Designer in Animation for the past 20 years, animating for both Warner Bros. and Disney T.V. and designing characters on several shows such as George Shrinks and Maggie and the Ferocious Beast. For the past 5 years I've enjoyed sharing my love of Character Design at Sheridan College. I recently published my first book Under the Influence - a collection of brush pen drawings.

Enzo's Blog