The Pixar Story

A fellow graduate at AM (Boon) kindly directed my attention to a blog entry at CartoonBrew.com about a screening of "The Pixar Story" not too long ago. Caught it at the Laemmle theater in Pasadena and I enjoyed every minute of it.

It's a great documentary that goes over Pixar's very early beginnings to the present. Even though some animation geeks may know most of the story behind Pixar, I think they would still find it entertaining and highly enjoyable. It has interviews with a lot of people covering a lot of different aspects of Pixar's history (Brad Bird, George Lucas, John Lasseter, Steve Jobs, etc.). The director, Leslie Iwerks (yup, related to the same Iwerks that originally created Mickey Mouse), appeared at the end of the movie, thanked us for taking the time out to watch and, and even held a small QnA for the people in attendance which was a very nice surprise. I'm not sure if this film will get a wide release (it should!), if it doesn't be sure to grab a copy when it drops on DVD.

Graduated from AnimationMentor.com!!

Earlier this month, I graduated from AnimationMentor.com! After a year and a half, it's officially done. I've been done with school since April, but it feels complete now after the ceremony and reception. It was so awesome seeing old faces and meeting new ones! It felt like one huge family reunion, but not actually having met these people before, lol! The bond that brings us together is the journey we all took through AM. We might've been in "virtual" classrooms and such, but the community is as real as it could be. It felt like seeing a bunch of old friends again! Attending this school has been one of the best decisions I've ever made. I can't thank the founders (Shawk Kelly, Bobby Beck, and Carlos Baena), AM Staff, and the community enough. I've made tons of new friends, was able to switch careers, and am hungry to learn more. AM ROCKS!

On the the flip side of things, I'm starting a few new tests that I'll be doing at home. The goal of these tests is just to get more practice in and learn some new things along the way. Hopefully they'll be good enough for reel pieces too. 'Till next time folks!