TAIS Masterclass: Martine Chartrand

Well, this past weekend I drove to Toronto for the Martine Chartrand Paint-On-Glass Workshop, presented by the Toronto Animated Image Society and held at the NFB Mediatheque Center on John Street. To put it simply: the workshop was incredible! Martine is this little bundle of positive energy who spent the entire time sharing her love of animation.

There were 13 of us who signed up for the workshop at the NFB. Saturday night, Martine talked about her career, background and experiences studying in Russia in between showing us her and Petrov's films. Then we took a break and she demonstrated her paint-on-glass technique in addition to how she plans out her films (storyboard, script, timing, etc). We also learned the equipment, paint to grease mixtures, ways to protect our hands while painting, etc.

Sunday morning had us pairing up with a partner and spending the next nine hours working on our films. Martine would walk from station to station, reviewing what we've done, answering questions, making suggestions, and telling us funny stories about her filmmaking experiences. Around 4-ish, we took a break and watched a couple more of Petrov's & Martine's films followed by some short films by TAIS President Madi Piller from her time in South America where she taught an animation workshop (sand on glass, stop-motion, among other techniques). Afterwards, we walked to each station and presented the films we produced.

Around five-ish, Madi and Martine packed up the workshop so she could get Martine to the train on time.

Personally, I made a ten hour round trip drive from Michigan to attend this workshop and it was well worth the time and money spent.

The Canadians made me feel very welcome and Martine shared a wealth of knowledge. I drove back to Michigan charged up and ready to get back to work on my personal projects. If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend the TAIS workshops and any workshop that Martine offers. The TAIS website is: www.tais.ca and lists their upcoming workshops.