The Making of Animation Mentor

It was an honor to be asked by CTN to talk about the creation of Animation Mentor. Carlos and I got to share some of our early stories and the passion behind why we created AM in the first place. We hope you enjoy.

Please note:
While I was at Pixar I had one of the most incredible experiences being an animator and I want to clear up some confusion.
I was never a Senior Animator at Pixar. I don't even think they have titles like that there. Please note my brain was a little fuzzy that morning due to lots of festivities happening at CTN.
When I was working on Monster's Inc. Dave Devan was internally titled "anim buddy" on Boo. Anim Buddy is a term that Pixar uses internally only. It is not a lead animator as Pixar likes to keep the hierarchy as level as possible. He got called away on shots before he was able to finish and I was tasked with working out the development of her when she is in her costume.
On Nemo I was Anim Buddy on Nemo's character. As an Anim Buddy you are tasked with making sure the rig is solid before it goes into production. You do tests with the character to establish how it could move. You create the initial shape libraries that the other animators will use for consistency.
To remove any confusion of this in the future I have decided to change my resume to read "Animator" on these films and wanted to clear up this confusion here publicly.