Mickey Sketches

I started doing some practice sketches this week. Trying to learn the shapes and lines of a couple of characters so that I can improve my drawing skill, and thus my animation. You'll probably get to see lots of these in the coming weeks. =)

Anthony Rizzo has been giving me some super good tips on how I can improve. Check out his blog if you have some time. There is some really nice stuff there.

"There is no remedy for love but to love more."

A rose for the girl I love. Thank you for everything, I'd never be where I am now without you and I owe you so much more than I could ever hope to repay in a lifetime. You have my eternal gratitude, as well as all the love I could ever give.

An Epic Day, Feature Animation!

Today was an ultimately epic day: my very first day animating on a feature film. It's heart-pounding to think only a year ago I was learning how to animate a bouncing ball, now I'm working on a feature. I'm still not quite sure how that happened...if I figure it out I'll post the algorithm straight away.

I've always believed that hard work will get you where you're going. Perhaps that's why I enjoy Rock Lee so much from Naruto. His character is based of the premise that he was born unable to perform at the same level as his peers, but becomes a "Genius of hard work" and proves to everyone that he can still be an awesome ninja even with his terrible handicap. I don't necessarily believe I was "born" unable to animate, or unable to do anything for that matter, but it's certainly been a long and bumpy road trying to get here from little old Brewster. I've gotten A LOT of help from A LOT of GREAT people of whom I'll be forever thankful for, it's because of those people that I was able to work so hard and persevere to get to this point.

Generally speaking I'm not a very confident guy, it takes a lot for me to except or admit that I can do something well. This is one of those rare times where I can sit back, relax for a minute, take a deep breath, and be proud of myself.

This is only the beginning!

Last Drop Falls

When I'm looking in your eyes,
Everything seems to fade away.
After all these years we had do I know you now?
Have I trusted blindly in your love, too many times..

God damn it I love this band, they have taken over my soul.

Pyrats!

I stumbled upon pretty much the most awesome animation I've ever seen this morning. It was made at Gobelins (what a surprise...those guys never put out anything that isn't pure awesome), and features some pirates doing what pirates do best.

http://www.pyrats.net/watch-movie.html

Ricardo Curtis and Class 5

I had my first QnA tonight with my new mentor Ricardo Curtis. He's basically worked everywhere under the sun (Warner Bros., Pixar, Blue Sky, Dreamworks, to name a few) and is going to attempt to bestow upon my fellow classmates and I the glorious art of creating a story. I'm super stoked to learn how it works and get my short film under way.

Ricardo's IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0193484/

Beginning Class 5 At Animation Mentor

Starting January 7th I'll be starting the next class over at www.AnimationMentor.com and starting work on my first short film! I've got quite a few ideas so I have to wait a few weeks to figure out exactly what I'll be working on, but rest assured it will be awesome. =)

Christmas and New Years were a blast. My girlfriend Emily and I traveled across the United States to the east coast of Massachusetts to visit my home town of Brewster and my family. We ate lots of great food, saw lots of good friends, and had a damn good time. We also got to visit my friend Rich Fournier who is an animator over at Turbine Studios. They are known for the LOTRO MMO, Dungeons & Dragons Online, and the Asheron's Call series. It was a pretty rad opportunity, thanks to Rich!

We also got some great gifts, one of which is the final installment of the best movie series ever, POTC! It's on now, so I've gotta get back to it. Have a good week everyone!