L.A.

Last week I took a trip down to L.A. for Siggraph 2008. I was a student volunteer this year... perhaps the only year I will be able to do it since I will have graduated by this time next year. The conference was pretty intense... way too many things to look at and sooo little time, but I did manage to make my way to a few booths of note. Laika had an awesome booth that showcased some stop motion sets and puppets for their upcoming film "Coraline". I also checked out the Walt Disney Animation Studios booth where I got a ticket to show my portfolio reel. I got some excellent feedback on my work and I met some great people there... very exciting.

Of course Siggraph wasn't the only thing I did when I was there. I reconnected with old friends and made some new ones. I attended the annual AM Siggraph Industry party and had ball hanging out with AM classmates and mentors... some of which traveled from as far away as Sweden to be there. The cherry on top came at the end of my trip. A few of my friends and I were invited to take a tour of Walt Disney Animation Studios by our mutual mentor Mike Belzer (aka nicest guy on earth!). The picture above is from the end of our tour (I am in the light shirt next to Mike...right below the A). All in all, I had a really good time... it really put everything into perspective... it made me look forward to the upcoming job search.

I should have a few drawings up soon... also I hope to post more work from here on in as I continue to prepare my portfolio and reel.