Thunderborn

What else can I say other than "WOO-HOO!!", and a big THANK YOU to whomever found my work interesting enough to pay for!

... got my invitation to deviant Film. All is right in the world again.
Will start uploading some of my more share-worthy animation stuff shortly!

Finally got some inspiration again! It's amazing what a little relaxation can do.
I'm currently working in 3ds Max, making something cool that I'm hoping will become another short movie, or if not, at least a set off nice wallpaper type still shots. I keep underestimating how time consuming modeling, texturing and setting up scenes are. But when all that work is done, all you have to do is reposition camera and characters, change lighting and hit render and you got yourself another image to share.

Still haven't got the movie upload issue with deviantFILM resolved, but I guess there is always YouTube or Vimeo...

So the semester is finally over and I get to have some time to relax and work on projects of MY choosing, with no deadlines and or due dates. Life's good - almost.

I haven't had anything really worthy of sharing in a great while now - image-wise that is.
I DO have a few animated movies finished, but I can't upload them here because deviantFILM in their infinite wisdom are either too lazy to process my application(s) or they're too lazy to send me a notification that my application has been denied. Yes,... this is actually how they operate.

After having sent multiple applications over several weeks I opened a ticket to dA, and asked what's keeping deviantFILM.
This is dA:s reply:

   Hi There!

    Thanks for your inquiry. There is no exact time for an application to be accepted and you may not be contacted if your application was denied. I'm afraid I can only ask you to please submit another request in a few months if nothing is said.

    ----
    Chris Carey
    Customer Service Representative
    Community Operations, deviantART, Inc.
    www.ikue.deviantART.com


While I really can't blame Mr Carey personally (I'm sure he did his job to the best of his ability), but I sure have some bitter critique for deviantFILM.
Not sending notification if an application is denied? Seriously, how lazy are these people?

Sure makes you feel like a valued Premium Member, doesn't it?

Today was a good day.
My instructor Andrew Bell at IvyTech Community College South Bend submitted 2 of my Flash projects to the annual ADDY (American Advertisement Federation) awards.

Instructional piece Clark's Secret Garden - How to Plant a Tree for Clark's Secret Garden won the Interactive, CD/DVD Silver ADDY award.
   

The Halloween Greeting Card won the Interactive / Online Gold ADDY award. The latter piece also won judge's choice for Best of Show



I must admit, I didn't really wanna go to the award ceremony. But then again, I never do. I came there,  looked at some of the works on display, had a some free snacks. Some time later I met up with some class mates and my instructors at IvyTech. It was funny because one of my instructors congratulated me even before the awards had been presented and given out. She quickly back-peddled and said something like "hopefully congratulations" or something to that effect. LOL.
I had no idea I was gonna win something, and even though it was a dead give-away I didn't wanna get my hopes up. Well it all turned out very well. Had a lot of people come up to me afterward and compliment me on my work, which was really nice.

If I had to present a thank-you speech, it would have sounded something like this:

I'd like to thank all my instructors at Ivy Tech community college, three of which deserves a special note. Susan Perry, who taught me the Fundamental & Principles of Design. Her expertise has been invaluable. Scott Peters who really got me into motion graphics and 2D animation. He taught me the importance of dynamic, unexpected animation - and how to achieve it.
Andrew Bell, who taught me the fundamentals of Flash - and then some! This guy has helped me so much, taught me so much, and done everything including taking time out of his weekends to help me solve some of the issues I had with projects I was working on during the semester.

These people care, and want to see their students succeed, and everybody should have an instructors like them.
Secondly, I'd like to thank all my friends both in and out of school for all their encouragement and support - you know who you are.

Last but not least I'd like to thank Russ - Deviant Art's own CreakinFrog for the wonderful artwork he provided for the Clark's Secret Garden - How To Plant a Tree" instructional piece. His name should really have been on a one of the trophies as well.