Class Description

Digital illustration is essentially the use of digital tools, such as digital tablet, in combination with drawing software, such as Adobe Illustrator, to create an illustration. With the universal appeal of digital illustration, an artist can now look at a blank canvas in a whole new light. Adobe Illustrator is the industry-standard vector graphics app to create logos, icons, drawings, typography and illustrations for print, web, video and mobile.

Mediums & Media/Programs Used

  • Graphic Pen
  • Digital Tablet
  • Adobe Illustrator

Subjects Covered

  • Intermediate Digital
  • Concept Creations

INSTRUCTORS

Thomas Thorspecken

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Thomas Thorspecken

Traditional Animation / Sketching / Foundational Drawing / Figure Drawing Instructor

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.

Colin-Boyer

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Colin Boyer

Illustrator Instructor

Colin Boyer is a freelance genre illustrator who works for Magic: the Gathering and does cover illustrations for Fantasy Flight Game’s Star Wars: Legion. He studied illustration at Ringling College of Art + Design, and while there he took an intensive multi week summer workshop called The Illustration Academy, where he learned from world renowned illustrators like Mark English, Gary Kelley, and Jon Foster. When the Academy started an online school he was awarded a full ride scholarship. He also studied classical drawing and painting at The Southern Atelier, and did a private mentor-ship with illustrator Greg Manchess through SmArt School. He lives in Orlando with his beautiful wife and daughter.

Amanda Moldovan

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Amanda Moldovan

Digital & Traditional Instructor

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.

Veronica-Suarez

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Veronica Suarez

Digital & Traditional Instructor

Veronica Suarez has been exploring the world through visual media for as all as I can remember. When the rest of my friends were fighting over popularity and a Teen People, I was on my belly in front of a National Geographic trying to redraw the animals I found in the saturated pages.  I wasn’t sure of the value everyone was looking for in others they did not contain themself.

Once I turned 18, I set off to the University of Central Florida to obtain my Bachelor of Fine Arts in Experimental Animation. Experimental Animation is an innovative concept that encourages artists to arrive at creative solutions through all means necessary without a boxed-in idea of what storytelling tools look like. Experimental Animation meant I was allowed to be unsure if I was to arrive at my characters and stories through traditional or digital media. I was given the opportunity to practice both in order to continually find my identity as a human and an artist. Today, I share my joy of what I learned through school and more importantly through myself when it comes to improving as an artist.  I am a program assistant at the university that inspired me so much, passing on the love that carried me through the difficult yet rewarding years of undergrad school and personhood.  Guiding others on their journey is an honor and a joy.

I am grateful for my opportunities as a teacher. Veronica is a traditional and digital artist with over a decade of experience designing for a variety of clients from Veteran Care to LVMN (Louis Vuitton /Moet & Chandon).  In her free time when she’s not making art she’s attending and supporting much of our local art community.  Examples include research, apprenticeships, partnerships, and cooperatives with a wide network of published and practicing individuals in fields such as Florida Prize winner Robert Rivers, Dark Horse artist John Nadeau, Portrait Society winner Stacy Barter, Steven Assael international artist and current instructor at New York Academy of Art, Disney animators Todd Bright, Aaron and Travis Blaise, and Joanne Adams.