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I'm entering into NATA 2012

I've already begun storyboarding, hopefully finishing that up tonight. I have confidence that if i DO finish on time, i'll get past the first round, but i'm a bit iffy on anything past that. I'm excited and you should be too!

I've been doing a LOT of studies lately, both on figures and character movement, so this should be a good chance to show off my new skills. I've also gotten my brand new Cintiq 21ux! This should be a lot of fun. If i don't finish this on time (a bit, but not overly likely) i promise to finish this animation anyways, and hope that you all enjoy it as much as i will.

In other news i've applied to Capilano for their animation program, let's hope i get in!

Drawing scares me in one aspect.

This fear has always been nagging me at the back of my mind, chewing away at whatever pride i have left, and sometimes taking big chunks away. This fear is the biggest fear most artists have and i share it with them. This is the only thing that has ever scared me about drawing. Everything else i take in stride, work towards, and i'm confident i'll find a way around it somehow. I don't feel that way about this fear. This fear threatens me and beats me into submission and demoralizes me.

And i think i'm starting to get over it.

This fear was in fact, the fear of not improving enough. Everywhere i go i get people telling me that i'm improving (because compared to last year, i really have), but at the same time i look around during life drawing sessions at Capilano and i see where everyone's at. I see the people who got into the program and i see the people who came out of the program and they all scare me. They're all much better than me. And it scared me that i may not be able to go to cap.

But now i'm finally starting to see improvement. I'm not just looking at one drawing and telling myself that i'm getting better, i'm looking at the whole of them, and looking at my knowledge, and realizing that i'm finally understanding different parts of anatomy and structure and life and art. The pieces are finally coming together in a way that i can see them, and it's really cheering me up.

If there's one thing i always tell myself when thinking about art, it's that you don't improve until you understand the subject you're studying. You can't just copy and say you've got it, you can't just give it a go and then give up, you can't find ways around it. You've got to understand. You've got to fully understand why things work the way they do, and how you can apply that everywhere in your art. I'm finally gaining this understanding in the places i want it.

I may have a chance at Cap after all.

Here's a picture of the latest thing i've been working on drawing-wise

Be sure to catch the first two episodes of Transformers Rescue Bots on the hub tomorrow!

I don't know whether or not the show will be a hit (i kind of doubt it, what with the quality of the first three episodes, but i'm still excited to see something i worked on hit the air. It gets pretty good and nonsensical as of episode 4, so if you want to get a real opinion of teh show wait til then, but if you don't care, check it out. For me?

Here's the commercial for the sneak preview tomorrow, and here's where you can check it out on the hub website!

If you decide to watch it, look for my name in the credits (nick leong)! I think they put me down as render wrangler but i'm not quite sure. I tried to go for render slave but that got vetoed immediately :P

By the way my job in the first few episodes was just rendering and quality checking scenes, and from there it was applying backgrounds, setting up scenes to be animating, importing and exporting scenes to and from seventoon, basic 3D design in google sketchup, camera pans and background fixes (basic). King of the grubwork, i've been dubbed, and i'm proud of it :)

I work at Atomic Cartoons right now, the creators of Atomic Betty and Johnny Test.

It's not exactly a glamorous job at all, but i've broken into the industry, and that's probably the hardest thing of being an animator. After this job i plan on going to school for animation to buff up my skills and portfolio, and then apply at other animation studios to further bump up my resume, and work towards being an animator at pixar in Vancouver.

But that's a very generalized, long ass plan

Enclosed below is a crappy 30 second drawing of how excited i am

I must explain my absence.

For the last year or so i have been dicking around at the BackAlleys, a site run by the infamous NG hater, rtil. I love the community there, everyone is friendly and helpful, and it's a really nice place to be to have fun!

However it's the worst place to be to get shit done.

This past year lost me my interest in producing animations, and i thought i had lost it all until i applied to a summer course at capilano. The course taught me everything i needed to know about how to work and improve on my animations, and on how to get jobs in the industry or successful applications to schools. That course got me back onto newgrounds, and got me to work hard on improving my art AND my animation skill.

My latest animation is proof of my improved ability.

I have already begun storyboarding my next animation, and will work on it ASAP. It's gonna be fun to animate, and fun to watch!

also i didn't win the epic fall competition.

:(

First submission in over a year

Made in about two weeks, this is my submission to the epic fall contest on newgrounds.

Here's hoping i win!

So i'm working hard on this project. I guess the setting's in the Grand Canyon or something? I dunno. This guy's name is Steve i think. Or Tom. Some plain jane type of name, but it doesn't matter anyways because he's never referenced by name so you never really feel connected enough to care about the character.

Sure working hard though!

I have grown older and matured, and as such so has my art style. To hell with the old art in my animations and how i used to draw myself. This is my cartooned version of myself right now, the one on the right being how i normally look, and the one on the left being how i look late at night when i run my hands through my hair. I noticed it last night and had to draw it, and NOW YOU'VE GOT THIS.

Btw, these were just quick sketches so yes i know there are some inconsistencies in the shape of the heads, most obviously the jawline. the one that's most accurate my own head is on the left

So here's the final version of that animation practice i posted last time.

Showed all my steps, and i'm not particularly happy with the cleaned up version. Due to pax i was working on a deadline so i had to rush it a bit. Other than that it's pretty neat i think

POW POW POW, and they're gonna be like, AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH PEWWWBOOOOOOOOOOOOM.

Then we'll have pancakes to celebrate and i'll be all nom nom om nam nam