One-on-One Virtual Mentorship
My Professional Experience:
I am pleased to offer a one-on-one virtual Mentorship with me, Tim Moen! As a decade-long lead character designer for Walt Disney Television Animation, it was a part of my regular duty to give corrective drawings and feedback to members of the character design teams I led. I provided intensive training for other artists in the form of video and studio lectures, and helped to prepare the instructive manuals for how to draw characters on several Disney productions. Additionally, I reviewed dozens of character design portfolios on behalf of Disney, both for studio positions, and at scouting events/conventions. This level of advice and criticism is what I am now offering in the form of a mentorship.
The Purpose:
This mentorship is meant to help students of any skill level improve in their general cartoon drawing and design abilities, with a focus on characters. It is not structured with specific curriculum. (Ie: there are no specific lessons, or a course outline). Prior to any session, the student will come prepared with a drawing and/or questions about an aspect of drawing cartoons/characters that he or she wishes to improve upon. Recommended age is 12+.
The How:
The Mentorship consists of four 30-45 minute online meetings, once per week, where the student will present his/her work to me, and I will offer instructive feedback, both verbally, and in the form of digital drawings over the student’s work. Corrective/suggestion drawings will be shared with the student after each session. In this regard, the mentorship becomes more specifically tailored to help the student improve in areas of his/her weakness and/or interest.
My Area of Expertise:
With a career as a character designer, naturally my expertise is in the area of drawing and designing cartoon characters, especially as they relate to animated productions. I can also give basic feedback on background and prop design, as I have done those things professionally, although those things aren’t the main focus of the mentorship.
What This Mentorship Isn't:
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As previously mentioned, there is no structured curriculum for these sessions.
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This is not a series of “step-by-step” cartoon character drawing tutorials. While I can give advice on how to improve the drawings of certain cartoon characters of your choosing, I will not prepare lessons instructing you how to draw them from scratch. If you are local to the Maryville/Seymour Tennessee area, and interested in classes where we do that, please see what we offer on our course catalog page, or our partner classes page.
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This isn’t a Photoshop/drawing program tutorial. I can share some helpful digital workflow tips (especially in Photoshop), but YouTube is probably a better place to learn the ins and outs of Photoshop in general.
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I am not a professional painter. While I can give color suggestion and advice on coloring characters, it is advised that students who want to learn how to paint realistically, paint backgrounds, or create full-color visual development pieces learn from a subject matter expert who has more professional experience in those specific areas.
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This mentorship is focused on drawing cartoon characters, but not realistic, highly-rendered illustrations.
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I’m not an anime expert. While I can give drawing and design advice on drawings done in an “anime style”, the advice will be general and not specific to any kind of anime style.
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I will not help you with any NSFW (Not safe for work/inappropriate/nudity) artwork.
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I will not help you with any politically motivated/“social-statement” artwork regardless of your view on these things. (Let’s keep it neutral and fun!)
Why 4 Weeks?:
I'm offering this mentorship in 4-week blocks for the sake of flexibility. Students sometimes do not have the time or the money for a longer commitment up front. 4 weeks is enough time to get a start on helping them improve. However, a student wanting more time can easily book more than 4 weeks for an additional cost. The choice is theirs!
Student Requirements:
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Internet Connection
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Web Camera
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Microphone
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Zoom (video conferencing program)
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Ability to send and receive emails
For students without a digital tablet: Paper, Pencils, erasers, whatever art supplies you wish are fine. You will need a scanner (or good quality digital camera with decent lighting) so that the images can be sent digitally to me for review.
Optional: Any kind of digital tablet display with decent drawing software will work. Examples of displays include: iPad/iPad Pro; Wacom Cintiq; XP Pen; Xencelabs; Huion or equivalent pressure sensitive tablet displays. Software examples include Adobe Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, Corel Painter, Procreate (iPad), or equivalent software. (Not Microsoft Paint, for example!)
The Price:
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$400.00 (USD)
This price is for 4 (four) 30-45 minute sessions. The sessions will be at least 30 minutes, but probably not much longer than 45 minutes.
To Apply:
If you are seriously considering purchasing a 4-session weekly mentorship with me, (and we haven’t met already) I want to meet you! Schedule a free 5-minute video call with me by emailing me at info@moencartooncourses.com and let me know you're interested. We will meet, have a brief look at some of your work, and talk about our schedules. If I am confident I can help you improve your skills and/or portfolio, then you are the perfect candidate and I will send you a link where you can pay for the mentorship. Full payment for all 4 sessions is required up front.
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