The downside of flying a thousand miles is you can't sleep the night before to well. At least with walking a thousand miles you're exhausted! I get to see Jill soon atleast!
Posted via LiveJournal.app.
- A journey of a thousand miles
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ghrwah- November 22nd, 3:19
- Day 196!
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- ghrwah
- November 16th, 0:39
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.
It's strange to think that it has been 196 days since I declared for myself I'd go work on the Hobbit! What do I have to show for it?
Something hit me last week. It was a happy meeting of places. A combination of happiness that Maya was fixed with OS 1.6.2 for the Mac, the wanting to do a shot with ridiculous acting, the desire to keep the crew energized at work, and my own experimental nature. I wanted to prove to myself I can take the rigs at work and really do something amazing with them. For those not sure: rigs are the characters you see above. We take them and move them to create the animation :) Lately we've been so focused on just getting work done that I haven't had the time to really explore. This is what came about it!
I hope you all like. BACK TO wor-SLEEP yes Sleep :D
- A Humbling Guide to 401ks
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- ghrwah
- October 25th, 16:10
Here is something I am going through and I would like to share. Before I begin, I'd like to say: as artist in our industry we MUST invest and protect our futures. There are a lot of "vehicles" that help you 'get there.' I chose a 401k plan while at work. I invested 360$. I 'made' 440. Now that my company laid me off (it's ok, I have a new job now!) I must by law take that money. Or they will just send it to me.
Look at this breakdown:
360 invested
447.83 is the current 'value' (that is, because it's based on the stock market, is always changing)
-40 processing fee
407.83
- 20% "taxes we hold on your behalf for the IRS"
318.264
- 10% "taxes because I am under 59 1/2" Leaves me with:
273.481
Or 86.519 less than what I had invested. Where did it go? Some to taxes, a lot to this processing fee.
Thanks!!
I think individual investments work better. Because YOU control your destiny. Roth is even better in the fact that you can put money TAX free. And that money (contributions) you put in can be withdrawn, any time, tax free. -10% on earnings if you're under 59 1/2 (I believe that 10% is ONLY for "Earnings" and not "Contributions.") Check out Roth IRA's for some good info.
The point?
When you get a slide that says Hey, if you do this this and this, you'll have a million dollars by the time you're 60 (IF this this and this happens) then... Laugh in their face and walk away. Or just go through the process I did and learn the harder way (my favorite way!)
Cheers
- Martin Bouncing Away
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- ghrwah
- October 21st, 20:51
Waking me up this way while I'm sick made for some not so fun dreams >_
- Day 160: Nuts and Pizzas
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- ghrwah
- October 15th, 0:07
It's got quite a while to go. I've gotten some good notes in terms of legs, the pizza being not clear, and people not seeing where the squirrel goes. I may just hide the background temporarily to get the point across.
Good night :)
- Cloudy with a Chance of Trash
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- ghrwah
- October 3rd, 23:47
Yeay!
- Day 146: Jimmeh!
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- ghrwah
- September 30th, 23:07
It's been 146 days!! What have I been doing? And where am I going? Well I've identified three things that are critical:
A) I needed a new demo reel and feedback on that quickly
B) I needed a new profile on the internet. This means resume, cover letters etc.
C) I needed to meet people who worked and are working at WETA and network with them.
So what do I have to show for it?!?
New Demo Reel
I've been animating a LOT since then. A lot of it at work and now more readily at home. Like I've said a few times before, I would like to have a new new reel by November. I had one prepared for SIGGRAPH and I received decent responses. Now with that feedback and some of my mentors and friends I am making a new demo reel! I also have a new shot... check it! Just a quick aside though: He is reacting to the smell of Pizza that hits his nose. It's going to be done in another program:)
I've started a new shot (posting that soon) and after that I'm onto dialog pieces and physical stuff. With that, I'm also going to rent Lord of the Rings and King Kong. That stuff I'm sure has a TON of good reference if I just frame by frame it. After all, that IS WETA's demo reel
Profile on the Nets
This is slow going. While the resume, cover letter and LinkedIN are all updated, I'm still lagging on the OneRing.net website, twittering, and simply updating my website. I hope to get involved more, at least cast out my name and say hey! Look at what I'm doing. Same thing with this journal. I've let it go by the way side as I get terribly busy doing a ton of work. I'll get back in there!
Meet People
This one was pretty good. I've emailed a few people and talked to them already (Kenny, Jason) and I know there's a few more out there who I can contact. I'm a bit unsure of randomly contacting people who ARE working there now. No need to rush into it just yet, plus they might be taken aback by it. SIGGRAPH also lent itself to meeting a TON of new people and adding them to LinkedIN and Facebook. In this regard, I'm doing quite well! Andrew Gordon was also a big help at the MasterClass. It's been a few months but I constantly look back at his notes for reference and inspiration ;)
What am I going to do next?
Animate Animate animate ANIMATE
Follow up more on the happenings of the Hobbit
And get involved more. Keep that inspiration going. But keeping the focus of Animate! Remember it's a demo reel that gets me in with a smile, not just smiles.
In other news, work is going great. Admittedly we're not stressing ourselves and just working regular hours right now. The calm before the storm is what someone said today. I agree. Hell is coming and October begins tomorrow.. oh wait... in 30 minutes!
Good night!
- What's next?
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- ghrwah
- September 7th, 0:46
The work to towards the Lord of the Rings is going well! I've begun animating on my demo reel. I got some pretty serious crticism while at SIGGRAPH like I said before. I had a great time with Jill and a road trip to the Rocky Mountains. Now it's back to animating. I'll post some more updates soon. I am making some good progress. My goal is to have a new demo reel by November of this year and and get it reviewed by my mentors.
As far as work goes, we did layed off. And then rehired by our client! Woohoo! We are working until the end of December and then, it's off to the wild. Unless we get extended. Which would rock.
But now sleep. I have a lot of animation to do, at least 20 frames a night. It will get done!
- Rocky Mountains
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- ghrwah
- August 29th, 0:48
I am exhausted. But I am moved in. Now time to work on my animation!
- escucha a tu mentor
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- ghrwah
- August 12th, 1:48
SIGGRAPH was awesome!
I had a great demo reel critique
I've learned a lot of what I need to get into WETA
and I made some seriously good contacts in the industry!
At AnimationMentor (my alma mater for animation) I had a critique by Bobby and Shawn and it totally rocked. I learned what it takes to be a really physical and intense animator. I also became a bit defensive about my shot and realized, you know what? Everyone is telling me a lot of conflicting advice on it, but the other shots everyone agreed that it was good. So I'll move forward with those and cut all the ones that only some people supported. It was rather freeing. It is very hard when you work on a shot and people say No, get rid of it, it's not good enough. But you know what, that's you overcoming your ego and letting go and moving on. I have to do it so I am cutting some shots.
Aside from that, I had critiques from Disney and Ubisoft who gave good advice and again, focused on physicality which is something I need to work on in order to get my shots up to par. I've decided to put all my energies towards two things: Animation Maui, and WETA. I'm going to reward myself too because you know what? This journey has taken me to Montreal, San Francisco, and now my old home of New Orleans. It's been a great ride. I know great things are to come!
I do have some weird things that heppened lately. I got laid off, then rehired. My girlfriend's professor passed away and a full moon occured on the same day, the day before all her exams started. SIGGRAPH was a good home coming as much as it was a revitalizing of my passion for animation. And I'm realizing a lot of the things I used to do like, figure drawing, kung fu, storytelling, are all things I want to reincorporate. I came with a thought throughout this whole process:Consistency beats stagnation
I say that because I realized in stopping some of the things I would always do, I essentially let drift wood dam up my happiness. Drift wood is always there it seems and you always have to fight it off. A friend of mine would often respond to people who told him "If you don't go to church it's ok it's not like god is going to be pissed off at you" with "I don't go to church to keep god happy, I go there to make myself happy again." And I think it's a good statement. It's that consistent reminder that you're going to get there, you can do it, keep faith!
Wether or not you believe in god, the point is that drift wood will always be there. You have to find ways to keep that dam from building up, or it will hurt you. Kind of like people say maintainence on a car in the long run saves on the cost of fixing it when it's broke.
The journey to WETA is fun. I've made two contacts that have worked there, two more who know people who have worked there. And I've learned what I need to do. On the drive home (I drove to New Orleans with my coworker) I made a pact with my friend David Martin: Work on creativity and animation during the week, play hard and have fun on the weekends. Just like my old college motto (that we stole from Duke U) ;)
Here's to swimmin against a challenging, but supassable current ;)
- Day 74: What do I have to show for it?!
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- ghrwah
- July 22nd, 23:59
Well. What am I doing to get to WETA?- I finished my demo reel (pass one) and went to the AnimationMentor JobFair
- I toured PIXAR and Dreamworks! Woohoo! Dropped off my demo reel at the job fair and met a lot of cool people
- I made some new contacts with people who worked at WETA and got some good feedback from all of them
- I am now working on my demo reel for pass two for SIGGRAPH this year. I know WETA won't be there (at least so far) but I at least will have a good pass to show my contacts and see what they think (if it's any good?)
- And yeah, I AM going to SIGGRAPH this year in New Orleans! Good networking opportunity so it should be great
- The best part too is I've updated my Resume, Cover Letter and soon I may work on my website but right now I'm focused on just getting the demo reel done first.
- In fact I need to start some new shots. I have written down what I need to do. I need to have some good blocking done by this weekend ;)
Plus I changed my background to an awesome photo of Bag End from a tourist there. It spans both my monitors. So every time I start my comptuer, I know what I'm working towards :D San Francisco was a good trip and it opened a few more doors for me. WETA though. Focusing on that. That's my goal.
And just to keep on with what's going in the world of hobbits....
RENOVATING HOBBITON
Ok back to work :D
- Film Editing with David
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- ghrwah
- July 5th, 23:45
I have been working on my portfolio like crazy. I will update more when the time is right :)
- Day 50: ?
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- ghrwah
- June 28th, 23:51
Kelly is in Aussieland! We miss her.
PIXAR! It's been a hectic month. I've been hard at work on a lot of things... let's go down the list:- I went to a PIXAR masterclass earlier this month! it was of complete awesomeness and I learned quite a bit. Mostly: POLISHING. Polish polish polish. How to take work to the next level. It was a great experience and to top it off, I went to a Cirque du Soliel show "Ovo!" :) I visited old friends, Francine Mangain and Ryan Pickering in Montreal and relished in their wonderful and incredibly busy city. Overall a wonderful experience.
- We had a big discussion at work the following days on polishing. And we took the lessons I learned and reapplied them to our current shots and polished the hell out of them. Admittedly we ran into a ditch...
You can't polish what you don't know- Well, that just made things dandy. So we researched big bulky metal things. Man that was fun! BBCMotion Gallery is the place to be!
- This has also encouraged me to redo my resume (*GASP*) and my CV along with my demo reel. I want to be prepared. I have a deadline of tomorrow night to send it to my Mentors for some feedback. Next deadline is July 8th, because I said so :) And then of course, SIGGRAPH! But from what I gather WETA may not be there. An email will be sent out to verify this... they must have SOME kind of rep there!
- Lastly, I am putting the reel together. I will upload soon. I promise!
Until then, good night :)
- Double Comic Feature!
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- ghrwah
- May 31st, 23:32
Oh damn Kelly :D You've started something. So now I will start to just explore and let out a lot of thoughts, demons, angels, and everything else out in comic form in here. Let us start with the first one. I'm not sure how or where it came from, but it was there. Is it even scary? Who knows, maybe it wasn't supposed to be. But it's there. Strange creature really, but kind of appealing, in a Edward Scissorhands sort of way.
I also am changing the way I draw these. My birthday is litterarly around the corner. As always I try to do something new, different, and ultimately exciting. Something to really get me excited to do what I do! As lately I haven't been happy. Lots of things weigh me down. Even in running I came up with the phrase: Heaviness in mind, heaviness in legs. I could hardly keep pace as I was thinking about events at work. Alas, I got through them!
WETA update? Listened to another podcast. They're quite amazing. I am going to be writing to them pretty soon here as I'm really enjoying what I hear. I'm also going to dig through my contacts for more info on who and what worked there. Also this was interesting. A whole list of people working at WETA. I am going to do my best to contact them and get to know them. Exploit what ever connections I have. I will work there :) I know it. I pray for it!
The last comic? Well that one was for JilL! She is about to embark on a pretty tough exam tomorrow and then palpitate an animal. Yeah. Check about 10 minutes into that video for a piece of Dutch and Pig action...
:)
- Comic and Hobbit: Climbing that Mountain
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- ghrwah
- May 27th, 23:54
happy
Who doesn't feel like they're climbing something impossibly everyday? Jill at least has recieved two B's so far in her classes :D!
Now about WETA. Here's what's up. I'm making progress. A lot of it is centering on self practice. Actual communicating will take place soon. I also am researching New Zealand laws. The base is 3 years. Since I professionally was paid 2 1/2 years ago, I'm going to be pretty close to that mark. By December I'll definately be there (thanks Chad!) Here's what's happened so far:- I've been listening to the WETA podcast quite a bit - learning about how they work and who they are. They're a very relaxed group and they have big exposure at festivals and get togethers. SIGGRAPH is going to be very close to me this year and I believe they will be there. My next steps are to A) email the WETA cast people and ask them questions ;) B) prepare for this coming SIGGRAPH
- I've enrolled in a animation masterclass being held in Montreal. It's a bit of a gift to myself but I will definately add it to the resume. I think exposure to things that will refine my skill will help me at places like WETA. At least to refine my work
- I am about 25% done with refining the reel. I've picked out new shots I want to put in, then the actual refining will occur. I have about two or three passes to go. First pass will be for SIGGRAPH this coming year.
- I made a wetanz.com profile because that is their portal now! Very cool website and you can buy a 250$ Cortana. I love it!
- Working on the Hobbit: Day Four!
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- ghrwah
- May 13th, 23:43
- happy
Not a huge update but an update nonetheless:</p>- I've found two people who've worked at WETA and I am trying to network with them
- I've signed up with TheOneRing.net because they're just an awesome group of people :D
- And I've just read through this. I think it's definately worth the gander. Check it out! Five Reasons Why You Are Not Fulfilling Your Potential
The person who can motivate you, change you and get the most out of you is in the mirror. Build your self-belief. Set yourself clear goals and measure progress against them.
- A Fun Saturday
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- ghrwah
- May 10th, 22:51
- happy
- Working on the Hobbit: Day Zero
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- ghrwah
- May 8th, 23:24
- A solid foundation in realistic facial animation? Yes, I've been animating quite a bit of faces and granted they haven't been humans, they have been intense facial animated scenes.
- Camera and Staging? Definately, I've storyboard experience and experience in laying out my own shots at work.
- High level of polish will come with some of the work we're going to be doing soon at DXD. I'll bide my time on it, but I'm so excited for what we're going to do!
- Maya. I need to learn linux. Time to install Ubuntu on Parallels ( - updated, I did!)
- Debug technical problems? I also double as the generalist at work and am good at rigging, basic MEL and minor rendering, but I have knowledge of the whole pipeline.
- New Zealand immigration law requires that non-resident applicants have at least three years’ feature film experience to qualify for a working visa. Please note that Australian permanent residents/citizens are not required to apply for a NZ work visa
- Now I actually applied to them exactly one year ago:
- Hi David Andrade,
Thank you for expressing an interest in working at Weta Digital. Your material has been
received, and forwarded to the Recruitment Department. This will be held on file for future
reference. They will be in touch directly if there are any potential positions they may wish
to consider you for.
Kind regards -
- Hi David Andrade,
- Exciting right? Well I wrote them back, but I know how it usually goes - to a generic email sender... outter? But we'll see if they write me back. Tomorrow i must fill out the questoinnaire - might as well right?
- This is the level of animation I need to hit. Ignore the beautiful lighting and modeling. I'm talking purely about the acting of the character and the emotions it creates in you
- I believe Jason Schliefer worked on that scene...
Info on the film
- The wikipedia article is fairly up to date thankfully. It has quit a bit on what steps have taken place and what is to come.
- There's also a lot of post by Guillermo del Toro at TheOneRing.net. Pretty exciting!
I've a lot to read these next few... months ;)
- My Dream
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- ghrwah
- May 8th, 22:18
One of the biggest things to ever affect my life was a 10th grade highschool teacher who gave me a copy of the Fellowship of the Ring to read. And from that moment on I never looked back. I love the world Tolkien created. It's filled with everything a venturing young guy would ever want! Strangely clad women in small clothes, lots of war, good food and a few pints to wash it down at night! Sad to say that when I got the book the movies were already well into production. Of course that didn't stop me. I wanted to work on them!
Years of college, training at AnimationMentor and a few jobs later, I'm still pursuing that goal and it's just within my sights. We all know the Hobbit is going to be made. I love the Hobbit. Who doesn't? In the hole in the ground there lived a hobbit were some of the greatest words ever put together I think.
It's been a long time coming and I've kept this little secret to many friends and family of mine, but, I am going to take a risk and let it out in the world. I want to work on the Hobbit. I do.
It started a few days ago really. Thursday in fact. Yesterday! Our editor Zach asked a great question: How far could human potential go? What if you wrote a book in which you gave yourself ONE goal for the entire year and you worked tirelessly that whole year to satisfy that goal? Each chapter of the book would be one year.
I'm going to do it. It had me thinking. It's almost my birthday, just a few months away, where I will be turning twenty four. What do I have to show for it? A lot, but, my one dream...
Well how about realistically? Is it possible? Yes.
- Skills to work on the movie? Check
- Know where to apply etc? Check
- Can I even work in New Zealand? From what I gather the law states I need 3 years of experience. That is tough but, I do have it! As of this summer I would have 3 years of experience. Which is strange to say as I began in the summer of my Senior year by working on a short film. Strange how time flies...
But listen everyone who is stll out there. Everyone and anyone who reads this lovely blog where I post my comics. I want to work on The Hobbit. That is my dream. I'm going to remind myself everyday of this dream. I will get there (and I'll post about it on the way.)
Here goes everything!
Action plan of things to do next:
- Read job description for animators
- Find out as much info about the production schedule as possible
- Reach out to any who have knowledge or experience
- Get my demo reel together and see what I need
- Finish my current job. My current job is great. We had two amazing projects coming up that I want to pour my heart into and I believe the company is going to grow fantastically from them. I'm truly hopeful. I will not abandon them in mid flight! But I will pursue my dream.
- Search forums and stories from those who worked on it for more info
- Visit Jill as she is the bestest female out there!!
I'll see you in New Zealand
