alexiss dawn

It’s been quite a while since an update! I’m still alive and kicking.

Work is going great. I really have the best job in the world at Lumenas and have the great opportunity of working with an amazing team — a true blessing. It’s been great seeing things fall into place and see our company grow. The end result is going to be stunning.

I’m a Springboard mentor at Animation Mentor this term. Springboard is a class available before starting at AM in class 1, to learn about Maya and get used to the technical aspects of the massive application before diving into animation. It’s filled with info that I didn’t learn until class 4 when I bought some Digital Tutors DVDs to learn more about Maya. It’s definitely an excellent resource for those not familiar with Maya.

In other non-animation-related news, I’ve started a photoblog. It’s been wonderful being able to get back to some hobbies after work and have time to pursue them. Spring time is slowly creeping in here in Utah and you can’t help but get outside on those beautiful days.

This week marks the last week for the temps up at Blue Sky Studios working on Ice Age 3! A big congrats to all of them for making it through and working their butts off to help make a great movie. I can’t wait to see it all put together. It was a blast being able to work with these guys — late nights galore. They are extremely talented individuals.

Treehouse Studios’ latest episode pays tribute as they finish up animation up there:

A big congrats to the entire team there as they finish up. And another huge congrats to Fast Tony Bonilla, Garrett Shikuma, Rich Fournier, Stewart Shaw, and Brian Larson on their upgrade from temp to staff at Blue Sky as well!! You guys earned it!

Things at Lumenas are pushing ahead well. We’re continuing to do tests and play with new character rigs as they come out. We’re recording our voice actors bit by bit, so it’s been a lot of fun so far to do tests with dialogue clips and see our characters really start to come to life. We also worked on a few shots from a sequence in the movie and got to see them rendered. My oh my it’s beautiful. We’re taking a whole new approach and I think it’s going to pay off big time. The Lumenas family is smaller than those at big studios, but it’s amazing what we’re pushing out. I can’t wait until we get something out there publicly for all of you to see.

As a side note, there’s going to be a new Ice Age 3 trailer next week attached to Monsters Vs Aliens. So that gives you more reason to go see it next Friday. This time around you’re going to get to meet some of the new characters and actually get some info about what this movie is about. Time for the dinos!

So stay tuned, keep animating, keep living, and if you’re in that part of the world that’s going into Spring, enjoy that sun!

Just thought I’d throw that out to the world. I do indeed love my job. Lumenas Animation Studios is an amazing place. I’ve never worked at a place with so many people so dedicated to a project and doing all that they can to see it succeed. And for everyone on all levels to be open, honest and friendly with everyone else is incredible. There’s an amazing kind of energy that comes from that type of environment and I’m pretty dang lucky to get to be a part of it. The Lumenas family is awesome.

Two weeks in! I’ve been having a great time getting going at Lumenas. We’re testing out the main character rig and getting amped up to start on the very first sequence to come to animation for the film! We have an awesome team and it’s great how well we’ve been meshing. There’s magic at Lumenas.

Animation World Network did a little write up on the studio a week and a half ago or so. Head over there to check it out and learn a little more about The Legend of Santa Claus and our studio!

Well folks, it’s time for some updates. So grab some hot cocoa and get ready for some reading!

We’ve been incredibly busy at Blue Sky, working to get Ice Age 3 done. It’s looking absolutely amazing and the rendered shots we’ve seen are gorgeous. It’s going to be a great film. It has been crunch time and that’s the reason you don’t see most of us blogging as much anymore.

As for some news, last week was my last week at Blue Sky. I received another job offer for a staff position at another studio and couldn’t pass it up. It was tough to choose to leave Blue Sky and the amazing people and great friends there. The last six months have felt so much longer and I’ve learned a TON and became close to so many people. Every studio has its quirks, but it’s the people that make up for those, and Blue Sky has some of the best people!

My time at Blue Sky was an incredible experience that taught me a lot about animation as well as life, and it will always remain a very, very special part of my life. I cannot say thank you enough to the people there for…EVERYTHING.

So what now? The new job. I’ve accepted a position at Lumenas Animation Studios in Salt Lake City and I start tomorrow! We’ll be working on The Legend of Santa Claus which will have a theatrical release next year.

Can’t say much right now, but check out the website, there’s a lot of cool info on there. Mike Belzer is our animation director and the team they’ve been rounding up sounds pretty awesome! Many AMers and a couple of guys from Blue Sky, including one of my mentors from Animation Mentor as well as coworkers at Blue Sky, Dave Gallagher!

I feel incredibly lucky and blessed to get the opportunity to have the best of both worlds — getting to animate on a film and be close to friends and family. The studio has incredible potential and I can’t wait to see what we do as a team!

Outside of animation, life is good. I made the move cross country again this last week, from New York to Utah, and have spent the last few days getting settled, and spending time with friends and family. Lots of catching up to do and I can’t wait to start this next part of my life and see what it has to teach me.

After a two week trip back home, I’m back in New York and back into crunch. It was a great break… GREAT.

We’re in the new studio now in Greenwich, CT. Blue Sky moved right before the holidays. It’s a great area and it’s bringing a brand new, awesome vibe with it. This week has been full of animating, singing, applause, and walking miles around the studio. I’m excited for the studio to have taken this step and bring everyone even more together.

A new year, and it’s going to be a good one. A LOT happened last year. I started and finished my student short film, graduated from Animation Mentor, and moved to New York to work at Blue Sky Studios. Quite the year. So far I’ve learned a TON while being at the studio — about animation and even moreso about life.

But more on that later. I just wanted to wish you all a happy (late) 2009! Apologies for the lack of posts lately but I have a lot to tell — more news to come soon!

It’s been a busy few weeks! We’ve been crunching at Blue Sky as I’ve said and that’s pretty much consumed 90% of my time. HA! Last Friday though was our last day at Blue Sky Studios in White Plains and we ended up leaving halfway through the day for a snow day. Craziness. It was a start to a great weekend for us and a really enjoyable break. Now we’re in Connecticut. We checked in at the new studio yesterday morning and set our stuff up so we’re ready to rock ‘n roll come January. It looks super nice and it’s a big improvement for the studio.

I’m back in Utah for the Christmas/New Years/Holiday break. It’ll be nice to have a break to get recharged for the final push on Ice Age 3. So go enjoy the holidays, and have a Merry Christmas!

And for some holiday cheer, check out this video: http://www.joytoeveryone.com/en/

Things are definitely busy here at Blue Sky. Long weeks, long hours, very little free time. But we’re getting it done and things are looking good. I’m just MIA lately everywhere but work.

Yesterday after work I went into the city for a couple hours to try and do a little Christmas shopping. I have never seen so many people in Manhattan before! It was definitely a cattle herding event. I swung by FAO Schwartz (a mad house) and the Disney store before getting to Rockefeller Square to see the tree. It was great to see as it’s so, so big and sparkly, but the downside of it was what I had to go through to get there! Throughout the night in the stores and on the streets, I was yelled at and then purposefully hit by four adults throughout the night in their frustration to grab a toy or if I stopped short as to not run into a child. It was madness with several people being frustrated and angry. Crazy. I left the city and on the train home sat by a happy, friendly lady visiting a friend from Florida. We talked the whole train ride and laughed quite a bit. A much better ending to the night.

So the point in saying all of this is to remind everyone to enjoy the holiday season. Be patient and be happy. It’s not worth it if you’re frustrated and getting upset with total strangers. It’s definitely easy to get frustrated but why don’t we make this an enjoyable holiday? And above all else, remember the reason for the season. No matter your religion and the holiday that you celebrate, there is a solid reason why you celebrate, and my guess is that it doesn’t revolve around getting the best deal on the hottest toy.

For the last five weeks the guys at work have been looking more and more scruffy as they’ve prepped for the dude challenge. They each had styles assigned (with many free stylers) and today was the day to show off what they had. I have to say…. there were some really great ones. Last night laughter was erupting in the hallway at our apartment building. The shaving…the missing spots… laughing till we cried multiple times… it’s all golden. Check it out on the Dude Challenge blog! Love it. Gotta do something to keep ourselves laughing during crunch!