Very busy busy

Been very busy lately, working on two books at the same time (a third, even, for a short while!). There's so much I'd love to talk about and share with you, but because of papers signed and so forth, I have to keep my mouth shut until the proper moment. I promise it'll be worth the wait. The late nighters are getting to me, however. Gallons of coffee has been consumed, and I'm only halfway done. Oh, well! In the meantime, I've updated my postcards to pass out, thanks to my awesome agent, Jennifer Laughran. The front features one of my favorite illustrations, Speaking in Color. Here's the back (click on image to see a bit larger in Flickr):



Self promotion is always a tricky thing. A great deal of artists I know hate to do it, or are just too busy to figure out a decent way to do it themselves. I'll be talking about this particular subject, along with a bunch of other things having to do with freelancing, being an artist and illustrator, children's books and publishing, as well as making the transition from full-time to freelance on the blog soon. All of this will be discussed just as soon as I finish up these books and get a few nights of decent sleep. So, stay tuned!

By the way, if you have any questions in regards to what I've mentioned here, or if there's something you'd like to talk about on this blog, drop me a comment or email (see profile page or my website) and I'll bring it up in conversation. Until then, I'll just go ahead and head back down to the basement.

Social Networking vs. The Faceless Entity

Ever see a cool commercial and wonder who made it? I do all the time, but that's because I've directed a few and have worked in the industry for some time. And after seeing said cool commercial, do you ever try to find out who made it by searching for the thing online? I do, but of course, that's just me. And when I do, I hit a brick wall almost every single time. Why is it so hard to find out who made a commercial these days? Especially during this day and age of social networking, of Google, YouTube, blogging, Facebook, Twitter, et al? Are production companies scared of these networks? Of sharing? Of getting their work out there?

It's not the same for all of these companies, I'm sure. I see some ads (and entire ad campaigns) that are promoted to the hilt online. If it's done right, it gives a face to who makes them. A persona, if you will, and makes me more than curious to see what else they'll do. If it's done wrong, this self-promotion can come across as being gaudy and superficial. A thin line to cross, apparently.

But I'm perplexed by the double standard of how production companies promote themselves. There's plenty of boasting about who they are and what they do on their websites, touting all the latest awards and recognition they've received, and how long they've been receiving these awards. Most will update their sites solely for the purpose of letting us know what they've done lately. If they're smart, they'll mention each of their directors with a list of all the ads these directors have done for the company. But all of this is for....who? Me? No, of course not. Potential clients, right?

Problem with this type of promotion however is that it's blandly informative, not at all personable.

The last two companies I worked for, I constantly talked with certain people about starting a company blog - one that would be regulated by the principles of the company, by someone who would know what to say and how to say it, to promote the company as an entity that had a face. A voice. A vision. But nothing ever came of it.

I'm happy to say that since then, one of my former employers has started to embrace social networking through both Facebook and Twitter. No blog, but still, they've started to create a presence online, outside the usual incestuous circles that most commercial production companies usually confide themselves in. They mention the latest project they've recently completed and will occasionally post an interesting link or video. I like that.

The other company is still faceless online. In fact, their website hasn't changed since its inception. That was 2005. Five years in the online world is like an eternity. No blog. No Facebook. No Twitter. What are they afraid of?

The biggest fear is probably the aspect of sharing too much information. They think social networking would expose "company secrets" which is TOTAL BUNK. I don't buy that. Not if these blogs or Facebook or Twitter accounts are monitored by a PR person who would know what would be too much to share if anything gets too "sensitive." The nature of the industry is wrapped in secrecy, though - with nondisclosure agreements a staple for anyone working on a each and every project, of which I completely understand and respect. But there are plenty of ways to work around any questionable content and generate buzz or interest solely on the fact that they're working on something awesome. Take a lesson from some ad agencies. It can be done. (Side note: Clients themselves must break free from this cloak of secrecy, however. Some big-name companies are too slow and so far behind the times that they don't realize just how backwards this way of thinking is. Wake up, people.)

These companies who eschew any sort of connecting online are missing the boat and make it extremely difficult for someone like me to be positive about what they're doing, even if what little they show is "cool."

What are you working on, companies? What are you doing to get us, the AUDIENCE, to know about what you're doing? Do you realize that if you talk about your work outside of your industry and trade magazines and design award shows that maybe, just maybe, your current clients will like you even more? And, if you're a buzz generator, do you realize that more people (read: potential clients) might be interested in what you do?

Just a thought.

Where I talk about getting older

I used to not like having my birthday so close to Thanksgiving. It took away from all the attention that was supposed to be spent on me. (When you're a kid, it's supposed to always be about you, right?) It was even worse when my birthday would actually land on the holiday itself. "Here comes our Turkey Birthday Boy!" or something similar would be blurted out by family members at our annual family Thanksgiving get-together. It was quaint, I had to admit.

After a while, I got used to my birthday being where it was. And now, I actually enjoy it. It's comforting to know that we'll have a family reunion of sorts each year, within close proximity to my birthday. It works out alright. On top of all the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and all the usual holiday feast-havings, there'll be a nice, big birthday cake for all to enjoy by the end of it. See? It works out for everyone, doesn't it? You can thank my parents for that, guys. We get to have cake as well as pumpkin pie for dessert! What a deal!

This year, my birthday was two days before Thanksgiving and it was fantastic. A perfect day to celebrate being born. Starting with a cinnamon bun topped with a trick candle (nice try, Andrea), my day got better as I spent several hours in various bookstores and antique malls, getting the tips of my fingers dirty by digging through old books and magazines, finding some wonderful old ephemeral treasures. Case in point, this incredible Fortune Magazine from July 1952:


Jerome Snyder has be my new favorite illustrator. Just look at the shapes and colors he uses for this piece. Simply wonderful.

Later on, we had pancakes for dinner ("pancakes for dinner, you say?" yes—pancakes for dinner, I say) at the month-old Slappy Cakes on Belmont Street, which turned out to be such a fun experience we're thinking of going here for every one of our family member's birthday, even more so.



To end the already fantastic day on a high note, we had passes to see a sneak preview of Fantastic Mr. Fox. It was pitch-perfect. I have so many good things to say about this film, I'll have to put it all in an official review here on the blog later on. Such a great film, and everyone in the family enjoyed it immensely. Ava wanted to see the movie again immediately afterwards, which is a high compliment, I should say. Go see it. Seriously, I'm not cussin' with you.

So, having a birthday so close to a holiday where you ponder over what you're thankful for isn't half bad, really. If anything, it enhances my own birthday experience, maybe even merging it with the holiday in a way. I'm thankful to be alive, to experience a birthday yet one more year. And am thankful to be able to celebrate my birthday with my family, who laugh and grow with me, day in and day out. For without my family, my life would be empty and souless, like the puppets of Mr. Fox, once the lights are turned off by the end of the day. Andrea, Ava, and Ezra: all three of you give me that determinable spark in my heart, that sparkle in my eye. Thank you for making my birthday oh so fantastic.

Sketches

I was recently interviewed on Alex Mathers' excellent Ape On The Moon site recently about my sketches and where my favorite place is to sketch. This prompted me to make a new Flickrset called, appropriately enough, Sketches.



Most of the drawings that you see featured on this set are done while I was sitting around, doodling, or just working on some ideas for myself. Playing around. Observing. Exploring. Nothing devoted to any particular job. Sketches done for work is an entirely different thing. Even though some of the drawings might look similar in style, drawing for an employer has a direct reason for being: money. However, I try to instill that same sense of wonder and exploration while sketching for work. I'll probably scan some work sketches for another Flickrset in the near future.

In the meantime, take a gander at some drawings done while in church. I know, so horrible of me to do such a thing while in a house of God. But really, it's a lot of fun. And it's a no-brainer, too. Think about it: you've got a vast variety of subjects who are not going to move much for about 30 minutes. Even though it's the back of their heads, it's still a great exercise. And I find that I actually listen better when I do draw during the service, believe it or not. Like a mental stamp, I can look at a particular section of a drawing and know what was being said by the pastor. It's hard to explain, but I think you'd understand if you're an artist. Haven't you ever had the TV on while working on a painting? The following day, you might look at the right arm of your subject in the painting and realize to yourself, "hey, I was watching Laverne & Shirley when I painted that". I do it all the time. Not sure what you'd call this, but "memory stamping" sounds about right.







Anyway, here's a couple of other sketches from some of my sketchbooks throughout the years. Enjoy:















There are three approaches I take to sketching:

1. From observing what's around me.
2. From photographs, magazines, tv, etc.
3. Off the top of my head, freestyling.

All of it is part of who I am as an artist, looking at what I see around me and hopefully creating something different in the process. Plus, it's a lot of fun.

This is the Ward-O-Matic...5 Years Later

Today marks FIVE years I've been writing The Ward-O-Matic, if you can believe it. Wow. Five years! I can't believe it. So much has transpired since November 3rd, 2004 when I published my very first post. I look back on some of my old posts and wonder, who is this guy? Like flipping through an old diary or thumbing through an old sketchbook, I read some of these words and look at some of these old drawings and try to imagine what was going through my head at the time. It's like I'm reading someone else's blog—it doesn't really feel like me.

2004: I was an animation director at Primal Screen in Atlanta and was getting caught up with all these new animation blogs that were popping up like wildfire at the time. I was so inspired by what I was reading and viewing that I felt like I had enough of a voice to enter the fray. Having enough to say has been an issue at times, but that's okay. I'd just let my drawings speak for me. Or just scan in some dusty pages from a long forgotten children's book. Sharing some of my collection has really kept this blog going for me. Whenever I'd feel like wrapping it up here, all I had to do was sift through some old pamphlets or cookbooks in a box found in the back corner of the attic and I'd want to share it with you immediately. Like a giddy kid on Christmas morning, that's me in a nutshell with this blog. Especially if it was something that I knew hadn't been seen before. The lost, the forgotten, the diamonds in the rough—having a place like The Ward-O-Matic to share all these and more with faceless usernames behind computer screens has been a great joy for me. I think it shows through my writing when I talk about these neglected items. Even if you couldn't get behind my interests, if anything, I'd hope that you'd join me in finding out who these forgotten and anonymous illustrators from the past were. It pained me to open up some form of beautifully decorated ephemera from the midcentury era and never see any credit given to the artist. The gall! I'd think, of the careless employers and/or clients who mindlessly printed up page after page of gorgeous and vibrant illustrations, without giving one hoot about putting a credit line on the back page or something. Just writing about it irks me still. But hey! That's what I love about this "Web 2.0" or whatever-you-want-to-call it: filling up internet space with information and knowledge about these long-lost artists, so that some day, either they or their family members will by chance do a search for the artist and find out that yes, someone else out there cares about their work and want to know all about the who, what, why & how of them.

While I've been up front and center with certain things here on the blog, I've pulled back on others. I don't talk about the family or post photos of the kids as much anymore, for instance. The same goes for Ava Thursday, you might've noticed. The reason being is more complicated than what I can muster to write, or perhaps it's a simple fact of wanting to maintain (or regain) a little bit of privacy for myself and my family here. With the photos, that's easy. While I'd love to share with you guys all the fun and silly things that the kids do through photos, all it took was one idiot to snag one of my photos of Ezra off my Flickr and use it without permission for a video on YouTube, and that was it. I immediately privated a good deal of my photos of my kids, and to this day am wary of sharing any new photos I take of them. The situation shook me to the core at the time (YouTube was able to remove the video, thank goodness), and made me take a second look at just how much I'm sharing with complete strangers. Had a fellow reader of my blog not found the video by chance, who knows just how far the offender would've taken it? And there would've been no way of me knowing about it, too. All I have to say it this: be careful with what you share, especially when it comes to photos of your kids. Be smart about it.

With Ava Thursday, it was completely different. Even though I'd been thoroughly enjoying picking out a fun little drawing by my daughter and sharing it with you all on a weekly basis, I found it harder and harder with each passing week to justify why I was doing it. Of course, I was the proud dad, more than willing to share with anyone anything that my little girl would create. I thought it was cool to see Ava develop artistically throughout the months. However, at one point it seemed like the drawings weren't really "ours" anymore. By sharing with others my little girl's artwork on a constant basis, the specialness of each drawing seemed lost. Basically, Andrea and I wanted these wonderful Ava drawings for ourselves. These things were precious, made with extraordinary little hands that we loved, and I'm sorry, we kinda wanted to keep them in the family. Being her parents, we were entitled to be a little selfish. Simple as that.

Of course with all that said, Ava wants to show you one of her latest drawings. She drew this on Sunday, obviously during that glorious post-Halloween glow. Click on image to see larger:



She's into cats right now. She really really really really wants a cat. After Babycat's passing last year (did I ever mention that here?), the kids have been pining for a new cat. We'll see.

Okay, back to the issue at hand: five years. It's five years of The Ward-O-Matic and hopefully I've made it interesting for you. I know it's definitely been interesting for me.

In the Long Haul

I'm up late because I'm supposed to be working on a piece for this weekly newspaper on the East coast. So, instead of working, I've decided to write a post here. How's that for productivity? I've got standards, I tell ya.

It's been a little quiet around here on The Ward-O-Matic only because it's been a hectic summer. After a three-week hiatus, visiting Florida, Atlanta, and Illinois, the Jenkins clan hasn't stopped once since we've been back in the great NW. And school's going to start soon, making it even busier for us around here. In the meantime, I've been working full-time at Fashionbuddha, in downtown Portland, working on a project that needs a great deal of hand-drawn assets done by me. It's an interesting project, but one that has a crazy turnaround time. When have I ever worked on something that didn't have a lighting-fast deadline? It's the nature of the business, I'm afraid.

So, while I've been working throughout the day, Andrea's been getting ready for Squam, teaching a couple of classes on Through The Viewfinder, or TtV, for short. Each day has been filled with ordering things, organizing, getting prepared, etc. Not to mention, the kids need to get fed. Okay, so when do we get another vacation. Like, now?

While in Illinois earlier this month, Andrea and I got to visit a good number of thrift stores and antique shops with her mother, Ava & Ezra in tow. Above, you can see my haul from the trip. I actually found a way to pack all of that in my various luggage pieces for the trip back home. I'm still reeling from that travel day, by the way. It was NOT the best trip I've taken on a plane at ALL. Maybe that's a story for another day.

Forcing Myself to Contradict Myself

Realizing it's been a long time since I've posted anything from my sketchbooks. So here's a sampling of some pages below. You can click on each image to go to a slightly larger version on its Flickr page. If you'd like to see any one of these even larger, let me know and I'll put a link up for you. Sorry that I don't make these images large in the first place, I'm just a little wary of posting high res scans of my artwork. Hope you understand!















Andrea and I watched a documentary on photographer Annie Leibovitz last night. Here's a quote from her: "The camera makes you forget you're there. It's not like you are hiding but you forget, you are just looking so much."

When I draw and sketch people and places around me, I lose myself in the process. Even though I have a certain knowledge of how to start each sketch or drawing, it's still a surprise to me how it turns out. And when I look through my past sketchbooks, I'm constantly surprised by the results I see on each page, each drawing. And I can remember the process I took for each drawing: from how I approached the subject, all the way to its completion. It's a funny way of looking at your work, and I like it. It's good to be surprised by your own work—that way, you know you'll never do something the same way twice. At least, that's how I look at it.

I might've mentioned it here on the blog before, but it's worth the mention again: one of my favorite artists of all time is Marcel Duchamp and there's a quote that's attributed to him that pretty much sums it up for me and how I look at what I do as an artist:

"I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste."

I guess you could say that I have a fear of repeating myself. Even though I might approach each drawing differently, I know that my overall style comes through, creating an overall artistic signature, or 'voice', that can't be denied. The end result might look similar to the viewer, but, I know personally, I took the 'road less traveled', and that my artistic journey was one of newness and wonder with each page, each drawing.

Independence

With sudden independence comes great responsibility.

I'm learning to embrace the independent lifestyle of the freelancer. It took a while, but I'm starting to open myself to the possibilities. As a fulltimer, routine took over and I would easily lose my focus with the job at hand, thanks to the cushy, steady paycheck, the typical ebb & flow of work, the overall constant of daily tedium. Like a tide that slowly eases in and out, over and over, lulling me into a deep sense of complacency, I found it hard to be on point. Deep down I realized that maybe this wasn't for me. I'm justifying all this, of course. It would be nice to have all the benefits that a fulltime job offers an employee -- makes life easier, right? Yes, of course it does. Who am I kidding?

But now, being on my own, my appreciation for working has vastly increased. With each new job awarded I'm fully awake and alive, attacking whatever project head-on and staying completely focused. Something about the timeframe in between each job that shakes me awake and makes me fully appreciate the fact that someone has given me an opportunity to do something special here. I cherish it like there's no tomorrow. Like it's the only job on earth.


Collect all 10. Thanks to the fine folks at Moo.

Big thanks to everyone who either commented or emailed me on my last post. It's good to know that there are others out there who are willing to help out, especially when it comes to Flash. I actually have a good lead in learning the program, one that allows me the time to get to know it on my own timeframe. I also checked a book out on learning Flash, which should help me out to a certain degree.

I've been meaning to mention this earlier: I was recently interviewed on Frederator by fellow animator blogger Floyd Bishop. He called me up and we had a grand ol' chat about animation, illustration, and everything in between. Are you into listening to two animation geeks talk shop? Then mosey on down to Frederator Blogs and have a listen!

I miss animating. I haven't worked on my short film since June and I'm deeply feeling the loss. Once the craziness of the next couple of months pass, then I'll happily jump back on it.

Lately

Illustration for an upcoming book by Von Glitschka. Stay tuned for more details...

Things that are very apparent to me now that I'm looking for work:
1. Should've learned Flash
2. Should've learned Maya
3. Should've worked at becoming a technical director
4. Should've worked at becoming a compositor
5. Should've worked at becoming a web developer

I've found plenty of job openings for the positions listed above. If you're wanting to do any of these particular jobs, then you're in luck because with each job search done on the umpteenth animation job search website (and otherwise), tons of companies are needing Flash animators, Maya animators, TD's, compositors and TONS of web design work. Not sure if the pay's going to be any good (for Flash, that is), but hey, the opportunities are there.

Things I have going for me:
1. 12 years experience
2. I love animating
3. I love drawing
4. I look at things differently

Things I have going against me:
1. I'd rather stay in Portland
2. I'm looking for freelance gigs
3. I'm a traditional animator -- can't do Flash

I've been asked if I can do Flash so many times it's not even funny. Looks like I need to start learnin'. I can do After Effects, but not to the extent that some companies are asking when it comes to A/E work. Usually they need some serious compositors, not just some dude who's done mostly animatics and moving storyboards. I know a few things in that program, but not all the bells and whistles that that program has to offer. I'd love to stay in Portland because we've slowly immersed ourselves into this community, and we've come to love this town more and more. I'd understand and respect the fact that if a great opportunity should happen upon us we'd have to move, but really, we'd love to stay if at all possible.

Things I'm working on:
1. Storyboard gig for a commercial
2. My portfolio website
3. Going to Ottawa
4. An art show
5. An overall optimistic attitude

So, all is not lost -- I'm happy to report that I'm currently working on storyboards for a commercial. This is great, since it'll keep me and my family here for, oh, lessee....another month. Now if I can only maintain this...

I've finally entered the 21st century and registered my domain name. Wardjenkins.com will be up and running soon. However, it's taken me a lot longer than expected. I'm trying to learn some basic Dreamweaver as I go along -- this along with doing storyboards and working on my portfolio and so on and so on....I'll probably have to employ a friend to help me with this endeavor. Yikes.

Because of my current situation, I've decided to go to the Ottawa International Animation Festival, even without any money. As some of you may know, I'm a big fan of festivals, especially OIAF. This'll be my fourth time going, but first time completely unemployed and looking for a job. It feels like this year I'll be a true, active participant in the game, whereas the other times I was merely a spectator. Participant meaning in the manner of landing a job -- on that Saturday there's Animators For Hire, a recuiting event that's always eluded me because, well, I was never looking for a job. Expect to see my bright and shiny face at this thing this year. Going to Ottawa will be a strain financially, but I've been able to enlist some help to at least get me there (thank you thank you thank you -- you know who you are). Now, all I have to do is find someone willing to split a hotel with me.

An art show? A solo show? You've got to be kiddin' me -- that's what I said to the guy who owns this cool little gallery here in Portland. I'll post more about it at a later date, once all the details are ironed out. But, yeah...crazy, isn't it? Can't believe it!

Funny how I haven't posted as much here as I thought once I was let go from my previous employer. I thought for sure I'll be boring the tears out of everyone by my incessant blog activity. But no, it's been relatively quiet around here, hasn't it? Priorities change when careers are on the line. Funny how that is. So, we'll see how it goes with Ottawa. I hope that something works out. I'm sure it will -- it always does, doesn't it? Especially when I have family and friends supporting us, giving us that extra push needed.

We'll see how it goes.

Why Make a Film?

As you may already know, I've dropped enough hints here that I'm currently working on a short film on my own. I guess you can call it a cartoon, since I'm paying homage to the great cartoons of the 40's and 50's. I've been studying a great deal of those films, most specifically Tex Avery's SYMPHONY IN SLANG. (See previous posts HERE and HERE.)

Let's start off with the obvious question at hand: Why am I doing this? On top of my full time job as an animation director at LAIKA/house, along with my blogging duties on The Ward-O-Matic, not to mention my permanent titles as husband and father on the personal side -- why on earth would I want to forge through in making an animated film?

Why not?

There is a great short film by legendary designer and filmmaker Saul Bass called WHY MAN CREATES -- it won an Oscar for Best Short Film in 1968 -- about this sort of thing. Bass explores several venues regarding the issue of creativity in this film. The main jist of WHY MAN CREATES is that there is a desire by mankind to emphasize the individual, to stand out from the typical crowd and make a mark upon this earth. As human beings, it is in our blood to establish who we are and where we've been. From the ancient cave drawings to Greek temples to towering skyscrapers -- throughout entire generations, all of it is basically saying the same thing: I WAS HERE. The most simplistic and base ideal known to man -- identity. Knowledge of self, knowledge of awareness, knowledge of existence. And out of that self awareness, man creates.



For the Artist, this desire to create consumes his/her entire being. It is an uncontrollable urge that makes him want to record his surroundings in ways only he knows how.

That's pretty much the academic take on it. Honestly? I just want to work on something that I can call my own. To create characters in my style, and animate them however I want. To be able to work on something where I don't have to answer to anyone. I'm calling the shots here. No art directors, no producers, no creative directors to answer to! Freedom. Liberation. Joy. And once it's done, there'll be such a feeling of accomplishment you can't even imagine. I look forward to that moment -- it's what will drive me throughout the entire process of making this film.

-------------------------

More about WHY MAN CREATES:


One lone ping pong ball stands out among the crowd in a segment of WHY MAN CREATES titled, "A Parable."




The film is split up into eight different segments -- the first one, "The Edifice," features a great bit of animation by Fred Crippen who used to work at UPA back in the 50's. It contains one of the longest pans in animation history, I'm sure, as the camera pans up, up, up, through the centuries. We witness the basis of all our creative output by a single cave drawing of a hunt: a recording of an event that sets forth a chain of events that ultimately ends up at the top of an enigmatic column. There's some great humor and satire in the piece, setting the pace for the rest of the film.




Saul Bass finds a great balance in this film between the humorous pieces and serious debate about the creative process in general. In one section, we hear several scientists and doctors talk about the various projects that they've been working on for years and how it's lead them to dead ends. The voice over then asks each interviewee the big question: "What are you going to do now?" It's wild to hear one answer rather sullenly: "I don't know."


In the section "Fooling Around," Bass stops the film to poke fun at a woman being interviewed.


Here's what Bass thinks of critics.

You can order a copy of WHY MAN CREATES directly from the Pyramid Media website. A word of caution, however -- it's mighty pricey. Little bit of trivia about this film: a young, budding filmmaker was credited as the camera operator. Who might this filmmaker be? Why, none other than George Lucas.

More on Saul Bass's career HERE.
Nicely designed site utilizing some of Bass's graphic elements HERE.

-------------------------

I've given it much thought about whether or not I should share my thoughts during the course of production of my short film here on this blog. Problem is, I can never find enough time to work on the thing. It's beginning to bother me, but I'm trying not to let it get me down. I did start up a production blog for the film, but don't bother looking for it. It's private and I've only invited a few family members. Once I get the ball rolling with actual artwork to show, maybe then I'll make it public and share with you all the concept of what I've been working on all this time. In the meantime, just keep checking the Ward-O-Matic and maybe I'll drop a few hints about the project from time to time.

my wish

"Here go, daddy. make a wish!"

Ezra hands me a dandelion. We are sitting on the steps in front of a house where Ava is taking a drama class. It's a quiet Saturday morning.

"What should I wish for, buddy?"

"For stuff!"

"What 'stuff'?"

"Like your downstairs?"

I laugh at this. Downstairs is where I've been working on getting my workspace in order. Right now, there's a large desk with my animation desk set up, a bookcase filled with books, and lots of 'stuff' all around, ready to be organized and placed in shelves, drawers, tables.

I closed my eyes, took a breath, and wished for 'stuff'.

Bikes and animal heads

I need to post more about things that interest me, that intrigue me, that give me a chance to look at things in a new light. I've got several posts in draft form that are just waiting to go live, but I can't seem to find the time to tweak the content. I'll see what I can do to get these little tid-bits of thought and inspiration out in the open.

In the meantime, here's a video that I really dig:


Bats for Lashes: "What's a Girl To Do"

An interview with the director about making the video. When I read about projects or film shoots that went awry, where things had to be re-shot and redone, I don't bat an eye. I nod and think to myself, "yes, been there, done that." It's all part of the artistic process. Sometimes you have to redo everything in order to see your vision through, even if cameras, computers, or the most basic technology happen to work against you.

All this talk of bikes and kids with animal heads reminds me of this bit of freakish-ness:



One Got Fat, a bike safety film from 1963. Directed by Dale Jennings and narrated by Edward Everett Norton, of "Fractured Fairy Tales" fame. You know, we need more safety and instructional films like this. Freak the kids into submission.

We'll Be Right Back

Often I'm asked "how do you find the time?" when it comes to this blog. Honestly, I don't really know. I never have a good answer to that question, so the person asking the question tends to leave flustered. Obviously, I don't give them what they were looking for. Straight up, most of the posts on this blog are created long before I post them. I then eek out time here and there, updating and adding new things to the draft until I find it necessary to finally post it. Some posts take months to write out. Some are done in minutes. The key factor is finding the time. And now, I'm afraid, I do not have the time. At all.

I'm putting a halt to The Ward-O-Matic for the time being. Whenever I've taken a break in the past, it seems like a good idea at the time, but I never adhere to it. I tend to post something, anything -- just so long as it seems like I'm still alive and/or give off the impression that I care about this blog thing. I guess that's pretty much what motivates me to keep blogging, though -- I feel I have an obligation to fulfill. And I want to share my stuff. Again, I always manage to find the time to sit and write a bit, scan a book (or two), post neato links, etc. Because I love doing this, I'll always manage to find the time.

Be that as it may, this time it's different. I'm about to embark on a ambitious job and it's going to stretch and pull me in ways that I've never been stretched or pulled before. I don't want to go so far as calling it a "make or break" situation, but, to quote De La Soul: "stakes is high". All extraneous time will be devoted to this particular job -- no time to blog or upload scans to my Flickr. A total and complete lockdown, people. Should be interesting.

It's odd for me to say goodbye for a while, but I know it's necessary. I don't even want to do a short, "I'm still here!" post, either. I fear that if I keep that door open, it'll only keep me from doing what I need to do at this point, and that's to focus all my energy and efforts on this job. I know you all understand. I'll still check out blogs and such, but I probably won't comment. I can't say I'll get back in touch with you if you email me, either. I'm still debating whether or not I'll keep my Facebook updated. At any rate, just wanted to let you all know that for the next three months, there won't be any new updates here.

Never fear, though! Once I'm back, it'll be as if I've never left. I promise.

See ya in May.

---------------------------------

One thing before I go, I'll be speaking at IUPUI on Tuesday, February 12th (right around the corner). Check this link for more info. This'll be my second time speaking there. My ol' Primal buddy, Brian Ludwick has asked me to come back to speak, and I appreciate the great honor in doing so. Can't wait.

Connection Vertigo

Having a blog has offered my friends and family the best opportunity to keep up with what I've been up to. Although, I realize that there's not much in my updating, plus most of the stuff I write and post about are not in the "hey, this is what I've been up to lately" sort of vein. There are some interesting anecdotes to be found here and there, but not enough for a regular reader to expect on a continuing basis. Posting about my life here seems sort of odd to me, even though, yes, this is a blog and blogs are supposed to be repositories for intriguing and interesting life stories. Or are they? Blogs are what you make them and here, well, anything goes.

Obviously, there are other options to stay connected with loved ones. It's practically a sin NOT have a myspace account, right? Well, I never wanted one. An ugly, UGLY website that means practically nothing to me. (Look, I'm not even going to link it. Take that, myspace!) Ugly in the sense of visuals, audio and navigation. I know that having a myspace page has become the hottest thing to do this day and age -- it's great for musicians to connect with their fanbase (even that's been tainted by some groups hiring an internet lackey to hook up programs that automatically "friend" people out there -- a Web 2.0 loophole, I guess) -- but the site is glaringly cumbersome and fraught with spam comments, ads and irritating fake accounts from "girls" who "saw my icon and thought I was cute but can't seem to figure this all out, can you help me?" Yeah, right. I'm not stupid, people. I have a myspace page up, but don't bother friending me. I probably won't update it because, really, what am I going to do with it? I only started it up so I could grab the "Wardomatic" name and cybersquat until I find it necessary not to do so.

Recently, two of my friends (real friends, not myspace friends) sent me invites to start up a Facebook account. Skeptical at first, I'm still trying to figure out if it's a worthy application. I can see why it's so big with students and campuses -- started up by college students, there's some sort of lackadaisical collegiate "what's up? what's goin' on?" attitude I get from the site's interface. It's a good way (and at times fun) to see what your pals are doing, but really, in the long run...is it worth it? Well, Facebook has its share of pros and cons -- 100x aesthetically better than myspace, if you ask me, with its clean design and structure. I like that. All the crazy applications gets incredibly annoying, however. Why would I want to "share a virtual beer" with anyone in cyberspace? It's one step away from Second Life, if you ask me. And I'm not down with that. I do have to say that Facebook has enabled me to find classmates I've lost track of through the years. I'm more than likely to check up on my buddies through this site than on any other community-based site, to be quite honest.

As mentioned earlier, I signed up on Channel Frederator RAW, the "social networking community for Channel Frederator." I'm enjoying the simple layout of the site, with the occasional updates from other members. I like that you can delete these updates in your profile if they're irritating you. Even though I probably won't update my profile and engage in too many conversations on the forums here, I think RAW has proven to be another successful diversion from my already-busy day. Bonus: finding fellow Portlanders that I was not aware of before joining. Another bonus: my fellow co-hort in LAIKA crime, Eric Weise is up in it, too. That makes two thirds of LAIKA/house's 2D directors trolling around here.

Truth be told, the best way to get in contact with me is to email me from my profile page, or send a message through my Flickr. I'm addicted to Flickr, in case you haven't noticed. Contact me, tell me what you think of my blog, my art, my graffiti, my pics, anything. It might be a while before I respond, but I'll do my best. And please, by all means, don't take it personally if I don't get back to you right away. Being a director for a top animation production company requires a lot of my time. That, and having two kids will pretty much tap me of any free time during the day. (I sleep at night, in case you're wondering.)

UPDATE: I knew I forgot a few sites. LinkedIn is another one of those "connection" sites where I'm having a hard time trying to figure out if it's worth being a part of or not. The only thing that LinkedIn seems to be good for is accumulating "links" or people that you're connected with through businesses and former colleagues. Supposedly this is worth something in the workplace world out there, but has anyone gotten a job because of their LinkedIn account? If so, I'd like to hear about it.

Of course, how could I forget YouTube? If you're down with low-fi video quality, then this is the place for you. Even with the crappy quality, Andrea and I never get tired of watching Jim Gaffigan clips. It's like we're watching our own network, which is exactly what the people at YouTube want. Don't expect me to find the time to actually favorite clips. There are a few that I've favorited, but that's about it. Don't have enough time to search videos all day.

Commercial Pet Peeves

Watching TV is one of my favorite time wasters and heckling commercials is my second favorite. There are many, many irritating things in almost all of the commercials that we are inundated with on a daily basis. Things that defy logic, are ridiculous, or are just plain stoopid that I have no choice but to say something about it. Good thing these blog things were made or else I would explode keeping all this in. (Actually, my wife is happy that I have an outlet for this. She's getting pretty tired hearing me talk back to the TV day in and day out.)

Here are some of my recent commercial pet peeves (I'm willing to make this a reoccurring thing if this goes well):


For the longest time the slogan for Dippin' Dots was "The Ice Cream of the Future." They used that slogan for years, ever since they were created 20 years ago. Umm...it's 2007. I think the future is here and it's now a thing of the past. Their new slogan should be: "The Ice Cream Fad of the 80's."

I DESPISE the Transitions commercials. Allow me to tell you why:

1. In the past, NOT the future, (the 60's to be exact) Corning first developed photochromic lenses. They were made of glass at first, but I just had to say this because I remember people having these special glasses back in the 70's. So when I saw these commercials with their "In the future..." opening line, I cried foul.



2. All the actors sport the ever-present "smug look". For some reason, ad agencies think that we want to see yuppie-ish hipsters walking around with consumer items that we can't afford with smack-worthy, "aren't I the coolest thing since sliced bread for having something that no one else has" look on their faces. Please stop, people.

Here is the most recent Transitions spot. Here is another one. Hatred is such a soft word when describing these things.

I've come to loathe with a passion KFC's use of "Sweet Home Alabama" in their commercials. It's just a small snippet, but just enough for you to hate the song even more than before. I know that it shouldn't bother me here, but it just doesn't add up. Most songs that you hear on commercials these days have a certain reason, whether it's the song title, or theme. This particular use of a pop song does not have any rhyme or reason. Also, you have to ask yourself, why? Why use a song celebrating Alabama for a restaurant chain that hails from Kentucky (remember that the original name was "Kentucky Fried Chicken")? Just because it's Southern doesn't mean you can lump it into the same category.

Have you seen the latest GLAD ForceFlex commercial where two guys rob a bank and have the cashier stuff as much as she can in the bags? The joke is that the bags stretch and she ends up taking so long that they get caught. Ha ha ha. Next time you see it, notice these things:

They do not have ski masks or anything covering their faces.
They do not use any sort of firearms.
They do not use a note, they just ask the cashier to fill the bag.

This is all very deliberate on the client's part for fear of getting sued by banks, in case some idiot(s) might get some big ideas because they saw it on a commercial. One pet peeve of mine about this spot: there's no way that that cashier would run out of money to put in their bag with the bank being as big as that one. I know it's part of the joke, but I'm not buying it.


Ad campaigns that need to stop:

Energizer and that confounded Bunny. Okay, we get it. It keeps going.

The Gatorade "Is it in you?" campaign -- It doesn't look like they're sweating Gatorade, guys. It looks like someone just dumped the drink on them. It's an okay concept that probably sounded great on paper, but just doesn't come off that well on TV. Bottom line: you're paying way too much for all that post work.

Chick-Fil-A's Eat Mor Chiken -- the cows are tired. Put them to rest. Please. (Oh, before you do that, Mr. Fil-A -- could you please open up a restaurant in Portland? Please? There's none up here in the Northwest! That's a crime right there. Just one, please? Thank you.)


On a lighter note:

Peep this All-Bran commercial and watch the wonderful tongue-in-butt-cheek visual jokes going on in the background. This spot was pointed out to me by my wife. (Me thinks she's trying to tell me something.)

Click here for the director's "cut."

4am

It was 4am and I was driving in my car with the front windows down in the dead of winter. I had to in order to have a clear shot when I flung bagged up newspapers to their respective owners. Throwing papers seemed like such a meager task, something that you see only 12 year-old boys do on a bike in their neighborhood, toting a canvas sack full of rolled-up morning editions, ready to be tossed by hand. But here I was, 22, in college, tossing papers out the windows of my Datsun B210, with a mountain of Atlanta Constitutions piled high in my backseat.

It was good money, that's why I did it. They paid by the volume, not by hour, so the more I threw, the more I was paid. And they paid according to the type of route that was assigned me:

1 - meant that it was an easy route, never having to get out of the car
2 - meant that there were some getting out because of apartments, condos, etc.
3 - was all footwork; all apartments

I took on two routes, a "2" and a "3". I loved the "3" route because I enjoyed getting out and running around with all those papers in my arms, listening to the flap the paper made as it made contact with the floor, the sign of mission accomplished. I took great satisfaction in knowing that my customers were getting what they asked for each and every morning. It was pretty easy, this running around. And after memorizing who got what, I had it down to a science: I'd double-check my notebook, grab the correct amount of papers, get out of my car, lock the door (I had two keys, keeping the car running with the second key), run through the building, deliver the goods, get back into my car, move onto the next building. It became a dance, a carefully choreographed performance each and every morning, starting at 2am and lasting until around 6.

Sometimes I'd run into an early morning riser, startling them with my hurried motions as I wove my way through their apartment complex. I'd apologize for my presence and move on. No time for chit chat. Gotta deliver the papers. Oftentimes, I'd fret about getting mugged. There were stories told at the main warehouse where we put the papers together during the first part of our shift of deliverers being approached by desperate thieves with gun in hand and asking for their money. I was told to carry some cash with me, just a little bit, to appease the mugger. Because if I didn't have anything to give them, they'd get upset. And you don't want to upset a mugger. I was always aware of my surroundings. I checked and double-checked my route each night, poking my head down passageways before traversing them, carefully going around corners with bushes, cautious of hidden nooks and crannies. We worked during the dead of night so I couldn't be complacent. Any slip up could mean being a potential victim.

During my "2" route, I was happy to hop into my car and roll through neighborhoods, flinging bagged newspapers out the window, left and right. Hanging off my rear view mirror by an altered wire hanger was my route notebook. In it, cryptic directions and a full list of all the addresses that were to receive a paper for each and every street for my route. Some numbers were circled which meant that they only subscribed for the weekend edition. After a while, I could do my route without looking at the notebook, having memorized each and every address listed for each route. If you were to open up my route notebook, it would read something like this:

Left on Indian Creek

1233

                     1242
                     1248
                     1250
1251

Right on Taylor

                     1067

1072

There was a pattern to the numbering, of course: odds on one side, evens on the other. For apartments, my notebook would have notes on a particular building, like this:

2200:

12
17, 18, 19
21

Basically, my schedule was pretty much the same:

1. Sleep from 10 or 11pm until 1:30am.

2. Get to the AJC (Atlanta Journal & Constitution) warehouse by 2am.

3. Receive my "mail": pieces of paper that tells me if there are any changes to my route, like new subscriptions or cancellations. At the bottom of the page would tell me if there were any mistakes from the previous night. Mostly, this would involve papers being stolen, which, at that point, I would go over to an area in the warehouse that had papers from previous nights and grab the necessary amount in order to make my customers happy. My goal for each night was to receive a "0": no mistakes or missing papers.

4. The truck arrives around 2:30 (sometimes later if any important news break forces the printing to be delayed).

5. Grab the necessary amount of bundles of paper and start putting the paper together, slipping in ads or various promotional items. (We were forced to do this. Sorry.)

6. Bag the papers.

7. Fill car up with papers.

8. Off I go to deliver the papers.

It was a fun job, repetitious and routine that it was. I enjoyed making my way through streets and neighborhoods that I soon became familiar with, imagining who lived in these homes, since I never really saw any of my customers. I was able to play my music loud (I seem to remember listening to U2's "Actung Baby" a lot) and I enjoyed the fact that I didn't have any boss hovering over me, telling me what to do. My superiors were back at the warehouse, going over the numbers, far away from the drivers. Far away from me and my little world, papers and all. I could do whatever I wanted, as long as I made the deliveries, and was done before 7am. If I finished up by 5, then I was free to go home and get some rest. No need to go back to the warehouse. 3 hours and I was done. That's it.

Sometimes the elements came into play. We double bagged the papers if it was raining, and we still had to deliver if there was snow or ice.

On this particular morning, it was freezing cold. I had a big coat on, with a hoodie that was pulled tight. I wasn't wearing any gloves because I couldn't grab the papers in time to throw. My fingers were starting to turn red. I could see my breath in the air. It didn't help that I had my two front windows rolled down, but how else was I going to toss the papers out on each side of the street?

I was slowly making my way through the neighborhood when I caught a glimpse of headlights coming down the street. Nothing too serious, but since it was 4 in the morning, it did seem odd. Cars are a rare thing at that hour, so I kept a mental note on it while I continued with my route. Perhaps it was a cop? Doing a neighborhood check? Yes, perhaps.

Oh, crap. I missed a house. I'll have to go back.

I pulled into a driveway to turn around and as I was about to put it in reverse, I noticed that the slow moving car was getting near. So, I paused and waited for it to pass by. The car stopped. I waited. Nothing. Okay, I thought. I'll just go ahead and back out. Maybe I'm in their driveway? I backed out and shifted it into drive and made my way towards the house that I had missed. Going the opposite way of my route jilted me somewhat and I almost felt lost. I was so used to going one way, it was like a completely different environment going the other direction. Like I was in an entirely different neighborhood. As I approached the missed house, I paused and then noticed that the car was still behind me. Odd. Why won't they go around me? I turned on my hazard lights. Nothing. As I looked through the rear view mirror, I stuck my left arm out the window and motioned the car to pass. It didn't move. For pete's sake. Maybe they're confused by my actions? I moved over to the left of the street and tossed out a paper really high, giving a nice big arch on my throw, so whoever it was behind me would have no problem seeing that I was delivering the papers. Again, nothing. Just two bright lights behind me. I felt like Roy Neary in CLOSE ENCOUNTERS for a moment. Only this time, I wasn't dealing with aliens.

At that point, I had enough. So, I pulled up a bit, shifted it into reverse, backed into the driveway of the house I just delivered a paper to and sat and waited for the car to drive by. You have the street all to yourself now, buddy, I thought. I looked closely and realized that it was not a cop, but a small, white pickup truck. Probably a Toyota. It slowly pulled forward and then stopped once it cleared the driveway I was sitting in. The truck was to my left now, so I leaned my head out the window to see if they needed help or something. Maybe they were lost?

Suddenly, a small flash of light and a chHHKK!!!

It was a pop, like a crack of a bat, only it wasn't wood. It was metal. Like a gun.

The truck peeled out and took off down the road and immediately, the synapses in my brain fired up and began to register what just happened. I, too, peeled out of the driveway and took off down the road, in the opposite direction. As I roared down the neighborhood, my emotions caught up with me and I started to yell out loud, "OH NO OH NO OH NO!!!" My voice had a deeper sound to it, as if my throat suddenly opened up and I was now yelling from the inner depths of my soul. The sound that came out of me that cold, frozen morning was not me, but it was me. A truer me. A me that I had not met before. A me filled with adrenaline and fear. A me that was foreign. The sound was almost guttural, animal-like. I sounded like I reached another stage of puberty, although this time I wasn't looking forward to it.

I just got shot at.

The severity of the moment clung to me like a wet towel. I was shaking, trying to catch my wits about me as I flung the car around the turns and bends of this claustrophobic suburban maze, frantically searching for the main road. I had no idea what to do next. I couldn't think straight. I kept saying to myself, I just got shot at I just got shot at I just got shot at... Finally, I reached civilization, or a reasonable facsimile of it, since it was still 4 in the morning. I pulled up to a phonebooth and called my superior at the warehouse.

"Ken, this is Ward. I just got shot at."

"What?"

"I was doing my route and some guy just shot at me."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes!"

"Are you okay, hurt?"

"I'm fine, I think. What should I do?"

"Did you call the police?"

"No, not yet."

"Did you finish your route?"

"No."

"Well, can you finish the route?"

Now I'm thinking: Is he serious? I just got shot at by some dude WITH A GUN and he wants me to finish my stupid route? The nerve of the guy.

"I don't know. I'll try."

I hung up, opened the door to my car and sank into my seat. I was a ball of nerves, a weary, shaking wreck. And I still had to finish my route. Still tingling from adrenaline, I drove over to the Police Department which was a block or two down the street. I got a hold of an unsuspecting officer and told him my story. "Why didn't you call it in?" A blank stare. "I don't know, I was scared. I didn't know what to do." He reluctantly headed back into an office, wrote up a report, and then came back out to tell me that he put a call out to all units in the area to look for a small, white pickup truck, possibly a Toyota. I then sauntered over to my car with a feeling of having absolutely nothing accomplished. That was a waste of time.

I sank into my seat again. I turned the key and...nothing. My car sputtered, trying to turn over but nothing was happening. Oh no, what NOW? I tried again and again. Finally, my trusty Datsun came to life, albeit, very feebly. As I was heading over toward the neighborhood where the scene of the crime was, I noticed steam coming out from under the hood. The car then conked out while sitting at the next stop light. Nervously, I got it started up again, but now, the car was lunging erratically, moving in fits and starts. I found my way over to the same phonebooth where I had called my boss before, and once I stopped, my poor car then dies on me. I tried to turn the engine over and over again. Nothing. I got out of the car and walked up to the front of it to open the hood. But before I opened it, I happened to see a gaping hole in the black plastic grill. With steam engulfing me upon lifting up the hood, I noticed a hole the size of a bullet in the radiator. Oh great. This is just PERFECT.

"Ken, it's Ward again. My car is dead. I can't get it started."

"What? Your car is dead?"

"Yeah. There's a hole in the radiator where the bullet hit my car. What should I do?"

(Sighing) "Well, I'll send Track out to help you finish your route."

"Alright. I'll wait."

The sky was turning blue. I was exhausted. I went back to my car and waited for Track. Track. Track was an interesting character, to say the least. Track was pretty much a fixture at that particular AJC warehouse. An older guy, probably in his late 40's, Track acted as my guide on my very first outing, to make sure that I knew the ropes to delivering the papers and how to go about my route. I use the term "acted" because all Track did on my inaugural night was sleep in the back seat with all the papers. "Hey, Track, is this right?" "Mmmuh huh...zzzzz..." (He was given the nickname Track because he liked to bet at the Alabama dog tracks.) He had this whatever attitude about himself. Easy going and just didn't give a stink about what anyone thought of him. I liked the guy.

But when Track finally came to help me finish up my route, he grumbled and complained the entire time. This apparently was forcing him to do some actual work and he wasn't too happy about it. It didn't help when he downplayed my whole shooting ordeal, too. "Oh, those were just some kids having fun. Nothing to it, man." Kids? Playing with guns? At four in the morning? I don't think so. Maybe gunshots in your neighborhood might mean kids having fun, but in my book, it's something FATAL. Track apparently could care less about my life being threatened. Nice. Good to see that you got my back, Track.

As the sun was starting to come up (it was so rare to see it during my route), I stared off into the distance, my mind wandering, trying to gather up what was left of any thoughts I had about the night.

The following day, I went up to Ken and asked him to transfer me to the day shift.

Demo-mania

Got a special treat for you. I don't know why it's taken me this long to finally post all this, but here we are.

First up, is my demo montage from 2000. I was working at Click 3X at the time as key animator for two directors, John Ryan and Robert Pope. Just three of us in the back corner of a boutique production company. It was tight quarters, with me inches away from John's right elbow. No privacy, no room to spread out. Looking back, I can't imagine how we made it day to day without one of us ripping at each other's throats. But somehow we managed. Doing mostly agency work, it was industry standard to have a separate demo reel for each director. Since I was a regular animator, I didn't need to have one made. No problem, I thought early on. I'll just keep doing what I'm doing: animatin'. But then, as time rolled on, I began to get the urge to branch out. I approached John and Robert to see if there were any chances that I might be able to direct -- anything, really. I was desperate. I did direct, so to speak, a "tag" for some live action Little Debbie spot. The last 5 seconds of a commercial. The tail end. It was of a mouth turning into a smile which then morphed into the logo. Not much, but it was a start. I then directed the animation for these animal characters for some Pedialyte-like product for South America. Again, not much, but it was something.

But it wasn't enough. I felt that if I was to be the third director, I needed to work on my own demo tape. So I went through all my past jobs at Click to find footage I felt was worthy for inclusion in my montage. There wasn't much. And I needed at least 2 minutes worth. Good thing I had two animated shorts to pull from, but I didn't want to overdo it, or else it would become monotonous. I then decided to create some "filler" animation to pad out the montage, giving it some substance and variety.

I then had my good friend Ann Husani do the editing. Ann was the Avid editor at Click who was about my age and knew me well enough to figure out what exactly I wanted. I gave her some direction, giving her some tent pole key moments that I wanted in the montage (mostly some visual cues that would correspond to the audio beats). For instance, near the end, I wanted a mad barrage of images that went along with the frenzied build up of drums. I also wanted the very end to fade out, pulsing. Everything Ann did on this montage far exceeded my expectations. She did an amazing job.

Ladies and gentlemen, my demo reel montage from 2000:



Guess what? It was never used. At least not through Click. It sat on the shelf until I got a call from Steve at Primal Screen. "Do you have a demo tape to show?" Why yes. Yes, I do.

Fast forward to 2006. I'm listening to Tom Knott on the phone tell me about the possibility of a 2D animator spot open at LAIKA. He then says something to the tune of "Yeah, just bring your demo tape to Ottawa, and we'll go from there." Of course, my demo tape was a wee bit outdated. I had two weeks to get a new demo together. Two weeks? And basically, I had to start from scratch. I didn't want to use ANYTHING from my previous demo. Don't ask me why, I just didn't. I know it would've been easier for me to tack on some clips from my older demo montage, but I didn't really feel that that was the true "me" anymore. That was 6 years ago. An eon, in animation years, if you think of it. I'm so over all that, I thought to myself. I know that I had plenty of work from Primal to cull from for my new demo montage (6 years worth, for pete's sake), but where to find it all? Luckily, I found them. And good thing I know After Effects, because I don't think I could've asked anyone at Primal to help me out with the editing. It would've been crazy to try and work around someone else's schedule, let alone my own. So I went in on a weekend and busted out as much as I could, then worked on it here and there, at home and at work (after hours, of course), until I had something that I felt was LAIKA-worthy. And you know the rest of the story.

So, here's what I made for LAIKA. My demo reel montage of 2006 (I would suggest that you allow time for it to load or else you'll miss out on some of the timing cues):



As you can see, music is an important key element to my montages. I feel that if you can hit a nice visual cue at the same time as a musical one, you're going to get a nice reaction. There's something about watching a character respond to what's happening in the audio track. That's why I made sure that Nate, Andrea's brother who's the DJ for Mars ILL, give me some nice breaks in the track for my '06 montage, offering me a chance to work off them. His work is phenomenal. I was so happy that he allowed me to use the instrumental version of one of his songs. Loved that gritty guitar sound -- it felt right up against the super hot rod & mod chick with the hair in the beginning. There are certain points in the song where there's a nice punch -- I made sure that there was some sort of hit or kick going on visually to marry the audio with the visuals. I think it works for the most part. I tried to maintain a certain flow throughout the montage.

That's DJ Shadow's "Mutual Slump" for the '00 montage. I was a big fan of Shadow during the '90's, so it seemed only fitting to use that song. I re-edited it in order to fit within the short timeframe.

Demo reels are a funny thing. It's like you're creating your own little movie, but you're trying to sell yourself at the same time. This is when I feel at ease, allowing only my work to speak for itself. Never was good at the interview thing. Most artists aren't. But when given the chance to put together a short clip of recent work, it offers me a chance to shine.

My advice to those who are making their demo reels (and this is my own personal thoughts and opinions here; not etched in stone, mind you):

1. Keep them short. Don't go over 3 minutes for your montage.

2. Edit to the music. It'll make a big difference.

3. Be sure to itemize what you've done for each commercial, ID, etc. that you show (animated frog in scene 2, did clean-up for all of the human characters, did rigging for the little girl, etc.). Don't forget to include the list with your reel!

4. Gear your portfolio/demo to the company you're trying to get a job from. Showing your character design skills is nice if you're trying to get a job doing just that, but it's probably not necessary when you're trying to get a job as an animator at a commercial/broadcast studio. Most of the characters that those studios work on are already established: TV shows (like Foster's) and ad campaigns (like Cocoa Puffs). Rare is the opportunity to create new & original characters.

5. Just give us the goods: if you're an animator, I just want to see you animate. I want to see if you "get it."

6. Keep it simple and to the point. Like #5, if you're trying to get a job in the industry, focus on your forté. Don't do the shotgun approach by showcasing a wide variety of things. Some might feel that this can be an advantage in trying to get a job by showing that you can do anything and everything at a particular studio. I don't. I feel that it hinders the potential hire. Sometimes I can't figure a guy out if he's showing me animation AND character design AND modeling AND background paintings AND lighting, etc. Make up your mind! Animation is a specialized industry. Find out what you do really, really well and focus on that one thing 'til you feel that you're the best at it. You'll get hired quickly if you have the knowledge and capability to do good work, and do it quickly. THEN you can showcase your other skills once you're hired. But if you try to show that you can do everything, more often than not you probably can't. You're probably spreading yourself out too thin and your work and talent will suffer. I've seen this scenario played out many, many times.

When I first got into the biz eleven years ago, animation was my thing. Once I got my first job freelancing I focused on animation only, finessing my timing, my pacing, my inbetweens. It wasn't until several years later when I branched out and started working on a "style". And it took me even more years later to actually showcase this particular look and style into jobs that we bid on at Primal. Luckily for me, we were able to snag some jobs that allowed me to direct in this style. What a rush! But it wasn't until I paid my dues first.

Like I said, these points for demos are my own opinion, not industry standard. Just some thoughts on the subject that have been rolling around in my brain for some time now.

Man, the quality of those demos on YouTube really suck. I might have to put these together on a DVD and sell them. (I'm kidding.) And maybe I'll add my two short films as a bonus. How's that sound? And maybe I'll talk about those two films on a later post. That sounds good. With high-quality images. Yes, that sounds very good.

Usual jovial self

Man, ever since PLATFORM, it's just been one thing after the next, work-wise as well as home-wise. And basically, what happens is I have no interest in posting anything. I get too tired at night to bother with it and I obviously can't write anything during the day. Our weekends have been filled with errands, cleaning, fixing up, arranging, cleaning up again, etc. (Family's coming to visit us soon.) You get the picture.

And during the course of it all, I managed to fall on a razor:



I swear I feel 10 pounds lighter.

......

Wish I had more time to spend here, to write more about my past couple of weeks, but I don't. Recently, I was in a big funk. (No, it wasn't because I was missing my beard.) Sometimes you can't stop a downer day, no way around it. Something about moods, you know? I couldn't explain it to Andrea. It just...happens. And nothing seemed to help me get out of it. Maybe something spurred it on, but not conscientiously. If I knew what it was that set my funk in motion then I would avoid it at all costs. But I don't, so I can't.

Nothing to worry about -- things are chipper now. I'm my usual jovial self. I think. Things happen.

Anyway. Didn't mean to get all emo there. I promise to have more to say next time.

Wow

I'm humbled by the reaction to my previous post on blurkers. I never thought I'd get such a great positive response from all of you who braved the harsh winds of de-blurking -- feels good, doesn't it? It's okay, now -- you may go back to your blurking ways; I don't mind. I loved reading up on all of the comments, to see where you came from, what you do, why my blog is listed in your bookmarks, etc. Like I said, I'm humbled that any of you would consider my blog (and Andrea's) a part of your daily (or weekly) routine. Feels good to be included.

Thank you.

I do want to say that there was some reasoning behind the post, of course (besides being a great ego stroker, ha ha). There's no better way to find out exactly what my readers want than by asking you point-blank what brings you here to The Ward-O-Matic in the first place. The more I know, the more I can give you. And when I find out that you all love my artwork, my vintage illustration collection, my stories, Ava Thursday -- that's a plus because there's plenty more from where that came from! I know that lately I've been posting more word-heavy posts and I wasn't sure if that was the direction I wanted for the blog. But to read from some of you that reading up on our Big Move and me taking the plunge to work for LAIKA was both insightful and fascinating further solidified my inclination that The Ward-O-Matic doesn't always have to be so image-centric. One of the reasons I started this blog was a chance to work on my writing skills, to break out of the usual bad habits when it came to my writing (be patient with me -- it's a work in progress).

So, again -- thank you for your responses, your comments, your words. I really appreciate them all and will take them to heart. And thank you all -- each and every one of you who take the time to stop and read my words, check out my artwork, my daughter's artwork, anything else that I post about here. It's a pleasure to be a part of each and every one of your lives, no matter how many miles may be between us.

------------------------

Are you curious about what to expect on this blog coming up soon? I know I am. Here's a brief rundown:

Some insight into a lost animated classic.

A behind-the-scenes look at...what? Where? Find out soon....

More on the Platform Animation Festival. I'll be on two panels now -- expect me to talk more about this soon.

More sketches! I've started a personal project for myself to make me a better artist. Yeah, right.

I finally got the ol' scanner out! Expect more vintage goodies coming your way.

And yes, that means more Ava Thursday!

So, hopefully this'll wet your whistle for the next month or so.

Blurkers Rejoice!

It's been quite a while since I gave total and complete amnesty to our fellow readers who visit blogs but never comment or email, affectionately known as blurkers. Even though it's June and November is half a year away (Blurker Amnesty Week), and because 2005 is, like, so 2005 and not even close to 2007, and because my readership has morphed and changed drastically, I'd like to open the floor to hear from all you blurkers out there! You! Yes, you! You know who you are! The one who visits my blog but never comments, never makes a connection by emailing me -- I love you dearly, but how am I going to live if we never get to know each other? For reals?

In case you need to know:

Blurker (BLUR-kur): n. 1. One who reads many blogs but leaves no evidence of themselves such as comments behind; a silent observer of blogs. 2. One who reads many blogs but has no blog of their own; a blog-watcher or blog voyeur.

And I'm going to add these questions in the mix because it'll be fun and mostly I'm curious:

Why do you visit my blog? For the writing and stories? The artwork? My artwork? For the vintage stuff? The photos? Out of sheer curiosity?

Who are you? What profession are you in (if any)? Animation? Artist? Illustrator? Parent? Filmmaker? Sanitation worker?

Also: How did you find my blog? Link? Another blog? Drawn!? Flickr? Doing a search on Google? Boing Boing?

Curious minds want to know. Okay, just me.

So, who are you? Let's hear from ya!