Shikoshen In reply to ice-or-fire [2012-07-10 05:17:25 +0000 UTC]

Thanks alot! You're awesome!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

ice-or-fire In reply to Shikoshen [2012-07-15 07:00:29 +0000 UTC]

Welcome!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Shikoshen In reply to Poprocks1234 [2010-10-23 05:29:40 +0000 UTC]

hey this is funny cuz i gotta burst ya bubble. I'm already watching Lesean Thomas, but he's not the creator of Boondocks, silly. He's the lead animator though. Aaron McGruder is the creator, and he's just the comic creator and writer/public speaker...anyways Lesean is the important one cuz his art is so damn amazing. Thanks for the recommendation, though!!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Shikoshen In reply to elipse [2009-01-21 20:29:22 +0000 UTC]

NO PROB! You have a great gallery! I 'm buddies with your buddy Sharone! He told me all about you! You're incredibly talented. I'm actually applying to SCAD for the animation program too!!! Insane! How is the program there?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

elipse In reply to Shikoshen [2009-01-23 00:22:57 +0000 UTC]

Thanks, lol. Are you planning to do 2d or 3d animation? SCAD isn't on my top list of schools and I usually steer people away from it. AnimationMentor is MUCH better and costs significantly less than SCAD. I graduated from AM in 2007 and I credit them for pretty much everything that I know, it's a phenomenal school. You can check them out at [link]

Sharone didn't tell me he had friends who wanted to pursue animation, lol. XD

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Shikoshen In reply to elipse [2009-01-28 21:56:42 +0000 UTC]

Well now that makes things different...I checked out animation mentor and its amazing. But what is it about SCAD that might steer me away? (besides the price point) Also...i'm not too sure about 2d or 3d. I mean, I love watching both, but i imagine the process for making 2d animation must be a whole lot easier than 3d. At the same time, i imagine the market is in demand of 3d as opposed to 2d(why doesn't disney do any 2d movies anymore?, plus are there any other shows like Avatar? I don't think so...), so yeah, I guess i was hoping that the program included both.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

elipse In reply to Shikoshen [2009-01-30 01:54:53 +0000 UTC]

Well, SCAD's animation program isn't very good if you want to pursue feature film level character animation. It's getting better now that there are a few new professors, but I haven't seen any work that's been done here that would stop me from recommending AnimationMentor over SCAD. To me, simply seeing the extreme difference in the quality level of the work coming from the two would be enough for me to make my decision. If AM had existed before I started SCAD, I never would have come here. Lol, plus is MUCH cheaper than going to SCAD. XD

Both mediums have their pros and cons. To me, 3d animation is easier than 2d because I don't have to worry about not being able to draw something well enough to get my performance across. At the same time, I feel like 2d is much more free than 3d since you're not limited by a 3d rig. You can do whatever you want in 2d since you're drawing. Another hurdle in 3d is learning the software and how to use the graph editor. Once you've got that, I think 3d is much easier to do. Then again, if you have amazing draftsmanship then 2d might be easier. Animation is animation though, and the process is essentially the same for both mediums. They just each have their own technical challenges to overcome.

Disney and other large studios have stopped producing 2d animation for the most part because the suits in charge believe 2d is dead. They think people want to see 3d films simply for the sake of it being 3d, which isn't true. People stopped going to see 2d because the stories for the last few Disney films weren't up to par with their previous films, whereas Toy Story had a great plot and thus attracted more people. Now that Lasseter is in charge of Disney, they've reopened their 2d department. Disney is currently working on Princess and the Frog, which is being done in 2d. Hopefully the 2d department is here to stay, as 2d has a level of charm that 3d lacks. Plus 2d animation is a beautiful art form which would be terrible to lose.

SCAD has 2d and 3d, whereas AM is mainly 3d. Like I said, animation is animation though. I'd go to AM if you want to do 3d and if you really want to do 2d I highly recommend going to CalArts instead of SCAD. The majority of the artists working at Disney have come from CalArts.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Shikoshen In reply to elipse [2009-02-02 20:43:36 +0000 UTC]

sry for takin so long to reply!

Thanks for all your help in getting my priorities straight art school-wise. You rock, ms. elipse! I saw the Princess and The Frog trailer and i must say, it looks beautiful. Thank Lasseter indeed. Well, I gotta say im really starting to lean towards 2d in terms of what I want to focus on. Particularly since you mentioned amazing draftmanship, which is my first and foremost strength in art, i wanna do it! But at the same time im wondering if its possible to study both...
cuz man, what about everything else out there, game character art and animation, motion picture f/x,etc...
anyways thanks again for all ur help..CalArts huh? and im still considering scad only cuz its just so darn appealing! I mean, i dunno if u know about other art schools, but i haven't seen any other schools out there that have as much of a student life that scad offers. Its actually a real university with a real campus and everything...

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

elipse In reply to Shikoshen [2009-02-02 23:01:19 +0000 UTC]

No problem. I'm glad I could help. You can study 2d and 3d animation at SCAD. It really is the same thing, just different mediums though. I believe if you can do one, you can do the other once you learn the technical aspects (software or drawing). What student life are you talking about that SCAD has? I ask because CalArts, Ringling, and AAU all have campuses as well. I'm just wondering why SCAD's is so appealing. The school doesn't have an actual campus either, all of the buildings are spread throughout the city.

What kind of animation you get to do in the industry is up to you and how good your work is. Feature film and film vfx are the most difficult to get into since the work is so good. Most people usually start off at a commercial, television, or game studio and work their way up. It all depends on you want to do. I personally dont want to work in anything but feature animation, so I've been focusing on things feature studios look for. That's one reason why AM's so great. They really focus on acting and creating feature quality work. Lots of SCAD animators end up going to game studios, or broadcast studios like Cartoon Network. A few get into Rhythm&Hues, but most SCAD 3d animators end up in games and work their way up.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Shikoshen In reply to elipse [2009-02-03 18:58:26 +0000 UTC]

Oh, are you at Atlanta or Savannah? I'm wondering which one I should apply to...also, CalArts doesn't appear to have an actual animation program, but it just shows an "Art" Degree program...and i saw that scad had intervarsity sports teams as well. But i definetly will check out Ringling in florida and AAU. I am into saving money if i can. I would really love to have a campus with things to do when you aren't studying and practicing course material.
Yeah i definetly share the same sentiments on that...i would want to work on nothing less than feature animation. Am I wrong to assume that those are the studios that pay the most?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

elipse In reply to Shikoshen [2009-02-11 15:26:48 +0000 UTC]

Sorry for the slow replies. It's crunch time with my senior project as this quarter draws to an end. I'm at the Savannah campus. The Atlanta campus is all in one building, whereas in Savannah the city is the campus. Calarts offers a BFA in character animation. [link] You can check out also check out a bunch of the student's work on their school of film and video page. SCAD has some sports teams. I know it has equestrian, lacrosse, baseball, and I think basketball. There isn't any football though. They don't have football because they don't want students to get hurt and sue the school, though I imagine getting kicked by a horse would do more damage than getting tackled, lol. Once you start your animation classes you wont have very much free time anymore. The successful animation students (there are a lot of slackers) pretty much live at Montgomery Hall (animation building).

Animation is very demanding, especially if you want t be good enough for feature work upon graduation, which in itself is rare. There's a huge amount of competition for jobs, especially feature film work. At one point, Pixar received over 11,000 reels when they posted a position for three animators. Remember that your work will be up against work from AnimationMentor, Ringling, AAU, Goeblins, CalArts and thousands of other schools in addition to other professionals once you start applying for full time work.

I'm not sure if feature animation pays the most. I've heard junior animators can start with $30k-$50k salaries depending on where you work. I do know, that animators aren't rich. People seem to think they make a lot of money but that's not the case. They make enough to live comfortably, but they're not payed any more than a "normal" career. Lol, if you want lots of money become a lawyer. Anyway, doing animation for the money if the wrong thing to do. You'll get burned out very quickly if that's why you're doing it because of the huge amount of work that the field requires. You can expect to be in crunch times that require you to work anywhere from 80-150(150 being the most extreme case) hours a week for at least a month. So if you're not animating out of real passion for the art, then you'll definitely be burned out.

I'm not trying to sound harsh or mean, but I'm just letting you know how the industry works so you'll know what to expect.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Shikoshen In reply to elipse [2009-02-15 00:46:39 +0000 UTC]

Yeah no prob at all. I totally understand crunch time in art school. Energy drinks and all-nighters. Fun... That sucks! no football! But yes, i do understand. I get it, the industry isn't something that i should expect to just rake in large amounts of money when i get out there. All i really am primarily concerned about is being able to make a decent living and live comfortably while doing what i love to do. I do have the passion, and yeah, ive seen what its like for people without it...not a pretty sight. Haha you dont sound mean, its just tough love, i totally get ur words of wisdom. I mean hey, if we wanted to make tons of money why would we have gotten into the arts anyway?

Youve been incredibly helpful tho, if i haven't expressed that enough.
YOURE A COOL ONE, elipse.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Shikoshen In reply to ExiledArtisT [2007-07-09 06:26:20 +0000 UTC]

Well, mine is a gateway M275, but there are newer versions like M280. Also, some great tablet pcs are the Toshiba r10 and r15. There is also the very amazing Fujitsu tablet, and a new tablet pc made by hp. Hope this helps!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0