Mentors | SOPHORIA Academy

Meet some of our incredible mentors. Some of them have over 20 years of experience, own their own businesses and still have time to give back to students like you!

Sophoria Academy Instructors

Meet some of our Instructors

Jonathan Symmonds

Co Founder of Sophoria and Animation Director

Jonathan Symmonds has over 18 years of experience in Film, Tv, Commercials and the games industry. He has worked on films such as Avatar, Harry Potter, Prince of Persia, Nanny Mcphee, Dark Tide and was the Lead animator on the Game of Thrones for 5 years!
Jonathan was nominated 3 times for a VES society award for his work on the Game of Thrones and ended up creating his own dragon that a few on you lucky students will get to work with if you do one of his dragon classes.

Frederic Durand

Lighting Technical Director

Frederic Durand has had the opportunity to work at Sony Imageworks, Disney Animation, DreamWorks, Jim Henson’s Workshop, MPC and Digital Domain on animated films, feature films, and commercials during the past 20 years. He has been teaching lighting and rendering classes with Arnold, V-Ray, Redshift, Renderman and Nuke at the Gnomon school, the University of South California and now at Sophoria. Frederic studied at the Cooper Union in New York City and is graduated from the Ecole Nationale des Arts Decoratifs (ENSAD) in Paris, France.

Jayson King

VFX Specialist

Jayson has over 20 years of experince be it film, commercials, tv - you name it he has done it! A lecturer in his own right, Jayson has taught hundreds of students. Jayson is a specialist in VFX, CGI, fluids, simulation, lighting and rendering, modelling & texturing in multiple software packages. Jayson runs his own courses so be sure to get hold of one of them to learn from this legend! His courses cover most aspects of the VFX pipeline from modelling to final simulations and render. Don't hesitate to learn from Jayson, with this much experience you can't go wrong.

Our Vision

Our online courses start with a thorough explanation of the topic covered.
Our videos are clear and the content is checked in advance of course publish
All our lessons are applied to common industry practices so that you understand how to use the theory in a practical context.

100%

employee satisfaction

20+

Years of experience

100s

of course material hours

Frequently asked questions

Do i need to know how to draw before i start?

Not at all! 🙂 Remember being an artist doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to be able to draw something. In the film, tv and games industry, the term “Artist” is just used to describe someone who specializes in an area. For example you could have an animator who is an artist but also an animator. It does help to some degree, especially in modelling and 2D life drawing classes but it is not essential.

Where is the Academy located?

Where are everywhere and nowhere! Jokes aside, basically SOPHORIA Academy is an online school and students can study in their own time from the comfort of their own homes. You do not have to be located in a specific country to join our courses, you can be on a boat out at sea for all we care.

Of course this is important in some cases when it comes time for reviews of your work with your instructors. We can work out a time that best suits you to get feedback or you can have your mentor record the feedback for you if you are not available.

Do i need to know the software being taught before i start?

There are two types of courses. if you are complete beginner then we advice you to take in the introduction courses first. This will get you familiar with the software and confidence before taking the advanced classes. This does not mean you have to do this, but our experience has shown that student find the workflow overwhelming in the advanced classes if they have never used the software before.

What payment plans do you offer?

We have a variety of payment plans and solutions. Please get in touch with us to discuss a solution for your needs.

How much time do i have spend to study?

The courses on average take around 3 months to complete. We recommend spending between 20-35 hours per week on your assignments. Our courses are designed to teach you the maximum amount that you possibly learn in the shortest amount of time. With that in mind, it is important to focus on your goals and assignments so that you do not fall behind.

Do you offer financial aid/loans?

Unfortunately we do not. Our payment plans and upfront payment discounts are fantastic value for the content we provide. We never want our students to be in financial situations and therefor do not affiliate ourselves with banks or other lending platforms.

Where do the courses take place?

Being an online school, our courses can take place anytime and anywhere. However, for those courses that are scheduled and Mentored follow a timetable. Please be sure to check if the course you are enrolling into features a "mentorship" program. All our short courses can be taken at any time.

How much are your courses?

Sophoria Academy aims at being competitive when it comes to pricing our courses. All the course prices are found next to the enroll section on the course page or course cards. To see the courses please click here.

What payment gateways do you use?

At the moment we are using Paypal as a payment gateway. In the near future, we will incorporate "Stripe" as a payment gateway. Please stay up to date with the latest news or subscribe to our newsletter for information regarding this area of discussion. For all other inquiries please contact us.

Because we are AWESOME!