Let’s Pause For These Messages
It amazes me how quickly one’s life can change. Just a few months ago I was on here raving about my passion for animation, and my drive to become a professional animator. Then, suddenly, things changed. I got a new day job that fulfills most of my goals, and suddenly the drive the become an animator RIGHT NOW shifted into neutral. I started coasting through Class 2, not really putting my all – or even my half, or my quarter – into my shots. At the same time, I became a full member of the Central Florida Puppet Guild, and started spending more time with the puppet community that I love so dearly, and decided to put animation on hold and switch focus. I was going to wait until the end of class 2, but when I realized I wasn’t putting anything into the class I figured there was no point in staying. So I went on Leave of Absence. I figured, better to retake Class 2 if and when I go back to Animation Mentor because I wasn’t going to be able to give to Class 2, so I wasn’t going to get anything from Class 2.
I still may go back to AM next summer, after my Leave of Absence ends. I still have a passion for animation, it just needs to wait in line behind filmmaking and puppetry. My previous day job was not fulfilling my needs other than having a good income and great coworkers, but my new one does fulfill a lot of my needs, so I no longer need to use animation to get me into a great day job while I try to become a working filmmaker. So in the meantime, I’m going to focus on finishing a film I shot last December that hasn’t been getting much of my attention due to having a new baby in February and then going to animation school and then getting a special FX gig right after dropping out of animation school. Once that is done, I have a script for an all-puppet movie that I’m super excited about, and will even include some stop-motion animation. The movie I have to finish first combines puppetry, 3D animation, and 2D animation, so it’s not like I’m going to stop animating. As I said, I still love it, I just need to live it in a different way right now.
