Heya!

Early Happy Holidays! Christmas is sneaking up fast! Before you know it we will be welcoming in 2010! It’s insane!

Before I get rambling, go see The Princess and the Frog. Like now. Come back after you’ve seen it. No really, go.

Now that you’re back, wasn’t I right?! It was amazing! So glad to see that Disney got the magic back up on the screen. If they keep doing their thing we will see even more magic from them. They know how to do villians.  Dr. Facilier was fantastic! Loved how he rolled the cards in his hand and how he moved! He was just oozing character on the screen. Don’t even get me started on the shadows! They were utterly amazing. Period. The other character I loved was Charlotte. They captured her bundle of energy brilliantly and had me in stitches several times. I have a thing for side characters cause they, like the villains, tend to be fleshed out more and have to hit you with their personalities on frame one so that they are instantly recognizable. Hilarious! Other moment that had me gone was Louis’ flashback! I want to see it again! Let’s go now!

Part of what made it so awesome was going with animators. I found out that there are two AMers in Saskatoon! Of course I had to spark a get together to see this. Sadly, another AMer from not far away couldn’t make it, so it was just the three of us. It was fantastic to meet them and I had a blast with them! After the movie we went for drinks to talk about the movie and animation. It was so great being around animators that I cannot wait till Jan when I go down to grad and hang out with my other animator friends. We definitely need to meet more! I swear there isn’t enough hours in a night to talk shop and other geeking out with other animators. Y’all should try it sometime!

Like mentioned, I am heading down again. You know what that means – new shot! I am trying hard to channel my inner animation guru and bring forth something spectacular. The channel lines are kinda clogged so I am working hard at getting them cleared so that something happens. I haven’t posted yet what it looks like in layout because it’s far too rough. Hopefully I will have something up in the next week or so. I am a sucker for a longer piece! lol. Got a month basically till I go so there is going to be some insane hours pulled to make this work. I looked back at what my reel was a year ago and I am pleased to see the progress that I have made. It’s always good to see where you came from to get an idea where you are going. Here’s hoping it turns out to a fraction of what I want! Keep you posted on it!

If I don’t get another post up soon, I will say it now. Happy Holidays, Happy New Year and may you and yours have a merry, restful and joyous time!

~Spilly

Heya

It’s been awhile again! I can’t believe how bad I am getting at updating! I need more exciting things to happen so that I can blog all the time haha. Things have been pretty much on par for the last couple months. Not much deviations from the normal pace. Excitement does loom however! I am heading back down in January for AM’s grad and job fair weekend! I can’t wait to be down there again and see my friends again. Every six months isn’t cutting it anymore. I want us all to live in a house like the Golden Girls! We can share our crazy antics while having iced tea on the lanai. I think it would be brilliantly fun. So for one short weekend I need to absorb as much as I can to last me the next six months! Unless a job comes through. Then I can be closer to them potentially depending on where it is. I just want a Golden Girl house of working animators. Is that so much to ask?!

So in preparation of this weekend, I have decided to work on a new shot. It’s a longer, emotionally charged two character dialogue piece. It’s just one of those animations that needs to get out of my system. Nothing like challenging your skills while you are working out some inner demons through art. Hopefully soon I will be able to post something of it soon. I’ve been going through very sporadic phases of working on it and now that I have a deadline I need to settle in for the long haul. I have enough stubbornness to get it done, I just need to gather my huxpah to get it done. I got a pretty good support group that’s in need for me to get more done to show them so that’s always good. Pressure can be a good thing if you view it that way! I got to rise to the occasion and show what I am capable of! Time is ticking!

Have you seen where I put my talent? Must have left it in my other coat…

~Spilly

Heya

So it seems insomnia has been kind enough to come visit me again. Exactly what I needed after the craziness that has been this month so far. Heck the last month as well. It’s unfortunate I can’t turn my mind off and get sleep cause I really enjoy it! The poor thing has a ton of stuff whirling through it, both good and bad, and just needs a rest. So in an attempt to settle it, I figured writing a new post might help get things done and dealt with! Off we go!

I shall run this like a compliment sandwich – start good, throw in the bad and then end on a good note. First we will talk about my last post. The student showcase. It still makes me smile that I made it. It was something that I hoped would happen but didn’t ever expect it to. So to randomly come across my work in it makes me happy. I haven’t developed a swelled ego or anything from it. I tend to tear myself and my work apart seeing how I can do it better and faster the next time I sit down to animate. Seeing it rendered and brilliantly lighted causes me to look at it with fresh eyes and make me realize that I am not that bad lol. Also it has opened the door for more comments from people about my work. There has been a lot, both praise and criticism, and I love it. I like to hear what people think, what they like, how they process, and their ideas that come from it. It’s been an interesting and fascinating process and experience and I am still blown away that I get to live it.

With all good comes the bad. My hard drive just up and quit on me on Sunday. I just wanted to spend my rainy Sunday trying to get done some freelance work I am doing for a friend and the blasted thing wouldn’t fire up. Now this isn’t the first hard drive to die on me. Every computer I had a friend build for me has had a hard drive become crispy. Four dead hard drives and I still haven’t learned that I should back up every night or have a raid running. So that adds to the frustration. So I have a temp drive in there and trying to rebuild what I lost on the freelance and speed along on it. Now my external hard drive that I back up on decided to burp after eating a few files and tells me that I lost more than I think. The drive is apparently fine but I discover that the wrong folders were backed up. Gone are two animations I did. Well one completely and the second I have up to half completion – right before I did a big rework on it then finished it. So for the last month I was a moron and thought I was fine. Tough pill to swallow let me tell you. So now I have to be a non moron and do things right. Then if I am a good boy and get this freelance done before I have a meltdown I can start my new shot! Thank goodness I properly backed it up and only lost one character’s designed outfit file. I have the technology, I can rebuild it! Faster! Better!

Other good news I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to blog. In July I went down to SF! It was a blast! It was an AM Extravaganza weekend! The job fair, graduation and bbq were all held in one weekend! Of course I couldn’t miss that – being around animators is massively exciting for me! A friend of mine was kind enough to let me and another friend stay with her so that was super awesome. We actually had flights that landed within ten minutes of each other which was super easy to plan around. We got to hang out with some of our fantastic friends each day we were there so there was little time for sleep, just the way it should be! So the Friday was the job fair which had an open house at AM before that. Got to see some familiar faces there as well as new ones. Very cool to run into people I had either peer buddied or alumni tutored from the graduating class. Quite the family! The job fair was packed but I love it that way. You get to run into people and talk with people waiting in line with you. What better way to meet fellow alumni?! Had a couple good chats with studios which made my day and just had a really good time. Afterwards a group of us went out for supper and watched Ice Age 3. Great movie! I was surrounded by some temp animators on it so it was great to get to see their work on the big screen! One of them is a good friend of mine and she requested to sit next to me cause she knew I was going to die laughing in certain spots. Of course I obliged because for some reason my laugh is almost famous lol. And I didn’t disappoint. I was shrieking on the edge of my seat a couple times. What can I say, I love Scrat! Saturday was grad. Unfortunately it was a full house so I couldn’t sneak in as a volunteer. Instead we met up with a friend and a working former classmate of his. It was fun wandering about SF looking for a restaurant and talking shop. We also toured the Samurai Exhibition at the Asian Museum! It blows me away the details they put onto everything. So amazing! What still amazes me is the sword blades they had in a display case. They were several hundred years old but they were still sharp and looked brand new. Wow. We then met up with the animators for the grad after party. We ended up changing venues cause it was too packed. Much better for talking and good times were had by all. Few hours of shut eye and then the bbq! It was a blast as usual. Too many animators and not enough time to talk to everyone!  The weather was nice and you just wanted to freeze time so that you could get the most out of it. I can’t wait till I can be around everyone again cause even though we didn’t get to talk a whole lot, we had a ton of fun! One of these days I will buy a camera so I can take a slough of pictures and not have to rely on others! Caught supper and drinks with a smaller crew, napped, caught flight and slept all the way home. In a heartbeat I would do it all again!

So there it is in a sort of nutshell. I was true to the ramble urge and went into the trip a little more than needed lol. I got excited reliving it as I was typing and just babbled away! It served its purpose, I am getting sleepy and the stress is lessened on my mind. I have a bunch of things worrying me, but thinking of the good times eases it! Conclusion – animators make everything better! Someday I will have my Golden Girls house that are all animators and oi vey the good times! We shall gather our iced teas and adjourn to the lanai and just talk about anything at all. Picture it.

“All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me… You may not realize it when it happens, but a  kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.” ~Walt Disney

~Spilly

Heya!!

Exciting news! The student showcase is out! You all must go look at it right now! There are some fantastic shots in there that won’t disappoint!

http://www.animationmentor.com/showcase09/

I happen to be a little more excited about the showcase than normal! If you happened to notice, I have a shot in it! My shot Respect (or Mommie Dearest as it has come to be known also as) was selected! I was shocked when I got the email saying I was selected. I couldn’t believe that they had chosen me! I was and still am deeply honoured that my work was chosen to be in the showcase and represent the school. For the last couple months it has been lurking in the back of my mind that I would see my work in amongst some of the most talented animators from Animation Mentor. Rachel, the highly gifted woman in charge of texturing/lighting/rendering, told me she was inspired to make it all noir and moody. I was thrilled because that was my plan for it. I wanted to have more severe lighting and use it to help tell the story as well. So I have been waiting on pins and needles to see her vision for it. I have to say, when I saw it I was taken aback. I couldn’t believe how amazing it looked! It exceeded my expectations tenfold. Her vision made my animation look far better than it is. She got the depth of field and light pouring in from the hallway look like I wanted and I didn’t even tell her a thing! My hat goes off to her and I am eternally grateful for her work. I also am eternally grateful to AM for choosing me to be apart of this. I am blown away and am finally finding words to express my gratitude.

What is also exciting is I have some friends that were chosen as well! Look for work by Stephanie Desforges and Tyler Philips! I love their work and they know that I am fans of theirs. I also peer buddied a few of the students so it was great to see their work up there as well! There are a lot of great shots up there and it’s one of my favourite showcases. Huge congrats to everyone who made it! Animation Mentor is one heck of a community and school and I wouldn’t be posting anything if it wasn’t for them. Love you all!

Watch it again!

~Spilly

Heya!

It’s been awhile since I have posted! I will try to stay more on top of this! Life has been crazy hectic since the last time I posted so that is my excuse. I am actually writing this before I have to run off to a party for a friend that is marrying my best friend so I will try to be as concise and short winded as I can! So let’s  begin!

Life itself has been pretty darn interesting. I had some ups and downs through the last couple months, but I think I have made a breakthrough! I realize now what I don’t need in my life and I am making changes to cut away the dead wood and rebuild. These changes have affected things positively – especially my animation! I can sit down now and enjoy my work more cause I am not doubting myself all of the time. That carries over into other parts of my life. I am channeling my inner voice more and things are taking a spin for the better! I encourage all of you reading this to do it if you haven’t done so already! I have a great animator friend that was brilliant to let me talk it all out with him and I will be eternally grateful! AVALON!

Onto the animation! The more exciting thing in my life! I had a close call with a games company in Montreal. Missed it by that much! I was super excited to be considered and thank them and my friend that referred me a ton for everything! It was a total boost to my confidence and that was priceless. I got to do a couple tests in two days and that was fantastic! I loved the challenge and realized that I tend to work better under pressure. I have to work more on instinct and don’t have the time to tear it and myself apart. Lesson learned! I also decided to compete in this month’s 11 Second Club Competition. I am trying to fit it in with everything I have to do in the last little while, but I think it should come out ok! I will be posting it in my Current Project section after I submit it. I decided to do it how I wanted to do it since it was a challenge to see if I could merge these two different ideas together. I had taken a quiz on facebook to see what 9 Old Men animator I was like and Frank Thomas was who I resemble. I am greatly honoured and have a lot to live up to. He is one of my idols. Since he did such wonderful emotional moments I want to see if I can do the same. I already gravitate towards the emotional so this became a challenge. Work this comedic thought I had with an emotional moment. I don’t know if I have pulled it off, but I am certainly still going for it!

Once I have that done, I will start on my next piece. I am doing a pantomime shot that is just a simple gag. I have done a fair bit of dialogue shots in the last while so I figure it’s long overdue. It should be fun since I want to push exaggeration in my work. I want to have it done before the Animation Mentor graduation/job fair/bbq weekend in July so I might have my work cut out for me! I have two weddings in June in which I am involved in so it’s going to be hectic! I think I have simplified it to its essence so that should help out a lot. I am excited for it cause I want to use a rig I haven’t used before. I am so excited to start on it it’s ridiculous!

Animation Mentor. I mentioned that I was going and I think I need to babble about it again. Going there was one of the best decisions I ever made. I wouldn’t be sitting here talking excitedly about animation if it hadn’t been for them. Giving me the ability to do what I love to do is something I have a loss of words for. I have met some amazing people and I have the honour to call some of them my friend. Ecstatic is the closest word I can find to describe how I feel about going back down there in July to see almost all of them again. Last bbq they had chosen me to do an interview for the Student Testimonial video that they were compiling – I just found out that I made the cut! There I am, babbling with the hands flying about! I am touched that they chose me and so many of my friends. Look  for John, Sue, Kelley, Jules, Arnie and Teresa! And my laugh even makes an appearance! Check it out!

So cool to see them and their feelings! I am so pumped for everyone and I cannot wait to work with them one day! Now I have to leave otherwise I will be late! Never stop dreaming and doing what you love to do!

May the force be with you!

~Spilly

Heya!

It has been ages since I posted! I feel bad I haven’t sat down and shared the trials and tribulations before now! I am going to be better at this! A lot has happened since Halloween – nothing really groundshaking but something none the less! So off we go!

I have been fiddling with this last piece here and there for the last couple months. I did a fair bit over Christmas and at the beginning of January. I get two weeks off work during the holidays, so it was nice to relax and settle into it for a good couple bouts. Christmas was Christmas. Nothing really exciting takes place. My family has its own little plan that works and we tend to follow it without realizing it. I cooked a good turkey and the meal was awesome. New Years I spent with friends and had a blast! French toast was so amazing the next morning – for some reason there is nothing like starting a new year with french toast! Then I knuckled down with what time I could muster to get the shot ready for my reel. I had decided on Jan 4th that I was going to attend the job fair and graduation at Animation Mentor – on Jan 16th! I had less  than two weeks to pull everything off and I think I did a fairly good job of it! The reel still needs work and I am getting around again to fixing it!

So the job fair was cool! I got to meet some friends in person for the first time there! Kelley Freeman was worried that we might suddenly despise each other when we met but of course we didn’t! I wasn’t going to tell her I was going and just suprise her – she was a graduate – but I slipped the week of. I wanted to synch some of my travel plans with people so I let it out of the bag! There were a number of studios I hadn’t talked to before so I tried to hit all that I could in the time given. There were a lot of other students there so lineups were longer for some studios. I had talked to others before so I chose not to get in line. I have had the visa talk with them so I knew I wasn’t in contention. It’s a little frustrating at times when you know that its not you that’s stopping you from getting a job but a piece of paper really. And they are limiting the number of visas again this year. I have a way around it! TN NAFTA visa for the win! I will work down there one day! In the meantime I just keep sending out reels to studios feeling the pressure of the economy. Fun times.

Graduation was tons of fun! It was my second AM graduation – the first being mine. It was interesting seeing it from the audience perspective. There were a lot of proud friends and family in the crowd with the excited graduates. The guest speaker was great! He really got everyone inspired. I unfortunately missed the first portion of it cause I was volunteering. I was walking the VIP guests from the front entrance to the theater so the ushers could seat them. The event was on a pier in San Francisco so it was a fair bit of a walk! I got my cardio in that day for sure! Then after the ceremony there was a party thrown by AM. We got to mingle with everyone and enjoy wine, cheese and other goodies. It was great to talk with so many people. There was the most amazing sunset that night. Pictures couldn’t quite capture the beauty. It was breathtaking. In that moment I didn’t want to go home. We all went for supper and then out to the after party. Time moved too fast that day. So many people to talk to and so little time. Quite a few people landed positions with companies that weekend and it was awesome to see some friends take off in their careers. The night I landed there I found out my good friend Sue Houston landed a postition with Tippett! It was super exciting! She is super talented and I know she will go far! It definitely started the trip off right and just stayed a whirlwind after that!

I returned to the Great White North. There was actually a bit of a heatwave so the temp was actually rather nice! Winter came back full force after that with cold and snow. Mom had a health scare after that which threw us all for a loop. She came around at the beginning of February which is good. MS is a hell of a disease. That pretty much knocked the wind out of me. Then a friend of mine returned to work for a week. He is working as an editior for a local company and is potientally directing at the same place. He wants to be a director so things seem to be going well. Only thing is he was sick. And being a giving fellow he passed it to me and another coworker. So I’ve spent the last two weeks being dastardly sick. The virus was delightful enough to give me insomnia and migranes, so any attempts at being creative were at a nil. I was just too worn out and I was suprised that I was. Now I think I am over it. I can breathe again through my nose which is super exciting! I have some of my stamina back so I should be hitting maya again soon! I really want to finish off my piece, polish the other shot on my reel and get started on a new one! I have decided that even if I can’t find a job I am going to keep knocking out pieces I want to do. Why not! At the very least I will enjoy them and will keep practicing. Go animation!

So that has been the last couple months. Ups, downs and a renewed love of instrumental music. I have random jazz music playing and just rambling while I wait for the sandman. I think that’s what enticed me to write this. I just needed to get it out of my system cause I have been meaning  to for awhile. I feel like I am facing a better time and place in life now. I am emerging from sickness and the rut I have been in. I have accepted a lot of things and I am ready to move on. Henry David Thoreau said it best – Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.

~Spilly

Heya!

So I am back at it! After crazyness since getting back from Siggraph I am finally settling into the groove of hammering out a new shot. It’s been quite the battle so far I tell ya! I had started it back in early summer and I got a fair ways into it. Then it suddenly corrupted. Lost everything including the backups. I was able to pin it on a bad piece of geometry I converted to be compatible with maya. It isn’t the first time that has happened to me so apparently I didn’t learn my lesson the first time. This time I won’t make the same mistakes!

I am excited to be sinking my teeth into it again! I have wanted to do this particular piece for almost 3 years now. When I originally decided to tackle this piece I discovered I was horribly unknowledged in animation to do it justice. That was part of the reason I decided to go to Animation Mentor – I needed to do this dialogue shot.  Now that I have the info under my belt and some renewed confidence I am tackling it! Got my reference filmed and rough thumbs drawn. It feels great to be back into the mess of it all! It’s gonna be a long week and weekend of smacking it into maya but that’s half the fun. I got a clear image in my head of what I want so that makes everything so much easier and faster.  I have set a somewhat crazy deadline for this but I am confident I can make it.

I don’t want to give much away about it until I have my blocking done. What I will say its an emotionally charged piece that involves a woman acting like a diva. I have to confess – I love divas. There is something about them that has always fascinated me. I know I sound lame but I don’t care lol. They have this crazy talent and that’s really all we want from them. They are alive when they are using their talent and tend to fall apart when they aren’t. Their emotions are bubbling under the surface and they have distinctive ways of moving. To me, they are pure animation potential. They are like two people in one. For the most part everything is about them. That’s what I am trying to convey in this piece. It’s gonna be a real challenge to get all that into the character but I am up for it! I want to push my facial animation to the next level. I want her to be saying something and her eyes telling us that she is only thinking about herself. All about the subtext. *gets lost in thought*

I am not sure this rant is making sense to anyone but me. Pretend you are me to get the full impact of it lol. I will end off this post with a pic of my favourite animated diva. She is more femme fatale than she is diva but is still a diva.

Jessica Rabbit was the best animated character in the movie in my opinion. She had all the mental qualities you expected from a femme fatale and a very commanding presence. When I first saw it, there came a point where I forgot she was a cartoon and believed her to be real. That fascinated me. Looking back on my work and style, I notice that my work is more like how she was animated rather than Roger. It all comes full circle.

I hope this piece ends up with a memorable performance by a memorable character. We’ll see! I will post pictures of it when I have something! Till then….ROCK ON!!

~Spilly

There are no words I can find that can sum up the experience I had at them. I don’t think there is a word invented yet to encompass it all. It was a whirlwind trip and there was so many awesome moments that it totally blew my mind. I am still recovering from it! It was so amazing I probably won’t remember to jot the majority of it down, but I will give it a go!

Flew into Oakland and met up with the animator friends I was staying with. We stayed in SF and met up with friends for drinks the night before grad. Nice to start it off with just relaxing with friends. Then grad us upon us the next day. Oh my how awesome it was! We were all fancied up and brimming with excitement! Met a lot of people I was in class with and names I saw about the campus. Everyone was great to talk to and we had lots of fun during rehearsal. Then it was show time. The AM staff did an amazing job with everything and it really had a fantastic vibe to the whole thing. Never been to a grad like that before! Lots of laughs and inspirational speeches. Glen MacIntosh did a fantastic job as the guest speaker. Totally got me inspired to dive into my work more! The student choice awards were great. Most of my closest friends took home an award which made me super happy. I even won one myself! My friend Alexiss and I won Biggest Personality for Live Q&A for our classes! It was great to win something selected by my peers. I of course became a laughing mess and set off a lot of people. I am known for my laugh now. Suprisingly I was able to be somewhat coherent at the mic for my acceptance speech. It was awesome to have people cheering for me being myself!

Alexiss and me with our awards presented by Lucy Napier!

We got to see the student showcase before they released it at Siggraph! So much awesome work in it! A couple of my friends got their work into it. I am so proud of them and the other students who were selected. A ton of work was put into their pieces and it’s fantastic to see them being rewarded in a way for their efforts. We then collected our diplomas and headed off to the grad party.

Me and Carlos with my diploma!

Lots of people to talk to! I literally walked 15 feet in the four hours I was there! Everyone kept coming up and talking, which was awesome. Got to meet some new people and just have a good time. I didn’t get to have anything to eat tho since the tables weren’t in the distance I covered lol. I gladly talked to people instead but it made people laugh. The lot of us then travelled to Boudin’s for supper. Big group of us and they were nice enough to stay open later for us to continue our good times. A few of us went to a bar to end the night. The place was packed and we had lots of fun. We even started doing the macarena to see if we could get the whole place doing it lol. Good times!

Then it was off to LA and Siggraph! Drove down with some friends and did a little sight seeing along the way. The three days of Siggraph were a blur! Sensory overload. Saw a ton of booths, caught some talks, met a load of people and walked miles. Immense fun. There was the AM party one night on the top floor of a business complex. Totally wicked! So many awesome people to talk to! Great night and good times! The AM staff did another fantastic job of planning awesome events that week. Their tribute to Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson was amazing. It was inspiring to hear people talk about them and their work. It got emotional at the end when we were watching a video of their work with clips of them talking. It’s amazing when you realize how much they affected animation as an art form and an industry. Truly amazing people.

Then to end the trip a dozen of us went to Disneyland! It was my first time there and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to go with! We had fun with shuttles getting there and then the magic happened. I revered to being a kid again and was in awe for the majority of the time. We rode pretty much everything we could fit in: the carousel, teacups, Matterhorn, Indiana Jones, Space Mountain twice, Big Thunder, haunted house and splash mountain. Totally wicked! I am becoming a coaster junky. I LOVED Space Mountain. I want to ride it for a day I swear. I laughed and cheered so hard the whole time. The fireworks and fantasmic were amazing. A friend of mine laughs cause he looked over at me and I was staring in awe with my mouth open. It was blowing my kiddy mind! It was the perfect way to end an amazing trip!

The gang at Disneyland with Walt!

I am so glad I was able to go. The times were amazing and I really got to bond with some friends. I am honoured to know them and call them friends. I can’t wait to work with them one day and watch their careers prosper! Thanks so much Shawn, Carlos and Bobby for starting AM! Thanks to the staff for continuing to make it awesome! I LOVE ANIMATORS AND ANIMATION!!

*faints*

~Spilly

Heya!

Wow! It’s been awhile since I blogged! I keep letting it slip, but from here on out I will be more diligent in posting. I promise!! A lot has happened since I last posted! Summer happened! I can’t believe how fast the last couple months went by. It seems like yesterday I was handing in my last assignment then woosh! September! Lemme summarize what happened: AM bbq, Graduation, Siggraph and work.

It’s been crazy! One trip after another and absolute fun on all of them. It was great to throw myself back into hanging with animators. They are a fantastic group of people and I don’t feel out of place with them. We have this understanding of each other and it really feels like a family. I’ll do posts about grad and siggraph in a bit to show off some pictures. For now I’ll talk about the bbq!

It was super cool! A friend of mine was awesome enough to let me stay with him again so I could finance the trips. We’ve become great friends and his girlfriend is hella rad and they are very welcoming to me. Great people. I’ll stop gushing and get onwards! AM had a job fair for alumni and current class 6 students before the open house the day before the bbq. It was so fantastic that they did that for us. Gave us a chance to mix with recruiters and possibly get hired. What we didn’t know was they showed them our work (those who were attending) so that the recruiters were prepared if they wanted to potentially interview someone. Luckily I didn’t know about that cause I was nervous enough as it was. It was my first time meeting recruiters and I was rather jittery lol. There was a lot of students/alumni that I knew there so it helped take the edge off. I talked to almost all of the companies there in the couple hours we were given. I knew the whole visa thing would be an issue for most smaller companies there so I wasn’t expecting much. I was suprised when one company was really responsive to me and the recruiter remembered my work! I was floored! He offered a reel review, which was awesome, and we had a good laugh together. I walked away feeling better about myself and my work. That’s a huge thing for me!

The open house was chaos! So many people kept coming up to me and saying hi. I knew more people this time going into it so it was great to see them in person. Laughed with the Stickam crew and the Utah crew a lot and had a fantastic time. Met a bunch of new people and some were new to the program. They found out I was a peer buddy and alumni tutor so they asked a TON of questions. I talked pretty much non stop from the beginning of the open house till we lights went down in the theater. We went to the opening of Wall-E together. The movie was amazing! The crowd was amazing! A completely amazing night! My ride back to my friend’s place was cool cause his friends (who were about to start the program) asked me another load of questions. We had a great conversation and I noticed it seemed to take longer to get there lol. Didn’t bother me cause I love chatting. My throat was so raspy the next morning! But I pulled it together for the bbq!

The bbq was fantastic! It was full of great people and great times! It was overcast and somewhat windy, but it was a great temp for me. I am used to cooler climate compared to SF Bay area so I was finally cooled off. Other people would say it was cold lol. I got to meet new and familiar faces and really just have a good time. It was nice to be recognized as well and just talk shop. And talk we did. I talked the whole day and laughed till my sides hurt. So many awesome people and so little time. Walked away with some great friends that I was sad to say goodbye to lol.

The AM Gang!

The rest of the time I was there I was shown the sights by my friend and his girlfriend. There was a cool exhibit by a Blue Sky story artist at a museum. It had the storyboards he worked on for Horton. Rather cool to see them in person. I am fascinated by artists and how they work. We also went to the boardwalk at Santa Cruz. I rode my first coaster there! His girlfriend and I rode the wooden coaster. It was interesting. The bouncing and feeling like you were riding a toothpick took a bit to get used to. After the first couple turns I let go and enjoyed myself. She might turn me into a coaster junky like herself yet!

The coaster I rode on the Boardwalk!

I came back super excited and super tired! I was all fired up to get working on new shots and planning my changes to my short film. I had to work a bunch of overtime at work to cover my trip to grad/siggraph and make monies so it basically ate most of my free time up. But the trip to come was fantastic! I will write about it in another post!

Good to be back in action! Stay tuned and keep rocking!

~Spilly