Faculty

MAXINE SCHACKER, Founder and Director of Max the Mutt Animation School, is an artist who has exhibited in Montreal, Toronto and New York. She studied with Robert Beverly Hale, world- famous Instructor of Drawing and Anatomy at the Art Students League of New York. She has taught painting, life drawing and anatomy for the Illustration and Animation programs at Sheridan College, and the Bell Centre for Creative Communication at Centennial College.

TINA SEEMANN, Director of Animation, is a cartoonist and character designer whose work has appeared on many of TV Ontario’s children’s shows of the past. Tina designed the “Max the Mutt” mascot, as well as the characters for the proposed Max the Mutt Animation feature production, The Jazz Bears. She is currently working on a children’s book. Classically trained in animation, Tina has taught animation at Sheridan College and the Bell Centre for Creative Communication.

ALEXANDER AHILOV, a graduate of fine arts in Sofia Bulgaria, has many years of experience in the video game industry where he has worked as a senior level designer, layout artist, environment and concept artist. He was senior layout artist and environment and concept artist for Digital Extremes where he worked on Bioshock 2. He is now Senior Environment Artist for Ubisoft Toronto.

LUBOMIR ARSOV  has worked as a freelance character designer and concept artist for the last 6 years since graduating from Max the Mutt’s Animation program. He has lent his talents in various capacities to House of Cool, Starz & Arc Animation, Disney, Dreamworks PDI among others. In 2010- he published `Deviations` his first book which showcases his character design work.

STEPHEN BARNES is a character animator who returned to Canada after many years animating for Pixar. He worked on Toy Story 2, A Bug’s Life, Monsters Inc., and the Oscar-winning short film, Geri’s Game. Since returning to Toronto, he has split his time between mentoring animators at regional schools and supervising animation on various features and TV series. He is also currently studying part-time toward his MFA.

TRUDY BINDER is an honours graduate of the Sheridan College Illustration program.  She has worked as a book and CD illustrator, and had worked for many years in the animation industry as a color stylist for Corus/Nelvana Entertainment with credits including: Clone High, Redwall, Ned’s Newt, Eek The Cat, Ace Ventura and the Gemini award winning Sam & Max. She also worked as a digital inker and painter at Yowza Animation for Disney’s The Princess and the Frog and Winnie the Pooh. At the present time Trudy is developing her own work.

KENT BURLES is an illustrator whose love of the comic and fantasy genres led him into the comic and role-playing game industries. He worked with Malibu Comics on creating a series of Planet of the Apes comic books, as well as a series called The Adventurers. He has also worked on role-playing games, including Anvil Galaxy and Rifts for Palladium Books, and a variety of others by Fasa, Steve Jackson, and White Wolf. Kent is Max the Mutt’s Coordinator for Sequential Arts.

SCOTT CAMERON has been an illustrator since he completed OCA in 1984. He was a background painter for Disney Canada. As an illustrator he has numerous credits including magazine covers and children’s books, and was nominated for a Governor General’s Award for Illustration for his work on Beethoven Lives Upstairs.

JOEL CHAHAL began his career as a Flash animator at Smiley Guy Studios in 2005. He quickly became invaluable member of the animation team and remains so to this day. The productions he’s worked on at Smiley Guy include the Emmy-award winning series “The Eagles Kids Club” and Teletoon’s “Sons of Butcher”. He has done design work and animated for “Mr. Happy,” and was animation lead on Teletoon’s “Total Drama Island.” Joel’s most recent roles include design supervisor on Teletoon’s “The Dating Guy,” which is currently airing on Teletoon in Canada and on HDNet and hulu.com in the USA, and as a design supervisor on the animated segments on CCI’s multiplatform property, GeoFreakZ.

SCOTT CHANTLER is a graphic novelist and popular commercial illustrator whose past and present clients include the New York Daily News, the National Post, the Toronto Star and Maclean’s Magazine. He is the author and illustrator of Two Generals, a non-fiction graphic novel based on his grandfather’s experiences in World War II, and is currently working on the Three Thieves series of fantasy adventure graphic novels.

ROB CORBETT has been teaching acting and story for animation since he ran acting workshops for Walt Disney Studios in 1997. He has an MFA in Creative Writing and is an award-winning screenwriter; his plays have been presented in Toronto, New York and numerous centres around Ontario. Rob teaches acting for the animation departments at Max the Mutt, Seneca and Sheridan College.

NIALL DOWDELL, Co-director of the Animation Department, is an alumnus of Max the Mutt’s animation program. He has developed his own company and has taken on commercial animation and design work for clients such as the ROM since graduating in 2008.
COSTA DVOREZKY is a Russian-born painter with extensive schooling at the Art College and the Academy of Arts in Moscow. His passion and talent for art was recognized by Russia’s Union of Young Artists when he received the Development of The Year Award in 1997. His art has achieved international recognition. It has been featured in many private and public exhibits across Europe and North America. You can view his website by clicking here.

NADAV EHRLICH is a skilled character animator and visual effects artist, currently working at Soho VFX as Animation Supervisor. Here he has worked on many feature films, including The Incredible Hulk, X-Men 3, and Battle Los Angeles.

CATHERINE FERADAY-MILLER  began her career at Dreamworks, animating for the feature  films Prince of Egypt and The Road to El Dorado. She has also been a 3D animator for various film and gaming companies and taught 3D animation at the Academy of Art in San Francisco for two years.  Since returning to Canada, Cathy has been freelancing, creating character animation and character FX for such companies as Chuck Gammage Productions and Mr. X, and has been working with her husband Tim on establishing their own independent game studio, Rocket 5 Studios.

JEROME HERMAN is a freelance 3D artist with over eight years experience. He has worked as a 3D generalist for both feature films and television production. Jerome is also an illustrator for architectural and engineering firms, creating and preparing 3D models and renders as presentational tools for proposed projects.

KEITH FUKOMOTO is an alumnus of Max the Mutt’s Classical Animation Program. Since graduating in 2006, he has been busy animating, designing and rigging at studios such as FatKat Animation, Smiley Guy Studios, Solis Animation and Big Jump. Currently, Keith is an animator at Vast Studios.

GREGORY FURMANCZYK, a graduate of the Ontario College of Art, is a professional portrait painter who has done state, corporate and ecclesiastical commissions. Some of his notable paintings include the official state portrait of the Honourable John Fraser, Speaker of the House of Commons, and Dr. James Ham, president of the University of Toronto.

VLADAN IGNJATOVIC, a graduate of the University of Fine Art in Belgrade, Vladan has worked as a colour key designer and background supervisor, senior designer, illustrator, and background painter. He is also an established fine artist with numerous exhibitions worldwide.

DIMITRI KOSTIC illustrated many children’s books in his native Yugoslavia. He has years of experience as storyboard artist/director for Warner Bros., Nelvana, and Cuppa Coffee.

JOCK MACRAE is a skilled illustrator and graphic designer. He has been an art director, has worked in advertising (creating illustrations for print media), and has extensive experience as a children’s book illustrator, for titles such as The Kids Book of Canada (Kids Can Press) and Hook Line And Sinker (Key Porter), among others.

DAKOTA McFADZEAN is a cartoonist whose comics and illustrations have appeared in magazines, anthologies, and galleries across North America. He holds an MFA from the Center for Cartoon Studies and has been nominated for numerous awards, most recently The Gene Day Award for Self Publishers, and a Saskatchewan Lieutenant Governor’s Arts Award. Dakota’s work will soon be appearing in the 2012 edition of The Best American Comics, edited by François Mouly. Dakota is perhaps best known for The Dailies, a daily comic strip he has been posting to his website since 2010.

RICK MARSHALL has over 25 years of experience in all aspects of the animation industry, from design, layout, and animation, to storyboard design, directing animated series, and developing new properties. He has spent seven years in Taiwan, China, and South Korea directing productions and training staff. He has been a series director of over 125 half-hour episodes for television, which include 26 episodes of his own creation ‘Best Ed’. Among his various honours, Rick received an Emmy Award in 2005 as Director of the pre-school series ‘Peep and the Big Wide World.’

STEVE MILLARD started his career in animation working for Walt Disney Canada on such projects as Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, and Peter Pan: Return to Neverland. He has also worked as a character designer for Nelvana and 9 Story Animation. As a fine artist, he has exhibited drawings and paintings in Oakville and Toronto, and also leads a popular workshop in character sculpture.

MIHAELA ORZEA has more than a decade of experience in the film/VFX industry. She has been involved with high-profile movies such as X-Men 3:The Last Stand, X-Man Origins: Wolverine, and The Incredible Hulk. She’s currently working at Pixomondo’s Toronto division as a VFX supervisor. After completing Hugo, which won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects at the 84th Academy Awards, she supervised over 100 VFX shots for Marvel’s The Amazing Spider-Man.

MILAN PAVLOVIC is an award-winning illustrator and graphic artist specializing in illustrations for children, advertising, animation, editorials, and comics.

DUSAN PETRICIC is the award-winning illustrator of more than 20 books for children including Mordecai Richler’s Jacob Two-Two and the Dinosaur. A former professor of illustration and book design, Petricic’s editorial illustrations appear in The New York Times, Scientific American, The Wall Street Journal, the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star.

SASA RADOSAVCEVIC is a concept artist and designer with over 20 years experience.

At Nelvana/CORUS he was a concept designer and the design supervisor for feature projects as well as animated series. Currently he is working on a 3D feature project at Toonbox Entertainment.

JORGE RAZON has been in the Visual Effects industry for eight years.  He has worked on over 23 feature films including Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk and X-Men.  His most recent accomplishments include supervising over 200 visual effects shots for In Time. In previous projects, Jorge was heavily involved in Dynamics and Lighting using a mixture of Maya, Nuke and 3Delight. He is currently working for Soho VFX as a CG Supervisior and conducting Research and Development for Jack the Giant Killer.

BOJAN REDZIC has over 16 years experience in all aspects of animation, illustration, and comic book art. An international award-winner, he has worked for companies in Europe, Mexico and Canada, and is currently production director for Big Soul Productions in Toronto.

ROB RISEK is new to Max the Mutt’s teaching staff this fall. He has been in the design industry for 10 years. As a graduate of classical animation, he formally began his design career in video games and eventually made his way to television. He is currently a design supervisor at Nelvana and his work can be seen in various series produced by Corus Entertainment. With a great passion for art, Rob believes that simplicity is the key to successful design.

PETER ROE has worked for Nelvana/CORUS productions since 1996 as a storyboard artist, assistant director, background and layout and prop designer. He has been a supervisor for departments dealing with storyboarding  and all facets of design. Peter’s television credits include Ned’s Newt, Movilee Mysteries. Bob and Margaret, Barbar, Spliced as well as 3D productions such as Backyardigans and Jane and the Dragon.

DAVE ROSS has drawn and written for Marvel Comics and DC Comics on Captain America, Spiderman, Batgirl, Star Trek, Daredevil, Birds of Prey and JLA: Act of God, among many other projects. He was also an artist for the series Rai at Valiant Comics, and has worked as a concept designer and layout artist for animation.

STEVE SAYER is a VFX artist and animator. He has been active in the computer graphics and animation industry in Toronto for over a decade. Presently he is working  at Soho VFX, creating effects for feature films. Steve has been part of the faculty at Max the Mutt for several years, teaching Maya software to Animation and Concept Art students. His history with the school and his experience in the VFX industry make him a natural fit for the new Visual Effects program.

ED SHAWCROSS is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art, and an artist with many exhibitions to his credit. He has taught at Sheridan College and Dundas Valley, and is past President of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour.

JELENA SISIC has designed and illustrated children’s books (time frame/examples?). She painted color keys for Disney’s Gargoyle series, and is currently a senior background artist and supervisor for Nelvana.

KNUD SKOV graduated from Sheridan College with a diploma in Graphic Design, and has worked freelance for clients such as Toronto Life Magazine, TVOntario and the Ottawa Citizen. Knud’s skill with an airbrush brought him into the animation industry, where he has worked as a scenic artist on two feature films: Nelvana’s Rock & Rule, and Lacewood’s The Nutcracker Prince. In the 1990’s he supervised film layout production at studios in Shenzhen, China, and in the Philippines. He has taught Layout Design at Pacific Rim Studios in China and Technical Illustration at Algonquin College in Ottawa, and now teaches Digital Painting at the Max the Mutt. Currently, he’s working on a Graphic Novel.

PHILIP STREET, in addition to working as an animator for the CBC, is the creator of the syndicated comic strip Fisher, which appears daily in the Globe and Mail.

BRUNO TACCHINO has spent most of his 14-year career as a freelance artist.  He was senior animator on the Robin Hood Flour and Sasktel commercial campaigns and has directed animation for TV shows such as ‘Bolts and Blip’ and ‘Mudpit’.   Having worked with a variety of companies including Nelvana, Red Rover, Spin, Topix, Guru, and Toonbox, Bruno has become a seasoned animator with a broad skill set in classical and computer animation, character and location design, lip-sync, layout and posing.  He has also enjoyed teaching 3D animation and character design at Centennial College and Max The Mutt.  Bruno is currently working as a senior character animator in several live-action features with Mr. X.

ROKSOLANA TCHOTCHIEVA is a fine artist who was trained at the V.I. Surikov State Academic Institute of Fine Arts in Moscow, where she studied for seven years. She is currently an exhibiting fine artist, and is a coordinator for the Concept Art Program.

MAURY WHYTE is a storyboard artist, animator and production manager who has worked on series, commercials and educational films. A dedicated educator, for many years he has been a faculty member of both Sheridan College’s animation program and Max the Mutt’s Classical and Computer Animation Diploma Program.

GEORGE YANEFF has been an artist, graphic designer, illustrator, mural painter and educator in Europe and Canada for more than 20 years. He is a figurative and abstract painter whose work has been collected in Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria, France, the USA and Canada, where he currently lives.