I wanted to make sure to blog today. It's a special day that only happens once every 4 years. It's like a special gift. A "free" day. An extra day to make the most of. I know that may sound silly but that's me.

I had some friends growing up in high school who were born on Feb 29th and it was always a cool thing to hear that they were "technically" only about 6 years old! How cool is that?!

Life is such an amazing gift. Each day that we are here is so crazy special. Enjoy your "extra" day! :)

Labels: Bobby Beck

This weekend was the best I've had in a long time. I've been working SUPER hard this year and it was nice to get a break to recharge the batteries. It started off on Saturday at Wondercon. I got to hang out with a bunch of my most amazing friends (Shawn, Carlos, Dave, Jeff Riley, Morgan, Bailey, Laurie, Kendrix and my amazing wife to name a few). It was so great getting to see everyone all together, catching up and having a good ol' time!


We all came together by and large to celebrate the completion of "Operation Fish." This is Jeff Riley's stop motion film that he worked on for 8+ years! It turned out great and it was so awesome seeing it up on a big screen and hearing the audience react so well to it. I'm so proud of Jeff for sticking with it and making this happen. He's such a dedicated and talented guy and I couldn't be more proud of him!


Sunday a big group of us got together at Carlos' new place in San Francisco and watched the Oscars. It was a fun show to watch with friends. Some "surprise" winners for sure. We had an oscar pool which I did not come close to winning! Ha, ha. So many great films I still have yet to see. I can't wait to catch up.

It's Monday morning and my batteries are recharged and I'm ready to have an amazing week!

-BOOM

Labels: Bobby Beck, Events, Films

Shawn Kelly (co-founder of Animation Mentor) took home the award for "Best Single Visual Effect of the Year!" This was for his work in "Transformers" specifically in the Desert highway sequence where the robot is running like he's on roller blades and knocking cars all over the place. WOW! I'm so proud of Shawn in the biggest of ways. He's come a long way since we sat next to each other the first day of our first art class ever! He remains one of my best friends in the whole entire world and I'm just so proud to see him become so successful! He's an amazing guy and works very hard at what he does; I'm so thankful to know him and have such an amazing friend in my life! Congratulations Shawn!

Labels: Animation Mentor, In the News

Carlos Baena launched his new site today! Check it out. It's awesome and I'm excited to see a BLOG right on the front page. I'd assume that he will be posting good nuggets so book mark this bad boy!

www.CarlosBaena.com

Labels: Animation Resources

Congratulations to Ryan Daniel for his win of the 11 Second Club! Dimos Vrysellas is our featured Mentor for this Critique. Check it out. We hope you enjoy!

Click here to view the January eCritique

Labels: Animation Mentor mentors

Wow, so we're all moved in to our new home in Emeryville! The move went SUPER smooth. A huge thanks to Dave, Adam, Tony and Stephen who worked so hard on making this such a smooth transition. We literally left on Friday from Parker St. and on Monday we came to the new Office and everything was ready to go! WOW!!!

Today we just had the Animation Mentor logo put up in the entrance and it was fun to watch. We all gathered around and witnessed as it really makes it feel like home.

Check out Michael Dauz in his new digs! If there's one thing the new office is not missing that is color (Thanks Rachel!)! We have lots of color on the walls and in the furniture, too! More photos will come with time as right now the office is a bit bare.

I will say that being under one roof is fantastic. It's so awesome and the energy is so engaging! I thought this week was going to be about settling in but I think it's been one of the most productive weeks for me this year! It's just so inspiring to be there! I'm so proud of the space and I'm happy to know that the staff are equally proud!

The old web development area was called the Brain Cave. The new one does not have a name yet, but I thought this was too cool of a photo opportunity to pass up! Hee hee. Note the Karate head band. Ninja in training? Actually Mike is a full fledged ninja, he's just dressing down. :)

I hope you enjoy seeing a few snaps of the space!

Labels: Animation Mentor, Animation Mentor Staff