alexiss dawn

…and an update is coming soon. It’s tough to sum up 9 days of pure awesomeness so I’m just trying to wrap my head around all of my thoughts. Exciting stories and plenty of stuff to tell so stay tuned. I just need another day to take it all in.

An early update here as I’m off to California tomorrow. It’s been a pretty dang good week. I spent most of the week on my first production shot, tweaking, polishing, all that jazz. And I got my first final on a shot! That’s a pretty good feeling. Man alive did I learn a lot from working on it. So now it’s on to the next and I’m way excited about it. WAY. So much that a bit of me doesn’t want to take off for California.

So tomorrow after some time at work and some more time on NY transit, I’m off to California. First stop is San Francisco for my Animation Mentor graduation!! I’ve been to the last two, but I’m pretty sure that this one is going to beat them all — it has to! I’m incredibly excited to meet some of my classmates from around the world that I’ve been working along with over the last year and a half and to celebrate with them. It’s going to be an amazing celebration and I cannot wait!

Then it’s off to LA for Siggraph. It’ll be great to spend some time with all of the AMers in town and get to know some more people. Last year was a blast, this year I expect no less.

So that’s it for me for now. I’ll be back in a couple of weeks with pictures, stories, and plenty of energy as I’m clawing to get back to work! If you’re down at Sigg next week, totally try to meet up — chances are I’ll be at the AM booth a bit. Chao!

Sid has definitely come to be one of my favorite characters from Ice Age. He’s such a crazy character and has so many quirks. One of the things we’ve noticed from watching the Ice Age movies after work is the way his hips shift as he walks. He actually does the opposite sometimes — instead of lifting up the hip opposite of the foot rising off the ground, he’ll lift the same hip. Crazy, right? There have been many times in the last couple of weeks that crazy animators have been walking down the streets of New York impersonating his walk. Try it — it’s a good time.

So week 2 is done! It’s been a great week. Challenging, very challenging, but great. “Finished” up on the test shot I had been working on and got assigned my first ever prod shot. It’s pretty intense stuff but it’s been a blast so far. It’s a lot of work but it’s a great time. We’re all feeling a lot better now that we’re getting a hang of the tools.

One thing I love: We sit around so many times at work/home/lunch/everywhere and are just amazed how freaking cool our job is. We’re excited to go to work every day and don’t want to leave at night. That’s awesome. In the middle of quiet as we’re working someone will just spout out “I love my job”. It’s truly a blessing to be here.

Working with amazing people is also a bonus. Another week means more time getting to know people. That has been one of my favorite parts so far. You honestly can’t run a business well without good people — and Blue Sky seems to have it going on. Oh, and this last week we got to attend a master class with Sergio Pablos! That was an awesome day — listening to him and watching examples. Animation is definitely lifelong learning and it’s so incredibly great to be learning from so many talented people.

This weekend we went into the city and got to wander around a bit. It’s definitely a different experience wandering the city and not being on vacation. Vacations mean you have to see everything possible as you only have a few days. We got to mosie (does anyone use that word anymore?) around the city casually as we have months and months here. That was awesome. We ate Lombardis — if you ever come to New York, you have to go there. Best…pizza…ever.

Tonight we had dinner together and welcomed another BS noob that’s starting tomorrow. I have lots to say and plenty to type but the process of organizing those thoughts doesn’t work out too well lately. But more to come. It takes a few weeks to settle in and just as I’m about to, I’m taking off to California this weekend for my graduation from Animation Mentor! Just know things are going great and I can’t wait to be able to tell you guys more.

So time for a bit of an update eh? It’s been one heck of a week — pretty crazy all around. I flew into New York Sunday night and started at Blue Sky on Monday. Nine of us started on Monday and I already knew most of them from AM! That was a huge help throughout this whole week. Nothing like starting a job knowing people and feeling a bit more comfortable. Plus it’s been great to come home at night and hang out with them as we all live in the same building.

Everyone at Blue Sky is great — everyone is so friendly. Love it. There’s been a lot to pick up on this week but the team we have there is amazing and everyone is so eager to help, to learn, and to chat, popping in and out of our offices, looking over our shoulders, and helping out. We all were assigned a specific mentor for while we’re getting started, and we also get help from all of the other very talented people there.

For now, we’re not in crunch, which is excellent. Although we’ve been pretty crazy busy soaking up all we can and learning the new tools and rigs, things are pretty chill and we’re getting the time to do that. And believe me, we’re all incredibly thankful for that.

Long story short, it’s been a challenging, tiring week but it’s been a blast. I’m so glad I got to start with people I know, meet past mentors from AM, and am having the opportunity to get to know a lot of new people. It’s challenging but so far it’s worth it. Excited to get back to work next week and continue working with the rigs, prepping for working on actual film shots.

It’s all still very surreal to me.

Despite the lack of posting the last couple of weeks, I am indeed still alive. It’s been quite busy getting everything set for the move and just meeting up with people for a few last times. I went out with Utah AMers, met up with a friend, even went camping for a few days with my family. And I also got the chance to drive down to Southern Utah and meet up with a mentor/friend of mine that was in town. Sweet. It’s been a really good time and nice to take it a bit more chill.

And now, I’m just finishing up packing, hoping that I’m bringing what I need. I fly out tomorrow morning and start on Monday. It’s definitely going to be a few crazy days at least. I’m excited — just ready for it to happen…now. I’m also excited to get back to New York — this pic above is from my last trip I made out there in 2006 to visit everyone from when I lived out there. The Toys R Us in Manhattan is amazzzzing. Woo!

Once I get moved I’ll be back into the groove of blog posting — just give me a week! I’ve been working on another dialogue test as well as a shot for an alumni project that I’m involved with. It’s been pretty fun so I’m excited to post it up for you guys to see. And I have plenty of animation goodies to share with you guys as well. So stay tuned and stick with me — I’ll be back online fully soon!

New York or bust!

Hope that you all have a great Christmas!!