I'm a 2D Mentor

I have become a 2D mentor for an online school called CG Spectrum. The school is in Australia, but has been teaching animation online for several years and has an international reputation. I am currently teaching 2D animation to students internationally learning 2D animation and to become better animators. 

The classes are only 5 students at the most and there are no grades! Its based on the individual to learn from weekly projects and build their own portfolio and meet once a week for a Q/A meeting. I review work, give them feedback and help out with any animation problems they might be having. And nobody is asking, "Do I get an A on this?" Finally its about the work, not the grades and I am happy seeing students learning animation and not doing it for a grade.

Here's a portion of a recent article posted on Cartoon Brew.

The 2D Masters

2D Animator Jim Richardson–who worked on Scooby Doo, 101 Dalmatians, Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid–grew up on a steady diet of Warner Bros, Hanna Barbera and Disney cartoons. 

His first attempt at making his own animation was a clunky stop motion short using a ball of kneaded dough. He then moved onto flip books, hand drawn animation, claymation, and animated magazine cut-outs inspired by Terry Gilliam and Mike Jittlov. He began the mastery of his craft with his own evolution of animation techniques. 

“I love showing students classics from Lotte Reiniger, Tex Avery cartoons, MGM Tom and Jerrys, Chuck Jones and anything else they need to know about. We have control now to study certain scenes frame by frame, learn how they made the drawings move, how they used dry brush and other techniques. There’s so much to learn from these films of the past.”

Jim sees a lot of anime influence in student work, and is amazed when he sees an original style from a student. There are so many styles of animation to draw from, the trick to originality is to master those styles and fuse them to discover your own style. This takes time, practice, and patience, but it is the road to true innovation. 

Disney Junior, 2D animation by Jim Richardson

DisneyDemo from Toondini on Vimeo.

Here's a Cartoon Brew article about teaching animation and I'm also mention here as well. https://www.cgspectrum.com/mentors/jim-richardson

If you are interested in getting into animation or brushing up your skills, check out CG Spectrum to learn more about their 2D and 3D animation courses.