Not Dead Update

Heyo! NOT DEAD! Just been busy with work and other life stuff got in the way such as a cousin from California that dropped by and we brought him everywhere.

Here's a little bit of what I've been up to at Tinman! 

One of the projects I get to work on is the next episode of Super Science Friends and in this month's animation update it features a good chunk of the FX work I've been doing on the show (and a hilarious scene from the episode). All of the FX, except when Tesla gets angry and all super saiyan, is mine! I also did some character posing for the episode at first and also character animation. Anyway enjoy!

Tindraws

"Horror movies/games" 

So I did the spitter from Left 4 Dead 2!

"Unicorns" 

Self explanatory. 

"British television shows"

I was going to do one of Black Mirror but instead did Utopia because no one knows of Utopia, which is partly why it got cancelled. I recommend you check it out, one of the few television shows that had great cinematography and use of colour. Not to mention such an amazing one of a kind soundtrack.

BONUS Benedict Cucumberpatch. After a friend and I were discussing how weird it was to draw him I did a quick 15 second scribble of him that I ended up liking haha.

Tindraws

One month into the internship and I'm liking it so far! Tinman does a weekly drawing theme dubbed "Tindraws". So far I've participated in 3 of them so here they are! Check out Tinman's facebook page where they post the Tindraws every friday!

https://www.facebook.com/TinmanCreativeStudios

"Sonic"

This theme had so many hilarious contributions.

"Indie Comic Characters"

I did Lis from Bryan Lee O'Malley's Seconds.

"Questionable Fashion Trends"

Decided to draw those 90's windbreakers that I remember seeing all the time and are now faded into obscurity. Referenced some boy band haircuts for this guys hair.

I'M A TINTERN!

I'll be interning at Tinman Creative Studios this summer and I start tomorrow!

It's a small studio located literally right next to the Exhibition GO train stop, it's like a 2 minute walk from it. They have created a lot of web content including their recent web series Super Science Friends which is a series about a group of famous scientists with super powers led by Winston Churchill. Check it out the first episode here. And here's a link to their website:

http://tinman.tv/

I haven't really announced it anywhere since I got the job at the beginning of March (actually it was the day Zootopia came out because I remember watching it to celebrate). But since I'll be starting tomorrow I guess it was time to post it! I'm also lucky enough to be interning with a group of really close friends so I'm super excited to start. I can't wait to see what this summer holds.

And alas here's my portfolio and demo reel that I used to get in! 

http://animation.sheridanc.on.ca/portfolio/2017/riverama/

(oh boy some of these stuff are already outdated haha)

And if you're wondering I did receive one other interview from another studio the same week Tinman had interviewed me. I had not received any interviews or offers prior to those two. I learned a lot about portfolios and what studios were looking for in interns. So here's a list of things that I learned in the process!

• YOU'RE A STUDENT. First and foremost you're a student. Take advantage of it. Studios are looking for amazing artists and animators, but in the end you're a student. They aren't expecting the best in order to replace their animation supervisor or art director, they're looking for someone that can do the job that they're going to ask you to do. But if your stuff ends up looking top notch even better! You're not going to be in a higher position since you're an intern for 4 months, so don't assume your portfolio needs to be filled with experience. Studios know that the majority of students don't have industry experience, but if you do that's a bonus! You're doing an internship to GET experience so don't sweat that you don't have much relevant experience, they know.
• The demo reel may be the only thing they see. One studio only looked at my demo reel and nothing else, while the other ended up contacting me directly through my email that I had only listed on my resumé and not through my school's job board. As someone who was looking for an animation internship, my demo reel and the order in which scenes appeared was crucial. Generally (not a rule) the order would be:
  
  
  BEST > SECOND BEST > AWESOME STUFF IN THE MIDDLE > THIRD BEST
  
  

  Your demo reel must CONSISTENTLY BE GREAT WORK YOU'VE DONE that showcases what you are capable of doing and your interests. The end of my demo reel has that Mr. Fairway walk cycle that many industry people responded positively to, so at one point I moved it very early in my demo reel and showed it to more people. They then said to have something at the end to make sure they're hooked IF they watched it all the way through, some don't and that's important to know. So I ended up returning the walk cycle at the end and got the same good feedback as before! I rearranged my demo reel so many times until I was satisfied with it. There were a few pieces that I was hesitant to put in but industry people ended up liking those ones the most, so never doubt your instincts! If YOU think it's good it probably is. And just a few more notes about the demo reel:
  
  -MAXIMUM 1 MINUTE. IT CAN BE LESS. I just had enough stuff to show off and most relied on dialogue, I've seen people with 30 second demo reels and less. SHOW YOUR BEST. Don't add anything bad because that could even alter their decision on you!
  - Rough animation? That's fine! You're a student! Pretty much all the industry people I've shown my demo reel to did not care that some of the stuff I had were not clean. Just make sure your performance is CLEAR. I asked them if they did and every single one said the same similar thing, "We're looking for the performance and how clear it is, not how pretty it looks." But don't take this advice as truth, guaranteed when you're a professional in the industry, something like this would not fly with companies.
  
  
• Be good at more than one thing, but not everything. In both my interviews and portfolio reviews with other studios, I discovered that studios want people who are versatile. If you're a one man show, the moment your job is done you'll be out of work and useless to the team. Being good at two or three things is best. This doesn't mean you need to be good at animation and layout, look at the subcategories in those skills. For myself I had stated my main interest lies in character animation, lip sync and enjoy broad cartoony acting. As for my other skill, I said I am currently practicing and enjoy doing SFX animation ever since doing it on Cuphead. If you say you like everything, then you're unsure of what your skills are, making studios unsure of where to put you. They want people who know what they want and what they do. Have a clear direction of what you want to do. Although, just like with everything I've been writing here there are exceptions. There are some studios that just want someone who can do one thing really well. I found that being capable of doing other things allowed me to apply to more jobs. In both interviews, both companies had pointed out when I mentioned also doing special FX animations and one of which asked for my resume to write a note down that I did FX citing that every company is always in need of FX animators.
• Be yourself in interviews. The biggest thing I dreaded the most was the interviews. I hate them and I'm not good at them. Each company has their own way of deciding if an interview went well or badly, so I can't really chime in on that aspect. All you need to know is that the interview means they like your work, now they want to see how cool you are. I'm not joking. So be cool, be yourself. Animation companies tend to be so relaxed and inviting. They have the same interests as you, so just act like you normally would and treat it as a conversation. So relax and have fun, 15-30 minutes goes by in a flash.

I hope this advice helps! Heck, I'm still learning the process! If I think of any more advice I will update this post.

Cuphead at PAX East!

New gameplay and features check it out!

THAT'S A WRAP!

The premiere went really well! Watching all those films on the big screen was exhilarating. Our film showed first since we usually were the last ones to screen throughout the year as we were the last group. 

The moment I saw our logo my heart sank and freaked out expecting the worse: sound not working, a scene was coloured wrong, we forgot and didn't animate a scene, ANYTHING. Considering my group always got the short end of the stick throughout the year and we had a huge technical error the day of handing in the film so were the last ones to submit, it wasn't so bizarre of me to be extremely worried. But just a couple of scenes later that feeling went away and I was completely engrossed in our own film and the crowd watching it. 

Hearing their reactions with "ooh"s and "aaah"s, laughs and "WHOA!"s felt so great to hear. The response and feedback afterwards were even better which have been very positive so far! They were also usually accompanied by "that was really ambitious...". We were crazy enough to do what we did and we managed to deliver. 

During our screening we also voted on best film and MVPs from each group and I was voted the MVP for our group! After the screening I felt such a rush of emotions and relief as the year was done. The past 8 months culminated into that one moment and it was grand. After navigating past the large crowd outside the screening room for the public showing afterwards, we all went into the studio and took photos with our mentors and groups. It was great, everyone was excited, pumped, and overall happy. The gloom that set in the studio the past week or two was gone and everyone was just happy everything turned out fine. All the films in my year turned out amazing and I'm proud of what everyone managed to create! Congrats to everyone, it's been such a great year!

To my Kaleidoscope Studios team, I couldn't have asked for a better ragtag group of awesome people to work with. Even though I didn't know most of them at the beginning of the year, it was a pleasure to work with them, learn from them, and get to know them. They were like my second family this year and I'm glad we accomplished something great.

Here's some photos from that day!

Kaleidoscope Studios team with mentor Tony Tarantini! Missing: Alyssa Bucholtz.

From the screening:

Me in the top right descending the stairs to join the other MVPs!

***

As for the film, it won't be posted online in a while! When? Not sure. Submitting in festival perhaps?? Got to get that composer thing worked out though in the meantime. Look forward to seeing it when it does go online! One more showing at Sheridan is this tuesday April 26 at 10am in S235 if you have the chance!

I will also make a post about my experience during the third year film production sometime soon as well as post the art that I've done for the film! Stay tuned!

3rd Year Sheridan Animation Premiere is TODAY!

I'm super excited and nervous at the same time! After 8 months on the project the film is finally done! I will write about the experience after all of this cools down. But get hyped for those that can watch it today at 5:45 in J102!

Here are two screenshots from the film to whet your appetite!

The bottom one is a scene I animated! Get excited!

Also here's a bonus! Dom Corbett made an awesome drawing of the cast of the film at the premiere!

Not Dead But Hanging In There

Haven't posted in a while. Don't worry I'm not dead...sort of. Just extremely overwhelmed at the moment with the group film production and having to stay late or overnight at the studio this past week. It's going to be handed in this tuesday and screened on April the 21! So get excited for those that can make it to the screening at school.

Here's a little poster made by my story teacher with a fun Taylor Swift quote with the schedule:

Also check out our blog again at http://kaleidoscopestudios.tumblr.com/ for some neat behind the scenes stuff going on during crunch week!

Get hyped! Now back to work I gooooooo!