Warning: The following post may be slightly mushy and/or sappy

I am officially now an alumni of Animation Mentor!

The past two years have been crazy. I have to admit that after my less than positive experience at my previous animation school my view of the animation community was slightly jaded, and I wasn't even sure if I wanted to continue in animation.  Thankfully AM showed me just how amazing and supportive the animation community can be!  My mentors and classmates constantly inspired me with their work and helped to push my work farther than even I thought it could go.  The whole AM community was so welcoming and supportive and I felt like I was a part of a special family from the moment I had 'stepped' on campus. I've learned so much in my time at AM from the lectures and critiques and from my fellow students work as well. 
  
I honestly can't say enough about AM and how much the past 2 years have meant to me.  I have to say a HUGE thank you to Bobby, Shawn and Carlos for creating the school in the first place as well as everyone working to make AM the wonderful place that it is!  Also a GINORMOUS thank you to my 6 fabulous mentors, Scott Lemmer, Pete Paquette, Rich Fournier, Dimos Vrysellas, Peter Kelly and Greg Whittaker and my Maya Springboard instructor Jared Garcia!  Without these wonderful and talented fellows I would most certainly not be where I am today!


Also a VERY LARGE shout out and thank you to all of my classmates and peer buddies!  Y'all were super supportive and took the time to give me some incredibly helpful feedback.  You also produced some beautiful work which inspired me to continue to push my work.  I hope to keep in touch and work with all of y'all some day!


If anyone reading this post is interested in getting into character animation I would 100% recommend Animation Mentor.  The people are amazing, it's crazy fun (although it is a lot of work) and there's nothing like learning from mentors who are currently working in the industry! They're not even paying me, people!


To sum it all up, the last 2 years have been incredibly challenging and a lot of work, but they've also been 2 of the best years of my life.  AM has said that they're in the business of making dreams come true and I definitely feel like I'm one step closer to mine.


THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!


-Love, Erica