First paid animation gig!

So yeah. I started my first animation gig yesterday. My good friend Becky showed me around yesterday and I got my feet wet rather gently. Today, though, I was in charge of rigging all by myself. Woo! Whirlwind second day...

So far all the animators are awesome. Kate, the puppet hospital person reminds me so much of Nancy, the one in Burbank, it's uncanny. Also, Dick is like them too. The three of them are very fun to talk to once you show them how interested you are in what they're doing. They're very eager to teach and share things.

Everyone has been very approachable and helpful. Which is good because I haven't hit the ground running as fast as I wanted to. It's still going well though and I'm happy to be there. Luckily I don't have to work the hotel job tomorrow too. My first couple of days at the animation studio included three shifts at the hotel. Luckily my schedule will change now to accommodate this job.

Now to get a little sleep. Bluh. Perhaps I'll get a normal amount of food tomorrow. I've been eating very little, because I keep not having time and preferring to sleep when I get a chance instead. It's all been a challenge, but I'm still having a blast.

Duuude...

I got my first professional animation gig!  I'm going to be a rigger/assistant animator on a stop motion production.  YES!

...now to figure out when I'm going to sleep.

Summer...

So I was supposed to graduate this quarter, but I decided to take the term off.  This is in part because I did an animation test at a Portland studio... but haven't heard anything.  I figured if they needed me I'd have the time this way, considering I have to keep my hotel job.  Worst case, I get a break. It was funny; I was soooo nervous for the test for 24 hours before, but once I got in there and started animating, I felt all relaxed and mellow.

In the mean time, I'm filling my "spare" time with video game work.  This is sometimes successful, and other times not; for when the client hates what I do it just makes me cranky.  I end up in the "I suck" mode that all artists go through periodically.  It never lasts too long though, since I have a pretty good support system in place.  I'm working on a project I think is really cool though, and would like to play once it's finished, so that's a good thing too.

I've taken a few moments here and there to thumbnail my comic.  I'll publish it on the web somewhere... once I get some pages drawn and can keep some kind of schedule.  There's always a lot going on, it seems, but I don't think I'd have it any other way.  It seems that's the life of an animator... animate when you can, and work like crazy on everything else when you can't.  I seem to be happy most days though, so that's probably a good thing.  In my "me" time, I played a little Fallout: New Vegas, too... which I like, in spite of everything (bugs, the 'not as coolness' as its predecessor that people talk about, etc.).

And here I should get back to work.  Deadlines don't meet themselves.

Finals!

 So the webpage updating has gone well.  Good thing, since it's due tomorrow for my portfolio and professional development class.  Granted, it's been done all term, but I did pick up some sweet dreamweaver knowledge.  

Met Justin Rasch at the Northwest Animation Festival, and he had some nice things to say about our film.  He's a sweet guy and is up here working for a while.  His blog is here.  He came and spoke to one of Teresa's classes, too, and a bunch of us from The Box Game crashed to listen.  He had a lot of good things to say about being an animator, and while his story is a dream come true kind of thing, it gives me hope for the future.  Just have to keep truckin' along...

Now for sleep.  The term's almost over... phew.  

Work work work...

First off, I'm not complaining. I have a full time job that gives me pretty decent insurance, and out of the woodwork the video game company called me up and offered me a bunch of work. Woo! Then, tonight, my old security boss called me and offered me some freelance work. On top of everything, I've applied for a couple of stop motion jobs.

Webpage updates!

Finally getting the site updated to the way I want it.  Yay for dreamweaver.  iWeb is cool and all, but dreamweaver has much more functionality.  Sweet.

What are you good at?

I was asked recently, "What are you good at?" and "What do you want to do?"

To the first, I intended to say 'Learning'.  I consider myself a philosopher in a sense... in the sense that philosophers "love the pursuit of knowledge"... perhaps more than the finding of it.  Now that I finally get to go to art school, I'm having a blast... I'm learning how to do things I'd always wanted to do, and since I got all those boring general ed classes out of the way a decade or so ago, everything is fun right now -- even when it's hard.  Perhaps especially when it's hard.