Career Development Loan... denied... for now...

I heard back from the Career Development Loan and they said that they have denied me it so I called them and they said its because on the statements I sent I had once gone overdrawn by £2 and received a £25 bank charge but if I applied again once it is off my statements the would be no problem in receiving it but that means waiting another 2 & 1/2 months. I'm totally gutted about it and was angry at first because the thing that made me go overdrawn wasn't meant to go out that day and its such a small amount. After that I was depressed for quite a while, hence my silence on here recently. But I am going to do what they suggested as learning is important to me.

You may ask why tell you this but I figured that if anyone else is thinking of applying they can avoid the pain I've been through because you know you will fail if you any bank charges on your statement. I am also now applying for an account with Barclays so it will be quicker and easier to apply as they can tell you over the phone there and then if you are accepted or not.

I still want to be on the Winter term though so I asked Victoria for an extension for the payment date and I am allowed till December 16th. I'm selling what I can to fund the first term and hopefully I'll hear back from the AM loans adviser, Amiko to see if they have any other ideas as to how I can raise the funds for it.

Loan didn't arrive in time :(

Sadly my Career Development Loan didn't arrive in time for the Fall term so I have been transferred to the Winter term. I was gutted at first but then I decided to look at the silver lining. By doing the Winter term I can still go to Coffee Talks with Victoria and her guests, its something I look forward to as its always a laugh and I find out some pretty cool stuff during them. Also, I will graduate when its the Animation Mentor BBQ so I can fly over for graduation and the BBQ, which is supposedly a brilliant event that loads of people go to.

While I am waiting to start, I am going to practice animating by doing tutorials and reading books. I will also add to my sketchbooks by going out and drawing people or by drawing people on the TV while I am watching any way. I will post these in the sketchbook section so make sure to keep checking that to see them.

June 2011 Newsletter out!

For all those that don't know, Animation Mentor's June Newsletter is out and the is some interesting stuff in there! To check it out for yourself click here - June 2011 newsletter

OH NO! It's Break Time!

Well, Animation Mentor is having a break before the next term begins so it means the student site is down until the 27th. I'm so glad that I will be distracted with helping to organise the Smelly Duck Rally otherwise those 8 more days will seem incredibly long and feel so wrong without Coffee Talks or Q&A's! I'm going to take my sketchbook to the rally too and hopefully get some pose sketches done, lots of funny and odd things happen at rallies so I will hopefully get some good unusual ones.

I am really excited about starting, I've been waiting for ages to get going. It's like a dream come true! I keep thinking about all the animation skills I'm going to learn and how I am going to learn from some amazing animators. I am looking forward to sharing my journey with you too and I hope I make it enjoyable and educational as well :) If you have any suggestions for my blog or want to ask me any questions then feel free to contact me anytime.

I won the Scavenger Hunt!

Woo hoo! I won the Scavenger Hunt along with Alyssa Lee. Alyssa and I have won an Animation Mentor t-shirt each so when it arrives I will take a picture of me in it to show you all. I can't wait!
Being brave, working hard and doing something that scares you is always worth it plus you may find you actually enjoy it! :D To get the courage to do stuff like the video I did, I just think Carpe Diem (Sieze the day).

Scavenger Hunt Update

Well, I finally finished it. Was stuck on a few but got there in the end. I've also done something... bit embarressing. One of the questions was "Name a student whose video journal shows them singing/dancing to the theme song from an animated TV show?" Well, I found one person who danced to a song but don't know if it's from an animated TV show so I thought I would be silly and do one myself. Basically I made and wore a Pikachu mask and sung the Pokemon Theme Tune. I can't sing so makes it worse LOL
Sorry you all can't see it... It's only staying on the internet until the winner is anounced but I've taken a screen shot of it so you can see me in my mask :)

Also, While I was looking for a picture of Pikachu I found this! Made me giggle so thought I'd share. People do actually dye their cats, I've got a whole book on it and the are even competitions in it! Wouldn't surprise me if this picture is from a competition. They also do it with dogs, not sure if it's done to other animals.


Oh and I found this website where you can download print outs to make 3D models of pokemon and characters from the TV show and films! They are so cool! Might give it a go sometime :) Pokemon Paper Craft

Animation Mentor 2011 Student Showcase

Animation Mentor have posted their 2011 Student Showcase! It's really good and I can't wait to find out how to get the type of movements and poses that the students did, some you just can't act out... well, I cant.
The are some emotional ones too that touched me, especially the New York one as its something I've discussed with my boyfriend and the is even a clip from a student on the Animals and Creatures Course!

Click here to watch the 2011 Student Showcase

Animation Mentor Scavenger Hunt!

As an introduction to Animation Mentor, they have given us a Scavenger hunt!!! We have been given 12 easy clues and 12 hard clues and we need to find the answers to these clues within the site and submit them using the support ticket tool on the site.

Its a great idea to get a better understanding of the website and if I answer the 12 easy questions correctly, I will be placed in a draw for a super cool AM prize!
But if I correctly answer all the clues I will be placed in a second draw for another prize! When the closing date has passed I will post my answers on this post :)

Although, I only have till the end of week 11, specifically Sunday at 12:00pm Pacific Time.


THE CLUES

Easy

1. What link in the menu do you use to upload your assignments?
2. In which orientation video does Bobby discuss the Syllabus section?
3. We highly recommend taking detailed notes while watching the lectures, but we also provide printable notes for each one. What are these called?
4. Where in your Orientation workspace can you upload your reel?
5. Post a workspace comment to six different students and list the 6+ names here. Say hi, comment on their public reivew, have fun!
6. We e-mail a monthly _____ full of industry news, insights, and tips and tricks. What section can you find an archive of each of these ______?
7. What file do you download from the Tools section (beginning Week 1) that is used in the mandatory Video Standardization Procedure?
8. What Orientation Q&A is available to you in Week 11?
9. Updating your time zone in the My Settings is important since it will adjust all the times on your ______ to your specific time zone.
10. What is the second Helpful Tip for avoiding common technical issues?
11. What category of support ticket would you choose if you had an technical issue setting up your webcam for a Q&A?
12. Name one student who lives in Europe, one student who lives in Asia, and one who lives in Africa. Include their countries as well.


Hard

1. What is the penalty for submitting late work?
2. Beyond lectures, assignments, and eCritiques, what are other activities you can do at Animation Mentor to help you succeed?
3. What assignment(s) do you upload in Week 5 of next term?
4. When you verify your encode, what message is displayed that ensures your mentor can see your assignment in the eCritique tool?
5. Name one reason why we don't recommend rendering your assignments
6. Name a student who's favorite old school movie is "Blade Runner"
7. What month and year did Shawn Kelly give the tip "forget about the legs?"
8. When exporting your playblast in Quicktime, what compression type and Frame Rate do you use?
9. What did Spike "say" when asked for advice for incoming students?
10. Submit a ticket to the Q&A Technical Issue category with the topic "AM rocks!", who responds to you?
11. Name a student whose video journal shows them singing/dancing to the theme song from an animated TV show?
12. What time does the Office Hours Q&A happen this week?

Big thanks to Student Care

About a week ago I messaged Renee in the Student Care Team as I had a few worries about how I will cope with Animation Mentor with my Aspergers and also because I thought they should know about it. She messaged me back and actually arranged to call me and we spoke for about 20 minutes and she was wonderful! She made me feel so much more confident that I will cope with everything and made my worries go out the window! I recommend that if anyone who is doing Animation Mentor or about to and has any concerns or worries to contact Student Care. They are great and I'm sure they will do all they can to help.

Check out the lectures!

On the student area of the website in the News area a video called 'Check out the lectures' has been posted and its brilliant and I'm getting even more excited about AM so here is the first AM Can!

The video is made up of several excerpts from lectures from the Character Animation program and it looks like the lectures are going to be fun and memorable. Its also great to see the things I will learn for each class too. It also made me laugh as its a bit random in places, like a gun that shoots pencils and draws thumbnails and a dog in an AM top standing on its back legs. Random but fun and really inforamtive :D

I like how you can see how the mentors really know what their talking about and the tips are great and how they show you exactly what they mean by drawing or using animation or film examples. A wonderful way of teaching overall and I just don't see how I won't learn what I need to learn and not love every minute of it! It was also great to see the things I will learn for each class too.

This blog design

Well, I hope you like it. I've never done it before so I found a template and then changed the images in Photoshop and then changed the coding.

I also got a little bored and made a can of Animation Mentor. Think I may use it when I post about something new AM has done and I love, so its like a can of AM awesomeness! For instance, Orientation. I got access to about 20 videos about how the AM website works and how to do the course and what to do if I have any problems. This would get an AM Can as it is brilliant although it would be a smaller can image :P
I also made a Tip Jar so if any posts have any animation or career tips that I think are good I will post the Tip Jar there. I will also tag these with either "AM Can" or "Tip Jar".

I hope Animation Mentor doesn't mind that I used some of their logos for the can and tip jar, thanks if they don't mind me using them and they do then please let me know and I will change or remove them.

Oh and if your wondering, the cat is based on my cat, Remus. I designed the cartoon version of him for my final year animation at university and hes sort of turned into my logo. Remus is rather mischievous and you may well hear about him in this blog and in other AM places.

Welcome to my Animation Mentor blog

On June 27th I will be starting Animation Mentor and right from the start with their Springboard course and this blog will record my journey with them.

I have already been given access to the student area of the website and I've joined a group on Facebook called AM Eager Beavers and I'm loving it... Both are making me more excited by the day too! Everyone I've spoken to has been great and are all so friendly.

On this blog you will not only find my ramblings but you will also find uploads of my assignments, drawings, reference images/videos, animations and tutorials (I may even try making my own tutorials).

Oh, by the way. When I say AM, I mean Animation Mentor. Just encase you didn't guess that :p