AARON GILMANMentor at AnimationMentor.com Animator at Weta Digital http://www.aarongilman.comAaron Gilman is currently an animator at Weta Digital and mentor at Animation Mentor. He spent most of his childhood traveling, but Montreal was always home base. After graduating from the University of British Columbia with a degree in philosophy, he spent many years trying to figure out how his passion for visual arts could turn into more than a hobby. At age 26, Aaron didn even know what 3D animation was. He loved making short films, exhibiting his photography, and studying film theory. It was only while sitting on the bus one day in Vancouver, with about $15 in his account, that he saw an advertisement for a 3D animation program and enrolled. In the first three months of the program Aaron knew animation was what he had been seeking. By the end of the program he had multiple job offers, and moved back to Montreal where he took a position as a junior animator with a new studio called Meteor. He stayed there for a number of years working on dinosaurs and prehistoric animal shows for Discovery Channel. After Meteor, Aaron was hired at Tippett Studio to work on Matrix: Revolutions, and also worked on Hellboy and Constantine. Aaron began working as the Animation Director on Ubisoft Tom Clancy Rainbow Six: Vegas. After a couple of years, he returned to Meteor and supervised animation on the feature Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D. Over the past eight years, he has had some incredible opportunities working at all levels of feature films, games, and television. Aaron recently relocated to New Zealand where he is working as a character animator at Weta Digital on James Cameron Avatar and Fox The Day the Earth Stood Still. Some of Aaron interests include public speaking on animation. He had a blast speaking at conferences, universities and trade schools. He also loves computer gaming with World of Warcraft as his biggest time sink. Aaron is having a lot of fun with his wife and son in New Zealand where they spend the weekends walking on the beach and hanging out with other Weta friends and their kids.KEITH SINTAYMentor at AnimationMentor.com Senior Animator at Digital Domain http://www.keithsintay.comKeith Sintay is a senior animator at Digital Domain and a mentor at Animation Mentor. Keith dreamed of becoming an animator since he could draw his first stick figure. He was inspired to pursue his dream after seeing The Rescuers in 1977; the sketchy pencil lines left on the characters in that movie allowed a peek into the art behind the scenes. To him it was inspiring. Keith grew up in Michigan, and after being distracted by girls and parties, remembered that he had once wanted to make an animated film. He pursued the Disney Feature Animation internship by finishing art school and drawing and drawing and DRAWING (there was no CG back then kids). Well, to get to the point, he was accepted into the Disney internship program and was hired shortly after to work on Pocahontas. Keith has worked on Hunchback, Mulan, and Tarzan at Disney Feature, and Spirit, Sinbad and Shark Tale at DreamWorks. He has recently finished work as a senior animator on Open Season, Surf Up, Monster House, Beowulf and I Am Legend at Sony Pictures Imageworks. Having just finished work on G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra, he is currently working on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
