November 17, 2003 - "Semester in Full Stride"

I feel like such a slacker because I haven't written an entry in ages. My excuse is that there really hasn't been anything new happening around campus. Everything is routine now except that the workload is stacking up.
It's 2 a.m and I just came back from my cube after animated for about 10-12 hours straight. I still haven't finished my friggin animation! On top of that, I have a 3 page paper due for European Studies (bleh) in a couple days. Color and Design homework needs to be done, too. The most important thing that I have to do start focusing on is my film. Fortunately, I'm about 90 percent done with the writing phase, whew. I have to begin storyboarding soon because our animatics are due before the semester is finished (Dec. 12). Once I finish the first pass through storyboards, I'll take it to Mike Disa and Dan Hansen for help. In animation class the other day, Mike Disa took a second year student's storyboards and tore them apart in front of us. I learned a lot by just watching them. Dan is DA MAN when it comes to layout/ composition. My roomate, Joel, took his storyboards to Dan Hansen and after he was through with that, his layouts were awesome!
We have some really great teachers here but the trick is to ask for help all the time because they won't bother with someone who doesn't show the desire to learn. That's my observation. So yea, I try to be as annoying as possible.

Here's another quick overview of the semester so far.

Perspective - I like the approach that Dan has to perspective. A lot of the stuff he covered is pretty basic but I learned a lot of shortcuts which is nice.

Computer Intro - I just finished a huge project for this class that set me back big time but it was really helpful because I learned how to use premiere a bit better but most importantly, I learned how to black my tape and use the patch bay.

Color and Design - I just asked the teacher to make more room for lectures instead of spending so much time on looking through the homework. The lectures are really interesting. Sometimes they get sidetracked into other conversations but they're all related in some way or another. I'd like to spend more time on that instead of rushing through them.
Mike Disa devoted one of his classes to composition and design this past week. It was AMAZING. I never knew that there was so much to design. I plan on reading a few books on composition/design this summer so I can catch up. Right now, I can't compose a picture if my life depended on it. Disa recommended a book by Don Graham (former teacher at Calarts) called "Composing Pictures".....I think. Anyhow, if you can get a hold of the book, get it! It's the friggin design bible.

Animation 1 - This class gets better and better. What am I gonna do once it's over??

European Studies - Um....this is a critical studies class. All I have to say is, GET YOUR GEN EDS DONE BEFORE YOU GET HERE! I like my teacher, but the class just gets in the way.

Story Development - This is a really cool class too. We've done several story boards this year which was great. I like the clips he shows us, too. The only thing that sucks is that he won't be around till after Thanksgiving. Carlos has a pilot that he's putting together and is overseeing the animation in Korea for the next couple of weeks.

Figure Drawing - I'm actually doing a lot better in this class. At first, I was really confused because I didn't know what the teacher wanted me to draw like. So, I decided to draw the way that I draw. I think that's the key. They encourage you to find your own style. Also, Mike's class puts a focus on composition and design.
I picked up a book called "The Natural Way to Draw" and read the first chapter. It covered gesture drawing and blind contour drawing. The contours improved my observation skills a lot.
When I looked through the book for the first time it was as if the gates of heaven had opened up. I thought, "wow, those almost look like Cornie's drawings!" I'm finally beginning to understand the logic behind "expressive/Calartsy" figure drawing.

Story for Animators - This class is turning out to be everything that I wanted it to be and more. Before the semester began, I didn't know ANYTHING about story. I feel like I have a pretty solid foundation now. Chris gave me really good advice on where to go with my story ideas. Writing was frustrating sometimes but it was well worth it. I'm definitely taking Story for Animators 2 next year.

Animation Principles - I'm not a big fan of this class. I guess the "industry gossip" part is kind of entertaining but come on, Friday night?? I talked to my teacher about my story and she did give me some helpful suggestions though. Once in a while, a guest speaker visits on Friday nights. Those are always AWESOME.



Dave Pruiksma is coming in on Tuesday for a lecture. I'll post up notes from that.

Oh, and I caught the Bears game on T.V today. I was surprised that they showed St. Louis and Chi-town in Cali. Bearce lost (sigh).



Nov - 26: "Storyboards"

I worked on my film storyboards the entire week and finally came up with something decent. I did the boards over about three times after getting some critique from other students and faculty but the work has only begun at this point. I took my boards and written out story to Amy Danger, my color and design teacher, and was blown away by her awesome critique! She didn't even bother to look at my boards because I had major story problems in the first place. I wasted all that friggin time on boards!
Overall, the story is cute. It's about a bear who prepares to hibernate but can't go to sleep until he finds his teddy bear that is lost. The big problem with the story is that it's too cliche. Damn. I'm kinda disappointed but I can't expect myself to come up with a good story that easy. It's a lot of hard work and it's really easy to be satisfied with what I have. But hell, I'm not here to be mediocre so I'm taking Amy's advice and I'll try to come up with something more interesting through research. That's the best way to battle cliches in stories I suppose. Just do some open minded research and let it inspire you. It's so frustrating though.
We were assigned our final animation assignment of the semester yesterday. It's called the "Gumball Test". Basically, we have to have our character interact with a gumball machine. It focuses on acting, posing and silhouette. It's a good opportunity to work on our weaknesses before we start our films. I really want to push my poses and silhouettes in this one. Alot of my actions aren't very clear because I'm weak in those aspects.
Oh, and I'm heading down to LAX in an hour to visit my family and friends in Chicago for Thanksgiving. I'll be at the airport all night so I'll have time to work on my story. This holiday will be a nice break.


Dec 2 - "Thanksgiving break"

On Wednesday night, I went down to LAX to catch a flight to Chicago. I left Calarts at about 9 pm and ended up in LAX at about 10:30ish. The worst thing about my departing flight was that it departed at 6:30 a.m! I had to sit around LAX for a few hours so I decided to work on my story more. It was pretty frustrating but it was time well spent in the end. I finally figured out a better direction for my story.
I arrived in Chicago at about noon. My bro picked me up from O'hare and we went home to a pretty big Thanksgiving party. It was pretty weird being back home. Everything was just as I remember it but not as messy. That changed after a couple days though.
After the dinner, my bro and I went clubbing and had a great time. The next day, I hung out with some of my ol' grade school buddies. Chris (Douvalas), Alex and Sylvester. We went to a club/bar and drank a few beers. I was prety typsy by the end of the night. Saturday was fun too. We went to another bar/club. It was great to be back in Chicago but I definitely didn't enjoy the weather too much. It was like 20 degrees! One of the highlights of the weekend was sitting home watching the Bears game on Sunday.
I flew back on Sunday night and was on campus at about 1 a.m. It's strange to be watching the Bears game in Chicago in the afternoon and a few hours later be 3000 miles away. The world seems so much smaller to me now.
On Tuesday, I took my story to Amy Danger again for critique and she actually liked it! The story was a major improvement from the last version. The only thing that I have to improve is the ending. I'll have to work on that after I finish my other assignments. This is going to be a crazy week because I have a huge animation assignment (about 600-700 frames) along with a boat load of Color and Design homework. On top of that, I have to write a paper for European Studies and then finish my story boards for the film. It'll be pretty intense these last two weeks but I can't wait till I finish the work and go back to Chicago for winter break! It'll give me some time to relax and prepare for the second semester which will be devoted to animating my film.



Dec 4 - Semester Progress

I had an amazing day at life drawing which made me think about how much I've improved this semester. All of the sudden my observation skills have gotten noticably better. I don't understand how it could have happened so fast but things are just clicking. Don't get me wrong, I still have tons of room for improvement but I'm just really excited about how fast everything is happening. I posted up some new drawings in the drawing gallery. Check them out.
On top of the life drawing, I'm excited about how much I've learned about animation, design, story and basic filmmaking. My friends told me that this semester would be "animation bootcamp". They were right. I've never learned so much in three months before. This whole college experience has been great so far. I dont' think anyone in the world should pass up the opportunity to go to college no matter what the field of study is.



Dec 11, 2003 - Christmas Party/ last day of class

Today marks the end of a GREAT 1st semester at Calarts. I had my life drawing class in the morning. It ended a bit early so a bunch of us animators went out to play an exhausting game of football.  Yes, animators can play football. It was actually a really good game. We have some pretty athletic animators here at Calarts! The game was a blast and we plan on playing once a week from now on just to get our blood going a bit.
At 6:30, the character animation department prepared a Christmas party for us. We had a "Secret Santa" thing going this year that I participated in. I bought a present for my partner but my secret santa ripped me off! I didn't get anything. You know who your are! grrr....
Mike Disa refused to cancel class for the Christmas party today. I thought that was hilarious. It's OK with me because I'd ditch any party in the world for his class.
The class started 30 minutes after the party did so we had time to fill our faces with junk food. Disa began with a pretty intense lecture about being an artist. You're either an artist, or you're somone pretending to be an artist. The only person that really knows the truth is the YOU! Deep down inside, everyone knows the truth about themselves whether they're blowing things off or if they're genuinly putting in the effort necessary to become an artist. I think that the animation art form is struggling because there aren't enough real artists out there. bah.
So how does one become an artist? According to Disa, the artist must have a philosophy of some sort..just have SOMETHING to say that is important to him/her. It doesn't have to be dramatic....it could be funny, too. It could be something stupid but it has to mean something to the artist. Disa told us to sit down quietly and think about what is important to us. He wants us to decide what we want to say as artists. Animation isn't just some stupid craft where you make a funny character walk across the screen. It's film-making! It's an Art!...and we should all respect it. We're at a REAL art school and it's time to get our crap together. It's time to make a FILM next semester! Disa said that if we work our asses off and follow what he tells us to do, we'll be stunned at what we pull off at the end of the year. He said that's our present from him, lol. I'm pretty freakin' excited about next semester! There's a whole bunch of other things he said about being an artist but it's too much to remember. You just have to be extremely dedicated and passionate about what you're doing. In general, I think that's what an artist needs.
Our homework for the break is to read one GOOD fiction/non-fiction book, watch a live play or some performance like that (not concerts though), and watch two movies by either Hitchcock, Keaton, Huston, Wilder or Ford and draw out compositions from a couple of sequences from the films. That'll help us to get familiar with better film-making. It's all about filmmaking from now on.
I HIGHLY encourage any aspiring animator to watch movies by these guys. Stop watching the Hollywood crap out there right now and start watching these great films. I'm way behind but I'm pretty determined to catch up on these movies. I wish someone told me this before I started here! Watch good movies! Animation is film-making! Learn from the masters.
I'm going back home to Chicago for Christmas in another day. I'm pretty excited about that but I find that I'm sooooo unproductive at home because of all the distractions. You know, football, ESPN Sportscenter, college football, Monday Night Football and other junk on TV. I have a ton of stuff to do over break. On top of the animation homework I need to finish my storyboards for my film. ahhhhhhh.....anyways, I'll finish it all I'm sure.
I'm excited about hanging out with my family and buddies back home. I plan to PARTY like a motha.....on the weekends. I need to get that out of my system before I start the FILM next semester!
On an ending note, I've accomplished a lot this semester. I feel like I'm headed in the right direction but I've only chipped the tip of the iceburg as far as what I need to learn goes. Ok, enough writing. Merry Christmas to all and have a Happy New Year! I'll continue on with this journal next semester. See ya next year in 2004!....jeez, time flies!