Sheridan Animation Year End

Yes, as April draws to a close, so too does this year of the Sheridan College Animation program. The last few weeks are always pretty crazy, with students trying to stay on top of last assignment deadlines and we in the faculty going bug-eyed from all of the final grading! But now it's done and everybody can breathe a collective sigh of relief and start enjoying the spring and summer weather to come.

Here are a few photos I took this week and some caricatures of my 2nd Year students:

The selection process behind which student caricatures made it into this particular montage was determined by the following group shot photo at Monaghan's Pub across the street from Sheridan, taken after my classes wrapped up on Thursday April 22. The students in the caricature are Laurel Dalgleish, Evee Fex-Chriszt, Drew Petursson, Justin Hartley, Keely Turple and Caroline Hung. Hopefully you can match them all up with their real faces pictured below. The wise old sage in the photo is none other than my friend and Sheridan Animation colleague, Mark Mayerson, whose terrific blog is probably well known to many of my readers.


This pretty young lady is Lisa Kathofer, another one of my 2nd Year Character Design students who finally had her caricature drawn on the last day. Watch those deadlines, Lisa!

The fellow pictured above is Josh Heisie, a student in the Film and Television program at Sheridan, who is a friend of my former student, Amir Avni.

For the entire series of Sheridan 2009/2010 2nd Year mugshots, you can find them all posted here on my Facebook page.

Incidentally, for those in the vicinity, I'll be drawing caricatures along with several animation students for visitors to Sheridan's Open House, coming up this Saturday, May 1st. Here are some pics from last year's event. I hope some of you can stop by to say hello!

Amir Avni

This morning's Globe and Mail held a pleasant surprise for me in the form of this feature article in the Life section on one of my former Sheridan Animation students, Amir Avni. Amir is currently in his 4th and final year at Sheridan - I had him in my 2nd Year Character Design class two years ago and he was always keen to improve his ability. Best of all, Amir LOVES CARTOONS! :)


In the Globe article, Amir tells of his early correspondence as a fan with his cartooning hero, John Kricfalusi, of Ren and Stimpy fame. I certainly can appreciate what John's letters of encouragement and drawing tips meant to young Amir, as I'd had a similar correspondence with my hero, caricaturist Al Hirschfeld, back when I was in my teens and early twenties. It's really wonderful when a renowned artist takes the time and effort to write back to an aspiring artist, especially when it includes some practical information on how to progress. Much kudos to John K for his generosity of spirit in encouraging Amir some years ago. And I continue to be amazed at just how much John puts into his own blog, John K. Stuff, in his goal of passing along good practical knowledge on solid cartooning skills, which sadly seem to be becoming a dying art in both animation and print.

The Cartoon Caveman At Work...

This past week at Sheridan College, two of my current 2nd Year students, Amir Avni and Mitch Kennedy, asked if I would do an on-camera demonstration of how I take a drawing from initial rough gesture through to the final sketch. It was all very spontaneous and we set up in the classroom right after I'd finished this week's lesson to their group. In a matter of minutes the camera was set up on the tripod looking down over my left shoulder and I started sketching away, keeping a stream of consciousness commentary going all the while I was working. Hopefully this will illustrate the ongoing thought process I experience as I am working out a drawing. By the way, I apologize for the initial stage where I am gesturing in quite lightly in blue pencil on the paper. What I didn't realize at the time was that it was just too light for the camera to pick up. However, once I start working out the basic forms on top of the scribbled gesture, you can make out more clearly what I am doing. As for the chosen subject matter, let's just say that there's nothing more appealing to me than doodling a cute gal!

Again, my sincere thanks to Amir and Mitch for coming up with this idea, as it really was quite fun to do and I am actually quite flattered that they asked me. Please be sure to also check out their blogs to see a sampling of what these clever students of mine can do themselves:

Amir Avni
Mitch Kennedy

Pete Emslie1- Gesture and construction
Uploaded by toonamir

Pete Emslie2- Sculpting on paper
Uploaded by toonamir

Pete Emslie3- Line weight
Uploaded by toonamir

The finished sketch. By the way, if this were an actual assignment, I would lay a fresh sheet of paper on top of this and refine the drawing much more before inking it.