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To register and read more information pertaining to the expo click here: http://www.visualeffectssociety.com/2012-career-fair

St. Louis, MO May 1, 2012 – The United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) presented its 2012 International Distance Learning Awards to The ACME Network in conjunction with the 2012 National Conference in St. Louis, Missouri. USDLA is a 501(c) 3 non-profit association, founded in 1987, as the nation’s leading distance learning organization. The association reaches 20,000 people globally with sponsors and members operating in and influencing 46% of the $913 billion dollar U.S. education and training market.  These prestigious International Awards are presented annually to organizations and individuals engaged in the development and delivery of distance learning programs. Included in the recognition ceremony were awards for 21st Century Best Practice, Best Practice for Distance Learning Programming, Excellence in Distance Learning Teaching, Outstanding Leadership by an Individual and Hall of Fame.

“As a premier organization for the entire distance learning profession, we are honoring The ACME Network as a leader in the industry,” said Dr. John G. Flores, Executive Director of USDLA. “The ACME Network has raised the bar of excellence and we are truly honored by The ACME Network’s contributions to the distance learning industry.”

The USDLA Awards were created to acknowledge major accomplishments in distance learning and to highlight those distance learning instructors, programs, and professionals who have achieved and demonstrated extraordinary results through the use of online, videoconferencing, satellite and blended learning delivery technologies.

“Congratulations to The ACME Network and every one of this year’s award winners. USDLA takes great pride and responsibility in recognizing excellence and quality that benefit the entire industry.  Through distance learning, education, and training we can provide access to the world’s best award winning opportunities for school children, connect higher education students globally and transform the lives and careers of working adults. We are truly on the edge of something great and these winners clearly demonstrate and confirm the transformative powers of distance learning globally,” said Dr. Rob Robinson, President of USDLA.

States Deborah Brooks, Executive Director, The ACME Network, “ACME has helped over 52,000 students pursue their dreams and obtain 21st century skills through Art, Communication & Media in Education since 2004.  We are especially honored to have won USDLA’s prestigious 21ST Century Award for Best Practices this year, because we released our latest and most comprehensive software platform in October, and this recognition is a tremendous validation of the success of our platform, model, and efforts on behalf of students.”

Dr. Denzil Edge, Chair of USDLA Board of Directors noted that, “This year’s award winners represent many of the most innovative leaders in the field of distance learning.” He continued, “I also look forward to seeing The ACME Network again during National Distance Learning Week (http://www.ndlw.org), November 5-9, 2012.”

About The ACME Network
The ACME Network unites students, educators, and seasoned professionals in a global online mentoring community to inspire continuous learning and innovation in a secure, collaborative setting. ACME awakens individuals to the potential within; fosters leadership and social responsibility; and guides the acquisition of 21st century, applied skills that meet the highest academic and workplace standards. Since 1999, ACME has pioneered online education, rooted in the time-honored tradition of peer and professional mentoring.  Designed for a global community of students, educators, and experts who share an interest in honing 21st century skills through practical applications and critical review, The ACME Network is leader in Arts, Communications and Media in Education mentoring. ACME’s platform establishes a progressive, networking environment for professional skills and standards with up-to-the-minute relevance.

About United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA)
The United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) is a 501(c) 3 non-profit association formed in 1987 and is located in Boston, Massachusetts. The association reaches 20,000 people globally with sponsors and members operating in and influencing 46% of the $913 billion dollar U.S. education and training market.  USDLA promotes the development and application of distance learning for education and training and serves the needs of the distance learning community by providing advocacy, information, networking and opportunity. Distance learning and training constituencies served include pre-k-12 education, higher and continuing education, home schooling as well as business, corporate, military, government and telehealth markets. The USDLA trademarked logo is the recognized worldwide symbol of dedicated professionals committed to the distance learning industry. http://www.usdla.org

• Open big, get your best work up front and keep your reel short.
• Don’t mix weak work in with your best work; edit yourself ruthlessly.
• Allow your personality to come through and have fun—it will show in your work.
• Be entertaining and surprising. If people can connect emotionally to a story or laugh, then you’ve done a good job.
• Show your diversity and craftsmanship; not a bad idea to include some figure drawings from life, some quick gestural pieces along with some longer studies.

Reactions from two attendees:

From: Marie Dal Porto, Diablo Valley College

I wanted to thank you and all the others at ACME who helped to get me and my fellow classmates into the Disney Inspire Day. It was so cool to represent our school. We met extremely talented people and heard incredible people speak (like John Musker and Eric Goldberg)! It was a day of pure inspiration, and Thank you for helping us experience it.

The day took place at the Walt Disney Animation Studios. We met at the Frank G. Wells building for a breakfast. After breakfast, we went into a room where we had our main presentations, starting with our host for the day Darrin Butters and followed by John Musker. We were given a “whirlwind tour” of the Studios, which included a showing of their short animated film “Paperman” (so gorgeous). We were given lunch and then saw more presentations (one being the team that worked on “Paperman“). There was time for five student portfolio reviews, which proved to be quite informative for students like myself and my fellow classmates who haven’t yet had the animation experience that others have had. The presentations ended with a talk from Eric Goldberg who discussed how to make a character appealing and how Disney does that so well.

I took away a LOT of inspiration from the day. Everyone was really nice and supportive of all our developing skills and I felt like I was being welcomed into the Disney Animation “family”.

I would tell other ACME students that if they ever get the opportunity to go to a Disney Inspire Day…. GO!  The presentations you’ll hear, the other animation students you’ll meet, and the things you’ll see will all be very informative and very inspirational– SO GO!

-Marie

From: Henri Brownell, USC Fullerton

The best part of the day for me was getting to meet one of Disney’s actual animators and hearing his story. He was very interesting and gave several of us critiques (including yours truly!) His comments were very much gold nuggets! Thank you Nathan Engelhardt!

It was great seeing so many people who are so enthusiastic and passionate about animation.  Thank you for the opportunity to go to this wonderful event!

-Henri

For an in-depth description of the day’s events, see Diablo Valley College student Ralph Werner’s blog

http://bohemianartclub.blogspot.com/2012/03/visiting-house-of-mouse.html

Chad says, “The connection with ACME gives our artists a fresh take on mentoring and critique and helps to further develop their talents. It not only encourages ACME’s students, but it helps our professionals gain experience in giving positive and effective feedback. This kind of mentoring helps our artists practice the type of skills that come into play when they’re leading a unit or team or working as a supervisor. It helps them see both sides of management.”

“Mentoring also helps our artists creatively,” Chad says. “As our artists speak to students, they revisit the founding principles. When they return to work, they’ll practice what they preach, because now it’s top of mind. The basics never go out of style.”

“And of course,” Chad says, “There’s an advantage for Sony to see students’ artwork early on. We keep an eye on them for our internship program. ACME helps prepare its members socially, creatively and mentally. Sony is then able to see their work progress and get a sense for what students have the communication skills, the hunger to learn and grow, and most importantly, the ability to work collaboratively.”

Chad recalls, “We had one of ACME’s college students in our Internship program last summer. We knew from working with her on telecasts and watching her respond to feedback, that the hunger to learn was there. She came in and was willing to work. It’s not only or always the best animator—or the person who thinks they have great ideas. We have great ideas too; it’s can they listen to the director and help achieve that vision? And she helped with that. The piece she worked on, I don’t think it was in the final film, which happens all the time. And she was great. She was willing to run with what she heard from us. You have to be willing to start somewhere. The opportunities are out there,” he concludes, “You just have to know to take them and make them a reality.”

What is your favorite drawing tool?

Carmine red pencil

What music do you listen to when you are working?

It all depends on what I am working on, but the artist of the day right now is black keys

What’s your favorite thing to animate?

I like to animate big creatures with mass and that have a lot of weight.

Where did you go to school?

I attended The Art Institute of Chicago

Who is your mentor?

Alex Topete was one of the first to help me, but I have received help from many others along the way as well.

Can we find more of your work online? (i.e. if you would like to link to your website let us know the URL).

http://lorenzobambino.blogspot.com/

http://lorenzobam.deviantart.com/

The ACME Network won the Vial award in recognition of its success as a model of success in connecting Los Angeles-based animation studios with students in low-performing schools. Deborah Brooks won for her success in building the online mentoring community and for her work in engaging the entertainment industry in service to youth. The ACME Network and ACME Animation engage students, teachers, and entertainment industry professionals in animation training and career mentoring to foster leadership, collaboration, creativity, and technology proficiency.

ACME thanks the outstanding mentoring volunteers, supporters and our industry friends who have helped make this possible!
For CETF’s information on the Vial Awards, click here.

For CETF’s release, click Vial Awards Press Release.

In addition to being used in entertainment, it is also being applied in toy manufacturing, jewelry, illustration, scientific visualization, and others. The career possibilities are endless!

ACME is committed to sharing professional tips and tricks with our network, and met recently with Paul Gaboury and Jimmy Golding of Pixologic, the makers of  ZBrush, to learn more. Artists who use and have used ZBrush seem to agree that using the software is very much like the actual physical-world sculpting process.  It is designed to be an intuitive process so that the artist’s creativity and inspiration can emerge without worrying about the interface.  ZBrush integrates with other CG tools, so if you’re using Maya or 3DS Max, you can import your ZBrush files.

ZBrush has been gaining traction in schools, and boasts one of the largest online support communities around.  So ZBrush users don’t have to look far to get support and training from other users – very much like on The ACME Network!

We’ve included some links below for everyone to explore – to see if ZBrush could be the right tool for them.

Here is an overview on how the tool is being used in the industry: http://www.pixologic.com/zbrush/industry/

Here’s the link to the ZBrush Central Community forum: http://www.zbrushcentral.com/forum.php and its 350,000 ZBrush users at all levels.

They even have a set of 60 free, dedicated tutorials on their site at the  ZClassroom: http://www.pixologic.com/zclassroom/homeroom/ , ranging in topics from basics to advanced industry applications.

And best of all, they DO have a free trial version download at their main site: www.pixologic.com

Happy modeling!

Utah Valley University offers a Bachelor of Science Degree in Digital Media, with an emphasis in Gaming & Animation. Associate Professor of Digital Media  Rodayne Esmay of UVU currently has two classes participating on ACME.  Recent graduates have gone to work at Pixar, Nickelodeon, Sony Imageworks, and local gaming companies.

“We had five UVU students advance from Level 1 to Level 2 on ACME Animation in a matter of weeks,” Ray Seay, Program Specialist, recalls. “The quality of artwork met our rigorous criteria in professional review and the quality of their comments to other students was exceptional.  Their transition and work inspired our online community.”

Rodayne Esmay and his students are no strangers to inspiring those around them. States Rodayne, “the program at UVU gives students the opportunity work in a studio environment as a team, to design and build digital games and animated shorts.” Knowing that today’s middle and high school students could be his college-level students in the future, Rodayne works with the local “feeder” schools to help define and build their arts programs. He hopes to have three local high schools on ACME next year so that by the time those future students come to him, they are oriented to 21st century and creative skills.

“My students have also started a student club on campus called DAGA (The Digital Animation & Gaming Association),” Rodayne states. “As a service project, they hosted a class of middle schoolers, to bring them on-campus and broaden their understanding about the college experience and Digital Media. We spent two hours in the animation lab alone, and everyone got to try their hand at making something move.”

The challenge? The Utah State Office of Education does not yet recognize a classic animation class as an Art course, which means these types of classes have to be taught as electives. “Getting approval to teach animation to fill an Art credit is important because it will make it much more attractive to administrators, teachers and students,” Rodayne explains.

Fortunately for the many schools and classes in the area, Rodayne Esmay is an expert at designing and developing such curricula. ACME is assisting him with various arts standards and he will be drafting a plan for the Utah State Educational Arts Directors.
In 2007, Utah Valley University was recognized by the Carnegie Foundation as an Engaged Learning institution.  With Rodayne Esmay at the helm, we are sure more kudos and awards will be forthcoming. You can check out some of their work here.

What is your favorite drawing tool?
A Pencil or whatever is at hand.
 
What music do you listen to when you are working?
It depends; I try to stay calm with classic music, and anything that sounds epic. I sometimes switch to deadmau5 when I feel I need some spice and edge (regardless of the activity). 
 
What’s your favorite thing to animate?
I like to animate myself. The best advice I was ever given was: “you’re as young as your back. Take care of it.” 
 
Where did you go to school?
I went to school at ITESM Campus Guadalajara where I received my Bachelors In Computer Science and also attended the Vancouver Film School and obtained a my credentials in Digital Design.
 
Who is your mentor?
I was inspired by many, but mainly two were Nick Boughen, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1163502/  and Kelly Lee Myers,  http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2449660/
 
What is your favorite animated feature?
Two of my favorite animated features are “AKIRA” and “Vampire Hunter D.”