As many of you know, we're alive and VERY active on Twitter and Facebook. Here's a fun little story about the above image that I wanted to share.

Rachel, our Art Director at Animation Mentor had the task of designing Spike into our twitter logo. She kept trying to dress Spike up as the twitter bird, but it just didn't look right. It wasn't fitting. Then she blew me away and came up with this incredible design. I LOVE it so much. A little freaky, yet VERY playful and SO Spike. It captures his fun spirit; crazy, energetic, mischievous and all with a big heart! I wanted to throw HUGE props to Rachel for raising the bar and thinking outside of the box. Way to go!

One thing I've been coming across in my conversations with people is that there is a lot of mind chatter/insecurities going on. Part of my life's path is learning to quiet the chatter and learn to simply be. I can honestly say that this is indeed a journey. I don't have this nailed down, by any means. Yet I'd like to share some things I've learned to quiet the voices and be a more present me. Perhaps some of these may resonate with you. Take or leave what you like:

1. I read a book that described the insecure voices in our heads like a duck quacking. The guy went on to say we need to learn how to, "Shut the duck up." I thought this was a fun, playful way of looking at the situation. I use this saying to myself and with my life coach all the time. It's a nice way to identify there is a quacking going on and then putting a fun idea around it that makes me able to smile when it comes up.

2. I've recommended this before, Eckhart Tolle's book, "The Power of Now" has been a HUGE life changer for me. Perhaps it just came in to my life at the right time. I'm happy to have been able to GET the point that there is an importance in just being. I used to think I needed to always be DOING something in order to feel productive. Whoops ;)

3. Whenever there is a situation that I can not control the outcome of, which is pretty much ANY situation, I identify that I am creating a mind war, then I try to "turn it off," or at least down. I do this by consciously noting that I am going down a path (letting the duck quack LOUDLY) then I make a decision to stop thinking those things as all it leads to is unnecessary stress. I think/do other things, things I can do; listen, smell the roses, meet a stranger, etc. I do this consciously. At first it feels contrived as it felt like I was forcing myself to "be positive" when I wasn't. Then I learned this is not what I'm doing at all. I personally believe we choose the quality of life we want to lead. We can change that in a heart beat. Having embraced this, yes, I live a happier life. I've found a way to make it authentic to me. This took some time and some dialing in. If you want to talk more about this I'd love to. This is a BIGGIE for me. :)

4. My life coach and I have discussed this next point in great detail. There will most likely always be the "gremlin voice" in our heads that are our insecurities and there's most likely no way to ever fully turn the voice off. Therefore we talk about "turning the volume down." If it's blaring at 10max, then what would it be like to turn it down to a 3? or even a 7? Over time I've learned to identify the voice and have begun to really turn it down A LOT. It takes time and practice, just like with anything.

I hope some of these points resonate with you. I hope you enjoy. Have a FANTASTIC day!

Ps. I have been getting a lot of PM's via my Bobby Boom Beck Facebook account. I won't be able to answer all of those. I WILL continue to answer all of my Animation Mentor PM's. So, if you'd like to get in touch with me, and you're a student/alumni, please PM me through the AM site. If you're not you can comment back on my blog posts and I'll get back to you here. Thanks.

I'm super pumped on this months Animation Mentor newsletter and wanted to point people to this insightful article that Victor Navone wrote around tips for dailies.
Check it out here

Labels: Animation Mentor, Animation Resources, Animation Studio, In the News

I received a fantastic email the other day from a newly inspired and very talented animator working at a major studio. They approached me with this general feeling:

“Is the animation industry jaded? What happens to people when they get older? Are there still jobs in animation for them? Am I going to always be worked to death like this or will I find some balance? I just want to know these things so I can decide if animation is something I want to do for the long haul.”

Great questions! I was happy to answer them to the best of my ability, as most all of this is very subjective. I thought it’d be great to share my thoughts here.

Is the animation industry jaded?

It is true that a lot of people get burned out due to working long hours and on projects they may or may not believe in. I remember working at Disney on Dinosaur and people would tell me, “You’re so happy, it’s just a matter of time before you get all jaded and crusty like the rest of us.” Ha ha. I’ll always remember that. If you know me I’m anything but jaded and crusty. It’s all a matter of perspective. I know at AnimationMentor.com we have worked hard to create an environment of support and inspiration. Our hope is to create more “inspired” animators that go in to the work force and populate it with hope and enthusiasm. Is this bad? Hell no. Most every one who got in to this industry was inspired at some point. “We’re making cartoons for goodness sakes.” I often hear this and it’s an important reminder to tell ourselves.

So, my answer to this question is, no. No, I do not think the industry is jaded. I think it’s easy to become jaded and negative energy is like cream and it tends to overpower and rise to the top. Beware of getting sucked in to this ugly pattern and remember to keep your chin up. Just as the negative rises to the top, the inspired will also outshine at the end of the day. So, I say work together to be stoked about what you do. This energy is infectious and will create something so powerful.

A good experience I’ve heard of this is at Psyop. One of our graduates got a job over there and the team said something to the tone of, “Wow, you really know what you’re doing and you seem really easy to work with; do you know anyone else like this looking for a job?” Before you know it there are 13 people from Animation Mentor working on their project! I recently met the CEO of Psyop at a party in New York and he told me they love hiring people form Animation Mentor. I was told the work ethic inspired the whole team to raise their standards and pumped an infusion of enthusiasm throughout the organization!

This is the type of story I LOVE to hear. It’s not the first I’ve heard like this. Am I saying only Animation Mentor students are this way? No, not at all. What I am saying is that being jaded or feeling like, “I’m a great animator” are dangerous ways to think. When you are a constant learner, supportive, sharing of your knowledge and are inspired by the work you do, you will be creating a SUPER POWERFUL quality of life, not only for yourself but for everyone around you! Something to keep in mind.


What happens to people when they get older? Are there still jobs in animation for them?

Ha ha. Yes, there are older people in the industry that are animators. For the most part it is a “young” industry, however the older people I know, and I do know a LOT of older folks who animate, feel that the young talent keeps them fresh and inspires them to maintain their energy and passion for why they got in to the industry in the first place.

A lot of older animators do become lead animators, supervisors, directing animators, story artists, directors, etc. It’s a natural progression. Some choose to become supervisors on one film and then jump back to being purely an animator. There are a lot of choices, and as long as you keep pushing yourself to do great work, the work will be there.

Am I going to always be worked to death like this or will I find some balance?

This is a tough one. I remember on The Incredibles I was working a lot on side projects after work. Those projects kept me inspired to do the best work I possibly could while AT work. I remember I did get a “talking to” by one of the supervising animators that I was only getting my work done on time but wasn’t staying late like the rest taking on additional work; aka “team spirit.” I tried to explain that I was a BIG team player and that I was giving my all to the team in dailies and in the work and support I gave during work hours. This did not go over so well and perhaps reflected in the shots I got on that film.

What I wanted to do was to help start setting a standard that is important and one that I employ at my company. That is, “inspired people create inspired results.” That is my motto at Animation Mentor. One BIG way we do this is by promoting true work/life balance. We don’t work overtime. It is true that during graduation, Siggraph and BBQ’s that some extra hours are required by the marketing/events team. However, as a whole we work hard to keep this balance. It is so critical to staying inspired and pacing yourself.

In the beginning it is true that you will most likely work crazy hours and need to work 6+ day weeks on projects. This IS an unfortunate reality of the industry. However, there are many studios that believe, as I do, that you need to nurture your talent and keep them inspired for the long run. They are few, and they are out there. However, it is important to understand this reality as it is something to consider.

Not everyone will last in this type of environment, perhaps it is a byproduct of the movie making industry as a whole. This is the ugly truth of the matter. I long to see the day where studios take work/life balance into consideration and promote it in the work place so that people can go home at a reasonable hour, see their kids, play music, go to the movies, do to dinner with friends/family and simply enjoy life as a whole. Maybe it’s rare at this point, however I believe it is possible. This is a personal endeavor for me as I see the results of what can be accomplished with the work/life balance mindset and it is outstanding!

I just want to know these things so I can decide if animation is something I want to do for the long haul.

At the end of our email back-and-forth discussion I thought this person may leave the studio they are at to find one that promotes a better work/life balance. Instead they told me this, “No, no. I’m going to stay here. Perhaps I will be someone who helps lead the movement to a more inspired work place and one that values a stronger work/life balance.”

Wow!!! That is so inspiring to hear and something that touched me so much that I wanted to take the time to share these thoughts with you guys. It’s up to us to work on this. If the work/life balance part is hard to achieve, then, at the very least, let’s make this job something fun and absolutely inspiring to come to each and every day!

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this matter.

Labels: Animation Mentor, Animation Resources, Bobby Beck

Today we launched two new ebooks. These ebooks are not meant for people who are currently animators so much as they are for people who are interested in becoming animators. Although we feel that Animation Mentor is a great place to learn animation and we do give a shameless plug or 3 throughout, it is still filled with great info for people who are interested. We also decided to make the content 100% free. No, "give us your email" "Free." This is actually free, so we hope the link gets passed around.

I also was stoked to see us pop up on www.AnimationConversation.com regarding our new student showcase. It's a nice critique of the work we're doing and they also ask some great questions that we are always asking ourselves internally:

1. Are our student reels starting to look the same?
2. Is Animation Mentor flooding the market with animators?

Addressing #1:
I addressed this topic a couple posts back on things we are doing to vary up the look and feel. SO, to paraphrase:

1. We have updated the curriculum and launched this in January of this year which addresses adding new assignments which now allows students to pick from a variety of assignments.

2. Stewie (the "generic" character with coal eyes) now has a "costume picker" which allows students to "dress" Stewie up in a variety of combinations to give their shots a more individual feel while still keeping the Animation Mentor branding; i.e. look and feel.

3. We have made it way easier to customize Bishop so people can add hair, lipstick, stubble, hair styles, clothes etc. You can also scale the proportions of Bishop to get a different look and feel.

4. We are launching something next quarter which will also excite the students and will DRAMATICALLY change the look and feel of future reels and showcase reels coming out of Animation Mentor.

Addressing #2:
I hear this a lot and it's important to note a few things:

1. Because we are worldwide we are providing opportunities to people in other countries, not just the U.S. Almost half of our student population are from overseas.

2. Have we helped change the dynamic of studios hiring policies? Perhaps. It is true that some studios are now bringing in more entry level talent than they did before. I honestly feel it's because the overall talent is going up from students and Animation Mentor definitely does provides talent to the studios. Is this bad? Depends on how you look at it. We feel it gives more opportunities to people allowing them to get in to the industry. We also think it helps keep jobs in the U.S. as opposed to watching all the studios jump fully over to the outsourcing bandwagon. I'm actually very happy about that one! There are plenty of studios all over the world making unique and amazing content for people to be entertained by. I'm SUPER happy that Animation Mentor is one of the providers of that talent, not only in the U.S. but overseas as well.

I hope this inspires some healthy discussion. :)

Labels: Animation Mentor, Animation Resources

Today the Animation Mentor Summer Showcase reel launched. We're so incredibly happy with the quality of work and dedication that has gone in to this. It's nice as I really feel it shows a good variety of work and also shows a depth to the "look" of the work, too. We've had some comments from recruiters that it would be nice to "mix it up a bit" and I"m proud to say that we've done a lot to mix it up and the next showcase reel will REALLY reflect a lot in these changes that we've made to add the variety to the work and reels. Here are some things we've done and are doing:

1. Bishop has a variety of looks and styles to him/her. Students are getting more creative each and every time they do an assignment; putting different hair styles and clothes and really designing their shots keeping this in mind for their final pieces.
2. The new curriculum has a lot of new assignments which will and have really mixed things up showing a greater overall variety.
3. Stewie now has a "costume picker" which allows students to choose from a variety of pre-defined costumes and sets that we've created. This will reflect in the next showcase.

Overall these small changes will make a HUGE difference in the quality of work coming and out and this showcase should give you a good sample of that. Enjoy and please let me know what you think! WOO HOO!
Click Here to view

Labels: Animation Classes, Animation Mentor, Animation Resources, Video

I just got back from Comic Con 2009. I wanted to blog while at the convention, however the connection at my hotel was the slowest thing ever. No worries, I'm here to report the fun activities that ensued!

Animation Mentor along with Animation Magazine hosted a panel which was, for me, the highlight of Comic Con. It was so freaking amazing to be in the presence of so many fantastically talented animators. In this picture Don Hahn talks about the new books "Drawn to Life" while Eric Goldberg listens intently.

The panel was all around the power of mentorship highlighting Walt Stachfield, author of the "Drawn to Life" books. Many stories were shared that highlighted the importance of seeking stimulation and a sense of breadth in ones life to be the best animator you can be. In this photo, Tom Sito and Ruben Procopio listen to Glen Keane as he talks about how Walt Stanchfield was not one of the 9 old men, but was equally as influential on the art form; i.e. the unsung heros.

The turn out for the panel was fantastic. This is only about half of the room. From everyone I talked to it seemed like they were totally inspired and had a blast!

Glen Keane stuck around afterward and signed everyone's sketchbooks and told awesome stories. It was Glen's first time ever at Comic Con and he was so enthusiastic about all the great art and inspiration he was seeing!

Overall my time at Comic Con this year was freaking amazing. It's a total recharge to the batteries and I simply love the feeling I get there which carries on with me for a long, long time!

We did record the event however, I'm not sure if/how we are going to use it. I would suspect there will be something on some of the upcoming newsletters so stay tuned ;)

Labels: Animation Mentor, Events