Week II Completed

I just submitted my “first actual assignment” for Animation Mentor and I feel ok about it.

I briefly explained the assignment in the post prior to this one, but we were given instructions to go to a public place to observe & sketch human actions, then to re-create our favorite pose with STU, in Maya. 

 The posing assignments are meant to teach us how to effectively bring life to a motionless T-posed character, with an emphasis on pushing the line of action and making sure the character is balanced.

We will have to do this several times during the quarter to strengthen our observation and posing skills, which will help us immensely later down the road.

My Thursday Q&A with my mentor, Bryan Engram, and classmates was very insightful and I felt like a sponge soaking up all the knowledge being fed to me.  We talked a lot about what makes and breaks a particular pose, and Bryan used several examples from various films, such as Cats Don’t Dance, Ice Age, and Tarzan. I learned a lot just in those 2 hours about posing. I never really got an in depth breakdown on posing until this week, which says a lot, since I’ve been at another university studying the same material for 3 years.

 I will probably start the next assignment later today and post updates Tuesday! 

But until then, Happy Easter

-TJ

AM Weeks 1&2

Soooooooo, it’s been a while since I updated this blog! 

First things first! 

Classes have officially started and I love it already.

The first week was mainly introducing ourselves to each other and meeting our professor. We also had to watch an introduction video that was really inspiring and had me wanting to animate the night away. The video featured animators in the industry sharing why they got into animation and how they got to where they are now. It hit me that these people were struggling students just as I am now, but they persevered through all of it and followed their dreams.

Right now, I’m doing everything possible to make my dreams come true and can’t wait to look back and share my story! But that is why I have this blog.

It’s Week 2 of Classes and I’ve already started on my homework, like a good boy haha. For homework, we have to go out in a public place and do some sketches of human actions and then re-create the best-drawn pose in Maya, with one of AM’s rigs, STU.

So far, I have around three pages of poses I drew today in Midtown Atlanta. 

I will eventually post them tomorrow or sometime this week, along with the completed pose in Maya!

But for now, goodnight, and may the odds be ever in your favor. (I said all of this in a British accent.)

...and so it begins

The past few days have been incredibly eye opening and inspiring. Of course it has come with a lot of stress and empty honey bun wrappers, but I know this is the path for me. 

I've been getting a lot of questions about Animation Mentor from friends, and honestly I could write a whole blog entry dedicated to explaining more about the school, but I found a video that can do a better job explaining than I can...

 

Animation Mentor is a 18-month program that focuses in teaching advanced studies in character animation, thoroughly preparing you for the industry, mainly because you are being taught by the industry. In those 18 months, you take 6 classes that last for 12 weeks:

Basic Foundations
Pychology of Body Mechanics
Advanced Body Mechanics
Introduction to Acting
Advanced Acting
Polishing & Portfolio

 I will be starting Class One, Basic Foundations, in a couple of weeks, and even though I've already learned the basics of animation, from SCAD, I'm excited to learn it all over again from people in the industry.

I recently started orientation for AM. Orientation runs for approx. 3 weeks, until the first day of classes, March 26th. It's a pretty straightforward schedule. We were given access to the student handbook, a free copy of Maya, along with special AM tools that help produce better and technically sound animation. In addition, we are expected to go through these next 3 weeks watching orientation videos that explain different aspects of Animation Mentor and how our learning experience is going to go.

I'll try to update my blog every week, and when classes start I'll update you on progress with my animation. Eventually, I'll start to post sketches from my sketchbook as well. But for now, I'm going back to sleep. 

In the meantime, enjoy this Animation Mentor video showcasing student work from last year!

New Beginnings

Sooooo, today marks the day that I have withdrawn from SCAD - The University for Creative Careers.

Some people may be wondering why I fell out of love with SCAD, or wondering why I didn't just ride the SCAD train out till the end. Some people even may call me stupid and may even tell me that I won't be successful now (LOL).

This blog post wasn't meant to bash SCAD, the professors, or students. I have learned so much from countless professors and students and will never take my education there for granted. I am taking my education to a new level and I will not settle for less. I have set a high bar for myself and I am determined to reach my goals. 

This blog post was not to receive pity. I didn't write this for other people to share their stories/opinions about SCAD and how I should've stayed. I didn't write this for support/lack of. Hell, I could care less. This is about finding whats right for me, and me only. 

Well let me tell you about my SCAD story and how it turned upside-down...

I've been at SCAD for 3 years, and have been to 3 out of the 4 campuses searching for my happiness.
I left the Atlanta campus at the end of Spring 2011 because I felt so unprepared as an aspiring animator and ultimately had little to show in my portfolio.
I have always put my best effort into my work and was always a "A/B student." However, I was so upset with the level of teaching that I had received as an animation student and I can recall the day that I knew I would end up leaving SCAD Atlanta.
I had been struggling with an animation assignment and I brought it in for my professor to look at to hopefully clear up some issues. "This is going to take forever for me to explain," said my professor, as he walked away from my computer. I couldn't even begin to process what had happened that day. Was I paying over $20,000 a year for my professor to basically tell me that he had no time or energy to teach me?

From that day on, I noticed more and more of my happiness and patience fading with my major at SCAD. I felt like professors were just giving me assignments without teaching me. After they graded them and briefly critiqued my assignments, that would be the last I received "help" with the assignment.

Maybe my expectations were too high
Maybe I was overreacting
Maybe I should just wait and see if things will change
Maybe it was just me

On to SCAD Savannah...

Two quarters down at the Savannah campus, and I was feeling worse than ever. I felt overwhelmingly behind at this point. Was the curriculum so different in Atlanta from Savannah that I felt so behind...
Im actually happy to say a few professors went as far as giving me advice and doing their best to get me back up to speed in my major.
I'm not ashamed to say that "it was me" in this case. I just needed to be caught up, and I wasn't getting that from SCAD.


New Beginnings, and a new school
Animation Mentor
Im SO happy with my decision to apply to Animation Mentor, and I recently received my acceptance letter. If you don't know much about Animation Mentor, it is becoming one of the best schools for Animation in the country. It was founded by Bobby Beck, a former Pixar animator and now CEO of the school, Shawn Kelly, a Senior Animator at ILM, and Carlos Baena, animator at Pixar.
These three friends founded AM because they were frustrated with the quality of animation that applicants were sending in. Instead of just tossing demo reels to the side and moving on with their lives, they created a school. They brought in their friends from the animation industry to become mentors (professors) to the students. It's amazing because your professor could be one of the animators at Pixar, DreamWorks, Rhythm and Hues, ILM, etc... teaching you industry standard knowledge of animation.
You are learning from the best. I'm amazed at the quality of work and teachings that Animation Mentor has produced, and excited to start my journey with them.

Support or not, I'm finally happy again

Thank you for taking time out of your day to read this.
-TJ
Aspiring Animator
Animation Mentor Student