it looks like i started this blog in may of 2006. if my math is correct, that's over a year ago. i'm trying to put myself in the shoes of the person i was on the day of that first post, and what my expectations for this blog might have been at the time.
i had just returned from a trip to the pacific northwest. it was a vacation with the added benefit of being able to visit a couple of animation studios. back in atlanta, i felt like i had been stagnating for several months, waiting for jobs to come along, and not really taking an active role in my success (or failure). when i learned that one of my former housemates had been hired in LA to work on a new stop-motion tv series for cartoon network (which turned out to be
robot chicken") i was suddenly inspired to do a little research of my own. los angeles was right out. i know, i know... but i just don't want to live there. next! another city with major ties to stop-motion is portland, oregon. as a kid i loved the "claymation" california raisins, and noid commercials done by will vinton studios. over the years the studio built up a large community of stop-motion practitioners, and they had recently seen a major corporate overhaul including a name change to
laika, and a shift toward an emphasis on
feature animation. this was probably going to be my best hope to work in stop-motion and stay out of LA. so i went ahead and planned a vacation to visit portland, seattle, and vancouver, b.c. eventually i secured interviews at two studios in portland. the first was at
bent image lab, a small-ish animation studio with an impressive body of work, and the second was with the puppet fabrication department at laika's (then in pre-production, currently in post production) stop motion feature "coraline". i felt really fortunate to get a firsthand look at both of these studios. i had certainly been involved with all kinds of animation and film related projects before (showbizzz!), but i was really impressed with what i saw at both studios. however, once i found myself back at the hotel, i felt like i had probably just wasted everyone's time! who did i think i was, walking in there expecting them to be blown away by my crappy little reel? these guys are pros, man! i should have known things would not go well when the puppet i had brought to show off actually broke in the hotel room the night before my first interview. quite impressive, indeed. in retrospect, it was better to have it break beforehand and not while being inspected, but still... jeez.
so i came home defeated. my services would not be required by the seasoned professionals out west. i decided that if i wasn't going to be working professionally in stop-motion, i was at least going to make some cool stuff at home. that is why i started this blog: to document the process. i guess i got as far as watching "the big lebowski" with my roommate because the only thing i ever posted was a quote from that movie.
now i'm rededicating myself to the blog. my basic goal is to share some cool stuff, and stay inspired to do more cool stuff of my own. i have tons of ideas at the moment, and since i am currently unemployed, my guess is that i will be fairly active in the beginning, and less so later on down the line. but yeah, i'm going to try to shoot for at lease one post per week in the long run. we'll see.
