Back in 2004 I was enrolled in the June Animation class at Media Design School in Auckland, New Zealand. A small class of 20 eventually dwindled down to what I think was 11 or 12 people. Some of the reels at the end of the 10 months were…. “interesting” to say the least, and only a handful of people, myself included, managed to graduate with merit. When I look back at the my time there, I’m definitely happy with the things I learnt and the amount of animation I got done, but when I look back at my reel I can’t help but grimace at things that are so painfully obviously wrong now.

All but one second of animation that is. What you see up there is that second. The story was about a little blob with a mechanical seat whose curiosity gets the better of him. Stirring a creature from a crater he panics and runs…. straight past the camera, and off a cliff. I thought the idea was genius, using a PlayDoh look for him and the environment, and before long I was blinded by what I was creating. It wasn’t until it was well and truly over and had some more experience in the industry where I realised that it required a lot more work. But hey, which artist ever really thinks their work doesn’t need just a few more tweaks.

Heading back up to Auckland, and Media Design School for the Pixar Masterclass in a couple of weeks. Since I haven’t been back since May 05 (I think) it should be great to see how the place has changed/improved.