Breakdown

Last week was not easy.

They say that when it rains, it pour….and to me it defiantly seemed to pour last week.

Now keep in mind that it has only been a few days after I was told that I have to go back to my old story for seminar/thesis prep, essentially tossing out everything I’ve done for the past month or so.

Add on the first day of modeling in Maya where, though exciting, is beyond frustrating because all the keys are different from Cinema 4D and I can’t figure out where anything is located.

Sprinkle in Teaching where I finally get that hand out outlining what my final paper is to be about. Then the teacher suddenly realizes that I’m not in the Saturday Art School class where everyone else is gaining practical experience interacting with their classes and guess what? The paper is about you observations on the evolution of 2 of those students! On top of it the paper, that I have no idea how I will write it, is to be at least 20 pages. 20 PAGES!!!

To top it off in Model Shop we finally got homework that had to be completed in the shop. There is no way around it. The teacher does the demo of the different tools we will need and I figure it will take 20-30 minutes to do. I ask him to leave out the router since I decided I would just do it then. So I went to check out a tool and a technician come over and starts asking if I was certified.

“Not at Pratt, but at my last 2 colleges and my high school, yes.”

“Well did you take the class here and get the sticker?”

“What. Sticker?” (I said turning to look at my teacher who finally came over)

A lot of back and forth happened in which my teacher didn't really participate. The jest is that I apparently needed to take a 6 hour safety course to get a sticker that would allow me to be in the shop and use the tools. I told my teacher the first day I hadn’t been in the shops at Pratt and he said nothing so I assumed I was fine since I had done it so many times before hand. 

Apparently not.

I was told that the last safety course happened last weekend (of course) and that without it I wasn’t allowed to be even in the shop except for class time let alone use the tools outside then to do homework.

After this, I broke.

It may not seem like something that should have been that big a deal to break as badly as I did….and trust me I cracked hard. I called my sister cry like crazy and freaked out to her about Shop, seminar….everything. It took about 25 minutes to calm down enough to eat my dinner take was getting cold and another 30 to be able to think of anything with starting up again.

It didn’t help that it was by then 9pm and I still had a ton of boards to finish for the next day.

Breath.

Now a few days have past since all that. I got permission to take the safely test and, provided I passed, get permission to use the Shop for the semester.

I passed.

1 problem solved.

I’ve also talked to my sister to try and fix my thesis since no one liked what I was trying to do in the new edits. The story is much better and I was able to create a decent animatic in time for class…..but all the boards need more character detail, I need to figure out color, need to fix lots of camera angles and framing, and need to find a better scratch audio narrator.

So problem 2 isn’t quite fixed yet.

As for the Teaching issue, the problem isn’t fixed yet. I have the class tomorrow so hopefully the teacher will have thought of something. 

The stupid cube I had to make fro homework that tipped this breakdown.

Other than that things are okay. Maya is still driving my crazy with it’s impossible interface, but I’m getting to the point that it doesn’t take 5 minutes of internal debate with myself to move one thing.

The highlight of the week was my Uncle Michael coming. He was playing in Brooklyn and we decided to meet up for lunch (he plays the violin for a living). He bought me lunch and I got to sit in on the music for an hour before I had to get back to homework. I even had time to do a doodle of the church we where in.

Now hopefully I don’t have another breakdown this semester. There is a ridiculous amount of work that needs to be finished in the next 3 weeks though and I’m not sure there is enough hours in the day.

Art school. Don’t ya love it.

Set Back

Let's only briefly go over last semester. I know I haven't updated in way too long, that last you heard o was only a few weeks into my first semester in school at Pratt...

Well that's over and done with.

In summary: Animation Narrative was a joke. We had 3 assignments, class was spent going over things I already knew, but hey, I got the credit I needed and it allowed time for other stuff. Practicum was also simple as we where mostly left along to do our animations in ways we wanted. Most of the projects, while new to an animator, where old rides to me - with a motion design background. Seminar was confusing for a long time and it is still difficult to get a read on the teacher, Kane. Languages....I was so glad when that class ended. Everyone, including the teacher, thought I was great and new everything but I was just making a lot up as I went. Finally Animation Studios. We started a project last semester that carries to now (see here for weekly progress) so I won't go into everything.

Still, I ended with a 3.83 so I'm happy. (I'm trying to stay above a 3.8 to graduate with recognition - Pratt also doesn't do the Latin system......)

Moving on to this semester.

I have 6 classes. Yes, that is as crazy as you think it is. We might not meet as often as undergraduate, but we have just as much, if not more, work. 

Let's start with the new stuff quickly.

First up is 3D Computer Modeling, with Kane whom I still can't read. It's going okay so far. We're starting off in ZBrush which I know how to use but will be moving into Maya next week.

Storyboarding is also a class I'm taking. Easy for now, but demanding new storyboards every week which is adding up fast.

Model Shop is my elective outside of the DDA department and is with Industrial Design. We've only had 1 homework assignment so far but have spent every class lecturing on materials and adhesives.......It is obvious that this class will be picking up soon and when it does we are going to run.

I'm taking a class with the Education department as well. Basically it is a class on how to write a lesson plan. As like in Model Shop, I am the only on from a different department. I get a bit lost here sometimes, but everyone is very nice, so even though the amount of reading is crazy - it's going okay.

Now there are 2 classes that continue from last semester. The first is Animation Studio with Claudia still. Seriously, if you want to know all the little details on what is happening, follow the other blog. That one is updated every week religiously since it is part of my grade. Otherwise, I love Claudia, she is my favorite teacher by far. It might be that she tells it to you straight, or that she went to Ringling too, but she is still my favorite.

The last one, and second re-peat class is Seminar with Kane. Last semester towards the end we started writing ideas for thesis, though you could change it over Christmas. This semester the class is basically thesis prep. We have to have storyboards, animatics, style frames, character designs, color stories, and a proof of concept but the end of the semester when we give a big presentation to the faculty. 

Last semester I wrote a story that I really liked, but I knew it had a few issues so I brought it home to get some 'fresh eyes' and their opinions. 

.....It kind of back fired.

I came back this semester with the same general story, but it was completely different. I've worked and worked and worked this, now 5th, version. 2 weeks of drawing, redrawing, frames. A few all-nighters, countless hours spent planning, and I walked into class to play an animatic I was proud of.....only to have crItique basically say, "go back to last semester's version."

So, yeah, a bit of a set back. A bit of a big set back.

Thankfully Kane loved the amount of work I was putting into everything. And even though I am going back to the original, any issues or extra scenes I might need have already been figured out with the different versions. So it will work out. It'll be fine.

At least I can say that now that it has been a few days since I nearly broke down during critique.

Now, hopefully I'll be more regular - but I have a blog just for Animation Studios and need to make one for thesis.....so there is only hope.