Wreck-it-Ralph and tips for Crunch Time at a Studio

 
       Crunch time is over! I've been gone working at Walt Disney Animation Studios helping animate their next upcoming film, Wreck-it-Ralph. I can't say anything new about it other than whats already out there on the inter-webs but I can say that you've never seen a movie like this before. It's going to be a fun one to watch the world react to it. Already I'm starting to see a lot of Ralph around LA.


TIPS FOR CRUNCH TIME:
-sanity_going out,fun and food
-drive_dont give up bc you have 2 hr of unproductiveness
-concentration-turn off internet
-strategize_when to show, control image of yourself


SANITY
      Hey, remember what it was like to have a life? To go out, actually have time to sleep? Maybe even entertain a hobby?? most people who under a crunch time do not. You do not want to be one of those people. If it's a friday night, you got work tomorrow, but everyone kinda wants to go out and grab a drink at a bar... GO. BAar scene isn't your thing? Who cares, GO!! You benefit in two ways bc of this. One: you give yourself a break form the work-home-work routine. You spend some time with co-workers and keep your social skills up. Two: Remember, you get animation ideas from real life, so go out and live a little.
     Do not underestimate what your body can handle. You can easily go to sleep at 1 and wake up at 7:30 to get up and go to work. 6 hour sleep is just fine to recharge.





DRIVE
     Working hard all day, 6 o'clock hits and you still have a lot of work to do... so you stay 2 more hours and you realize you're not getting anything done. Now you have a choice: the tempting, "I should just go home and tackle this in the morning, I've been staring too long at this." Or my choice: you put your head down and power throw this 2 hour artist block bc sooner or later your mind gives up on procrastination and says, "FINE DANNY, I'll work I'll work just as long as you promise to go home after this" Sometimes I have unproductive hours but I dont give up, I work through them and sooner or later I get a second wind and complete a lot of work!

Remember all your work pays off. Pull your weight, you are now part of a team

CONCENTRATION
      You don't have time for a 2 hour artist block? Your shot is due in an 1 and a half hours and you barely finished blocking???? I go into a code red mode, I turn all chrome, safari, internet explorers OFF. emails turn off, iphones go in the drawer, heads phone go in the ears but have no music (keeps people from talking to you and block out noise)  ..This is my code read I have to get shit done mode. Its not fun but you turn up your productivity 200%

STRATEGIZE
      Probably one of the most important topics in this post, you only learn this through experience but I'll try my best to explain this.
     You are in control of how people see you and your work. Here's an example of bad control: You might be a perfectly capable animator but you show too early all the time. Then you do not show until you have polished your shot.
      I would say this is a bad strategy. Here is why, when you show early and its too under-baked, this is the image and memory you are leaving your supervisor with. And even if you turn your animation into a wonderful finished piece a week later, you left them with all that time with an image/memory of crude bad animation. The memory of the wonderful animation you just turned in will be erased once you show blocking two days later and its crude and too early once again.
      Another tip, Do not have facebook up when people walk by, let them see you working THEN bring up your facebook page even if they are there. These might be little differences but it can mean the difference of - "oh he's always on facebook and only works when im around." or "he's always working, ah he's just checking facebook. cool"
     -Always show strong work, with a lot of information and breakdowns. Give your supervisor as much information in your animation as they need so they can give correct accurate notes. Do not be afraid of doing a lot of work and then changing your animation. Do not be afraid of doing surgery on your splines and blowing stuff away and redoing it. Its your job. Don't treat your animation as if it's precious, it's the directors idea so be ready to change things at a moments notice. Always do your best. If you ever have a bad dailies or a bad drive by, make sure the next time you show makes up for that, make sure its GOOD. You don't want to be the guy who always has problems with their animation.

be aware of where you fit in your team. are you helping out, are you dead weight?  Do they really need me? What am I bringing to the table...

      Thanks for reading. We wont be starting on the next film for a while, expect a lot of new posts weekly and please don't be shy in sending new me work to check out! Whether its animation, short stories, drawings etc!

INTERNSHIP SEASON: When does it start?

"It starts in the spring Danny, thats when we all send our demo reels to-"
WRONG

You do not want to be trying to finish up your ONLY animation assignment during the spring season, two weeks before you are to send it off to a studio. (and p.s. If you're only going to have ONE animation piece on your demo reel.. then IT BETTER BE FRIKN PHENOMENAL.)

     Internship season starts now. Summer is over. Everyone is done partying and is now going into work mode.  That gives you 7 months to do some animation exercises or pieces. If you are not a noob you know that 7 months is hardly time to even do two finished assignments.  If you ARE a noob, 7 months goes by faster than you might think.
     But time only goes by fast because you do not notice the small things that end up taking a great chunk of your daily life. If you are SERIOUS about providing yourself the best shot you can, you need to buckle down and exclude all the non-necessary things that take time away from your work. For example.

Enemy # 1: Food
-"You want to go grab some sushi real fast? we'll get to go and come right back, plus you need a break"
     NO. You don't need a break. If you are hungry, you have some bread in the fridge and water from the tap eat that.. You will not die! (do at least take your vitamins though!) If you take breaks to go grab food, think about it.. you spend 10 minutes driving to the store. Then you have to wait for the order, drive 10 minutes back. By this time you already lost about half an hour and you haven't even began to relax. (Do not eat OVER your work, your fingers get messy and sticky and nobody likes a sticky keyboard or a greasy Syntique) All said and done, you lose an hour of work for a "quick break"
     Solution? Stock your fridge up with non-perishable food. I hate to say it, but microwavable food might be in your best interest if you are on a budget. BUT I would recommend an apple, or a packet of ham with a loaf of bread. quick sandwiches are the way to go :)

Enemy #2: Friends
- (Your in the zone) *knock knock "Hey man! It's just me, Dirk and Brock. We brought UNO and some beers. AND GUESS WHAT! haha We have the N64. Can you say MARIO CART?!"
      -How can you say no? HOW?? You can't, so unless your friends are helping you out or have to study as well, THEY DO NOT EXSIST. Hang out once in a while so you can stay sane, but protect you routine of work, protect yourself when you are in the zone. Unplug the internet so you can't get on Facebook. Do what you have to do.
     It is very hard to study or work while other people are working because sooner or later, some one will take a break.. come over and look over your shoulder, ask you something and then you guys get into a conversation and are tangenting! Before you know it you are showing each other youtube videos or fighting over what was worst: Captain America or Green Lantern. So working with people is very dangerous situation but it can be more rewarding than working by yourself. Surround yourself with the right people is all I have to say.

Enemy #3: RESPONSIBLY
-"Damn I know I have to walk my dog..." why do you have a dog when you are in COLLEGE?
-"Family is coming to visit me all the way from Guam.." Well, No site seeing for them! Give them 20 bucks for the subway and a map. They'll be fine.
-"I really should wash the dishes" your fault for not eating of paper plates in the first place.


*-"My grandmom lives 20 minutes away and she wants me to visit.. She said I could use her computer.. sounds like a good idea!"
     haha This one is tricky. On one hand this situation might get you away from distractions at home, like friends or shark week, etc. but on the other hand, do you really think your grandmom will accept you to be 24/7 on the computer and not give her any attention??? If she wanted that she'd just stare at your picture instead of inviting you.
Stay focused and avoid family, they suck the time away from you like leeches...

There are many enemies and obstacles you will come across. Common ones are the internet and TV. But it is up to you to finish your work! It is also your job to stay motivated. It's not suppose to stay with you magically, you must know how to trigger it and stay inspired as you work. Just please remember, if you do anything OTHER than work, please find what is the fastest way possible to do it and stay alive. Or conclude if you REALLY must do it. 

In 7 months, you should be able to finish AT LEAST two pieces of work. If you are ambitious and smart, you might be able to pull of more. Just remember Internship season starts now. Not in January. Do not spend 2 months rigging or planning you short. START NOW. period. If you don't finish the work you wanted to, you have no one to blame but yourself.. Unless there's like a World War or a Zombie Apocalypse.... 

-Daniel Gonzales

Motivation And Inspiration

         Motivation is a delicate elusive feeling. Some people have trouble finding motivation, Some people have trouble keeping their motivation, and worst of all I see people not knowing what to do when motivation slaps them in the face..

I'm sure it happens to you if you, even if you aren't an art student. You are out and about and you see something... inspiring. You stop in your tracks because you are starting to get cool ideas. you all of a sudden WANT to go home and work. So you make a mental note. Then go on with the rest of your day and then go home. When you get home you sit to work and... all you do is look at your white blank paper.. and thats all. you don't FEEL like working anymore. And you wonder where all your motivation went.

3 things went wrong here. you didn't do anything when your motivation/ inspiration was high because you were unprepared for it thus, letting it fade away. . 

1) What to do when motivation slaps you in the face unexpectedly: 

           First off you DO NOT forget about it and wait till you get home to address your inspiration. The feeling of inspiration is precious, you can create so many ideas that you wouldn't if you had no inspiration. Inspiration is the fuel of creativity, and if you let it come and go it is nothing less but a waste of potential creativity. 

          That's why I carry a sketch book, to write, doodle, glue in, staple anything that I want in it. If something is inspiring you, you have to try to capture it's essence immediately. So you do not have to just remember it when you get home, you can see your take on what it was and can return to it later. IF you ever find yourself without a sketch book and Some inspiration happens to walk by... oh man.. there is only one thing to do. You think about it UNTIL you reach somewhere where you can jot it down. I mean it. Thats what I do. My girlfriend hates it. Like I'll be in the car with her and I'll look a out the window and BAM, I see something that rocks my world (creatively). I shut down. I don't talk, I don't look around. My eyes are glazed and straight forward. All my recourses are put to remembering and exploring what this inspiration means. I do this the whole way home. So this sucks if we just left to go to safeway for groceries.. 

2) Keeping your motivation 

            Besides your sketch book you can do quite a bit to keep your motivation going. I see a lot of people burn out mentally during the school year especially after midterms and before finals. The way I stayed focus and kept my motivation to finish long projects is to transform your work space. For me I needed a visual and an audio set up. You have to surround yourself with inspiring things. The things I put up on my walls around my desk not stuff I liked, but stuff that made me think. I didn't put up a poster of The Beatles but I put up a Russian painting I never saw before. Ilya Repin's 'Ivan the terrible and his Son.'

           -Such a powerful piece. The emotion is captured so specifically, only a father would hold his son like that after he just murdered him..  A masterpiece that I could go on forever about. So transform your place, play your music, surround your self with things that make you think. Unless a white walled room is your kind of thing.

3) Finding inspiration

          You can't always search for inspiration. Because sometimes you will find yourself searching the web for inspiration or reference and you find yourself youtube surfing or reading about dogs on wikipedia and you don't even know why.. (never feed your dog a grape by the way). Next thing you know it's 2 hours later and you haven't done anything. You need your inspiration served to you 50/50. Half the time it needs to be unexpected. Other half of the time you have to go to your stash. Your stash is a place where you have saved all things and thoughts that have inspired you in the past. It can be a group of links on your bookmarks, it can be newspaper cut outs. So If you don't have a stash.. MAKE ONE.

I hope this helped some of you out. 

-If you need help starting a stash use the links on my page. There is a list of names on the right hand side on my homepage Click any one of those amazing artists names I guarantee you will find amazing work. Alberto Ruiz has good stuff and so does Enrico Casarosa. ALL OF THEM have good stuff. I have sites right above the names that are also amazing. I also just recently posted new work on Youtube and Vimeo. Be sure to check it out. 

So now you have no excuse to not being able to find inspiration. Go buy a sketchbook. and Let me know what you do to stay motivated I'm sure others would like to know as well. 

-Daniel Gonzales