Animated Resolutions for 2011

My animated resolutions for 2011 are pretty much the same as they were for 2010. I have not yet achieved my dream job, but I am still working towards it. I have not given up yet.

1) Last year I competed in the July competition of The 11 Second Club. I did pretty good considering it was my first time out. I learned a lot from that experience. For this year I would like to compete in at least two competitions. Speaking of which, it's time to vote for last month's competition. Plus, the selection for January sounds intriguing.

2) I want to keep adding to my demo reel. This is one resolution that needs to be completed in a matter of days. I am applying for an apprenticeship with Reel FX and the deadline is the end of business day on January 4th. I have already applied but I need to upload a new reel to YouTube and link it to my application before it is too late. But I don't want it to end there. I still have several ideas for other small dialog scenes that I would love to work on. I still have my "Bowfinger" scene sitting on the back burners. There are other clips from that movie that I also want to work on. I have a sound clip from "Inglorious Basterds" that I really want to work on. ("Bingo!!") Plus a few other physical actions that I've always wanted to animate. I want to do another one or two parkour scenes.

3) I want to get back into my sketchbook. I want to build up a portfolio of quick gesture drawings. I want to be able to draw just about anything at a moment's notice. I want to be able to express an emotion with a few simple lines. There was a time in my life when I really did love to draw. There's nothing quite like that feeling of being able to create that illusion of life with a simple piece of paper and a pencil. I would really like to do a Sketch Crawl here around town. I heard about this through another blog and it sounds like so much fun. It's where you get a group of people and you walk from one place to another, sketching anything and everything you see. I think it would be a lot of fun if I can get the local art scene involved. I would probably have to contact the Art Center of K Space.

4) Once I get my reel up and running, I would like to start applying to more studios. It's been a while since I've applied anywhere. It's because I have not updated my reel for the past six months. Once I have it all "nice and neat" I will feel more comfortable about shipping it out there. There are several studios here in Texas that I have my eye on. Then there are the big one's that I would love to work for.

5) Several friends have asked me to collaborate with some of their own creative projects. I've been asked to help out with a children's book and a logo for a blog. I've been wanting to do a music video for a friend's band. I have a few ideas laying about but have not really found the time to dedicate to any of these projects.

Right now, the most important thing for me is to get my reel up and running. Once I have that done then I can focus on these other projects. I will need to become adamant about this. Create a schedule and block out some serious time for development, pre-production if you will. I know what I want to do. If I can make this happen, it's going to be a very fun and animated year!