Humble beginnings!

I was looking for a file that a friend sent me and stumbled upon a folder of old artwork prior to the Summer of 2008 (around the time I started taking character design classes with Charles Zembillas @ the Animation Academy and animal character design with David Colman).  Considering it’s been almost a year since I embarked on my quest to become a character designer, I like to think that I’ve come a long way in terms of draftsmanship and overall design vocabulary.  I’ve got a long ways to go still, but I’m proud with how far I’ve come since then.

I can honestly see why Charles forbids students from throwing away their drawings: it’s to reflect on your humble beginnings as an artist.  I also like to think it’s to serve as a bookmark/placeholder for a design because the ideas will be there, but sometimes the execution won’t be.

Since tonight is the eve of  The Animation Nation’s “Animation Day,” I thought I would post this up to personally thank Charles Zembillas for opening my eyes with the building blocks and fundamentals of character design.

If you’re in the Burbank area and interested about animation,  come visit the Animation Academy as they will be hosting the Animation Nation Night!  You’ll be able to see some work of the current crop of students of the Animation Academy too.

For more info:
The Animation Academy

Animation Nation