Story, Character & Animation Masterclass - New York City 2013
Hello New York City!
VanArts is proud to present a masterclass in Story Development, Character Design & Animation, featuring instructors Matthew Luhn (Story Supervisor), Ricky Nierva (Lead Production Designer), and Andrew Gordon (Directing Animator) -- all from Pixar Animation Studios.
This marks the first time a Pixar Animator, Pixar Story Artist, and Pixar Art Designer have taught a 3-day seminar together. It's not easy to make something like this happen, so it represents an incredible opportunity to gain a wealth of knowledge in a very short time frame and at reasonable cost.
This exceptional 3-day event takes place in New York City on June 14/15/16th in 2013, offering participants a rare and exciting opportunity to learn from the industry's top talent. This class has toured the world, with this being one of only a few stops in 2013.
> view other locations on the tour
When it last stopped in NYC back in 2011, this class sold out completely. This time it's going to be even bigger & better. Ricky Nierva, acclaimed Production Designer at Pixar, has been added as a special instructor, teaching an extra full day covering Character & Production Design. This special extended masterclass is the only one on the tour, so definitely not to be missed.
Geared toward experienced animators, story writers, character designers, students and enthusiasts alike, the skill sets covered are not software-specific. Lectures are organized with visuals, including live-action and animated clips, supplemented by a printed workbook. This masterclass provides you with the tools needed to help create your own stories and feature-quality animation, plus offers a great opportunity to meet and network with others in the industry.
Curriculum
| Day 1 - Friday ANIMATION Instructor Andrew Gordon 9:00am - 5:00pm |
Day 2 - Saturday STORY DEVELOPMENT Instructor Matthew Luhn 9:00am - 5:00pm |
Day 3 - Sunday CHARACTER DESIGN Instructor Ricky Nierva 9:00am - 5:00pm |
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| DETAILS | ||
| Animation (1 full day) This day will focus on the techniques used on Monsters University. Shot progressions, multiple examples, and general best practices for how this work was accomplished will be talked about in some of the lectures. |
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| Story Development (1 full day) Story is King at Pixar Animation Studios, but it’s not always easy. Matthew Luhn will discuss his experiences working on Monsters University in Story, and how the final characters and story structure were developed. Matthew will also be teaching students how they too can create their own successful stories and characters using the techniques he has learned over the last 17 years at Pixar. |
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| Character Design (1 full day) The purpose of this day is to introduce, discuss, study and exercise the basic skills involved in creating characters for any type of animation (hand drawn, computer, stop-motion, cut-out, etc.). The primary emphasis will be on the development of character, the story behind the character and the effect that has on the overall design. Student exercises will involve the many aspects of character design: shape, attitude, costume, caricature, style and research. The typical class will consist of a lecture and an in-class exercise. All students are encouraged to participate in the critiques since most of the instruction will be learned from the discussion. Each exercise is designed to build from the previous one so completion of the project sequence is critical. Note: Although draftsmanship is a large component of character design, this class will focus more on sharpening your observation skills. |
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-- times and content may vary and are subject to change --
Venue
Sunshine Cinema. This legendary, historic arthouse theatre features excellent sight-lines, a large bright screen and great atmosphere. Perfectly situated in the heart of Manhattan's Lower East Side, at 143 East Houston St., New York City.
> venue location map
> venue website
Instructors
Andrew, Matthew and Ricky are all highly experienced, first-class educators who thoroughly enjoy sharing their incredible knowledge, experience, and passion for what they do.
Matthew Luhn
Story Supervisor, Pixar Animation Studios
Matthew Luhn began his career at Pixar Animation Studios in 1992 as an Animator on the very first CG movie, Toy Story. Since that time, Matthew has worked as a Storyboard Artist generating new ideas and characters on Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, Cars, Ratatouille, UP, Toy Story 3, Monsters University, and current Pixar movies in development.
Prior to Pixar, Matthew attended the California Institute of the Arts, and would later be hired as an Animator on the award winning TV show The Simpsons.
Matthew grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area where his family has owned and operated Jeffrey’s Toys toy stores for three generations.
Andrew Gordon
Directing Animator, Pixar Animation Studios
Andrew Gordon has been animating characters at Pixar Animation Studios for 16 years. He joined Pixar in 1997 where he has been an Animator on A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille and Toy Story 3. The characters he has worked on include Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc., Gill, from Finding Nemo and Edna Mode, the costume designer in The Incredibles, and Linguini from Ratatouille. He supervised animation on Pixar’s Academy Award nominated short film Presto, and is currently a directing animator on Monsters University, due out in 2013.
Andrew studied animation in Vancouver, New York and New Jersey, and prior to his work at Pixar, he worked in the Looney Tunes division of Warner Brothers. He was awarded "Outstanding Character Animation in an Animated Motion Picture" by the Visual Effects Society for his work in Finding Nemo.
Passionate about teaching animation for over 13 years, Andrew began teaching at the Academy of Art, where he taught all levels of the animation program there. He has taught animation intensives throughout the world. Andrew has been also actively involved in The Pixar Animation Internship, helping lead it for for 2007, 2009 and 2010. Andrew is a contributing lecturer at Animation Mentor. He is a frequent guest artist at CSU Summer Arts Program. He is one of the founders of Spline Doctors, a blog/podcast dedicated to animation education. He helped develop and teach at the California College of Art's new animation program. Andrew has recently co-founded a workshop called the Animation Collaborative, which brings some of the best teachers in the world together to teach animation, story and character design.
Ricky Nierva
Lead Production Designer, Pixar Animation Studios
SPECIAL GUEST INSTRUCTOR (NYC event exclusive!)
Ricky Nierva is a Production Designer at the critically acclaimed Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California. The youngest of five, Ricky grew up in San Diego, California and attended the California Institute of the Arts. He credits his visual style to close mentor and famed Warner Brothers and Disney designer, the late Maurice Noble. Ricky has worked with talented artists at Turner Feature Animation, Warner Brothers, Baer Animation, and Hanna Barbera.
A veteran Pixar artist since 1997, Ricky has worked on Toy Story 2 and was the lead character designer on the beloved film Monsters Inc. He was awarded an Annie Award for his character work on Finding Nemo, and was the Production Designer for Pixar's 2009 Academy Award winning film Up. He lives with his family in the San Francisco Bay Area and enjoys playing the ukulele, eating ice cream, and participating in triathlons -- not particularly in that order. He is currently the Production Designer on Pixar's upcoming 2013 release Monsters University.
Ricky is an incredibly busy person, so his appearance in New York is much appreciated, and presents a rare opportunity that's not to be missed!
> view a video of Ricky talking about Monsters, Inc.
> view Ricky's IMDB profile
What others are saying...
Click to view this video and hear from previous masterclass attendees:
"It was an awesome, awesome event. I loved it. I got a lot more out of it then what I expected. Thank you to everyone involved, especially the instructors!"
"The only way I could describe the masterclass would be energizing. I couldn’t wait to get animating again!"
"Shows, presentations and gatherings like this are gold to us working professionals. They are rare and there is a sincere need for us to congregate and learn. Make them available and people will come to learn and network..."
"Thanks so much to you guys for coming out here. It was a fantastic couple of days and I learnt so much!"
"This class was the best thing I could have done for myself as an artist/animator. It was both inspirational, and extremely valuable. I can't wait to go again!"
"Great class! I was very inspired and also exhausted by the end of the 2 days. :)"
"It was an awesome opportunity to meet Pixar artist and learn their works, and minds. Thank you for this great opportunity!"
"I was really impressed and loved it. I am so inspired and hopeful now. The information has helped me to assess my skills and help me to move in the right direction."
"I thought both Andrew and Matthew were excellent speakers/teachers, and answered all questions clearly. I was very impressed with their abilities to reach out to the audience, and make everything clearly understood."
"I'll never look at my work the same again. That's a good thing."
"Thanks again for a great masterclass. Both days perfectly complimented each other."
"The Masterclass was amazing!"
Registration
$649.00 Tuition Fee ($US, no taxes)
INCLUDES:
- 3 full days of instruction
- workbook with notes prepared by the instructors
- custom class t-shirt
- refreshments during morning & afternoon coffee breaks
- draws for prizes & giveaways!
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Class T-Shirt |
Class size is limited and strong interest expected. To avoid disappointment, please register early (these classes often sell out weeks in advance). See below for the event Terms and Cancellation Policy.
REGISTER HERE
Register now using a credit card. Instant, secure online registration and payment powered by EventSpot® and PayPal®. Thanks and see you in NYC!
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Terms & Conditions
Please read these before registering.
CANCELLATION POLICY
Cancellations for a full refund will be accepted up to 3 weeks before the event. Anytime after that date, a $100 cancellation fee will apply. Last day to cancel is the day before the event. Transfers (to a substitute attendee) can be accepted anytime and with no fee, provided they are first approved by VanArts. Transfers are the responsibility of the original registrant to arrange. Refund and transfer requests must be made via e-mail to: masterclasses@vanarts.com, and require confirmation of the original registrant's identity.
FEES & TAXES
There are NO ticketing fees, service charges, or taxes. However, for non-Canadians, a "foreign transaction fee" of 1-3% MIGHT be applied by your credit card issuer (this fee, if any, is beyond VanArts' control and is the purchaser's responsibility, including for cancel/refund and discount transactions).
CHANGES
The event organizer, VanArts, reserves the right to cancel or postpone this event with reasonable discretion and for any reason (inclement weather, low enrolment, instructor illness, or any other unforeseen circumstances). In the case of cancellation by us, registration fees will be refunded in full. If the event is postponed, registrants will have the option to either receive a full refund, or, transfer their registration to the rescheduled event. In all cases, we shall have no further liability beyond the registration fee, and regret that any transportation and hotel costs, cancellation penalties, or any other costs incurred by registrants are not reimbursable. In the event of any unforeseen last-minute scheduling problems, we reserve the right to substitute an equivalent, qualified instructor who might not be listed in the course description.
AGE RESTRICTIONS
This class is open to anyone, however minors under the age of 15 must be accompanied by an adult. The suggested minimum age to attend is 16. Please, this is not a beginner's class.
MISC.
For taking notes, pen & paper are recommended. Laptop/tablet computers are permitted, but please no recording with these. PLEASE, NO AUDIO OR VIDEO RECORDING OF THE CLASS MATERIAL OF ANY KIND IS PERMITTED. Out of respect for fellow attendees and the instructors, we ask that attendees please refrain from live tweeting, texting, cell phone calls, etc. during the class, and simply wait for a break to do so.
Some images above are copyright © 1986-2013 Pixar Animation Studios, all rights reserved.
QUESTIONS?
Please contact VanArts at: masterclasses@vanarts.com
Spread the news!
Use the links below for Twitter, Facebook and more to help spread word of this event to your friends and colleagues. Stops on this 2013 tour include Melbourne and Sydney in Australia, Auckland in New Zealand, and New York City and San Diego in the USA. Thank you!
VanArts visits Mexico City
March 25th, 2013VanArts recently had an action-packed and successful week at Tecnologio de Monterey University in Mexico City, from March 11-16. Our School President Alan Phillips, Head of Animation Wayne Gilbert, and Director of Admissions Janet Cacchioni participated in their special Creativa! event as a special exhibitor.
Wayne Gilbert presented lectures on animation, and Andrew Gordon & Matthew Luhn of Pixar Animation Studios presented a 2-day masterclass on animation & story, an event which VanArts hosts in cities all over the world each year.
Well over 200 students attended these sold-out events, and VanArts was very glad to be a part of it!
Happy 80th Birthday to Richard Williams!
March 19th, 2013VanArts wishes to extend a very Happy 80th Birthday to our good friend Richard Williams, triple-Oscar winner and animation legend!
Richard Williams directed the animation on Who Framed Roger Rabbit and wrote the popular textbook The Animator's Survival Kit. He visited VanArts back in 2008, seen here with some of our animation students.
Animation Grads working in Quebec
February 26th, 2013Recent 2D Character Animation graduates Allessandro Adamo, from Italy, and Esther Park, from New Brunswick, have just started working at a new studio in Sherbrooke, Quebec called Kaffeine Animation. They are working together on Season 2 of the show Walter and Tandoori, using Toon Boom Harmony, the software they learned at VanArts.
Says Esther of her experience at VanArts, "I first came to VanArts for the 2007 1-month summer intensive, and later returned for the full-time diploma program. I made lots of friends, learned a lot about animation from awesome teachers, improved my knowledge of this art form and industry. It was a great experience and I have no regrets!"
Says Allessandro of his experience at VanArts, "As Vancouver is one of the best cities for quality of life, I searched for a school that deeply focused on character animation and found VanArts. I chose them not only because they focus on animation, but also the background experience of the instructors. They had worked on cartoons I watched from my childhood, so it was like a full circle! My experience there was AMAZING...no matter what level we were at, we were pushed to give our best, learn the rules before breaking them, and to be artistically creative. The best part is that now my teachers have become my friends, who help me when I need it."
Congratulations to you both on your new animation careers!
Bob Godfrey (1921 - 2013)
February 22nd, 2013
Animation Legend Bob Godfrey, one of our founding advisory board members and a good friend of VanArts, has just passed away at the age of 91. Our staff & faculty wishes to express sincere condolences to his family.
Starting in 1997, Bob visited VanArts every summer as a guest instructor, working alongside our founding program director Lee Mishkin and other guests Bill Matthews, Bonita Versh and Ken Southworth. For 10 years following, he taught students in our full-time program and summer intensive programs for classical 2D animation.
Born in 1921, Bob Godfrey was one of the most well-renowned animation figures in the UK and around the world, having animated short films and commercials for over 50 years. He inspired countless animators including Richard Williams and Nick Park, and helped many animators break into the business. His films have won several awards including an Oscar in 1975 for his animated film Great, and his success garnered him the Member of the British Empire medal in 1986. He was dedicated to sharing his animation knowledge with hundreds of eager students at the Royal College of Art and many other schools, including VanArts. He will be greatly missed by all of us.
In tribute to Bob, here is a look at a CBC news story which broadcast in 1997 featuring him teaching in our summer program alongside Lee Mishkin.
The following note was also sent to us by Bonita Versh, another founding advisory board member and dear friend of Bob Godfrey:
To all my friends, students, teachers, comrades-in-arms at Vanarts- past, present and future, don't ever forget our elders! Goodbye to Bob Godfrey, one of our favorite all time people, and one of the Godfathers of Vanarts along with Lee Mishkin, the original Program Director there. Lee would take Bob and me out to eat salmon, drink, discuss animation, the school, the kids, and the goings on in the world of animation in Vancouver, Los Angeles and Great Britain, including Europe, where Bob traveled yearly to attend almost every animation festival invented. Well known for his bigger than life personality, great storytelling skills, funny Academy-Award-winning short films,and his brilliant, economical, quirky animation style, Bob will never be forgotten. Thanks to Alan Phillips and VanArts, special lectures hosted by Charles Phillips, Ken Priebe and myself, we've documented Bob's best stories and animation insights. One of our elders is gone, a great man and mentor. I lift my glass to you! We remember you, dear Bob Godfrey!
Love to all, Bonita
Career Profile: Animation Grad at Nerd Corps Entertainment
February 4th, 2013
3D Animation graduate Lauson Morrow has just completed his third year working at Nerd Corps Entertainment and has now moved up to Senior Animator. Lauson was hired soon after graduation from VanArts, and has since worked on shows such as Hot Wheels Battle Force 5, League of Super Evil, Slugterra, and currently on Max Steel.
Of his experience, Lauson shares with us, "Working in the animation industry is fun and lots of hard work, always on a deadline, but when you are doing something you love its always good. What's important to keep in mind is to show off your work, always try and get a second pair of eyes on it, and that learning from others is the best way to improve yourself.
Back in VanArts' animation program, some of the best things that put me in the right direction was learning to work with the other students, figuring out the programs and animation skills from their great teachers.
Always keep a clear head, and know that you can always learn from any critisim you receive. It's all knowlage to learn and get better from."
Animation Grads work on More Films for Scholastic/Weston Woods
January 31st, 2013
Since 2006, VanArts animation graduates have been contributing to a number of short films for Scholastic/Weston Woods under the direction of fellow VanArts animation grad Galen Fott, founder and director of BigFott Studios in Nashville, TN.
The latest addition to BigFott's filmography is I'm Fast! based on the childrens' book of the same name by Kate & Jim McMullan. The new film features the voice of award-winning actor Stanley Tucci, and features animation by VanArts' own Galen Fott, Kevin Yowell, Ken Priebe and Micah Baker. These animators have contributed to many other short films for BigFott over the years, since Galen founded his studio soon after graduation from VanArts.
Another new BigFott release for Scholastic/Weston Woods is Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend, based on the childrens' book by Melanie Watt. Adapted & directed by Galen Fott with character animation by VanArts instructor & communications director Ken Priebe, this film was deemed a "2013 Notable Children's Video" by the American Library Assocation.
Visit the official pages for I'm Fast! and Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend at the BigFott Studios website, including trailers, links for the production artists and ordering the films on DVD: bigfott.com/animated_films
Part-Time Courses 2013
January 8th, 2013Happy New Year from VanArts! If your New Year's Resolution for 2013 is to learn some new skills or explore the arts, VanArts presents its annual part-time courses throughout the year which typically meet once a week in evenings or weekends.
For a list of courses, click on any of the following links by category:
Click on any course to learn dates, times and costs. We hope to welcome you into our part-time courses in 2013!
Questions? Contact us at 604-682-2787 x104
VanArts' Food Drive Morning Show
December 18th, 2012Last week VanArts hosted our special Food Drive Morning Show to celebrate the Christmas season, collect food for the needy, and with the help of our Broadcasting Department, provided a fun way for staff & students in all departments to mingle and connect.
Enjoy our Inside VanArts video highlights below and thanks to all who pulled together to make this fun event happen!
