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2 Toon Boom News SUMMER 2013

Printed in Canada

Toon Boom Animation Inc.4200 St.Laurent Blvd, Suite 1020Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2W 2R2+1 514 278 8666

toonboom.com

This issue’s cover courtesy of Studio Bozzetto & Co

A Corus® Entertainment Inc. Company

In France, Toon Boom has partnered with Canopea Formation, which delivers customized training to freelancers, as well as full-time employees, in the field of audiovisual production and animation. Led by Matthieu Sarrazin, this new training centre builds upon its strong

ties with leading local players and provides a perfect learning environment to all professionals looking for self-development.

Teaching 21st century skills using Toon Boom’s offerings continues to reap amazing results in primary and secondary schools. Both South Junior High in Anaheim, California and Aniguru Animation Limited in India have garnered impressive results. In September 2011, eighth graders at South Junior High had the opportunity to attend a special class called Exploring Digital Animation. Ninety percent of the students have a Hispanic/Latino background, and their retention and interest in this class grew beyond expectations. Over 120 students signed up for the 38-student capacity class. Meanwhile, Aniguru in India, has signed up over 45,000 students to their program, and amassed more than 130,000 student projects from various schools throughout India. They expect to move beyond 500,000 projects in the upcoming academic year alone.

From Teaching 21st Century Skills to Training for Jobs in a Growing Industry

On April 23, 2013, Toon Boom welcomed Columbus College of Art & Design (CCAD) as the first Toon Boom Centre of Excellence in the United States. “Being a Centre of Excellence provides CCAD students with the opportunity to test and use the latest versions to this industry leading software and maximize their value among animation employers,” said Dennison Griffith, president of CCAD. “Employment opportunities in this field are growing significantly with the use of animation not just in the entertainment industry, but in the development of apps, software and gaming technology.”

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3Toon Boom News SUMMER 2013

Proud recipient of:

Emmy-Award Technology

In its ongoing initiatives to develop the Caribbean as the next animation hub, Toon Boom is closely involved with the Kingstoon Conference held in Kingston, Jamaica on June 20 and 21, and funded by the World Bank. Toon Boom is facilitating the participation of prestigious guest speakers proud to share their knowledge and experience with local entrepreneurs. In parallel, Toon Boom has forayed into Japan with two emerging animation studios, HeARTBIT Digital Creation and Office Pri-On. Both have signed a memorandum of understanding to use the Toon Boom pipeline in their upcoming Manga projects.

HOW TO INCREASE PRE-PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY BY UP TO 25%

Get a copy of Toon Boom’s latest white paper on pre-production. This insightful document provides an overview of the different pre-production pipelines for creating storyboards, and how you can increase efficiency by incorporating Toon Boom Storyboard Pro for animatics creation. Go to toonboom.com/white-papers to get your copy!

Toon Boom takes great pride in meeting customers and building relationships—its calendar of upcoming industry events will certainly deliver on that front, with MIFA, Booth 2.007 in Annecy, France (June 10–15); International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), Booth 6293 in San Antonio, Texas (June 20–23); Cartoon Digital, Munich, Germany (June 25–27) and SIGGRAPH, Booth 131 in Anaheim, California (July 23–25). In addition, Joan Vogelesang has been invited as a guest speaker at eLearning Africa in Windhoek, Namibia (May 29–31) and the Children Media Conference in Sheffield, UK (July 3–5). Road trips and trade missions will also take the team to Romania, Russia, South Korea, Japan, Philippines, Thailand, and Brunei. We hope to see you along the way!

AWARDS

Boom Goggles Premium, the Android app developed with the leading online kids channel Toon Goggles, has been recommended by the Parents' Choice Foundation. Established in 1978, Parents’ Choice Foundation is the oldest U.S. nonprofit consumer guide to quality children’s media. As a Parents’ Choice Award® winner, Boom Goggles is a member of a very select group. Fewer than 20% of the products submitted to the Parents’ Choice Awards program receive any commendation.

In addition, Flip Boom All-Star is a Trendsetter Finalist in the 2013 EdTech Digest Awards Recognition Program. It is promoted as Best Animation Software for Classroom Use. The distinguished awards program recognizes outstanding solutions—and the best and brightest minds—in education and technology.

contest. There is a lot to like about Toon Boom’s flagship software and it’s time you admitted it!

Participants need to record a video of them, video blog style, telling Toon Boom one specific aspect that they like about Harmony.

Toon Boom will recognize and reward these categories: Our Favorite Entry, Most Original Submission, and Viewer's Choice. All winners will be rewarded with a permanent license of the Toon Boom Animation software of their choice. More info: contests.toonboom.com

Toon Boom is launching a "What I like about Harmony"


FEATURED TALENT

This section is dedicated to Toon Boom employees. In each issue, we will introduce you to the people behind the technology and put a face to the voice you may have spoken to.

François Grossin is a master of versatility. With training in IT, television, and pure sciences, he is often called upon to engage both his left and right brain to perform his job. François is part of Toon Boom Support, where he assists customers using all products around the world. He takes great pride in resolving customer issues whether they’re related to installation, hardware compatibility, software usage, or animation creation techniques. François has been working at Toon Boom since 2007, but he is actually a return employee. After working for Softimage during the Jurassic Park days, he joined Toon Boom in 1997 and closely worked with Francisco Del Cueto, Toon Boom’s chief technology officer, providing technical support to corporate accounts, as well as acting as product manager for Toon Boom Studio. Between 2004 and 2007, François worked for a couple start-up companies in the field of jingle radio production and ambiance design. François has led several employee outings that reinforce team building and competitiveness, including go-karting, skydiving, paint ball, and curling! On the personal side, François recently married Stephanie, the mother of two kids, ages 11 and 13. François’ son is 19 and already working as a chef. His hobbies include video making with special effects, PC gaming, Java programming, as well European and French history. He also avidly follows technology trends, determining how they can improve communication and positively impact our lives.

Chloe Perrin is not your regular kid on the block. Not only does she love watching cartoons, she prefers to create them. Growing up in Mount Hope, Ontario, this talented young lady already draws a lot of attention at school and online. With over 600 followers and 70,000 views on her YouTube channel, she receives a lot of fan mail from other young aspiring animators who reach out to her for advice.

Chloe loves to spend her free time animating. On Christmas 2012, she received Toon Boom Studio as a gift. “I started exploring different animation techniques. I am a self-learner and work on a new animation daily,” shared Chloe.

“I really enjoy using Studio’s drawing tools and camera effects. It’s easy to work with and lets me see the next frame and check if my animation is smooth. I can actually put my animation together while I’m making it,” she added.

Chloe uses JoinMe to share her screen with her friends, and show them how she is creating animations. She is also looking for other ambitious young artists who can follow her style and contribute to her projects.

What does Chloe want to be when she grows up? You can easily guess her answer. Chloe wishes to become a

professional animator, and would love to work on TV shows and movies. So watch out, Chloe is a very determined and dedicated young artist who will surely make the headlines in the animation industry.

youtube.com/6yearoldfun

A 10-YEAR-OLD SHARES HER PASSION FOR ANIMATION

TOON BOOM STAR

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INDUSTRY TIPS


Contracts: The Bomb!By Deborah Gonzalez, Esq.

Some good reference articles:

http://www.cvtips.com/career-success/freelance-animation-jobs-contract-dos-and-donts.html

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/contracts-basics-33367.html

Imagine – someone sits across the desk from you and hands you a sheet of paper – the paper seems to grow longer and longer – as you strive to reach the end – and then your eyes bulge and steam releases through your ears as you realize – there is no end! This is probably the image most animators have in their minds when they think of contracts – those pesky documents that legally bind two parties together. What do they mean, do they have to be so long, why do we even need them?

The short answer is that the contract outlines expectations and commitments both parties make to each other to ensure a smooth and profitable relationship. It is necessary because it ensures everyone is on the same page. Below are some misconceptions about contracts to keep in mind.

1. All contracts are written. They should be, but you have heard of “oral contracts.” Oral contracts are difficult to prove and as one of my colleagues stated, “Not worth the paper they are not written on.” Written, signed, and preserved are the best contracts for enforcing your rights.

2. All contracts are long. Not necessarily so. Contracts MUST meet certain requirements and contain certain terms so there is no vagueness as to what each

party must do. But a contract can be a simple one-page letter or a 90-page treatise. One of these requirements is what lawyers call “consideration”. Each party agrees to give something or forego something of value to the other party.

3. All contracts are valid. Contracts are only valid if they are for a legal purpose. So you can’t sign a freelance contract to create a character to defame (falsely make a statement) someone in public media. Contracting to create a character to parody a social situation is different and would be protected under Freedom of Speech.

4. All contracts are “as is.” The first contract should be looked at as an invitation for discussion or what we call “negotiation.” Read the entire contract, seek legal review, and if something stands out to you or you feel something is missing, start to negotiate. The worse that can happen is you actually get what you want, so make sure you want it. Also keep in mind that you have the most leverage BEFORE you sign. So don’t sign until you are absolutely ready.

Contracts preserve working relationships and friendships in the industry. Trust me, they do eventually end – that’s where you sign.

Deborah Gonzalez, Esq. is an attorney focusing on intel-lectual property in the art, music, and entertainment industries. She especially enjoys her animation clients and their projects. Deborah speaks at various conferenc-es and festivals to help educate artists about their rights. To learn more about her practice and for more resources for artists check out her website at www.dgonzalezesq.com. Information provided in this article is for general education purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.

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Those of us who write both songs and scripts know how well they can work in combination. Songs can enhance many aspects of a script. Action can be heightened by a fast-paced, descriptive, up tempo song. Time progression and growth can be shown through song during a montage. Characters can be fleshed out and given a more expressive voice through the songs they sing. Plot elements can be tied together and special, emotional story moments can be emphasized through song.

In scripts for animation where the visual component is so important, songs can be invaluable. During many scenes, songs can take the place of dialogue and offer succinct descriptions that enhance the visual impact. Settings can be given more colour and texture through song.

Scripts for preschool age children benefit greatly when songs are introduced. The simple language, repetition, and rhythm of a song can excite and engage young children. When songs are woven into a script, the story often becomes more accessible and immediate for youngsters. In scripts for older children, songs can add humour and momentum.

Does the marriage between song and script always work? As you probably guessed, the answer is “No.” Writers need to consider a number of factors. It goes without saying that both your script and songs should be edited by people that you trust in order to ensure the quality.

In my opinion, songs should be an enhancement to scripts, but not the focal point. Songs should blend with story. Some of the songs that are introduced can stand alone, but most songs should tie in closely with the plot. Songs also need to be in-sync with the story. For example,

you would not want to introduce a quirky, jazzy song during a contemplative moment. Songs and scripts must be in-tune in order to achieve the best marriage.

In most short, 11-minute scripts only song excerpts should be included. If songs are too long they can overpower the story. It’s usually best for songs to be up-tempo (preferably) or mid-tempo. Anything slower will weigh down the story. If the script is a musical, the songs will have equal billing with script, and probably just as much screen time.

In 22-minute scripts the songs can be full length, but time limited (not more than two and a half to three minutes). Up-tempo songs are still preferable, but slower paced songs can be included, depending on the mood the writer wants to convey.

In feature screenplays, songs can be longer and tempos can vary. There’s plenty of time. However, for the sake of holding the viewers interest, I don’t recommend including songs that are longer than three minutes.

As you can see, scripts and songs can blend beautifully when writers consider the factors that help them work in harmony.

Scripts and Songs for Animation – Making Them Work Together By Donna Lisa

INDUSTRY TIPS

Donna Lisa's scripts and songs have been honored by iParenting , NAPPA, and other media organizations. Her screenplay, Kheng Kheng Crocodile, is under Agreement with Flat Rock Pictures. Donna’s series, Bat Cat And Bitsy, will be produced by Engine 15 Media. Donna has been working with producer, Bonita Siegel, on her series, Toucan You Can! Her CD (same title) received twenty international awards. Donna is A&R Coordinator and a contributing songwriter on Playful Journeys.

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ApprovalsBy Mark Simon

The speed of client approval can make all the difference between making and losing money on a project, and having fun or beating your head with a hammer.

Does this sound familiar? You get approvals from a client on your storyboards. Then you deliver the first pass of key animation and they come back with a ton of notes which makes you almost start over. “It’s not what we expected,” they say. “Crap,” you mumble.

That client note is now virtually extinct because of Storyboard Pro.

Because we now draw storyboards digitally and directly onto a timeline in Storyboard Pro, clients are giving approvals on not only storyboards but also on animatics, which closely resemble the final product.

Now clients see the exact timing of an animation. They see layer moves and camera moves. They can hear the audio with the images. With very little extra work, we can now provide better pre-viz than we ever did with paper storyboards.

Any changes a client is likely to ask for are done in the storyboard stage. Changing elements on a board is fast and easy. And now the animatic is updated instantly.

When we move into animation, the clients get exactly what they expect, only better.

And as a producer, I know that as long as our workflow stays within Toon Boom software, every camera move and shot timing is retained when we export from Storyboard Pro to Animate or Harmony.

I recently created a new wolf character for the Golf Channel. Once the clients signed off on our animatics, we had no revisions to our animation because they are getting exactly what they expected. We get faster approvals, less revision work and a happier client.

Have I told you lately how much I love this software?Mark is currently animation producer on Universal’s

Little Rascals. He’s written 10 industry books and owns Animatics & Storyboards, Inc., A&S Animation, Inc. and www.SellYourTvConceptNow.com.

Figure 01. Wolf for The Morning Drive on the Golf Channel. Animated by Mark Simon, A&S Animation, Inc.

Mark Simon is a director, producer, board artist and artist advocate. He’s worked on over 3,000 productions and works with TV show creators on packaging and pitching their concepts.

Go to www.Storyboards-East.com and www.SellYourTvConceptNow.com.

From john dohe @midnightpooper"You cats really should make software to compete with sketchbook, photoshop, and manga studio. You obviously care about ur products. At times it can feel inconvenient when other programs lack certain tool sets that you've spoiled me with. Keep it up :)"

From SketchCrowd @SketchCrowd"big bang on toon boom / crash smash and splish splash whack flash / sounds of cre-ation"

From Jim Forystek @JimForystek1"You are VERY CREATIVE and have AWE-SOME stuff!"

From Heather @IcePhoenix202"Guess what? I'll be getting ToonBoom tomorrow night!!!! Wippy!"

From Dave Crathorne @Writehere1"Just ordered ToonBoom Studio licences for our pupils, can't wait to get started!!"

From OneRiver Media @OneRiverMedia"We love using ToonBoom for our project pre-production!"

From Javier Manriquez @Javithedrugy"I just got toon boom studio, i love it!"

From Isaac Garcia @Vichugisa"you guys rock!! :]"

From Ben Mitchell @benlmitchell"I know I've said this many a time before, but MOTHER OF GOD I LOVE @ToonBoom"

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CASE STUDY: STUDIO BOZZETTO

Founded in the 1960s by Bruno Bozzetto, Studio Bozzetto & Co is located in beautiful Milan. This dynamic studio has become a leading player in Italy, producing animation content, be it for feature films, shorts, television series, corporate communications or commercials. Their client roster includes Disney Channel, RAI, Mediaset, Konica Minolta, Ferrari, Campari, Wind, Tudor, Bayer as well as many other TV channels and international companies. Their expertise covers different animation techniques, ranging from classical and vector-based 2D to cut-out animation and 3D animation.

During his career as a film director, Bruno made three animated feature films, namely West & Soda, Vip my brother superman and Allegro non troppo in addition to a countless number of animated shorts which earned him several prestigious awards such as the Golden Bear at the Berlin Festival in 1990 for the short Mr Tao, and the Oscar Nomination in 1991 for the short Grasshoppers. Today, Studio Bozzetto, which alongside Bruno has welcome two new associates, Andrea Bozzetto and Pietro Pinetti, and aims at applying high-tech to the well-established tradition of classic animation, using the Toon Boom pipeline.

Some of their recent projects include Bruno The Great, a 2D twenty-six two minute television series produced by Disney Channel UK, the 3D commercial for Nutella and an international communication project for Konica Minolta.

Studio Bozzetto takes great pride in the quality of their in-house talent. They have brought together some of the

best Italian artists, including Sara Corronca, Elena Toselli, Francesca Ballarin, Nadia Ghisoni, who are in charge of production management. The creative team is comprised of Corrado Colleoni, Marco Ghion, Fabio Bozzetto, Luca Maggi and Valentina Valentini. Andrea Trovato, Pedro Puggioni, Alessandro Anzola, Matteo Bigatti, Anthony Mancuso and Enrico Valenza are part of the 3D team while Cecilia Bonini and Barbara Ceccato take care of

texturing. Storyboard artists and assistants include Branko Rakic and Davide Veca. Finally, the 2D/3D animators are represented by Fabio Donadoni, Laura Campanella and Giovanni Ariutti.

The team is currently working on Tip The Mouse, a major 3D co-production project with March Entertainment (Canada), M4e/Telescreen (The Netherlands and Germany), in addition to Italian partners, Giunti Editore, Studio Campedelli and RAI. Targeted to preschoolers, this fifty-two episode seven minute series will go on air in September 2014.

MAXIMIZING THE TOON BOOM PIPELINE FOR 3D AND 2D PROJECTS

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For this project, Studio Bozzetto is in charge of directing, storyboarding and generating the animatics for fifty-two scripts, along with the character design, the background design, the 3D modelling, texturing, 3D layout, final editing and sound design.

“The pre-production phase is critically important and considering the nature and structure of this project, we decided to use Toon Boom Storyboard Pro 3D to create the boards and animatics. We have been using Storyboard Pro since its first version,” stated Pietro Pinetti.

“Thanks to Storyboard Pro, the storyboard artists worked completely paperless using Wacom Cintiq 24” HD tablets. Relying on this set-up, we managed to significantly speed up the revision and correction process. The convenience of working digitally with Storyboard Pro enabled the artists to apply shadows and use textured brushes as if they were working in Photoshop. By doing so, we avoided having to jump into Photoshop for coloring purposes and delivered a very visually appealing storyboard,” he explained.

“Following a first round of work on the rough story, the team quickly generated an animatic to give the director the opportunity to check if the flow was right. If revisions were needed, they could be done on the fly within the software enabling the artists to go straight into clean-up. Even during this phase, we performed this task the best way possible and in record time,” Pietro added.

Prior to starting the storyboard creation, they received the sound track which served as a guide in the animatic. Then, exporting the project as an EDL file into Premiere, the team was able to gather all the video and audio cuts

and quickly complete the final editing of the animatic.In parallel, an AAF file was sent to the audio department

for them to integrate the musical pieces, facilitating the compositor’s work who already had all the dialogue tracks.

Creating Tip The Mouse completely in 3D, all the models as well as interior and exterior backgrounds were exported as OBJ and imported into Storyboard Pro 3D. Therefore, the storyboard artists were able to design the characters in relation to the final set up and set the camera motion in the right angle.

“This process allowed us to significantly speed up the storyboarding stage while working in parallel on the 3D production. Having all the 3D elements in place in the animatic resulted in a faster turnaround to create the 3D layouts, refining the process even further,” aknowledged Pietro.

“This has become our way of operating for the creation of storyboards and animatics for all our 3D series projects similar to Tip the Mouse,” he concluded.

Studio Bozzetto uses the entire Toon Boom pipeline to deliver all of its projects.”In the past recent years, we

have completed several projects for international companies who call upon our expertise to create training videos as well as internal communication projects. This field is of great interest to us as it enables us to develop our creativity for each and every customer, while giving us complete creative and management freedom,” explained Andrea Bozzetto.

Until the end of 2010, Studio Bozzetto was using Flash to create their animations. Then, they decided to use Toon Boom Animate Pro and in 2012, they


CASE STUDY: STUDIO BOZZETTO (CONTINUED)

moved to Toon Boom Harmony.“Compared to Flash, Harmony

facilitates a great internal collaboration on all projects within the studio. The ability to have a centralized and structured library enables us to manage projects’ assets among all animators in a much faster and more intuitive fashion. In relation to the visual style, Harmony allows us to experiment more and use various textured strokes,” he admitted.

“Another Harmony’s benefit versus Flash is the ability to work in a 3D space with a multiplane camera and multiple layers, as if we were working in AfterEffects,” Andrea added.

In these projects, the team always uses Storyboard Pro 3D and then imports the final storyboards directly into Harmony. Therefore, animators can already access all the required references in order to start creating the animation. “A feature of significant importance for us is the ability to export the audio files with the corrected cuts and keep all the clips separated for future 3D layout,” he explained.

“At the beginning, the transition from Flash to Harmony was a bit of a challenge due to the necessity of changing habits, however, we all quickly realized the potential and the benefits of changing software,” Andrea commented.

“We are totally satisfied with the new production pipeline, especially for our 2D projects. In serial projects such as the videos we created for Konica Minolta, we drew the characters directly into Harmony and then built simple rigs in multi-layer set-ups. By doing so, we managed to save a lot of time due to the availability of the assets in the library and their immediate access during the animation creation. In addition, using the Deform tool, we were able to easily fix some animations, avoiding the creation of new designs, which was a great time saver,” he added.

“Another strong point for Harmony is certainly the Network View, which is great for the node management of the entire project and to quickly get limitless possibilities either for the animations, the rendering or the special effects,” Andrea concluded.

Studio Bozzetto is growing and continuously improves its workflow to keep delivering quality projects efficiently, of which Storyboard Pro 3D and Harmony play a critical role. In addition to its current projects, the team is developing two new television series projects and is already working on the pre-production of an animated feature film project. Make sure to follow them on Facebook to keep updated with their wonderful line up of projects!

studiobozzetto.com


CarpeDiem partnered with 10ème Avenue to produce The Legend of Sarila, a high-quality CG feature film entirely made in Quebec. The Legend of Sarila hit the big screen in

Sun, surf, sand, Bob Marley and…Bolt. That’s what most people think about when the word Jamaica comes to mind. But in 2011, three bold entrepreneurs took the decision to start an animation production company, Reel Rock GSW and carve out a new reputation for Jamaica and the broader Caribbean; that of animation production hub. “None of us really came from an animation background. We were basically serial entrepreneurs having worked in and started ventures in Finance, IT and the Creative Industries,” says Executive Director Wayne Sinclair. “But (Toon Boom CEO) Joan Vogelesang came to Jamaica in January 2011 and introduced the industry to us.

carpediemfilmtv.com

ANIMATION STUDIOS

It was Joan’s passion and commitment to developing the Caribbean as an animation industry hub that got us hooked”. Since then, using the Toon Boom pipeline, including Harmony and Storyboard Pro, Reel Rock has rapidly established itself as a first rate production studio with a keen emphasis on quality production values at affordable rates. The studio has completed several successful tests for high profile production companies such as Bento Box and recently completed a successful production contract for Studio Red Frog of France for 11 episodes of Quiz de Zack. “The Red Frog contract was a major test for us,” notes Sinclair, “but being a Harmony studio themselves, we were able to create a seamless production workflow between ourselves and Red Frog even though we don’t speak a word of French!” The company is currently working with two of the Caribbean’s largest educational institutions, The University of the West Indies and the Caribbean Examinations Council as well as the Jamaica Intellectual property Office while continuing to bid on work with U.S. and European based studios with a major announcement expected soon. gswanimation.com

Quebec on March 1, 2013 and received rave reviews. Part of the storyboarding process was done using Toon Boom Storyboard Pro, the Primetime Emmy® Award recepient storyboarding software. "We mostly used Storyboard Pro for its drawing capabilities and the artists loved it!" shared François Vachon, Studio Director at CarpeDiem. Created in 2004, CarpeDiem is a media entertainment company, which focuses primarily on the family market. The skills and depth of experience of its founders, namely Marie-Claude Beauchamp, Paul Risacher and Normand Thauvette, allows CarpeDiem to go from live action productions to 2D / 3D / stereoscopic animation to productions blending live action and CGI for all formats: feature films, television series, mobisodes or web games.

Promoting Solar Lights Using AnimationFirdaus Kharas began creating content in

1995, founding Chocolate Moose Media, a hybrid social enterprise making for-profit television series, documentaries and not-for-profit media campaigns. To date Firdaus has created, directed and produced nearly 2,400 animated behavior change communications shorts in six series. The animations have been shown in more than 150 countries, adapted into over 90 languages, reaching more than a billion people in their own language.

Behaviour change through animation does work. Firdaus has done it before with campaigns for condoms

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(The Three Amigos), malaria prevention (Buzz & Bite) and domestic violence (No Excuses). His projects have received staunch international support from the United Nations, hundreds of NGOs and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

One of his most recent projects, titled the Solar Campaign, wants to persuade millions of people without access to electricity to switch from the slow poisoning of kerosene lamps to renewable, affordable solar lights. The problem is most people in the developing world have no idea about the solar alternative.

Firdaus’ goal is to produce and distribute a series of 15 public service announcements (PSA). They will be broadcast on television and radio, at public events as well as on all mobile platforms in 73 languages used in over 50 countries.

Yowza Animation has graciously produced the first 30-second PSA, using Toon Boom Harmony. The Toronto-based well-established animation studio known

for its excellent quality decided to make its contribution to this global humanitarian endeavor. Juggling between all of their ongoing projects, they made it a point of honor to bring Sunny and Stubborn to life, the two illuminating animated characters who use competitive humor to show why solar lights offer positive alternatives to traditional fuels.

“Following a tradigital workflow within Harmony, we drew directly into the system, then inked and painted and composited to deliver the animation in high definition, right on time for Firdaus’ presentation at Yale University in April 2013,” stated Pete Denomme, Executive Producer at Yowza.

“We are ready to pass on all the assets to the next studio who will produce the next PSA,” added Heather Walker, Head of Business Development at Yowza. “We were thrilled to get involved and put our expertise and animation standards using Harmony to great use,” she concluded.

ANIMATION STUDIOS

Facts about using harmful sources of energy:

The World Bank (WB) estimates that living in a home reliant for evening light on kerosene and other fuels, like candles and wood, is equal to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. Imagine what a billion homes are doing to people’s lungs and to the earth’s environment. Here’s some more information from the WB.

Over 2.5 billion people in the world have no or intermittent access to electricity.

The effects of using kerosene: • traditional fuels can cause death, mostly

from cardio-pulmonary disease; 50 percent of severe burn victims in some developing countries are victims of overturned kerosene lamps

• kerosene lamps give off 190 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere every year; that’s equal to operating 30 million vehicles

• the number of people living without electricity in Africa is expected to grow from 110 million to 120 million during the next decade

The benefits of switching:• kerosene can cost 10-25 percent of a

family’s income. A solar light is a one-time expense - or a time-payment model - of about eight percent of that income

• solar energy is free, renewable and clean• students can study 38 percent longer

with solar lights


GAMING Combining Technology with Social and Cultural Issues to Create a Better World

Toon Boom and Angelique Mannella crossed paths in May 2012 and haven't stopped since. Considering her unique technology and socially conscious profile, Angelique inspired us to feature her as a source of inspiration, as well as a demonstration of the power of the new generation.

The first project that connected Angelique to Toon Boom was Random Hacks of Kindness, a two-day games event she organized in Montreal in June 2012. The idea was to bring the games community together with the international development community to collaborate on how games can be used to increase awareness, drive action, and possibly solve important social challenges. In addition to Toon Boom, companies such as Nokia, Microsoft, Google, UNICEF Québec, and PlayMob were involved. In preparation for the event, Toon Boom offered a workshop on Toon Boom Storyboard Pro to the participants and made the software available for them to use during the event. Topics such as homelessness, street kids and hunger, as well as water issues served as causes to develop social games. “The event was a wonderful opportunity for participants to discover technologies, learn new techniques and demonstrate they could create a project in a very short time,” stated Angelique.

In parallel with the event, Angelique created her own company called Decode Global

in which she works with humanitarian technologists. Her fellowship program attracted five individuals coming from Finland, Ukraine, Brazil and the U.S. They arrived two days before Random Hacks of Kindness and stayed several months to work on Get Water!, an iPad/iPhone game her company developed as their first venture into the social mobile game world. Launched on World Water Day 2013, Get Water! has already won the Create UNAOC 2012 challenge, a global competition co-organized by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations in search of mobile apps and games that enable new avenues for intercultural dialogue.

This would not have been possible without the support of the TAG Centre at Concordia University and Hexagram-Concordia. “We selected water scarcity as a theme and developed several concepts to make a fun game out of it. We spent a lot of time prototyping and used Storyboard Pro throughout the process,” explained Angelique.

Different versions of the narrative were created, along with several iterations of the character designs for the personality of Maya, the main character. “It was a huge advantage for the game designers to use Storyboard Pro to draw directly in the system, set camera moves, create panning, and put sequences together,” she continued. “Our fellowship program enables participants to feel responsible and see the positive impact of their work. It served as a perfect launch pad for them while giving them a unique hands-on experience,” she concluded. Maya is a strong character that Angelique and her team are looking

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at expanding in complementary media in the coming months.

Working closely with Concordia University, Angelique embarked on a new partnership, adding Dawson College to the roster and offering a ten-week summer program. The program is called Critical Hit and it’s open to any Canadian willing to create a collaborative game motivated by contemporary social, cultural, and political concerns. Its mission is to foster open communication, collaboration, and creativity among the next generation of game designers while pushing the expressive potential of video games in contemporary society. Toon Boom will provide workshops on Storyboard Pro and Harmony right from the beginning to enable the summer campers to get familiar with these technologies and use them during camp.

In addition, Angelique acted as a consultant for infoDev, a global partnership program in the Financial and Private Sector Development Network of the World Bank Group, as well as for the Canadian International Development Agency. As such, she ran a business pitch competition to foster mobile and tech businesses in the Caribbean. This was the first event in a multi-year program for regional development in the Caribbean. Launched in November 2012, the pitchIT Caribbean competition was open to aspiring or beginning entrepreneurs in the mobile or web space. Angelique facilitated the mentoring, matchmaking, and coordination between Canadian seasoned professionals and the

Caribbean entrepreneurs participating in the competition. “Such initiatives promote economic empowerment in emerging economies and truly help entrepreneurs enter the mobile space,” commented Angelique. Considering Toon Boom’s extensive work in the Caribbean, Angelique called upon Joan Vogelesang to be part of the jury, tapping into her expertise. “We are fully dedicated to the region and were honoured to participate in the competition to help the Caribbean develop in new creative and stimulating technology projects,” shared Joan Vogelesang, president and chief executive officer at Toon Boom.

Dynamic, bright, and resourceful, Angelique Mannella is paving the way for the creation of a new breed of technologists who are committed to putting technology in service of society, in a constructive and sensitive fashion. One can only bow to that and join the cause.

decodeglobal.org


FREELANCERS

James Oliver has a history of working with learning technologies and game development, with a wide array of projects ranging from games like Cosmic Balance, animations like Book of the Dead to education projects like the Marsyard simulation. James combines Toon Boom

Harmony with Blender for rigging cut-out characters for games. “This allows you to use bone animation systems in game engines with your 2D characters, eliminating the need for sprite sheets in certain situations. Using a blend of rigging and sprite sheets can bring 2D characters to life in games,” James explained. As part of his favourite features in Harmony, James mentions the Pencil Tool which is a "dream"; the morphing capabilities which “is such a time saver for in-betweens!”; the Network view which “gives you control of all features in a highly visual way”; the resolution independence as well as the forums. “The fact that I don’t have a set workflow shows the flexibility of the software to achieve many different tasks in so many ways. I am always trying to push what I do creatively and Harmony normally lets me do this without thinking about the tools. If anyone ever takes the Harmony Pencil Tool away from me I would probably cry!” he added.

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Mike Milo is a two time Emmy® award-winning, six-time nominated animator, director, producer, and designer. He has worked for most of animation’s major studios including Cartoon Network, Disney, Nickelodeon, Titmouse, Warner Bros, Universal, Sony, Film Roman, and Hanna Barbera. In addition, he has had ten development deals and six pilots to date and hopes to add to that in 2013. Mike just finished up writing and drawing on Disney TV’s Phineas and Ferb, directing the new Disney XD show Randy Cunningham, 9th Grade Ninja at Titmouse and is currently storyboarding on The Fairly Odd Parents for Nickelodeon. Mike is also editor-in-chief of the very successful Animation Insider; a site devoted to interviewing animation artists across the globe.

Mike is a true fan of Toon Boom Storyboard Pro and uses it for all his side projects as well as pilots and infomercials he animates for clients. “I also use it to clean up and color most development work and design I do for clients because I prefer its vector engine to any other. I am even using it on a graphic novel I am working on,” stated

Mike. “Simple things like numbering a storyboard is now a breeze because the program does it for you. Revisions can be digitally tracked, making it easier to know what you’re working on and when. Other things like repagination when you delete a panel or adding dialog are a lot easier to do when using Storyboard Pro,” he concluded.

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Sinbad Richardson was born and raised in Québec City in a bilingual family and community. In 2007, he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Intermedia CyberArts. While at Concordia, his animations were screened at local festivals including Art Matters and Festival du Nouveau

Cinéma. Currently, Sinbad works as a graphic designer and continues to work on animation projects. In 2012, he decided to adopt Toon Boom Animate as his main animation tool to produce his short Jenny 5000, which he is promoting through social media and festival submissions. Compared to before, “it’s like night and day but most of all I think I'm more efficient because I went with a dedicated animation software like Animate instead of opting for a special effects software that “also” does 2D animation as I have done in the past. There were no workarounds needed because I could create the exact 2D animated short I had in my mind into a reality before my eyes. Compared to a real studio's pipeline with an animation team, I think mine was very basic and rudimentary but these time savers translate well for any level of production concerned with efficiency,” admitted Sinbad.

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FREELANCERS

Ebele Okoye discovered her passion for moving images at the tender age of seven, long before she knew that it was called "animation". She grew up in the south eastern part of Nigeria, surrounded by diverse forms of storytelling; from the traditional oral storytelling to the illustrative folk tales in the school books, down to her own personal companions in the form of Charlie Brown comics, Dennis the Menace, Captain Africa, and other. At age 12, an article in a Christian journal on how animation was made solidified her dreams of going into this profession. However, due to the absence of film or animation schools in Nigeria at that time, this dream could not materialize at home. While waiting for this possibility, she studied Graphic Design/ Illustration at the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT) Enugu, Nigeria, but continued looking for ways to get out of her country to go to an animation school. Between 1991 and 1995, she worked in Advertising agencies, while freelancing as a cartoonist for magazines and newspapers, all in Nigeria. Later, she went into full time studio painting until she left for Germany in the year 2000 for post graduate studies at the University of Cologne. After a design-study stint at the University of Applied Sciences Duesseldorf, and a traineeship at the West German Broadcasting Corporation, WDR, she finally visited the International Film School Cologne in 2003 where she undertook an intensive course in 2D Cartoon Animation. It took over 20 years since the birth of the dream.

Recently, she adopted Toon Boom Animate Pro and used it to create a music video for Closer N' Closer. “Normally a six-minute short does not take anything less than six months (of intensive work) to produce. However, in my very first use of the software for a six -minute music video, I was able to pull it in about eight weeks of intensive work. The referencing system saved my neck in the sense that I was able to create instances of my characters in particular poses and was able to import these in into the library and reuse them in other scenes”, explained Ebele.

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EDUCATION

Incorporating Animation into Technology Class Sparks Interest

Located in the heart of upper Westmount, Montreal, Roslyn Elementary has been at the forefront of innovation and academic excellence

in public education for just over a century. In that time, they have pioneered programs such as French Immersion, and graduated many remarkable individuals. The school brings together multiple cultures represented among their 570 students.

Starting in 2011–12, they expanded their individualized enrichment programs to better serve the unique needs and talents of every child. As part of this initiative, Julie Marcus, Roslyn’s Technology Teacher, implemented Flip Boom All-Star in her lab and introduced media literacy to students from Grade 1 to 6. Adapting her teaching to the different age groups, she explained how to decon-struct an image to understand the creation process. “Students create the knowledge as they go, following a self-constructivist approach. Students are very responsive and are very proud of their creations,” explained Julie.

As a first exercise, Julie explained the bouncing ball exercise and showed the value of the onion skin. In some classes, she started with a brainstorming session to have

all the students share ideas on what their animations would be about. Some students worked in teams, some worked alone. They also have the opportunity to browse images in Google to get inspiration. “Students have a newfound appreciation of cartoons as they see what it takes to create them!” added Julie.

She commented: “Children are so exposed to tech-nology nowadays that they find the tool very intuitive.” During Toon Boom’s visit at the school, several students were proud to show their work. From Aaron in Grade 1 to Freida and Morgan in Grade 2, Taya, Louis, Han and Stuart in Grade 4, Ian, Hannah, Merle, Jane, Amelia, Luca, Michaela, Sofia, William and Sumin in Grade 5, as well as Tristan and Meihiba in Grade 6. All were raising their hands to play their animations. All agreed that they found Flip Boom All-Star a lot of fun and quite easy to use.

Julie explained that for some students who are not as verbal or usually require assistance, she noticed a signifi-cant difference in their learning retention and ability to focus. “Animation is a big draw for the students who feel more engaged. Soon, the grade 5 students will have the choice to submit their assignments using animation in their Ethical and Religious Training class, in addition to PowerPoint and video,” she concluded.

Using Animation as a Storytelling MediumDavid Bunting is one of those rare people who, by

their generosity, creativity and kindness, has created and driven some very special animation projects. Along the way, he’s touched a number of lives.

Based in the United Kingdom, David is an award-winning animator, producer, story artist, and educator. As a young boy, he felt hypnotized by animation and was completely drawn into the lives of a story’s charac-ters. He quickly understood the magic of animation and its power as a storytelling medium. Starting his career as a junior animator at King Rollo Films, home of Spot the Dog and Mr. Ben, an internship followed at Walt Disney Feature Animation France with film credits that include

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The Tigger Movie and Thunderbirds as a visual effects animator. Storyboard credits include Aardman Animations BAFTA-winning Shaun the Sheep. As an educator, David finds amazing uses of animation for students who see the world in a different way and develops their creativity as individuals and as a group. “Animation can cut across all subjects. My education work makes me a better profes-sional animator,” stated David.

In the past two years, David has been involved in three fantastic school projects that could very well call for a walk down the red carpet.

The first one is Driving Inspiration - Light Up the World. This short animated film depicts the journey of the Paralympic torch from the birthplace of the Paralym-pic movement at Stoke Mandeville Hospital to London 2012 and its handover to Brazil in 2016. The film explores the Paralympic values of determination, inspiration,

courage, and equality. Working from March to the end June 2012, this huge collaborative project was created by 497 disabled and non-disabled young people from 24 schools in Bosnia, Brazil, France, Germany, Israel, Nepal, San Marino, Singapore, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, and United States. An official Cultural Olympiad project, the film premiered at the Flame Lighting Ceremony at Stoke Mandeville Stadium, as part of the official opening celebration of the London 2012 Paralympic games.

The overseas schools produced drawings, story-boards, and music ideas through online workshops with internationally renowned animators. Young people in the UK developed this work into the final animation, working with another five animators and meeting their overseas partner school over the Internet to agree on ideas. “It was a remarkable journey for everyone, using the Internet to work together from the most cosmopolitan to the most

rural areas of the globe,” explained David, acting as director on this production.

Driving Inspiration partners Paralympians with disabled artists, and every tutor working on the film had some form of disability. For David, it's dyslexia. While the film was made using multiple techniques, all of the linking shots showing the Paralympic flame travel from country to country were animated in Toon Boom Studio by a very talented young person, Kaya Oldaker. Kaya also animated the Turkish Dance sequence, inspired by live action footage from Sign Dance Theatre, a company of deaf and hearing-impaired dancers who have developed sign language into a form


of dance. She was 18 when she worked on the film. She has autism spectrum disorder, but is high functioning. It's certainly not held her back. She just finished her A levels when she worked on the film and is now studying Foun-dation Diploma in Art & Animation at Leeds College of Art. “Kaya one of the most talented young people I've had the pleasure to meet. She wants to train in animation and hopes to one day become an animation director,” shared David.

Another key member of the UK tutor team was Andy Sykes, a freelance illustrator and filmmaker. He worked with special needs primary students at Horsham Special School, using Flip Boom Draw HD, producing animation for the Turkey sequence.

In addition, David used Toon Boom Animate Pro with students at Stoke Mandeville School who combined live action footage with animated characters for the Brazil sequence. “Probably the most technically complex scene in the film, we had to match animation to a moving hand-held camera to bring ideas to the screen, such as a parade of statues playing sport!” concluded David.

The second project is another unique creative venture, which combines an animated sequence for a very British institution, the Pantomime, with live-action actors. The Customs House invited the University of Sunderland students to help intensify the madcap mayhem and drama for its interpretation of Dick Whittington, using their creative talents and clever green screen technology usually seen on the big screen.

The sequence features a pre-recorded underwater scene projected onto a screen curtain on stage, with two of the South Shields theatre’s long-standing pantomime’s characters, Dame Dotty and her son Tommy. The charac-ters, played by Customs House director Ray Spencer and local comedian Bob Stott, escape from a ship’s trunk and are chased in comic fashion by monsters of the deep. All the character animation was created using Toon Boom Animate.

David and Ros Allen, a university animation lecturer, co-directed the animation and created a storyboard for the sequence. Once the storyboard was complete, Ray and Bob as Tommy and Dotty filmed their scenes at

the green screen facilities at the Media Centre, Sir Tom Cowie campus at St Peter’s using a professional camera operator and the assistance of animation students, who worked on various animated characters and prop designs. The footage was then compiled by media students and passed on to Ros who sketched rough placements of the animated characters over Ray and Bob`s performance in Toon Boom Animate. Award-winning multimedia gradu-ate Chris Lavelle then removed the entire green screen, added backgrounds, lighting, and animated thousands of bubbles. A soundtrack incorporating a musical score from Pantos musical director Dave Bintley added the final touches along with sound effects for the animated charac-ters by sound designer Dave Dunn-Birch.

“This was a hugely challenging project due to the tight deadline, but an extremely rewarding experience for the students who delivered creative work that was of a highly professional standard. Students used Animate to create absolutely all the character animation and it’s not overstat-ing it to say, utilising Animate vastly raised the potential of what we were able to achieve both in terms of quality and the constraints of a busy schedule. Bringing live theatre and animation together on stage is really exciting. It provided a huge opportunity for the students and the university; it enables us to create a new form of spectacle for the audience,” commented David.

Last but not least, the third project is a special educational initiative between Germany and the United Kingdom. Titus Salt School in Bradford and Amandus-Abendroth-Gymnasium in Cuxhaven began working together in November 2010. This is the first European Comenius funded exchange project using filmmaking as a tool for learning and it sets out to tell a story that embraces both cultures. In March 2013, 22 students and three staff from the German school are paying a return visit to Brad-ford for 10 days, where they will be joined by professional animators and musicians to complete the film they started when the Titus Salt School students visited Cuxhaven.

Inspiration for the storyline came from regional folk tales, and in particular a north German tale called The Musi-cians of Bremen. The script was written by the students, who have updated the story to incorporate elements of


EDUCATION

the history, culture, music and language from both places while adding their own creative style to the animation. The final project is titled The Young Musicians of CuxAire.

Acting as lead animator, David said “This is a fantastic way to teach the students about the language, culture and history of a different country. The students are bonding and forming lasting friendships through the process of film making.”

The core focus of the project for both schools is to improve student language learning in both German and English, and to enhance student knowledge of other cultures.

In early March, The Young Musicians of CuxAire premiered, and was a big hit. Seeing the film play on the big screen with feature film really was an incredible expe-rience for everyone. After the film finished, students sat glued to their seats for quite a while. They were awed by the experience of it all!

“The power of Toon Boom Studio came into its own in this film, allowing us to use a number of techniques. Early on, a few students asked if it would be possible create an animation in the same technique as the 80's classic pop video Take On Me by A-ha, which uses rotoscoping tech-niques to striking effect. They felt it could help them show the difference between the internal and external world of the characters. So we used Toon Boom Studio to create rotoscoped footage that combined live action and anima-

tion elements in each drawing, requiring us to also create painted mattes. It was a labour intensive process, but one that yielded an incredible effect. The film also incorporat-ed full traditional character animation with hand-painted backgrounds, lip sync, and abstract animation of music, all animated in Toon Boom Studio using Wacom graph-ics tablets, so students got a wide overview of different animation techniques,” explained David.

To top it off, David is co-creator of Boy and the Dino-saur, a preschool series from 1461 Ltd about an ordinary Boy and his extraordinary friend, Dinosaur. He completed the storyboards for the pilot episode using Toon Boom Storyboard Pro and hopes it will get the green light very soon. This high-quality television project brings together an incredible roster of UK talent, potentially adding another shining star to David’s lineup of wonderful projects.

davidbunting.info

Malagasy French-Speaking Students Get AnimatedAs part of the French Teaching Abroad Agency, the

Lycée Français de Tananarive (LFT) and four French primary schools cater to students of twenty-seven different nationalities, of which 1,679 attend secondary school and 1,282 attend primary school. Didier Chauveau, Technology Department Coordinator and Head of the Multimedia Lab at the Lycée, has initiated several animated-shorts projects in collaboration with primary school teachers. Created in 2000, the Multimedia Lab has already produced more than fifteen shorts (video, 2D and 3D animation) and won multiple awards in different competitions and festivals.

During the 2012 back-to-school period, these schools embarked on a cross-level animated short production project as a pedagogical tool, titled Au secours Kalanoro (Help Kalamaro). A class in primary school calls upon a class in secondary school focusing on technology to produce the animation using their original concept. The technology classes act as the animation studio in their 11th grade program. Following a training held in March 2012 on Flip Boom All-Star and Toon Boom Studio and given by Harry Ravelomanantsoa, who actually attended these schools while growing up, several teachers quickly


understood how these great software packages could serve the pedagogical and extracurricular interests of their program. The Lycée also adopted Toon Boom Storyboard Pro to complete the toolset they make available to their students.

Au secours Kalanoro talks about environmental protection in Madagascar while including traditional cultural Malagasy components.

Following a school outing in Andasibe (a protected natural reserve near Antananarivo), Ms. Tahiana Chauveau and her primary class gathered a lot of information on Malagasy fauna and flora. They built an impressive library of data and visuals they would use to create the project.

While respecting the main pedagogical objectives of the program, the primary school students wrote their own scenario structured in scenes and shots. The scanning, cutting, and retouching of the drawings were done using Photoshop by the Technology teachers in order to build the backgrounds and character library for the animation production.

The seventy-five primary school students drew the thumbnails for each shot and recorded the dialogue and voice-over with their own voices, which were then imported into Storyboard Pro. The animatic with sound was presented to them to get their feedback before starting the animation.

Once approved, the 210 11th grade students specializing in Technology took over and started creating the animation using cut-out and traditional techniques with Toon Boom Studio. As they followed ten ninety-minute hands-on workshops on multiple animation techniques, students worked in teams of two and quickly mastered the software. Grade 12 students specializing in Art also contributed to the production. Au secours Kalanoro will first be presented in a private screening before going public and being submitted to the 2014 Student Short Festival in Washington.

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EDUCATION

Paving the Way to Creative Success

Over thirteen years ago, Craig Davis founded Youth Digital Arts and the Youth Digital Arts Cyber School (YDACS), an innovative online school that teaches students from third grade through high school how to master the digital arts at their own speed and pace. From the beginning, he chose to use Toon Boom Studio to

introduce students to the world of 2D animation. Available to Home-School, Charter School, Public and Private School students, courses include 2D and 3D Digital Drawing, Painting, Modeling, Manga and Comics, Animation, and how they all combine within 2D and 3D Video Game Design as art forms.

“I strongly believe that waiting for college to inspire students in the digital arts is far too late. This needs to be done as early as 3rd grade. Their minds are very open, which is the best time for students to explore their creativity and experiment. In addition to creative skills, students develop communication, research, and presentation skills. They get constructive feedback and collaborate with each other. Overall, this is a nurturing process where you can see positive energy tossed from one student to another,” explained Craig.

Such dedication and passion bring its fair share of positive experiences. One of them is definitely incarnated by Caleb Coffey, who found his calling thanks to YDACS.

During his junior high school years, Caleb was home-schooled and aspired to learn things that would pertain to his career. An education specialist from his Charter

The secondary school students embarked on another project and are creating a series of animated shorts inspired by Bref, a popular television show airing on Canal +. The concept relies on camera motion over a static image. The primary school students will create the drawings which will then be scanned and laid out in Storyboard Pro. They will record the voice over which will be added to the boards. Both drawings and sound will be mixed in Storyboard Pro by grade 11 students. The animated short will be exported as a movie file directly from the software.

Mainly used in the Multimedia Lab, Toon Boom Studio will also be integrated in science classes. As for Storyboard Pro, it will be used in language classes and in the context of a technological project planning.

A new training session took place in the Spring of 2013. It brought together teachers from primary and secondary schools, coming from educational institutions based in Antananarivo and throughout Madagascar. In addition to the technological knowledge participants received, this training enabled a network of users to be set up throughout the island, and stimulated the creation of several pedagogical animated shorts.

The Lycée Français de Tananarive is organizing a national level, student animated short competition involving all schools.

Since 2010, one of the primary schools has already created three animated projects, two of which was in stop-motion using Toon Boom Studio, and has even won an award. The future bodes very well for the Malagasy young talent who will surely represent a vibrant new creative generation on the island.

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School recommended YDACS and Caleb was hooked from the start. He started taking classes, asking a lot of questions in the Student Forums, and reaching out to the community to get feedback. His third course on Video Game Design introduced him to animation using Toon Boom Studio. “This was absolutely fascinating. I discovered what I wanted to do and decided to push my energy towards animation,” stated Caleb. He pursued and took all the courses in the Video Game Design series as well as collaborative research and development in the Video Game Design Cyber Studio.

In the Cyber Studios, students create open-ended projects, explore ideas, collaborate and inspire each other. They propose a project and look around at what the other students are doing. They can decide to work alone or in a team. “Across all of our courses and programs we noticed that in general, girls are drawn a bit more to narrative and drawing while boys can be a bit more programming oriented. Together they make great teams and collaborate on their game creation projects,” shared Craig. “In addition to the Cyber Studios the Cyber Jams are another amazingly inspirational platform. Cyber Studios and Cyber Jams offer a unique collaborative opportunity to bridge all the concepts learned in the courses. You feel you can take what you learn and how to collaborate into the field,” added Caleb.

Then Caleb attended Junior College in San Diego. He took the skills he learned at YDACS and started to learn 3D for the next year and a half. He also transitioned from a Youth Digital Arts Student National Mentor to a Student National Fellow. Thanks to his previous training, Caleb was able to ask advanced questions of his instructors benefitting even more from his Junior College program. The impressive results speak for themselves.

Caleb is now attending College of the Arts at Cal State University Fullerton, in Entertainment Art and Animation. Highly recommended by his 2D instructor, he was one of six students asked by the department’s chairman to work on a special traditional animation project. Caleb had to submit preliminary work to the chairman who

had to approve it. He got the green light. Considering the volume of work involved, Caleb had to drop a course in order to deliver the project. The small team needs to create around five minutes of animation that will be integrated in a documentary on Rick Griffin, the famous surfer and artist, who created the Rolling Stones logo among other things. “We take his comic book art and animate it with pencil and paper. We are creating 2D animation for the beginning and the end. 3D animation will be in the middle. All animation needs to be finished by May,” explained Caleb.

As if he did not have enough on his plate, Caleb is also working as intern at Nickelodeon until May 2013. While Nickelodeon received close to 10,000 applications nationwide, he was one of 30 selected candidates. “This internship is in the top ten in the United States. They give us way more opportunities than we can dream of, this is fantastic. I am part of the team archiving all Nickelodeon assets and need to use Photoshop a lot. I am glad I took that course at YDACS! YDACS was again a wonderful preparation for my career,” concluded Caleb.

Caleb will be graduating in the Fall of 2014 and in view of his impressive talent, he is destined for a very promising career in animation. Kudos to YDACS and Caleb!

ydacs.com

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