Join us for a storyboarding workshop with Animation Director and Produces, Jeff DeGrandis.

Novices to drawing are welcome and more so, encouraged to enroll. Learn what storyboarding is, when to use it, and how. You'll learn how to storyboard your own masterpiece with the guidance from Jeff.

Who is Jeff?

"I've always liked cartoons, animation, hot rods, and drag racing. Ed "Big Daddy" Roth was my first great inspiration to draw," says DeGrandis, producer and animator of "Dora the Explorer", "Go Diego, Go!" and other animated series for Nickelodeon. Roth and drag-racing were not the only inspirations for this artist; he adds that Charles Schultz, M.C. Escher, and Tex Avery all have contributed to his style and artistic sensibilities.

However, it is to Chuck Jones that he owes his greatest allegiance as a source of inspiration. Jones mentored DeGrandis while he was a student at CalArts in Valencia (formerly Chouinard Art Institute of which Jones was an alumni) and it was Jones who gave him his first job in animation.

In a career spanning several decades, he has worked for Chuck Jones Productions, Spumco, Warner Bros., Walt Disney Studios, Universal Studios, DreamWorks, and FOX Kids Network.

Married with three "cartoon" kids, DeGrandis hales from New Jersey. In his free time he enjoys watching 50s and 60s television shows and especially early MGM and Warner Bros. cartoons.

Ages: 8th grade and older

Fee: $40 per person, with lunch and materials provided