files/pictures/picture-35.jpgAWN is proud to announce the launch of the Educator's Forum. The goal of the forum is to offer a place where anyone involved in the development, support and delivery of animation-related education and educational products can ask questions and rub elbows with other professionals in the business. Countless educators have been asking AWN for some time to start a forum like this -- we finally ran out of excuses and made it happen.
We are also delighted to have five wonderful educators involved in moderating the new Educator's Forum.
Larry Lauria, our Animation Cafe moderator and an animation instructor at SCAD, has worked in animation for more than 24 years. The credits include features, commercial television, industrial and interactive projects, which have garnered over 40 national and international awards. During the past eight years he has focused on coordination and instruction of animation programs. He runs the Toon Institute Website at:
http://www.awn.com/tooninstitute/ .
Eric Huelsman runs the Studio Arts School in Los Angeles. Previously, he was the director of the Friedman 3D Computer Animation Program.
Norm Drew has more than 40 years experience animating, designing, writing, directing, producing on everything from TV spots, educational shorts, TV series, specials and feature films (YELLOW SUBMARINE, HEAVY METAL-TAARNA SEQUENCE, THE CHIMUNK ADVENTURE). For almost 10 years he lived and worked overseas, supervising TV series productions such as: SMURFS, PUNKY BREWSTER, HELLO KITTY, DENNIS THE MENACE, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES and BEETLEJUICE. Interleaved between those Asia projects, back in Vancouver, he wrote, launched and instructed the classical animation programs for the Vancouver Film School (1992-1995), the Vancouver School Board, Continuing Adult Education Dept. (1992-2001) and tutored worldwide through my own tutorial service The Academy of Classical Animation from 1993 to the present; also in 2001, for VanArts Media Institute inaugural storyboarding program.
Ed Gavin is an instructor from Ringling School of Art and Design. A 1995 graduate of Ringling's Computer Animation program, Gavin worked at Blue Sky Studios as an animator for two years where he mainly did commercial work as well as working on BUNNY, winner of the Oscar for Best Animated Short in 1998. He made a brief tour of duty in the gaming industry at Orlando, Florida-based n-space as lead cinematic artist. He taught at Full Sail before joining Ringling five years ago. He is a full-time faculty member for the Department of Computer Animation where he teaches computer animation and helps students create and complete their senior thesis projects.
Marla Schweppe is the director of visualization at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She began teaching her first computer animation course in 1982. She's taught 2D and 3D computer and camera animation of all types. She has taught in a research facility, an art school and a technical university.
