Meet Chad
A Seasoned Professional
Chad Stewart has been a professional animator in film and television for over 35 years! He animated with a pencil at Walt Disney Feature Animation on such films as:
Tarzan / The Emperor’s New Groove / Fantasia 2000
Then he worked at Sony as a lead animator on such digital features as:
The Polar Express / Stuart Little 2 / Surf’s Up
Chad’s has high level experience in the movies as a 2d animator, 3D animator, story artist, and in visual development artist.
Check out some of the highlights from the movies Chad has worked on, including Yzma’s declaration of the ‘wrong lever’, Chicken Joe’s unique and award-winning surfing style, a mad hoard of baboons chasing Tarzan, and much, much more!
You can see a list of all the projects Chad has worked on on his official IMDB profile page.
Independent Filmmaker
Chad now creates his own short films, telling stories in all styles of animation. His current 1 minute microfilm, Who Do We Appreciate is traveling the Film Festival circuit in festivals around the globe from Portland to Prague.
It’s also won multiple awards, including Best Character Design, the Golden Pencil Award, and an Award of Excellence at the prestigious Best Shorts competition. Check it out here! It only takes 1 minute!
Fun Family Info
He has a full home life including his beautiful wife of 32 years, 4 adult birth daughters and 4 adult sons, adopted from Liberia, West Africa. As a family, they have completed their 20 year homeschooling journey!
Pictured here is Chad and Kayla and their yearly family picture from their 2024 Christmas celebration with some of their family. They raised their family on a small farm and still have much activity on the homestead where there are horses, dogs, cats, and chickens!
Since teaching children has been such an integral part of his family life, Chad was inspired to share his knowledge of animation with other kids via the wonders of the world wide web. Whether you want to pursue animation as a career or would enjoy just learning for the sheer pleasure of the animation art form, this course will work for you!
Meet Kayla
Administrator
Kayla is the wife of Chad and mother to their 8 children. She has finished her 20 years of homeschooling and has jumped on board with Chad in this venture to bring the art and animation world to the online learning community. She takes care of the business and organizational side of things for The Animation Course, LLC.
Meet Our Graders
Joe Mandia
Grader for Level 1 & 2 Animation
Joe Mandia is an Animation Director, Supervisor, Lead, and Senior Animator with a passion for bringing characters and stories to life. With over 25 years of experience in the industry, Joe has honed his skills at renowned studios such as Walt Disney Animation Studios, Sony Pictures Imageworks, and Blue Sky Studios. He has contributed to a wide range of projects, from feature films to video games, commercials, and independent projects.
Joe's expertise extends to a variety of animation software, including 3D Studio Max, Maya, and Toon Boom Storyboard Pro. He is a team leader with a talent for mentoring and inspiring others.
Currently based in New Hartford, New York, Joe is available for freelance and contract work. He is always eager to take on new challenges and collaborate with creative teams to produce high-quality animation.
Han Hu
Grader for Level 1 Animation
Han Hu has been a professional animator for over 17 years. He has worked on many commercials, video games, TV shows, and feature films, such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows and Transformers: The Last Knight.
Roman Kobryn
Grader for Level 1 or 2 Animation
Roman kicked off his animation adventure in 2008 after graduating from Fairleigh Dickinson University's art program. He honed his skills at Animation Mentor before diving into the world of a small NYC start-up, where he added his creative flair to a short film project. He then lent his talents to Sesame Street’s magical Abby Cadabby show.
When the show wrapped, Roman set off on a freelance journey in NYC, working on TV commercials, video games, and films at a mix of cool studios like Buck, Nathan Love, Look Effects, Hornet, Psyop, The Mill, and Panda Panther. In 2014, his feature film dream came true when Sony Pictures ImageWorks brought him aboard for Hotel Transylvania 2 and The Angry Birds Movie. He later joined Blue Sky, where he contributed to the icy thrills of Ice Age 5: Collision Course and the undercover antics of Spies in Disguise.
Today, Roman calls Little Zoo Studio home, where he is an animator and animation supervisor. His recent projects have spanned various genres—from the speedy action of Sonic 3 and the quirky charm of the Knuckles TV series to leading creative projects for Netflix’s Love, Death & Robots, Amazon’s Secret Level, and even crafting emotes for gaming giants like Apex Legends and Fortnite.
Jason Lethcoe
Grader for Levels 1 & 2 Drawing
Jason Lethcoe is an internationally published author, animator, and story artist. His first middle grade series, Amazing Adventures from Zoom’s Academy, was adapted into the 2006 feature film Zoom, starring Tim Allen. His other books for young readers include the Misadventures of Benjamin Piff series, The Mysterious Mr. Spines trilogy, and No Place Like Holmes.
For Disney Publishing, Jason wrote the Tales from Adventureland series and, under the pseudonym J.J. Gilbert, The Mouse Watch series. His pulp series, Shipwreck Stan, was published by Poolside Pulps in 2026.
The Woodbine Chronicles is his latest offering, expanding upon the Mysterious Mr. Spines trilogy and considered by the author, the definitive edition.
As an animator and story artist, Jason has contributed to films and television projects including Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas, Home on the Range, Surf’s Up, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Monsters at Work, and The Garfield Movie.
Jason also writes, animates, and directs short films, which have received awards at film festivals. His latest film, ITCH was the winner at the Tokyo Film and Screenplay awards.
Mr. Lethcoe moved to Kansas City with his wife Nancy and currently writes for the Hollywood studios remotely.
Mike Kunkel
Grader for Levels 3 & 4 Animation
Grader for Levels 1 & 3 Drawing
In his spare time, cartoonist Mike Kunkel is an accomplished juggler, deep sea diver, astronaut, race car driver, gourmet chef, world class magician, pro football wide receiver, big wave surfer, and frequent storyteller.
Well . . . actually only the the storyteller part is true.
Something he's done since he was a kid is tell stories with pictures and scribbles.
Being a cartoonist is all he ever wanted to be.
And with nearly 35in Story and Development, Character Design, Animation, and as a Director years experience in the Animation and Comics Industry, Mike Kunkel has continued to do what he loves . . . create cartoons and comic stories for audiences.
Mike has worked in Story and Development, Character Design, Animation, and as a Director for such studios as Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Warner Bros, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Sony Entertainment, Universal Pictures, Dreamworks, Walt Disney Studios and Sesame Street on numerous Television and Film projects.
His Character Designs have been used in numerous projects and games such as designing Disney's Where's My Water? "SWAMPY" character. He has also won the ANNIE AWARD for Best Character Design in an Animated Television Production.
As a Published Cartoonist, Mike has been nominated four times for the prestigious EISNER AWARD and four IGNATZ AWARDS and is the creator of the two-time EISNER Award-winning comic book series Herobear and the kid. He has also helped to relaunch the SHAZAM franchise for DC comics as an all-ages comic series and helped with the relaunch of the character.
His graphic novel series Herobear and the kid has just relaunched with PAPERCUTZ Publishing and has won the Ringo Award for Best Original Graphic Novel Series. While his cartoon panel series PB&J has cartoons shared online and in print as books and calendars.
Mike's children's books are in libraries and schools across the country and his comic books have been translated Internationally to a worldwide audiences.
He lives in Southern California where he grew up . . . spending most of his extra time drawing cartoons filled with puns on napkins, scribbling new comic book adventures, trying to learn new magic tricks and playing with his family.
He's never been early for a deadline.
Mitchel Kline
Grader for Toon Boom & Maya classes
Mitchel has been working with Maya for over seven years, starting back in high-school when he took his first Animation Course class with Mr. Stewart, and he started learning ToonBoom Harmony in college, building character rigs for shorts and music videos. Since then, he’s worked on many award-winning short-films and proof-of-concept shorts, adding new tools to his arsenal with each project. He is now a CG Generalist at Shiloh and Bros, a YouTube studio in Tennessee, focusing mainly on rigging, motion capture, and effects simulations.
Anthony Brewster
Grader for Level 2 Animation
Anthony Brewster has been a professional animator for the past 7 years. He’s worked as an animator on Spies in Disguise, SpongeBob: Sponge on the Run, The Sea Beast, and most recently on Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
His animation journey started in 4th grade when he learned how to make stop-motion animation and has been hooked ever since. He tinkered with stop-motion as a hobby until he graduated high school and then attended Animation Mentor to learn 3d animation.
Meet Our Admin Staff
Samantha Williams
Administrative Assistant
Samantha is wife to Sam, a graphic designer and teacher, and mom of two wild boys and 1 brand new baby boy to boot! She is also a hobby gardener and plant lady. Samantha enjoys working from home to help Chad and Kayla with the administrative side of The Animation Course. Her favorite role at TAC is compiling the feedback from students and parents and hearing what a positive impact the classes have on our students and their families.