The animation industry is fueled by passionate, curious artists. That’s why I teach as an Adjunct Professor at CUNY’s Feirstein Graduate School for Cinema.
I teach two classes: one focused on VFX and the other on hand-drawn animation. These are graduate level courses and are part of a required curriculum for student’s receiving their MFA in Cinema Arts.
Since 2018, we’ve had some amazing students and am always left inspired after each semester.
DIGITAL COMPOSITING I
What is a digital image? What do we mean when we call something “photoreal?” How should we think about digital images in the AI landscape?
This is a hands-on After Effects bootcamp focused on compositing and VFX fundamentals. This class aims to prepare students with the base skills they need to enter the VFX industry, and to hone their eye as critical visual technicians.
Assignments focus on grading, mattes, keying, distortion, rotoscoping, color management and 3D Camera tracking. We also cover valuable industry skills like negotiating contracts, managing clients and AI-based workflows.
This is an introductory course, with an average class size of 10 to 15 students.
DIGITAL CEL ANIMATION
How can animation deepen our ability to tell a powerful story? How can we leverage modern tools and AI while retaining the human touch in visual creativity?
This class is a hands-on craft course on the handdrawn animation pipeline. Over the semester we cover a wide array of animation styles, including hand-drawn FX animation, puppet animation, rotoscope animation, lip sync and AI. The student’s also pitch, storyboard, animate and composite their own short film from start to finish.
This is an intermediate course, with an average class size of 8 to 12 students.
