Why Animation Mentor is still #1

ATTENTION: I HAVE A NEW BLOG!
Check out www.mountcg.com where i write down my thoughts and opinions on the industry!

When i started AM, ther werent even half the online courses out there than there are today. It was an easy choice where to go and im so glad it was that easy. Animation Mentor is in my opinion the best online animation education out there and also tops many brick and mortar schools with ease.
Now weve heard gossip about AM letting things slip, other schools offering better models, AM being arrogant or even the whole online thing being over its peak.

Im writing this to tell people that the exact opposite is the case.
Animation Mentor still has the best and most animation focused curriculum with real in depth lectures that are thought out with a real learning path in mind. Not just from Workshop to workshop, but from week to week. At AM you learn the art and craft of animation in depth. You learn the skills and then youll learn how to turn it into YOUR personal art. From what i can see, no other online school offers that to this extent. Some dont even aim for that but ill get back to this later.
Ive attended a workshop at iAnimate and while it was a absolutely fantastic experience, what i was missing was the guided learning with weekly lectures like at AM. There is a huge library of stuff to look through, but its recordings from classroom talks, that different mentors gave. It felt more random and not as well thought out as at AM.

I looked at the curriculum of Animschool, and while its a nice approach to also offer modelling or rigging classes within the animation track... i think thats something that could easily be left out for further education after graduating. (Think how cool the already amazing work coming off animschool would look if they had 1 animation class more)

There are other courses like Animation collaborative or the just recently opened Animsquad which are fantastic from what i hear, but are probably better for people who want to extend their skills and knowledge instead of learning animation from scratch.
Now, it is true, that AM seemed to become a bit too big and slow, with flaws and technical issues and so on. But i think that is what happens to you if youre pioneering a business. So many other schools just copy the AM model and are successful because they offer cheaper courses or maybe add some stuff AM didnt do. But no one really innovates the business. (One exception to me is probably Kenny Roy's Collabs)

Im writing this to tell you, that AM is doing exactly this. They are aware of any issue in their program people are complaining about, and theyre thinking far beyond what people think is possible with online education. You can see it with their introduced AMP pipeline and the VFX courses. There is a bigger vision behind this and if you look closely youll see it. Instead of being disappointed about not going through the same program as other people did, you should be happy and proud to be part of the new broad vision at AM. Instead of complaining right off the bat, you should maybe take some time to test the system. Or just plain and simple trust in the vision of three of the best in our field.
What also has to be recognized is the fact, that there was also some bad luck involved... the failed collaboration with animationrigs... the unforseeable shakeup in the VFX industry which made AMs VFX programs launch a bigger struggle than it deserved, the delayed release of Morpheus 2.0, to technical issues with AMP which just happens if you develop something like this from scratch that no one else has done before. And last i think they also suffer from students who have forgotten that the one who has to work for their success are they themselves, or people (alumni) gossiping about how bad AM has become and what jerks they are for having to let people from their staff go and so on.
(i admit i was shocked and mad too when i heard who got let go... but its a business after all, and im sure they had their reasons)

Its not easy to be the forerunner...
But what im convinced of, is that AM knows about the problems of the industry. They truly try to be there for their students and alumni and provide sustained support and a community that more feels like a family than a school. And because they changed my life, and helped me to feel happier and more fulfilled than i ever have before, i think its my (and every alumni's) duty to step up and help how ever we can so AM can keep doing what they do best... make animators dreams come true and along the way completely change the industry.
Of course there are some directions that i would wish AM to go and things that i hope theyll change in future.

The mentor roster isnt as strong as it used to be... there is some FANTASTIC mentors... actually the biggest part is awesome. And all of them care about their students, but it seems that a lot of them shy away from giving tough love to the students. In my opinion its ok to tell a student if his work isnt good enough to go to the next class... they should be able to tell the students
I sneer at people who went through the program, profiting from all the amazing content and people, and now gossip and rant about AM...
In our consumer oriented society, people expect to get all the service they ask for without realizing, that there might be reasons why someone does things a certain way.
I for my part trust in Bobby, Shawn and Carlos' vision and will continue to support them with all my heart.

Character

ATTENTION: I HAVE A NEW BLOG!
Check out www.mountcg.com where i write down my thoughts and opinions on the industry!

Today i saw this:



Not only is this very well engineered...
What i find the most interesting here is, how he gave the box character...
Its not just the stubborn machine like others weve seen that just turn themselves off...
It has a mind of its own (a programmed one of course... but still) it even gets mixed up with itself at some point.

I find that hilarious, refreshing and inspiring!

I think that we should use this mindset for any animation we do...
Give our character purpose and make them appear like theyre thinking.
Even for the smallest mechanics test... think a bit further... give them purpose. Give them character.

a rant...

This year ive seen more movies than ever before.
I tried to see every animated film (made by the bigger studios) that came out...
And of course i also love to discuss the quality of each and every movie.
I love to comment and analyze and hear peoples opinions.

And especially ive made an observation recently, that really brings me to the edge... i dont know why... my girlfriend says im stupid for getting annoyed because of something like this, but i think i just appreciate and love our beautiful art form so much, that it really upsets me when people argument unreasonably.

Maybe its also just about the words people use when they state their opinion about a movie...

Unless a movie was really bad... i mean: Bad animation, Bad visuals, crappy effects and the worst story ever... i would never say things like: "It sucked!", "It sucked soooo much, from beginning to end!", "nothing good about it!" "the best thing was my friends name in the credits" and so on...
Remarks like this really really REALLY get me going and i always find myself loosing a lot of respect for people who let themselves go like this... especially when they work in the same industry and should at least bring up some respect for the people who worked on it.

I just dont understand how someone could talk like this... Brave wasnt perfect... Madagascar 3 was clearly made for kids... People from Blue Sky even stated that they didnt make an effort to tell a story in new compelling ways...
Why people would dislike Rise of the Guardians except for the maaaaybe a liiiiitle to kiddie like story is a mistery to me... and i even heard someone completely dismissing Wreck it Ralph... i mean... WTF people?

I think it just comes down to the old rivalry amongst fanboys (and girls), mostly students or people fresh out of school... who see the films of their favourite studio with other eyes than any other movie... or even dismiss a movie just because it was made by a certain studio... And people like this... i just cant stand...
No one likes it when people talk bad about a movie youve worked on... we all pour our hearts and souls into each and every shot we work on... so a little respect should be given... dont you think?

And IF you go and talk bad about a movie... have a friggin reason why you didnt like it... "oh im just no gamer" or "it was just boring" doesnt cut it for me... especially for a movie that has such a beautiful and well crafted story like Wreck it Ralph...
Or when someone compares the Croods with Brave, bringing up stupid narrowminded comparisons without even having seen the movie... that really gets me going...

There is something beautiful in every new movie that comes out and i dont think that this is a matter of taste. I like or "dislike" certain movies myself... but in the recent years i have never seen a movie coming from the bigger studios, where there wasnt at least one small cute, nice, beautiful, astonishing thing in it...

There are AMAZING artists working at EVERY studio... People working in the industry should know that... and students definitely shouldnt bash movies, made by companies, they would give a kidney to work for.

Im done now...
just one last thing guys...
We are working in the ultimate art form... can you think of any other medium that combines so many disciplines together? Dont we have the f**** most awesome job in the world? Isnt creating those films together, by pushing each other and finding the coolest solutions for every problem, the best thing about it? And dont you LOVE it when you see how people get moved by it... how Kids admire the characters we created?
Isnt that the most important thing?

So... does it really matter that much, where we create our art?