This Week's Progress

Hey guys,

Every week I'm going to upload all of the shots I've worked on thus far for my senior project. Please feel free to tear them apart, lol, in fact I encourage it! So far there are definitely some shots on here that I am 100% unhappy with and really want to redo. I'll be sure to point those out. I'm not working on these in chronological order. Instead I've arranged my schedule so I have a mix of shots with different levels of difficulty every week.

Shot 4



Shot 6



Shot 7 (100% unhappy with)




Shot 8




Shot 10



Shot 18 (100% unhappy with)




Shot 19




Shot 22 (need help with animating shadows)



Shot 28

Third or in some cases Four Time's a Charm

Hey guys,

I sent my reel and paperwork off to Disney and Pixar today. I was going to wait untill later in April but I can see now that I'm not going to have anything from my short finished enough to put on my reel by then. Everything's good though, I'm on schedule and am doing a little over 1-00 a day. It feels awesome to track my progress/improvement.

I would like to get some really nice shots from my short though. I watched my reel today after burning it to a dvd and everything feels really old. Even my Scare Tactics shot doesn't look nearly as good as it did back in the summer. I'd like to create enough quality work to completely redo my reel by this time next year. At that point my short will be finished and I would have taken 3d character animation, which should give me some nice new 3d work. If I'm able to get an internship, I hope to be able to put some of the work I do from that on my new reel as well.

Speaking of which, after getting a bunch of awesome advice from my fellow AM alumni, I've decided that I wont be able to apply for unpaid internships. Since I'm a full time student I dont have a job which would have allowed me to save money that I could have used to pay for my stay in Cali. I dont have any relatives in the LA area, so I'd have to live on my own, which without money is impossible. I asked about working a second job but that wouldn't do. I'd want to put 120% into the internship and wouldn't be able to do that if I have to go off and work another 40 hours a week. Plus whatever job I'd have wouldn't be very good anyway and wouldn't pay enough to live off of. Lol, I doubt working a cash register for a few hours a day pays enough to afford rent, transportation and food.

As the result, many if not all of the smaller studios I've applied to/were going to apply to will no longer work. It's back to hoping on Pixar, Disney and Sony. I certainly dont have a problem with that, but this will be my third and in some cases fourth time applying there for the same position. I don't mind being persistent, but this is the last year I can do internships and I doubt my work will be good enough to get a job there this time next year, especially if I can't even intern there now. On the other hand, I'll be able to apply to the studios I had to skip because of the unpaid internships, since I'll be looking for a job instead...

Schedule

Hey guys,

Here's a look at the production schedule I made for my SCAD senior project. It's a LOT of work but with luck and strictly sticking to the schedule, I'm hoping I'll be alright.

Participation

Hey guys,

I just found out the SCAD career fair is coming up soon, and this time I can actually participate! Last year I found out about the fair on the day it occurred and thus didn't have time to burn copies of my reel and submit them to studios for possible interviews. This wont happen again though. I'm going to make sure I have a good number of reels burned and ready for submission by the end of this week. Pixar will be there and will be accepting reels for their internship, which is an added awesome bonus, I can't wait! =D

Congrats

Quite a few AM students and alumni have been hired by Dreamworks over the past couple of weeks. I just wanted to congratulate all of them for achieving their dreams. All of you guy's hard work has definitely paid off. Congrats to all of you!!!!!!!!!

Check Up

Hey guys,

I sent my reel off to three more studios yesterday, Pendulum, Tippett, and Radical Axis. When I got back I received an email from Tippett saying they don't have an internship program. I was pretty disappointed since I had been looking forward to going there. I'll just have to save them for next year.

Despite that, I can't wait to start hearing back from the studios that I've applied to and will be applying to soon. I really hope I get in somewhere this time, especially since this is the last time I can apply for internships. I'd really like to get some production experience before graduation.


In other news, I'm still working on layouts for my senior project. Yesterday wasn't a very good day and now I have 10 done instead of the scheduled 12. I'll have to make up for that today. While I can't wait to start animating, I find myself missing working in 3d. Lol, this seems to happen whenever I spend a significant amount of time working in one medium, I always end up missing the other.

It's too bad though, cause there's no way I'll have time to do any 3d animation this coming quarter. In fact, I dont really see myself doing any 3d work from now till winter unless I get an internship over the summer. If not I'll spend summer vacation finishing up the animation for my senior project and starting to clean it up. Then my fall quarter at SCAD will be spent continuing nd finishing clean up for the film.

In the winter (my final quarter! =D) I'll be taking portfolio and 3d character animation, which I look forward to. So yeah, it'll be 2d from now till winter unless I get an internship. Either way, my drawing skills will get a major workout, lol.

Internship Reel

Hey guys,

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been busy working on my demo reel and drawing layouts for my senior project. So far I've finished 8/21 backgrounds. It's pretty fun and it's making me excited about starting production soon.

Anyway, as I said before, it's internship time! So far I'm sending my reel to Disney, Pixar, Sony, Tippet, Radical Axis, Pendulum, and possibly ReelFx. I have no idea whether Tippet and ReelFx are offering internships, but I hope they are. They're working on some really cool projects that I would love to be a part of.

Here's a look at the reel that I sent to Sony and will be sending to everywhere else save Disney and Pixar. I'm holding off on them because their deadline's are towards the end of April and I might have a shot or two from my senior project to add to my reel by then.

Final Gary Goldman Shot

Hey guys,

Here's my last shot for my Gary Goldman classes. I've learned a ton abut 2d animation this quarter. I have an effective workflow now and I feel 100% comfortable about creating my senior project in 2d. I'm extremely happy that I was able to learn from such a legend.

Sword Swing WIP

Hey guys,
Here's a look at my wip shot for my 2d production class. This character was really difficult for me to draw for most of the quarter and I put off my shots with him until all of my Banjo shots were done. Now I have to finish this by Monday in addition to creating a flatbook, a webpage and finalizing the animatic for my senior project.

There is some good news though. Gary Goldman liked my Banjo shots so much that he requested dvd of them. I also feel like I'm getting better at drawing Dirk the Daring, which is helping me work much faster. I'm also improving on drawing with less hairy lines which is also speeding up my workflow.

Updated Progression Reel

Hey guys,

Here's a look at my updated progression reel for my senior project. Please feel free to comment on anything you feel stands out.

Larry Progression Reel