So I found this page on facebook. Take a look.http://www.facebook.com/pages/You-Know-Youre-an-Animator-When/201282243241366?sk=info
and here is the list on the info page. It's scary how true these are.
You know You're an Animator When...
... Walking is more complicated than it looks.
... Besides the 'compelling story-lines' Anime generally does suck.
... MAYA is not just the name of a girl you know
... Same goes for BRYCE
... When teachers draw stick figures you doubt their teaching ability.
... When you are used to hearing gasps when you tell people exactly how long it took you to animate 'those 15 seconds'.
... Disney is a building full of Gods.
... You know who Glen Keane, Andreas Deja, Ub Iwerks, and Bill Plympton are.... or you ARE them.
... Paper dominates everything else in your room
... You are always think of new things to animate, even while animating something else.
... Drawing 200 drawings in one night is not that uncommon for you.
... Hearing the word 'Modeling' does not make you think of photographing advertisements.
... Hearing "Flash" has no sexual connotation.
... You know exactly why the Disney sequels suck.
... You know what PSD, MOV, AVI, and AEP files are.
... Tarzan has the greatest animated musculature ever.
... Not going to sleep at night isn't unusual.
... You hate X-sheets, but you know if you don't use them, it will all fall apart.
... a hole puncher costs you 500$
... You can see the brushstrokes in Ratigan's cape as he moves and changes layers
... People want you to draw them.
... People act like your career choice is awesome, but you know they are thinking "Where the hell is the money in animation?"
... You never want to hear how many individual hairs were rendered in Sully fur, or feathers on Chicken Little... ever again.
... When Mo-Cap doesn't count... but the tweaking does, no matter what James Cameron says.
... CGI is not as easy as people think it is.
... Neither is timing out good lip sync.
... There is no greater joy than watching what you just drew nonstop for a month (or more) come to life.
... Someone asks you what you thought of an animated film and you comment on the quality of animation.
... You think Fantasia is one of the best animated films ever despite your friends moaning that it has a soundtrack of classical music.
... You watch a cartoon on TV, start noticing repeated frames or backgrounds, and get annoyed by them.
... You know Tim Burton did not direct Nightmare Before Christmas .... OR....Coraline.
... You want Tim Curry, Keith David, or Jim Cummings to do a voice in a film of yours because they are just brilliant.
... You want to cry when you hear the words ''it's good but can you just change this one motion...''
... You say you do animation and your friends who don't do it say ''Are you mad? how can you stand drawing that much?''
... You try to be sneaky in using repeated/held frames hoping nobody notices...
... You spend a lot of time waiting for rendering.
... Someone looks at your completed scene, says "That's all you've bee doing for these past weeks?" and then you have to explain how animation works.... again.
... You have no social life when animating during crunch time.
... If you have a strong story, you can make a compelling film no matter the medium (2D/3D).
... Anything.... literally anything... can happen.
So with that, I hope to get in one more post before SIGGRAPH. If not, look for the post afterwards to describe all the awesomeness of the week. :-)
Oh, and on a side note if anyone reads this.
Does anyone know about how long it would take to send a postcard from Vancouver to Italy?
I'm curious to know if it would reach it's destination before I get back home.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
AM Showcase 2011
So AM finally uploaded Showcase 2011 to youtube and here it is for viewing pleasure. It fills me with all kinds of happy!!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
SIGGRAPH Travel Preparations... just two more weeks
Yep, just two more weeks and I'm starting to nail down everything for the trip. I got the passport, the little letter I need from the SIGGRAPH Conference Chair to enter the country and all that. Maps from the hotel to the Convention Center.
Not worried too much about getting there.
Flying to Vancouver. Not a big deal.
I'll be leaving Indy at 4 pm on the 3rd, landing in Denver for a 3 hour layover and make my way to Vancouver from there and landing at 9 pm. Plenty of time.
Now here is where I get worried.
Leave Vancouver on the 12th and land in Chicago about 4 pm.
And leave Chicago at 5 pm to go back to Indy.
So this is what concerns me.
Land in Chicago at the International Terminal, take airport transit to the domestic terminal, go through security AGAIN and get on my plane. ALL IN ONE HOUR!!
Are you Serious?!?!
Now granted I'm sure it can be done otherwise a flight like this would not have been scheduled but it still makes me nervous. Especially considering that last year without a strange twist of luck, I would have been stranded in Chicago on my way to L.A. because of flight delays.
I'm also probably a bit nervous because this is only my second time flying and first time flying to another country.
I'm really hoping all goes well and my nervousness is unfounded.
Not worried too much about getting there.
Flying to Vancouver. Not a big deal.
I'll be leaving Indy at 4 pm on the 3rd, landing in Denver for a 3 hour layover and make my way to Vancouver from there and landing at 9 pm. Plenty of time.
Now here is where I get worried.
Leave Vancouver on the 12th and land in Chicago about 4 pm.
And leave Chicago at 5 pm to go back to Indy.
So this is what concerns me.
Land in Chicago at the International Terminal, take airport transit to the domestic terminal, go through security AGAIN and get on my plane. ALL IN ONE HOUR!!
Are you Serious?!?!
Now granted I'm sure it can be done otherwise a flight like this would not have been scheduled but it still makes me nervous. Especially considering that last year without a strange twist of luck, I would have been stranded in Chicago on my way to L.A. because of flight delays.
I'm also probably a bit nervous because this is only my second time flying and first time flying to another country.
I'm really hoping all goes well and my nervousness is unfounded.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
I'm all about the music today!! :-)
Yes I'm also a music lover and have just been all about the music.
Two things
First a kick ass song and then a damned kick ass piano cover of the same song by some girl who can just downright bloody play a piano!!
and the piano version
Two things
First a kick ass song and then a damned kick ass piano cover of the same song by some girl who can just downright bloody play a piano!!
and the piano version
This could be my theme song... lol
Yep, so anyone knows me knows I love me some symphonic/Gothic music. And I swear this song could be my theme song. lol
Enjoy!! :-)
Enjoy!! :-)
Friday, July 8, 2011
back to the drawing board
So I really wanted to focus a bit more on walk cycles here lately and just start doing different walks and trying to bring a personality to the characters when they walk rather than the more straight forward stuff I've been taught in classes. This guy specifically has a lot of my characteristics when I walk especially when he looks around briefly cause I do that a lot when I walk. :-)
Saturday, July 2, 2011
3D.... Too much of a good thing
*Steps up on soapbox*
Seriously, the use of 3D in films is getting out of hand. If they weren't shot for 3D, they are being transferred for 3D. And all I can think is 'STOP IT'
Not every movie needs to be in 3D. Certainly not some craptastic little Michael Bay movie that horribly dishonors all things Transformers. I'll stick with my 1980's traditionally animated Transformers movie thank you very much Mr. Bay. Filled with some great actors like Leonard Nimoy, Robert Stack, and none other than Orson Welles voicing the Transformers. You know, not the Even Steven's upstart Shia Lebouf who always seems to have a love interest whose lips are so swollen she looks like she just got hit in the face. Granted I do give Michael Bay credit for bagging the original and one and only Peter Cullen to voice Optimus Prime but that is about all the credit he gets.
Anyway, back to the point. Enough with the 3D. And I know that sounds strange coming from me, but really if Hollywood continues to oversaturate the market with 3D, people will just get sick of it. Why do they never learn?
Case in point. Terminator 2: Judgement Day. A liquid metal man who could morph into other people and sharp objects and stuff like that. We all thought it was cool when we first saw it on screen, but eventually people got sick of it cause everybody had to do it. Everybody needed morphing in their movie.
Now back to Michael Bay and the Transformers movies. The first one was good, I admit that. But for the sequels, they seemed to just become an excuse to blow shit up and there was no story of any kind.
We saw this also with Tron: Legacy. Looked great visually and was also in 3D. No story structure of any kind. The movie sucked basically.
Now as a part of my major, I have been through several film making and storytelling classes, some focused on script writing or non linear vs. linear storytelling and the like. But the one that will always stand out is the cinematography class. I was really taught how to tell a story by using the camera. And the one thing that was always drilled into my head in that class was that if it doesn't serve the story, then don't do it. 3D does not serve the story and a film if it is truly great will still be great without it.
Personally, I blame George Lucas. Okay, it's not all his fault, but it certainly is rooted with him and the Star Wars prequel trilogy. I love Star Wars just as much as everyone. And I was probably one the few people who thought The Phantom Menace was a kick ass flick with a great storyline. Seriously, Darth Vader as a little boy. Doesn't get much more scary than that. That was a stroke of genius on Lucas' part cause it made his turn to the dark side that much more chilling knowing that we had seen him as a little boy.
Then came Attack of the Clones, very visual effects heavy. I mean damn, there was nothing in that movie that did not have a blue screen or green screen somewhere for digital set extensions or for the sake of blowing shit up. Seriously, the number of visual effects shots in the The Phantom Menace was somewhere around 800. With Attack of the Clones, it doubled to 1600. And the story was somewhat lacking in Attack of the Clones. Coincidence, I think not. Thankfully Revenge of the Sith sort of rebounded and toned down the VFX and focused a little more on story. Lucas had to get that one right or he would have been lynched by geeks from all over the world.
Anyway, this set off a trend of people making their movies with as much VFX as possible and naturally as such, the storytelling suffered. Then came the stereoscopic camera which I love and believe it is an excellent story telling device when used properly. But for now, it seems it just being used for the sake of making as many movies as possible be in 3D. Enough. I want to see Hollywood get back to telling stories, not making everything in 3D and with a shit ton of VFX and CG just for the sake of it being there.
Story is key. Everything else is meant to serve the story.
And here is one more thing that needs to stop while I am on this little rant. Senseless and needless sequels.
Pirates of the Caribbean 4. Not needed. I loved the trilogy and it had a nice ending that brought everything full circle. Leave it alone at that point. Stop seeing dollar signs at every turn Hollywood!!
There is also rumors going around about a Toy Story 4. And all I can think is please don't let that happen. Toy Story 3 had the perfect ending and brought all the character's as far as they could go. There doesn't need to be anymore Toy Story films and if there is my faith in the great and mighty Pixar will be shaken.
Which brings me to another point. Cars 2. I personally think the first Cars movie was the weakest of all the Pixar movies and feel that weakness has only been beaten by the sequel. Don't make a sequel to the weakest film in your canon, please.
And then comes prequels. This also needs to stop. And I also blame George Lucas for this. But back to Pixar, there are plans to make a prequel to Monster's Inc. And all I can say is NOOOOOOOOO.... much in the same way Darth Vader did when he found out he killed Padme thus destroying his menace and ability to scare people just by entering a room forever. And this seriously has me concerned about where Pixar is heading.
Pixar... just focus on Brave cause it looks bloody awesome.
And there are remakes. Which also need to stop. If you are going to remake a movie, remake a shitty film and make it good. Quit remaking films that were already good or in some cases great. If it isn't broke, don't fix it.
So in summary, enough with the 3D, unnecessary sequels, prequels, and remakes Hollywood.
Story and originality is where it's at and everything else comes second to that.
I now step off my soapbox.
Thank you for tuning in and good night. :-)
Seriously, the use of 3D in films is getting out of hand. If they weren't shot for 3D, they are being transferred for 3D. And all I can think is 'STOP IT'
Not every movie needs to be in 3D. Certainly not some craptastic little Michael Bay movie that horribly dishonors all things Transformers. I'll stick with my 1980's traditionally animated Transformers movie thank you very much Mr. Bay. Filled with some great actors like Leonard Nimoy, Robert Stack, and none other than Orson Welles voicing the Transformers. You know, not the Even Steven's upstart Shia Lebouf who always seems to have a love interest whose lips are so swollen she looks like she just got hit in the face. Granted I do give Michael Bay credit for bagging the original and one and only Peter Cullen to voice Optimus Prime but that is about all the credit he gets.
Anyway, back to the point. Enough with the 3D. And I know that sounds strange coming from me, but really if Hollywood continues to oversaturate the market with 3D, people will just get sick of it. Why do they never learn?
Case in point. Terminator 2: Judgement Day. A liquid metal man who could morph into other people and sharp objects and stuff like that. We all thought it was cool when we first saw it on screen, but eventually people got sick of it cause everybody had to do it. Everybody needed morphing in their movie.
Now back to Michael Bay and the Transformers movies. The first one was good, I admit that. But for the sequels, they seemed to just become an excuse to blow shit up and there was no story of any kind.
We saw this also with Tron: Legacy. Looked great visually and was also in 3D. No story structure of any kind. The movie sucked basically.
Now as a part of my major, I have been through several film making and storytelling classes, some focused on script writing or non linear vs. linear storytelling and the like. But the one that will always stand out is the cinematography class. I was really taught how to tell a story by using the camera. And the one thing that was always drilled into my head in that class was that if it doesn't serve the story, then don't do it. 3D does not serve the story and a film if it is truly great will still be great without it.
Personally, I blame George Lucas. Okay, it's not all his fault, but it certainly is rooted with him and the Star Wars prequel trilogy. I love Star Wars just as much as everyone. And I was probably one the few people who thought The Phantom Menace was a kick ass flick with a great storyline. Seriously, Darth Vader as a little boy. Doesn't get much more scary than that. That was a stroke of genius on Lucas' part cause it made his turn to the dark side that much more chilling knowing that we had seen him as a little boy.
Then came Attack of the Clones, very visual effects heavy. I mean damn, there was nothing in that movie that did not have a blue screen or green screen somewhere for digital set extensions or for the sake of blowing shit up. Seriously, the number of visual effects shots in the The Phantom Menace was somewhere around 800. With Attack of the Clones, it doubled to 1600. And the story was somewhat lacking in Attack of the Clones. Coincidence, I think not. Thankfully Revenge of the Sith sort of rebounded and toned down the VFX and focused a little more on story. Lucas had to get that one right or he would have been lynched by geeks from all over the world.
Anyway, this set off a trend of people making their movies with as much VFX as possible and naturally as such, the storytelling suffered. Then came the stereoscopic camera which I love and believe it is an excellent story telling device when used properly. But for now, it seems it just being used for the sake of making as many movies as possible be in 3D. Enough. I want to see Hollywood get back to telling stories, not making everything in 3D and with a shit ton of VFX and CG just for the sake of it being there.
Story is key. Everything else is meant to serve the story.
And here is one more thing that needs to stop while I am on this little rant. Senseless and needless sequels.
Pirates of the Caribbean 4. Not needed. I loved the trilogy and it had a nice ending that brought everything full circle. Leave it alone at that point. Stop seeing dollar signs at every turn Hollywood!!
There is also rumors going around about a Toy Story 4. And all I can think is please don't let that happen. Toy Story 3 had the perfect ending and brought all the character's as far as they could go. There doesn't need to be anymore Toy Story films and if there is my faith in the great and mighty Pixar will be shaken.
Which brings me to another point. Cars 2. I personally think the first Cars movie was the weakest of all the Pixar movies and feel that weakness has only been beaten by the sequel. Don't make a sequel to the weakest film in your canon, please.
And then comes prequels. This also needs to stop. And I also blame George Lucas for this. But back to Pixar, there are plans to make a prequel to Monster's Inc. And all I can say is NOOOOOOOOO.... much in the same way Darth Vader did when he found out he killed Padme thus destroying his menace and ability to scare people just by entering a room forever. And this seriously has me concerned about where Pixar is heading.
Pixar... just focus on Brave cause it looks bloody awesome.
And there are remakes. Which also need to stop. If you are going to remake a movie, remake a shitty film and make it good. Quit remaking films that were already good or in some cases great. If it isn't broke, don't fix it.
So in summary, enough with the 3D, unnecessary sequels, prequels, and remakes Hollywood.
Story and originality is where it's at and everything else comes second to that.
I now step off my soapbox.
Thank you for tuning in and good night. :-)
Friday, July 1, 2011
still employed... YAY!!
Yep, so I went back to work today and I still have a job.
I was even told after the management reviewed the security cameras I was perfectly within in my right to react the way I did. I was essentially told I was being verbally assaulted and to not expect me to verbally respond would just be ridiculous.
That having been said, this means I can still go to Vancouver and pursue Animation Mentor.
However, in light of this, I am really attempting to find the route of the problem that led to this outburst.
The truth of the matter is that I have been stretching myself to thin and am just physically and mentally exhausted. I've been working on a demo reel, directing an animated short, planning for Vancouver and working a full time job all at once. People have always told me that I push myself way too much and that it will eventually catch up to me at some point. And I think it finally has.
So, I'm very carefully going to start examining what I can do to alleviate much of the pressure I put on myself.
The first thing that I really plan to do is get out from behind the computer screen more often. In pursuit of my career to be an animator, this is what I spend all time doing. And I'm realizing now that this isn't working. I've neglected the things I used to do before I set out to be an animator. So, I'm going to try and get out more and go on bike rides like I used to and go the park and just walk around, and just try to experience more of life. And if anything, this will help become a better animator. After all animation is creating the illusion of life. What good is that if I'm not experiencing life itself because I am trying so hard to be an animator.
I have spent so much time focusing on the future that I've neglected the present. And the present is the most important thing above all other things.
As the great Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn once said "be mindful of the future, but not at the expense of the moment"
Wise words from a wise man. So that is what I plan to do.
Though I will still continue with my future plans, I am just going to slow down a bit and take a more relaxed approach.
I'm going to try and give the chaos a bit more structure so it doesn't become so overwhelming.
So at this point, I'm really just going to focus my attention on the trip to Vancouver and it's planning.
Then I will focus my attention on another trip I'm taking to visit the Animation Mentor campus in November or December. Which will be cool and I was told I could even bring guests. Of which two people I know already are coming along. But the AM guy was like "the more the merrier" so it will be fun to gather more people for that.
That said though, I am really just going to focus on one thing at a time, and just see where it leads. Goals are great to have, but sometimes the goals can blind you to what you are really seeking.
I'm going to try and change this. :-)
I was even told after the management reviewed the security cameras I was perfectly within in my right to react the way I did. I was essentially told I was being verbally assaulted and to not expect me to verbally respond would just be ridiculous.
That having been said, this means I can still go to Vancouver and pursue Animation Mentor.
However, in light of this, I am really attempting to find the route of the problem that led to this outburst.
The truth of the matter is that I have been stretching myself to thin and am just physically and mentally exhausted. I've been working on a demo reel, directing an animated short, planning for Vancouver and working a full time job all at once. People have always told me that I push myself way too much and that it will eventually catch up to me at some point. And I think it finally has.
So, I'm very carefully going to start examining what I can do to alleviate much of the pressure I put on myself.
The first thing that I really plan to do is get out from behind the computer screen more often. In pursuit of my career to be an animator, this is what I spend all time doing. And I'm realizing now that this isn't working. I've neglected the things I used to do before I set out to be an animator. So, I'm going to try and get out more and go on bike rides like I used to and go the park and just walk around, and just try to experience more of life. And if anything, this will help become a better animator. After all animation is creating the illusion of life. What good is that if I'm not experiencing life itself because I am trying so hard to be an animator.
I have spent so much time focusing on the future that I've neglected the present. And the present is the most important thing above all other things.
As the great Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn once said "be mindful of the future, but not at the expense of the moment"
Wise words from a wise man. So that is what I plan to do.
Though I will still continue with my future plans, I am just going to slow down a bit and take a more relaxed approach.
I'm going to try and give the chaos a bit more structure so it doesn't become so overwhelming.
So at this point, I'm really just going to focus my attention on the trip to Vancouver and it's planning.
Then I will focus my attention on another trip I'm taking to visit the Animation Mentor campus in November or December. Which will be cool and I was told I could even bring guests. Of which two people I know already are coming along. But the AM guy was like "the more the merrier" so it will be fun to gather more people for that.
That said though, I am really just going to focus on one thing at a time, and just see where it leads. Goals are great to have, but sometimes the goals can blind you to what you are really seeking.
I'm going to try and change this. :-)
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