October, 2003

October 3 - "Glenn Vilppu visit"


Mike Disa (Animation 1 teacher) brought in Glenn Vilppu to talk about drawing. Vilppu is a really famous figure drawing teacher who travels the world to lecture on figure drawing and anatomy. Since Disa knows Vilppu personally, we were lucky enough to have him lecture us on how to think about life drawing and the applications of life drawing in animation.
Before class started, I showed Vilppu some of my life drawings. Of course, my life drawings suck big time so there wasn't much to say......or maybe too much to say and he couldn't fit it all in before class! bah. Either way, I learned alot about figure drawing from the lecture and I now look at my drawings with complete disgust. Which is good of course. I have to keep this entry short because of an overwhelming urge to draw nonstop for the rest of night. Ok, not all night. Maybe till 2 or 3. I'll put together a short list of notes that I compiled from the lecture in the tutorials section shortly. You can check out all the little visiting artist notes that I'll put up in the tutorials section. Just click on the artist you'd like to see.

The subject of figure drawing is pretty interesting at Calarts. After this lecture, I found out how much of a debate it really is. I updated my Calarts portfolio resource and mentioned some things about this issue. If you're planning on applying to Calarts, read my Calarts Portfolio Resource. When I applied the first time, I made the mistake of limiting myself to a very stiff classical style. You need to learn what guys like Vilppu teach but at the same time, you must be expressive and experimental.









October 8 - " The Orange Cube"

Wow, that's a really bright orange but according to my color and design teacher, Mrs. Danger, the color will help me study better! I'll put that to the test this year. I'll admit that the orange feels a lot better than the white. The cube used to feel so empty and uncomfortable....if that makes any sense. I plan on decorating it with some more model sheets and pictures of my friends & family from Chicago. Oh, and as you can notice, the orange goes really well with my Chicago Cubs and Bears posters!





October 10 - "The Wine Party"

There was supposed to be an art gallery opening tonight but I guess they rescheduled it because of some other gallery opening at UCLA. Supposedly, the opening happens every week and they're a BIG deal. Free food, beer and a perfect time to mingle with students in other programs. They moved it to Friday but they didn't tell anyone until late night! A bunch of animators were ready to paaaaaarrrty! Sergio took the matter into his own hands and brought out four bottles of wine for us! That was a fun time and it was cool to hang out with some of the other upperclassmen that I haven't met yet. We talked about the program a lot and they told me about their experiences as freshmen. Most of them LOVED freshman year because they learned so much. A lot of students keep raving about Mike Disa's animation class.
According to some students, second year seems a bit different because the program kinda lets go of you a little bit. I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing but self motivation needs to be cranked up a few notches more. I think by senior year, you're pretty much expected to get things done on your own. Of course the teachers and students will be there for help but nobody will be holding your hand. Kinda like the real world, right?

Here are a couple pictures from our very extravagant party. Good ol' Sergio looks pretty happy with that wine glass in his hand, eh? I'm the slick dude in the second picture wearing a white t-shirt and jeans......and sandals with socks on. I'm setting a trend.

The pictures kind of suck but they're something, right?




October 14, 2003 - "Mid semester class reviews"


I've been at this school for over a month and I feel that I have a pretty good feel for the classes, so it's time for me to reflect some of my honest opinions on them.

Computer Intro - The class can be helpful for someone that has virtually no experience with computers. Unfortunately, I'm not learning a whole lot because I know my way around computers pretty well. Although, I wasn't really familiar with the Mac platform so learning it was pretty nice. Hopefully, the class will become a bit more intense in the next part of the semester.

Perspective - Dan Hansen is a brilliant artist whose work can be seen on some of the most famous Disney works but his perspective class is pretty basic as well. I guess it's good to go over the basics of perspective once more just to get it cemented in your brain but I feel like the class is a bit slow paced.

Color and Design - Leo Hobaica is the color and design teacher but he left for a vacation or something this semester so we have a substitute, Amy Danger. So far, I can't say that I've learned too much from the class. I feel that I've improved my ability to see value differences a little bit and also learned some terminology that will be useful in the future but for the most part, this class is moving kind of slow too. The projects take FOREVER to complete. They're fun and pretty creative ideas, but sometimes I feel like getting right to the goods. I'd like to have more time for lecture instead of spending so much time looking through our homework. I think the class will pick up soon though. At least I hope so, because there is a lot to learn in the field of color and design.

Animation 1 - Now we're talkin! I really feel like I'm getting my money's worth from this class. Mike Disa is by far the best teacher I've ever had in my life. His lectures are clear and entertaining, too. I feel like I have a really good grasp of the concepts that he's covered so far. I love this class. It's definitely my favorite.


European Studies - This is a "critical studies" class. Uh....yea. The lectures are pretty random and kind of confusing. Sometimes I think I'm dumb because I don't understand what the teacher is talking about but I have a feeling that I'm not the only one who feels that way.

Story Development - This is my second favorite class. Carlos Ramos is awesome at breaking down a storyboard and giving honest critique. I've learned a lot about boarding so far. I like the fact that we do a storyboard EVERY WEEK and then critique the heck out of them. That's the best way to learn in my opinion. Also, I like how he brings in little animated shorts every week and then talks about the story. It helps me think of different ways of approaching my film.


Life Drawing - This is an interesting class. It's definitely not the type of life drawing class that I'm used to but I'm open - minded. It's looser and the teacher doesn't seem to care if the drawing is representational or not. Some people just seem to scribble really expressive drawings which is cool and all, but I'm a bit confused sometimes as to how this will help us learn figure drawing. According to Mike, this is figure drawing for film, so we have to focus on composition and making an interesting drawing. Personally, I think an anatomy class wouldn't hurt at all just to make sure we develop the foundation knowledge of the figure. Anatomy and realistic figure drawing is something I'll do on my own time. I wrote more about the life drawing issue in my Calarts Portfolio Resource.

Story for Animators - We're reading a book called "Story" by Robert McKee which has been really great. I've learned a lot from it already and I recommend it to everyone. The class is about 2 hours long and we just discuss what we read in the book. Also, we write short stories every week which is helpful.

Animation Principles - Out of the 5 weeks, 3 of the classes were taken up by Mike Nguyen's artist lecture (which was fantastic). The other two classes were spent on viewing all sorts of animated shorts and general discussion about animation and the industry. I don't think I've learned much yet but we've only had two class so hopefully it'll turn around in the coming weeks. I want this class to get better.


Ah! I feel good for letting this review out. So far, some of the classes are excellent and some aren't. I hope that all of the classes will become excellent in time. The best part of the Calarts experience is the environment that I'm surrounded by. I'm always determined to work on SOMETHING which is good. I've never been more motivated to draw in my life.
Also, I think that collaboration with the other students is another strong point of this school. Whenever I come up with an idea, I talk to some of my buddies and everyone gives me new and better ideas to play with. I think these friendships are critical for the rest of my life since they'll be my contacts in the industry. That's one of the best things you get out of this school.
There are many great resources for us here at Calarts but they're not spoon fed to anyone. You MUST be completely dedicated and have a passion to learn if you want a good experience here. In all, I feel like I've grown a lot as an artist. For some reason, I feel like I can draw things that I couldn't draw before! I guess that's what happens when you fill up 2 sketchbooks in a month! I'm not saying that 2 sketchbooks is a lot but it is for me.



Oct. 20 - San Diego trip

First off, I'd like to mention that I had a crapload of fun in Life Drawing class the other day. Instead of drawing the models, we drew each other's caricatures. It was soooo fun! Oh, and I actually have some of my caricatures posted in the animation hallway! Check out the gallery I just uploaded.


I went down to Sand Diego on Saturday and part of Sunday for a little break. I've been on campus for a month and a half and I figured if I didn't get some sort of break, I'd go a little crazy. Originally four people were supposed to go with us but Demitri and this other girl got sick so, Sergio and I went down there without them. We visited a couple of really cool places including Balboa Park, Old town and the Gas Lamp District at night. The Gas Lamp is a really famous party place in San Diego but it didn't turn out too well for us because it took 2 hours to find parking!

I found that San Diego is a lot prettier than Los Angeles because there are more palm trees (I'm still fascinated by them) and it looks cleaner overall. I think that everyone has a stereotype of how California is like when they live in Chicago (like me). Los Angeles was kind of disappointing because it didn't match with the stereotype that I had in my mind. San Diego on the other hand is more like the "California" that I envisioned. I'm not putting down L.A because it's also really nice but San Diego is a paradise. I guess that's why parking is a pain. Everyone wants to live there!


included a couple sketches that were done in San Diego. The top one is from Balboa park. I thought that the tower looked pretty cool. The fountain was drawn at a restaurant in Old Town.
















October 22 - "Brother Bear Premier"

Everything about this premier was awesome! ...except for the movie. Bah! Even though I didn't really like the movie too much it seemed like a lot of other people thought it was great. I hope it kicks ass in the box office because the animation industry could use something good right about now. Anyhow, the premiere was held at the El Capitan theater in Hollywood California. It was right across from the Kodak Theater which is the home for the Academy Awards. I LOVED the El Capitan. It was one of those really classic theaters that I've never seen before. The best part of it was the organist who played a bunch of classic Disney tunes as everyone took their seats. After he was done, there was a cool dance performance that included a bunch of costumed Disney characters. I thought it was pretty funny. After the performance, we watched "Brother Bear". Afterwards, we were treated to dinner at the Roosevelt hotel. I have some pretty cool pictures but the only thing that sucks about taking pictures is the fact that you're not in them! So I improvised and superimposed myself in a couple of them. Let's play "Where's Waldo"....uh...except this game is called "Where's Mario?" I'm only in two of them.