Animation Mentor Rocks!!!

Hi everyone, My name is Paul Sewell and this blog is going to be used to document my experiences as a character animation student at www.animationmentor.com. Hands down the best animation school on earth. No other school even comes close!

I graduated from The Art Institute of Phoenix with honors in July of 2006 with a B.A. in Media arts and Animation. Shortly after graduation I went to the 2006 SIGGRAPH convention in Boston, Ma. It was there that I really started to notice the Animation Mentor program and the great education that it offered. After returning from Boston and realizing how much I still needed to learn, I enrolled in the winter 2007 quarter of animation mentor. Boy was I in for a delightful surprise!

My first Mentor was Kevin Koch who has made a name for himself working as an animator on such Hits as Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Shrek 2, Madagascar and Over the Hedge. Man alive what a great teacher. I literally learned more about the art of animation in the short 11 week quarter with him then in my entire time in college. It was amazing!!!

The following quarter I had Keith Sintay for my mentor. What an amazing guy!!! Keith has worked as an animator on Hunchback, Mulan, and Tarzan at Disney Feature; and Spirit, Sinbad and Sharktale at Dreamworks. He has most recently finished work as a Sr. Animator on Open Season, Monster House and Surf's Up at Sony Imageworks. Currently he is working on the hyper-real CG movie Beowulf.

This quarter was when I really started to feel that I was coming into my own. Keith and I have such a similar way of animating and he really helped me to better understand my style of animation. I learned so much from him!

This Quarter I start "Introduction to Acting" with Don Kim as my mentor. Man I can't wait!!! This is really when we get to start rolling up our sleeves and showing what we're made of. Because of Animation Mentor I have a confidence in my skills as an animator that I never had while I was in college. I absolutely can't wait to get out into the animation industry and bring the joy of my art to millions all while learning everything that I can from the amazing people that I will work with.