Bobby "Boom" Beck and Carlos Baena of Pixar Animation Studios and Shawn Kelly of Industrial Light & Magic have launched the new online animation school, AnimationMentor.com. The interactive school is a place where students will learn from guest professionals in the feature film industry. AnimationMentor.com hopes to become an international education hub that is more affordable than traditional art schools. Classes are scheduled to begin in fall 2004, and students can join at any time until seats are full. Enrollment will begin in September 2004.

The Online Animation School is designed as a one-year intensive animation school covering four comprehensive levels of experience. Students will learn from online video classes, assignments and personal video critiques from professional mentors. Students will also develop and extend their knowledge by learning from one another through internal forums and chat rooms. They can also view other student's video critiques to learn from each other's mistakes and successes. Professionals will interact with students through live question and answer sessions, and some of the most respected animators and directors in the world will offer their insights as featured guest speakers.

Beck says, "We built AnimationMentor.com with one question in mind -- if we were to start over again, how would we want to learn?"

The school's creators' credits include FINDING NEMO, MONSTERS INC., TOY STORY 2, the STAR WARS prequels, THE HULK and THE INCREDIBLES.