I stopped by Ryan Woodward's office this Tuesday. (He's one of the directors of the BYU animation department.) The first thing I did after getting my rejection letter was email him, asking him when I could meet with him and go over my portfolio and get some pointers. He responded by saying he'd have his schedule posted outside his door the second week of the semester, and we'd go from there.
Well, I went to his door, and there was no schedule. I went to the visual arts department office and got his office hours, and found out he had open time to talk with students on Tuesdays from 12pm - 2pm. So I lugged my 18"x24" figure drawings and my sketchbook to the 5th floor of the HFAC.
When I knocked, he opened up and I could see that he was busy. I told him the whole story about how I wanted to meet with him and reminded him about my email, and he told me "You know, we have 90 pre-animation students at this school, and 70 who are in the program, we just don't have time to meet with all of them." What? Is he turning me away? But I didn't just turn around in humble defeat. I asked some more questions, when he realized that I was serious. He said, "Well, you came all this way, and got all dressed up" (I was wearing a shirt and tie for work that afternoon) "...let me see what you've got.
>Yes!<
He gave me some really good advice. He pointed out the things in my sketchbook that he liked, and told me that I basically need a sketchbook full of that stuff. He also told me about a couple of classes to take in the winter, a Drawing for Animators class and another Figure Drawing class that would focus more on gesture drawings.
So, not all hope is lost. That conversation got me more excited for April. The sun has not set on my animation chances yet!
I do think that I'll go ahead with some of my plan B stuff anyway. I think I'm going to double minor in Spanish and communications. I was doing the research...minoring in something is so easy! I only have two more classes to get the Spanish minor. Might as well minor in something else.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Biting Satire
When I was a junior in high school, I had a class called Mentorship. The idea was to go to an actual job related to my future career and basically follow someone around and learn the day-to-day life.
Mrs. Johnson hooked me up with Tom at The Dalles Chronicle, the local newspaper for the Columbia River Gorge. I typed for him, wrote some articles, even did a little reporting...but mostly I drew cartoons.
At this time in The Dalles history (2003-2004), the proposal to merge School Districts 9 and 12 was voted on and approved, and so the following year there would be one high school in The Dalles. I was deathly afraid of the idea, of basically moving to another school my senior year. After putting in my time at Wahtonka High School for three years, I was anticipating the payoff my last year. I hated the idea of starting all over with a passion.
The rest of the story is that, after a few clever but whiney cartoons during junior year, I finally decided I'd better make the most of it. Right before junior year ended we did some activities with the other school where we got to meet each other. The ASB officers (Sarah Clark, Sarah Harmon, Laurel Sprouse, Dylan Higgins, Paul Wagenblast, and myself) had the right idea in trying to include everybody. And then, once the school year started, I made so many good friends who I keep in close contact with four years later.
The high schools merging was probably one of the greatest things that ever happened to me.
Go figure.
Anyway, here are some of those cartoons.
This was my first cartoon on the subject. (My signature's highlighted because moms like to do that sort of thing when they scrapbook.)
This is my favorite. (Although it may not be very accurate. While I was whining about the school merger, most of the kids were probably apathetic or didn't mind.)
Mrs. Johnson hooked me up with Tom at The Dalles Chronicle, the local newspaper for the Columbia River Gorge. I typed for him, wrote some articles, even did a little reporting...but mostly I drew cartoons.
At this time in The Dalles history (2003-2004), the proposal to merge School Districts 9 and 12 was voted on and approved, and so the following year there would be one high school in The Dalles. I was deathly afraid of the idea, of basically moving to another school my senior year. After putting in my time at Wahtonka High School for three years, I was anticipating the payoff my last year. I hated the idea of starting all over with a passion.
The rest of the story is that, after a few clever but whiney cartoons during junior year, I finally decided I'd better make the most of it. Right before junior year ended we did some activities with the other school where we got to meet each other. The ASB officers (Sarah Clark, Sarah Harmon, Laurel Sprouse, Dylan Higgins, Paul Wagenblast, and myself) had the right idea in trying to include everybody. And then, once the school year started, I made so many good friends who I keep in close contact with four years later.
The high schools merging was probably one of the greatest things that ever happened to me.
Go figure.
Anyway, here are some of those cartoons.
This was my first cartoon on the subject. (My signature's highlighted because moms like to do that sort of thing when they scrapbook.)
This is my favorite. (Although it may not be very accurate. While I was whining about the school merger, most of the kids were probably apathetic or didn't mind.)
One of the downsides to this high school merger is that both high schools would jump up in the OSAA levels. Wahtonka was a 2-A school, and The Dalles was a 3-A school. Upon merging, we barely became a 4-A school. That meant playing schools way bigger than us and it would take some getting used to.
As expected, football and boys' basketball struggled (the two teams I happened to play on my senior year). But the girls did pretty awesome. Volleyball almost made it to playoffs, and softball had an impressive season as well. Way to defy expectations, girls.
One with a holiday theme.
Wow, I just flat-out said stuff back then.
Even though there is a lot to figure out in merging two school districts, two high schools and two middle schools, it seemed like the loudest problem was the new school's name, mascot and colors. That might sound silly, but I thought it was important because that was one thing that the students could decide all on their own. I wouldn't leave a school district's budget up to 17-year-olds, but the school's identity could be up to us.
There was a vote between the students...I can no longer remember all of the results but I do remember that, through my selfish and whiney point of view, they were unfair. The school colors chosen were red and silver...awfully similar to The Dalles' crimson and gray, wouldn't you think?
It didn't matter anyway, because the new school board ignored that and came up with their own solution. "The Dalles Wahtonka Union High School," "Eagle Indians," and crimson and gold (crimson from The Dalles and gold from Wahtonka). I couldn't believe it when I first read that in the paper. But it seems like everyone's used to it now. (The "Union" was dropped just as we were used to the rhythm of saying "The Dalles Wahtonka Union High School.")
Later during my senior year I remember a conversation with Maddie Priest. The year before, when she was at The Dalles and I was at Wahtonka, she didn't know me but she had seen my cartoons and was looking forward to the day when I would quit whining. Maddie, your prophecy was fulfilled.
One of the problems with merging the two high schools was that building a new campus was years and millions of dollars away. So they decided on all the freshmen in the city going to the Wahtonka campus, and everyone else going to The Dalles campus. My sister Kandis was there at Wahtonka for that first year, and it sounded like a constant nightmare, just having the freshmen all by themselves on the other end of town. But it sounds like things have calmed down.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Good News For People Who Like Bad News
...I didn't get in.
I guess, despite my love and talent for drawing, I don't quite have what they're looking for. There's more formal, academic, official progress to make. I've been able to grant any requests for drawings my whole life, but I need to push myself. Nothing's stopping me yet. I can try again next April, and I'm planning on it.
But being rejected twice now does change things. It chips away at my credibility as a future animator. Even though I have some big fans of my drawings, I'm just kind of a shmo until it actually gets me somewhere. So far I'm just a guy who likes to draw cartoons to entertain himself and occasionally his friends. It's like I'm not legitimate yet.
Man, all this just makes me look like a wannabe. Oh well. Whatever I look like to the outside world, I'm sticking to what I learned from PBS Kids and I'm following my dream. However pathetic it appears to my programmed-to-be-cynical, coming-of-age peers. (I make it sound like I face a lot of resistance, but so far I've had nothing but support from my friends.)
Until April, I don't have much else to do other than to just draw a lot. I think I've exhausted BYU's supply of resources available to me as a pre-animation major. So I'll meet with some of the heads of the department and get some coaching. Other than that, I'm on my own. :S
P.S.: Also, after being rejected twice, it calls for at least thinking about plan B. Lots of ideas are swirling around in my head, most of them exciting and all of them scary. They can all be filed under two categories: 1) get into something else that I like/that I'm good at, or 2) get into the animation program at another school.
I guess, despite my love and talent for drawing, I don't quite have what they're looking for. There's more formal, academic, official progress to make. I've been able to grant any requests for drawings my whole life, but I need to push myself. Nothing's stopping me yet. I can try again next April, and I'm planning on it.
But being rejected twice now does change things. It chips away at my credibility as a future animator. Even though I have some big fans of my drawings, I'm just kind of a shmo until it actually gets me somewhere. So far I'm just a guy who likes to draw cartoons to entertain himself and occasionally his friends. It's like I'm not legitimate yet.
Man, all this just makes me look like a wannabe. Oh well. Whatever I look like to the outside world, I'm sticking to what I learned from PBS Kids and I'm following my dream. However pathetic it appears to my programmed-to-be-cynical, coming-of-age peers. (I make it sound like I face a lot of resistance, but so far I've had nothing but support from my friends.)
Until April, I don't have much else to do other than to just draw a lot. I think I've exhausted BYU's supply of resources available to me as a pre-animation major. So I'll meet with some of the heads of the department and get some coaching. Other than that, I'm on my own. :S
P.S.: Also, after being rejected twice, it calls for at least thinking about plan B. Lots of ideas are swirling around in my head, most of them exciting and all of them scary. They can all be filed under two categories: 1) get into something else that I like/that I'm good at, or 2) get into the animation program at another school.
Monday, August 11, 2008
(by the way...)
By the way, there's a lot more in my sketchbook to show off too. But the sketchbook is a part of the animation portfolio that is currently in the possession of the BYU animation department. So we'll have to hang on for a little while longer.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
The Ones That Made The Cut
Last Friday was the big day. Here are the ten figure drawings that I turned in. (They were on 18"x24" paper, so they were too big to scan. The next best thing was to take pictures of them with my digital camera, but they don't look that great...pretend that the lighting is more uniform.)
So now, I just wait a couple of weeks until I hear from the animation department.
My portfolio is a lot neater and more professional this time around. I'm way more proud of it. I'm thinking that if I was close enough in April that they asked me to try again, this should be enough to push me past 'good enough.' The factor that could work against me though is that the competition is different. I'll be up against possibly 12 other students who were asked to reapply, plus transfer students from other schools. And this is for eight spots in the program.
Everybody, cross your fingers.
Friday, July 18, 2008
The Adventures of Cosmo the Cougar
This was our final assignment. It was a frustrating process (so frustrating that at one point I gave up and did an entirely different - and lame - cartoon), and there are still some flaws to be corrected (the burrito seems to float instead of fall)...but it still makes me laugh.
Flour Sack
The next level up from a bouncing ball. It still squashes and stretches, but it also anticipates and arcs and follows through...and has a bit more personality.
Ball Bounce
This was my first assignment in Introduction to Animation. It's a little dark, but I promise, it's there. You may have to adjust the settings on your computer monitor.
Approaching Crunch Time
Round 2 of "J.J. Tries To Get Into The BYU Animation Program" is looking promising. I feel like I'm more ready, and even more serious about it than I was in April. It's like I'm doing it for real this time. It excites me more than it racks my nerves. (I just hope that all means something.)
My sketchbook now shows great improvement. Since April I've been virtually 100% exclusive in only drawing from real life, from what surrounds me. There was a bit of a critical/self-realization phase, something akin to asking myself at every turn in a Chandler Bing voice, "Do I even know how to draw?" I didn't let that self-deprecation last for long (as it easily and usually does). Instead I just entered another realm of drawing.
I no longer doodled characters that only exist in my mind, or laid down a haphazard array of lines that somehow met the non-premeditated goal of becoming something recognizable. I paid more attention to the forms, lines and shapes in reality. It was like bringing to light something I had always known. I mean, I always knew that Popeye's arms were anatomically backwards. I always had an idea of what the human body looks like. I guess it's just that most of my life, I skipped the academics and went straight for the cartoons. Since working on my animation portfolio more since April, I've taken a step back to actually study drawing. I guess having drawn since I was born has its backfire potential.
Figure drawings are mostly the best of times as opposed to the worst of times. Sometimes I wonder how some of my drawings ended up so bad. But usually the more academic training, forcing myself to slow down and to not finish a drawing as fast as humanly possible, and better tools and equipment have already caused a drastic turnaround in my figure drawing collection. By the time I apply to the animation program in August, I should have all new, more professional drawings that will at least be decent and respectable.
The actual animations that I made in my Introduction to Animation class won't undergo any changes. Not that they're perfect, but they do illustrate the animation techniques that I learned and they are well-done. Plus, I don't have the same access to the animation lab anymore. (Hey, I wonder if I can put those cartoons on this blog...)
The written portion of my portfolio - wherein I describe myself and my animation goals, give five story ideas, and list ten of my recent media influences - is almost updated. When I applied in April, I didn't have much as far as media influences go because I had only been back from my mission for four months. But since April I've been able to read other books besides The Book of Mormon, instead of my top ten list consisting almost entirely of movies.
Here is the current top 10 (in no particular order):
1. Wall-E
2. Ratatouille
3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
4. The Odyssey
5. The Star Wars movies
6. Vertigo
7. National Treasure and National Treasure II
8. The Lord of the Rings movies
9. Walter Rane paintings
10. The Book of Mormon
And I'm giving my story ideas list a makeover. In my list back in April, I was really struggling to come up with stuff. Example: one of my five ideas was a Catcher in the Rye movie, which would be a dream of mine, but a) probably not a good candidate for an animated film, and b) I am most certainly not the first person to come up with the idea (there is most likely already a Hollywood team that is ready to pounce on the film rights once J.D. Salinger is gone). I've got a couple simpler ideas instead. I'm still trying to think of a fifth story idea...so far I'm brainstorming something Argentine.
Wow, I didn't know I had so much to say. Any of you who aren't really in the know when it comes to animation or drawing, I probably just gave you a bunch of unnecessary details. And for any of you who are into animation or drawing, I probably just bored you to tears and elicited under-the-breath comments of "Pfft...amateur."
Anyway, borrowing from Disney's Robin Hood, it's July 18th, and all's well.
My sketchbook now shows great improvement. Since April I've been virtually 100% exclusive in only drawing from real life, from what surrounds me. There was a bit of a critical/self-realization phase, something akin to asking myself at every turn in a Chandler Bing voice, "Do I even know how to draw?" I didn't let that self-deprecation last for long (as it easily and usually does). Instead I just entered another realm of drawing.
I no longer doodled characters that only exist in my mind, or laid down a haphazard array of lines that somehow met the non-premeditated goal of becoming something recognizable. I paid more attention to the forms, lines and shapes in reality. It was like bringing to light something I had always known. I mean, I always knew that Popeye's arms were anatomically backwards. I always had an idea of what the human body looks like. I guess it's just that most of my life, I skipped the academics and went straight for the cartoons. Since working on my animation portfolio more since April, I've taken a step back to actually study drawing. I guess having drawn since I was born has its backfire potential.
Figure drawings are mostly the best of times as opposed to the worst of times. Sometimes I wonder how some of my drawings ended up so bad. But usually the more academic training, forcing myself to slow down and to not finish a drawing as fast as humanly possible, and better tools and equipment have already caused a drastic turnaround in my figure drawing collection. By the time I apply to the animation program in August, I should have all new, more professional drawings that will at least be decent and respectable.
The actual animations that I made in my Introduction to Animation class won't undergo any changes. Not that they're perfect, but they do illustrate the animation techniques that I learned and they are well-done. Plus, I don't have the same access to the animation lab anymore. (Hey, I wonder if I can put those cartoons on this blog...)
The written portion of my portfolio - wherein I describe myself and my animation goals, give five story ideas, and list ten of my recent media influences - is almost updated. When I applied in April, I didn't have much as far as media influences go because I had only been back from my mission for four months. But since April I've been able to read other books besides The Book of Mormon, instead of my top ten list consisting almost entirely of movies.
Here is the current top 10 (in no particular order):
1. Wall-E
2. Ratatouille
3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
4. The Odyssey
5. The Star Wars movies
6. Vertigo
7. National Treasure and National Treasure II
8. The Lord of the Rings movies
9. Walter Rane paintings
10. The Book of Mormon
And I'm giving my story ideas list a makeover. In my list back in April, I was really struggling to come up with stuff. Example: one of my five ideas was a Catcher in the Rye movie, which would be a dream of mine, but a) probably not a good candidate for an animated film, and b) I am most certainly not the first person to come up with the idea (there is most likely already a Hollywood team that is ready to pounce on the film rights once J.D. Salinger is gone). I've got a couple simpler ideas instead. I'm still trying to think of a fifth story idea...so far I'm brainstorming something Argentine.
Wow, I didn't know I had so much to say. Any of you who aren't really in the know when it comes to animation or drawing, I probably just gave you a bunch of unnecessary details. And for any of you who are into animation or drawing, I probably just bored you to tears and elicited under-the-breath comments of "Pfft...amateur."
Anyway, borrowing from Disney's Robin Hood, it's July 18th, and all's well.
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