1-877-486-MUTT | 416-703-6877
Director
Founder and Director of Max the Mutt, 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.
Classical & Computer Animation & Production Director, Instructor
TINA SEEMANN 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 and is director and co-ordinator of the Animation Diploma program.
Ilustration for Sequential Arts Program Coordinator, Instructor
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 many role playing games by Fasa, Steve Jackson, White Wolf, and recently on Anvil Galaxy and Rifts for Palladium Books. Kent is Max the Mutt’s Coordinator for the Illustration for Sequential Arts Diploma Program.
Concept Art for Animation & Video Games Coordinator, Instructor
Advanced Environment Design & Painting in Photoshop; Advanced Prop Design; Final Project; Portfolio Development
JONATHAN STANDING is a Concept Artist with over ten years of experience in Illustration, Graphic Art and Concept Art in Games. His specialties include character design, rotations, production drawings, background paintings, narrative paintings, cinematic storyboards, and gameplay storyboards. While working at Silicon Knights he contributed designs, storyboards and 2D production art to prototypes for numerous AAA games. He has experience working as a freelance artist as well as working seamlessly in-house as part of a larger Art Dept. With Roksolana Tchotchieva, he will coordinate the Concept Art Diploma Program, and supervise 4th year students.
Concept Art for Animation & Video Games Coordinator, Instructor
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 at Max the Mutt, in addition to being one of the coordinators for the Concept Art Diploma Program, is in charge of overseeing all painting courses.
Instructor
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. He is a dedicated educator, and, in addition to his own classes, oversees year one life drawing for all programs.
Instructor
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 Rai series at Valiant Comics, and has worked as a concept designer and layout artist for animation. One of the founders of MTM’s Illustration for Sequential Arts Diploma Program, he works with Kent Burles to review and fine tune the program and develop curriculum.
Instructor
ADRIAN HANSEN worked for more than 10 years as both a 2D and 3D animator and is skilled in classical as well as computer animation. He has animated for major Toronto studios and game companies such as Guru, Arc ,Pipeline, Silicon knights and Yowza. He also has experience working Cinematics and In-game cycles for video games and performing and working on motion capture stunt work. His credits include work on major shows such as Thomas and Friends, Bubble Guppies, Paw Patrol and the beautiful Ever After High films.
Instructor
ALEXANDER KACHKIN is an award winning artist with an international reputation. His work is represented in collections in Canada, USA, Germany, Russia, the UK and Japan. Before coming to Canada,in addition to his work as a painter, he was an instructor at The Kiev Art School for 10 years.
Instructor
ANDREW MOK has worked in TV for Nelvana and Pipeline Studios as both a 3D and 2D animator. He is currently working in the video game industry as a cinematic animator for Ubisoft Toronto.
Instructor
ANDREW STRIMAITIS With 11 years experience in the industry across just 2 studios, it’s clear that Andrew’s dedication and talent are well valued. At both studios he started out as an animator and quickly performed his way into into lead roles then ultimately to his current role as Animation Director. Today Andrew’s main focus is using hands-on practices to direct animators into becoming top performers. Using the disciplines learned working in stop-motion, the traditional skills developed in directing 2D series and teaching the systematic formulas he created in 3D, Andrew’s vast experience in all 3 major mediums makes for a very complete skill set to pass on knowledge to others. His passion for the art fuels a seemingly endless supply of energy for creation and his practical approaches make for a very inspirational learning experience.
Instructor
APOLLO OKAMURA With 20 years of professional experience in the art industry, Apollo Okamura has worked in fashion, advertising, comics, games, and of course, animation. During this time, he’s had the pleasure of working on well known licenses such as Robotech, Transformers, and the Ninja Turtles. While Apollo is classically trained in traditional animation, he’s also a big proponent for modern digital integration and has worked closely with Toon Boom as a certified trainer, working with several animation studios, including Big Jump, Bento Box, and Chuck Gammage Animation. Apollo’s love for drawing is only surpassed by his passion for teaching and has been honoured to teach at many animation schools around the world, including these notable North American colleges: Sheridan College, Algonquin College, and Savannah College of Art and Design.
Instructor
CHRIS BROWN is a designer who is an illustrator, designer and concept artist working in film, television and print. Chris is currently a prop and character designer for Corus/Nelvana where he last worked on Bubble Guppies. Chris is a graduate of our Concept Art Diploma program.
Instructor
CILBUR ROCHA is a Storyboard artist and has also worked as an Assistant Director, 2D Animator, Assistant Animator, Character, Prop and Location designer since 1992. During his career spanning studios all over Toronto, Montreal, Mumbai and Goa he has worked on feature films like Disney’s Princess and the Frog, Kronk’s New Groove, Winnie the Pooh, Universal Pictures’ Curious George, DreamWorks’ Joseph And The King of Dreams, Warner Bros’ Osmosis Jones, Fox’s Anastasia, short films for UNICEF and UNESCO, TV shows such as Arthur, Camp Lakebottom, George of the Jungle, Busytown Mysteries, Jojo’s Circus and commercials for Honey Nut Cheerios, Rice Krispies, Nesquik and Tony the Tiger, just to name a few.
Instructor
DAVID HUYNH, a graduate of Max the Mutt, is currently 3D technical Director for Corus/Nelvana in Toronto. In addition to advanced technical aspects of Maya, including rigging and modelling, David works with year 4 students students on all technical aspects of the group film.
Instructor
FRANK HONG is a Concept Artist working in the film and video games industry. Notable for his work on Pacific Rim, Godzilla, and Kong: Skull Island. He now operates Crush Visual Inc with his team, with a clear goal to provide the creative industry with top quality artworks and services.
Instructor
GREG BEETTAM is a veteran Comic Book/ Graphic Novel artist, freelance Illustrator, Graphic Designer, Writer and Visual Storytelling Expert, with 20+ years experience. In addition to his work in comics, graphic novels and cartooning, he has worked in advertising as a concept artist, specializing in storyboards, story development, scriptwriting, and presentation design.
Instructor
JAMES RAIZ has been a Visual Effects Artist since 2007. A graduate of Sheridan College’s Computer Animation program, James and has worked as a 3D Modeler and Digital Matte Painter on television shows such as Stargate SG1, The Borgias, Reign, Dominion & Marco Polo. He has also worked on various movies such as Watchmen, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Theif, Battle LA, Underworld Awakening, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, Fantastic 4& Furious 7.
James has been a professional comic book illustrator since 2000 working for Marvel, DC & Image Comics, on titles such as Transformers, Star Wars Tales, Hulk: Destruction & Wonder Woman.
Currently he is working on Special Projects for IDW Publishing and is the host and producer of his YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/TheBoxOfficeArtist
Instructor
JOCK MACRAE is a skilled illustrator and graphic designer. He has been an art director, has worked in advertising and has extensive experience as a children’s book illustrator, for publishers such as Kids Can Press, Nelsons, Key Porter and Bayard Press, among others. Jock is a major part of year one drawing faculty, and also teaches illustration and graphic design.
Instructor
JOHN NEWTON is a Max the Mutt alumni, graduating from the Concept Art program in 2011. He has sinced worked for a variety of clients including Corus Nelvana, Le Cheval Noir, and private clients, as a background painter, colour key artist, storyboard artist, and concept designer.
Instructor
KEITH FUKUMOTO is a 2006 graduate of Max the Mutt’s Classical & Computer Animation Program. Over the last decade, Keith has held animation positions such as designer, rigger, scene planner, senior animator and supervisor at many different studios across the city as well as occasionally completing self employed animation work on the side. Currently working full time at Portfolio Entertainment, Keith is also the instructor for the 2D computer (Flash) animation course at Max the Mutt. Keith’s animation work can be seen in the popular television shows “The Cat in the Hat knows a Lot About That“, “Ever After High“, “Chirp” and “What’s your News“.
Instructor
KEN NICE studied sculpture at Ontario College of Art & Design and has a degree in Architecture from Ryerson University. Ken has been making sculpture for over 40 years. Though he mainly made a living as a freelance Architectural Designer and Illustrator for Developers and Architects, as well as a Concept Designer for International Theme Parks. Ken has also worked for the Walt Disney Company as a Background Painter. Today Ken continues to paint and sculpt, and Certified by the Ministry of Housing, Ken works as a House Designer.
Instructor
KUSHAL RUIA is an animation and film-making graduate from Sheridan College. Having worked in the animation industry for nearly a decade- both in India and Canada and in a variety of roles, he brings a unique balance of sound storytelling sensibilities, a creative eye for all things visual and years of management and business experience to Moovix Media Inc, an animation start-up, which he recently co-founded.
Prior to this, he headed ACK Animation Studios for five years at India’s leading children’s media company- ACK Media (Amar Chitra Katha). In this challenging leadership role (both creative and executive), he produced and directed over 850 minutes of acclaimed TV series/ films/ shorts for Cartoon Network India in addition to directing, writing and producing ACK’s first theatrical stereoscopic 3D feature, ‘Sons of Ram’, which has won multiple awards and has been shown in prestigious film festivals globally.
Instructor
MATT RICHE is a 3D generalist who is a rigger and 3D artist for Soho VFX. He has created photo-realistic assets for Hollywood feature films, and has also focused on rigging of characters and prop models for animation. His extended duties include tool0development and script writing. He has credits on many films.
Instructor
MEAGHAN CARTER is a comic book artist and member of Toronto’s Comic Book Embassy. She has webcomic, and will be featured at this year’s Toronto Fan Expo. Meg is a graduate of Max the Mutt’s Illustration for Sequential Arts Diploma program.
Instructor
MILAN PAVLOVIC is an award-winning illustrator and graphic artist specializing in illustrations for children, advertising, animation, editorials, and comics. Milan as educated and began is career in Serbia, and brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience.
Instructor
NICK DI GAETANO a comedian and musician who’s 15+ years of performance/creation work includes clown shows, puppet shows, improv shows, shows for children, punk/hardcore bands, performance art, video game voices and a butt-load of original music. He lives in the uncomfortable place where weird, sad and irreverent collide and is a self-described professional collaborator and renaissance man. He is the co-artistic director of Mi Casa Theatre in Ottawa and a Resident Artist at the Bad Dog Comedy Theatre in Toronto.
Instructor
OZ TEKSON Studied Graphic Design at the university. Earned his master’s degree in advertising graphic. Worked in the advertising industry as a graphic designer and an art director for 14 years. Completed his Ph.D. in visual communication while working; as well as, taught in two universities one course a week for eight years. Then became a full-time faculty and taught graphic design, photography, and advertising related courses. Currently, working as a commercial photographer while teaching part-time. Oz has some national and international awards in design, marketing, and photography.
Instructor
RAE DICKEY is an award winning animator with a technical brain. She is experienced working in Flash, Harmony and Maya. She has particular expertise in Harmony having supervised 2D Rigging since early 2013 at Guru. She has worked on a number of 2D and 3D shows, the most recent of which being Paw Patrol, and Ever After high at Guru.
Instructor
ROBERT RODAS is an MTM graduate who has worked as a 3D animator for Guru, March Entertainment, and is now animating for UbiSoft Canada. Robert is also a fine draughtsman and classical animator.
Instructor
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. He was nominated for a Governor General’s Award for Illustration for his work on Beethoven Lives Upstairs.
Instructor
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 9Story Animation. As a fine artist, he has exhibited drawings and paintings in Oakville and Toronto, and also teaches a popular workshop in character sculpture.
Instructor
TABITHA FISHER is a 2007 graduate of MTM’s Animation Program and has been working at studios across Toronto ever since. In 2011 she wrote and directed the short film “Missed Connection” as part of the NFB’s Hothouse program for emerging filmmakers. Tabitha currently supervises Locations and Layout on “Hotel Transylvania: The Series” at Nelvana.
Instructor
TIM DEACON is an award winning and emmy nominated artist.Tim is an animation veteran with years of experience in all aspects of animation production, as both a creative and managerial leader. He has excelled in his many roles as storyboard artist, designer, layout artist, and as a director for series for television , and for feature films. He is currently running his own company, 2309 Productions, and has also assisted Smashing Animation, a new animation company currently starting up as a branch of Smashing Pictures.
Instructor
TRACY GRANThas contributed to over 500 episodes of television programming in addition to her work in film, live events and corporate communications. Tracy has produced the animated series “Marty & Gerard” and “Paws & Tales”; the award winning short films “Birthdeus X” and “Waking Gus”; and the soon to be released animated feature “Spark” featuring the voices of Jessica Biel, Susan Sarandon, Hilary Swank and Patrick Stewart. Most recently she was a VFX Producer on the Jack Black feature film, “Goosebumps”.
In addition to her work in animation, Tracy has produced live action television series for HGTV, Life Network and W.
Instructor
TRI VUONG is an artist/animator with over a decade of experience in the video game and animation industry. He has had the privilege to work with the fine folks at Capybara Games, Ubisoft, C.O.R.E Digital Pictures, Spin Masters and Corus Entertainment. Currently Tri works alongside the many fine artists at The Raid Studio and where he spends most of his time working on his webcomic “The Strange Tales of Oscar Zahn” which is featured on Line Webtoon.
Instructor
WILLARD KITCHEN has been involved in the animation industry for over 35 years _ animating, supervising, directing on a wide variety of productions around the world (Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Great Britain, Spain) on such series as Smurfs, Yogi Bear, Dragons Lair, Danger Mouse, Scooby-Doo, Little Bear and Harry’s Bucketful of Dinosaurs.
Although primarily an animation director/supervisor, he has also worked in creative development (Cosgrove Hall Prod, Fat City Films, King Argon Prod.) and enjoyed exploring visual scripting and character development.
Instructor
WINRIK HAENTJENS has been working in the visual effects industry since graduating the 4 year animation program at max the mutt in 2007. He has been working as Lead 3d Artist for over 5 years at Stargate studios where he uses every aspect of Maya and other software to create visuals for Feature films, Commercials, and Prime Time Television shows like The Walking Dead, Doctor Who, Heroes Reborn, and Grey’s anatomy among many others. He was recently nominated for Best Visual Effects in the Canadian Screen Awards for his work on Haven as well as being involved with multiple Emmy Award nominated/winning shows.