It's been a why since i last posted. I've been working on a lot of different things all at once! Trying to get scholarships to gather and internships and trying to finish a film. AHHHHH!!

This was the character design assignment from last week. We had to have a kid in 1958 turning on a tv and something comes out of the screen to scare him. I looked up the tv shows that were on at the time, and i saw Alfred Hitchcock was on and i couldn't think of anything scarier then him floating out of my tv.

This was this week's character design assignment. We had to redesign Silver from Treasure planet and his sidekick.

This one was my favorite of all of the passes i did on it. I figured the stove would be french and uptight to contrast Silver's hearty pirate personality.

Assignment: A scene with three characters at a carnival ring toss.

Story assignment: Have your character go through a gate but stretch the timing out over the course of 50 panels or more.

Brickfish Social Media: Wet City Lights

Brickfish Social Media: Wet City Lights

Please vote!!! I could use your support!

So you want to get into Calarts huh?

We are now in the second semester of my second year, and already the pressure is on to complete our films fill our scholarship applications and get our portfolios and resumes sent out for internships. I've been experiencing a lot of growth this year as an artist and I have a lot more experience with the school. I think it's time i give back a little to the Calarts hopefuls. I'm going to start a list. A list of what you might ask? Well a list of stuff that i wish someone had told me before i came here. So many things about my first year experience could have gone been way better if i had known these things. I will update this list as things come to me but here is the start

1) Get a way to make your own coffee:
Hands down the most useful gift i received this Christmas was a french press coffee mug. You are going to need coffee to power through the long nights and sometimes to get through the day (if you aren't addicted to the stuff now you will be). But the school cafeteria is only open from 8-7 and the coffee machine downstairs costs a dollar a cup. Both of these sources for Joe are not that strong either. Getting a system so you can brew your own coffee is, in the end, cheaper, tastier, and more caffeintastic.

2) For your first year don't worry about making a GREAT film. Just make a film.
I can't tell you how many people come in here with epics in mind for there first year. How many have it in their head that they are going to get into the producers show every year. They get caught up in the details of story and designs and other details and then they don't finish a film. Or they do finish a film but because they chose to cram an epic into 90 secs it seems rushed. Your freshman year is about making a film. Just pick something that you can complete, and have fun with. Don't worry about getting into the producers show. Worry about making a film.

3) Sketch
Make time to sketch. It's as simple as that

4) Make a portfolio folder
As you do homework assignments and draw on your own, make sure you have a place to put the assignments that you want to put in your job portfolio where they won't get ruined. My advice would be to scan them and put them in a folder on your computer. That way you are not frantically running all over the place trying to find where you put that character design assignment from January.

5) Don't pull an "all-nighter"
There is a difference between working hard and working efficiently. A lot of people use the "all-nighter" as bragging rights to show how much they worked, and how passionate they are. DON'T FALL INTO THIS TRAP. You don't need to pull "all-nighter"s to get work done, in fact they can do more harm then good. How efficient do you work when you are tired. I knew people that would pull all-nighter's but then they would either not have much of anything done in the morning, or they would have to redo what it was they worked on. Get sleep! It is your friend. It's healthy. Besides the mornings are the best times to work because no one is here.

6) Schedule in breaks:
This kinda goes with the number 5, but you can't be working all the time. Put times in your schedule where you force yourself to take a break. but schedule it. This makes it so you know that there is a time for work and a time for relaxing and prevents you from mixing the two. With this you can work more efficiently and also reduce your stress.

7) Take an English 101 class
Get your English 101 credit done with before you get here. Don't listen to Calarts about taking "writing arts" here. It is not as valuable as they will make it seem. It is a pain in the butt to have to write a paper every week and work on your film.

8) To get anything done with the administration you'll need to ask more then three times.

That's it for now, I'll add more as i think of things.

One Day Sculpture

We tried something new in sculpture class this week and made sculptures using Wed Clay. Wed clay was the stuff i used when i was in elementary and middle school and so it was very cool to go back to it. The Last stuff i remember sculpting with it was a ceramic pot and some pieces for the nativity scene at my house. Wed clay is usually finished by putting it in a kiln but can also air dry so you need to get out your idea pretty fast. We did these sculptures in one class session and it was really fun. The clay was great to work with and really allowed us to get organic forms. I'm really happy with the way the anatomy turned out! And my mom (a prof in anatomy at UNM) thought it was really good too, but she also now thinks i'm possessed by a demon myself, because of the character i made. Come on mom it's just a sculpture!

This was the latest assignment for Character Design Class. We had to have a oval talking to a square character trying to convince him about something.

This piece is a my interpretation of the Joker, one of the best villains ever. I wanted to put my own spin on it, and i think it turned out pretty good

My film is going good. I'm a little bit behind but i'm catching up fast. I got my dialogue down to 2 min and thirty sec and i'm now timing out my animatic (taking a break right now to update the blog). I also have the first puppet done and i've done some test animation with him. It looks pretty good and animating him goes pretty fast. I'll try and upload the test sometime soon.