Thursday Adventures!

So since my last post I had a couple more classes:

Computer Animation: This teacher is MADE of caffeine, seriously. Very energetic and so far seems enthusiastic about Maya. For the class itself---we'll be learning strictly the animation side of Maya(though the teacher said he might sneak other stuff in as well). During the lecture the teacher told us about two rigs that Pixar made that we have access to! One is called "Cal" and the other "Arts" I guess "Arts" is a dog and isn't ready for use yet, but according to the teacher---"Cal" is an animator's dream so I'm VERY eager to get my hands on this rig. I'm excited to get back into Maya after a far too long break.

Contemporary Literature: Not much to say about this class---it's a critical studies foundation class and everybody has to take one(yeah, transfers too). The books seem interesting.....but I would still rather be animating or something.....oh well.

Life Drawing: This morning I had life drawing from 9-4, straight on figure drawing. We literally just sat down on the floor and started drawing the model(clothed and not). I'm a little rusty and after seeing other peoples' artwork I'm cringing a little whenever I see a drawing of mine. But it is the first day and I have plenty of time to improve. During class our teacher(who wears an eye-patch---how sweet is this!) walked around and critiqued us and would occasionally pick up a piece or two that he liked and would hang it out in the Character Animation Hallway. Another class that I'm looking forward to, and the hours are not bad at all, suddenly it was 3pm and just one pose to go!

Traditional Animation: This class was the one I was looking forward to the MOST! The teacher is beyond description. He lectured about connecting with your drawing, FEELING the motion and emotion, drawing from your own life and NOT copying previous animation. During the lecture he would show clips from various animated and live-action shows to demonstrate his lessons. He also showed us some of his own 2D animation that he did on some feature films---the two clips he showed were from "Space Jam" and then the ever-awesome "Iron Giant". At one point he talked about how he went to CalArts the same year as Pete Doctor, and a slew of Pixar people as well("Whenever I visit Pixar it's like being back at CalArts!"), and said how he had a cubicle in the EXACT same room we were seating in and that he one day hopes to see our animations on the big screen and say, "I taught that person in this room!" I do have to say that just from this one class, it's already my favorite. Our homework is awesome(get to work with Jiminy Cricket!) and I'm incredibly inspired to get my animation disc tomorrow morning and start bringing my drawings to life again!

Otherwise, just chugging away on my homework and enjoying as much as I can of CalArts.