Class 2, Week 4

I need to get better at blogging...I just get so busy, I forget to post on here, but here I am. I'm still alive...I think. The past few weeks have been pretty exciting, as I have started Animation Mentor back up and currently in week 4 of Class 2. This go around, my mentor is Richard Fournier, who is an animator at Blue Sky Studios, and has worked on Ice Age 4: The Continental Drift, Rio, and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and it's a true honor to be able to learn from him. 

The past few weeks, I have been working on my first shot of the term, which is Ballie doing a heel click. I went through the planning process of shooting video reference of myself attempting to click my heels...

Did planning drawings in order to plan the whole animation out on paper before I ever touch the computer...

 And this past week I finished my blocking plus pass on my shot...

This week I am finishing up this shot- making final corrections and putting it into spline and going to town on it! Basically, I am smoothing it all out and making it look good. I will post the finished product when I get it finished. I also have to plan out my next assignment this week, so I will be shooting more video reference and doing some more planning drawings, which I will share in my next post.

Yesterday was an exciting day! My girlfriend Jill and I were able to visit Reel FX Creative Studios in Dallas and were given a great tour by Ray Chase, who is a senior animator there as well as a mentor at Animation Mentor. After the tour, we were getting ready to go eat lunch at Monica's with Ray when he started asking the other animators if they wanted to join us and before you knew it, the whole animation team was going to eat lunch with us! That was pretty awesome, and it was great getting to meat them all and talk to them. It was really an amazing experience, and I am going to bust my butt at Animation Mentor over the next year so when I graduate, I can get a job there. I would love to be able to get a job at such an amazing studio, doing what I love, while staying in Texas!

Blessings

Life has been pretty wild here lately. Several months back, I took a leave of absence from Animation Mentor because I got a new job in Grapevine, and needed to get settled into an apartment and learn the new job without overwhelming myself. Well sense then, the job didn't work out but the move has turned out to be such a huge blessing to me. Two months ago today, an amazing girl walked into my life at just the right time and she has made me the happiest I have been in a very long time. Her name is Jill, and I am so proud to call her my girlfriend. Not to mention, I have made a lot of great friends sense I have been here that I am so thankful for. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God had a reason for me to move to Grapevine; it wasn't a mistake. While going to school, I am working full-time for my dad as a salesman for his company, Atlas Portable Buildings in Fort Worth, which allows me to stay close to Jill. Speaking of school, I am so excited to say that I am starting Animation Mentor back up in January and when I do, I am starting back with a bang! I am going to work full-time to pay for school as well as to keep me where I am at, so it's not going to be easy, but as the saying goes, "Anything worth having is worth working for". Because I ended Class 2 at Animation Mentor poorly, and didn't pass it, I will have to retake it, but it's the best thing to be honest. That class is Body Mechanics...the foundation of character animation, so I need to make sure I have a solid understanding and grasp on that before I move on to the next classes. I am just so excited to finally get going again, and get back on track to finishing school. I still have a ways to go, and as it stands, I will be graduating the summer of 2013, but I just have to be patient. It will be well worth the hard work and patience when I get there and walking across that stage to receive my certificate in Advanced Studies in Character Animation with a professional demo reel under my belt! I got a little off course for a while, but I'm ready to jump back in head first and do the best I possibly can with my assignments! I didn't try as hard as I could have in my last class, but that is going to change this go around. This is a second chance. A chance that I am going to take complete advantage of and make the most of the opportunity! 

By the way, if you haven't checked out the Animator Letters Project recently, then please stop by the site and read the recent inspirational letters that have been contributed by leading animators in the industry! Below you can listen to KCRW's The Business, talk about the Animator Letters Project and hear Pixar animator, Austin Madison read his letter of persistence on the air! 

 Pixar Animator, Austin Madison's Letter- KCRW's The Business by KCRW 

Life!

Hey y'all! Sorry I kinda disappeared off of here for quit a while. I got busy and stuff and kinda fell behind on this, BUT I will try to be better at this blog stuff from now on.

Life has been one wild, amazing roller coaster ride here lately, and I thought I'd share a little bit of it with you. Well, I finished up class 2 at Animation Mentor, with my awesome mentor Jeremy Cantor...but unfortunately, I didn't end it too well. I wasn't grasping a lot of the concepts of body mechanics and it caught up with me in the last assignment, and I ended up failing the class. I hate that, but it's not a totally bad thing...being that I really didn't have a solid understanding of everything, having the opportunity to go back through the class with another mentor who will teach it their own way, different than what it has already been presented to me (which was amazing by the way) will help me get a better grasp and understanding of the material before moving on to more advanced stuff. It would be better to get the basics down now, than to move on to more advanced stuff and still have trouble with the fundamental stuff and really struggle. I am looking at the possitive side of it and I know only good will come from it in the end and I am excited to start the class again and meet my new mentor and class.

At that, if you didn't already know, and if you're an AM student, you probably have noticed that I am not around the campus...and that is because I am taking a leave of absence this term. The reason why: a new amazing job! So, here's the story. God is absolutely amazing in so many ways! I just want to say that. I have always had a love and passion for kids and I have always thought it would be great to do something in the ministry somehow. While I was going to school to be a pilot, it was being a missionary pilot....but when I changed degrees to be an animator, I never really thought their would be a way for me to use that passion to serve the Lord. I figured I would just be a whitness and a light to others that didn't believe in God or didn't know anyone who lived for Christ...but that was about the extent of what I could have invisioned. Well, get this- I tweeted the blog to my Animator Letters Project to Lee Unkrich, the director of Toy Story 3, and he liked it enough to re-tweet it so all of his 100,000 followers could then see the link to my blog. One of his followers on Twitter happen to be the art director at a church in Grapevine, about two hours from where I lived in Whitehouse (Tyler area), and he forwarded my blog on to the animation director, who is now my boss. The church is Fellowship Church and they have one absolutely incredible...BEYOND WORDS...amazing, childrens curriculum that they started called Elevate and I now animate the Bible stories for them, to be used as part of the curriculum and seen by kids all over the world. I am so thankful for this amazing opportunity, and know beyond a shodow of a doubt that God orchestrated it all and He is the reason I am here. I am so glad to be able to go to work every day and work with people who are on fire for God and know that what I am doing is for the Kingdom; spreading the Word of God to kids around the world who may have never heard of Jesus before. A little over a month ago, I would have never imagined I would be doing something like this, and I am just so blessed to be where I am right now. I love what I do. It's been pretty challenging since I came in with no prior knowledge of how to use the software, but thanks to God, I have been catching on pretty fast and moving right along. Talk about something to keep you motivated when you sit down in front of the computer, knowing that what God is using me to do through those characters on the screen is impacting the lives of kids...I love that.

So I have been at the church about a month now, and like I said I am loving it. I have been making a lot of great friends...meeting new people every day! I just went and saw Transformers 3 tonight with a group from the church and then went and ate at some place I don't even know the name of...had a blast! I love everything about the church. The service is amazing to say the least! It is very contemporary and I have yet to hear a message that was anything short of amazing. I just noticed I have said the word amazing about 50 times already. Oh well, I have a very limited vocabulary, so I have to re-use word a lot, so just get used to it. Anyways, I am living in an apartment in Grapevine all by myself for the first time in my life...as in, not the first time to live in Grapevine (which it is..) but the first time to be on my own. I have lived with my parents for my whole 23 years of being alive (minus the year I was away with the army and a few months here and there for training) so being out on my own this past month has been an experience, and so far a pretty good one. I love it...although it does take some getting used to. I'm not the best cook and have already burned nearly everything I have attempted to cook (basically whatever I can stick in the oven or microwave). Last week I tried to cook a family sized box of chicken alfredo that I was SO excited about eating...I love chicken alfredo! Not to mention, it was going to last me several days, so I was looking forward to that. Unfortunionately, I stuck it in the oven and then accidently fell asleep and woke up at 5:30 AM to the most awful smell I have ever smelt in my life...yep, I left it in the oven all night and it was as burnt as you can get it. I think I almost cried when I realized I wasn't going to be able to eat any chicken alfredo. So yeah, it's been great so far, but I gotta say, I really miss my family. I have always been VERY close to my family and always lived right there by all of them. Literally...my grandparents (dad's side) lived right nect door and my other grandparents (mom's) lived about 2 miles down the road. I spent just about every day with my grandparents, mainly my grandpa, and I miss them all so much. It's been tough being away from them, but I have called and talked to them, and even went to Whitehouse to visit once and they are all doing great.

Well...there you have it! I don't write in several months and then when I do, you get a book! :) That's me for ya! Haha! I hope everyone has a great 4th of July and enjoys some fireworks! I know I am. I'm going to the 4th of July thing the church is putting on and will be volunteering with it tomorrow so I'm looking forward to that. Also, my mom and brother are coming up this weekend to visit, so that will be great! Can't wait! Well I'm going to leave it at that for now, and I will try to write some more later!

Goodbye Class 1!!!

Well, I am officially done with Class 1 at Animation Mentor and have compiled all my work from the term into my progress reel. It's not great, but I am still learning. I am super excited to push myself to become a better animator as I go through Class 2. I found out today that my Class 2 mentor is Jeremy Cantor, an animator currently at Industrial Lights and Magic and his film credits include Transformers 2, Avatar, Rango, I Am Number 4, Super 8, Starship Troopers, Hollow Man, Harry Potter & The Sorcerers Stone, and Evolution. I am incredibly excited to learn animation from him and gain whatever knowledge I can from him. This is going to be an amazing term, I just know it.

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I PASSED!

Yep, I found out today that I passed Class 1: Basic Foundations and will be starting Class 2: Phycology of Body Mechanics next week! Woohoo! It's exciting to know that I did it and will be progressing in my animation learning experience. I can't wait till Monday to figure out who my class 2 mentor will be. I don't plan on getting much sleep over the next 12 weeks, er...the next 60 weeks. From this point on, it will get harder and require a lot more of my time, and I am so ready for it! Bring it!!! =) Good thing i'm a night owl, as I don't mind staying up till early hours of the morning animating.

Since it has been forever since I have posted on here, I wanted to share a few more additions to my animator drawings and autograph collection that I have gotten in the mail recently.

This is a Disney Limited Release Commemorative lithograph of Tangled numbered 1008 of 5000 autographed by the directors of the film, Nathan Greno and Byron Howard and the producer, Roy Conli! Both Nathan and Byron added a small sketch and Roy added some words of encouragement saying "Follow your dreams!" and boy am I ever doing that! =) Maybe one day I'll have the opportunity to work at Disney as an animator, that would be amazing.

I got this HUGE 27"x40" Toy Story 3 poster in the mail last week from the director of the film, Lee Unkrich, and he was awesome enough to sign it for me! Now I just need to get this framed and up on my wall!

I'm still alive and kicking!

Sorry for not posting anything for so long. My intent was to post updates weekly throughout class 1 at AM, buuut, I guess that didn't happen as planned. Between AM and work, I was kept plenty busy but that is no excuse, I will make an effort to update this blog more often! I am in week 12 of my first term at AM, and I have learned SO much and it has been a blast! It has been a huge challenge for me so far, but it has pushed me to grow as an animator, and I am so excited to see where this school takes me as I progress and become better and better. This next term is going to be very challenging, from what I hear, but I am super excited about it and can't wait to start and jump into some more advanced animation! =) During this week, my last week of class 1, I am going to compile all my work from this term into a progress reel and when I get that done, I will post it here on my blog for you to see so you can see everything I have done up to this point. Don't expect to see brilliant animation, because most of it stinks pretty bad as I am still learning here, but it will get better as I push on and challenge myself. I am going to the best animation school in the world, being taught by the best animators in the industry, so I know if I put forth the time and effort as I go through this school, then I will get better and one day, hopefully that will take me places I can only dream of now. I have much more I could share with you, but I have to go to work, so for now, I will leave you with this awesome drawing that Eric Goldberg drew for me. Hope you like it!

Last few weeks...

As of tomorrow, I will reach the end of my third week as a student in the Maya Springboard Workshop at Animation Mentor. Even though it is very early in the game, it has been such an exciting, yet challenging adventure so far, and I am loving every bit of it! The purpose of this class is so I can learn the ends and outs of Maya (the program I will be animating in) that way, when I start animating my first bouncing ball in Class 1 starting the beginning of January, I can focus completely on animating and not on how to use Maya. Each Monday and Wednesday night at 9:00, I meet live with my class and mentor, Brad Bradbury, over web cam and we can all see Brad and a full screen view of his computer screen, so we can see exactly what he is doing and teaching in Maya, while he talks us through it step by step. If one of us has a question, Brad can call on us and bring up our web cam video so everyone can see and hear us. I really love the way it's set up, and the classes have been awesome! Not to mention, Brad is such a great teacher and mentor and really makes it fun. I feel like I have already learned so much in such a short period of time.

On another good note, you may remember my earlier post with the letter that Pixar animator and Animation Mentor mentor, Aaron Hartline, wrote to me, encouraging me to follow my dreams and to not give me. The encouragement I got from Aaron was a big part of me making the bold move to finally follow my dream and go to school to be an animator, and go to the school he and other great animators teach at, Animation Mentor. Well, over the past several months, since I posted that letter here on my blog, a highly popular website called 'Letters of Note' saw the letter and did a neat write up about it. Animation Mentor saw the write up on their site, and posted a link to it on there Facebook page that same day. From there, people worldwide started viewing my letter and just what I was hoping for when I posted it on my blog started happening...the letter was doing just what it did to me, it was encouraging and inspiring other to follow their own dreams and passions and not give up! I felt like the contents of the letter were to great and inspiring for me to keep to myself, and I wanted others to get the same encouragement that I needed out of it, because I know that at one point and time or another, everyone needs that boost of encouragement that they can do it if they don't give up. Today, I got an email from a guy living in New York who runs a Christian blog called 'The Deacons Bench' and he did a story on me and the letter that Aron wrote to me and related it the letter that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians. He told me that his blog gets a viewing of about 200,000 views a month! After reading his awesome story, I decided to check out Aaron's personal blog, because I hadn't looked at it in a while and I always enjoy the stuff he posts. I got quit the shocker when I saw the amazing post that Aaron posted today talking about how all the positive responses to his letter have affected him. He talked about me and the letter he wrote me and went on to mention how me met. It was such a great post and honestly, it really touched me...I am just so happy that my letter has gone coast to coast, from California to New York and to who knows where else, read by who knows how many people who are being encourage and inspired to follow their dreams and not give up, just as I was! Thank you Aaron for everything, you are an awesome person and one of my animation heroes. If it weren't for people like you and other animators like DreamWorks animator, Jim Vanderkeyl, who went out of their way to encourage another person, I may have never followed my passion and missed out on the Animation Mentor experience and the adventure I have ahead of me in life.

To visit Aaron Hartline's blog, either click on the link above or click here.