2016 Reel Done!

Been busy the last couple months, and so I’ve not been taking the time to keep up on blogging. Just finished putting the final touches on my 2016 Demo Reel, after completing the Creature Locomotion master’s course at Animation Mentor. Our instructor, Nicole Herr, pushed us hard and I think the work turned out well. Hopefully, employers will agree and I’ll be able to find footing somewhere soon. Special thanks go out to the folks at AM and the selection panel at the Arts Council in Kalamazoo for the MCACA Mini-grant. I couldn’t have done this work without all three organizations’ help.

In other news, I’ve been teaching the “Character” course of the Digital Animation and Games Design program up at Ferris State University, thanks to a challenging situation for the college and the thoughtful inclusion of one of my mentors, David Baker. It’s been an interesting experience, challenging for both me and the students, but I hope valuable for them. We did a whole lot of character rigging in 3DSMax and Maya as well as a little bit of character animation.

To be honest, I’m not sure I was ready to teach. I’m firmly of the opinion that unless you’ve been employed in an industry for a decade or so, you shouldn’t be leading students. It was a valuable opportunity, though, and the help was needed by the university. I kind of took the attitude that we do in Aikido at Southside. There the advanced students teach when sensei isn’t available and assist in teaching when he is. You learn a lot about your discipline when you have to attempt to pass it on. I don’t want to steer them wrong, however, I think I was the best option for them given the situation. Whether or not they’ll ask me to do it again remains to be seen.