Andy Schmidt
Andy Schmidt is a working Transmedia Storyteller who has worked in and with the film and TV industries, the video game industry, the comic book industry, the toy industry, and more. He’s also a media producer with a few documentary credits to his name. He is the founder of Comics Experience, the world’s largest online comic book school.
He’s best known for his prolific work as an editor at Marvel Comics, often credited with the resurgence in popularity of “Marvel’s Cosmic Characters” which paved the way to the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY feature film to be released in 2014. In addition to running Screen Experience and Comics Experience, Andy does consulting and writing work in Intellectual Property Development and Management, which has led to a unique career on both east and west coasts of the United States.
Andy is pleased to offer high quality courses in the various media he is so passionate about.
Owen Welsh
Owen Welsh has been working in the video game industry for the past 13 years for companies like EA, Flagship Studios and Qalang. He is most known for his character models on the Sims 2, Sims 3 and MySims franchises. Upon completing his B.A.S in Digital Visual Media at Expression college he immediately began working on properties for Electronic Arts.
During his tenure he has explored concept art, character design, 3D modeling, animation, visual effects and UI. Recently he’s completed a comic book and video game for Qalang called Halus & Hotstone. Additionally he’s contributed visual effects to Don Bluth’s Dragon’s Lair feature film pitch. Currently he’s working on a new comic for Qalang and a children’s book.
Along with his digital graphics career, Owen has studied under master animator and draughtsman Don Bluth participating in workshops, short films and master classes. Combining his apprenticeship in traditional animation and professional experience, Owen began mentoring artists and offering private teaching classes which led to some artists behind hired at Qalang. Following Qalang, Owen joined Intel Studios to develop film VFX on the largest volumetric capture dome in the world.
Now, Comics Experience is pleased to be able to pass this special knowledge on to you!
James Janowsky
James Janowsky is a writer and educator.
He is currently working on several screenplays, a T.V. pilot, and an eight issue comic book miniseries, “A.O.A.: Angle of Attack,” that will be released in 2018. Another T.V. pilot that he co-wrote, “The Hunt,” was a recent featured script on The Black List, a Table Read My Screenplay semi-finalist, a ScreenCraft Pilot Launch semi-finalist, and a Big Break quarter-finalist.
He taught screenwriting and film business at New York’s School of Visual Arts for six years. He has participated in film and writing seminars at the Independent Filmmaker Project, Film Interchange and the South Asian International Film Festival. In 2013 and 2014 he was selected to be a judge for the Student Academy Awards.
He has been hired by Fox, Fox Searchlight and Warner Bros. to moderate Q&A’s with Hollywood talent for such films as “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “The Prisoner,” “Trance” and “How to Train Your Dragon 2.” Since 2005 he has moderated over 200 Q&A’s and he is hired yearly to teach moderating to SVA students for their After School Special Film Festival.
From 2001-2012 he was a part of the NBRMP, a screening member for four years and their Creative Director and Student Grant Committee Chair for seven. While working there, he established the student grants at NYU, Ringling College of Art and Design, the Ghetto Film School, Reel Works Teen Filmmaking, and Educational Video Center.
In 2012 he established the James Richard Janowsky Awards to honor talented film students. Since then, over 50 students at Columbia University, New York University and School of Visual Arts have received the JRJ Award. In 2017 two of the awardees won Student Academy Awards.
He is currently a member of the Independent Filmmaker Project, New York Women in Film and Television, and a voter for the Independent Spirit Awards. In 2000 he received his M.F.A. from the Columbia University Film Program with a concentration in screenwriting.