Siggraph

A steady crowd for has hovered around the Animation Mentor (animationmentor.com) booth the last couple days, as young artists flock to find out about the school’s totally virtual approach to educating character animators in preparation for industry careers. Animation Mentor offers an 18-month program to train students across the globe in the ways of character animation, using “mentors” who are really working industry professionals, to guide their work and progress, critique them, and teach them the latest techniques, tools, and innovations. The two-year-old program was recently approved by Sony Pictures Imageworks to join its growing roster of IPAX schools, dedicated to training animation professionals.

Judging from the crowds around the booth, this virtual education concept has merit, particularly in an industry that, by its very nature, is on the cutting edge of technology.

I chatted with one of Animation Mentor’s founders this afternoon–Shawn Kelly, a feature film animator at ILM, and will be uploading a slice of that conversation to this blog site a bit later today, so check back later for that podcast.

–Michael Goldman