Man oh man... It feels like it's been a while since first seeing Shrek... Although DW isn't as popular with me as other studios, they're really starting to grow on me. I really love Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar and Over the Over the Hedge. I really wasn't impressed with Shrek 2 or 3, Antz, A Shark Tale or Bee Movie. I think that something happened to DW. Ever since KFP came out (which is one of my favorites) they've been making really fun and entertaining movies. Now the animation that DW produces ever since Shrek is truly amazing!! I'm talking about the story and originality. Well I knew that How To Train Your Dragon was coming out this year (my last Mentor, Sean Sexton works there) and that they were making the forth and final Shrek sequel... but I recently saw ANOTHER trailer for a movie they have coming out this November (Megamind)... that puts their grand total to 3 movies in one year. All of the movies look good. From what I've heard Shrek 4 and How to Train Your Dragon are supposed to be awesome (I haven't heard anything about Megamind yet)!
I recently saw a teaser trailer for the third movie, Megamind. Megamind looks like a fun and silly movie, which they should be able to pull off without struggle, especially when you have Will Ferrell as your voice talent! I know that they have two gigantic studios in CA, but to produce three motion pictures in the span of one year. Well, that's just amazing to me!! I am really excited to see their next three movies and am probably going to try and see them in the theaters.
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3.23.2010
3.08.2010
Congrats Pixar, you've done it again!
As you may or may not know the 82nd annual Academy Awards were last night... I really stopped caring about the Oscars, especially after Happy Feet beat out Cars for Best Animated Feature. I would have thought the simple fact that Happy Feet was motion captured and Cars was 100% hand animated would have been a major deciding factor in winning an award for animation... anyways. From that moment on there has been a sour taste left in my mouth and I've completely lost interest all together. Plus, it seems like there's always one movie, that I haven't heard of, wins all of the awards. Last night it was The Hurt Locker. But the 2 categories that I'm most interested in are Best Animated Feature and Best Animated Short Film. Last night the other category I was most interested in was Best Picture. The reason being is that Up was nominated, and it's only the 2nd time in history that an animated feature was nominated for Best Picture. The first one was Beauty and Beast back in 1991. That's a pretty big accomplishment for Pixar.
Up ended up winning 2 Academy Awards, Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score. Bringing their grand total to 205 awards won, and they have been nominated 211 times. They had some fierce competition this year too. It was a very diverse award this year, with Up being the only 3D movie. Coraline, and The Fantastic Mr. Fox were both stop motion movies, and then the Princess and the Frog and the Secret of Kells, were both 2D animation. I personally am a HUGE Pixar fan, I love all their movies and short films. Up was definitely more serious than their other movies, but entertaining and an excellent story. Everything about Up was awesome. So with that said, congratulations Pixar you've done it again! Another well deserved Oscar to go on your shelf.
Up ended up winning 2 Academy Awards, Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score. Bringing their grand total to 205 awards won, and they have been nominated 211 times. They had some fierce competition this year too. It was a very diverse award this year, with Up being the only 3D movie. Coraline, and The Fantastic Mr. Fox were both stop motion movies, and then the Princess and the Frog and the Secret of Kells, were both 2D animation. I personally am a HUGE Pixar fan, I love all their movies and short films. Up was definitely more serious than their other movies, but entertaining and an excellent story. Everything about Up was awesome. So with that said, congratulations Pixar you've done it again! Another well deserved Oscar to go on your shelf.
2.19.2010
Still Chuggin' Along...
Well, it's been a while since my last post... so I thought I would update it with my job hunting news. So far my first freelance animation job is going good, I'm almost finished with my first shot and ready for more. It's crazy to think I'm actually getting paid to animate, it's a concept that hasn't sunk in yet, but once I get my first check that should all change.
I've been searching and applying everywhere that I can. I sent my first reel over seas today. A studio in London that has worked on some big-time movies. Plus numerous amount of studios all over the US. I've already received two rejection letters from studios that I really wanted to work at. Bummer, but I have to keep moving forward and focus on being the best animator that I can be. There's no point in getting discouraged, finding that first full time job sounds the hardest, but I have a good feeling it's right around the corner. I found out today that there's a local game studio here in Colorado hiring, plus I heard back from another studio in Denver... so keep your fingers crossed!
Having spent so much time working on my demo reel and short film it feels like now that I've finished my reel I can take it easy... but it's just the opposite, my reel is like a constant project, that I need to keep fine tuning and perfecting till I land that full time animation position with an awesome company! I have my next 2 animations figured out when I get a free moment I'm going to start planning and hopefully get 2 more great pieces to add to my reel. Also, (side note) I started a new blog to try and keep track of all the notes that I find online regarding animation. Something that I can refer back to here at work if I get some down time or need to look something up... CLICK HERE.
Till the next post (hopefully, it will be with some good news) take care and keep on animating!
I've been searching and applying everywhere that I can. I sent my first reel over seas today. A studio in London that has worked on some big-time movies. Plus numerous amount of studios all over the US. I've already received two rejection letters from studios that I really wanted to work at. Bummer, but I have to keep moving forward and focus on being the best animator that I can be. There's no point in getting discouraged, finding that first full time job sounds the hardest, but I have a good feeling it's right around the corner. I found out today that there's a local game studio here in Colorado hiring, plus I heard back from another studio in Denver... so keep your fingers crossed!
Having spent so much time working on my demo reel and short film it feels like now that I've finished my reel I can take it easy... but it's just the opposite, my reel is like a constant project, that I need to keep fine tuning and perfecting till I land that full time animation position with an awesome company! I have my next 2 animations figured out when I get a free moment I'm going to start planning and hopefully get 2 more great pieces to add to my reel. Also, (side note) I started a new blog to try and keep track of all the notes that I find online regarding animation. Something that I can refer back to here at work if I get some down time or need to look something up... CLICK HERE.
Till the next post (hopefully, it will be with some good news) take care and keep on animating!
2.03.2010
2 Movies of inspiration from 2009.
If you haven't seen Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, I highly recommend it. It's a great story, really funny and the animation is awesome! I really like the animation style of the movie and Steve is one of the best characters of all time!
Up was another Pixar great! I enjoy this movie more and more every time I watch it! Up is the 2nd fully animated feature that is nominated for an Academy Award this year. Unfortunately it's up against Avatar, and I have a feeling that Avatar is going to clean house... I feel that Up totally deserves the Best Picture Award.
There were so many others that came out last year that were also great, but these are my two favorite! If you haven't seen them yet, what are you waiting for?!
1.20.2010
Wow... that was quick.
So after a year and a half of anticipation, graduation was an absolute blast! Meeting the founders and all of the staff at Animation Mentor was amazing! Also, to get together with students/peers that I've known for so long and have been through so much with in person.... priceless. It was very surreal. I'm glad that I kept this blog to look back on, but wish I had updated it more often.
We arrived in San Francisco on Thursday and trekked up to Emeryville (to our hotel). Got unpacked and had some lunch, we walked around Bay St. which is the new, fancy area in Emeryville, we were only a few blocks away from the mecca of animation, Pixar. It was nice to hang out and relax before the festivities. After only getting 2 hours of sleep then traveling from Denver, it was the perfect afternoon to unwind. Had some lunch, did some shopping, sat in the hot tub and went swimming. My friend John was flying into Oakland later that evening... after picking him up we went back to the hotel and had some margaritas.. which turned into meeting a crazy flight attendent (whom was straight) named Rob, which turned into vodkas, that turned into tequila shots, and trying to teach John how to play chess, which ultimately turned into 330 in the morning... time for bed.
The school tour the next morning was amazing. Seeing all these people that you've been in contact with since applying at the school, seeing them each week in the video news just isn't the same. We got to see where they all work, I got to sign the Alumni wall of fame, see Bobby's toy collection and play some ping pong! Such an inspiring place to be, there's no wonder it's the greatest place to learn animation on the planet! I imagine that if I ever get a full time job in a studio someday, that's what it's going to be like. From there we had to run some errands and since we were on San Pablo Ave. (if you remember from the beginning sequence in the Incredibles, they make reference to that road) we were only blocks away from Pixar. We thought that we would make an appearance and try and get a 'pity tour'. No such luck, we did talk to the security guard and it didn't sound like it was going to happen (without getting arrested). So we got some pictures and moved on. Time for the career fair. It was a madhouse of animators! I would guess about 200+ were there. A total of 6 studios showed up: Pixar, DreamWorks, ILM, Sony Imageworks, Blizzard and Reel FX. Because of the mass amounts of people the lines were super long and moving quite slow. Except for Pixar, there was nobody in that line.. sort of like the super hot chick at the bar that everyone's too intimidated to talk to! I was lucky enough to talk with Pixar, DreamWorks and Reel FX before time expired. I met some new people while in line and some 'old' friends too. It was awesome. Shortened version of that evening... Burger King, 2 Buck Chuck, Rubios, Broken Rack, throat punch (ouch), beers, Jager, walking, animators, outdoor toilet, Burger King attempt, Denny's, 330 in the morning.... time for bed.
Saturday was the actual graduation in San Francisco. We headed out in route to Fort Mason. We got to rehersals on time and saw a bunch more students I hadn't seen yet. Out of my entire first class there were only 2 people that weren't there... so it was pretty awesome knowing that back when we all began AM, dreaming of this day, we were all there (once again) to share it with each other. The rehersal was a hoot, photos, screwing around, talking with awesome people. They also put on a live QnA feed for all of the alumni, which I thought was totally rad. The ceremony itself was the best I ever seen. So much energy and entertainment. When we came in our names were in the credits on the big screen, I really like that followed by Carlos dressed up like the Avatar dude and a ninja fight followed by a touching movie about the school and it's conception. Next were the Student Choice Awards. It was great to see some of the students work up on the big screen and to hear their speeches. The guest speaker for this round was an ILM animator named Charles Alleneck. He gave an amazing and inspiring speech. Next was the announcement of names. Afterwards they put on a reception party with sushi, cheese, wine, crackers.... I got to meet Bobby Beck, Shawn Kelly and my favorite Mentor from class 4, Greg Kyle. I felt like a 12 year old girl who was meeting the cast of Twilight, gushing and hopefully not making an ass out of myself! They're such humble and amazing people they make it really easy to talk with.
Afterwards we found this amazing seafood/oyster place (thanks Yelp) in San Fran. The dinner was amazing and the company was great. I went with 2 people that have become great friends over the years. The downside was, my buddy's car got broken into... the SF police called him about 6 times, but he didn't hear his phone till after dinner. What an annoyance it was. Luckily they didn't get the cameras which captured the fore mentioned event.. they only made out with an iPod Nano, and the GPS mount and plug in thingy. Lame.
We headed over to the after-after-after party right near the Bay Bridge. The signs all mentioned 10-12 drinks so we were only planning on staying for a little while. But when we got there, they were typical downtown prices... 5.50 a beer. Excellent, we're staying! A lot more people showed up throughout the night. It was such an awesome experience to meet and talk with so many people that inspire me and whom I look up to! It was such a great night.
Sunday was the day to cruise around San Francisco, we saw the wharf, which honestly I've seen it enough I won't put it on the list when I got back, Chinatown (it was neat to see once, but super lame), I imagine if we were getting some food there, it might be a different story. We ventured over to the SF park, but by the time we got there it was dark (it had been raining all day). We headed back to Emeryville planning on finally seeing Avatar... we did, it was awesome. We were only 3 rows back so there were moments where my eyes felt like they were going to explode! We're going to see it next month and get there early to get some seats right in the middle.
After all the hard work of completing such an amazing school and meeting all the people behind it who make it so special I'm so glad I was lucky enough to be a part of it. I'm so inspired now to work harder and become the best person/animator that I can be. The next graduation is in July along with the AM BBQ.. I'm already starting to save up!!
We arrived in San Francisco on Thursday and trekked up to Emeryville (to our hotel). Got unpacked and had some lunch, we walked around Bay St. which is the new, fancy area in Emeryville, we were only a few blocks away from the mecca of animation, Pixar. It was nice to hang out and relax before the festivities. After only getting 2 hours of sleep then traveling from Denver, it was the perfect afternoon to unwind. Had some lunch, did some shopping, sat in the hot tub and went swimming. My friend John was flying into Oakland later that evening... after picking him up we went back to the hotel and had some margaritas.. which turned into meeting a crazy flight attendent (whom was straight) named Rob, which turned into vodkas, that turned into tequila shots, and trying to teach John how to play chess, which ultimately turned into 330 in the morning... time for bed.
The school tour the next morning was amazing. Seeing all these people that you've been in contact with since applying at the school, seeing them each week in the video news just isn't the same. We got to see where they all work, I got to sign the Alumni wall of fame, see Bobby's toy collection and play some ping pong! Such an inspiring place to be, there's no wonder it's the greatest place to learn animation on the planet! I imagine that if I ever get a full time job in a studio someday, that's what it's going to be like. From there we had to run some errands and since we were on San Pablo Ave. (if you remember from the beginning sequence in the Incredibles, they make reference to that road) we were only blocks away from Pixar. We thought that we would make an appearance and try and get a 'pity tour'. No such luck, we did talk to the security guard and it didn't sound like it was going to happen (without getting arrested). So we got some pictures and moved on. Time for the career fair. It was a madhouse of animators! I would guess about 200+ were there. A total of 6 studios showed up: Pixar, DreamWorks, ILM, Sony Imageworks, Blizzard and Reel FX. Because of the mass amounts of people the lines were super long and moving quite slow. Except for Pixar, there was nobody in that line.. sort of like the super hot chick at the bar that everyone's too intimidated to talk to! I was lucky enough to talk with Pixar, DreamWorks and Reel FX before time expired. I met some new people while in line and some 'old' friends too. It was awesome. Shortened version of that evening... Burger King, 2 Buck Chuck, Rubios, Broken Rack, throat punch (ouch), beers, Jager, walking, animators, outdoor toilet, Burger King attempt, Denny's, 330 in the morning.... time for bed.
Saturday was the actual graduation in San Francisco. We headed out in route to Fort Mason. We got to rehersals on time and saw a bunch more students I hadn't seen yet. Out of my entire first class there were only 2 people that weren't there... so it was pretty awesome knowing that back when we all began AM, dreaming of this day, we were all there (once again) to share it with each other. The rehersal was a hoot, photos, screwing around, talking with awesome people. They also put on a live QnA feed for all of the alumni, which I thought was totally rad. The ceremony itself was the best I ever seen. So much energy and entertainment. When we came in our names were in the credits on the big screen, I really like that followed by Carlos dressed up like the Avatar dude and a ninja fight followed by a touching movie about the school and it's conception. Next were the Student Choice Awards. It was great to see some of the students work up on the big screen and to hear their speeches. The guest speaker for this round was an ILM animator named Charles Alleneck. He gave an amazing and inspiring speech. Next was the announcement of names. Afterwards they put on a reception party with sushi, cheese, wine, crackers.... I got to meet Bobby Beck, Shawn Kelly and my favorite Mentor from class 4, Greg Kyle. I felt like a 12 year old girl who was meeting the cast of Twilight, gushing and hopefully not making an ass out of myself! They're such humble and amazing people they make it really easy to talk with.
Afterwards we found this amazing seafood/oyster place (thanks Yelp) in San Fran. The dinner was amazing and the company was great. I went with 2 people that have become great friends over the years. The downside was, my buddy's car got broken into... the SF police called him about 6 times, but he didn't hear his phone till after dinner. What an annoyance it was. Luckily they didn't get the cameras which captured the fore mentioned event.. they only made out with an iPod Nano, and the GPS mount and plug in thingy. Lame.
We headed over to the after-after-after party right near the Bay Bridge. The signs all mentioned 10-12 drinks so we were only planning on staying for a little while. But when we got there, they were typical downtown prices... 5.50 a beer. Excellent, we're staying! A lot more people showed up throughout the night. It was such an awesome experience to meet and talk with so many people that inspire me and whom I look up to! It was such a great night.
Sunday was the day to cruise around San Francisco, we saw the wharf, which honestly I've seen it enough I won't put it on the list when I got back, Chinatown (it was neat to see once, but super lame), I imagine if we were getting some food there, it might be a different story. We ventured over to the SF park, but by the time we got there it was dark (it had been raining all day). We headed back to Emeryville planning on finally seeing Avatar... we did, it was awesome. We were only 3 rows back so there were moments where my eyes felt like they were going to explode! We're going to see it next month and get there early to get some seats right in the middle.
After all the hard work of completing such an amazing school and meeting all the people behind it who make it so special I'm so glad I was lucky enough to be a part of it. I'm so inspired now to work harder and become the best person/animator that I can be. The next graduation is in July along with the AM BBQ.. I'm already starting to save up!!
12.29.2009
Exhausted, and ready for action!
Having thought I was finished with my reel, I posted it and got some (much needed) feedback... so, I had to move some things around and re-work some of the animation on one of the shots. I'm getting close to re-finishing it. January 14th is rapidly approaching and the time for the career fair and graduation is right around the corner! The only thing that I'm waiting on is finishing the animation. Then I have to burn the DVDs and re-upload everything to the various web locations. I'll admit, I've been taking it easy for a few weeks, with the holidays and all... but I feel like it's been ages since I've animated or read one of my animation books. I've been watching plenty animation to keep me "fresh", but I'm going to start planning my next shot (gotta stay sharp!) real soon.
I just found a really cool networking site www.vfx-recruit.com. It's a free website to join, but they do have a possible upgrade that is about 25 dollars a year. They have some good job leads and it almost looks like Linked In.
So with that being said. 2009 was very hectic, but fruitful. I'm looking forward to a lot of changes in 2010 and can't wait to see all the animation that's coming out!! Happy New Year to all!!!!
I just found a really cool networking site www.vfx-recruit.com. It's a free website to join, but they do have a possible upgrade that is about 25 dollars a year. They have some good job leads and it almost looks like Linked In.
So with that being said. 2009 was very hectic, but fruitful. I'm looking forward to a lot of changes in 2010 and can't wait to see all the animation that's coming out!! Happy New Year to all!!!!
12.03.2009
Demo Reel Completed!
I completed my demo reel! CLICK HERE to view it.
It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off me! It was a lot of long hours and a lot of late nights/early mornings, but I feel really good in how it turned out! Maybe I'll post some of my older reels just for kicks, they are pretty painful to watch, but entertaining and it's great to see the progress that I've made over the years.
I'm planning on doing some subtle tweaking over the next month before the job fair in San Francisco in January, but the animation is pretty much done!
Enjoy. Till next time.
It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off me! It was a lot of long hours and a lot of late nights/early mornings, but I feel really good in how it turned out! Maybe I'll post some of my older reels just for kicks, they are pretty painful to watch, but entertaining and it's great to see the progress that I've made over the years.
I'm planning on doing some subtle tweaking over the next month before the job fair in San Francisco in January, but the animation is pretty much done!
Enjoy. Till next time.
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