Max the Mutt College of Animation, Art & Design

I only just completed my first year at Max the Mutt. I decided to attend the school at the suggestion of my friend who works as an animator and attended the school 5 years back. It is a tough program but I have to quote my friend on it, "If you didn't know how to draw going in, you'll know how going out." On a more in depth explaination : the class sizes are small which is really nice. The instructors are often professionals coming in to teach between work shifts/projects, as well as past students, so they are very knowledgeable and passionate. I have gotten some really good feedback and constructive criticism to help improve my own work. When speaking with others in the animation industry, Max the Mutt students are commented on being good workers, ready to do what is asked of them with little extra teaching when coming on new projects. Nowhere is perfect and of course there are little hang ups here and there but so far I would suggest this school to an inspiring animator/concept artist/sequential artist. A suggestion if you wish to attend the school : buy way more newsprint than expected.

When choosing Max the Mutt, I was looking for a school that had an in depth art program, allowing me to build the artistic foundations right from the grass roots level to the advanced techniques that are currently being used in the industry by many artists. Most importantly, I wanted to be part of an institution that adhered to the discipline of "hands on" academic learning. My decision was strongly affected by the portfolios the students were able to produce and also the rich experience of the instructors. Their passion and dedication to teaching is of the highest standard and a great motivator for the student. The community is small but focused giving both the instructors and students the opportunity to address any concerns on a one-to-one basis.I am currently enrolled in the first year of the sequential arts program and it has been a great experience so far. My foundations have improved tremendously and I cannot wait to elevate that experience in the coming years. Your success depends on the way you learn. If you have a strong drive and passion for art and can adapt to the pace of the information taught in the respective programs, it will be very advantageous. If you have no prior experience in art, it will build a strong work ethic and give you the tools necessary to become a successful artist. I strongly recommend Max the Mutt to anyone looking for a concrete art program and a career in the fields of Sequential Illustration, Concept Art and Animation.

I've attended Max for the past three years (the Animation program for the first year, and then the Sequential program for the last two). From experience I can say that, while Max does have incredible faculty, overall friendly student body, and great classes, the work load can be very intense for those who aren't cut out for it. Personally, it gave me a lot of mental stress. If you want to be able to have a social life outside of school, I would recommend a public school; this will take a lot of dedication and focus. If you thrive in that type of environment, than this school is for you! The administration side of things can be a bit unprofessional at times, though they have been getting better over the course of my time there. I do not regret my time at Max for various reasons- including meeting people I can network with, and learning SO MUCH about art in general. Shoutout to the great teachers as well who provided amazing guidance and feedback.

Max has a heavier focus on art fundamentals compared to other colleges, that really pays off each and every year of your program. I loved having smaller classes and the one-on-one time with teachers. You improve very quick if you are prepared to work hard and listen to critiques

As a Colombian and a student of the animation program, I must say that the level of training, teaching, experience and learning that max the mutt has does not yet exist in my country. The teachers with their high level of experience reflect the excellent results that we as students and once graduated as professionals present to the world. I invite you so that you can appreciate the quality and warmth that they provide us and the support received every day, which is key to achieving my goals.

If I had the chance to, I'd gladly give this college no stars at all. When I first applied to Max the Mutt, I had a lot of ambitions of being one of the school's best performing students on campus; but as time went on, I became more and more jaded towards how they treated me as well as my work. What angered me the most was with the school's advisor telling me that they are against the idea of lying to their students about their performance to prevent their feelings from being hurt and just recently, which has gotten me riled up with rage after dropping out due to personal issues out of control as well as my mental health, I was given nothing but multiple negative grades on all the classes I've taken, with teachers telling me constantly in class that I'm doing decently on them to only pull this on me. Its remarkable how unprofessional this school is, to say one thing to the students and then do the other; my best recommendation? Go to Sheridan or any other public college in Canada or your home country, you're better off doing that than wasting your time in this horribly ran school. To quote off an ex-teacher's post regarding his time at the school, I leave with this, "Remember Max the Mutt? That animation/art school run by a couple of people that drove me (and soooo many other instructors, staff, and students) crazy with their often inappropriate and often unprofessional behaviour? This is the school that told me not to tell a student he was going to fail until after the deadline for him to get any of his tuition back had passed. " "This is the school that put the name of the new instructor as author on courses I'd written with no changes after I quit. The owner of the school threatened to sue me over an eight-year old blog post where I answered questions about the school. Now I've learned they're sending out wildly inaccurate transcripts to former students. In addition to other screw-ups, they credit later instructors as teaching courses I taught. How is this clown car of a school still in business?"

I am a grade 12 student who was interested in this school for animation. I was considering applying until I had a phone call with Maxine. I was told that we will be worked like med students, and have no social life outside of class. For every class (which is 3 hours long), you are expected to do 3-4 hours of homework outside of class. When I told Max that I may not apply anymore because I would enjoy SOME aspects of a social life, due to my mental health issues, she got mad. She then asked me what other schools I am applying to and why, I said I was applying to Seneca, Sheridan, and Algonquin for classical animation, and she got furious. Maxine had the gall to tell me, straight up, that I should quit animation. That if I am not willing to work 24/7 on animation, and have no social life outside of it, then I shouldn't go into animation at all, and rather go into something "easier". I was so insulted. I was told I should quit all my dreams of being an animator because I want to take care of my mental health? What the hell. Not to mention, there were some lies sprinkled in there. Maxine said that recently they were rated number 1 internationally. I checked, that rating was in 2017 and was for illustration, NOT animation, which is what I was looking for. She also kept on talking about how they're the only school that teaches traditional animation anymore, which is a lie because the 3 previous schools I mentioned are also known to teach classical animation. Save your time, save your money, consider looking somewhere else. Especially if you value your mental health.

I cannot in good faith recommend this college to anyone. I've met best friends, great teachers and have had the fortune of becoming an artist due to its fundamentals, but anything beyond that is un-salvageable. The courses are poorly set up, with many feeling like beta tests. I've had two photoshop courses with the exact same material verbatim and I've each had to pay for them separately. The administration is cruel and often unfair to students, verbally mean and they treat you like children, with no mental health support. Students who have to work have it bad, as their schedules are very poorly constructed. you have no breathing space for any sort of life outside of just going to school, and then going home to do work, in general. You will get burnt out, you will lose your love for art. What tipped me over the edge was their lack of communication during the online year. Everyone was stressed due to teachers not properly communicating, the office not properly communicating. It was dysfunctional, and the way the handled it was catastrophic. Every day my peers would break down from the workload and lack of feedback, this should never happen at an educational institution. Not to mention they charged full price for tuition that year, with half of the classes not functioning as intended.