Eat your Peas

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Sometimes it's hard to label something as a mistake, because if you don’t know, you don’t know, and it comes back around in experience, usually well earned. Well, here's over 15 years of both design and tech experience we guarantee you’ll make gains on.

While no production is the same, you’ll never really know the cost of some details until you’re in the thick of it. However, there are a few design details we see over and over again that could be contributing to excess stress and blown budgets.

She’s a designer, a tech guru, all-around-industry-wizard, and Eat your Peas mentor. We’re so lucky to have her back, as she brings the best of both worlds and certainly knows how to steer a production in the right direction.

In the case of equality, feedback isn’t a one-size-fits-all model, it’s more of a tailored and fitted custom suit. It takes time to get to know a person's unique way of learning and doing things. We figured what better way to display the dynamic relationship between an artist and a supervisor, then to invite a pair to discuss the unique relationship.

Please welcome IRL (in real life) Rick & Morty’s rigging supervisor Nathaniel Lajeunesse & rigging artist Matthew Bleasdale to discuss their biggest communication concerns, fears, and successes openly as a live conversation. This dynamic duo is sure to prove that mistakes can only make momentum when they get paired with the right feedback.

Nathaniel Lajeunesse & Matthew Bleasdale will be available to answer any questions or help you phrase a few, if you’re having difficulty with your supervisor right now.

While there are many mistakes an artist can make, there’s really only one dealbreaker. Misinterpreted or lack of communication can make or break a whole project. Providing feedback is an art form when your goal is to communicate growth and a vision. As it should be!

Developing a team to their full potential takes a bunch of trial, error, and experience. If you have any interest in leading a team one day, this class is for you! Learn how supervisors set the bar high by clearly setting the whats, whens, and hows of expectations and roles with your team members.

Making the big jump from Ottawa ON, to Vancouver BC, Chris has been in the animation industry for the last 17 years in Canada. His best known works are Open Season: Call of Nature TV series, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, Rick and Morty, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs TV series, and Bob's Burgers.

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How do you know when you are ready to put the pencil down and pitch your board ideas?

Join Mike Tisserand, Storyboard director and Eat your Peas mentor, as he gives his profreshional insights into the ambiguous process that will help you make the most impact from your panels before you pitch your story.

With almost 20 years of experience, Mike has extensive experience working as an animator and into the storyboards department. Working on a wide array of shows like, Paw Patrol, Puss and Boots, and The Dragon Prince, he has also worked with Disney TV , Nickelodeon, and House of Cool.

Do you want to learn how the pros approach problem-solving around bad drawing habits? Or even better, learn to avoid your bad habits all together? This action packed & demo filled presentation is guaranteed to leave you with a stronger understanding of art fundamentals and principles.

Join Chris Muzyka, Art director and Eat your Peas mentor, as he brings us back to the basics of art fundamentals and applying artistic line quality to clean up final poses.

Chris has been in the cartoon making industry for the last 20 years in BC, Canada. He has been leading art and design teams for almost a decade and his known works are Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs TV series, Bob's Burgers, Polly Pocket and My Little Pony.

With a double header presentation, Ayla Radies will be talking about 2 very important roles within the animation industry.

Coordinating is the first step in one of the most essential aspects of animation. How we break down, catalogue and organize visual information is probably the highest form of spring-cleaning and sets the department and production up for success.

In the second half of this session, Ayla will illuminate a little-known role called the animation revisionist, which really encapsulates the finishing touches of any production. We believe this role will continue to become more integral in the future of animation and would like to cover it if it wasn't a role that they have heard of or considered before.

Ayla comes to us with over 10 years of experience in 2D episodic productions, her roles have ranged across departments, but her expertise is in production. With a focus on technical workflows, she specializes in finding efficiencies in the pipeline, and leveraging software knowledge to help drive decision-making. She has worked on The Snoopy Show, Snoopy in Space, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and Equestria Girls.

Do you struggle to finish your animation? If you find you are tinkering too long and finding it hard to let go of an animation scene, taking a step back and learning how to look at the bigger picture might be the key to your success.

Join Denny Lu, Animation director and Eat your Peas mentor, as he talks about time management, setting priorities and looking for small goals.

Denny has been in the cartoon making industry for the last 23 years in Canada BC and 17 of which he has directed numerous shows and worked with several generations of teams. His known works are My Little Pony-Friendship is Magic TV series, Kid VS Kat, Cocomelon, and Unicorn Academy on Netflix. His in-depth knowledge of the TV production pipeline helped us to be more focused and be more efficient in the mind of manifesting the most entertaining animations with a meaningful message for the younglings.

📣📣📣 Attention to anyone looking to get into FX animation. Eat your Peas has another first this month, so we’re circling back and referencing the fresh starts of January. I’ll say it again, libraries are the #1 tool for smoother productions and the ultimate spring cleaning tool.

If you don’t know what’s needed in an FX library, this class is for you. FX is one of the final stages of animation, learn how to manage your time, what's needed in an FX library and how to build one!

With almost 25 years of experience, join Ryan Barringer as our very first FX mentor! As he proves a well thought out reuse library can be a fundamental key in the success of a fast paced production.

Did you know it takes a village to write a joke? While a joke might be born in a script, it's often tested & transformed by a whole team of storyboard artists.

Join Maddie Czukar, storyboarding mentor, as she shows you how the whole team contributes to pitching & perfecting, lasting & laughing impact.

Are you interested in working in the art department?

Join Michelle Zhu, Art Director and Eat your peas mentor, as she breaks down the different jobs in a design department.

Check back soon for more info!

We’re finishing up some interesting details

Are you trying to get your first or even second job in the animation industry? Thinking like a team player, might be the key to your success.

Join Zoe Mabry, Animation supervisor and Eat your peas mentor, as she shines a spotlight on demo reels (especially if work is still under NDAs), the interview process and tests.

We hear, over and over, that you can't see good compositing. So how do you keep track of things you can't see?

Join Debora Slikta, Compositing supervisor and Eat your peas mentor, as she shines a spotlight on all the secret teamwork her crew takes care of to lift animation production to a whole new level.

You might know what it means to read between the lines. But how would you draw that?

Join John Keane, storyboarding mentor as he shows you how to take a functional story and turn it into a phenomenal visual story that makes an impact.

He'll not only break down why it's import to say less with visual stories, he's also going to be sharing his favourite ways to do it.

Do you dream of travelling around the world, sketching at every café you can find? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to take up an artist residency in another country?

Somehow, Jessie has managed to do all of the above while thriving in both design and technical roles within the industry. Join us as she explains her process and what it takes to live one of the dreamiest artistic lifestyles.

Have you ever been so frustrated learning a new skill that you wanted to flip your keyboard and give up? Tell yourself you’ll never get it right, and quit right there?

Not everyone loves to wrestle with a problem. But learning new skills is all about wrestling new challenges…

Check out these lessons learned from a career as a cut-out rigging expert, and put them into practice next time you tell yourself you want to quit. They might be the key to unlocking game changing success and winning that boss level.

Every artist will relate to having pivotal moments that solidify their choices to pursue a creative career.

From the first moment, where it all snapped into place, you could see the potential in yourself for the first time. To the moment of stepping up and challenging everything you know, to see how far you can go. But there's also a moment that reconnects and reignites everything you ever knew about yourself.

While these moments might be unique to you, we hope you never stop having them, and never stop noticing them. That's the real magic!

Lights, camera, action! A little vignette 🤌, a dash of rack focus 🤏, and a smooth multiplane to tie it all together 🫳. That's how the magic happens baby ✨

Join Angela as she shows off her technical match making skills in this lovey-dovey compositing session where she shows you how to work a scene and work the camera 🔥

She’ll help you figure out how to tie in the best moods for your animation needs. This is comp, comp, baby!

Have you ever wondered what your first day as a storyboard artist will look like? How to read scripts and turn them into drawings that turn into favourite TV shows?

Toren knows how to do it, and he'll be spilling the beans along with providing story boarding reviews, feedback and answering your questions.

Join Chris Muzyka on a colourful journey while he walks us through the concepts of concept designs in animation productions! He'll take you on a whimsical journey through visual language of shapes, colours, and give tips to survive the most common challenges to the creative process.

He'll also look over the work submitted in our Discord channel and provide feedback. He'll answer the burning question, "what's shape got to do with it?" Find out tonight!

Have you ever had to use a Toon Boom Harmony rig that was too stiff? Too slow from all the extra deformers? Have you ever wondered what makes a production rig just right?

It might not seem like an important step, but these questions, can make or break a production.

Join Alyx Ye as she demystifies making "near perfect" rigs, (almost) every time.

Did you know the #1 pro-fresh-ionally utilized tool for animating in Toon Boom Harmony is the library? If you thought the library was just another boring folder, then this session is for you!

Join Lubke Seid as he breaks down how-the-heck a folder holds so much power, and the key elements that keep a team on model for animation style and timing.

Let's face it, we've all heard "let's fix it in comp"! But… What if… We didn’t? Here are Marc’s favourite ways that any artist or department can do, today, to have a major impact on the pipeline.

Marc Fortin will be giving reviews, feedback and even showing you how to add some pro-fresh lighting tips to your scene.