Industry Testimonials

Strong graphic design presentations. Great work! Look forward to learning more about Academy of Art's recent growth & accomplishments.
— Richard Davia, Creative Director, Design Continuum

Many students had a lot of talent and would love to keep in touch with them in the near future.
—Bobbie Page, Associate Producer, WB Animation

Mary Scott is an amazing visionary leader. The quality of work and personal nature of each student portfolio is inspiring!
— Candice Lopez, Dean of Graphic Design, San Diego City College

Work was/is excellent technically, and the creativity isn't far behind. Would like to see more creative risks in the art, but otherwise this is a remarkable school with an incredibly successful program.
— Conrad Montgomery, Coordinator, Recruitment, Walt Disney Television Animation

Very organized, presentation was classy, students represented themselves very professionally.
— Michelle P. Robinson, Director of Production, Walt Disney Television Animation

I was very impressed by the high level of creativity and talent. Many of these students would be wonderful to work with.
— Alan Bodner, Art Director, Walt Disney Television Animation

Fabulous show — kudos to Chuck Pyle!
— Piper Smith, Vice President, Lindgren & Smith

Great school, amazing classes, teachers and staff. The students are lucky to have all of you. The quality of the work the students are showing is wonderful. Great job!
— James Stapp, Model TD Lead, Model Development, Walt Disney Television Animation

I saw some great progress since last year. You have some very talented students!
— Annika Vogt, Artist Representative, Sharpe & Assoc. Inc.

Some very strong drawings and paintings. ID program is impressive! Good variety in concept art.
— Jack Lew, Global University Relations Manager, Electronic Arts

It was great to critique these students, do editing, see some from year before and put some on a course by reviewing strengths and weak spots in their portfolios. Several need tightening; as a whole they were really good!
— Susan Baraz, Partner, PhotoTherapy

Very strong group. Sketch skills are very high and please continue to emphasize. Nice balance of digital and analog skills, very nice models as well. 1/1 size seating bucks were very well done. And convincing. Excellent venue and facility. Trans. Guys could use a little more room if possible. Thanks!
— David O'Connell, Manager Design, Mitsubishi R&D America

Great improvement over last year! Nice facility and organization.
— Chris Rhoades, Chief Designer & Assistant General Manager, Mercedes-Benz

Great facility.
— Philip Lunn, President, Bunkspeed, Inc.

The facility is excellent for this type of review. A huge improvement from previous shows.
— Andre Frey, Senior Designer, Mercedes-Benz

As good as the "best."
— Ravi Sawhney, President, RKS Design

I enjoyed this show and plan to send a targeted recruiting team next year.
— Michael Gollom, Vice President, Technicolor

I was frankly blown away!! Extremely inspiring work across the board — a truly memorable day. I thought I'd be so exhausted, but instead I feel energized!
— Ian Gooding, Art Director - Development Division, Disney Animation

Great to see the growth.
— Damon Webster, Founder, Photoinduced.com

The overall presentation of the work was well done. Students and faculty were extremely nice and professional.
— Ryan Wood, Art Director, Avalanche, Disney Interactive

You have improved drastically in the last 5 years. Excellent! Thank you for understanding industry realities.
— Rachelle Lewis, Rachelle Lewis Talent

Very good.
— Marc Shea, Recruitment Manager, CafeFX

Overall, a great showing — better than most I've been to — will love to come back soon!
— Seth Neilson, Senior Designer, ZAAZ

We continue to be impressed with the 3D modeling reels.
— Candice Clark, Recruitment Coordinator, HighMoon Studios

Excellent work by students — I felt they were technically advanced compared to many other students with a similar degree.
— Tim Jacobsen, Director Visual Effects, Encore VFX

Overall great… Superb work — you should be proud.
— Dan Cooper, Co-Art Director, Disney Animation

Impressive.
— Meryl Pollen, Owner, Meryl Pollen Design

It was great seeing the high level of work by the senior students and how they all have very positive things to say about their experience at the Academy of Art.
— Wayne Yutani, Program Manager, Teague

It was a pleasure as always to visit the Art Academy. I am continually impressed with the increasing level of creativity and quality that the ID department is producing . My sincere congratulations to the staff for doing such a great job with the program there. I hope my comments were helpful to the students; everyone I sat down with was polite, courteous and conducted themselves as professionals. They asked a lot of questions too, which is always good!
— Dave O'Connell, Manager Design, Mitsubishi Motors R&D of America

We all thought the show was extremely well put together and enjoyed the students, their work and the friendliness from the staff.
— Choua Her, University Relations Manager, Blizzard Entertainment

I wanted to take this time and express our gratitude in involving us in another great display of talented students and graduates. We were very impressed with the high-quality level of work and are looking forward to following up with how we can utilize these amazing people.
— Conrad Montgomery, Walt Disney Television Animation

Thank you and everyone at The Academy of Art for hosting such a fantastic event. Meeting the students at the Spring Show energizes my love of the creative business in which I feel privileged to make my career. The hospitality shown by the gracious hosts from the Academy all did a fantastic job and should be commended.
— Steve Michaels, Managing Partner, Brickyard FX

Amazing talent at the Academy of Art. I would like the opportunity to speak to the film students directly in the future to give them insight into motion picture industry.
— Art Repola, Executive VP of Visual Effects and Production, Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group

This event gave us a chance to really connect with the artist and the person behind the work. I enjoyed seeing the collaborative nature of the work – many artistic disciplines combining to produce strong work. I also would like to commend the students who researched our company beforehand, and had cover letters waiting specifically for us to pitch their work.
— Mark Branton, Schematic

Love what I saw! The photography work continues to get stronger and stronger!
— Rhoni Epstein, PhotoTherapy

I was impressed to see that the photographic work continued to improve from my last visit.
— Damon Webster, Photo Induced

I was impressed with the breadth in effects. I met with two students who excelled in fluid dynamics, something rare that really made my jaw drop.
— Chris Bond, President, Frantic Films

I'd like to come back and be a judge for Spring Show next year. Great show. and I had a wonderful time, I learned a great deal, and I think you organized the event beautifully. I’m looking forward to doing this again and when I receive info on your e-mentor program and company visit, I’m hoping that I can be helpful to you. Again, thank you for your hospitality.
— Richard Solomon, Owner, Richard Solomon Artist Representative & Art On A Grand Scale

I wanted to take a moment to thank you for the great show last week. The commitment to excellence from both the students and the faculty is very evident.
— Alex Shapleigh, Director, Callison

Jane and I enjoyed meeting your students. We were both impressed with the standard of your school. It was great to see so many good portfolios. Seeing the exhibition was definitely a highlight, it was fun to see other disciplines work. The students that spring to mind are the Finnish guy (forgot his name, really fun ideas) and Sara Becker (cool art direction) but there were a lot of excellent pieces in most of the books.
— Ivan Pols, Associate Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather

It was a great show and we found some great talent that we hope will consider opportunities with us. Academy of Art is a new school for us, and so far we’ve been very impressed with what we’ve seen. Your staff was (as always) incredibly helpful (as were you). We look forward to future visits!
— Brian Breth, Creative Recruiter, American Greetings

I was blown away by the student work this year. It far surpassed last year.
— Wade Ammon, Producer, Pendulum Studios

The work was very nice. I wanted to get in touch with some of the students whose interactive advertising work I saw. I’d love to be able to connect to the site or be able to contact these students.
— Christina Gregory, Creative Recruiter, Greenberg Kirshenbaum

Thanks so much — we had a great time, and met some fantastic people. We even ran into one of our business partners (Dave Salzberg of Mandalay Integrated Media Entertainment).
— Nils Erdmann, Vice President, GoFish Corporation

Thank you again for the opportunity to come out. I truly enjoyed the students I met and loved the whole show!
— Cyndi McVicker, Creative Recruiter, Draftfcb

It was a very impressive review and wished I had more time to properly see and meet more students in other disciplines than I did in one day. I would be very interested in a return visit next year.
— Pam Reeve, Owner, Pamela Reeve Agency

I really enjoyed meeting the photography students and reviewing their portfolios. I wish that I had made it over to the advertising display earlier in the day so that I could have met some of students in that area. J. Ivan Figueroa and Braden Summers stood out for me because I felt they had the strongest portfolios for advertising work which is what I concentrate on. I also thought Andrea Reed's work was very powerful. I have received emails from Lisa Wiseman and Mona Mira this week and have responded to both students.
— Toni McNaughton, Photographers' Representative, Toni McNaughton, Inc.

I am very impressed with the students. In terms of producing animation talent, your school is definitely in the top five and I look forward to more talent emerging in the years to come.
— Clay Katis, Supervising Animator, American Dog, Walt Disney Animation Studios

I have to say there was a consistency to the talent coming out of the Vfx program that was nice to see.
— Brooke Brigham, Head Recruiter ZOIC Studios

I saw some great progress since last year. The illustration and graphic design work stood out most overall; however, there were pieces in each show that really impressed me. You have some very talented students!
— Annika Vogt, Artist Representative, Sharpe & Assoc. Inc.

We continue to be impressed with the 3D modeling reels and did meet with some strong modeling candidates.
— Candice Clark, Recruitment Coordinator, HighMoon Studios