That's a wrap on Class One!!

This was the last week for Class One of Animation Mentor. It sounds cliche but it has gone by so fast. I remember how excited I was the first day of class. I couldn't wait to start animating. I was so nervous on our first live Q&A. I introduced myself to the class and I still have no idea what I said.

It was a great three months. I feel I learned so much. As I told the class on our last Q&A, up until now I had been self-taught in animation. Everything I knew I learned from books, movies, and articles. I had hit a plateau. My knowledge was limited to 2D, traditional, hand drawn animation. I felt I would never be able to compete in today's field of CG animation. Then, late last year, I decided to go for it and see if I could get in to Animation Mentor. Those were some happy days, followed by nerve racking will-I-get-the-loan frustration. Then, would the school get the money in time?!

As we can now see, everything worked out in the end. I recently contacted the loan lady at AM and she assured me that I am good-to-go for the next session. Class 2 involves Body Mechanics. I glanced at some of the work from a few Class 2 students. Unlike Class 1, there is not a new assignment every week. Just like the last month of Class 1, we will be working on one project for several weeks. We will really be focusing on getting each project to look the best it can be.

And now, it is with great pleasure that I may present to you....

my Animation Mentor Class 1 Progress Reel!!!

I would like to thank my mentor Chris Chua. If you are ever to start out at Animation Mentor, he is the mentor to have. He was very involved in the critiques. He always kept the commentary rolling. There was never a lull in the conversation. I saw a few other e-critiques and the one thing that bothered me was that the mentor would be thinking things over internally! He would analyze the scene and then say, "Yeah, that looks nice." He never explained why it was nice or what made it work. Not Chris. He was always commenting on how to push a pose even further or adjusting a single frame to make the whole piece that much better. That was always so helpful. Thank you, Chris! It has been a pleasure. I can't wait to see your work in Wall-E. I'll be cheering as I see your name come up on the screen.

I would also like to thank all my classmates for their tremendous amounts of encouragement and feedback throughout the whole experience. It was great "meeting" people from all over the world. From Bjarki in Iceland with his amazing and always entertaining work to Bruno with his amazing stop-motion test shots. It has been a pleasure working with you and I hope to see everyone at graduation next year!