Spring Semester (5th Week) & CalArts Character Animation Gallery Show !!

I apologize for not updating on my film and current happenings over the past few weeks. I've been busy working on my film and coming up with a schedule that will help me finish my film in time.

Things have been going well and I'm now working on my rough animation for my film. I'm trying to speed up my animating skills in hopes to get my film done earlier than my schedule. My film is scheduled to be done a week before the deadline but I'm looking at the probability of me screwing things up, and if I do, I could really use the extra time to fix those shots. If my film turns out looking good in the end as planned, I'll post up my film schedule here for a rough idea on how I assigned myself shots on a day to day basis. Right now, I seem to be still on track, which is a good sign. I've currently animated  5 rough scenes, one which I would have to go back and do a serious fix, but should be okay since I have an idea on how I'm going to work around it.

On the other hand, it was the CalARTS 2012 Character Animation Gallery Show last Thursday, which was two days ago !!!



I feel super lucky to be part of this show and it's actually regarded as an official gallery show which I could put into my resume ! The best part of the show was definitely the caricature session ! Students from all different schools were brought together with the character animation students! There were also other people visiting from other schools and people from the industry were here as well ! It was really inspiring to see all the beautiful works that came out of the character animation students here and I feel so lucky to be part of the community, and the camaraderie among the students here are AMAZING !! 

To see some photos of the amazing works up in the gallery, visit this link:
http://blog.calarts.edu/2012/02/16/photos-from-2012-character-animation-gallery-show-at-calarts/

Thanks to Amanda Candler, a second year character animation student who worked so hard to make this event possible, and to all faculties and students who supported this event !! :)


We love you !!

One of the best part of the gallery show was definitely the caricature event !!



The caricature event has become part of the annual gallery show's culture and drawing horses and chairs were set up in the main gallery for the event !! The amount of people who were in line waiting for their turn to be caricatured were amazing !!

Here are some happy faces of students from other schools posing for the character animation students !!!











At first thought, I didn't want to be a part of the caricature event since I've never really been good at caricaturing and I haven't had a real attempt at it in a public space ! The upperclassmen are all very upbeat about it and they were masters at it! 30 minutes into the event, My first year friends took part in the caricatures, and I realized that what's most important is not to strive for a perfect caricature but to have fun and really just enjoy the gallery show !! I took part in the caricature event shortly after that which I turn out to like a lot and it wasn't as bad as I thought ! I was pretty nervous at first, but the first person I caricatured had a very distinctive feature which made it easier for me. Her name is Lori and she's been taking classes at Art Center. Here's a picture of my silly face and Lori, who's the first person I caricatured in an official public event who also gave me confidence in caricaturing through her amazing features !!!


Me & Lori

I also caricatured a bunch of other people and although some of them turned out looking like a completely different person, it was the joy of being part of the event that made the worth !! It was the amount of camaraderie I got from my fellow character animation friends sitting down, working as a team drawing so many different people together ! Here are some photos of the character animation students doing the caricatures !


 From left to right: T, Ali, Louise, Louis, Skyler


Jacob


Skyler


Nicolette


Aron wowing the audience with his amazing paint job.


And that's me caricaturing my lovely friends who are also first year character animation students !!

Here's the outcome !!


From left to right: Nak, Felice, Thomas.

And finally ~~~~ Here's the wall I shared with my amazing and talented friend, Paula !!


- Photo courtesy of Tahnee Gehm , Thanks Tahnee !! :)

And here's me and Paula, who's also a first year character animation student !! Sometimes I really want to put more time into learning how to dress and look better but I guess all the focus and attention went into designing my characters instead.



The event was a successful one and it showed the spirit of the character animation students !! It's also my favorite gallery show by far ! The event ended at about 3am in the morning and I left shortly before that.



It's true when they say that art brings people together no matter where you are, and although the event was only for a night, it was one of the most memorable and enjoyable moment I had at CalArts so far. Here's how the main gallery looks like this afternoon after all of the works have been taken down.



The walls are white with plain emptiness and they look somewhat unfamiliar to me anymore. I guess artists just have the urge and the impulse to want to draw on clear white paper/wall.



Nevertheless, it's a show that I'm looking forward to have again next year and hopefully it'll continue to become part of the CalArts Character Animation tradition. I'm excited to see how everybody's work is gonna evolve in a period of one year. As for the amazing 4th year students, it was their last gallery show of their CalArts life and they are most probably ready to step out into the industry and rule the animation world !!!

CalArts is an amazing place and I apologize for having repeating this over and over again but it is true. In everybody's life there's bound to be a place or event that'll change their life forever and for me, CalArts is the place, and I believe for many others who went here as well. I'll never forget how hard I worked to get over here and how hard it must be for my parents to pay for me to get here since we aren't eligible for loans.

Now that I'm here and having met so many people and friends who are also becoming part of my family, I'm giving my full potential in all that I do in hopes that I'll one day become an artist/entertainer I've always dreamt to be.

-Yon.