Year in Review

Borrowed this idea from someone. =) I'm tryin' to make one last post before 2011, though I should actually be getting ready for the big meet-n-greet over at my grandparents' place. Did I mention I'm in Colombia right now? Anyway...

2010 in Review:

1. Boyfriends. Yep, I got one, and he makes me smile pretty much with anything he says. We met online! It's been a little over a month officially, but we've hung out a lot since way back in May, so the thing we have is definitely special.
2. Job. I'm still in the same place doing the same ole' thing as the 'aninanny,' but I can honestly say now that I'm ready for something else. It's not the kids, or the scenery, or the crazy schedule... it's just a little bit of everything mixed in together and making me feel less adventuresome. I have no idea how people can stay in this job for more than 3 years without feeling old, and jeez... I want to spend the rest of my 20s without any borders.
3. Family. Even though I'm the eldest of three, I still don't think I've outgrown the 'child' in me. I think that's why I dread going home sometimes, because I'm encompassed with people who walk taller, talk faster, and work harder than yours truly. I wish I were kidding. I grew up surrounded by four highly proactive individuals, and I think I've realized this year that if I don't get my crap together, I won't amount to anything.
4. Career. I'm finally getting there! I spent the beginning of this year doing research for art schools, got into one, started taking classes over the summer, found out I'm a crappy artist, but stuck it out because I wanted this so badly. I'm really loving what I study. Don't get me wrong, I do have my 'off' days, but every idea that pops into my head now doesn't scare me to actually try and illustrate it. I've looked into some potential jobs/internships and fellowships for Nickelodeon. Just the ideas get me giddy. =) Hopefully by next year, I'll be ready to hit San Francisco for school full-time.
5. Travel. I got to see Paris with my sisters, went to Madrid with some kids for work, saw San Francisco and gave it a thumbs up for art school, retraced my old stomping grounds in Boston, won a trip to Space Camp in Alabama, and I am now currently visiting my relatives in Cali, Colombia for the New Year! Good good times. I also got accepted to this summer painting intensive program in Italy for next year... which, if I play the finance cards right... can actually happen!
6. Physical Health. Not too shabby. I did feel like a hypochondriac this year, with so many doctor's appointments dealing with everything from my brain, to my spine, to my heart, to my stomach. I guess that's what happens when you're in the mid-20s and your body starts to throw random things at you. In any case, I'm doing just fine, and hopefully the next year will have less paranoia. =)
7. Emotional Health. Could be better. I'm on the pursuit of happiness for next year, not taking things for granted and making the most out of any situation I have. It's amazing how many moments I tend to bomb all because of false expectations. I gotta learn to be versatile and positive all the time, especially when it comes to the work environment. I am happy that I finally got a cat to cuddle me in those stressful days, though.

Alrighty, I think that's it! Gotta head to the party.

Happy New Year!

DONE!!!

1 Art History paper describing the art/philosophy characteristics of the Enlightenment. DONE.

1 Book Report on Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death. DONE.

24 Storyboarding frames, complete with camera direction. DONE

4 Presentation boards, colored and polished. DONE.

1 Weekly Report consisting of the behavioral and academic progress of my 24 girls. DONE.

DONE.

DONE.

DONE!!!!


... oh, wait. I still have to write some grades.

But for tonight, I'm DONE!!!

let the painting begin...

I have to work on my Storyboarding final for the next two weeks, which requires an animation story pitch, a few presentation boards (polished, and in color), and at least 20 frames storyboarding a major scene in the animation. I've decided to hand-paint my presentation boards first. This is one of them!

One quick post about Thanksgiving

(by Rebecca Dautremer - amazing French illustrator!)

I have to say, I'm thankful for a lot of things this year.

It hasn't been an easy year for me. I've had to accept the fact that my drawing skills aren't amazing as I thought they'd be, I've learned that I only let myself be a counselor on the surface of things, and that when all is said and done, I'm afraid of commitment and change. These things have made me break down and cry a few times already, but I know that in order to function and grow, I need to toughen up and be there for those who have it a lot worse than I do.

I'm thankful that both my parents are alive and healthy, and lucky to still have jobs in this less-than-perfect economy. I'm thankful that they still encourage me and my sisters to work hard and do what we love especially when times are tough. I'm thankful to have some really great little sisters, who I look up to as my big sisters most of the time because of their maturity and their ability to work with purpose and have fun at the same time.

I'm thankful to have a job that is rewarding and honest, where I get to see the ups and downs of adolescence and help out by the means of personal experiences. I'm thankful that I get to use my art skills for their amusement, and I'm glad that I'm able to grow as an artist through this job, which is such a luxury. I'm thankful about having some co-workers I can actually share feelings with, not feeling like I'm being judged or ridiculed, but rather making friends though solidarity. I'm also thankful that they put up with my aloofness.

I'm thankful that God has given me so many chances to use my art and writing skills with rewarding experiences. I got to go to Space Camp because of my writing, I'm hoping to teach myself script-writing, and I have an idea for a Young Adult novel that's finally coming to fruition. I've used my art skills to design posters for the school library's reading program, I've sold buttons and jewelry at an anime convention and put my name as an artist out there, and I'm taking classes in drawing and animation for an MFA. I feel lucky to have this opportunity to take classes and actually show me what it takes to be a professional in this field.

I'm thankful for being a world-traveler, and that hopping on a plane doesn't feel at all intimidating or scary. I love that I'm open to new languages and cultures, and I'm thankful to have a family that's proud of its heritage. I'm glad that this travel bug of mine hasn't gone away, that it's pushing me to visit places like Japan, India, and Italy.

I'm thankful for my cat, my indulgence for exotic foods, my love for running, my interest in animation, my never-ending love for reading, my commitment to writing, my therapeutic baking habits, my ear for all kinds of music, my quirks, my attempts to draw anything and everything, my love for singing in the car, and my commitment to shows like Glee and Parenthood.

Finally, all I can say is thanks to those who constantly believe in me and have dealt with my selfishness and my bickering about so many things this year. It's clear that I shouldn't have to complain so much, because I have a great life and great people to share these thoughts with.

I hope you all have a great thanksgiving!

Rats in an Alley!

Just a little storyboard project I had to do for class.  The assignment was to storyboard two people traveling down a road and something suddenly falls from the sky.  Here's the first page for your viewing pleasure.  =)

the other bugs poster

bugs!

This is a side-project I've been working on for my school's Family Reading Night.  The theme this year is "bugs" so I decided to go all out and give a nice botanical touch to the posters.  Here's one of my ideas:

Office Antics

This is something I did a little while ago to show how much I love my coworkers. I'm pushing myself to do one work-comic per week this year, as a way to practice my cartooning skillzzz. The girls also enjoy reading them in the office, and it's so great to hear them commenting and anticipating the next one! =)

I'm taking Storyboarding this semester, which I've easily fallen in love with. It sounds silly, but quick-drawing is actually one the toughest things I've had to do artistically, putting so much detail with minimal value in the drawings. I just got my third assignment back (storyboarding all camera shots for a commercial) and I got an A! =) Not too shabby, considering our professor assertively mentioned that he rarely gives out A's. Here's page 1:


I feel like I overdid the value, but I'm off to a really good start!

stop-motion attempt

I was supposed to be studying for Art History, but instead I did this. =P

You can guess by the sloppy lighting and camera movements that it didn't take much time for me to do this, and you're right. I wanted to focus on building a life-like relationship with inanimate objects... since I will eventually need to master this craft anyway, as a character animator! I used a digital camera and a tripod to campure about 40 individual frames. The editing could've been better, but meh. Next time!

The Illusionist

Just a quick post before work takes over my life again...

My first summer of art school kind of ended on an anti-climactic note, partially because it was online and I felt like I wasn't getting much out of it. Of course everyone says that it's up to you how much you want to get out of the class, but knowing myself, it takes a lot of self motivation and "Big Brother is Watching You!" pressure for me to understand something, much less feel accomplished from it. My biggest example is the drawing class, waiting for grades every two weeks from the professor, only to realize that my technique is completely wrong. It didn't help that I had to turn in multiple projects every 3 days. So at some point I just stopped trying my hardest and just worried about making deadlines. Is that supposed to be conducive to great art? I feel like I'm missing something. I noticed that my inspiration for artwork was shrinking over the summer because I felt paranoid and stupid about the art I was making. Do all art students feel this way when they first start out?

Hah. Well I know I can't just sit on my butt and wait for inspiration to come along. And I definitely cannot afford another C+, especially if I want to make brilliant things like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHVG1JmbU30

Moving on

It's been almost a month and I think I've finally recovered from the epic horrendousness that was M.Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender... especially now that Nickelodeon has officially announced a new spinoff series: "Avatar: the Legend of Korra!"

“The Legend of Korra takes place 70 years after the events of ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ and follows the adventures of the Avatar after Aang - a passionate, rebellious, and fearless teenaged girl from the Southern Water Tribe named Korra.”

Korra’s quest eventually leads her to Republic City - the epicenter of the world of “Avatar.” A metropolis powered by steampunk-type technology, the city is inhabited by people from all nations. Korra finds that Republic City suffers from rampant crime and is also dealing with an anti-bender revolt. Korra is tutored by Aang’s son, Tenzin, is the ways of airbending."

It's only going to be a mini-series (which means less filler, more intense storylines!) and according to Mike and Bryan, it's set to be released sometime in 2011. I'm really excited for this, and I'm just glad that those two are still keeping their amazing universe alive and kicking.

But seriously... what happened to Zuko's mom? =/

Anyway, enough Avatar-related goodness. Going into art school... I have to say that if you don't take criticism with a grain of salt in this world, people drop out of it like flies. I never thought I'd get a D in a drawing assignment, but then you realize, "wait, there's technique involved" and "dammit, I need to stop holding the pencil as if I were writing a letter!" My knowledge about figure drawing technique seems to fluctuate with every work I do; one day you might be asked to do five-minute quick drawings, but then the next unit involves drawing for 45 minutes a full figure to establish the anatomy. Contour lines are key in this class, which has made me grunt uncontrollably because I love to be "messy" in my drawings. It's all about defining the figure with minimal lines first, and then adding the value (which we haven't gotten to yet).

Here's an example of what I worked this past week, using charcoal:


(I think I overdid the shading, but I'm actually proud with my use of charcoal. It's scary! You can't erase or take back what you already did. =S)

The semester's almost over, and by then I'll be finished with my History of Character Animation class, turned in my paper on Don Bluth's style of animation, and mastered the art of drawing in charcoal and graphite. Wish me luck!

And... if you haven't seen Despicable Me, go see it just to see the yellow Minions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5fKfWMcD48

... like somebody punched me in the stomach.

That's how it felt after I got out of The Last Airbender's midnight showing yesterday.


Before I gather the list of reasons why I am so disappointed (okay, pissed) at M.Night right now, let me just clarify that NOT everything about this film was terrible. There were some really beautiful elements of authenticity in the film that at least made me sit through the whole thing.

First off, the filming locations. M.Night definitely wanted us to see the South Pole with all of its icy glaciers and mountains of snow, and he gave us a lot of great scenery to look at admirably as the characters moved from place to place.

Second, the costumes/set designs. M.Night definitely did his homework and wanted to have each Nation be represented in its own traditional garb and interiors. I admire the fact that he kept the Chinese writing all over the posters/maps/documents that were seen in the film, and that the characters wore their outfits gracefully (although I must say... Aang's cloak looks like it was stolen from an Ewok from Star Wars).

Thirdly, believe it or not, is the bending effects. In the short amount of time M.Night gave us to look at them between scenes, they actually looked cool! I think it's something we take for granted nowadays - where any high school kid with After Effects can make a pretty decent fireball on his hand - but visual effects in a film that requires a lot of intricate detail and movement with more than one person isn't an easy task to do. It's daunting. I give a big 'thanks' to the FX people in the movie, because they definitely did their job well.

So... that is basically everything I could say that kept me going throughout this whole experience. Now comes the laundry list of things that M.Night completely bombed:

1) The writing. It was horrendous, like M.Night had been sitting in front of his TV watching all of "Avatar: Book 1" episodes and jotting down his favorite scenes, and saying to himself "I'm gonna put these in my movie, and make them INTENSE!" Sure. Forget character development. That's not as important as... say... random creative exposition. Good god; there came a point were I was almost sure Momo was going to start talking, explaining to everyone why he's the Last Lemur.

2) The name pronunciations. It's "Aang" not "Ah-ng". I cringed every time somebody said the latter, and that goes with "Soh-ka" and "Ee-roh" as well. Although I must say... it started to get amusing in the theatre, where people started saying "Aang!" and "Sokka!" out loud for correction. I can understand that M.Night would want creative freedom with these characters, but why would he go as far as to change the NAMES, considering there's a huge fanbase out here who's accustomed to saying the names a certain way?

3) The casting. I'm not going to pick on ethnicity, because that honestly didn't bother me as much as the actors themselves. Half of the time I wasn't sure if it was their individual ability to deliver lines, or if it was based off of what M.Night wanted (INTENSITY). First off, Aasif Mandi as Admiral Zhao. What the hell happened!? Here's a character who I thought would be a menacing bully for Zuko, and he just comes across as a wimpy villain who just seems to be best friends with the Fire Lord. That voice, too, was excruciatingly hard to take seriously. Second, Sokka -- oh wait, Soh-ka -- and his deadpan staring contest with his line-delivery. Jackson Rathbone wasn't my first pick for Sokka to begin with (even in the interviews, it didn't seem like he completely understood what he was getting into) and so I ultimately just watched him attempt slapstick humor and actually care for Princess Yue in this film. Painful. Thirdly, Katara. She was... okay... not amazing, but at least she attempted more natural emotion than her sibling counterpart whenever she said something. Nicola definitely showed that she cared about her performance, and her 'bending' movements were graceful and well-practiced. I just feel like there was more missing from her as a character that she just wasn't given to work with. It surprised me to hear M.Night specifically wanted her for this role, but I guess he just wanted her to narrate and be Ah-ng's cheerleader.

4) Fire Lord Ozai. This guy gets his own number, because the fact that we actually see his face is awful. AWFUL. There's a reason that Mike/Bryan kept Fire Lord Ozai's face hidden throughout the first two seasons of their show, and that was to build apprehension and FEAR of the guy. The Fire Lord IS the enemy, and we as the fans (seeing ourselves through Aang's eyes) have never had to face him, and yet we know that day is bound to come. That whole feeling of intensity was just lost for me, and it sucks because I actually respect Cliff Curtis's acting. M.Night gave him very little to work with.

5) Suki. I'll brush over the fact that King Bumi, Jet, and Jeong Jeong were all written out of this film... but I SPECIFICALLY remember seeing images of Suki and the Kyoshi in the film's offical website. She never shows up. Not a single Kyoshi Warrior shows up to wrestle Sokka. Thanks, M.Night. I had a this nice Suki wallpaper on my desktop for months, for nothing.

6) Appa and Momo. I mean, I knew that Appa was a great mode of transportation, but I wasn't expecting that to be his ONLY purpose. And Momo... what did he do? I can't even remember...

7) Aang/Zuko conflict. Maybe the film just sped by too fast, but I just couldn't see the too of them feeling conflicted at all. It was too one-sided: Zuko needs to capture Aang, Aang needs to get away from him. One thing I loved about season 1 is that you see how much Zuko STRIVES to capture Aang while not being exactly genuine about it... and somehow... Aang notices that and tries to change Zuko around. In the movie, all you get is a quick "we could be friends, you know," and Aang scampers off in his merry way.

This is as much as I can come up with, and I'm not going to gripe about all the differences that M.Night made from the series, in terms of story. Basically, it was his choice what he wanted to keep, what he wanted to blend together, and what he wanted to take out completely. Still, I can't help but say that I was really disgruntled by what I saw as a whole in this film, because it really DID have so much potential. With better writing, and more 'bending' moments, I think this film could've been as good as a Harry Potter film. I saw the "Airbender" trailers and was excited about all these familiar scenes they'd be putting in, with awesome backdrops and bending effects added in... and in the end, it's the writing that made it flat.

I went to this movie with a packed audience at midnight, and ten minutes into the film, the cheering faded. =(

Yeah... I think I'll stick to my "Avatar" series and pretend this film never happened.

I miss my toys.

I have to put a little grain of praise to PIXAR for doing an amazing job with this one.  

It was surprisingly good (which is saying a lot, considering it is PIXAR) and it brought a satisfying closure to this story and these characters.  Twelve years!!!  After twelve years, the studio decided to make one last adventure with the toys, and the way the writers used that inevitable conflict of kids growing up was very cleverly done.  It's true that some kids let go of their childhood toys easily (trashing them or donating them to child-friendly places) but others just feel so emotionally attached they want to stick with their toy-friends all the way into adulthood. 

Toys always encouraged an imagination.  They made me mentally escape the walls of my bedroom and feel like I was the storyteller/narrator in my own life for just a few minutes.  It brought fun, laughter, and lots of silliness in my childhood... and I guess the reason I was so attached to toys was because of the fear that letting them go meant letting go of fun.

Watching this film made me miss my childhood boardgames, Barbie dolls & her multiple outfits, those colorful Trolls and My Little Ponies... and to be honest, it made me almost sympathetic to this new generation of kids in the 21st century who're surrounded by digital media and gadgets.  Nothing can replace a teddy bear, and yet every time I look at these 8-year-olds with Nintendo DSs or listening to their iPod lazily in a waiting room, it makes me wonder how child's imagination will survive in the distant future.  Will they go on adventures with the characters they see in a videogame, or be emotionally attached to these gadgets the same way I was attached to My Little Ponies?

I love the fact that I had a crafty, active imagination as a child because of the toys I played with.  I'm just hoping kids don't lose themselves in technology that pretty much does all of the imagination for them.

--->  In other news, I start my grad school classes today!!!

It all started with an idea...

Don't worry, this isn't another "How much do I love this show? Well let me tell you..." post. This book came in the mail for me yesterday (I'd preordered it back in January!) and calmly, I opened it and immediately went to the back page. There was a small afterword from Mike & Bryan, commending their fans about making it this far in a book they had put together solely for them. I was really touched by the fact that these two guys had created a universe that had affected so many people - young and old - and it had all started with a simple idea.

I love these kinds of books, where the animators just sit back and reorganize all of their thoughts and their work from the preconception to the final product in order to give their fans the creative process. I have a PIXAR book about A Bug's Life stashed away somewhere, too, and I'm definitely the type who'd disect every "behind the scenes" footage from an animated film DvD. It's like playfully fitting the pieces into a giant puzzle, discovering where the ideas for certain scenes came from and why animators decided to give characters a certain "look" rather than others.

It's hard to explain but I feel like the reason my enthusiasm for art school hasn't been completely present is because I know there will be bumps along the road. I know I still have a lot to learn, and that I'll have to work collaboratively with others (which isn't my strong suit all the time, and that at some point... I'm going to have to push myself really hard and not give up on that competitive, sometimes cruel world in the animation/entertainment industry. Ideas evolve, and that's the scary part. Sometimes the final product is so different from what you initially worked on, and it doesn't always feel like it's yours. But it's all part of the creative process, and that's what I continually learn from reading these books.

If anything, I need to take a breath, face the challenges, and realize that creativity needs to come with an open mind. I can do this.

=)

Art School advice!

Hello Sandra, I want to welcome you to our community of artists and designers at the Academy of Art University. This is a collection of tips and observations that I have accumulated over almost 8 years of being an advisor and from taking a number of studio classes, including fashion, drawing, painting and sculpture. I hope this information will help you make a smooth transition into graduate school. Art and design is hard work: I don't mean hard as in astrophysics, but it is the most time consuming thing I've ever done. Most students, who do not come from a studio intensive program, underestimate the time commitment factor because they crammed for their midterms and finals and got A's and B's in their undergraduate degree. In art school, you cannot complete projects last minute. This is something instructors recognize right away and there's no hiding it. If you only spend 5 hours on an assignment, it will not compare favorably next to your fellow student's work, which took 10 hours. Art and design takes commitment: Don't get frustrated if you are not at a level you want to be after the first semester. Remember that you are just at the beginning stage of the program! Getting great at your craft takes practice and patience. One of our directors compares it to training for the Olympics. If you do not practice often, you cannot win, regardless of how talented you are. Those who persevere will succeed. "I am doubtful of any talent, so whatever I choose to be, will be accomplished only by long study and work..." (Jackson Pollock) Don't consider a "C" a passing grade: The art and design world is completely different from anything else. When you go apply for a job as an accountant, you will not be asked to show your transcript. When you apply for a job as a designer, your portfolio is a direct reflection of your transcript. Remember your classmates are your peers and your competition. If you are producing "C" level work, then you are likely competing for the same job as "B" and "A" level students. Don't go into each class with the goal to just pass the class. Your goal should be to produce portfolio pieces. Don't overload on classes: You have a finite number of hours in your week. If you overload on classes, just by pure mathematics, you will have fewer hours to complete each assignment. Don't set yourself up to produce mediocre work that cannot be in your portfolio. Your goal for graduate school should be to build a strong portfolio, not to race through a program. Come in with an open mind: Remember why you decided to attend graduate school in the first place. You are looking for help in pushing your art and design in a new direction. If you want to produce the same level of work in graduate school that you are producing now, you don't need us. Your instructors are here to push you out of your comfort zone so you can grow. To share my own experience, my Anatomy instructor drove me to tears of frustration because he was breaking me out of some of my bad drawing habits. While painful at the time, in retrospect, I needed someone to tell me what I was doing wrong. Network: The best jobs are those that you hear about from your fellow students and your instructors. If you want to be tapped on the shoulder for an internship, demonstrate that you work well with others and that you're reliable. Network from day one! It takes courage to be an artist! It would have been easy to tell friends and family that you are going to law school or to medical school, but it was probably a struggle to tell loved ones that you are going to art school. So on that note, I commend you for your bravery in defining yourself as an artist and/or designer. You are coming into a community of passionate educators and fellow artists and designers. I wish you the best of luck in your journey! Warmest regards, Cindy Graduate Admissions Academy of Art University ....It's finally starting to hit me. ^_^

ACEN '10

I went to Anime Central this past weekend for the second time, and I finally cosplayed!!! Of course, I had to show my love for "Avatar: the last Airbender" by portraying one of the characters. =) All of us were trying to figure out creative, in-character poses for the photographing fans. Unfortunately we were missing one crucial character in our Avatar cast, so we did the best we could without her. =/

Aw, but it was still fun to be all nerdy for a good few hours. People asked me for pictures and hugs as if I were in Disneyworld or something... so fun, and it's great to show Avatar support. Yay!

little monster

Something quick I did while taking a break in Graphic Design class. I used Flash to place the drawings in a frame-by-frame timeline. This is another example of an animatic.

Kids and their pets

It's occurred to me recently - perhaps in the thought of adopting a kitten - that the emotional bond that forms between a human and an animal companion is something so precious, delicate, and so unbelievably strong. I remember watching the film Marley and Me on an airplane without headphones one time, and the comical relationship I saw within the young couple and their untrained golden retriever was the one you love to hate, but you know you can't ever replace. In the end, that animal becomes a witness to the best and worst moments of your life, and probably gives you wisdom and encouragement to grow without even speaking to you.

This is what I love about seeing an animal interact with a human in animation - especially when they cannot speak to one another - because you know there's another sort of 'emotional' communication that keeps them close. I felt that way while watching Ratatouille some time ago, how Linguini and Remy worked together as puppet and puppet-master to get out of a tough situation, and even in Avatar: the Last Airbender with Aang as he puts 'saving the world' on hold to search for his giant fluffy bison Appa when he goes missing. It's those types of relationships that make a cartoon or animated film so much more intriguing to watch.

Yesterday, I went to see this film on an impulse, because I had a feeling that this kid and his new 'pet' would be the same classic story:


Let me just say, Dreamworks did not hold back in that childish curiosity for animals with this one. When you have a kid who's obligated to kill a creature for the sake of his village and his honor, and still hesitates to do so, you gotta wonder why. The main character, Hiccup, finally gets his chance to take down the most fearful of all dragons, but then makes the choice in setting it free. Once the level of trust is made, helps him out of an injury in order to fly again, and in doing so he becomes the first person in his village to fly on a dragon. He gives the dragon a name, and accepts the fact that he can't kill dragons. The cool part is, Hiccup no longer worries about the honor or the glory, because as the film goes on, you realize he's found something even more precious in this friendship with the dragon.

By the end of the film, you can't help but feel soft about it, too.

my first Animatic!

I took this four-week class on drawing and story-boarding, and absolutely loved it! You'd be surprised how many drawings it takes to get a decent storyboard going for an animation project. When you take thumbnail drawings and place them on a frame-by-frame timeline, you get a very basic rough idea of what the actual animation is supposed to look like.

Here's what I did in the span of an hour's worth of drawing 20 different frames:

It's really cool when you see the motion happening between drawings! In terms of my skills, I learned that I take up a lot of time worrying about the details of an figure or object, rather than focusing on the movement and the supposed 'action' of a character. It's a perfectionist's problem I guess, but I am working out of that habit. Right now I'm getting really into drawing with ink again, as it helps me learn to work around mistakes and just look at the overall concept of an image.

Here's an apple study I did with ink:

This week I'm going to San Francisco to look at an animation program. I'm hoping I can visit Pixar while I'm over there! =P

UP!

I watched the Academy Awards last night, and I was so happy by the amount of praise that was given for UP!, among the many other great animated films mentioned. I can't remember who presented the nominees for best animated film - let's just say it was Samuel L. Jackson - but it really impressed me that he talked about how sometimes the best stories don't have to involve real people or live action. There was even a short bit before the nominees were announced, when they had a fake 'interview' sequence with the animated characters of the movies, and even though you knew it was all make-believe and scripted, I loved that these characters had the depth, mannerisms, and personalities of any real person being interviewed.

I'm pretty sure that if I could specialize in any area of animation, it would be in character animation. I love the idea of putting together a story, a background, and a personality in a character through movements and mannerisms. Maybe this is from watching too many Disney movies growing up, but you really get attached to the characters that show so much vulnerability and heart, even when you know they aren't real!

Another couple great moments I really got out from the Academy Awards was when Pete Doctor won for Best Animated Film for UP!, and he said "it's amazing what making a flip-book out of your 3rd grade Math textbook will do to you." When Micheal Giacchino accepted his award for Best Original Score for UP!, he said "as a kid, I would take my dad's old film camera and go around making short films, and he never once told me that I was wasting my time," and he kept going on, telling everyone watching to never stop being creative, and to never think of anything as a waste of time. I agree with both of these guys, because it just goes to show that creativity can start in the simplest of things, but it really takes a lot of courage and perserverance to make something great out of that creativity.

It was a wonderful, inspiring night for me.

Ponyo contest

About a month ago, I entered this poster contest on DeviantArt that asked us to design a poster for the DVD/Blu-Ray release of Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo. They said we needed to use any medium we wanted for the poster, and they gave us still-images of the film that we could work off of as inspiration. At the time, I was just getting a hand on coloring and layering in Photoshop, so I decided to paint and illustrate my poster through a hand-drawn image I'd made of Ponyo.

This was the entry I turned in:


(I ended up not winning, but personally, I think this is one of the best works I've done in multimedia as of right now. Things can only progress from here!)

Reaching Out

(I've been trying to master coloring techniques in Photoshop, and I now understand why people love working with gradients! This is really cool, but there's a reason for the title, I swear...)

Sorry that it's been a while, but I spent the whole month of December working like a madwoman on my Animation final (see previous entry) and it was all worthwhile; I got an "A" in the class! =D I was so proud of that thing, and it was even more amazing for me to actually show my work to friends and family, and explaining to them how I did everything from scratch! The class was a wonderful experience, and I love the "Fireflies" project so much... I'm hoping to animate the whole song on my own. Someday soon.

During Winter Break, I had the opportunity to visit my sister in France and travel around through the Eurail, and I was listening to so much Owl City to let the time pass by... (I don't care if it's a shameless plug, but I'm such a fan!) so much that I started putting together a cute animated video idea for his song "the Saltwater Room." This'll be my first attempt to use Flash and AfterEffects with my drawing artwork to make an animated music video, but I think it would be an awesome final product! It's all about gaining the experience.

Being in Paris, France brings so much inspiration for animation for me -- and it's not just because The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Ratatouille took place there, haha -- but because it's the city I've always considered the artistic/imaginative capital of the world. There's this summer Character Animation program at one of the best multimedia schools in France called Les Gobelins that I would really love to go to someday. We visited the school while we were in the city (!!!!) and my giddy self was too taken aback at the professional, sophisticated students in black coats who came out of that building. I looked like a five-year-old compared to these people, and it got even more intimidating when I spoke to the director of the summer program. I told him that I'd only taken one animation class focused on computer graphics and simple visual effects, and he said that this summer program is mainly for animation professionals to learn to create better movement and emotional expression for different types of characters they animate. It's not really about graphics at all. 0_o. I felt like such an idiot talking to this guy, but overall I left the school still very intrigued.

The point that I'm getting at is I know I have a lot to learn, still, if I want to make it in this industry, but it's those conversations and those nerve-wracking moments I have with real animation professionals that make me wonder if I'm really cut out for it. I mean... I still feel like I'm learning the basics, and there are tons of people out there who master animation software like no-one's business and still be creative under pressure! As much as it was discouraging at times in the class, feeling like I was one of the slow-learners... there is still that part of me who wants to keep going... who wants to "reach out" and take hold of all this new media and use her creative, story-telling self to build a career out of it.

Yeah, I still have so much to learn, but at least I understand that I can't just accomplish things half-heartedly. I need to give every class and every project I take on my whole self if I really want to grow as an animator.

... Which leads me to what I'm taking this semester. Graphic Design I... and let me clarify that I only have slight experience with Adobe Illustrator and a self-taught background in Photoshop... is kicking my butt. One simple logo design for a company involves so much miniscule detail, I'm having migraines just thinking if I placed the right pixel size on each document I make. It's a pain half the time when I need to explain why I chose one shade of blue over another, or search through the numerous text options to see which one would really sell the company's name on the logo. Jeez, and this is something that I'll be presenting on business cards, letterheads and envelopes in a mock-up style. Honestly, I kept wondering why a college classmate of mine always complained about graphic design... and I think I'm getting it. At the end of the day, your creative juices get sorta stashed away out from the tedious workload. But... I'm gaining skillz.

In other news, the Academy Awards are happening in a month... and Pixar's "UP" has been nominated for "Best Picture!" That's only ocurred once before, when Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" got nominated in 1992. And with all the other great animated films getting recognized this year at the Awards -- Coraline, The Princess and the Frog, The Fantastic Mr. Fox (which I haven't seen yet but am totally rooting for it's Stop-Mo brilliance), Ponyo -- I'm sincerely proud of being a animation nerd. Honestly, it's a wonderful feeling when you know that the artistic medium you love is not dying out, but actually growing and continuing to inspire young people to have an imagination and go for their dreams.



I want in.