Mission: Success

Go forth and OHMYGUHHHH...!

"aMUSEd" the commercial - COMPLETE

We are awesome.  And so are all of you who supported us throughout the production of this commercial. 

THANK YOU!

Meet the Crew: 2D Team

Louie Manny is described as an enthusiastic Storyboard Artist and 2D Animator, always willing to take
direction, rework boards or animation, and always willing to take more work on - being realistic with
what he can accomplish. He works clean, fast, and his work ethic makes him an incredible asset to any
production.


                                                      His work can be seen at: 
                                                      louiemanny.blogspot.com

Cristina Quintero specializes in Character Concept Design and Digital Painting.
Her favorite style of art drifts between cute and creepy; her favorite things to draw are dynamic anatomy pieces that
experiment with shape and proportion. She currently lives in Sacramento and loves cake, cats and the
color burgundy.

View her work at:                                                                                          blackqueenofhearts.deviantart.com

Jacob Jones is an animator and storyboard artist from the Sacramento area. His interests include traditional drawing, digital painting, and classic films. Known to many as Jacob “Danger” Jones, he is often seen enjoying anything Harry Potter related, Disney related, or watching Lord of the Rings. His idea of a perfect date is April 23rd.

His work can be seen at: 

                                                      jacobdangerjones.blogspot.com

Grace Woo is from Southern California. From a very young age, she aspired to become an animator, and looked up to Walt Disney as her biggest inspiration. In addition to drawing, Grace also likes to daydream and watch movies during her spare time. She lives in Sacramento, California, with her family.

Check her out at: http://www.facebook.com/grace.h.woo

Meet The Crew: 3D Team

Sara Nicole Sandoval likes to model 3D environments. She also likes to dance and stay up late. She lives in Sacramento with her boyfriend and her dog, Fluffy. Nachos.




Check out her portfolio at:  http://SaraNicole.me 

Jonathan Garrucho, Computer Graphics Artist, a native of Sacramento, loves video games and films.  His interest in computer-generated graphics started at a young age.  The idea was to manufacture places and things that the audience could experience for themselves.  If he could imagine it, he could make it, and they could see it.

Check out his portfolio at:  JonathanGarruchodigital.tumblr.com

Kaci Pulido is a colorful artist. She has two pugs that are her world. She loves to draw on her tablet and hopes to be in southern California in the near future. She loves her iced coffee and wants to paint a background to every blank canvas.

Look at her stuff at:
www.kacipulido.com                           

Dante Curiel is a 3D modeler with a goal to be on the developing side of the animation and video game industry.  .  During his spare time he delves into the world of MMOs and fighting game tournaments.  He was raised in Fremont, California, and is currently living in Sacramento.

Check out his portfolio at:  www.dantecuriel.com

Meet the Crew: Leadership

Blake Krause lives in a fantasy land filled with bizarre and inane creatures. He spends much of his spare time tracking down and trapping these creatures on paper. All other times he is learning, collaborating, and building up his artistic arsenal. He hopes to one day bring his strange collection of creatures to life and release them upon an unsuspecting world.


                                                    You can find Blake Krause here:            
                                                    squidblake.blogspot.com


Alice Woodruff is a visual designer and perpetual student of the world. She has a foundation in and passion for the traditional arts. She enjoys collaborating with other creative people and is always looking for new ways to expand her skill set. She lives in Northern Sacramento and loves to travel whenever possible.

Check out Alice's website: cargocollective.com/alicewoodruff

Leilani Adams is a motion graphics artist from Washington State. She loves labeled layers, vectored lines, patterns that come in 3s or 5s, and practically anything blue/orange/yellow. She lives just outside of Sacramento, California with her husband and shiba inu, Ryu.

Visit her at:  LeilaniAdams.com

Words of Caution: Leadership Edition

BE READY TO BE TOUGH ON YOUR TEAM -- If you are a team lead, you have to be prepared to tell some hard truths that some of your friends may not be ready to hear.  Get the point across that once the classroom door closes, it's all business and personal connections take a backseat to getting the production done right and on-time. Be tough, but professional, you do your teammates no favours by being too nice.

ALWAYS BE PROFESSIONAL --  Leaders should want to motivate the team to do their best work, but also need to keep in mind there is a very fine line between motivation and just pissing everyone off.

LISTEN TO THE QUIET ONES:  Just because someone doesn't speak up in a group-setting doesn't mean they don't have something to say.  Take some one-on-one time with your quieter team members to make sure they are having their opinions (and problems) heard.

TAKE THE TIME TO TALK IT OUT -- Talk about problems when they are small before they grow to become even bigger problems.  Bring in a neutral third party, if necessary. But don't let all that talking eat into your production time.

CHECK-IN with each team member (occasionally) -- "en masse" messages are fine most of the time.  But everyone wants to know their work is appreciated.  Send a quick personal text or email or private FB message giving/asking for one-on-one feedback.

CHECK-IN with the instructor OFTEN -- for feedback and advice. Even leaders need help sometimes.

OBSTACLES CAN BE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES -- See improvements as places for potential, not moments of failure.  When giving feedback, try a more constructive, rather than destructive approach:  "You might try this [solution/suggestion] as an opportunity to improve [problem]."

"PLEASE" and "THANK YOU" never go out of style -- compliments on good work shouldn't be withheld, but don't give them too often or else they will lose their emphasis.

Words of Caution

BACK-UP YOUR FILES.  We had multiple people backing up all the dropbox.com files every week from week 1 and this saved our butts more than once.

HONESTY.  Don't lie to yourself or your team about your skills or your availability.

NO EXCUSES.  Own up to your mistakes when you make them.  Just apologize and amend it.  Nobody wants to hear why you missed your deadline, they only care that you missed it and the production is suffering because of it.  If you know you're going to miss a deadline, give everyone a heads-up ahead of walking into class and being late.

BE AVAILABLE:  not necessarily as in "drop everything when the team requests it" but make sure you have at least 2 forms of communication that people can use to give you feedback or changes that you will receive AND ANSWER in an efficient fashion.