SCRAMBLE!!!

I've been in a bit of a creative slump these past few weeks. I've lost my drive, & I haven't been animating at all. But after attending Bunny Hoest's ( of The Lockhorns & Howard Huge fame) annual "Bunny Bash", my creative juices began flowing again. I just needed a bit of a jump start from Bunny, Howard Beckerman, Stephen Silver & company to get me going again.

I sat down at my Cintiq & immediately started animating. In about an hour, I animated this little bit of my circus dog doing a surprised take & scrambling off-screen.

(Click on the Image to see him scramble!)

My first pass was in green, & my "tweak pass" was drawn over it in purple. If you watch closely, you can see what changes I made in the latter pass compared to the first.

I'm starting to get back into the groove again. & with Tom Sito's animation class coming up in a few weeks, I need as much practice as I can get. If I keep this energy up, I may finally be able to finish that troubled film of mine before the year's up! Here's hoping!

Tom Sito Comes to SVA

Boy, was tonight a fun night!

Tonight, we had another one of those "Alumnus Lectures", & today's guest was Tom Sito, one of the most professional & talented animators/directors in the field today! From the Raggedy Ann & Andy feature to Roger Rabbit to Lion King to Shrek & beyond, he's had a big part in some of the best animation we've had in the last few decades. He also wrote Drawing the Line, a book about the animation unions, which I've been planning on picking up & reading for a while now.

For the two hours that Tom spoke to us, he was not only a very intelligent & knowledgeable speaker, but also a very cheerful guy with a great sense of humor. He told us insightful & entertaining stories about his experiences & how he got to that point. He showed us some of his demo reel & even some work he's doing on his new prime-time show Car Talk for PBS.

The funny thing was, he was taking the same classes, with the same teachers, in the same rooms where I am now. It almost feels that your standing on hallowed ground, hoping to that some of the inspiration & talent from alumni like Tom will rub off on you.

Here's hoping that I make it someday!

You can check out Tom Sito's website HERE. (I'll also put his site in my links column on the right). Don't forget to check out his book "Drawing the Line" & his show Car Talk, premiering next summer on PBS!

Once again... THANKS TOM!

*UPDATE (11/29/07)*

Tom Sito put some pictures from his lecture at SVA up on his site, & I'm in one of them! I'm the scrawny looking kid with the sketchpad & pencil in the bottom left! Check me out! Don't I look irresistible? I'm as charming as a stomach pump!