"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

Traditional Animation 3 Final: Work in Progress

Hey All,

The words that would make any art major scream bloody murder in the middle of the night: FINALS!
For those of you not in the art world finals usually consistent not of cramming for a final exam, but usually a 4-8 week project. And this project will likely carry upwards of half of our semesters grade. Thats a lot of caffeine and cortisol.

Well my traditional animation piece I am working on is from an old Abbott and Costello bit - the infamous Mustard and Hot Dog debate. I started it out 3 weeks ago designing the characters I would use, thumbnailing, making xsheets and then filming myself for reference.

Right now I'm in the middle of crunching out the hundreds and hundreds of inbetweens and I have but 7 days left to polish and turn it in. I'm feeling pretty great about this project.

Not wanting to give too much away for my big End-of-the-Semester Post, here's the animatic on my piece WARNING: Its pretty crude.

Back to drawing...See you all soon.

Animation Spotlight: Life is Beautiful

Well yes it is...Life IS beautiful. Check out this awesome animation short - Very grim for such a colorful world. But it has purpose.

 

Art Spotlight: Adrift

If you need a little inspiration - here's a great one for you.

Pixar Animator and Academy of Art graduate Simon Christen has great talent, not just in the world of animating but in photography. Capturing a quality photo is not too hard, but capturing a photo that has a story, emotion, beauty and jaw dropping craftsmanship is a little bit more difficult. And by a little I mean a hell of a lot.

There are millions of amatuer and professional photographers in the world but there is a distinct line in the sand from the everyday photographers and the one of a kind photographers. Simon spent a good part of 3 years filming a few time lapse videos capturing the awesome grandeur of Bay Area's infamous morning and evening fog. This video is not only a representation of nature's beauty (HEY! Remember that Finding Inspiration post I had.) but what someone with time and dedication can capture on a camera.

Adrift from Simon Christen on Vimeo.

Traditional Animation Week 7: The Window

Hello everyone!

So I've been absent the past two weeks with several projects in the works, one I just wrapped today, another I will wrap by Tuesday, another that will take the next month and a half and a few paintings between now and summer! Plenty of Work In Progresses to come. :)

Meanwhile heres what I just wrapped. Sadly I did not take it as far as I wanted but it was a good place to stop. No polish or clean up passes on this one.

Definitely ate what was left in that ream of paper and a bit into the next. Thats why I suggest you all buy recycled animation paper.

Animation Spotlight - Dark Noir

I have nothing but the utmost respect for stop motion animators...especially when they craft something as beautiful as this..

Enjoy.



Dark Noir from Gillian Glendinning on Vimeo.

Glen Keane on Ollie Johnston

We're studying the masters of animation in my traditional animation 3 class. There are just dozens of gems to be found online like this video! This one has Glen Keane talk about Ollie Johnston's drawings.

Really inspiring!