this blog and others

Teaching is one of the best ways I've found for learning... that, and being under pressure in a production environment. If you have done one or the other you know what I mean. If you done both you know that each is as challenging as the other.

I originally started this blog years ago essentially as a release valve for all the thoughts, ideas, sketches and discoveries I was making. A public journal of what I have been learning and thinking while also teaching the subject at the college level. As a byproduct the site has gotten attention for some of the tutorials I created for students and various acquaintances.

Its a lot better than getting attention for mouthing off about some odd looking double pose found in an animation short film. There have been a few other surprises along the way including the positive attention received for my approach to web design for a portfolio website and interest from students of Ravensbourne in the UK. I've been too busy to return the positive attention from previous blog posts.

Blogging here will continue sometime in the future when I am only working one full-time job instead of two.

In the meantime I've been putting together examples of work completed by our students which I will continue to post here and video tutorials for those getting started in Maya. Those tutorials are being added to a new blog site called Animation Process. I invite anyone reading to check out this new instructional blog, the Vimeo page for our Animation Department and a nice college news and events blog managed by Emmett Hamilton.

The video tutorials found at this new site are extremely rudimentary and created in most cases to be less than 5-minutes in length. There is an art to brevity. Currently I have a few videos describing UV mapping, texturing, and working with lights in Maya.

Check back for more examples of student work before I return to my original purpose for this site. A special thanks to the followers of this blog.

More Student Work

Created by Dara Elerath

New Mexico Symphony Guild Ball - Dara Elerath from The Art Center Design College on Vimeo. Dara is a Senior at the Art Center Design College in Albuquerque majoring in Visual Communications.

Our branch campus in Albuquerque, NM was contacted with a request for help on behalf of a non-profit client, New Mexico Symphony Guild. Above is one of the two winning submissions created by our students pro-bono.

Animation instructor Aaron Barreras turned loose both sections of his AN307 Motion Graphics class on this project allowing each of his students to create a version of this promotion for the New Mexico Symphony Guild. With 21 individual commercials to choose from thanks to all of our talented students, the New Mexico Symphony Guild Ball organizers had a difficult time choosing a single spot to run. So much so, they ended up choosing 2 spots to run. The winning students, Dara Elerath and Ryan Salway, will have their commercials (shown above) aired on all Comcast channels in New Mexico.

There is no learning experience like that of working for real clients. The pro-bono Membership promotional project completed here in Tucson for The Loft Cinema last January was a very eye-opening and inspiring experience for the students involved. Another project for The Loft here in Tucson is underway, as well as other community-based creative projects moving forward in Albuqueruqe, NM. Reaching out to the community has been a real boon for our students, and I can't count the number of blessings that have rolled back to us in response.

In case anyone is wondering, as a policy, The Art Center Design College only accepts requests for pro-bono projects from community-based, charitable/non-profit clients. We don't want our students undercutting professionals in the field, many of whom teach at our school. That would be both ethically wrong and stupid beyond belief. After all, we are training professionals. -e

Student Work

Loft Membership Pro-bono from The Art Center Design College on Vimeo.

This is a 1-minute promotional animation encouraging patrons to join as members of the non-profit, community art-house theater called The Loft Cinema located in Tucson, AZ. This animation was created by Junior level students enrolled at The Art Center Design College. The work was completed as pro-bono. The mission of The Art Center Design College includes a priority to be a contributing member of the surrounding community and to model this mission for the growth and development of our students as citizens. The Loft Cinema is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The client is very pleased with what was created and is happily screening this membership promotional animation in front of every feature film.

The group of students who created this are now working on a second pro-bono project for The Loft Cinema, and the client is excited for how this new project will turn out. You can watch the progress of this project as well as the personal films these students create as they blog their production process. Credits for the Loft membership include: Charles Rorke, Eva Alcazar, Auston Klezcka, Brenda Rodriguez, Benjamin Gray, and Arman Jornoush. This team of artists has grown stronger by one, being joined by Christian Suarez, and once again are directed by comic artist, writer and Art Center Animation Instructor Max Cannon.

We are happily anticipating what the new collaborative and independent films will be developed by this talented and committed group of artists.

-e