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.

hurrah.

Congratulations are in order to all the WCAD students who took home Student ADDYs! We claimed 26 total, silver and gold and even Best in Show went to a Watkins Student (Ligia Teodisio). I was awarded a Gold for my editorial spreads for Context Magazine, an assignment I completed in Typography III with Professor Sweeney-Obryan. It was a great night, regardless of the laryngitis I suffered from last week (I lost my voice for 6 days).
In other exciting news, the senior show plans are moving along nicely. We've secured a venue and this year's senior exhibition will be held at Terrazos in the Gulch. I'm still plugging away on my portfolio, polishing old work and creating new. I'm part of the committee for designing the space and its been fun to think of how we can modify the event space. It's pretty raw but we have a lot of fun ideas and plan to be resourceful. The official theme is Design Fighter: Portfolio Attack! and was designed by Andy Gregg. He's illustrated all of the graduating seniors in a Street Fighter-esque style and it's fun to think of how we can apply that to the space. It's only 10 weeks until the show (April 30th) and I know it will be here in no time at all. I feel as if I will awaken tomorrow and it will be the big day. I'm psyched.

addy fever

I'm currently on the edge of my seat anxiously awaiting the possibility of getting the "You made it" email from the ADDY Awards. There were a record number of entries this year to the AAF Nashville ADDYs (480!!) and in the next few days the students who had winning work will receive an email. I entered 5 pieces of work this year and I'm feeling really anxious. Did I place? Please say I placed. I felt really good about the work I submitted this year and I would love it if I could put another ADDY Award on my resume.
Another fun aspect of this year's ADDYs was that I got to create the Call For Entries poster for all of the schools in Nashville. Since I'm currently the work study designer, I was able to set up the professional ADDYs judges a few weeks back and met Tim Templeton, a big wig in Nashville's AAF. I was working on the Call For Entries poster that day and he asked me if I'd like to use my design for the entire spectrum of Nashville colleges and universities. Heck yes I did. This is what I created:


I played off the idea of Looking for Fresh Meat and made typography out of ground beef. It was fun and certainly a new experience making meat letters and photographing it. I had a friend with mad photo skills help me out and was pretty happy with the results. Anyways, I've got ADDYs on the brain and hopefully I can post good news on here in the next few days...

daily drop cap

If you're a lover of typography, then I am about to serve you up some gourmet lettering. Introducing Daily Drop Cap, an ongoing project by typographer and illustrator Jessica Hische. "Each day (or at least each WORK day), a new hand-crafted decorative initial cap will be posted for your enjoyment and for the beautification of blog posts everywhere." You can even post them into your own sites or blog.

Every letter is a beautiful work of art. It's one of those projects and skills that I seriously envy. Here are some of my favorites, but you should check out the site, and check it often since Hische posts new Letters almost daily. Enjoy!

hello febuary!

Well hello second month of the year! You bring with you lots of work and new opportunities, and for that I thank you.

My semester has been going great so far. I'm finishing up my senior show theme this week for the final class vote next week. Mine is called "Methodology: our process & progress" and I am creating a poster with machinery all working together as a visual of our creative process. All the professors here really emphasize the process and how potential employers want to see how you came to your final design, so I thought I'd focus on that in my theme. I'm excited about it, as well as seeing all the other senior's finished designs. We have seven students in the Senior Portfolio class and we all have very distinct styles, which I think is a great thing. I'll post some images when it is more complete next week. If my theme is chosen, I'd like to also create animated videos to go along with it. Perhaps, I'll do it regardless since it would be nice to add more Flash based projects to my portfolio.
I'm feeling good about polishing my previous works, and creating new things from past ideas. We also have to create a Hero project, where we can do our dream project. It can be anything we want. Which is a bit daunting, but exciting. I've got a few ideas and will narrow them down in the next week. I'm also creating fun work for my Work Study job, like posters for the upcoming gallery shows and workshops. I'm really grateful for that job. It's so nice to have freedom when you're designing and also to be creating for other creatives!
The internship at redpepper is still going well. We have grown the program so that including myself, there are now 4 interns all from different schools. It's nice to collaborate with other students and to learn from one another. I just love going there so much.
I think this entire post has been a bit mushy, but I was feeling overwhelmed earlier and now I am just so freaking happy about my life. There is much to do and much to celebrate in the next few months.
Hope you're enjoying life too.