Willie Downs

Class 2, Week 4

2012-01-24T08:30:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-10T09:53:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-07-01T22:37:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2011-03-24T16:11:00.000-07:00

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.

I PASSED!

2011-03-22T00:07:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-03-20T13:57:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-11-06T18:21:00.000-07:00

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.

Lee Unkrich and Brad Bird!

2010-09-15T10:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was surprised by getting a large envelope from Pixar, with a red, shiny, foil seal that has a monkey on it...guess who it was from? Lee Unkrich, the director of Toy Story 3! (The red monkey seal should have given it away for me, because I know Lee is a huge monkey fanatic!) He sent me an autographed Toy Story 3 photo and a personally typed letter which I thought was too cool! I completely understand him declining my request for a sketch, because if you didn't know, he is the only Pixar director to date that wasn't an animator first...he was something in the technical field, I forget at the moment. I think this is a huge success and it will be up on my wall in no time! (Click on the letter to make it bigger so you can read it!)

As if that wasn't enough to make my day, I also got an autographed photo from Brad Bird, who is the director of The Incredibles and Ratatouille! :)

Oh, and guess what? I start Animation Mentor in 12 days (on the 27th) and I am soo excited, I can hardly contain it inside me! Be sure to follow this blog by clicking the follow button on this page if you want to see the progress I make with my animation work, because once I start, I plan on sharing all my work each week on here! :)

Trip to California!

2010-08-17T17:07:00.000-07:00

I just got back today from California, which was one of the most exciting and amazing trips I have ever been on. Me and my friend, Nick Fensterman from LeTourneau University, drove out there and instead of staying in hotels, we decided to Couch Surf (http://www.couchsurfing.com) with different people along the way, so our first stop was in Tucumcari, NM and we stayed with a guy named Zac, who was awesome. We had a big BBQ with his neighbors, family and friends and just had a good time- such a good first CS experience! Our next stop was in Vegas, so Nick could see it, because he had never been- so we walked the main strip and walked into Caesars Palace and I admit, I gambled...I put a whole $2 into a slot machine and lost ever bit of it...it was tough, but I survived. Haha, now I can officially say I gambled in Vegas...yeah, whatever, probably won't ever happen again. We didn't have a CS host for that night, so we stayed in a cheapish hotel and then made our way to San Fransisco and the Bay area the next morning. Once we got there, we walked across the SF Bridge and did your typical touristy things around the city...it was my first time to ever be there, so we visited all the main hot spots such as the Fisherman's Wharf and walked around the different piers. I learned the hard way that Northern, CA is very cold...unlike in Texas where it is over 100 degrees right now, it was in the 50's there, and I showed up in shorts and a short sleeve polo shirt...not the best dress for the weather, so I had to fix that and get a jacket! I was shaking like a leaf...seriously, I could see my breath...it was COLD. To me anyways, I'm from Texas, I don't like cold. :) While we were in the Bay area, we Couch Surfed with a guy named Greg who was such an awesome host! He owned his own incredible travel company which I could say tons about because it's really that awesome, so we a lot to talk about, and he even gave us a tour around Berkley, where he lives.

Ok, so here is where the really exciting stuff comes in! Are you ready for it? Hold on because this is good stuff! The second day in the Bay area, we drove to Emeryville and visited Pixar Animation Studios and was given a private tour by Pixar animator, Aaron Hartline. It was so nice of him to take the time out of his hectic day to do this for us, and I am so glad and thankful that he did! By the way, Aaron has animated on both Pixar films, UP and Toy Story 3...remember the scene in TS3 where Trixie the Triceratops jumped on they keyboard and said she was talking to some dinosaur down the street? Yeah, Aaron animated that scene, among many others. We started off by getting our official Pixar name tag that had the aliens from Toy Story on it and said "Visitors from the outside!" on it. We then went on inside the gates of the studio and made our first stop by the giant Luxo lamp and ball, which is right outside the Pixar studio, to take pictures!

We then went on inside the studio to meet up with Aaron to start our tour! Let me start off by saying that the studio looks absolutely amazing...and it's huge! You wouldn't believe how incredible large this studio is...you walk through the front door into a huge, open atrium, and all around the room are different things such as the mail room, a cereal bar for the employees in case the get the mid-day urge for cereal, a game room, the restroom, a official Pixar store only open to employees and visitors of the studio (it didn't open until 11, and we started the tour at 9, so unfortunately, we didn't get to shop in the store.) and a few other things, and I will show some pictures of what I'm talking about below. As soon as you walk into the studio, you are greeted by Sulley and Mike Wazowski from Monsters, Inc., Luigi and Guido from Cars and a Lego version of Buzz and Woody from Toy Story!

Aaron then walked us around the atrium explaining what everything was and allowing us to take pictures. While we were walking through, I bumped into Pixar animator, Victor Navone, who I have had quite a bit of correspondence with over the last few years, so that was neat to finally meet him in person. He has quit a history at Pixar and has worked on just about every one of their films to date!

Check out all those awards!!! Pixar has all of their awards on display in this cabinet to the right as you walk into the studio...pretty cool!

And then we walked past the store...but since it was closed, I completely forgot to take a picture of it. Sorry! So we will move on through the atrium...next we walked past the mail room, which I think is kinda cool to know that quit a few of my handwritten letters have been in there. :)

We then walked past the game room where the animators and other employees have a little fun, and then onto the breakfast room with the cereal bar- which I am pretty sure has me sold. Who wouldn't want unlimited cereal to eat throughout the day, whenever you get the urge...and better yet, at work?

Take a guess how many people work at Pixar? I could let you count, but that would be cruel...try around 1100 people! Crazy, huh?

After we walked past the Cereal room, Aaron took us to the screening room, where Pixar screens their films! My camera didn't take a very good picture, so sorry about that, but it was pretty impressive! Aaron told us that stars would cover the ceiling and you could see shooting stars shoot across. Oh, and did I mention that we were greeted by two of the green aliens from Toy Story?

From here, we were taken upstairs where we weren't allowed to take any photos. During this part of the tour, we got to see a lot of the pre-production art from a few of the films, such as Toy Story and Up. There were lots of drawings and character designs of characters like Buzz and Woody and I saw what they originally looked like before they changed them to how they look now. I have seen a lot of these drawings in the "Art of" books that Pixar publishes for each one of their films, but it was still awesome to see the originals in person. We also saw the storyboard art for Toy Story 3, which was really neat! The coolest thing we sw up there though, was he took us into the animation department and we got to see where all the animators work! It was so cool, because each animator has their own space and they are allowed and encouraged to decorate it in a certain creative scene...such as one animator had his looking like a tiki room with an actual tiki poles and another had it decorated in a western setting...really incredible! I really wish I could have taken a picture or two in there for you to see because it's hard to explain! Although we weren't allowed to take photos of any of that, Aaron did allow us to take pictures with two things upstairs: Finding Nemo and The Incredibles!

And lastly, before I left the studio, I took a picture of this awesome painting from Toy Story which hangs on the back wall of the studio!

If you noticed, I wore my Animation Mentor t-shirt while on tour at Pixar, hoping it would start up a conversation about the school, and of coarse, it did. Aaron is a mentor at the school, and I wanted to show him just how excited I was to start, even though, as of the tour, I had not been accepted into the school yet...I had applied on August 5th and was still waiting to hear back from them about my acceptance. I told Aaron how nervous I was about getting in and how I wanted to go there so bad I couldn't think straight! He told me not to worry, that he was sure I would get in. He told me to send him a private message on the AM website once I got accepted and logged in to tell him. He asked me if I had already done a tour of the AM headquarters in Emeryville, and I told him no, that I didn't realize you could do a tour, and he told me if I called them then he was sure they could probably show me around, so as soon as I left the Pixar studio, I called up AM and asked told them where I was (sitting in the Pixar parking lot) and told them that I was hoping to go there and asked if their was any way I could get a tour and the lady told me that if I had called any other day, then I could go on a tour no problem, but all of their employees were leaving the building to do a service project in the Bay area for the day and weren't going to be there. The lady was very nice...we talked for a few minutes and she asked me how the Pixar tour went and then wished me the best of luck and apologized for me not being able to get a tour of their HQ. So, we decided to leave the studio and head out to Fisherman's Wharf one more time for lunch before we headed out of town to Los Angeles. Get this: maybe an HOUR after we left the Pixar studio, I got a email sent to my phone from Animation Mentor telling me that I had gotten accepted into the school!!!! :) I was so excited...seriously, I can't even tell you how excited I was about this! I couldn't believe that on the same day as visiting Pixar, I got accepted into the best animation school out there! I still can't believe that I got accepted into this school- I can't wait to start! If you want to see some more pictures of the inside of Pixar, check out this blog: http://pixarblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/visiting-pixar-inside-studio.html

Alright, so our day at Pixar and the Bay area is over with and we headed down to L.A. and that area for the night. While we were in L.A., we stayed with some family of Nick's, and they were really nice and it was great of them to let us stay with them for the time we were in town.

We started off our first day in the L.A. area (actually, Glendale) by going to DreamWorks Animation Studios! DreamWorks animator, Jim Vanderkeyl was awesome enough to take the time to give us a tour of the studio, which we kicked off about 12:30. Once we got our name badges, we walked into the studio...well, it was more like a big open area outside, in the middle of the studio where there is a waterfall and a river and a bunch of trees and it's where the employees can sit and eat breakfast and lunch outside...it was really beautiful out there too! Such an amazing studio, it looked more like a resort!

Once we walked in and met up with Jim, he showed us around outside and then took us inside the actual studio and into the animation department where all the animators work, which was amazing!

Jim then showed us around the studio through the different departments, such as pre-production and story boarding and whatnot. It was an amazing tour! I didn't ask if I could take any pictures, although I doubt I could have, but I was so zoned in on the tour and seeing everything around me, taking pictures was last on my mind at the time. We really got to see some cool stuff...lots of artwork from the different films and even a few character models that were made so the animators had a physical version of the character to visualize and hold. After we got done walking through the studio and seeing everything, we stopped by the cafeteria and got us some enchiladas to eat for lunch and we got our food and sat outside with him and ate and talked for a good hour and a half about everything from animation to my experience with the army. It was such an awesome experience and I can't thank Jim enough for giving us such a great tour and taking the time to do it, because it's something I won't ever forget!

Well, I am going to try and hurry up and tie this blog up...it's getting a bit long...sorry about that! But, after we left there, we spent the day running around Hollywood and L.A. just doing some sightseeing and walked up and down Rodeo Dr. where all the celebrities supposedly shop because it's so expensive there...seriously, I wouldn't have been able to buy a pair of socks on that street! We walked into a Ferrari shop looking for my next car and I saw the one I want. It had a reasonable price tag on it...only 1.3 million, penny change for me. (HA!) I'm not a big car person, but it was a nice car...not gonna lie!

Our second to last day in CA, we spent the day at Laguna beach and as if I hadn't learned many, many times in the past from going to the beach and just being outside in general, I didn't wear sunscreen and got burn big time...I left that evening looking like a lobster, my best look.

The last day in LA, we went to Disneyland! I had really been looking forward to going out there- it was my first time to go and was a big thing for me! I had only been to Disney World once, and that was as a child a long time ago. Long story short, I had a BLAST, and really loved it there...my favorite ride was by far, the Indiana Jones ride, it was freaking incredible! Of coarse, I had to buy me a Mickey ears hat, which I wore all day around the park and while taking my picture in front of the famous magic castle and Walt and Mickey!

I hope you enjoyed my incredibly long blog post, A.K.A. my newest book, haha, but in case you didn't figure it out after reading all of that, I had an AMAZING time in California and I can't wait to go back! It was such an adventure and I got to do things I never imagined I would get to do. Now, I get to prepare for Animation Mentor to start and get reading to start animating!!! :) Thanks again for reading, you are awesome!

Pixar animator, Aaron Hartline interview!

2010-07-03T11:32:00.000-07:00

This guy has been a huge inspiration to me going into animation and has encouraged me in so many ways. He has showed me that if you have drive and really want to do something, then no matter how many times you are turned down, if you don't give up, you can and will reach your goal. He spent 14 years working towards a dream he had of becoming an animator for Pixar, which he got after watching Toy Story and being blown away- and because he never gave up, he is now living his dream and just finished working on Toy Story 3. This is a great interview with Aaron, and if you are interested at all in animation and share she same dream as me, or just need a boast of encouragement, then watch this interview- it's about 50 minutes long, but well worth the time to watch it. It wouldn't let me embed the video, so to watch it click here!

You can check out Aaron's blog here.

Studio Tours Around the Corner!

2010-07-02T13:55:00.000-07:00

There hasn't been a whole lot for me to blog about lately, well, maybe their has been, I've just been too lazy to blog. Oops...I'll try to stay on top of this better.

I just got back from Israel a few weeks ago, and it was the most amazing trip I have ever been to, because I was able to walk in the footsteps of my Lord, and that is something I can't describe in words. If you want to know more about that trip, read my note I wrote on Facebook here. I uploaded tons of pictures from the trip, so you can find them there as well. Oh, and I saw a poster/sign on the side of the road in Jerusalem advertising Toy Story 3, which made me super excited, because it was just a few days before it was opened in theaters....

Toy Story 3 was AWESOME!!! I loved every minute of it. Great job all you people at Pixar that put in all those hours of hard work, it paid off, because y'all did a heck of a job! Toy Story is the main reason I got interested in computer animation to start with, and I have pretty much grown up with Andy and those toys, so that movie holds a special place in my heart. To me, it's a little more than just another film.

I don't want to say too much yet, but I am going to be taking a roadtrip to CA with a friend of mine, Nick Fensterman, and we are going to spend 5 days between Emeryville, San Fransisco, and LA. As you know, it is my dream to work at one of the major studios, such as Pixar or Dreamworks, and I am super excited to say that an animator from both of those studios has offered to give me a private tour of each studio. This will be a trip of a life time and I can't begin to express how excited I am. I have been wanting to visit these studios for so long, and it just seamed impossible (and it almost is...you have to be an employee there, be a family member of an employee or be invited by an employee- which is where I fall into) but now here I am with this opportunity and it has me super pumped. Not only will we be visiting the studios, but we will be going to Disneyland, which I have always wanted to visit since I was a kid. Oh, and you know what else will be making this trip totally awesome? We will be Couch Surfing the whole trip. Do we have an adventure ahead of us this summer, I'd say so. I will be taking LOTS of pictures and I will share them on here along with a detailed blog all about the studios and the rest of the trip.

Also, I will finally be able to reapply to Animation Mentor on August 5th, my birthday, as it will be 90 days after I got denied the first time, so please cross your fingers and say a prayer for me that I get accepted this time! I am so excited about starting that school and jumping into animation. It is something I should have done a long time ago, and is something I know I will enjoy. I can't stop thinking about starting, because it looks like such an amazing school and I know it will be a blast. I have been preparing to reapply, by reading through some animation books such as The Animator's Survival Kit, so hopefully that will pay off in August.

I am so excited about the animation journey ahead of me in my life, and I can't wait to start sharing my animation work with you on here!

The Man Behind "Monsters, Inc."

2010-04-29T11:54:00.000-07:00

I'm assuming most of you know who "the man" is, but if you are one of the few that don't, he is Pete Docter. I mentioned him in one of my past blogs not long ago, but he deserves another mention today. Why? Well, because he sent me a few things that inspired me, and I want to share them with you. As you know, Pete's credits with Pixar start with Toy Story, and he has directed both "Monsters, Inc." and "UP". He is a Pixar superstar, yet he still find the time to write to his fans and send out sketches. I truly admire this man, and hope to one day be working beside him- what an inspiration that would be. Thanks Pete, I really appreciate it!

What Happens When Buzz Lightyear and the Terminator cross paths?

2010-04-28T22:26:00.000-07:00

Peter Clute will tell you. You get "Buzzinator". I came across Peter's website today, and I had to share it with everyone. I think his pieces of art are pretty darn awesome! This guy has some skill, no doubt. I wander how long it will be before this toy finds itself on the shelf of John Lasseter, next to his other Buzz toys?

Of course, the collection wouldn't be complete without the totally hardcore WAR-E!

If you think this guy is awesome like I do, then do him a favor and spread the word! You can visit his website at http://peterclute.com to see more about his creations.

Animation Mentor: Round One.

2010-04-26T19:16:00.000-07:00

As you know, I applied to Animation Mentor about three weeks ago, and I had a pretty good feeling about it. As a part of the application process, I had to do several short answer questions such as why I chose that school, why I wanted to be an animator and what my short and long term goals in the animation industry were. I put a lot of thought into my answers, and thought they were pretty good. Unfortunately, this afternoon, I received an email from the school saying they didn't accept my application at this time, but they won't tell me exactly what it is that made them make that decision. It is very disappointing, but not the end- I am just going to have to wait 90 days, and then try again. I really didn't think I would have any trouble getting accepted, but just because I didn't, doesn't mean I won't. I truly believe I will the next go around. If their is one thing I have already learned from talking to a few animators at the major studios, it's that you can't give up the first time you get turned down- it takes determination. That applies to me trying to get into this school as well as it will later when I try getting a job at Disney- I can't give up, and I won't.

Encouraging note from the director of Ratatouille and The Incredibles, Brad Bird.

My Heros

2010-04-07T10:26:00.000-07:00

I have been a huge fan of Pixar ever since I saw the "Toy Story" as a kid. It's the films they have produced that have inspired me the most, to want to become an animator. I have wrote to a few Pixarians over the past few years, telling them how they have inspired me, and in return, here are some of the amazing sketches and encouraging letters I have received back from them. The above sketch is of the characters from "UP", sent to me by one of my role models, Pete Docter, who directed both "UP", and "Monsters, Inc".

Pete Docter wrote me this letter, mentioning Animation Mentor and encouraging me with my work.

Pixar animator, Aaron Hartline, has been a huge encouragement to me, and was kind enough to sketch Carl Fredrickson, from "UP" for me. He worked on that film and is also currently working on "Toy Story 3". Aaron, also wrote me the below letter, which has encouraged me so much. Thank you Mr. Hartline, hopefully one day, I will be working with you on a Pixar film!

Another animator that I have talked with over the past few years that has been very encouraging to me, is Pixar animator, Victor Navone. He is actually the first person to recommend Animation Mentor to me, several years ago, and is a mentor there. Over the years, he has given me lots of advise and words of wisdom, not to mention, has even taken the time to sketch me a few characters from some of the films he has animated on. He did the sketch of Flash, below, from "The Incredibles" back in 2005 for me, and it has had a place on wall since then. He did the sketch of Wall-E for me last year.

And last but not least, for now anyways, is Jim Vanderkeyl, an animator that I admire greatly and has been a huge source of encouragement to me. He is actually a Dreamworks animator and is a very talented man, who has animated on films such as "Kung Fu Panda" and "Over the Hedge". Every time I have a question about animation or need advise, he has been more than willing to help, and I don't think he knows how much I appreciate that. Below are some of the sketches he has been kind enough to draw for me- one of them being a caricature he did of me! Looks pretty darn good, doesn't it?

Hey Blog World!

2010-04-06T17:24:00.000-07:00

Hey folks!

I decided to start a blog so I can share my animation work, news and any other artwork, with everyone who is remotely interested. I applied to Animation Mentor today and plan on attending in the fall, so wish me luck that I get accepted with no problem. I will be posting my work that I complete throughout the school, on here, and would love to hear your feedback every once in a while. At Animation Mentor, I will be taught character animation by professional, working animators, and I am super excited about starting!

Willie