Hence, AnimationMentor.com was born. The curriculum was created with the collaboration of dozens of working artists and animators from the industry by utilizing a philosophy that character animation is a combination of story, acting, scene planning and a passion for the art form. “I was skeptical at first that what we had to offer could replace a traditional brick and mortar experience,” says Kelly, “But I have been amazed to see how much better it has been than we imagined.” Both Beck and Kelly agree that when they were starting out they would’ve died for this type of interaction with their “heroes,” animators working in the industry sharing their insights and techniques.

eCritique is the cornerstone feature of the program. Each student’s work is critiqued weekly via video by their mentor and then posted for the entire student body to see and post feedback. “We realized that we learned so much more from each other as co-workers, seeking advice, tips, discovering things, or just sharing a cool film or book,” says Kelly.

For everyone to be able to see each other’s work, it does give a real life feeling of being in a studio presenting to your director. Learning how to accept notes and incorporate them into their work is an important element for these students to absorb. And because of the lack of a physical classroom, this feature has created an atmosphere of community with public workspaces, forums and the critiques. The combination of these elements has become crucial to the success of the program.

Student Michael Plaisance lives in the Bay area and is in the fourth level session Advanced Acting. “The best part of Animation Mentor has been being able to be in constant communication with my fellow students. We are all working on the same assignments. We can see each other’s work and have regular access to our mentors through e-mail,” says Plaisance. “We even started our own video chat room, once a week, where we can all get online together. It’s like a great big Brady Bunch on the screen. The challenge is to live up to the expectations of your classmates… everyone’s pushed to do their very best.”

Animator Kenny Roy started as a campus mentor and now leads 35 students in advanced acting for the school. Being with these students, he observes, is like having a SIGGRAPH every week.

Global collaboration aside, still, you are learning on your own and this type of schooling requires a certain amount of discipline and motivation. No sleeping in or skipping classes here. Late assignments will affect your grade and not utilizing notes given from critiques can also be a huge downfall. “We really considered how much time people would have to dedicate to achieving graduation… some students put in crazy amounts of time. But you get out of it what you put in,” says Kelly. Mentor Kenny Roy agrees, “I’m a tough grader! I want them to be fully prepared for the real working world!”

Plaisance says he spends about 30 hours a week devoted to his schoolwork and, after only nine months in the program with a relatively limited background in animation, is already working on multicharacter/multishot scenes and preparing for the next step — a short film. “You need to be focused like a laser beam to really get the most out of what AnimationMentor.com has to offer, you really have to be able to devote the time to it. You can’t go in halfway.”

The mentors are all working professionals from the studios with familiar names like Burgess and Sweetland. They are paid for their time, but all seem to be eager to be part of the process of helping the next wave of animators come along. Kenny Roy started as a campus mentor, now he is leading 35 students in advanced acting. Roy is currently directing Nike commercials and spent a year at WETA Digital working on King Kong. “I love to talk shop, and be in the thick of it like at SIGGRAPH. Being with these students is like having a SIGGRAPH every week. Week to week it is really exciting to see everyone’s work and see them ‘get it!’“

Each mentor has their own style, but enthusiasm and passion are clearly necessary requirements. Most of the mentors are former or current colleagues, friends or referrals of the founders and they are put through a fairly rigorous application process. They must submit a reel and résumé, they will do a live q&a/online interview and their backgrounds and referrals are thoroughly checked. “This is a pretty small industry,” says Beck. “It’s not hard to start asking around and find out what kind of person and artist they are.”

Mentor Cassidy Curtis (Madagascar, Shrek 2) answers a question posed by Animation Mentor student Ricardo Villa during the weekly realtime, online classes.

In the early days, chat room “buzz” ranged from explosive excitement to skepticism and doubt about this new endeavor. Could someone, living in Nova Scotia, with relatively few animation skills really have an opportunity to pursue my dream and perhaps work as an animator someday? Beck says, “Yes, it can happen. We’ve seen amazing work come out of our students and have had a couple get hired at major animation studios.”

Completing their freshman year, the founders have learned a lot about what their mission is and have kept an open forum with their students to make improvements. They recently developed Version 2.0 of the site that includes upgrades that were a direct result of the student’s feedback. They’ve been able to support a larger load of data and made the program much more efficient and user friendly for the students. “The workflow is very tight,” says Plaisance.

There have been a few naysayers. “They tend to be those who have taught in universities for many years and this might be too radical of a concept for them,” says Kelly. They don’t deny that if you are interested in more technical areas such as rigging, lighting or rendering or backgrounds, coloring and compositing, than this school is not the place for you.