Back from California!
And we’re back! Well, I’m back! Just got back from California late last night. Man alive, that trip was fun. It was so beautiful down there. I got to go to Disneyland for a few days — man is that place packed!! Word to the wise: avoid spring break week. We don’t get spring break at AM so I didn’t know! It’s pretty cool how much they’ve put into the different lands though to make you feel like you’re in the wild west or a jungle. The parades and fireworks were great too. But during the nightly fireworks they have Tinkerbell fly around the castle. This person is hanging by wires swinging quickly back and forth around the castle and through fireworks. I swear she was about to slam into the castle. Has to be an exhilarating job every night I’m sure.
I also got to visit Dreamworks Animation in Glendale while I was down there. It’s such a beautiful campus and it was great to get to talk with people. I swear, when you bring so many passionate people together the results are so amazing. It was great to just have lunch and get to talk with some people and get to see the campus for a couple of hours. Many thanks to those who made it possible — I had a lot of fun. I left smiling and completely inspired.
One of the nights I spent in my hotel for my last Q&A. It’s always such a bittersweet moment — spending 12 weeks with these people and having to switch to another class!! We stuck around for a long time just chatting with out mentor about all sorts of animation stuff. It was a jam packed inspiration session that left me pumped for this next term. It really was an incredible class and it was great to have such an awesome last Q&A. “Work to learn, not to earn” and “It’s all about the entertainment” were two of the things we talked about. Ain’t it true.
A few people in the LA area heard I was in town and we ended up getting together for dinner and drinks on Friday as well. It was so great to see these guys and just hang out in good company and talk “shop” and about AM. The energy whenever animators get together is absolutely incredible — perhaps that’s why studios are such amazing places. These people are awesome!!
A great trip and a great way to kick start my final term at Animation Mentor! Now it’s back to work and time to finish up my film!
