Johnny Kelley - Animator

I have been doing a lot of research in preparation for my stop motion project (which will be filmed tomorrow) and was especially inspired by Johnny Kelley.
The first animation I ever saw by him was The Seed, a combination of simple line animation and 3d paper art stop motion. These days, it's really nice to see such a beautiful animation that doesn't heavily rely on computer graphics. And it tells the story of a humble apple seed in such an incredible way. Watch it here. You can also check out the making of on their site too, which is also a fascinating behind the scenes look.Then I came upon his graduation film from the Royal College of Art called Procrastination. It is awesome, and incredibly pertinent for every single person on the earth. Click the image below to watch it too.

eight weeks.

In eight weeks from now, I will be a college graduate. In six weeks, I'll have my senior show. I must admit that my brain is in a somewhat constant seesaw of thoughts and feelings. I'm stressed, I'm relaxed, I'm confident, I'm freaked out, I'm exhausted, I'm refreshed. Those are normal feelings in life, but suddenly with the end of Spring Break looming, they seem to have hit me all at once. I still have so much work to do. And I'm having to realize that I may have bit off more than I can chew with some projects I wanted to complete by April 30th.
For example, I was planning on creating an extensive Flash animation and was super confident about it. I started and applied my basic knowledge, but ran into numerous road blocks. And then I realized today that I don't realistically have the amount of time before the Senior Show to teach myself how to really use Flash to create the animation that I visualized for my Methodology illustration. There are a lot of other projects that need to be reworked and revised. So how do I animate it without using Flash? I'm thinking of doing it old school and creating paper cut outs and animating it using frame by frame animation. I've been wanting to do that for a long time as a fun project anyway, so I'm actually looking forward to it more now. So, hopefully I will have something impressive to show for it within the next few weeks.
I've also been doing a lot of research for job opportunities and feeling hopeful. I'm fighting off procrastination and doing my best to stay on track. Everything will get done.
On a parting note, I'd like to share this animation from John Kelley called Procrastination.

welcome spring, I am ready for you.

Life is still going well in my part of the woods, moving forward with my portfolio, working hard at school and at redpepper. I'm trying to focus on self promotion and researching future job opportunities. There is so much to consider, and what I send to potential employees will likely change based on who they are and the type of work they do. I'm working on a flash animation as a way to catch attention and drive people to my website (still under construction). I've been working on my resume, and designing business cards. I want to do something a little different and I found an idea through AIGA about recycling old Pantone swatch books and using them for business cards. Since you're suppossed to get new Pantone books every year (the color fades and doesn't remain true) I figure it's a great way to reuse a very job specific item as a promotion piece. Not to mention the fact that I can utilize all the great colors in the swatch book.
I'm currently home for my best friend's wedding this coming weekend. It's nice to have a change of scenery and see old friends and family. It came at a good time with Spring break starting next week so that I don't have to rush home. I'm hoping after the wedding festivities to get a lot of school work done next week. I'm also planing on taking lots of photos. I've had such an itch to go out and take photos with my film camera lately, so I bought some color film and snapped some on my drive through TN, GA and SC. Too bad it's rainy here today, or else I'd be out exploring all the great things around. I'm trying to make a sincere effort to be creative in other ways that have nothing to do with schoolwork, clients or deadlines. Let's hope the sun comes out soon.