Today is time for a BIG update!! In fact, there are LOTS of changes happening, both here in my blog and in real life, and I want to update you all on some of them.
First and foremost, I am changing the goal of this blog. Originally this was intended to be a way of documenting my weekly endeavors in animation, which I am still going to do, but after a while, I started adding reviews, and other content. Now I have decided that I am going to be updating about anything that I personally find interesting, with a focus toward animation and film, but not just animation. This means if I hear something cool about... say... a scientific discovery, even if it has nothing to do with animation, I may still blog about it. However, I will always prefer to talk about animation or the industry of animation. So if there is a choice between talking about a great scientific advancement and the latest Disney movie, I will talk about the movie first before I talk about anything not related to animation. I hope this isn't too confusing, but by blogging about more than just one of my interests is likely to result in more blog posts.
Second, I would like to make a few small announcements. To start off, I have moved from Virginia to Georgia, and have started to attend SCAD. I am in the first quarter already, and with my transfer credits, I am a sophomore, and should be able to make it to a Junior by the fall. I also should be able to focus on only animation classes starting in the fall as well. I have also broken the unemployment train. I have recently been employed part-time (since school is more than full-time as is) at the Disney Store. It is an awesome store, with great people, and is fun to work at, plus they are very helpful with giving me few hours so I can work around my school schedule. In order to make this big change in my life, (which is huge since I went from completely available and not at all busy to barely able to keep up with the massive amount of work I suddenly have), I have had to make some serious sacrifices. The biggest of these is that, in order to afford this, my wife is staying in Virginia, working at her current job, staying with family, while she looks for work down here and I attend classes here. It is hard to be so separated from her on a daily basis, but we are doing our best. I hope a job comes through soon, because we could really use it right now.
Third, I mentioned before that I do not update this blog that often. Originally it was meant to be a weekly update, but that has obviously not happened. SO... I am going to make this as daily as possible, keeping in mind that I am extremely busy at both school and work. I will continue to update about any art project I am working on, both for my class and on my own. I will NOT be blogging at all about my work, except to say that it is awesome and anyone who hasn't been to it should go. I will continue to make movie reviews as well, time permitting of course. I am very busy and I might not get to see a movie when it first comes out, or even after it is on disc, at least not for a while. But some movies are just too good (or bad) not to review.
Now that that is out of the way... let me actually put in some updated content.
I would like to thank everyone in Georgia who has welcomed me. I feel like I have found some good friends and family here already, and I hope that this will continue for the years to come. I would also like to say "Hi" to all my fellow classmates at SCAD, who work very hard. I promise not to write anything about anyone in particular, unless it is positive. No negative nanny here.
Right now, I am taking a Drawing II class, a Color Theory class, and a Public Speaking class. I have actually already taken Drawing II before, as well as Color Theory. However, I decided that I needed some practice with drawing again, so I willingly chose to not submit a portfolio to transfer out of the drawing class. I am enjoying it overall, even though it is difficult. I also found that my color theory classes (yes, plural) of the past were nothing like the color theory class I am taking now. There is a reason my credits didn't transfer. I have never taken a Public Speaking class before, so I expect to learn a lot from this one.
Currently, I am working on a drawing focusing on 2 point perspective. We are using both observed and imagined (added) elements to the image, and I think that, even though I have so much work to do on it, it is coming along nicely. I will probably be spending several more hours Monday and Tuesday working on this. I am also working on a painting focusing on different colors and small brushstrokes. My design is a little unusual, and not as nice as I would like it to be, but I will make the best out of it. Some of the other designs in class are awesome, and I think are going to look spectacular when they are done. I am actually almost done with this already, and should be finished in class Monday, so I can focus my time on my other projects instead. Finally, I am also working on a speech. I am actually behind in this, BUT I already have a good idea what I am going to write about, and I have a good template to work off of for designing the speech. I should be able to finish this Monday evening. In all, I am incredibly busy with school work, but I have it all planned out and I am confident it will work out. I wish I had some animation or comic news for you, but right now I am so busy with these "fundamentals" classes that I have no time to work on anything else right now. That being said, I have found renewed interest in Disney, as well as my own animation projects. I hope to make more progress on my own animation soon, time permitting of course.
In other news, I am planning to write a review for Disney's "Tangled" later this week. Personally, I think this is a fantastic movie. I can't give it a higher rating, and if you haven't seen it yet, go rent or buy it now! I also have plans to review another movie called "Waking Sleeping Beauty", which is a documentary about Disney's comeback with The Little Mermaid and on, as well as "Rock and Rule", a Canadian animation from the 80's that has been all but forgotten. I may do a review on "Rio", but right now I have not had the chance to see it yet. I am ALSO going to talk about another movie called "The Thief and the Cobbler", which has been known by many names, was many years in the making, has undergone many changes, and suffered from many production issues. The final release of this film is actually a fan edit release, known as the "Recobbled Edition", which used DVD footage, VHS footage, unfinished and test footage, and even storyboards in places where the animation wasn't finished or editing was needed. While the quality is understandably lacking (being a fan edit that using unfinished footage and finished footage from many different quality sources), the edit is the best version of the movie I have seen by far! That being said, it is very different from the original release which was released to DVD several years ago, so I will probably be doing a comparative review, talking about the differences between each edit, and where each one succeeds and fails. To give you an idea of the differences, the main character of the original Miramax release was voiced by Matthew Broderick, while in the new edit (which is apparently closer to what the original writer had in mind) that character never speaks at all. Good news is that Vincent Price is still the voice of Zig Zag.
Now it may take me a while to get to all of this, and I don't know what order I will do them in either just yet. Since I am also really getting into Disney, I may talk a bit about the history of Disney and the advances they have made. As for right now, I am going to head off. I have to finish painting a picture, and I need to rest after a long day at the Renn Faire, while recovering from my sun burns as well.
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