Robin Williams Tribute

It was a little over a year ago we lost one of the funniest and kindest comedian/actor/human - Robin Williams.

As a big fan of all the things he did I wanted to put together a painting as a tribute for him. The original idea was a massive collage, recorded on my desktop, of all his different roles with Robin in the middle. Unfortunately due to time constraints I only had the center piece done in time for the 1 year anniversary.


It's still not done but I'm quite happy with how far it's come - this gives me something else to post later on or perhaps make it a thing next year as well. It was a fun project and my first ever speed painting.

Enjoy guys!

Animation Spotlight: Little Freak

Hey guys!

Long time since the last post, but things are underway finally for my first animated short!
Pre-production is in progress and I will have alot to show in the coming months along side some other art tutorials/tips.

But meanwhile, what you are all here for - an animation spotlight. I saw this piece earlier this year when I was at SIGGRAPH volunteering. In the computer animation festival this piece came on and I honestly didn't know what just happened when it finished, but I remember just being super depressed (haha no joke it will leave you in a saddened state). But the character animation here is so powerful and I just want to congratulate Edwin Schaap on what a wonderful piece hes directed here.

Enjoy!




Little Freak from Edwin Schaap on Vimeo.

Be the Lighthouse: What To Do At A New Job

Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.

Landing a great job can seem impossible at times. Perk up young padawan - there are plenty of jobs out there and I will be breaking down great ways to network, draft resumes and cover letters soon enough. This time however I will be focusing on what do AFTER you have landed the job.

Opportunity is a MASSIVE part in playing your luck and it doesn't stop after you have already landed the job. Now that you're in, you have simply went from walking to taking the horizontal escalator (moving walkway as I have just learned they are called.). Now you can either go in the direction the machine is helping you go or you can back peddle and literally go nowhere.

Something I've noticed everytime I start a new job is the immediate drama of said position. Its very tragic. The last thing you want to hear as a new hire to a new company is everything people hate about it. It only makes you get over that honeymoon period of having a new job that much faster. AHA! BUT not for you padawan -you see the opportunity they have just provided you. However, for those of you who don't see it, allow me to break it down:


*AHEM*


1. People that complain are people that feel complacent. It is not ENTIRELY their fault. Getting stuck in a bad mindset is A) Toxic (take your medicine) and B) Contagious (Put on your surgical masks). They are simply misguided and have strayed from the awesome path you have recently discovered; or in other words They are merely walking the opposite direction of the moving walkway. Do not immediately think that they are bad employees. They could have a number of reasons for being this way, anything from personal troubles to disagreeing with the way things are done. AND THAT'S okay that they feel this way. But how you handle those situations will define how great of an employee you are. Which leads me to...

2. Attitude. Always Always Always remember that feeling when you got the call that you got the job. It is the single greatest humbling thing you can feel. Try to be that way. Try to be the way you are on day one of new jobs. You are always smiling, saying hi to everyone and eager to learn and dive in headfirst. CARRY THAT ATTITUDE AT ALL TIMES. Especially the days that feel like the worst days of your career. 

The best lesson I learned during my time working at Disneyland was when the popular guy of the office was transferring to another department....in Hawaii. There was a reason everyone loved him. I was bummed because he was by far the best supervisor to work for. Anytime he walked into work everyone was happy to see him and the air in the room seemed lighter, all was good when Allan was there. It wasn't until my manager said something, that I got out of my funk. It is (quite possibly) the greatest piece of advice I heard (I'm paraphrasing because I've heard similar quotes over the years and it tainted my memory of exactly what he said): 

If that lighthouse for you is no longer there, why don't YOU be that lighthouse for someone else.

He told me I should strive to now be that guy everyone looked forward to seeing at work. I was looking at the situation all wrong. Instead of being upset about the big hole left in our team - I decided I was going to try to fill that hole. Which leads me to...

3. Be pleasant to be around. Be the person others want to hang out with, especially coworkers. Be like Allen. Attitude essentially covers this but it also requires peace of mind. When people get negative you should be the one who pipes up and tells them (politely of course - HR would be so proud of me) that kind of outlook is not necessary - or better yet ask them if something is wrong and if you can help.When it is crunchtime people are naturally stressed... but not you. No for you, my padawan, understand there is nothing to worry about. You still come in with a smile on your face and greet everyone cordially. You will be an asset to your team, because they will follow your positive lead. It is very easy to be negative and crude - it is hard to be happy and smile but remember you do it for yourself as well as your team. They will pay it back. Which leads me to...

4. Step up for EVERYTHING. The big clues negative people give are the things THEY HATE doing. When they start ranting about what they hate about their jobs, jump in and offer to take that arduous task off their hands. A) You won't have to listen to them complain (nor will your neighbors) B) Your teammates will be eternally grateful C) You will start to become irreplaceable. D) You will become a reliable asset to your team. 

The thing you will notice at a new job is when people will say no outright to a certain task. If you are always saying yes to doing new things, your supervisor and teammates will notice. And they will be grateful. Especially if you learn to master the 'hardest' task or the one everyone hates. BE AN EXPERT AT IT. WHATEVER IT IS.Which leads me to...



5. When you start a new job - search for the thing everyone hates to do or the task that has been labelled the hardest thing to do. If you master that you will have concreted yourself into the team and in the middle of the path everyone has to cross. Your name will go far and wide, and people will speak highly of you.

 Make it a goal of yours to tackle that problem and make it yours. Everything else compared to that will seem so much easier, you DEFINITELY will have learned something new by then and I cannot say it enough - you will be invaluable. They will come to you, even though you may be the newest guy, with their problems because they TRUST YOU most. If that happens...



CONGRATULATIONS! If you do all those things above, you will have opened DOZENS of doors of opportunity. The people you work with may one day go elsewhere and they may be the ones who help you land that one job you want/need down the line. 

They love that you take on the hardest tasks. They love that you ALWAYS help them out when they need it. They love that you do it all with a smile. They love to be around you -- And they trust you.

Go to work and, no matter what, be happy - you didn't sacrifice all that you did to settle into a job you will hate. Don't let that negativity encase you. Be the change you want to see in the world. [Insert another cliche here]. Jokes aside padawan, I think you get my point; These sayings do hold great value.

So next time you hear someone complain just know that opportunity is there. But remember the opportunity isn't just for you to get ahead and solidify your spot on the team - there is an opportunity to turn someone's point of view around. That is a great thing you can do for them. Give them a reason to change their mentality for the better. Be their lighthouse. 


You never know how badly they may be needing one.

To Intern or Not to Intern- That is the Question

Hello again everyone,

I'm back from SIGGRAPH and a whirlwind adventure through Canada and Dallas (still not over) but I wanted to shed light on something pretty important. Internships.

Internships are awesome, amazing ways to break into the industry and network with veterans. The weight of knowledge taken away from internships could be worth the weight of -- well, your entire tuition in school. They are the crown jewel students seek in college, but there is a dark truth to SOME internships.

Now don't get me wrong, some companies value students, their employees and what they bring to the company. Others.....want free work. Period. Be EXTREMELY careful when you take on an internship. It is safe to say a paid internship and one provided by a large, REPUTABLE studio will be worthwhile. However many smaller boutique studios and mid sized studios will take advantage of starving students. I can speak from experience.

I was given a "job" that I was supposed to be paid for. I quickly found the owner of the company looked at me as an intern who will only get paid if I land HIM a large project. I worked LONG hours, juggled multiple projects, I took my work with me while on vacation and I did things that I never had experience in (after being told I will be trained...which I never was. Shocking.) To digress for a moment, I believe people should ALWAYS do things that are not in your job description because, A) You can learn something awesome, that you could possibly add to your resume, B) you become a more dependable employee/co-worker, C) people will appreciate you for your dedication, & D) standing out apart of the herd is great for future promotions. Having said that, during the time I held this "job", I did a many things outside of my initial starting position because of the values I listed above. They took advantage of it. They got mad if I ever asked for a day off for something important (like my sisters wedding - how dare I).



Long story short - I was wildly unappreciated. It took a toll on my own self-esteem as an artist because if you are not getting paid anything, you feel all your efforts were worth nothing. In essence I thought if I have yet to make an impact with all that I've done -- how on earth could I ever make any impact at all. I had already given it my all!!! Eventually I came to a point when I decided before we took on another project I was done. I went unpaid for 3 months. It was essentially an internship. The owner did not take it well and said I was ungrateful for the opportunity I had, and when I mentioned I had taken the position under the assumption it was a paid full-time position he scoffed. The movies I had worked on I never received credit for. The gaming apps I worked on also launched without any credit to me.

I cannot describe the mentality of people who run unpaid internships because I have never ran one and never could. So I cannot say WHY people treat others this way. Business is business. It cares not for you, your career plans or your emotions.

So is taking an UNPAID internship worth it? In my humble opinion - absolutely NOT. If you are going to work for someone for free - WORK FOR YOURSELF.

For the sake of drilling it into your head, I'm gonna say it again:

IF YOU ARE GOING TO WORK FOR SOMEONE FOR FREE - WORK FOR YOURSELF.

And I'm not talking about doing what you've been doing. I don't mean apply for jobs for a couple hours a day, work on demo reel stuff at night and then start over. I mean seriously work for yourself. From 8am - 8pm you work hard on something you have been wanting to work on. Make sure people around you know you are working and you have work hours. Stay focused and give yourself deadlines. 
For example:

At the end of today I will have X number of shots blocked in.

At the end of the week I will have X number of animation shots done.

At the end of this month I will have X number of 3D models created, and the end of each week I will check off the ones I have done and keep track of whats left.

Work on something that the industry cannot ignore. You will build a name for yourself and more importantly you will show you have moxie. Your hardwork and dedication WILL get noticed. Become a professional salesman when it comes to selling your own work. Go to all the expos, conferences and networking events you can. The art you create and friendships you build are just as valuable and CAN BE worth as much as an internship. Its all in the mindset. Do not let yourself to get stuck in the mental trap that "If only I had ___, I could accomplish ____".

Refer back to my post about Struggles of Confidence. If you have endured all those things. If you have endured art schools, critics (both professional and personal), if you knowingly took this path full of struggle and occasional bleak outlooks and STILL want to work in this industry --- YOU ABSOLUTELY BELONG. You belong here. You are going to be a part of something incredible and your humble, optimistic outlook will get you there. Bet on yourself.
Double down on yourself. Be your own boss. You are an artist and you already have all the tools you need. If you say you cannot create something unless you have something else you are doubting your own creativity.

At the end of the day if you are working for free for someone else, everything you make belongs to SOMEONE ELSE. It will not be appreciated as much if you had created it for you. And whats worse is you are replaceable. Whether you want to believe it or not, there is someone more desperate than you willing to take that unpaid internship. The work you will be assigned in a studio will be irrelevant work within a year. Really - just think about it. Either the project will be done or it will have gone under. You will have moved on to something else and may not have valued the project itself anyways. But if you made something FOR YOU - that will be forever. You can forever brag about the work you did. Whether it is a short film, or a collection of Greek God models, or you recreated every still scene in Titantic- lit and textured to perfection. It will be work you can be proud of and show off to future employers (who will pay you for your talents).

I cannot blame you if you take an unpaid internship. The opportunities and potential riches offered to you always seem amazing. I fell for it myself. Be sure to cover your ass though. Get everything in writing. Credit you will be given, the promise of a full time position after the internship, the start and end date - EVERYTHING. Get everything in writing or save copies of emails exchanged at work.

Unpaid internships after 3 months will rack you up - $0.
A project or job you did for yourself - Priceless (okay its also $0, but the rewards cannot be measured in terms of money).

Good luck out there. Make the best of EVERY SITUATION you can. Make the best of what you have.
I'll see you all next time.

Video Spotlight: The Mountain

This is a wonderful video - quite inspiring! I posted one of these before by an animator at Pixar, this time it is presented by a filmmaker in Norway Mr. TSO. All of his videos are AMAZING, and the accompanying music is fantastic as well (good music to draw to).

Enjoy and happy animating.

Neil

Traditional Animation 3 Final: My Workflow Pre-Production to Rough Pass

Traditional Animation 3 is officially over. It was a hell of a semester.

For this final assignment we had to animate along with an audio track and I chose an audio piece by Abbott and Costello. I have only heard their 'Who's on First' bit a couple of times and never seen any of their actual video. The audio was great cause the voices had a lot of personality and energy in it which I knew would make it fun to animate to.

Two weeks ago I uploaded the animatic of what I was going to do and for the non-artists here, what comes next is pages and pages of thumbnails, X-sheets (which are sheets vital to the animator to use for timing - example below) and reference footage. I went ahead and filmed about 9 takes of each man's dialogue and picked out the ones I liked. Then I took my own acting as inspiration in a new set of thumbnails and from there you make your key drawings.

So here it is in order of what the process was starting way back from character design:

 The inspirations:

 The polished designs:

 Facial Expressions:

 Final Altered Designs:

The First thumbs:

 Hand Gestures:

My own reference acting:

Altered Thumbs:

Alas to the FIRST video with the Key Poses:

Keys & Breakdowns (And the beginning of inbetweens):

To the final which was the rough pass:




So there is my workflow! Traditional and my CG are way different so on the next CG project I will post what it is exactly that I do. And please link me yours if you want to share. Perhaps there is something better out there that you can instill in me that I have yet to learn (and we can pass on to others).

Some people asked what my workstation looks like and this is normally how I have things mid project:

And my professor actually gave great advice on having a good ergonomic workspace. I got some severe wrist cramps during this project and his advice was awesome and helped alleviate a lot of pain. For example lift your light board. As you can see in the photo I threw a few animation books underneath to give it a lift. I added a foam pillow under my chair for comfort and to help give my knees a 90 degree angle with my feet firmly on the ground. Feet on the ground in turn helped my remind myself to sit with my back straight up (a horrible habit of many of us). 

And lastly my own two cents on good/healthy workareas: If you need coffee or soda to help keep you awake, I get it - its a short term solution to meeting deadline, but do NOT rely on them too much! Use ice cold water, eye drops and push ups to keep you awake. Its way healthier and at the end of a long long project and sleepless nights the last thing your body needs is junk it now has to filter out of your stomach.
I ate a lot of junk food and take out cause it was quick and easy and helped me get back to work quickly but again this comes at a cost.

I changed it up a bit, I would to the store and bought some frozen food (Pizzas and Lasganas etc). I cooked them at the start of the day and it was enough food to last me the day. A) I did not waste time leaving to buy food. B) I saved money. C) It is not healthy by any means but it is the less of two evils if compared to fast food.

Another week I made chow mein and pastas. I mean entire pot fulls. I saved the leftovers in tupperware and just grabbed it when I needed it and went back to work.

(One more piece of advice from my Professor) Breaks: Breaks are good for you! Discipline yourself to work a solid 30-60 minutes and then take a break. Get up walk outside, play a quick game of frisbee or football (my personal choice with the roommates), grab food or water. If you mentally need a break you can watch some tv or read a book but do not get too far removed from your work mode. Its important that you keep your ideas and energy up and alive for the project. For me its hard to get to a good creative mindset, so when I am finally there I do not let it slip away. I will take short breaks but dive right back into it. When I feel myself gearing down out of that creative mode then i will take a longer break and mentally walk away for an hour or two.

So, figure out what works for you and STICK TO IT. Create a routine and discipline yourself. When you do it a few days in a row it will start stick and not feel like prying teeth anymore.



What's next?

Next up I am working on another audio piece, much shorter this time, as well as clean up pass for this project. Til next time guys.

Thanks for reading. Happy Animating.

Neil

"I Just Graduated, Now What?"

I heard something very interesting today and it got me thinking. Katherine Schwarzenegger gave an awesome interview on Kevin & Bean (and other news affiliates) about her book "I Just Graduated Now What".

Essentially she has found that many college graduates current and former struggled to figure out what they wanted in life for a few years after graduating, sometime up til their late 20's. Many moved back home and thought they were moving backwards when in reality that is the smartest financial plan you can have with this job market and ridiculous costs of education. She herself has said she moved home and worked jobs that weren't that great and is still trying to find that job she loves. Having a 5 year plan or 10 year plan sounds like a great idea, but how do you know your exact path when you can't even find where it starts. I would highly recommend you read her book o seek out additional interviews found online.

[At this point I will be paraphrasing advice given from Katherine and my professors mixed with my own thoughts and opinions]

So to everyone who is graduating and will be graduating - don't fret. We are all struggling to find out where we belong, who we are and what is next. Moving back home is NOT a step back, it is you crouching down waiting for that opportunity to jump. Holding part time jobs in the service industry is not a waste of your degree, it is a testament to your passion and eagerness to keep moving. Where you are now is not the 'end all-be all'. Give it some time, take a moment. You only feel like you are drowning because you are weighing yourself down. It takes a lifetime to build a dream - not 4 years and one week.  

For those of you like myself who had worked through college, it has taken us far longer than 4 years to earn that same degree. But goddam is it sweet. The blood, sweat and many tears have led you this far, have faith in yourself that you will make it. Attitude will carry you most of the way there.

So...what next?

• You are essentially networking every day. Every person you meet could potentially be your next hiring manager. You never know who it is you sit next to on the bus or serve at the Starbucks. Greeting strangers could be a godsend. I've seen it (and done it) firsthand.
• Build a life. Chasing your work dream is only half of your known life. Work on the other half while you wait. Do things your future self will be eternally grateful for. Strive to be better at time management, strive to be nicer to strangers (ties in to the previous bullet point), start up those projects you keep putting off - it could potentially lead to something bigger or greater than your original dreams.
• Got extra time on your hands? Work another job to save money for a house. Volunteer and give back to those who are worse off than you. Yes - you the graduating student who has 40k dollars of debt and a minimum wage job there IS someone worse off than you.
• Dude BE KIND to yourself. Need I say more here? In fact you probably have years to make up for.
• Enjoy the little things. Go on a hike with friends or get together and play a drinking game or board game. Whatever it is you and your friends do - do more of that. When life begins to take off, it is likely even more of your friends will drop out of your life. Not that neither of you cares anymore but you now have your own schedules, jobs, and families to tend to. Don't get to that stage in life to only find out you missed out on so much.

 Additional bullet points for you artists out there:

• Draw everyday.  No exceptions. This is something I struggle with myself.
• Start that side art project you've been wanting to do. "Did you see that new [insert website of your choice] post!? Its unreal. Wish I could do that". To hell with it - why can't you!? Just do it! Even if it's a massive fail, you as an artist know that every failure is full of rewards and lessons.

If all else fails: "Don't worry about life, you're not going to survive it anyway."

As for myself, I will be starting my first animation short film. I have a script in the works and a few other ideas tinkering around. I'd love to gather a team of artists who would like to start it up with me, something we can all share credit for and add to our portfolios. Leave me a comment or message if you are interested!

All the best to you guys and thanks for reading. You are amazing.

Neil