Happy 2011! 2010 was a great year....

Well it's official, 2010 is wrapping up and I'm curious to see what 2011 holds! It was an awesome year for animated movies! My personal favorite top three were Toy Story 3, How to Train Your Dragon and Despicable Me. I really enjoyed Megamind and Shrek 4 too.

I'm hoping to begin working on more shots for a new demo reel for next year once things slow down a bit. I'm still working on my second contract animation job, but rumor has it that production is supposed to be done in January 2011. That will allow me some more down-time to begin animating personal works for my reel.

I hope everyone had a great 2010 and I can't wait to see what the future holds!! Here is a really cool fan video that pays tribute to all 11 Pixar movies.

Yaaaaaawn.... wait. It's almost 2011?!?

Man oh man. Where does the time go?! I can't believe it's December already. What exactly happened to 2010?? Oh, I know. I've been working 3 jobs and raising a two year old with a wife and newborn. I think that Ferris Bueller said it best. Life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop and look around every once in while, you could miss it. I'm paraphrasing, of course. Xander and Mama are doing great. He spent his first month in pain due to reflux (the same thing Maddon had). It's basically heartburn for babies. It was a rough month, with very little sleep. But, he's doing much better now. But for the most part, I have literally no concept of the day, date or month... sometimes I have to stop and think what year is it? How old am I? I'm guessing that's not a good thing....

In animation news. I've seen Toy Story 3 about 30 times now. It just keeps getting better and there are soooo many hidden easter eggs throughout it and they're really cleverly placed. I'm getting excited to see Shrek 4, Despicable Me and Tangled. Seeing the animation thus far in the films from 2010 is absolutely mind-blowing!! So inspiring, not to mention intimidating! I find myself watching movies when I get a moment of some down time and have noticed that I'm really studying the Actors/Actresses subconsciously. Their movements and facial expressions. So, I guess I'm starting to think like an Animator.

As far as my animation world goes. I picked up another contract working on my 2nd feature length film. This time animating Cars! Whoa, it's so fun. I remember before Pixar's Cars came out and hearing from the Animators. They all said it was the most fun they've ever had animating. I can now see why. I'm working on my first shot now, it has 6 characters and it's roughly 6300 frames. It's going to be a fun project and I'm anxious to see how many shots I can pull off. For the 1st project I worked on I finished 8 shots for the movie... I'm working on a dialogue shot from the movie Rounders with Matt Damon. I just started planning everything out and some basic layout stuff. It's a more subtle piece of dialogue, but I need practice doing some of that. The Job Hunt: I've been sending out links and reels and still nothing... the job hunt has been almost a year and reels sent to well over 60 studios. I'm getting frustrated and anxious and discouraged and annoyed and jealous..... I guess, is all that I can do is to keep striving and learning to become a more desired Animator for these studios.

New Years is coming up and I think that resolutions are silly and for the most part a waste of time.... but this year I'm going to re-live an old resolution from 4 years ago... and that's to play more video games. I still have a bunch of games I've owned for years and have yet to beat. I really want a PS3 but can't justify spending that kind of money until I beat my existing games. So hopefully by next year I'll be able to get one. They should be much cheaper too.

Till next time....

2011: The Year of the Sequel!!!

So, recently I've seen not one, but two movie sequels coming out that I really enjoyed their predecessors, and am uber excited for the sequels!! Kung Fu Panda 2 and Cars 2. Cars 2 looks like a really fun movie and completely different from the first one. I'm curious to see what Pixar does with it. KFP was an all around great DreamWorks film. I wasn't too happy with the voice talent but the action was great and the story rocked!! Both movies will be coming out around the same time next year and I'm curious to see them battle it out in the box office!!

Animation Mentor Showreel 2010...

So, I posted a while back all of the Animation Mentor Student Showcase Reels, except for the latest one....



There's some amazing work here! Great job to everyone who made it.

Happy Fall to You All!

I saw this posted on a friend's Facebook page and thought it was amazing and that I had to share it. It's Disney's new game that's coming out Epic Mickey. This video talks about keeping the old style there, but in a 3D environment! The animation looks truly amazing and it's so inspiring to watch. Seeing what goes into these types of games is why I chose to get into animation and inspires me to keep going forward.... I love it!

Wii Games - E3 2011 - Disney Epic Mickey

In other news. I'm sending out reels like crazy and am finishing up my first freelance project. I heard the Director is putting together his next movie and is looking for Animators... let's see if I get picked up! I have two animation shots in the 'hopper' and am excited to start planning them out.... so stay tuned.

On a personal level, we're due in 4 days and my wife is definitely a trooper. She's been really uncomfortable for the past four weeks, not to mention in a lot of pain. Having contractions everyday, but at least they're getting stronger now (not sure if that's a good thing or not). She is AMAZING! But tiny Xander is a stubborn little dude. Either way he'll be here by next Monday (November 1st) and I'm getting excited to meet him and so is Maddon. If you haven't been to my new website CLICK HERE. Till next time......

Animation is Awesome!!

DreamWorks and Nickelodeon released the first five minutes of DreamWorks third motion picture release for 2010, Megamind. I know a few people that worked on the film and I must admit, I'm super excited after seeing this!! Also, in other news, How to Train Your Dragon came out on DVD today, so if you haven't seen it yet. Pick it up and you won't be let down! Full of action and adventure and an overall awesome story and the animation was superb!

2 New Demo Reels Complete.

I was contemplating only doing one reel again, but after seeing what studios are looking for and hearing the advice over and over again to customize your reel depending on who you're sending it to. I figured the two studios that I send my reel to, are game studios and production houses. So I decided to do a Character Reel with more acting and some body mechanics and a Game Reel with more body mechanics and some 3D models that I built and textured. They're posted below and you can find them on my new website HERE.

My Character Reel:


My Game Reel: