Shot Update

Hey guys. I've updated the shot from my short for my reel. I've changed the last pose, animated Taylor's hair, and adjusted the timing of his second look back. Next I want to try having the feet slip during the scrambling backwards.

Nooooooooo

I was checking out the release dates for some of my fav games (Zelda, Smash bros, Mario, Final Fantasy etc.) when I came to a sad conclusion. It seems like I'm going to have to get a PS3. =( Usually I get all of the new consoles and this is the first time I've gone without one of them. I feel like I had a legit reason seeing as how there aren't any games that I like on it right now. It would be sitting here collecting dust. Sadly, I just found out Ratchet and Clank, Assassin's Creed, and FFXIII are trying to get me to buy s PS3. I was told Assassin's Creed and FFXIII were also coming out on the 360. I thought that was weird for FF since most of their games have been on the playstation.

I think it's better to wait another year so that hopefully the price on the console will drop another $100. I don't have a lot of time for video games these days anyway. Plus I'll have three all time favorites to keep be busy from October through Dec. I already have Zelda: Phantom Hourglass reserved and I'm going to reserve Smash Bros Brawl before I leave for SCAD. Once I get to GA I'll reserve Mario Galaxy. Hopefully those will be enough to distract me from my PS3 woes. I can go without Ratchet and Clank and Assassin's Creed. Final Fantasy is another matter though. =(

I really suck at cel shading. The fact that I colored this while listening to tonights fantastic Transformers Q&A session probably didn't help, lol. I was a bit disappointed that they didn't show any cool behind the scenes videos though. Who else can tell I was tired of this picture by the time I got to doing the background? XD

Lack of Funds

I really need a source of income. I wanted apply to BlueSky's animator position but I can't afford to do so. When I move I need to have a contract/position that will last for more than a couple of months or be in an area where I can get to different studios without having to spend a bunch of money. I can barely afford to move once, since literally all of my money will be spent getting to whatever state the job is in and reserving an apartment. One of my friends said I should have at least $5k saved up to successfully move to Cali or New York, I don't even have half of that. Right now I'd have to go hungry for however many weeks it takes for me to get my first pay check since I wouldn't have any money for food or anything else.

I obviously need to find a source of income, so I wont have to continue to miss potential job opportunities. I've been on guru.com for a year now and haven't been able to get any projects. I was selected for one job but the employer never followed through and the project expired. I'll continue to bid on jobs there throughout the rest of this year. If I am unable to get accepted for an internship or apprenticeship this summer I'll come home and get a normal (>_<) summer job. I wanted to take summer classes at SCAD to push my graduation date up sooner, but having money is more important. Whats the point of graduating early if I still don't have enough money to move anywhere?

Anyway, once I get a source of income I'll be straight. I don't have a problem with saving money, lol. It's actually quite the opposite! I enjoy hoarding money away in the bank and refusing to spend it on things that I don't absolutely need. The reason why I have so little money is because I don't have a job. All the money I have now is the result of saving birthday, Christmas, and graduation presents for over five years. XD

Unfortunate

Unfortunately, things have ground to a halt as far as working on short and reel goes. Every day this week has been/ will be taken up by family issues. Helping my stepfather load my sister's college stuff into his truck, taking my sister to work, transporting my grandparents around, driving my sister to the airport since my aunt hasn't left yet to drive her to college, helping my other aunt with computer issues, and more grandparent transportation. >_< I hope these set backs don't cost me a job opportunity. I know Disney was hiring at Siggraph but their CreativeHeads call for animators was posted way back in July. I hope they're still looking for animators since I REALLY want to start out there. Working with Glen Keane, Jason Ryan, Andreas Deja, Nik Raneri and all the other Disney masters is invaluable! Simply inbetweening for them will seriously boost my 2d skills.

It's not the end of the world though. If I've missed my chance, I'll just apply for their internship or apprenticeship program. Hopefully I'll be able to get in through there.

Fantastic!

We asked for it and we got it! We're having a Transformers Q&A on the AM alumni site next week!!!!!!!! I can't wait! I actually have questions this time, lol. I usually sit on the sidelines and listen/watch but this time I can participate. =D

Shot from my Short

Hey guys. I finally finished a shot from my short to use for my demo reel. Please feel free to critique it as I'm sending it to the big studios in a couple of weeks. Thanks a bunch!

Dragon Sketch

I drew this during one of my 10 min rest breaks while working on my short. I really like it and would like to color it sometime. I wanted to jump right into Photoshop or Painter as soon as it was done and had a hard time returning to Maya, lol.

Tweaking!

I just wanted to say I LOVE being anal about details. Whether its in a shot or in a drawing, adding details is just plain fun. There is a catch though. Adding details usually takes quite a bit of time and the fun is sucked out of it if you don't have the proper amount of time to get it right. Luckily, I have nothing but time right now. I'm going through and preparing a couple of shots for my demo reel. I got some awesome feedback from Bobby Beck at one of the AM events at Siggraph and am working on applying his suggested changes to my counseling shot and to some shots from my short. I'm being so anal that I have ten whole pages of nit-picky details to adjust for the two shots from my short, lol. I'm loving every moment of it though since I'm really trying to get into one of my dream studios this year.

I still don't feel good enough for Pixar yet, but I'm going to apply anyway. I'm really hoping to get into Disney since they'd started up their 2d department again. I love 2d animation and would jump at a chance to work under Glen Keane, Nik Ranieri, Andreas Deja, Jason Ryan or any of the other Disney masters. Simply watching them draw over their shoulder would be massively informative. Plus 2d Disney animation is what got me into this field anyway. I figure I can work there for a while to improve my 2d and 3d skills, then I can move on to PDI/DreamWorks and finally to Pixar. I also wouldn't mind spending a few years at James Baxter Animation Studios either. I'd have to go there after Disney though since he only works in 2d and right now my 2d animation isn't good enough to get me in. XD

Graduation Pictures

Man, I got back to the hotel much later than I expected. Here are some of the pictures that were taken at the graduation and rooftop beach reception courtesy of my mother.





The reception was held at the super cool W hotel. I've never been to a hotel like the W and enjoyed every moment of it. I love contemporary furniture and the W was nothing but that. Every aspect of the hotel was beautiful and very stylish. I hope to some day have a house that looks like the interior of the W. Their rooftop beach area was really cool as well. I loved their hanging basket chairs and "bent up" umbrellas.

Yesterday I went to the Birds of a Feather meeting and met even more people there and afterwards. I dont think I'm allowed to talk about the new features on the AM site but I can say they're all amazing! After the recruiter's panel the founders raffeled away cool stuff. Signed copies of the Art of Ratatouillie, Shrek, Surfs Up, and Meet the Robinsons, Pixar t shirts and hats, Transformers t shirts and hats, a Cars iPod Nano cover, and a Remy action figure. I didn't win anything though. My number was 7026 and they called 7016 and 7036. XD I got to meet two recruiters so that made up for it. I met Robin Linn from Sony and Kim Mackey from Dreamworks. I was very pleasantly surprised that she remembered me and was glad to meet me in person, lol. Shawn Kelly remembered me too.

I had a nice time at Siggraph even though all I did was go to a few AM events. It was really fun to meet my classmates and legendary animators from some of the top studios. I look forward to attending the next Siggraph so I can hang out with my friends again. =D

Graduation/Siggraph

Hey guys,

The AM graduation was awesome! It was really nice to meet my classmates in person. I think I did alright as far as talking to people goes, despite my shyness lol. I met the founders, Bobby, Shawn and Carlos as well as my class two mentor Doug Dooley. At the finale Spike (AM's mascot) ran out and knocked a huge beach ball into the crowd. All of the graduates then grabbed their beach balls and had an awesome beach ball bashing party, lol. I'd like to send a huge congrats to the grads who won awards at the program. Congrats to Mario Pochat and John Slowsky for winning the Walk with the Most Personality award, Peter Devlin and Ryan Sluman for Best Dialogue Acting, Heath Pagram and Patricia Ross for Most EntertainingVideo Reference, Jace Bandalin and Arne Kaupang for Best Personality in a Live Q&A, Justin Weg and Eric Luhta for Forum Ninja, Jay Epperheart and Taylor Mahony for Most Supportive Student, Elaine Wu and Kate Forrest for Most Improved Student, Kira Lehtomaki, and Kenny Music for Best Silent Acting, and last but not least Jure Prek and Peter Devlin for the Mentor Choice Award! Congrats guys!

Yesterday I met the famous Jason Schleifer on the way to dinner. I'm still extremely thankful for his help with finding someone to rig my short film character and was sure to let him know. Before leaving Jason gave me his super cool PDI/Dreamworks business card. =D I went to the AM Birds of a Feather meeting and met recruiters Kim Mackey and Robin Linn. Bobby, Shawn and Carlos gave away cool Pixar, Cars, Ratatoullie, Transformers, Meet the Robinsons, Shrek, and Surfs Up stuff. I didn't win anything though. XD

I've gotta go. I'm being fussed at to hurry up and get dressed, lol. There's much more to come later!

Tomorrow

The AnimationMentor graduation is tomorrow! =D Lol, with my luck (and lack of grace) I'll probably end up falling up the stairs to the stage to get my certificate. It's hard to believe I've finished AM and its also pretty disappointing. I wish I could be an AM student forever! I'm extremely thankful that I was able to go through their program. I owe everything I know to them and seriously feel like I'll be able to achieve my dream goal. I've still got a year and two quarters to go at SCAD though so I'll have to wait to see if I'm right or not.

In the meantime I've been hanging out in San Diego and working on my short. The weather here is really nice and the scenery is beautiful. I wasn't too thrilled about having to pay $26 to go to the zoo (the DC zoo is free) but I think it was worth it. I got to watch a very cool underwater show put on by the polar bears today. It's a shame I couldn't draw anything though. I went with my family and they didn't want to stand around while I took the time to draw things, lol. I enjoyed the trip anyway though. My mother and stepsisters wanted to go shopping yesterday and I ended up finding a really cool furniture store called Hold It Contemporary Home. I love contemporary furniture and am now really excited about when I move to Cali and get an apartment. Unfortunately I can't really see myself being able to afford that furniture though, especially after what I saw today. I checked out some nice condominiums and found out they were going for $200k. That's completely insane, thats how much my mother paid for our five bedroom house back home. Lol, I've pretty much accepted the fact that I'm going to have to live in a hole in the wall when I move out here.

One Shot at a Time

Hey guys,

As promised, here's an up to date look at one of the shots in my short. I just "finished" it a few minutes ago and am pretty happy with the animation so far. It's not a money shot so it doesn't have a bunch of complex actions or emotion. It's just the simple opening shot of Taylor laying in bed asleep. The next thing I'd like to do is set up the bed and pillows so they're affected by his weight. I'd also like to redo Taylor's hair so its animate-able. There's a part in the shot where his fingers go through his hair as he rolls over. I want to be able to animate his hair so it reacts to the fingers during his turn. I've seen a few shots where students have added movable hair to Bishop. I'll have to ask them how they did that.

As usual, all comments and crits are greatly appreciated! =D

Siggraph is Coming

It's hard to believe I leave for San Diego on Saturday. I don't feel excited about Siggraph at all. I guess it's because most of the events I've heard about don't interest me, and that only reason why I'm going is for the AM graduation. I used to say I was going for the job fair as well, but that's no longer true. I've been advised against submitting my reel since I haven't graduated from SCAD. I called the studios I would have submitted my work to and asked if it was too early to apply for their summer 2008 programs and they said yes. Even if it wasn't, I like to think I'll have new work for my demo reel by the time spring rolls around. AM is having two demo reel critique sections. I'm not excited about those either since whatever I show them wont be the reel I send out for internships anyway.

I'll bring a few copies of my summer 2007 reel anyway, because I know I'd wish I had them if I don't bring any lol. I guess I'll burn 3-5 copies. I don't want to waste DVDs since I'm not expecting to give them to anyone right now. I'll save the mass DVD burning for the spring. XD

Anyway, I'll go to some of the AM events and will more than likely try to spend the rest of my time in San Diego working on my short. We'll see how that goes though since my stepfather has decided to turn my one day long stay in Cali into a week long vacation. -_- As far as my short goes, I've failed to reach my goal of finishing the animation by Siggraph. Now I see that it doesn't matter too much since I was told not to apply for any jobs yet anyway, lol. I have been working on it though and have two new shots that I like so far. ^-^ I'll post my progress one of these days. My laptop's wireless card has decided to freeze my comp each time the internet goes down (which is @ least once every 5-7 min) so I cant get online with my work computer. In a way that's a good thing since I can't be distracted by msn messenger and checking my email every time I get a new one, lol.