When Facing Fear, get Inspired!

Reunited with an Old Friend!

 

 

Vintage Garfield T-shirts - circa 1988

Whilst clearing out a load of long forgotten junk, I stumbled across these little beauties; my treasured Garfield t-shirts I used to wear as a kid.

I used to be obsessed with Garfield. I had all the books and comics, spent hours drawing out my favourite Garfield characters and making cutouts for my bedroom wall. I used watch Garfield and Friends repeatedly on TV. I.was.obsessed.

I couldn't let them go to charity, had to keep them and thought I'd share here. Garfield's creator, Jim Davis, really inspired me to draw when I was kid...so perhaps if it wasn't for him and his beloved Garfield creation, I might not be where I am today, vying for a career in Animation. Garfield rocks!

Paperman! Paperman! Paperman!

I just saw the new Disney Short, to be screened before the UK's eagerly anticipated release of Wreck It Ralph...Paperman.

Ok, WOW! It lives up to the high quality standard we've come to expect from the Disney shorts. Sublime animation, beautiful music and perhaps more importantly, a gripping and gorgeous story!

Enjoy...

Draw!

Alex, my tutor at Animation Apprentice, is a very inspirational guy. He, along with many other animators, are passionate about drawing. Which as an apprentice, passionate about drawing too, is a very affirming thing to know; that your tutor trusts the very core skills of an animator, drawing, especially as a creative outlet. It doesn't matter if you're not very good at drawing, the most important thing is that you do it.

This blog, which he added recently solidifies this idea brilliantly: In Praise of Sketchbooks

I'm famous!

I forgot to mention...I'm famous! Well, that is, my tutor Alex has blogged about me.

A few years ago, I got a job working on the West End musical, Rent. I told Alex about it, and he was so impressed by how I got the job, he blogged about it.

You can read the article here: The animation student who created his own job



...I'm also celebrating 7 years with my other-half today...so hurrahs all round :)

I love this Show Reel!

Whilst browsing show reels online, I came across this gem by animator, Erica Pinto. It was really the first scene that caught my attention, as I'm a massive fan of TV show, 30Rock. I think Erica has captured the characters beautifully - I love the attention to detail, such as the little glasses bounce.

One day, I hope to be as gifted as Erica. Check out more of her work here.

Edinburgh Fringe Inspiration

I've been away for a few days at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Absolutely amazing. I've seen some cracking stuff...and also some naff stuff. Most importantly, I've been very inspired. A lot of things I saw made me think "that would make a good piece of animation" or "that was a really comical face expression" or "that walk would make a brilliant animated character".

Got lots of work to catch up on though, but I'm getting there.

Looking through my blog, I haven't told you the good news - at Escape, we've started rotating desks! It's the small things. But, what this means is that I won't be able to see the board for only a 1/3 of my time there (there are 3 rows of desks). This makes such a difference - being able to say really enhances ones learning, when needing to follow what is happening on a board in front of you!

So, yes, I've got lots of work to catch up on, so more from me soon.

Olympic Inspiration

It's been a busy few days since I last posted. I've had birthday celebrations to plan, dinner parties with friends, Olympic Opening Ceremonies for London 2012 to watch (obvs)...and do some Animation homework too.

Getting in and out of London for my course has been pretty crazy. On Thursday, I left Oxford at 3:30pm and didn't arrive until 6:30pm (the course starts at 7pm). Usually, the journey takes just over an hour, but because of the Olympics, London has gone into some weird traffic meltdown. Thursday was the eve of the Opening Ceremony, so there was a concert and all sorts of other goings on, making traffic even worse than it normally would when the Olympics is in full swing...grrrrreat!

Image credit:E! online 

So, who saw the opening ceremony? Wasn't it amazing? I mean breath takingly stunning. Danny Boyle did a great job. The lighting of the cauldron was a triumph (although it did feel a bit Harry Potteresque, with the 7 chosen teens, all lighting the goblet of fire together, I mean the bronze-petal-trumpets-cauldron), so creative and symbolic.

The whole event was very inspiring and got me thinking of lots of animation ideas. It's always good to be visually stimulated when working in a creative industry - and the London2012 opening ceremony was one hell of an inspiration. Wish I was there. Amazing.