"Moments"

The end of another year. I hope that everyone is happy, healthy, and excited about what's to come. :)
Last night I was talking to a good friend of mine. We are both graduates of Animation Mentor and met while taking classes, so a good portion of our conversations relate to animation. Last night we were talking about what we found fascinating about animation... what was our real draw to it and why do we want to do it. We started talking about 'moments'.

We kind of struggled to define a moment, but that's just it.. it is hard to describe. It's that little magic moment when you connect with the character, when the character is alive, gets swept away in their actions. When YOU the viewer are uplifted and inspired because of what is happening on screen. When you think about it long after it's through. And, sometimes, when it changes you. That's what we want to be a part of. As my friend said, "the who and the why instead of the how". It's a weird thing, and like a dream, sometimes the grasp of it escapes me.

Ratatouille. I was asking myself why did I find this movie so appealing, so moving. Why am I able to watch it again and again. I don't particularly like rats, and I don't like cooking (except cookies and pies :). On paper the movie has nothing for me, but despite of that I find myself able to relate to Remy. The movie has many 'moments' for me. The one that sticks out first is when he first starts to fix the soup. I love that scene! He gets so swept away into what he's doing that he can't help himself. What's more is I always get this great uplifted feeling just seeing this rat doing what he loves and enjoying it so much! He is cooking with his heart and bounds of joy and you canFEEL it! What I love about animation is that it is so powerful. Throughout that whole sequence Remy doesn't say a word, but there is no doubt at all what is going through his mind. When Linguini discovers him I am startled right along with Remy because I was so absorbed by that moment. I was able to escape into Remy's world for a moment. Why? It's like a little bit of what made him tick leaked out for all to see. Same with Ego when he takes that bite.

"Moments" aren't unique to animation by any means. They happen everyday, big and small. I was telling my friend that there is a clip on youtube of Sarah Hughes skating in the Olympics back in 2002. No one expected her to be a contender. Going into the Olympics she was certainly not the best skater. Good, but not the best. While others were duking it out for the gold, Sarah had the skate of her life. She knew that a victory was unlikely, and skated with joy and passion and life. She ended up surprising everyone (including herself, I believe) and won the gold. I have watched that clip several times looking for the 'moment'. The moment she knew she was on fire. She was so caught up in it. Stuff like that. What made that skate more special than any of her others? Why was it contagious to the audience? Why do I care about it? Why did she win when nobody even thought it possible? I believe that nothing that night could've stopped her. It was her moment.

Stuff like that fascinates me. It's so amazing what people are capable of. Animators who create them obviously put so much of themselves into their work. I can't see any other way they could do it.
I am really glad my friend brought it up. I think moments can be different for every individual. Personal, almost. But it was really eye opening to break down what it is about animation that we love. It's not the moving stuff around. It's the ability to capture a moment and make people care, and the potential that we too will be able to do that one day.

Have a wonderful New Year, everyone! Take care.

New animation

Well, after my last post I got really motivated. For the past few weeks I've been working on a new animation. I have been wanting to try another 2 person dialogue for a while, so I decided to give it a shot. The line I chose was one that I was considering for my 2 person during Animation Mentor, but it ran a little long so I ended up picking something else. I like the line because I had a clear picture of the characters and what I wanted to happen within the shot. I also have been itching to animate kids.
Here it is so far ..


One of my former mentors was very kind to look at my demo reel. One of his comments was to give the pieces more of an environment, so for this piece I tried to think of that right from the beginning. I do not know how to model beyond squares and circles, so I found a photo I had taken awhile ago and used it as the background. I wish I had thought of doing this before! Youtube muddies it up a bit, but I am happy with the environment.
I hope soon to be submitting my reel again. I want to add new stuff and weed out some of the old. It's easy to get down after having a couple close calls, but I'm choosing not to stay down. I really want to be an animator and I am willing to work to prove it. I really enjoy this animation thing =).

Rejected

Just got a rejection today from a cool studio I had an interview with.
It wasn't the first, and won't be the last, but it always hurts a little.
Maybe next time =).

Graduation, Siggraph, and more cool stuff!

It's been a busy couple of weeks!
I flew to San Francisco two weeks ago to attend the Animation Mentor graduation. To sum it up in a few words, it was pretty awesome!It was like the Animation Mentor BBQ times 100. I got to meet so many of my classmates and friends, and my best friend Gail was able to attend to. I also 'won' an award for 'most entertaining video reference' for me and my father falling off stumps doing reference for the post to post jump.
To top it all off, my mentor, Michal Makarewicz from class 3 was there! I had a strange feeling he'd be there. That's us below.

He also offered to take hid former students ... me, Kimmy, and Vanessa on a tour of Pixar!

It's such a nice feeling to meet one of the people whom you admire and helped to teach you. I found it very heartening over the whole week that animators as a whole seem like very nice people.
After a couple days in San Fran, many people headed down to LA for Siggraph. Kimmy, Eduardo and I took a Greyhound bus down to LA. YOu would think I would've learned better from taking the Greyhound across the country a couple months ago, but I came back for more punishment. The price was right, though. Only $40. It wasn't such a bad trip. We just got in at almost 4am Monday morning.
We stayed in a hotel with a cool group of people. Kishore, Tobi, Eduardo, Kimmy and I all stayed at the same hotel room for various lengths of time. For some reason we lucked out and had 3 double beds in our room!
Siggraph was a great experience. My only complaint is that it felt too big. There really wasn't much time for talking to recruiters in person because there were always lines and mobs of people everywhere.
On Tuesday morning, somehow Eduardo and I ended up with passes that had blue at the bottom, marking us as exhibitors. We didn't know what the blue went until we were let in the exhibit early before the big mob. We went straight to the AM booth where we met Mike Walling and Bobby Beck! Bobby offered to look at our reels, and of course we said sure!
Tuesday night we had an AM party at the top of a pretty cool hotel. It was a great place to talk to people, and I met some nice folks. I even met Mike Stern, who graduated AM 2 years ago and whose blog helped inspire me to join AM. He had his short film 'Distraxion' shown at the film festival at the Nokia theater. It was so neat to see his short on the big screen!
Every day was full and there were parties on most nights that by the end of the week we were kind of sleep deprived =).
On Thursday I got a call for an interview from a pretty cool place! I haven't heard from them since, and my hope is slipping by the day, but I was so excited to get the call! I am still hopeful for it. It seems I am always coming close, but not quite getting the job for various reasons, but I gotta keep on trying.
Friday I left LA for Boston.... by train. I flew out to San Fran, but darn it, I dislike planes! The train ride wasn't nearly as eventful as the Greyhound trip across the country. I actually got to sleep on the train, but it was kind of a lonely trip back compared to the friends I made on the bus trip. I got home late monday night and have been sick ever since with a cold I caught along the way.
It has been a great trip, but I gotta get back to work. After seeing my classmates and mentor, I am more excited than ever to become an animator. I see what I am working towards.

New Demo Reel!

So much for being able to relax on the weekends!
Animation Mentor announced a few weeks back that they would be having a job fair in Emeryville , CA, so I decided to go!
I have been working on more animation tests and was able to complete one to put on my new reel.
The job fair was really fun! I got to talk to alot of studios, and it was a great opportunity to meet alot of cool people. After fumbling over my words at the first booth I felt more comfortable the rest of the day. After the job fair we hung around at Animation Mentor headquarters and I got to meet alot of my friends from school in person for the first time! It was incredible! It felt very natural talking to everyone because we really did already know eachother. There's nothing like talking to friends in person, though. I met alot of people too from previous classes. It's so cool to be able to put a face to the work I've been admiring. I even met a couple of students who were about to start AM.
That evening we all went and saw Wall-e. Man, the animated movies are on a roll this year! I saw Kung Fu Panda a couple weeks ago, and of course Horton. I was actually lucky enough to get to see Horton again on my flight to CA.
The next day AM hosted a BBQ where I got to see everyone again and meet even more people. My friend who I was staying with lent me a jacket, and it was quite the conversation starter. Apparently it was a prototype for something and it had buttons on the front. Not clothing buttons... Ipod/ dvd player buttons. Ya. weird. I looked bionic.
It was great to see my friend again too. She was actually my roommate in college. Another college friend happened to be visiting at the same time, so that was even cooler!
When Gail (my friend) picked me up from the airport, she brought me straight to an indoor rock climbing place. She even had a change of clothes for me! It was really fun! It was kind of like American Gladiators. THe floor was springy like a trampoline, and it was challenging to try and stay on course on your way up the wall.
The few days that I was there turned out to be quite the workout. On Sunday we went dragon boating. What is dragon boating? It's kind of like a big long canoe with many people paddling. Everyone had a paddle and paddled on one side. Gail races with a group so I went to one of her practices.
On Monday we played tennis. I am really bad at tennis, so it was more like a long game of fetch for me, but it was really fun. We were supposed to go rock climbing again, but my foot started acting up again from the tennis. Ahh well.
For my trip home, I was supposed to take a train, but due to flooding in the middle of the country, I booked a last minute ticket on Greyhound from San Francisco to Boston. I don't know what I was thinking. 3 and a half days on a bus. It was only supposed to be 3, but I should've known better. Despite being extremely tired and rather stinky at the end of the trip, I don't totally regret it. I made some good friends along the way, saw alot of the country, and had the ultimate people watching experience.
I also learned that rather large people look for rather small people to sit next to on the bus...

Almost summer!

Almost summer time!
It's already been 2 months since graduating Animation Mentor! The time has both flown and crawled by.
On the good side, I have actually been taking weekends off, and have seen alot more of my family and friends than during the 18 months of Animation Mentor where I pretty much just took half a Sunday off. I also picked up a little bit of my old freelance work to pay the bills, but mostly I've been trying to work on more animation tests. Oh, and whole lot of waiting. =)
Job searching is never fun, but I'm in a pretty good mood about it. I remember graduating from college as an illustrator and how uptight I was about finding a job. I had alot of close calls, but my first big illustrator job didn't happen for me until almost a year after I graduated. After that first break things were ok. I guess I now know that things don't always happen right away. Sure, I am frustrated at times, but it's almost like a planned frustration.... meaning I knew it was going to happen. I joke with my siblings that I am a professional bum =).
I already had my first close call. I got a call from a cool studio a few weeks ago and they were interested in my work. Logistically it didn't end up working for them because they needed someone to start ASAP, and I was on the other side of the country. It was encouraging, though.
I can't wait to see Kung Fu Panda! It looks like it could be really good. I think this is going to be a great year for animated movies.
So I am just working on another reel, visiting people on the weekends, ... and waiting. =)

Goodbye, Animation Mentor!

18 months, and it's already over!
Class 6 flew by so fast! I had a wonderful time animating my short film and I am happy with how it's progressing. I was able to finish most of the animation and I will post it once I finish it. I am attempting not to look at it for a bit so I can view it with fresher eyes =).
My mentor Greg always gave very helpful critiques. He is a very kind guy and has a great ability to pin point problems in my animation. My short is a little bit cartoony in some areas, and Greg was great in helping me out with that.
I finished my last class of Animation Mentor at the end of March! I remember being so nervous starting the program 18 months ago. It has been an absolutely amazing experience! I really don't know how else to put it! I'm so glad I took the classes and I am so excited about everything I've learned and everything I have yet to learn.
It's pretty strange, but it's like the excitement kept on growing with each class I took. Every day I felt I was learning. Sometimes small things, and sometimes I would have giant lightbulb moments. It's such an incredible experience to animate. I have been working as a professional artist for years, but there is nothing like animating for me. I can't explain, but it's such an amazing feeling to see your thoughts live on screen instead of just in your head. I'm honestly gonna miss it. I feel really lucky to have the mentors that I did. Each had his own different teaching style and I am so thankful for them pushing me. Being able to learn from the very people whose work I admire on screen has been invaluable.
Taking this course has also taught me alot about myself. I was always scared to say my dream out loud. I don't think I ever really did. At least not with any sort of conviction. As the classes went by, I was able to admit it to myself. Then finally one day, I was able to say it out loud.

I WANT TO BE AN ANIMATOR!

Last Thursday I sent out my first demo reel ever. It's a strange feeling and it's hard to let go. Sometimes I look at my work and think it looks pretty good. Other times it's like looking through a pair of crap colored glasses and everything looks horrible. It's hard to see what's really true.

Whatever happens, I feel strangely calm about it. I learned another important lesson in my time at Animation Mentor, and that is to never give up.

Progress!

Hello!
Well we are almost half way through with class 6 already! THe time has been flying by and I am really enjoying working on my short film. My class 6 mentor is Greg Whittaker. He currently works at Dreamworks, and has also worked with Chuck Jones in the past! I find his critiques very helpful and to the point. THroughout AM I have been blessed with awesome mentors. Each mentor is different, having their own style and background and it's so nice to have the experience of learning from them.
My short film I feel is going well. I am really enjoying being able to work on it full time. I am generally finding things easier as I go along, and I am enjoying being able to sleep at night =). I find myself excited to work on my film. It's a long project, but it's so fun! I'm getting to try out a little bit more of an exagerated style too. Not completely cartoony crazy, but fun stuff!
Even though I have more time to work on my animation now I still have to stop myself from overworking. I typically use a stylus pen on the computer, but 2 weeks ago I lost it for a bit and used a mouse for a week. Yikes! My hand isn't used to that! By the end of the week it was cramped and red and my index and pinky finger blew up like sausages. I didn't notice it until sunday. It still hadn't gone down a couple days later, so I went to the doctor. It is now back to normal, but man it's scary when stuff happens to your hand.
Someone poste this in the school forum today. CHeck it out! It's a short THX spot, but the animation is really fun.

New Year!

It's a new year and it should be an interesting one!
Our new class starts on monday, and I am in the process of blocking my short film.
I have one more class to go for Animation Mentor, and I made the tough decision to do it full time. Ok, I WAS doing AM full time before, but that was on top of a full time job. My class 4 mentor Nick Bruno said in my evaluation that I ws almost there with my two person dialog assignment, but I might of needed a little more time on it. I thought about that alot during class 5, and I think he's right. In fact , i know he's right.
It's not that I didn't put the time in my assignment, it's that I was. All the free time I could come up with, including vacation days and an attempt at not sleeping. THe only way for me to have more time would be to quit my job. ...so that's what I did at the end of 2007. It was a really sad decision for me because everyone (and I mean everyone) at my job is a really nice person, and I have alot of friends there. It was a really great working environment, and it was pleasant work. However, after being in AM, I realized how much I love animation. I love it so much that I went with my gut and decided to quit my job to have the extra time on my final project. I also needed some much needed sleep, and the schedule was taking a toll on my health.
I have since caught up on my sleep, and the blocking is going smoothly so far. I am also trying to put together my first animation reel. It's scary to move on, but is necessary to move forward.
So this year is dedicated to moving forwrd. Hopefully =)