Industry Professionals Lead VanArts Faculty

    VanArts (Vancouver Institute of Media Arts) has announced a new line-up of leading industry professionals to helm their full-time programs. VanArts’ full-time diploma programs are designed to prepare graduates for entry-level employment in feature films, television, video games and new media. This year, institute is celebrating their 15th Anniversary of excellence in training students for the media arts.

    The VanArts Character Animation program is led by Wayne Gilbert, an animation veteran of 30+ years, whose credits include Rock & Rule at Nelvana, Star Wars Episode II at Industrial Light & Magic, and Skate & Skate II at Electronic Arts. Wayne has also been involved with training for Walt Disney Studios and is author of Simplified Drawing for Planning Animation. Joining him as a senior instructor is Mark Pudleiner. Mark’s industry credits, which span 20 years, include Don Bluth Studios, Walt Disney Feature Animation and Dreamworks. Studying the craft of character animation (both in 2D and 3D mediums) with Wayne, Mark, and their team of talented instructors is a rare privilege for aspiring character animators.

    The Entertainment Art for Film, TV & Games program prepares students for career opportunities in creating assets for film, television and game productions. This program, which focuses on concept art as well as 3D modeling, texturing and lighting, is led by Alan Harrison, whose 20 years of industry credits include over 18 AAA titles at Electronic Arts, and several television and film productions at Mainframe and CIS Rainmaker. Alan has held senior positions as an animator, technical artist and creative director.

    The most recent addition to VanArts’ faculty is William Dwelly leading the VanArts Visual Effects program. William has worked as lead layout technical director on James Cameron’s Oscar-winning film Avatar, and was also an animation technical director on I, Robot and King Kong at WETA Digital. He also has over 10 years of experience in professional Maya training and principal authoring for Autodesk manuals and tutorials. Teaching alongside William are several current industry professionals from local studios MPC, Rainmaker and CIS/Deluxe.

    For more information about VanArts, visit www.vanarts.com. Celebrating its 15th year anniversary, VanArts was founded in 1995 with Academy-Award winning animator/director Lee Mishkin as its program director. VanArts is fully accredited by the Private Career Training Institutions Agency of British Columbia and offers diploma programs in Character Animation, Entertainment Art, Visual Effects, Digital Photography, and Acting for Film & TV.