My Little Pony (Stark)

[vejiicakes]

So this semester, a bunch of the other animation/illustration peeps and I took an intro Flash class, which turned out to be.. very very introductory (though that being said, none of us likes/knows how to draw in Flash). Anyway, the newest exercise involved custom mouse cursors, with relevance to the original characters/world we're supposed to be

Comments

[vejiicakes]

My position isn't helped by the fact that some of my other classmates, who have to work just as hard, seem to have no problem doing fun fanstuff >_> (One in particular is joining me at Fanime for the Artist Alley, and she's been working like mad creating stuff to sell there and I'm like.. haven't had new stuff to sell at a con in years XD)

I'm planning on graduating with a BFA, and our department is set up so that you pretty much take and re-take classes over and over until you're ready to be in the BFA program, which covers two semesters, starting in the Fall. It's also where you start creating stuff to include in your professional portfolio, getting more engaged with industry recruiting, etc. Upon completion of the program, you graduate.

Aaaand I didn't want to start it last Fall because I felt so unready (hadn't taken any real 3D animation classes yet, for one..) so right now I'm just kind of waiting for next Fall semester, and trying to improve my animation 'cause I really don't want to be caught with my pants down next time the Dreamworks/Disney/etc recruiters come around the following Spring T_T SO TL;DR, if everything goes according to plan, I should be graduating.. next Spring. Gulp. Anyway, since I live in California, which is pretty much the heartland of the mainstream animation industry in the US, I figure following graduation will be a lengthy process of sending out portfolios everywhere, internships, working at startups to get the studio experience that ALL the big names prefer us to have before starting with them, rinse and repeat...

[terrayndian]

Eh, you can't really compare yourself to others. I see all the crap some other fan writer/artists go through in life and still produce stuff, and yet I knew I wasn't going to get something done in these last months. When you spend time on one thing, you have to give up another thing. I've been going to hockey games and other random things, so I've had time, but the mental energy wasn't there. It happens and there's not much you can do about it, unless you want to give up sleep and push to do fanarts that you'd grow to hate because it took away your sleep. ;)

Ah yes, that sounds very familiar now. I was thinking, however, that the program was starting in the spring for some reason. Maybe it's because you made a comment along the lines that you can't do it in the spring since it only starts in the Fall semester. But hey, kudos to you for taking the extra time to get everything right. When you're not prepared for a course, it really sucks.

Yup, that sounds about right for the job hunting. Are you going to try to do an internship this coming summer, assuming you don't have coursework? Either way, I hope you ultimately find a job you love, no matter where you end up. I have to imagine that the competition is tough, but you have good stuff out there and I'm crossing my fingers for you. It'll be exciting to see where you end up! All you artist-types impress me with what you do and your plans for the future.

[vejiicakes]

Goooood point, having the time but not the energy :) Although I haven't been kept up awake with fanart in years either--I attribute my average 4 hrs of sleep nightly wholly to schoolwork and some procrastination T_T

I still haven't put together an animation reel, and actually right NOW (a month or two ago, really) is about when the big industry names were taking submissions for summer internships, so you see what I mean about being caught with my pants down ^_^;; Actually, after working on three student animated shorts last summer and then the Cinequest trailer over Winter Break, I got to thinking that the short animated movie I wanted to do as a personal project might actually be a possibility. So I was thinking I could do THAT over the summer instead.. only it sounds like a lot of the available animation workforce might already have summer plans on another student film (and they've also asked me to animate for THEM), so there's some conflict there. BUUUUT my professor's offered to create a class in the coming fall semester for me to set up my team and get my movie made that way! Upside: a sure workforce and the help of a prof to manage the team. Downside: I'll be starting the BFA, and my team won't be able to dedicate as much time/care to the work as they might over the summer. Decisions, decisions, summer or fall...

[terrayndian]

Eh, but any procrastination at this point in your education is probably due to burn-out. It's hard to believe the amount of work you have to put out for some of these projects.

A-ah yes, that kind of sucks to be caught unprepared like that. I've been in that position where I thought I had all the time in the world, and then it's suddenly a couple months later and I missed the chance to get everything done. Well, best of luck getting something together for your personal project. Can you overlap some summer work with the extra fall class? Maybe do most of your work in the summer to take some pressure off you with that BFA stuff, and yet still have the dedicated team in the fall to put everything together in a final version? Or does it simply not work like that?

[vejiicakes]

LOL I'll take that XD

And you know, I have no idea if the requirements of the independent study class (that's what my film would be set up as in the Fall) demand that you take it from pre-production into post within the class, or if I can get as much out of the way in the summer as I can. Though I did consider that, and after talking to some of the animators who I'd prefer to work on the film AND who the other student film doesn't seem to have on their team (yet), they've agreed that summer would be a way better time for them to work on it. That certainly seems like a smarter way to go about it--get all the visual development and maybe some of the more complex shots under way, and then undoubtedly there'll still be unfinished stuff once Fall semester starts... I'll see if I can run with that! :)

Anyway, how's professional/work/fan life treating you? I see you've got your latest shipped out to the betas (congrats!) in spite of the efforts of your crazy work hours and studying to keep you busy and drained! Are you.. a machine...!? :O

[terrayndian]

*laugh* You are too hard on yourself. You know that, right? ;)

That sounds like an awesome option if you can do parts over the summer, especially if that works for some of the animators. And it's not like there wouldn't be plenty of work for an independent study after that. At least, from all of the bonus features I've seen on animation related movies, they always seem to talk about how they could continue working on the film for years if they didn't have to actually release the thing.

And that is so interesting how integrated everything is in your field. It makes perfect sense, of course, but I didn't think about how many people would be needed to create something that is still technically school-related. I think that it's awesome how you all rely on each other, for better and worse I'm certain, but it's still amazing.

*laugh!* Hardly a machine, trust me. January was crazy with the amount of crap I was doing, but things have steadily slowed down since then, thus the reason I was able to hammer out a good 12,000 words to finish that OWS chapter in the last month. Work is back to a no-overtime policy, my exams are blessedly done, and even hockey is over with as of yesterday (well, live hockey)... So yeah, it's pretty slow right now and a perfect time to write. But sadly, that means I'm in a limbo state right now. My current work place won't promote me to a more suited position because they consider me a short-timer who passed the CPA exams and therefore won't be there longer than another couple of weeks. Meanwhile, the public accounting firms I'm applying to (I need public accounting experience for my official certification) are all telling me that they don't hire entry level until fall. That means I'm stuck in a really boring position until I find a job elsewhere, and who knows when the Hell that will actually happen. It's frustrating, but for now, I'm taking advantage of my extra time to write. Heck, there's going to be nothing to do at work for May, so I'll probably even start writing there, too. ;p