A Revamp is Coming | Simpleology

Hey Gang-

Been forever since I posted, I know. Look for a revamp of this blog (perhaps even a new blog address) coming in the next couple of months.

In the meantime, I've been doing a lot in 2009 for self growth and development. One of those things (and you'll see some of the books, etc. posted soon too) is Simple-ology. I've been "taking" their free course, Simple-ology 101. It's not rocket science, but it's simple, quick and it forces you to organize your activities to achieve what you most desire in life (one of those for me is a job in animated feature films).

Anyway, they now have a new blog course that I'm gonna check out and thought I'd pass along the info. I'll review it later as I haven't used it yet and have to post info here in order to take it free. So, it's a shameless plug for a product I'm not sure works, but if it's like the 101 course then it's bound to offer up something useful and rewarding.

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

Cool Post About Workflow

Michele Meeker gave us this link during our Saturday QA. This is a goldmine for workflow in CG!

[click pic for link]

Exceeded Bandwidth for AM Reel

Well..looks like I exceeded my bandwidth limit and so my reel will be down until April 19. Please check back then. See, I made an awesome welcome video for the new CLass 1 folks and left it on all their pages. Well that killed my bandwidth limit. Ouch!

First QA of Term 2 | Peer Buddy

our mentor, Pete Paquette, in his treehouse office

We had our first QA with Pete last night and it was AWESOME. The first QA is generally just an introduction of everyone in the class. Looks like I'm amongst some great company of students from various backgrounds. While Pete is pretty down to earth, he informed us he'll be quite the task master [could it be is former stint in The Marines????], but will learn a ton about animation through that "tough love"!

In other news, I'll also be helping out Term 1 students in the official capacity of an Animation Mentor PEER BUDDY. As a peer buddy, I'm responsible for providing feedback and encouragement to seven students assigned to me as well as keeping the community of AM alive and kicking with all students. This is both a great way to give back to the school along with making sure I really cemented what I learned last term.

My New Mentor

We started season 2 at Animation Mentor this week and I've got a brand spanking new mentor for this term. His name is Pete Paquette and he's an animator at Blue Sky studios. He's worked on such films as "Robots", "Ice Age The Meltdown" and the new "Horton Hears A Who".

We've got our first QA with him this evening. I'll let you know how it goes!!

3D Modeler: Arran Skinner

Wanted to give a shout out to my pal Arran Skinner and his mad modeling skills. Arran and I studied finer arts together at the New York Academy of Art. Arran is learning 3D modeling and is off to a fantastic start. He was kind enough to model some boxing gloves for me to use in my exhaustion pose assignment at Animation Mentor. The gloves look AWESOME and def enhanced the final still!

Arran now has a blog chronicling his journey. You can find him here:

arran3d.blogspot.com

Class 112: End of Term 1

So we wrapped up Term 1: Basic Foundations this week. After three months of 80 hour weeks I am trying to get away from animation for the week, but alas...I have been doing some revisions and putting together my progress reel. Next three days...no animating!!! Need to recharge the batteries! We start Term 2: Body Mechanics on Monday.

Huge thanks to my mentor, Victor Navone, this term. He was instrumental in helping me to gain a better eye and sharpen my skills in this art form. Plus, he's just dang fun to have as a mentor and knows his stuff inside and out! An inspiration!

Also, a big thanks to Stephen Gregory. I was able to hit the ground running at AM because of him. I still owe him a drink too!

And of course, the biggest thanks of all to my wife. I could not have endured without her massive love, heaps of encouragement and bottomless patience...THANK YOU LOVE!

And now, for the work: