I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and for those that celebrate other holidays HAPPY HOLIDAYS to you!!
This was one hell of a year. A bit of reflection for me.
-09 Started off with a terrible bang, followed by madness with finished up AM.
-Then jumped on a Discovery Channel project in the middle of finishing up my schooling
-Gramps isn't doing so well, finish last week of school or go see him for the last time.. I went and thankfully passed AM!! Working hard with the team trying to keep everyone motivated on the film but as graduation grew closer we all pretty -much took a much needed break.
-Started reenergizing my batteries, meet up with tons of AM school mates to celebrate graduating, had a trip of a life time with some friends
-Came back refreshed and the blinders came off- focused on making my temple strong again doing all sorts of fun things: dance classes, yoga, parkour, kayaking, taking different religion classes, tai chi, exploring CO's awesome mountains, etc etc.
- Quickly teamed up with Michal Finegold for a animboom contest
-Found out NetDevil was looking for another animator and they contacted me!!
-My grandpa passed away - so great full I went to see him
-Started my new gig at NetDevil
-Regrouping the team, for the last big Hoo RA! - learning that my time management went out the window - trying to refocus my time where it is needed then I am trying to get back on the horse for staying active and in shape.
-Lessons in life; Friends are worth fighting for!
-Time to kick ass in '10
Also thank you, to everyone for their support, and all my love and wishes go out to everyone pursing their dream! If it was easy, everyone would do it.
"If you can dream it, YOU CAN DO IT" -by my fav. one and only - Mr. Disney
12.25.2009
12.21.2009
Avatar
GO SEE!
WHOOA! Slow it down there... the art team at Netdevil all went to go watch the flick and wow. Then I watched it again in 3D!!
Is that how this stuff is suppose to be done or what?! Aside from UP and Coraline the use of 3D was fantastic I felt. Overall, the movie was nothing mind-blowing storytelling wise, but what one hell of a ride!
I think that's all it was meant to be, to entertain, and I believe over the next weeks it will be rolling the cash in from people going back. I was predicting what was going to happen next almost every-time (which sucked) but still felt super glued to the screen. And man! That's what its about when it comes down to it. No need to freak on reinventing the wheel, just tell a story in a new and entertaining way and boom! You have Avatar!
I also think this is a movie experience not to pass up, go see it in the theater!
WHOOA! Slow it down there... the art team at Netdevil all went to go watch the flick and wow. Then I watched it again in 3D!!
Is that how this stuff is suppose to be done or what?! Aside from UP and Coraline the use of 3D was fantastic I felt. Overall, the movie was nothing mind-blowing storytelling wise, but what one hell of a ride!
I think that's all it was meant to be, to entertain, and I believe over the next weeks it will be rolling the cash in from people going back. I was predicting what was going to happen next almost every-time (which sucked) but still felt super glued to the screen. And man! That's what its about when it comes down to it. No need to freak on reinventing the wheel, just tell a story in a new and entertaining way and boom! You have Avatar!
I also think this is a movie experience not to pass up, go see it in the theater!
11.22.2009
NetDevil pt2
Here are some more Pics from NetDevil!
I just moved spaces, which I'll be moving again shortly because the studio is going to be expanding! But me and Will are trying to build a igloo entrance around our workspace area!
NetDevil is pretty freaking awesome, great vibe on the Lego team, everyone loves what they are doing and the company itself really takes pride in taking care of its people.
I just moved spaces, which I'll be moving again shortly because the studio is going to be expanding! But me and Will are trying to build a igloo entrance around our workspace area!
NetDevil is pretty freaking awesome, great vibe on the Lego team, everyone loves what they are doing and the company itself really takes pride in taking care of its people.
10.31.2009
Ewoks
This is just hilarious I think and these guys made the show!
Happy Halloween everyone!
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Happy Halloween everyone!
10.28.2009
NetDevil
Wow Netdevil is so cool. Great atmosphere with tons of passionate and very talented individuals. It's great that this company really goes the extra mile to take care of it's employees! Lots of extras like breakfasts, lunches, lots of people playing sports. There is a freaking basketball court there!!
Now I can practice on breaks and earn my name of Kobe back on the court ;) haha.
Here are some pics of the studio:
- Photos are from NetDevil's website check them out!
I'm working on the Lego Universe game, as an animator that will release next year! I've been working on a creature and coming up with some fun animations for him!
We had a snow day, lovely Colorado and it's madness decided to dump down tons of snow! Here is a pic from my back yard!
10.01.2009
Ardipithecus finally comes out!
Ardipithecus ramidus - Adri for short
Or Fred, we actually had a few names for her at work, lol. I was asked to come help out Impossible Pictures working along side my mentor Daev Finn, & colleagues Jackie Evans and Russ Adkisson to finish a project on time.
The show airs on Discovery Channel on October 11th!
The project had been in production for a couple years, and wasn't looking to great. We didn't have much time and basically recreated 2 years worth of work in 6 weeks I believe? The two hardest weeks were the back to back 80 hour weeks.
To see what Daev Finn did with lighting, texturing the creature, I mean Ardi ;) is unreal. Espically in the short amount of time they had. wow.
The image is from the Discovery channel, once I'm allowed I will post up my shots and some of my sketches of my work flow. This was my first time working with motion capture, and it was very difficult. One of the shots I deleted about 800 frames and had to rework (keyframe) everything from the hips up to the head, to the fingers in about 18-23 hour time span.
I was also in charge of coming up with the teasers for promotional use. I am not sure if they will be used though. On the rest of the production, I assisted on texturing, rendering, scene layout, cameras, compositing, set dressing and whatever else the team needed!! lol.
So if anyone gets the chance check it out, or check back when I can post some of the shots up!!
9.24.2009
I Must be
CRAZY!
I'm teaming up with Jackie Evans and we are going to try and bust out almost 20-30 seconds of work in two weeks!
We are kinda bored and needing to improve are skills so I came up with a fun little idea that has a simple enough story behind it. Jackie is going to be modeling, texturing, lighting, and composting everything.
I'm going to be designing, storyboarding, layout, SFX, editing and animation. So far we have about 10-12 shots. Tomorrow I will be doing some rig tweaking, layout and more storyboarding to figure out how many shots we need/ don't need.
Then video reference and finish the schedule so we can figure out how we can possibly accomplish all this in such a short time frame. We are working on a work flow for all the assets so we can both being going 120 mph on this and not back track!
The goal is to have this finished by Oct. 7th! (that is my deadline - Jackies might be extended because of lighting and all that) 2nd part of the goal is not to pull any all nighters nor kill are selves for this. :D
I'm teaming up with Jackie Evans and we are going to try and bust out almost 20-30 seconds of work in two weeks!
We are kinda bored and needing to improve are skills so I came up with a fun little idea that has a simple enough story behind it. Jackie is going to be modeling, texturing, lighting, and composting everything.
I'm going to be designing, storyboarding, layout, SFX, editing and animation. So far we have about 10-12 shots. Tomorrow I will be doing some rig tweaking, layout and more storyboarding to figure out how many shots we need/ don't need.
Then video reference and finish the schedule so we can figure out how we can possibly accomplish all this in such a short time frame. We are working on a work flow for all the assets so we can both being going 120 mph on this and not back track!
The goal is to have this finished by Oct. 7th! (that is my deadline - Jackies might be extended because of lighting and all that) 2nd part of the goal is not to pull any all nighters nor kill are selves for this. :D
9.18.2009
Featured on
Whoa cool!!
Michal and I were featured on We are the Real Deal website for are work!! Very cool!! It's a blog about promoting good body image for women!
You can read are little spinet here:
JUMP
Now that I look at it again, they didn't mention me... hmmmm... Haha. That's okay though. Michal did write this that didn't seem to make it in the post: The artwork you see was done by the wonderfully talented Toby Cochran. I was just the girl with the initial idea, but without Toby it wouldn't have come to fruition. :)
So it is very cool to see the ideas behind this short little piece we created, you can get a bit of the back ground on it. And it was a joy working with Michal! Hopefully one of these days soon we can team up again and doing something incredible!!
Michal and I were featured on We are the Real Deal website for are work!! Very cool!! It's a blog about promoting good body image for women!
You can read are little spinet here:
JUMP
Now that I look at it again, they didn't mention me... hmmmm... Haha. That's okay though. Michal did write this that didn't seem to make it in the post: The artwork you see was done by the wonderfully talented Toby Cochran. I was just the girl with the initial idea, but without Toby it wouldn't have come to fruition. :)
So it is very cool to see the ideas behind this short little piece we created, you can get a bit of the back ground on it. And it was a joy working with Michal! Hopefully one of these days soon we can team up again and doing something incredible!!
9.04.2009
8.30.2009
Revolution
(Animatic) Susan B. Anthony’s address to Judge Ward Hunt reaches across time to women and men today, calling them to unite and continue the fight for equal rights."
Created by Michal Finegold and Toby Cochran.
Finally submitted are entry for the contest! Click here to watch and vote!!
Revolution
Competition is going to be stiff on this, there are some really nice pieces that have entered! Good luck to everyone!!
8.28.2009
History Channel Contest
Quick update!!
Finished another rough pass of the animatic and showed it to Michal! She loved it! So awesome, pumped out a lot of work in the last couple days! And it's great to know this is what she had envisioned! And is diggin' a few of the ideas I added.
Going to press on, and we set a goal of Sunday for us to turn it in!
That gives us two days before deadline and will allow some folks to vote on it! Will post the animatic come Sunday!
onto v.5~!!
****
update~~!!! It's 4:24 am Aug 30th!! Finished up on some work, going to check in with Michal in the morning - double check some stuff then submit!!! Animatic will be up soon for voting!! :D
Finished another rough pass of the animatic and showed it to Michal! She loved it! So awesome, pumped out a lot of work in the last couple days! And it's great to know this is what she had envisioned! And is diggin' a few of the ideas I added.
Going to press on, and we set a goal of Sunday for us to turn it in!
That gives us two days before deadline and will allow some folks to vote on it! Will post the animatic come Sunday!
onto v.5~!!
****
update~~!!! It's 4:24 am Aug 30th!! Finished up on some work, going to check in with Michal in the morning - double check some stuff then submit!!! Animatic will be up soon for voting!! :D
8.24.2009
Calm before the storm
Exciting news! I am teaming up with Michal Finegold and we are entering the AniBoom History Channel Contest!!
Michal was in need of a storyboard artist, so I offered my services!! :) I met Michal during Siggraph of 08, she is a power house to reckon with!! And I'm stoked to be working with her finally.
We don't have much time before the deadline (next week) But we will be cranking tons of work out the rest of this week and get it posted for everyone to see!!
WE will need all the help we can for voting and such! So please be sure to check it out once we get it posted!! I am going all out on this one ... so check back in a few days to see what what we've done in less than 2 weeks.
:D
Michal was in need of a storyboard artist, so I offered my services!! :) I met Michal during Siggraph of 08, she is a power house to reckon with!! And I'm stoked to be working with her finally.
We don't have much time before the deadline (next week) But we will be cranking tons of work out the rest of this week and get it posted for everyone to see!!
WE will need all the help we can for voting and such! So please be sure to check it out once we get it posted!! I am going all out on this one ... so check back in a few days to see what what we've done in less than 2 weeks.
:D
8.20.2009
RIP Grandpa
On August 14th, 09 my grandfather past away. I wanted to share a drawing I did of him a few years back done in charcoal.
And here is a photo of me and the family at thanksgiving of 08.
After that, he became sick and I wasn't able to go out and visit him with the family due to work and school. Which was really making me feel horrible inside. But back in June during my last week of school we got a phone call saying he wasn't doing well, so I jumped in the car and headed back to Kansas with my dad.
Ended up missing my last week of school and such, but I was able to see my grandpa. That was the last time I saw him, and I'm thankful I jumped in the car and went to go see him.
My sister is going to make a cool collage on a canvas so when she gets that done I will post that up here sometime!
Love ya gramps!
tc
8.14.2009
7.29.2009
Graduation
WOW
I can't say that enough. So much fun, and it was fantastic meeting everyone that I've been going to school with for the last two years online!
It's a bit surreal meeting everyone, you are use to seeing them in this tiny box from their web cam, then in real life you almost doubt if you really think that's the person you think it is! But it was great putting real faces to the tiny avatars!
The Graduation weekend started on Friday, July 10th, which Animation Mentor held a open house and a job fair! Open house was a lot of fun, it was really cool to see where a lot of the magic takes place to make such a great school run!! The students will sometime have "Office hour visits" on the school through the web cam, but it was really nice to meet the people behind the scenes that have been helping us out over the years! Saturday was the big day; graduation, then celebration time! And Sunday was the AM BBQ!!
The graduation ceremony was awesome, classes 11 & 12, I think a total of... at least 120 students?? More?. I think it was AM's biggest classes to graduate thus far. AM had a special guest speaker for the grads, which was Dave Burgess!! Super cool guy! I remember attending Siggraph last year and he was at one of the panels speaking. Also ran into him at DreamWorks when I visited!
I arrived in San Fran on the 8th along with my friends Emanuel Almer, Ana Cunha and her friend Dianna. E (Emanuel) traveled from Austria and the girls traveled up from Brazil! We had set up a 17 day vacation from graduation. The couple days before the AM festivities kicked off we toured around SF!! Trying food out, E was able to have steak and eggs for breakfast for the first time (which we ended up getting for 4-5 days in a row!! mmmmm) We had an Alcatraz tour which was pretty fun, walked around China Town!
I wound up making a new partner in crime while I was visiting SF!! Bridget is her name and walkin' is her game - haha :P. When I travel I love to just walk, and see where my feet will take me. It's so much fun because it's usually during these times you find some of the best experiences. Apart of the old cliche, it's about the journey not the destination. Turns out Bridget loves doing that too! So after the BBQ on Sunday she took me on a tour of the city, we walked about 7-8 miles I think? Maybe? Not sure, but it was one hell of a work out! . I was crazy enough to run up a few of the steepest streets while I was out there.
So after a great time in SF, me and the gang (Emanuel, Ana, and Di) set off to drive the coast to LA! We stopped at quite a few places on are way down, first up was Monterey; we caught the sunset there! super pretty btw.
Continued on to: Carmel Beach, Big Sur, ((we stopped to check out some Elephant Seals relaxing)) Pismo Beach, then stopped over at Santa Barbara (caught another sunset!!) Then we made it into Santa Monica/ Venice area, which is where we stayed for about a week!
While we were out there we played at the beach, visited Blur Studios, and DreamWorks, I was able to meet up with one of the best Mentors EVER! Mark Pudleiner, had some sushi with him. I had the great pleasure of learning from Mark in Class 1 and Class 5. At DreamWorks Ana and I met are class 6 mentor Sean Sexton!! Again one of the best mentors to have and his class was fantastic. At graduation I was able to meet up with Jay Jackson and he was my class 4 mentor! I unfortunately missed Michelle Meeker she was my class 2 Mentor!!
While out at the beach in Venice, Emanuel and I worked out at Muscle Beach!! We are both into fitness and have both wanted to visit. That was a lot of fun, but a bit extreme in the heat! :D
We ended up extending are stay in LA an extra day and I was able to drive up to Ventura and see an old friend and mentor of mine! Emanuel came up with me and we went sailing! It was my first time ever going sailing and I loved it, I ended up taking over the reigns and sailed us around the Pacific for a while. Once we came back into port, Emanuel and I went Kayaking!! And that was a blast! We ended up seeing a dolphin and some sea lions. E, was hoping to see a shark, but no luck! :( lol.
The following day the gang and I went to DISNEYLAND!!!! SO, so cool! I hadn't been there since I was a lil fella, maybe 2 years old? But I felt like a 6 year old all over again!! E and I ran all over that place. We purchased the park hopper pass and we went on just about every ride in California Adventure! Then about afternoon time we ran over to Disneyland! We didn't get to go on as many rides but we took as many photos with the characters as we could! We were hell bent on getting a photo with Mickey so we waited about an hour to do so.
FYI for anyone that will be going to Disney MUST, this is a BIG MUST: ride Indiana Jones ride and do the Toy Story Mania ride. Coolest experience!!
After LA, we hit the road again to Vegas! Vegas baby, VEGAS! lol. Vegas is definitely a place you go for just a couple days and that's it. While we were in Vegas, E and I won some money and we went on a Helicopter ride in the Grand Canyon!! I had never gambled before and I think E and I both got lucky!!
I use to be terrified of heights, like looking out the window from a building would start to make me feel uneasy. So maybe a couple years ago, the thought of a helicopter ride would be like "NO WAY!!" But I enjoyed the hell out of it. We flew over the Hoover Damn, then landed near the Colorado River for some refreshments then headed back home. But if anyone reading this gets the chance to go on a helicopter they should!!
It's very hard for me to point my finger on, what was the best part of my trip. It feels like I had many "cherries on top" for each day. Always something new. For San Fran it was finally meeting everyone and seeing the city non-tourist style. The coast drive in itself was incredible, visiting the studios, body surfing, playing in the sand, sailing, Disneyland, and the helicopter ride! Hell the whole freaking trip was phenomenal!
And it was very needed, last couple years have been rough, and I've had my nose down going 150% Rarely being outside or just spending time away from a computer. (which I do NOT recommend lol get some sun)
It was fantastic meeting everyone from AM, I wish everyone the best!! And to Emanuel, Ana, and Di thanks for a memorable trip!
--If you want to see more photos, add me on facebook!
I can't say that enough. So much fun, and it was fantastic meeting everyone that I've been going to school with for the last two years online!
It's a bit surreal meeting everyone, you are use to seeing them in this tiny box from their web cam, then in real life you almost doubt if you really think that's the person you think it is! But it was great putting real faces to the tiny avatars!
The Graduation weekend started on Friday, July 10th, which Animation Mentor held a open house and a job fair! Open house was a lot of fun, it was really cool to see where a lot of the magic takes place to make such a great school run!! The students will sometime have "Office hour visits" on the school through the web cam, but it was really nice to meet the people behind the scenes that have been helping us out over the years! Saturday was the big day; graduation, then celebration time! And Sunday was the AM BBQ!!
The graduation ceremony was awesome, classes 11 & 12, I think a total of... at least 120 students?? More?. I think it was AM's biggest classes to graduate thus far. AM had a special guest speaker for the grads, which was Dave Burgess!! Super cool guy! I remember attending Siggraph last year and he was at one of the panels speaking. Also ran into him at DreamWorks when I visited!
I arrived in San Fran on the 8th along with my friends Emanuel Almer, Ana Cunha and her friend Dianna. E (Emanuel) traveled from Austria and the girls traveled up from Brazil! We had set up a 17 day vacation from graduation. The couple days before the AM festivities kicked off we toured around SF!! Trying food out, E was able to have steak and eggs for breakfast for the first time (which we ended up getting for 4-5 days in a row!! mmmmm) We had an Alcatraz tour which was pretty fun, walked around China Town!
I wound up making a new partner in crime while I was visiting SF!! Bridget is her name and walkin' is her game - haha :P. When I travel I love to just walk, and see where my feet will take me. It's so much fun because it's usually during these times you find some of the best experiences. Apart of the old cliche, it's about the journey not the destination. Turns out Bridget loves doing that too! So after the BBQ on Sunday she took me on a tour of the city, we walked about 7-8 miles I think? Maybe? Not sure, but it was one hell of a work out! . I was crazy enough to run up a few of the steepest streets while I was out there.
So after a great time in SF, me and the gang (Emanuel, Ana, and Di) set off to drive the coast to LA! We stopped at quite a few places on are way down, first up was Monterey; we caught the sunset there! super pretty btw.
Continued on to: Carmel Beach, Big Sur, ((we stopped to check out some Elephant Seals relaxing)) Pismo Beach, then stopped over at Santa Barbara (caught another sunset!!) Then we made it into Santa Monica/ Venice area, which is where we stayed for about a week!
While we were out there we played at the beach, visited Blur Studios, and DreamWorks, I was able to meet up with one of the best Mentors EVER! Mark Pudleiner, had some sushi with him. I had the great pleasure of learning from Mark in Class 1 and Class 5. At DreamWorks Ana and I met are class 6 mentor Sean Sexton!! Again one of the best mentors to have and his class was fantastic. At graduation I was able to meet up with Jay Jackson and he was my class 4 mentor! I unfortunately missed Michelle Meeker she was my class 2 Mentor!!
While out at the beach in Venice, Emanuel and I worked out at Muscle Beach!! We are both into fitness and have both wanted to visit. That was a lot of fun, but a bit extreme in the heat! :D
We ended up extending are stay in LA an extra day and I was able to drive up to Ventura and see an old friend and mentor of mine! Emanuel came up with me and we went sailing! It was my first time ever going sailing and I loved it, I ended up taking over the reigns and sailed us around the Pacific for a while. Once we came back into port, Emanuel and I went Kayaking!! And that was a blast! We ended up seeing a dolphin and some sea lions. E, was hoping to see a shark, but no luck! :( lol.
The following day the gang and I went to DISNEYLAND!!!! SO, so cool! I hadn't been there since I was a lil fella, maybe 2 years old? But I felt like a 6 year old all over again!! E and I ran all over that place. We purchased the park hopper pass and we went on just about every ride in California Adventure! Then about afternoon time we ran over to Disneyland! We didn't get to go on as many rides but we took as many photos with the characters as we could! We were hell bent on getting a photo with Mickey so we waited about an hour to do so.
FYI for anyone that will be going to Disney MUST, this is a BIG MUST: ride Indiana Jones ride and do the Toy Story Mania ride. Coolest experience!!
After LA, we hit the road again to Vegas! Vegas baby, VEGAS! lol. Vegas is definitely a place you go for just a couple days and that's it. While we were in Vegas, E and I won some money and we went on a Helicopter ride in the Grand Canyon!! I had never gambled before and I think E and I both got lucky!!
I use to be terrified of heights, like looking out the window from a building would start to make me feel uneasy. So maybe a couple years ago, the thought of a helicopter ride would be like "NO WAY!!" But I enjoyed the hell out of it. We flew over the Hoover Damn, then landed near the Colorado River for some refreshments then headed back home. But if anyone reading this gets the chance to go on a helicopter they should!!
It's very hard for me to point my finger on, what was the best part of my trip. It feels like I had many "cherries on top" for each day. Always something new. For San Fran it was finally meeting everyone and seeing the city non-tourist style. The coast drive in itself was incredible, visiting the studios, body surfing, playing in the sand, sailing, Disneyland, and the helicopter ride! Hell the whole freaking trip was phenomenal!
And it was very needed, last couple years have been rough, and I've had my nose down going 150% Rarely being outside or just spending time away from a computer. (which I do NOT recommend lol get some sun)
It was fantastic meeting everyone from AM, I wish everyone the best!! And to Emanuel, Ana, and Di thanks for a memorable trip!
--If you want to see more photos, add me on facebook!
7.05.2009
AM DONE!!
wow.
I can't believe I haven't updated this thing sooner! I finished school at Animation Mentor Back in June!!! Graduation time now!! So glad I was able to pass, for a few weeks
trying to get everything changed over and with everything else I really felt like I might
not graduate.
But I did what I could to the best I could.
I would also like to thank everyone for believing in me, and giving me lots of support during that time! I couldn't of done it without you guys. :)
During that time I was freelancing with Impossible Pictures! Super sweet studio with some awesome people working there. I jumped on a project that was being completed for the Discovery Channel!! Super cool, I've always wanted to work on a show like that too.
I can't say what the project is just yet, but once it gets closer to airing on TV I will post it up!
I cleaned up animation, mo-cap work, a little rigging and texturing, assisted on set dressing a scene, some lighting, rendering and helped out the team on compositing. I was also in charge of the teaser promotional shots. Which was fun because I came up with tons of ideas to present to my supervisor and team and would get feedback then go back to actually setting it all up for layout. It was fun because I had some creative freedom working in some tight constraints but was able to creatively direct the teaser shots!
It was a great experience and now I've just been getting back into some graphic design freelance and prepping for my graduation trip!!! I graduate July 11th. Will be attending the AM BBQ and hanging out with tons of people from all over the world, that I've been going to school with for the last couple years!
I'm actually going to be staying in San Fransisco for a few days with some friends then we are traveling down the coast to LA. Going to meet up with some friends and get some studio visits then drive on over to VEGAS! VEGAS BABY VEGAS!!! lol. Then come home and get back to work harder than before.
As for Big Grin - things have been a bit on a hiatus with the development of the TV show. So when I get back I have a few options on what exactly I want to do and start moving forward with my life and company!!!
So there is a tiny update! More to come soon :D
I can't believe I haven't updated this thing sooner! I finished school at Animation Mentor Back in June!!! Graduation time now!! So glad I was able to pass, for a few weeks
trying to get everything changed over and with everything else I really felt like I might
not graduate.
But I did what I could to the best I could.
I would also like to thank everyone for believing in me, and giving me lots of support during that time! I couldn't of done it without you guys. :)
During that time I was freelancing with Impossible Pictures! Super sweet studio with some awesome people working there. I jumped on a project that was being completed for the Discovery Channel!! Super cool, I've always wanted to work on a show like that too.
I can't say what the project is just yet, but once it gets closer to airing on TV I will post it up!
I cleaned up animation, mo-cap work, a little rigging and texturing, assisted on set dressing a scene, some lighting, rendering and helped out the team on compositing. I was also in charge of the teaser promotional shots. Which was fun because I came up with tons of ideas to present to my supervisor and team and would get feedback then go back to actually setting it all up for layout. It was fun because I had some creative freedom working in some tight constraints but was able to creatively direct the teaser shots!
It was a great experience and now I've just been getting back into some graphic design freelance and prepping for my graduation trip!!! I graduate July 11th. Will be attending the AM BBQ and hanging out with tons of people from all over the world, that I've been going to school with for the last couple years!
I'm actually going to be staying in San Fransisco for a few days with some friends then we are traveling down the coast to LA. Going to meet up with some friends and get some studio visits then drive on over to VEGAS! VEGAS BABY VEGAS!!! lol. Then come home and get back to work harder than before.
As for Big Grin - things have been a bit on a hiatus with the development of the TV show. So when I get back I have a few options on what exactly I want to do and start moving forward with my life and company!!!
So there is a tiny update! More to come soon :D
4.17.2009
Speed bumps
Well 3D is under way for my short, last couple weeks have been rough transitioning over, I've mostly just been working on bugs and wrestling with the rig on setup.
Doing a little modeling every week for the bedroom and some others have helped out modeling props for me! This following week 4/20th-24th, will be another slow one for me and not much will get done. I leave mid week to fly out to Buffalo, New York. I'm attending Dov Simens Film school. It's going to be a great time! One day I would like to direct a live action or two.
Here is my new layout, still super rough, hardly any posing going on. I just worked on the cuts and timing to follow the pacing of the music from the 2D blocking.
Test
Just want to say thanks for everyone's support! I'm going to do what I can in order to finish so I can graduate.
Doing a little modeling every week for the bedroom and some others have helped out modeling props for me! This following week 4/20th-24th, will be another slow one for me and not much will get done. I leave mid week to fly out to Buffalo, New York. I'm attending Dov Simens Film school. It's going to be a great time! One day I would like to direct a live action or two.
Here is my new layout, still super rough, hardly any posing going on. I just worked on the cuts and timing to follow the pacing of the music from the 2D blocking.
Test
Just want to say thanks for everyone's support! I'm going to do what I can in order to finish so I can graduate.
4.09.2009
Heartbroken
So I was notified Wed. of this week that I would not be allowed to continue working on my short film in 2D. Same goes for Bobby Pontillas, he took time off from AM and put even more time in for his 2D film. Either go 3D or don't graduate.
Funny because Bobby Beck and others through out the course of AM lectures talk about animation is animation no matter what the medium. And to be told that I haven't done that much work and it should be easy to do the film in 3D, doesn't set right with me! Just leaves a pit in my stomach.
I BUSTED MY ASS off to get what I have, and I hustled even harder to help my classmates out and do whatever I could for them. I didn't have all the time I wanted to put into my short film, but then again, who does have all the time in the world.
I wrote Bobby Beck the CEO, and was disappointed with what I read in return. I would have thought with him being an animator himself and being the CEO he would understand and unfortunately is out of his hands. It feels like the people who we are trying to communicate and work with have not created a hand drawn piece or made a short film before. This isn't easy and can't be changed with a click of a button.
WHY would I want to animate in 3D when all of my love, passion and motivation is for doing this in 2D on the film. Besides that, with my whole heart being poured into this, why wouldn't I make this the best piece of work I could? And if you know me, I don't half ass anything.
Mr. Beck also said I didn't have the draftsmanship for the standard needed; I could see that with my short film. Its also in a very rough stage. And I would like him to take a look at my portfolio and tell me I can't draw. But whatever, its cool everyone is a critic, that's why artists have to have thick skin.
If it sucks its sucks, ya know? :P Besides I wasn't going to have it 100% completely done in 12 weeks, clean up takes longer than animating lol. And I'm cool with that because I want to draw each frame by hand then paint it using watercolor.
What sucks to is: I remember Bobby Beck's exact words when Ryan Hobbiebrunken, Zac and I had a heart to heart with him while out at Siggraph in Boston. After speaking with Bobby and hearing everything we were so desperately needing to learn, that of which we weren't learning at school. We went back to school and caused a huge ruckus!!! Which of course wasn't the intention at all, we just went back to school and told the truth. And a handful of students dropped out after we talked to them. Hobbie actually left and he was super concerned this would hurt him in the long run. But I told him that he would be the first from are "group" to be working on a feature film, he would be working on a feature film before he even graduated the school!! And guess what!? He did exactly that, so AM was the best thing for him! And I was so happy for him. (law of attraction does wonders)
And the coolest part was, Shawn Kelly wrote to us, telling us his story! And what he was going through back in school and making a tough decision like that. It was totally cool to hear that from such an awesome person. For me I couldn't do what Hobbie did, it was different, I finished up because of one person, and they helped me get my business up and running. But guess what, not even a full week after graduating school I was starting AM up! I've only had great things to say about this school. So this sucks. No one knew we weren't allowed to do 2D.
Whats hard for me, is, I looked up to Bobby Beck. He was working at Pixar, and left it, to go off and pursue a dream, all those years of hard work, the long nights with his buddies and it finally paid off. Look at what AM has accomplished! And for me the connection is he never gave up, he stayed true to himself and his dream. I've been pursuing my dream the last few years. It comes down to examining ones own desires. I have made a choice, I am willing to risk certain parts of my life to live my dream, I've risked relationships, time and humiliation. What are you willing to risk?
I mean, I'm a kid, 23 yrs old getting gray hair already from working so much. Even though I'm not getting paid, I wake up every morning and LOVE what I do. How many people can say that? And I know it will pay off one day soon.
To me this all correlates with story telling. I believe my ambition has a life defining force with it. The measure of the value of a characters desire is in direct proportion to the risk he takes to achieve it. Greater the value = greater the risk.
And I've really risked a lot trying to make my short film the best it can be on top of everything else. This is why I admire people busting their butts that have to work so many jobs just to attend school, or people with newborns, they are doing it for their family. Even people who decide to quit work altogether and solely dedicate their time.
So 2D isn't allowed. Well it doesn't mention it in the Class 5 syllabus, it wasn't apart of the "rules" for making a short film. So why now? Everyone was under the impression that the AM staff checked out the work of the students, and everyone is having a hard time believing that they wouldn't have known about Bobby Pontillas work or mine. I mean this has only been going on 6 plus months, close to seven now.
I mean there are tons of students to watch, but still we were passed from class 5 and everyone seemed to know... except the staff I guess? lol
So for me, now, I have to graduate. Plane tickets and hotels are already reserved. I feel really bad for Bobby P. he is so far along on his work, its looking fantastic! I just want to get this sorted out and honestly I would like to just work on some animation tests (in 3D lol) so I can strengthen my reel.
Were being told this is for are best interest so it doesn't hurt are chances getting in the industry. I can see where they are coming from. They're just preserving the market for which they employ grads, that's all. And the market is all 3D!! Last thing I would want to see happen is me and Bobby get really hurt by this.
I've always wanted to work on a 2D though, maybe that's the Disney kid in me haha. Or even something like Triplets of Belleville. And didn't this years short film Academy go to a 2D film? :P It wasn't full blown Disney level animation. Very stylized. Same for Lavatory - Lovestory, that was a great short film. I think it all depends on the story trying to be told, and I will stick to 2D for my story.
I will just have to finish it on my own time. And I know it isn't going to be easy, I mean doing emotional animation scenes in 3D is freaking hard and you have more control over things. But that's part of the fun and challenge I find in my piece.
I still have enjoyed my journey in Animation Mentor, and have made friends for life and worked with some of the best talent the industry has to offer. I wouldn't change that for nothing. Just time to put this behind me and bust my butt on a awesome 3D test!
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
-Harriet Tubman
Funny because Bobby Beck and others through out the course of AM lectures talk about animation is animation no matter what the medium. And to be told that I haven't done that much work and it should be easy to do the film in 3D, doesn't set right with me! Just leaves a pit in my stomach.
I BUSTED MY ASS off to get what I have, and I hustled even harder to help my classmates out and do whatever I could for them. I didn't have all the time I wanted to put into my short film, but then again, who does have all the time in the world.
I wrote Bobby Beck the CEO, and was disappointed with what I read in return. I would have thought with him being an animator himself and being the CEO he would understand and unfortunately is out of his hands. It feels like the people who we are trying to communicate and work with have not created a hand drawn piece or made a short film before. This isn't easy and can't be changed with a click of a button.
WHY would I want to animate in 3D when all of my love, passion and motivation is for doing this in 2D on the film. Besides that, with my whole heart being poured into this, why wouldn't I make this the best piece of work I could? And if you know me, I don't half ass anything.
Mr. Beck also said I didn't have the draftsmanship for the standard needed; I could see that with my short film. Its also in a very rough stage. And I would like him to take a look at my portfolio and tell me I can't draw. But whatever, its cool everyone is a critic, that's why artists have to have thick skin.
If it sucks its sucks, ya know? :P Besides I wasn't going to have it 100% completely done in 12 weeks, clean up takes longer than animating lol. And I'm cool with that because I want to draw each frame by hand then paint it using watercolor.
What sucks to is: I remember Bobby Beck's exact words when Ryan Hobbiebrunken, Zac and I had a heart to heart with him while out at Siggraph in Boston. After speaking with Bobby and hearing everything we were so desperately needing to learn, that of which we weren't learning at school. We went back to school and caused a huge ruckus!!! Which of course wasn't the intention at all, we just went back to school and told the truth. And a handful of students dropped out after we talked to them. Hobbie actually left and he was super concerned this would hurt him in the long run. But I told him that he would be the first from are "group" to be working on a feature film, he would be working on a feature film before he even graduated the school!! And guess what!? He did exactly that, so AM was the best thing for him! And I was so happy for him. (law of attraction does wonders)
And the coolest part was, Shawn Kelly wrote to us, telling us his story! And what he was going through back in school and making a tough decision like that. It was totally cool to hear that from such an awesome person. For me I couldn't do what Hobbie did, it was different, I finished up because of one person, and they helped me get my business up and running. But guess what, not even a full week after graduating school I was starting AM up! I've only had great things to say about this school. So this sucks. No one knew we weren't allowed to do 2D.
Whats hard for me, is, I looked up to Bobby Beck. He was working at Pixar, and left it, to go off and pursue a dream, all those years of hard work, the long nights with his buddies and it finally paid off. Look at what AM has accomplished! And for me the connection is he never gave up, he stayed true to himself and his dream. I've been pursuing my dream the last few years. It comes down to examining ones own desires. I have made a choice, I am willing to risk certain parts of my life to live my dream, I've risked relationships, time and humiliation. What are you willing to risk?
I mean, I'm a kid, 23 yrs old getting gray hair already from working so much. Even though I'm not getting paid, I wake up every morning and LOVE what I do. How many people can say that? And I know it will pay off one day soon.
To me this all correlates with story telling. I believe my ambition has a life defining force with it. The measure of the value of a characters desire is in direct proportion to the risk he takes to achieve it. Greater the value = greater the risk.
And I've really risked a lot trying to make my short film the best it can be on top of everything else. This is why I admire people busting their butts that have to work so many jobs just to attend school, or people with newborns, they are doing it for their family. Even people who decide to quit work altogether and solely dedicate their time.
So 2D isn't allowed. Well it doesn't mention it in the Class 5 syllabus, it wasn't apart of the "rules" for making a short film. So why now? Everyone was under the impression that the AM staff checked out the work of the students, and everyone is having a hard time believing that they wouldn't have known about Bobby Pontillas work or mine. I mean this has only been going on 6 plus months, close to seven now.
I mean there are tons of students to watch, but still we were passed from class 5 and everyone seemed to know... except the staff I guess? lol
So for me, now, I have to graduate. Plane tickets and hotels are already reserved. I feel really bad for Bobby P. he is so far along on his work, its looking fantastic! I just want to get this sorted out and honestly I would like to just work on some animation tests (in 3D lol) so I can strengthen my reel.
Were being told this is for are best interest so it doesn't hurt are chances getting in the industry. I can see where they are coming from. They're just preserving the market for which they employ grads, that's all. And the market is all 3D!! Last thing I would want to see happen is me and Bobby get really hurt by this.
I've always wanted to work on a 2D though, maybe that's the Disney kid in me haha. Or even something like Triplets of Belleville. And didn't this years short film Academy go to a 2D film? :P It wasn't full blown Disney level animation. Very stylized. Same for Lavatory - Lovestory, that was a great short film. I think it all depends on the story trying to be told, and I will stick to 2D for my story.
I will just have to finish it on my own time. And I know it isn't going to be easy, I mean doing emotional animation scenes in 3D is freaking hard and you have more control over things. But that's part of the fun and challenge I find in my piece.
I still have enjoyed my journey in Animation Mentor, and have made friends for life and worked with some of the best talent the industry has to offer. I wouldn't change that for nothing. Just time to put this behind me and bust my butt on a awesome 3D test!
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
-Harriet Tubman
3.27.2009
Short Film Progress v.2
Here is what I finished up with after class 5.
The short is still in rough layout mode, basically a tightened animatic.
I tell you what, class 5 was harder than I expected. I use to be a peer buddy and loved helping others out and would always comment on as many peoples work as I could. It's a great way of meeting new students, making friends and polishing your own skills as an animator.
At the beginning of class 5 I made the decision not to be one anymore and put all of my focus first into my class and then others as much as I could. And it really paid off this term, granted I didn't get around to my friends work spaces (i tried :( lol) Even though I'm personally not as far along as I would like to be, I did what I could to the best of my ability. Working 70+ hrs a week, or working 20+ hr days some weeks was killer and drained me.
If it weren't for my classmates, the Puddy Carebear Crew I wouldn't have made the short I did. So for those who are parents or raising newborns, or for some that are working crunch time on films (ice age 3) or people who have to work 3 jobs to make a living to follow your dream, it will pay off!!! And you are here doing it for the right reasons, I have much respect for those people who make that choice.
Because when it comes down to it, and you have a dream, what are you going to do to make it happen?
Sure you can complain about work, or how crappy everything in life is, or blame others, and all you do is talk about what you wish you could be doing!
People! Wake up, you realize that no one has control over creating your happiness!! No one but you has that control!! And if you are surrounded by people that control that, WHY?? Seriously why? Put your energy where you want it to really go.
"easier said then done" or "it's not that easy" is what I always hear, yeah your exactly right! But guess what the secret is... "its not easy!" No one ever tells you that part, if it were easy everyone would do it. You have to work at it. So it comes back around to what are YOU going to do that separates you from everyone else?
It's getting up off your ass, shutting TV off, and putting in 1 hr here or 30 mins there. It's coming home from the longest day at work, and making sure you put the time in; may it be h/w, your film, whatever it may be!
Remember "Energy flows where attention goes"
And I believe my awesome class knows this very well.
Puddy Story Ninjas:
Ana Cunha
Andreas Koumpis
Annette Perin
Daniel Carey
Daniel Coes
Daniele Zannone
Frank Spalteholz
Gabor Lendvai
Irina Golina Sagatelian
Ricard Castany Boix
(I will get links to everyones websites soon!)
Make sure to check out their sites!
The short is still in rough layout mode, basically a tightened animatic.
I tell you what, class 5 was harder than I expected. I use to be a peer buddy and loved helping others out and would always comment on as many peoples work as I could. It's a great way of meeting new students, making friends and polishing your own skills as an animator.
At the beginning of class 5 I made the decision not to be one anymore and put all of my focus first into my class and then others as much as I could. And it really paid off this term, granted I didn't get around to my friends work spaces (i tried :( lol) Even though I'm personally not as far along as I would like to be, I did what I could to the best of my ability. Working 70+ hrs a week, or working 20+ hr days some weeks was killer and drained me.
If it weren't for my classmates, the Puddy Carebear Crew I wouldn't have made the short I did. So for those who are parents or raising newborns, or for some that are working crunch time on films (ice age 3) or people who have to work 3 jobs to make a living to follow your dream, it will pay off!!! And you are here doing it for the right reasons, I have much respect for those people who make that choice.
Because when it comes down to it, and you have a dream, what are you going to do to make it happen?
Sure you can complain about work, or how crappy everything in life is, or blame others, and all you do is talk about what you wish you could be doing!
People! Wake up, you realize that no one has control over creating your happiness!! No one but you has that control!! And if you are surrounded by people that control that, WHY?? Seriously why? Put your energy where you want it to really go.
"easier said then done" or "it's not that easy" is what I always hear, yeah your exactly right! But guess what the secret is... "its not easy!" No one ever tells you that part, if it were easy everyone would do it. You have to work at it. So it comes back around to what are YOU going to do that separates you from everyone else?
It's getting up off your ass, shutting TV off, and putting in 1 hr here or 30 mins there. It's coming home from the longest day at work, and making sure you put the time in; may it be h/w, your film, whatever it may be!
Remember "Energy flows where attention goes"
And I believe my awesome class knows this very well.
Puddy Story Ninjas:
Ana Cunha
Andreas Koumpis
Annette Perin
Daniel Carey
Daniel Coes
Daniele Zannone
Frank Spalteholz
Gabor Lendvai
Irina Golina Sagatelian
Ricard Castany Boix
(I will get links to everyones websites soon!)
Make sure to check out their sites!
3.04.2009
Story Time!!!
Well I'm off to see the big story wizard with the Big Grin crew! We will be attending Robert McKee's Story Seminar!!
It is going to be an intense weekend but very much worth it! We are still working furiously hard on are feature film. Zac and Danny did an awesome job pitching out a sequence they storyboarded just over the weekend. And the presentation rocked! We have some time now to tweak and polish the boards and create a nice animatic before the big meeting!
I'll post up some photos once I get back!!
It is going to be an intense weekend but very much worth it! We are still working furiously hard on are feature film. Zac and Danny did an awesome job pitching out a sequence they storyboarded just over the weekend. And the presentation rocked! We have some time now to tweak and polish the boards and create a nice animatic before the big meeting!
I'll post up some photos once I get back!!
Short Film
Well I'm in class 5 at Animation Mentor and I had worked my way back into class with Mark Pudleiner!!
Thanks to Richard and Eray for making that happen! When I first started at AM Mark was my mentor, and it was his very first time teaching at AM as well. So I had to have class with him again. Not only that I decided that I wanted to do my short film in 2D! And there was no one better than Mark for helping me with 2D.
I've been itching to do 2D ever since I joined AM but I need to understand 3D I'm at AM to learn animation, may it be 2D or 3D its about quality animation!
AND! I have one of the best classes I've ever had at AM - usually classes are awesome and a few students really help push others but this class, EVERYONE helped everyone. We started are own group on skype and would meet every night of the week, especially during the brainstorming weeks. And it helped all of us come out with the greatest story possible. And we were all in different countries so finding the "perfect" time was impossible.
We all stayed up late just so we could help each other out. And to me that's what collaboration is all about. Ya sure, you can go off and not give any feedback in the school and think you can do it all by yourself, but honestly you are missing out on the biggest advantage the school offers. Building relationships with super amazingly talented people from all over the world!!!
I wanted to share some early rough sketches for my short film from back in January, now these are just exploration and my buddy Zac told me about this awesome comic book called Hero Bear! The style in it is AMAZING! Very inspiring.
"Way UP High"
Layout ideas:
Picture ideas:
Boy Sketches:
Early Rough Storyboards:
Best advice for working on a short film is go get fresh eyes on it! Find or ask those certain people you can count on. Also, either working 2D, 3D- whatever always do a rough layout from a birds eye view so you (the director) know where everything will take place. It makes things much easier on you. Always storyboard even if you can't draw, make stick figures, start reading books about compositions.
Study your favorite movies and start analyzing them, study how the shots flow into one another, the use of color and how that is applying to the mood and tone of the film. Look at the editing, how many frames they stayed on an insert shot, or panned the camera a certain way, how did they do that transition you have never noticed before.
Become a student of the art.
More to come on my short film!! :D
Thanks to Richard and Eray for making that happen! When I first started at AM Mark was my mentor, and it was his very first time teaching at AM as well. So I had to have class with him again. Not only that I decided that I wanted to do my short film in 2D! And there was no one better than Mark for helping me with 2D.
I've been itching to do 2D ever since I joined AM but I need to understand 3D I'm at AM to learn animation, may it be 2D or 3D its about quality animation!
AND! I have one of the best classes I've ever had at AM - usually classes are awesome and a few students really help push others but this class, EVERYONE helped everyone. We started are own group on skype and would meet every night of the week, especially during the brainstorming weeks. And it helped all of us come out with the greatest story possible. And we were all in different countries so finding the "perfect" time was impossible.
We all stayed up late just so we could help each other out. And to me that's what collaboration is all about. Ya sure, you can go off and not give any feedback in the school and think you can do it all by yourself, but honestly you are missing out on the biggest advantage the school offers. Building relationships with super amazingly talented people from all over the world!!!
I wanted to share some early rough sketches for my short film from back in January, now these are just exploration and my buddy Zac told me about this awesome comic book called Hero Bear! The style in it is AMAZING! Very inspiring.
"Way UP High"
Layout ideas:
Picture ideas:
Boy Sketches:
Early Rough Storyboards:
Best advice for working on a short film is go get fresh eyes on it! Find or ask those certain people you can count on. Also, either working 2D, 3D- whatever always do a rough layout from a birds eye view so you (the director) know where everything will take place. It makes things much easier on you. Always storyboard even if you can't draw, make stick figures, start reading books about compositions.
Study your favorite movies and start analyzing them, study how the shots flow into one another, the use of color and how that is applying to the mood and tone of the film. Look at the editing, how many frames they stayed on an insert shot, or panned the camera a certain way, how did they do that transition you have never noticed before.
Become a student of the art.
More to come on my short film!! :D
1.23.2009
Bubblicious
Awesome little video sent to me by a friend. Lots of time was spent on this and the quality shows!
Bubblicious
ALSO!!
HUGE, HUGE! Congrats to the guys that created Oktapodi!!
They are gonna be seating with the big boys at the Academy Awards come a few weeks! My fingers are crossed for this to take the award!! If you haven't seen this, watch it now!!
oktapodi
It was a pleasure meeting the team back at Gobelins and great to see them again at Siggraph last year. Here is the official Oktapodi site.
Bubblicious
ALSO!!
HUGE, HUGE! Congrats to the guys that created Oktapodi!!
They are gonna be seating with the big boys at the Academy Awards come a few weeks! My fingers are crossed for this to take the award!! If you haven't seen this, watch it now!!
oktapodi
It was a pleasure meeting the team back at Gobelins and great to see them again at Siggraph last year. Here is the official Oktapodi site.
1.02.2009
It's a New Day
This song is pure poetry. 09 is going to be a great year!
Happy New Year to everyone!
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