Our Pixar Artists Masterclass last Friday & Saturday, September 24th-25th, was a big hit with the completely sold out crowd of over 200 animators, students and enthusiasts who came out from all over the world to attend.

Held in the Fletcher Challenge Theatre at Simon Fraser University's Harbour Centre campus in downtown Vancouver, Friday consisted of a full day lecture on animation by Pixar Animator Andrew Gordon.

Saturday was a full day on story by Pixar Story Artist Matthew Luhn.  Between the two of them, Andrew and Matthew had much to share, having contributed to every one of the studio's 10 feature films.

Each student in the masterclass received a special workbook and t-shirt created just for the event, along with a VanArts pen, umbrella and handbag.  A few lucky participants also got to take home Pixar books, posters and gift items as door prizes!

After the masterclass wrapped up Saturday evening, all attendees were invited over to the VanArts campus just a few blocks away, for a mixer reception in our top floor photography studio, overlooking the Vancouver skyline.  Tours were offered of the rest of the school, and the Pixar speakers spent some extra time signing autographs and connecting with the crowd.

Watch for more photos and videos from this event coming soon, and if you are keen on joining us for our next masterclass...click here to receive e-mail alerts

VanArts was proud to lend its support to the Spark Animation Festival & Conference hosted by our local Vancouver ACM SIGGRAPH Chapter from September 8th-12th at the Vancouver International Film Center.  This was the third annual animation festival for the chapter, and brought in a variety of guest speakers and representatives from Pixar, Disney, Dreamworks and other esteemed members of the animation community.  While they were in town, VanArts was grateful and privileged to have visits to our campus by some of these industry guests.

At the event, VanArts sponsored the Animation in Vancouver panel, moderated by our VP of Faculty & Business Development Larry Bafia, who is also chair of the Spark Festival.  Discussing the animation scene in Vancouver, from the vantage point of the smaller independent studio, was Ian Kirby (Founder & President, Sequence), Jesse Davidge (Director/Producer, Blatant Studios), Chris Browne (Creative Director, Digital Alchemy Entertainment & former VanArts student), and Aly Jetha (co-founder, Big Bad Boo Studios).   The team talked about the rewards and challenges of running an animation studio and all had great things to say about our local industry.

At the VanArts booth in the theater lobby, Communications Director & Stop-Motion Instructor Ken Priebe was present to share information about our programs, network with attendees and sign copies of his published books on stop-motion animation. 

Many of our working graduates attended the event as well, so stay tuned for an upcoming blog post highlighting some of their comments.  A big thanks to all who were involved with Spark Animation!  Looking forward now to the SIGGRAPH Conference coming to Vancouver in 2011!

(Photos by Tony Tsai)

Recent 3D Character Animation graduate Emily Eslinger got the opportunity to interview Disney animator/director Eric Goldberg for her animation history project during her studies at VanArts.  Eric Goldberg is one of the most prolific names in the animation industry, and the interview was conducted over the phone from Vancouver to Goldberg's office at Walt Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, California. 

Eric was very generous with his time and the entire student body was fortunate to have him available to answer questions on behalf of the class. It was a great interview to listen to, and a big thanks to Eric for his time!

Eric Goldberg at Wikipedia