Memory Lane 7 - Sheridan College 1983

 Sheridan College in Oakville Canada 1983. It was first year college for myself and many of my friends. As I teach my students today, I tell them that some of their fellow students sitting next to them may very well be with them for their careers. Maybe coming and going as jobs start and finish, but the connections made in college can last a lifetime. I just had Dinner with 2 college buddies last weekend with my family. We joined another 2 for ' American ' thanksgiving up here in Vancouver. Just congratulated another close college friend about his new gig at Pixar. And the list goes on. It's such a Industry of networking. Animation is very much a small and tight Industry. And within it, a lot of people know a lot of people. So the connections you make, the friendships you make can very much help direct your path as you go forward once you leave college.


Below are scanned photos from my first year in college. It was a great time with fond memories. I'll list some of the people that I had worked with at various studios as the years went on. { I may have a few listed in the wrong class, but I think this is where everyone was. }
Click their names to see their animation path since these photos were taken. 

Blair Peters { who went on to be one of the owners of STUDIO B here in vancouver } , Jon Hooper { worked with Jon at Nelvana, DON BLUTH Studios, WB/Amblin, Hollywood Cartoon Co, Disney Feature }
Andy Bartlett { Storyboarding and teaching here in Vancouver }, John Hill { Animation Supervisor. Worked with John at various companies } , Dave Pemberton { Layout Storyboard Artist Toronto } Chris Minz { Layout / Storyboard Artist Toronto } Faye Hamilton { Layout / Design }

Lars Pindal , Jean Morel { worked with Jean for many years at various companies } Karen Lessman, { I sat next to Karen in 2nd year college. Our area was myself, Karen and Dick + Ralph Zondag. 3 guys and 1 girl ... not really fair ..lol } Lyndon Ruddy { Layout / Storyboard artist }, Mike Girard { overseas animation director }, Mike Bass { animation director }
btw, that's me in the far back row, upper right corner. Sitting right behind those two hippies Lyndon and Mike ;-)

Chris Doyle { Animation Supervisor. I still have his googly-eyed character model sheet for this 2nd year film. } Ken Duncan { Animation Supervisor. Worked with ken in many studios, as well as working on his Disney crew during the production of Hercules. He is now the owner of Duncan Studio in Pasadena California }

Dick Zondag { animation supervisor } and his brother Ralph { director } were missing for photo day.
Jerry Fournier { Layout / Storyboard artist } Chris Labonte { production designer / Layout }, Chis Roberts { animation design }, Greg Sullivan { animation director }

Rej Bourdages { good friend and even better poker player }, Howy Parkins { Layout / Storyboard artist / Director, and a great hockey player. Played in front of me on a few teams { I was the goalie } while I lived down in southern California }, Steve Williams, { visual effects supervisor }, Harland Williams, { Left animation for stand up comedy, voice acting then onto hollywood. The rest is history. He actually did return to animation as he did the voice for a character { Carl the robot } in Disney's ' Meet the Robinsons as well as other projects }, Shane Doyle, { timing director / storyboard artist } Bob Angelini { color designer / timing director / instructor Mohawk College Canada} Nik Ranieri { Supervising Animator. Worked with Nik twice at Disney, once on his crew for Kuzco { Emperors New Groove} and the other on Lewis for ' Meet the Robinsons ' } Neil Hunter { Storyboard artist, animator, instructor @ Algonquin College Ontario Canada },  Chris Damboise { overseas supervisor, assistant director, timing director, animator }, Tom Higgerty  [ deceased ] { assistant animator }

Rej, Harland, Eric, Chris and Steve somehow turn up in another photo. ;-)

Jamie Oliff, { worked with him at Disney and he also was a great defenceman on the Ice }, Caroyln Gair, { storyboard artist }, Roger Jakubiec { Layout, Sound editing }