Wow! August of '08 was my last post! Lots has happened. Let's see.... FJORG was pretty fun. I learned a lot about teamwork under extreme pressure. We didn't place, but I think we got pretty close. You can check out our shot film on the Siggraph '08 website.

After FJORG, I continued working at Cryptic until Jan. 09 when I got my very first film gig! It was supposed to be only a 5 month contract, but it ended up lasting a year and a half at Tippett Studio. I worked on two films:

Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore

Release Date : July 30th, 2010

Trailer #1

Trailer #2

and

Priest

Release Date : May 13th, 2011

No trailer yet, but here's a behind the scenes featurette:

I had a really awesome time working at Tippett and I learned a lot.  Hopefully that will show in my future animations.  Unfortunately I can't show any of my shots from either one of these shows, because neither one has been release yet.  I can't wait until they come out!

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Next week I'm headed to LA to compete in the FJORG animation competition at Siggraph. It's a competition in which you're given a topic and then animate a short film for 32 hours straight. As if trying to animate for that long, with little to no sleep, isn't hard enough, they try to distract you with a variety of acts on stage in front of you. There are Chinese acrobats, belly dancers, snake charmers, DJs blasting techno and much much more! It should be a blast. Wish Team Dementeed luck!

Click Here to Read More About FJORG

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Wow, I really dropped off the face of the earth! After the news of my new job, I just disappeared. Well, I’m back and I'm going to try and keep it that way.

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It's official. I am now a professional animator. Man, it feels great to say that. In mid March, I start work at Cryptic Studios! I'll be working on Marvel Universe Online for the PC and Xbox360. Yeah! It's a MMORPG with the characters from Marvel Comics and I'm so excited to be a part of it. I probably won't be able to talk about the project much because I'll be sworn to secrecy. Hot damn! I'm so excited!

Cryptic has two games for the PC on the market at the moment called City of Heroes and the expansion called City of Villians. As the names suggest you can choose to be a hero or a villian in a city filled with both. I've played the game a couple of times as a hero, solving crimes and beating up baddies. The reason I've only played a couple of time is because these games are damn addicting. I totally lost track of time while trying to level up my character and give him new powers. I know that if I had continued, my AM work would have suffered. Luckily it was only a 15 day trial version that has since expired. Phew!

Anyway, wish me luck on my new adventure! Man, what a year.....just turned 30, got a dream job, and I'm marrying a beautiful woman. Of course that list is in reverse order of importance.

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On December 17th, 2006, I asked Sonia to marry me! To my surprise, she said yes! Ha Ha! Anyway, I took her out to Pomponio Beach, just south of Half Moon Bay. I told her I wanted to take her out to lunch to make up for all the times she had to take a back seat to AM for the last six months. I'm not sure how much of this story I'm allowed to publish on this blog, so I'll give you the short version. I found a secluded spot on the beach and served sushi. To wash the sushi down we had orange cream sodas. And for the main course.......raw oysters. I shucked about 3 of them before she said she was full. Now, these were huge oysters, so it was understandable that she was full, but I really wanted her to have just one more. I talked her into it and asked her if is she wanted to try shucking the last one. She agreed, and as I handed her the oyster, the shell popped open. She looked inside and saw what she thought was a disease-ridden oyster with some sort of spongy growth all over it. "Hmmm... what is that?" I queried. Then I proceeded to poke at it with the oyster knife and then started cutting it open. At no point during my poking and prodding with the knife and with my bare hands did she question why I would be touching a diseased oyster. After making a few slices into the "oyster", up popped the ring. I pulled the ring out, got down on one knee and said some stuff I can't remember and asked her to marry me. She was completely surprised! She didn't suspect a thing the whole morning. She thought for sure that the proposal was a good 6 months to a year away. I'm good! Reeaaalll good!

So that's the short of it. By the way, all of the food I served that day was the same food we had on our first date. Ahhhhh! How romantic.

Posted by Danny Southard at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

The waiting is killing me! I have two weeks left before scchool starts and I become more busy than I ever thought possible. I have been trying to get as much living in during the last couple of months and having a ton of fun. I feel a little like a terminal cancer patient who's trying to get as much done as possible before the inevitible. Its going to be a tough 1.5 years of studying and trying to balance everything, but I'm up to the challenge.

If my posts become irratic and less coherant and I sound like that guy on the street corner who rambles on to himself about how he just needs some change so he can call to get a ride home, don't worry, I'll be ok. Sleep is for sissies! I kid, I kid. I don't do so well without sleep. I get cranky! I might have to cut something else out so I can get some shut-eye. It can't be eating, because I also get cranky when I don't get fed. It can't be my woman, cause she gets cranky when she doesn't get her man-candy. There's gotta be somewhere I can get an extra 4 hours a day to study. Ohh! How about crystal meth? Nah....how would I eat without any teeth? I'd get pretty tired of snack packs and tapioca.

Posted by Danny Southard at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I just found out a few minutes ago that I have been accepted in to the Animation Mentor Program! I'm really excited! Its an online school (I know, I was skeptical at first) that focuses on character animation. It was established last year by a couple of lead animators at Pixar and a lead at ILM. The instructors (mentors) are some of the best professional animators in the biz. The way the school works is that about 10 students are assigned a mentor. Each week the mentor records a lecture which is available online for viewing whenever its convenient for me. Then we complete an assignment, turn it in and the mentor records his critique of your work. At some point during the week, the class meets online for a Q&A session also. After 12 weeks of this, you're done with course #1. Then its on to course #2 and a new mentor. There are 6 courses total and it takes 1.5 years to finish the whole program. After that, you get a neat diploma that you can put away in a drawer somewhere 'cause it ain't gonna get you a job. Instead the skills that you learned in those 18 months with help you create a kick-ass demo reel that will get you a job. Its all about the demo reel. No certificate, diploma, etc will ever be a substitute for a "damn-I-just-soiled-myself" demo reel (and you can quote me on the quote unquote)

Anywho, the only problem is coming up with the money and the time. It ain't cheap, so I gots to keep my current 40 hour/week job and trying to find another 20+ hours on top of that to animate will be a challenge. I hope my friends won't hate me and more importantly, I hope my girl doesn't leave me.

Sweet mother of pearl, I'm excited! Its a good thing my shirt's loose, 'cause it would be pretty awkward right now. "What are you looking at, buddy!? Its cold in here, ok!?"

Posted by Danny Southard at 8:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Good morning. I just wanted to try out a new feature. Supposedly, when I create a new post, this website will email all the people on a list I created to tell them that I have a new post. Pretty cool, eh? Well if you don't want to be on the list, email me and let me know.

Update:
If you would like to receive an email whenever I add a new post, you can sign up on my main page. On the lower right side of my main page there is a spot where you can enter your email. Click add and an email will be sent to your inbox with instructions on how to complete email verification. Its really simple, actually. All you need to do is click on the link provided in the email and your done.

Tootles!
Danny

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