For some reasons that are probably too numerous and boring to list, I am just utterly exhausted! It's summer! Shouldn't I be like... yeah, nvm- I have no energy for that sentence...
I got a second job today. Starting Monday, I will be working the hours I am normally in school.... Interesting. 14 hours of work. But I need the money so badly!
School starts in two months... UGH! GET HERE FASTER SEPTEMBER!
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
From the mind of Amanda, the "Mucus Machine"
After some serious consideration (and possibly due to my illness and the related craziness?), I have come to the conclusion that I need to do a complete overhaul of my film. I have to simplify it and bring it back down to where it is easily understood. I have been getting NUMEROUS notes from all over that it is not clear. I am not exactly happy about it, but I think it is for the best.
Meanwhile, my illness (a viral infection of my sinus cavity) is raging. I have moved into my dorm room for the recovery period. And I am SO NOT HAPPY about it! I want to work!!! I also missed my SECOND opportunity to go to the LA Zoo, only this time it included Deborah Ross!- one of America's leading wildlife artists.... I cried already. That also might be in part related to being sick. Nevertheless, I am miffed about missing it! But I know deep down that I would have only suffered had I gone. As it is, I am beyond thrilled that I got to see Ralph Eggleston in the Palace last night. <3 The suffering was worth it. I even sat in the front row. Since I have so much free time now, I will download those photos and post them today.
In other news... I am tired. School will be interesting this week as I cannot do homework. Also, I feel SO behind on my film now! As of this moment, I have not animated a single frame yet. But hear me now- I WILL finish this film!
Also- guess what my doc called the cough syrup he put me on! "A heavy narcotic!" BWA-HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
Off to feel better. Later!
Meanwhile, my illness (a viral infection of my sinus cavity) is raging. I have moved into my dorm room for the recovery period. And I am SO NOT HAPPY about it! I want to work!!! I also missed my SECOND opportunity to go to the LA Zoo, only this time it included Deborah Ross!- one of America's leading wildlife artists.... I cried already. That also might be in part related to being sick. Nevertheless, I am miffed about missing it! But I know deep down that I would have only suffered had I gone. As it is, I am beyond thrilled that I got to see Ralph Eggleston in the Palace last night. <3 The suffering was worth it. I even sat in the front row. Since I have so much free time now, I will download those photos and post them today.
In other news... I am tired. School will be interesting this week as I cannot do homework. Also, I feel SO behind on my film now! As of this moment, I have not animated a single frame yet. But hear me now- I WILL finish this film!
Also- guess what my doc called the cough syrup he put me on! "A heavy narcotic!" BWA-HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
Off to feel better. Later!
Friday, December 31, 2010
The End of All Things- I mean 2010! Pt.3
Whoa... this is taking a long time, but it feels good!
The third week of classes was again, a lot of the same routine. My classmates and I were still meeting each other and learning names and getting to know one another. The routine of classes was settling finally, and I LOVED IT!
In 2D, we made a ball bounce across the page and started working on a blade of grass. CG Foundation was canceled that week, so I utilized that time as best I could. The entire freshman class was hammering out animatics still, because they were due the next week. We needed to use After Effects to make them and I didn't even know how to use the freaking program! So that was.... INTERESTING! But that Friday was my first Pay Day! YAY! Also, it was Visiting Artists night with the AMAZING MARK ANDREWS! (Aka- "Mandrews"... don't ask me why, I don't know!)
Yes, that is what you think it is... We honestly lost the true count...
Again- what he talked about, I am not at liberty to say, but my journal has everything ALLLLL WRITTEN DOWN! I will keep it forever, and it will keep me warm on cold nights! XD MWA-HAHAHA!!!!
That weekend, ALL I worked on was my animatic and Color & Design.
Here's the work I'd done so far.
The next week was kind of interesting though... On October 5th, we had a special guest come to CalArts- Jeffrey Katzenberg! Now, I should confess something... the ENTIRE department had their panties in a twist over this guy coming to see us... I just... didn't! I will admit, he used to be a big deal at Disney- and that's where I remember him from- all the mini-segments before Disney movies played on TV when I was a kid. But as for Jeffrey Katzenberg, the CEO or whatever of Dreamworks, I was not a twitter with excitement. That is not to say that I did not GO! HAHA! Unfortunately, you will not find any pictures of him on my blog, not me getting his autograph. It was strictly mentioned to us beforehand that he was coming in to speak to us, there would be no video-recording, cameras or autographs and he would be exiting without speaking to anyone... Well, way to win over the crowd!
So yeah... he talked about stuff at Dreamworks. One of our teachers- Ted Ty- the fourth year 2D Animation professor STILL works at Dreamworks during the day and teaches here at night apparently risked a lot to bring him there. So I guess it was a big deal. He didn't say much though to make me feel like I was very special... Again- can't talk about what he said- I could lose Ted Ty his job- both at CalArts AND Dreamworks. So no go!
We all went on to Story class afterward and Jennifer wanted to know all about what he talked about. It was also the night that our animatics were due! One of my classmates, Josh, had worked himself to the point of near INSANITY trying to finish his and never showed up to class! We learned later that he'd finished (I think), went to his room and PASSED OUT ON THE FLOOR! He never even made it to the bed. His roommate actually lifted him up and put him into bed. All that hard work for nothing! Mine went okay, but I was over the time limit of 90 seconds and was already trying to plan out a new story. Oh yeah, I actually talk about my own work here! WOW!
October 6th was the CalArts Film/Video School meeting in Langley. I skipped out of work during my "lunch" to go. All of the programs in the Film/Video school were there, including Character Animation. There was only about 4 students. We were REALLY nervous and we felt too awkward to say much! HAHA! But I did get to talk to Dan for a little bit.
That Thursday sucked for me because someone said something about me that I took really hard and I spent the rest of the day in a funk, until Tammy (one of the sweetest girls in the world) took me to McDonald's for some ice cream. Getting some one-on-one time with her was amazing.
That weekend (October 9th) was the 40th Reunion of CalArts! All the alumni showed up and ate and partied. I got to see lots of the stuff going on and bought a special edition shirt, but mostly I did my homework. haha! That Monday we had no classes because of Indigenous People's Day (Columbus Day to everyone else). Sadly, I pulled my first ever all-nighter on a HOLIDAY! I made it all the way to Color & Design, but made the mistake of laying down for a nap afterward "only for two hours"... and slept straight through most of Story class. I showed up for the last hour. I was told later that it was one of the best classes of the semester... FML!
That Wednesday, my flipbook for History of Character Animation was due. WHOA! I busted butt for it. I was later told that mine was one of the better ones, but I'll never know for sure because no one wanted theirs looked at!
And that Friday for Visiting Artists series, we had Shannon Tindle & Shane Prigmore from Coraline! It was supposed to be Part 1 of a 2 part visit, and they would return the following weekend, but something happened and we wouldn't see them again for weeks. Again- no details- MWA-HA! Woot! These posts are getting better, I think. Anyone want to kill me yet?
The third week of classes was again, a lot of the same routine. My classmates and I were still meeting each other and learning names and getting to know one another. The routine of classes was settling finally, and I LOVED IT!
In 2D, we made a ball bounce across the page and started working on a blade of grass. CG Foundation was canceled that week, so I utilized that time as best I could. The entire freshman class was hammering out animatics still, because they were due the next week. We needed to use After Effects to make them and I didn't even know how to use the freaking program! So that was.... INTERESTING! But that Friday was my first Pay Day! YAY! Also, it was Visiting Artists night with the AMAZING MARK ANDREWS! (Aka- "Mandrews"... don't ask me why, I don't know!)
Yes, that is what you think it is... We honestly lost the true count...
Again- what he talked about, I am not at liberty to say, but my journal has everything ALLLLL WRITTEN DOWN! I will keep it forever, and it will keep me warm on cold nights! XD MWA-HAHAHA!!!!
That weekend, ALL I worked on was my animatic and Color & Design.
Here's the work I'd done so far.
The next week was kind of interesting though... On October 5th, we had a special guest come to CalArts- Jeffrey Katzenberg! Now, I should confess something... the ENTIRE department had their panties in a twist over this guy coming to see us... I just... didn't! I will admit, he used to be a big deal at Disney- and that's where I remember him from- all the mini-segments before Disney movies played on TV when I was a kid. But as for Jeffrey Katzenberg, the CEO or whatever of Dreamworks, I was not a twitter with excitement. That is not to say that I did not GO! HAHA! Unfortunately, you will not find any pictures of him on my blog, not me getting his autograph. It was strictly mentioned to us beforehand that he was coming in to speak to us, there would be no video-recording, cameras or autographs and he would be exiting without speaking to anyone... Well, way to win over the crowd!
So yeah... he talked about stuff at Dreamworks. One of our teachers- Ted Ty- the fourth year 2D Animation professor STILL works at Dreamworks during the day and teaches here at night apparently risked a lot to bring him there. So I guess it was a big deal. He didn't say much though to make me feel like I was very special... Again- can't talk about what he said- I could lose Ted Ty his job- both at CalArts AND Dreamworks. So no go!
We all went on to Story class afterward and Jennifer wanted to know all about what he talked about. It was also the night that our animatics were due! One of my classmates, Josh, had worked himself to the point of near INSANITY trying to finish his and never showed up to class! We learned later that he'd finished (I think), went to his room and PASSED OUT ON THE FLOOR! He never even made it to the bed. His roommate actually lifted him up and put him into bed. All that hard work for nothing! Mine went okay, but I was over the time limit of 90 seconds and was already trying to plan out a new story. Oh yeah, I actually talk about my own work here! WOW!
October 6th was the CalArts Film/Video School meeting in Langley. I skipped out of work during my "lunch" to go. All of the programs in the Film/Video school were there, including Character Animation. There was only about 4 students. We were REALLY nervous and we felt too awkward to say much! HAHA! But I did get to talk to Dan for a little bit.
That Thursday sucked for me because someone said something about me that I took really hard and I spent the rest of the day in a funk, until Tammy (one of the sweetest girls in the world) took me to McDonald's for some ice cream. Getting some one-on-one time with her was amazing.
That weekend (October 9th) was the 40th Reunion of CalArts! All the alumni showed up and ate and partied. I got to see lots of the stuff going on and bought a special edition shirt, but mostly I did my homework. haha! That Monday we had no classes because of Indigenous People's Day (Columbus Day to everyone else). Sadly, I pulled my first ever all-nighter on a HOLIDAY! I made it all the way to Color & Design, but made the mistake of laying down for a nap afterward "only for two hours"... and slept straight through most of Story class. I showed up for the last hour. I was told later that it was one of the best classes of the semester... FML!
That Wednesday, my flipbook for History of Character Animation was due. WHOA! I busted butt for it. I was later told that mine was one of the better ones, but I'll never know for sure because no one wanted theirs looked at!
And that Friday for Visiting Artists series, we had Shannon Tindle & Shane Prigmore from Coraline! It was supposed to be Part 1 of a 2 part visit, and they would return the following weekend, but something happened and we wouldn't see them again for weeks. Again- no details- MWA-HA! Woot! These posts are getting better, I think. Anyone want to kill me yet?
The End of All Things- I mean 2010! Pt.2
And now for the second half of classes!
Okay, so Thursday is a very long day! We have Life Drawing with Steve Brown, who has been teaching at CalArts for 10 years now! The class lasts from 9 AM until 4 PM!
Steve is kind of funny... When you first see this guy, you're like, "Wait... what?!" He looks like just a very friendly neighbor type older guy, only... he has earrings, he wears all black, basically all the time, and he likes rap and stuff! XD It's just very funny at first, but he is SO COOL! His approach to life drawing is very "conceptual", I guess, but the Administration or something determined that CalArts students needed more structure in their life drawing, so the first half of every class was dedicated to a part of the human anatomy. I LOVED IT! But the second half was very... "capture the essence" kind of stuff- which I utterly FAIL AT! So I struggled in his class... HEAVILY! So badly, in fact, that I was not getting anything good the very first class, so a classmate of mine (T- who is the most bad-ass guy you may ever meet in your LIFE!) and I DREW WITH OUR TOES!
That's right baby... We're in ART SCHOOL NOW! XD
None of my stuff was posted in the hallway, but seriously, after seeing some of the awesomeness that came out of that room, I was NOT surprised. It was the reminder to me in my first week at CalArts that I really WAS surrounded by some of the best artists in the world... A very humbling experience!
Immediately after Life drawing, I had Acting for Animators with Robert Duncan. For those of you who wanna know- Robert was the live-action reference model for Captain John Smith in Disney's Pocahontas! Talk about GEEK OUT! Wait... wait- WHUT?! OMFG!!!!!! I just found THIS! DUDE!!!! MY PROFESSOR WAS SETH IN STARGATE!!!!!! OMFG!!!!! *MAJOR GEEKOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*
*is still trying to recover from the epic geek-out* So, in Acting class we just learned how to REACT, NOT act! It put a lot of clarity into how characters in our films should be, and gave us an idea on how to react differently to the same situation. Honestly, the class turned fairly epic when we were the first class to get actual "scenes" to memorize and perform. It was SO HARD! But more on that later.
I had a quick one hour for dinner on Thursdays, then my last class of the week- CG Character Animation! ZOMG! My professor is Robert Domingo- ALSO an animator from Dreamworks. ALSO worked on How To Train Your Dragon... AND Shrek, Enchanted, Madagascar, Treasure Planet, Mulan, Tarzan, Hercules, Lion King, Pocahontas, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame! Holy COW! Yeah! Oh, and he was the animator for Yzma! I WISH I were kidding at how awesome this guy is! (Oh, and my mentor, Dan Hansen was the Artistic Coordinator for the same film... seeing the level of amazingness of awesome yet?) Anyway, this was our HEAVY CG (aka- Maya) class. HAAAAAARD!!!! But SO MUCH FREAKING FUN! And again, Robert is not ONLY one of the guys who SERIOUSLY knows what he is talking about, but he REALLY knows how to explain it to a point that you truly understand! It's a great way to finish off one HECK of a week!
So, that's my actual classes. Section 1 has Fridays off, but Section 2 has classes. So Fridays are usually spent by me doing homework until noon when I report back to the Registrar's office for my second day or work. I spent my second day at work helping people sort out Add/Drop of classes. I resolved to not drop a single class I was registered for- a resolution I KEPT despite some very hard times. A full 15.5 units!
After work, I'd go back to my cube and continue working on homework.
UNpainted.
PAINTED! Okay, okay, so I only needed to paint my desk, the cube was a pretty calm blue and it had stars... I added more stars.
I typically spent the next 2 and a half days there. That first Friday, though I was invited to a party for the MFA's of Graphic Design. My awesome roomie, Kaoru invited me.
I didn't stay long as I felt kind of out-of-place, but they seemed like a great group. I went back to my cube, and later my room and wrote screenplays (a first for me!) Wow... wait, I just realized the lame-ness of that sentence... I left a party to go do homework... wow...
There was, however, one more party that weekend: Trevor Knapp-Jones's 21st Birthday!
If you will notice, it is made on animator's pegged paper... XD
And yes... to quell the rumors- we DID sing!
The first Sunday at school was spent in my cube, working. Boring, I know! But I animated a bouncing ball, so FEH! I enjoyed it!
The second week of school was pretty much, wash, rinse, repeat. But OMG! STILL AWESOME!!!! On Tuesday, the 21st, I was invited to Korean BBQ with s BUNCH of second years! Though, Melanie from my class went... I skipped out of Story class early to meet them. We went to BCD Tofu House- a 24 hour Korean place in LA.
I had never had one of these fish before. It was tasty, but very salty, and I had lots of bones in my teeth after... then my camera promptly DIED!
That Friday, I got a special personal one hour Maya tutorial with a GREAT student from Germany named Theresa who knows Maya REALLY WELL! We played around, but I learned a lot too. Then I had to run to work at the office. Add/Drops are INSANE! But one of my co-workers bought the whole office Golden Spoon yogurt, which was a really nice treat!
That night, we had our first (actually, I think it was second, but the first canceled on us) Visiting Artist in the Palace!
Let me explain- CalArts has animators, story artists, and other all-around AWESOME people in the industry VISIT US and talk to us about stuff! What could possibly be cooler than that?!
Well my first guy I got to see was John Kahrs- Not kidding, you guys- an animator at Pixar! (Incredibles, Bolt, Tangled, Ratatouille, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, etc.) What he talked about, I am not at liberty to say, sadly... MWA-HAHAHA!!!! Gotta get accepted and come to CalArts for that info! hehe The rest of the weekend, I did nothing but homework! End of Week 2- HAHAHAH! *breaks down and cries* Another entry...
Okay, so Thursday is a very long day! We have Life Drawing with Steve Brown, who has been teaching at CalArts for 10 years now! The class lasts from 9 AM until 4 PM!
Steve is kind of funny... When you first see this guy, you're like, "Wait... what?!" He looks like just a very friendly neighbor type older guy, only... he has earrings, he wears all black, basically all the time, and he likes rap and stuff! XD It's just very funny at first, but he is SO COOL! His approach to life drawing is very "conceptual", I guess, but the Administration or something determined that CalArts students needed more structure in their life drawing, so the first half of every class was dedicated to a part of the human anatomy. I LOVED IT! But the second half was very... "capture the essence" kind of stuff- which I utterly FAIL AT! So I struggled in his class... HEAVILY! So badly, in fact, that I was not getting anything good the very first class, so a classmate of mine (T- who is the most bad-ass guy you may ever meet in your LIFE!) and I DREW WITH OUR TOES!
That's right baby... We're in ART SCHOOL NOW! XD
None of my stuff was posted in the hallway, but seriously, after seeing some of the awesomeness that came out of that room, I was NOT surprised. It was the reminder to me in my first week at CalArts that I really WAS surrounded by some of the best artists in the world... A very humbling experience!
Immediately after Life drawing, I had Acting for Animators with Robert Duncan. For those of you who wanna know- Robert was the live-action reference model for Captain John Smith in Disney's Pocahontas! Talk about GEEK OUT! Wait... wait- WHUT?! OMFG!!!!!! I just found THIS! DUDE!!!! MY PROFESSOR WAS SETH IN STARGATE!!!!!! OMFG!!!!! *MAJOR GEEKOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*
*is still trying to recover from the epic geek-out* So, in Acting class we just learned how to REACT, NOT act! It put a lot of clarity into how characters in our films should be, and gave us an idea on how to react differently to the same situation. Honestly, the class turned fairly epic when we were the first class to get actual "scenes" to memorize and perform. It was SO HARD! But more on that later.
I had a quick one hour for dinner on Thursdays, then my last class of the week- CG Character Animation! ZOMG! My professor is Robert Domingo- ALSO an animator from Dreamworks. ALSO worked on How To Train Your Dragon... AND Shrek, Enchanted, Madagascar, Treasure Planet, Mulan, Tarzan, Hercules, Lion King, Pocahontas, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame! Holy COW! Yeah! Oh, and he was the animator for Yzma! I WISH I were kidding at how awesome this guy is! (Oh, and my mentor, Dan Hansen was the Artistic Coordinator for the same film... seeing the level of amazingness of awesome yet?) Anyway, this was our HEAVY CG (aka- Maya) class. HAAAAAARD!!!! But SO MUCH FREAKING FUN! And again, Robert is not ONLY one of the guys who SERIOUSLY knows what he is talking about, but he REALLY knows how to explain it to a point that you truly understand! It's a great way to finish off one HECK of a week!
So, that's my actual classes. Section 1 has Fridays off, but Section 2 has classes. So Fridays are usually spent by me doing homework until noon when I report back to the Registrar's office for my second day or work. I spent my second day at work helping people sort out Add/Drop of classes. I resolved to not drop a single class I was registered for- a resolution I KEPT despite some very hard times. A full 15.5 units!
After work, I'd go back to my cube and continue working on homework.
UNpainted.
PAINTED! Okay, okay, so I only needed to paint my desk, the cube was a pretty calm blue and it had stars... I added more stars.
I typically spent the next 2 and a half days there. That first Friday, though I was invited to a party for the MFA's of Graphic Design. My awesome roomie, Kaoru invited me.
I didn't stay long as I felt kind of out-of-place, but they seemed like a great group. I went back to my cube, and later my room and wrote screenplays (a first for me!) Wow... wait, I just realized the lame-ness of that sentence... I left a party to go do homework... wow...
There was, however, one more party that weekend: Trevor Knapp-Jones's 21st Birthday!
If you will notice, it is made on animator's pegged paper... XD
And yes... to quell the rumors- we DID sing!
The first Sunday at school was spent in my cube, working. Boring, I know! But I animated a bouncing ball, so FEH! I enjoyed it!
The second week of school was pretty much, wash, rinse, repeat. But OMG! STILL AWESOME!!!! On Tuesday, the 21st, I was invited to Korean BBQ with s BUNCH of second years! Though, Melanie from my class went... I skipped out of Story class early to meet them. We went to BCD Tofu House- a 24 hour Korean place in LA.
I had never had one of these fish before. It was tasty, but very salty, and I had lots of bones in my teeth after... then my camera promptly DIED!
That Friday, I got a special personal one hour Maya tutorial with a GREAT student from Germany named Theresa who knows Maya REALLY WELL! We played around, but I learned a lot too. Then I had to run to work at the office. Add/Drops are INSANE! But one of my co-workers bought the whole office Golden Spoon yogurt, which was a really nice treat!
That night, we had our first (actually, I think it was second, but the first canceled on us) Visiting Artist in the Palace!
Let me explain- CalArts has animators, story artists, and other all-around AWESOME people in the industry VISIT US and talk to us about stuff! What could possibly be cooler than that?!
Well my first guy I got to see was John Kahrs- Not kidding, you guys- an animator at Pixar! (Incredibles, Bolt, Tangled, Ratatouille, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, etc.) What he talked about, I am not at liberty to say, sadly... MWA-HAHAHA!!!! Gotta get accepted and come to CalArts for that info! hehe The rest of the weekend, I did nothing but homework! End of Week 2- HAHAHAH! *breaks down and cries* Another entry...
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Possibility of being missed...
I have this strange custom at my work, where randomly, and for no other reason than I think that it's funny, I will run towards a pair of French doors (that lead to our Embroidery department) in a comical fashion and "splat" myself against the glass, making a retarded smooshed expression... I have done this for at least as long as we have been in our new building and the Embroidery ladies both seem to think it is humorous as well, since I frequently make them laugh.
This morning, I did this again- making a wholly new and fun splat shape. I opened the door to talk to my now-laughing co-worker and was shut up immediately when she said, "We are really going to miss that..."
As much as I know that I am leaving my job in 45 days (WOOT!!!!), and the state in 48 (WOOT WOOT!) and everything... nothing anyone has said to me yet made me feel like I will truly be missed by people here. I know ~I~ will miss people, but... I truly felt sad. Sad that I wouldn't be able to see and mess around with my coworkers...
Naturally, I immediately began planning how to make a large photo of myself in a wonky splat position so that we could make a huge digital print and stick it to the door, so I will be with them forever! XD
This morning, I did this again- making a wholly new and fun splat shape. I opened the door to talk to my now-laughing co-worker and was shut up immediately when she said, "We are really going to miss that..."
As much as I know that I am leaving my job in 45 days (WOOT!!!!), and the state in 48 (WOOT WOOT!) and everything... nothing anyone has said to me yet made me feel like I will truly be missed by people here. I know ~I~ will miss people, but... I truly felt sad. Sad that I wouldn't be able to see and mess around with my coworkers...
Naturally, I immediately began planning how to make a large photo of myself in a wonky splat position so that we could make a huge digital print and stick it to the door, so I will be with them forever! XD
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