Instructors

Woody Woodman is an artist, storyteller and teacher with 20 years in the animation industry. After being honorably discharged from the United States Marine Corps in 1991, I began my pursuit to become a professional artist, and enrolled at Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota Florida, where I received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

I was recruited by Walt Disney Feature Animation and continued my education in their internship program in Orlando Florida in July of 1997. I began my animation career as an ‘inbetweener’ on the film “Mulan” with Barry Cook. I worked on several films; “Tarzan,” “The Emperor’s New Groove” and “Lilo & Stitch” Then I was accepted into the story department working with some of the finest storyboard artists and directors in the business. I also worked on “Treasure Planet” with Ron Clements, John Musker and Glen Keane. I continued to work for Disney in the story department on “Brother Bear” and a few films that where never realized, until the Orlando studio was shut down in 2003. Woody has continued his Animation experience working with such clients such as: Aardman, Lucas Films, Laika and 20 Century Fox.

Thomas Thorspecken, also known as Thor, attended the school of Visual Arts and Design in New York City.  In his 10 years as a freelance illustrator in the city, one of his assignments for the Daily News included sketching historic buildings throughout the city for a column called “Undiscovered Manhattan”.  Thor relocated to Orlando in 1993 to work for Disney Feature Animation.

After 10 years the studio closed, and he continued to pursue his passion for art through teaching and sketching.  His blog “Analog Artist Digital World” began in 2009 as a resolution to post a sketch every day.  He describes it as “his way to finally put down roots, to be part of the community, one sketch at a time.”  Thor has also been teaching Traditional Animation at Full Sail University and now is part of a great team of instructors at Elite Animation Academy.  Thor will continue his passion to teach and now will include Middle and High School students.  Some of the classes he will teach include Traditional Animation, Drawing Fundamental and Urban Sketching.

James Parris was born in New York City, attending the High School of Art and Design and Pratt Institute before migrating to Los Angeles to become a multi-hyphenate filmmaker.

Cutting his teeth in traditional animation during the 90’s Disney animation renaissance, his traditional animation credits include The Lion King, Mulan and Tarzan. He later migrated to CG visual effects for blockbuster features like Spider-Man, I, Robot, Transformers 2 and The Oscar-winning Curious Case of Benjamin Button. James is also an Animation Director on popular TV series like Apple’s Doug Unplugs, as well as an avid live-action filmmaker and storyboard artist, directing short films and music videos, while developing feature and series content through his production company, Paper Tiger Films.

Tony Santo has background in illustration, he is always eager to achieve new distinctions as an artist. Perhaps even more important is my commitment to provide the best visual solutions for my distinguished clients and the clearest instruction for my students.

Since 2009, I have been designing storyboards for History Channel (Vikings), WWE (Wrestlemania), Cartoon Network (Ben 10: Omniverse), Pepsi, Sports Illustrated, Indeed.com, Starz, Florida Hospital, HBO, Shriners Hospitals for Children, and others. With animatics, cinematics, video editing, illustration, and concept art, I have successfully presented campaigns for A & E Network, Microsoft, PHD, Carnival Cruise Lines, Budweiser, Henry’s Hard Soda, Sun Trust, Merck, Humira, and more.

I worked as a Clean-Up Animator on Disney films like Mulan, Tarzan, Lilo and Stitch, Brother Bear, and The Emperor’s New Groove. In addition, I served as Art Director on multiple iterations of the award-winning EA Sports games Madden NFL and NCAA Football.

As a Chartpak Art Ambassador, I find reward demonstrating and presenting art supplies and techniques for brands like Higgins, Grumbacher, Koh-i-Noor, Molotov, and others.

I currently reside in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, but my home is where my work takes me.

Stella Abelaez was born in Cali, Colombia and arrived in New York City at the age of fifteen, when she was accepted to the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Arts as an art major. She continued her artistic development by attending the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT-SUNY) for Fashion and Fine Arts Illustration. In her senior year, Stella took part of a painting class at Scoula Polimoda in Florence Italy, which exposed her to academic painting from the masters. Stella graduated with honors and was recognized as a top competitor by The Society of Illustrators for her pastel portraits and acrylic paintings.

After graduation, Stella furthered her life drawing skills at The Art Students League of New York while freelancing in the fashion illustration field. She was then invited to join the Walt Disney Feature Animation studio in Orlando, Florida as an animation intern and later as a special effects artist. Stella was part of the “Pocahontas Animation Discovery Tour”, where she drew on stage demonstrating the art of animation to audiences in 13 countries while promoting Disney’s “Pocahontas” before its global release. Eventually, she moved to Los Angeles, where she worked for other studios as a 2D special effects artist.

While raising a young family in Burbank, Stella became a homeschooling mother and freelanced props for a variety of TV and film productions. She pursued a certificate in Early Childhood Education from UCLA and volunteered her talents and time to worthy causes such as Girl Scouts.

Stella is now located in central Florida, where she is focused on following her artistic vision and working on private commissions.

Matt Sveum graduated from the University of Central Florida with a BFA in Character Animation. Later he received a certification from Animation Mentor, working with top industry professionals from studios such as Dreamworks and BlueSky. In his career, he has directed short films and animated for Netflix. Growing up, Matt was drawn to anime and manga such as Mobile Fighter: G Gundam and Rurouni Kenshin.

These works also inspired him to pursue martial arts, which he taught for 11 years. In his free time, he enjoys writing fantasy and science fiction novels. His preferred tools are Autodesk Maya, Adobe Premiere, Photoshop and good old pencil and paper!

Joe Zaffuto is a graduate of Ringling College of Art & Design, receiving a BFA in Computer Animation in 1999. I then obtained a MFA Degree specializing in Modeling from The Academy of Art University of San Francisco.

With over 14 years that span over a plethora of different projects from college instruction, movies, television, and video games. My true passion is for lighting, and art direction, but I also love to instruct, inspire and lead.

Amanda Moldovan is a skilled animator, painter, illustrator, graphic designer, and professional weirdo. In school, she crawled her way through the jungles of the amazon to get her BFA in Animation. Being a University of Central Florida student taught her what it was like to work in a studio environment and create a short animated film. Since then she has had animation jobs around the US, started her own art business, directed a short, and worked as a painting instructor.

In her first job as an instructor she taught people of all ages how to get creative and pick up a brush. She has animated on short films, music videos, video games, YouTube series, and Television shows. She also is an avid member of Women in Animation, where she was lucky enough to be in a mentorship group under a head of animation at Pixar.  Her hobbies include Dungeons and Dragons, rock and roll, and re watching old Muppet show episodes. Raised in the state of Florida (home of the mouse himself), she found herself inspired by the world around her and began to create. The world hasn’t been the same since.