Reading & Writing Early in my career, I was told to “promote myself,” but I didn’t understand why or how to do this. Plus, I’m typically a modest person, so to “show off” my work is very challenging. But, I soon realized why “promoting myself” was so important- it was the only way people were…

READING & WRITING Storyboards are complete, the color script is finished, and the soundtrack is set; according to Liz Blazer, author of the book Animated Storytelling, you are ready to start animating. But are you really ready? Are you prepared to dive into the overwhelming and chaotic process of execution? Even if you have all…

{Logo Stinger} READING & WRITING In the movie Elf, director Jon Favreau was insistent on creating a classic Christmas movie. He wanted to create something that would withstand the test of time and did not want technology to date his film. Favreau looked to old holiday movies for inspiration. After watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, he found…

{Stop Motion II} READING & WRITING When creating a stop motion animation, there is so much to consider, from color to lighting to medium and now sound. In this post, I am picking up from last week’s blog post, where I started working on my first stop motion animation. Last week, I worked on a…

{Stop Motion I} READING & WRITING It’s often the unpaid personal projects that will further your craft, keep the creative fires burning, and if you’re lucky lead to even bigger things in your career.” Liz Blazer, Animated Storytelling The above quote resonated with me. As someone who has worked at the same job for many…

READING & WRITING From 30 second commercials to full-length feature films, all animated stories require preparation and planning. In the book Animated Storytelling, Liz Blazer suggests starting the story writing process by outlining the “beats” or the events that move the story forward. Then rearrange them in the most interesting way; they can be placed…