Thursday, March 07, 2013
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Saturday, October 20, 2012
slipping into fall
Happy October!
I've been on hiatus for a little while! I had a wonderful time vacationing in Kailua on the island O'ahu in Hawaii. The rainforest is probably my favorite climate to visit. Warm, rainy, and so colorful. Plant and animal life surround you (and sometimes crawl on you...) and there's always something to observe. I could write stories about it forever. I also got a chance to hang out at the beautiful beaches. The water there is the bluest I've ever seen. In a few days I'll have a nicer camera and I'll post some observations I made with watercolors.
Now I'm back to life in So Cal. It's great to be back with friends and working again at JibJab. And as much as I love the tropical weather of the islands, it feels really good to be back where it's Fall. I'm so glad it's finally getting a little cooler. I baked a delicious quiche and had a whole bowl of hot chocolate. Feels very much like a Fall Saturday, finally.
And since it's also been a little bit of a lazy, stay-at-home Fall Saturday, I've finally updated my online portfolio!
If you'd like to see it, click hither.
Wednesday, August 01, 2012
Summer of Transition
Hard to believe it's August already. The days are flying by faster than I'd like, but I'm enjoying every one of them. The last few months I've been experiencing a time of transition that I imagine every student anticipates with anxiety and excitement; graduating and going out into the world. Back in April I pretty much only thought about my fourth year film. Summer plans would have to wait until summer. What I did know was that even though I love my hometown, that was not where I wanted to go back to.
Fortunately, myself and eight other students and recent grads were invited to be interns at the amazing internet media studio, JibJab. More specifically, I've been an animator for several of the new iPad children's books they are producing through JibJab Jr. These people are some of the nicest, most talented people I've ever met! It's been a joy to work there and I've been learning TONS every week!
It's also been a task just finding some time to draw for myself. I've always worked better with deadlines--sometimes even made-up deadlines--so I made use of the Disney talent development deadline to pull together a new story portfolio. At the end of this school year I actually didn't have a story portfolio made; only a tiny dime-store photo album in which I put some fun little drawings. So, through June and July I stayed after work a couple nights a week to try compiling something new. I enjoyed creating some new stories, and now that that's done and turned in, I can relax and socialize a bit more!
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| A thumbnail and sketch page |
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| from Steve Anderson's story class -- improv gesture drawing |
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| a beat board from my film |
CalArts is over...hard to believe it! But I'm so happy to be moving forward.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Working on the Film
Thursday, January 05, 2012
january again
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| here's a deleted storyboard panel from my current film |
Happy New year everyone!
2011 was an incredibly memorable year for me; I'm so glad it happened. I'm really looking forward to this year too. It's such a trip to be graduating this May. It feels like just last year I was preparing my portfolio to get into calarts. And now I gotta prepare to say goodbye. :(
Saturday, September 24, 2011
catching up on summer
Finally an update. :)
This year has been one of the most amazing in my life so far. It feels strange to say it now, but several dreams have come true this year.
Having my most recent film, "The Funny Thing About Lois," (on vimeo: http://vimeo.com/amelialorenz/lois) play in the Producer's Show earlier this year was really an honor; my second time in the show. And in case you're wondering, it doesn't get any less scary to have to watch it with hundreds of talented professional animators surrounding you in the dark. ;)
Several weeks before the end of school there was the annual Portfolio Day, where I was asked to meet up with some folks from Pixar to talk about art and animation, and with a nice guy from Disney about my story portfolio. The next day I got the call from Pixar, asking if I'd be interested in their animation internship.
Of course, I said yes, and the summer flew by in a day. Or, at least it felt like it.
"As few avars as possible!!!"
A sketching field trip to the Ferry Building in SF.
Being there was very surreal. I wasn't sure what to expect, so I tried not to imagine what it would be like. In a way it was like a very long, wonderfully geeky daydream. I met really talented interns there who taught me a lot. And of course I owe most everything else to Adam Burke and Gini Santos, our creative supervisors, for their incredible support and encouragement. My mentor, Jamie Landes, was also great. The assignments they gave us not only challenged my animation skills (like, a lot--and this is going to sound cheesy), but they also helped me grow as a person.
Really! I learned a lot about myself this summer. I can't say what career I'm set on yet--becoming an animator is certainly top of the list--but there are still a lot of questions I'm left with, now that summer is over and my fourth year at CalArts has begun.
For example, what will my film be this year? It's the first time in a few years when I've come to school with a completely blank slate. And what kind of portfolio(s) will I want to showcase next year? Animation and story have always been neck-in-neck vying for my attention, and I love them both. Last year I set my goal to animation, but I put together a story portfolio too. I got to spend a lot of time with CG animation this summer, and I learned a lot about it. Do I want to pursue it? Yes...but I also want to pursue hand-drawn animation and story. At the moment I'll just worry about school. But for after graduation, I just want a creatively stimulating job somewhere with awesome coworkers; hopefully with some classmates of mine now.
Here's a stitched-together look at where I'll be spending a lot of time doing animation homework this semester:
Just an end note... Another summer highlight was going to see one of my favorite bands, "Tally Hall," at the Bottom of the Hill music club in San Francisco. Pictured below: the band, in all their blurry glory, and below that: Meghan, Avner and Uri, three of my animation intern buddies. Uri apparently wasn't finished moving his face when the camera clicked...
That's it for now! Maybe next post I'll have something film-related to share...
This year has been one of the most amazing in my life so far. It feels strange to say it now, but several dreams have come true this year.
Having my most recent film, "The Funny Thing About Lois," (on vimeo: http://vimeo.com/amelialorenz/lois) play in the Producer's Show earlier this year was really an honor; my second time in the show. And in case you're wondering, it doesn't get any less scary to have to watch it with hundreds of talented professional animators surrounding you in the dark. ;)
Several weeks before the end of school there was the annual Portfolio Day, where I was asked to meet up with some folks from Pixar to talk about art and animation, and with a nice guy from Disney about my story portfolio. The next day I got the call from Pixar, asking if I'd be interested in their animation internship.
Of course, I said yes, and the summer flew by in a day. Or, at least it felt like it.
"As few avars as possible!!!"
A sketching field trip to the Ferry Building in SF.
Being there was very surreal. I wasn't sure what to expect, so I tried not to imagine what it would be like. In a way it was like a very long, wonderfully geeky daydream. I met really talented interns there who taught me a lot. And of course I owe most everything else to Adam Burke and Gini Santos, our creative supervisors, for their incredible support and encouragement. My mentor, Jamie Landes, was also great. The assignments they gave us not only challenged my animation skills (like, a lot--and this is going to sound cheesy), but they also helped me grow as a person.
Really! I learned a lot about myself this summer. I can't say what career I'm set on yet--becoming an animator is certainly top of the list--but there are still a lot of questions I'm left with, now that summer is over and my fourth year at CalArts has begun.
For example, what will my film be this year? It's the first time in a few years when I've come to school with a completely blank slate. And what kind of portfolio(s) will I want to showcase next year? Animation and story have always been neck-in-neck vying for my attention, and I love them both. Last year I set my goal to animation, but I put together a story portfolio too. I got to spend a lot of time with CG animation this summer, and I learned a lot about it. Do I want to pursue it? Yes...but I also want to pursue hand-drawn animation and story. At the moment I'll just worry about school. But for after graduation, I just want a creatively stimulating job somewhere with awesome coworkers; hopefully with some classmates of mine now.
Here's a stitched-together look at where I'll be spending a lot of time doing animation homework this semester:
Just an end note... Another summer highlight was going to see one of my favorite bands, "Tally Hall," at the Bottom of the Hill music club in San Francisco. Pictured below: the band, in all their blurry glory, and below that: Meghan, Avner and Uri, three of my animation intern buddies. Uri apparently wasn't finished moving his face when the camera clicked...
That's it for now! Maybe next post I'll have something film-related to share...
Sunday, July 31, 2011
saturday sketches
Here are a few rusty sketches from last Saturday's SketchCrawl in Berkeley. Lots of fun hangin with the girls. We started at a tea place on Shattuck and moved across the street to Cheeseboard pizza for lunch. That pizza place is the best. Delish.
All summer I've just been clicking and not sketching! I want to draw more. Looking forward to starting up school again in about another month or so. The pixar internship has been incredible so far and I'll update later with how it ends. We only have 4 more weeks left. Where did the time go?!
All summer I've just been clicking and not sketching! I want to draw more. Looking forward to starting up school again in about another month or so. The pixar internship has been incredible so far and I'll update later with how it ends. We only have 4 more weeks left. Where did the time go?!
Thursday, June 02, 2011
the funny thing about lois
My most recent film has been on Vimeo for a little while, but now I finally managed to upload it here! This is my 3rd year film made at CalArts, with music by composer Ivan Carames Bohigas and voices by Catalina Sonnenburg, P.T. Plew, and Stephen Herczeg (along with many other talented friends). Many thanks to my friends and classmates who helped me through the crazy process of making a film from scratch.
It's been a week and a half of summer break and already my "summer" is almost over... Starting Monday I'll be an animation intern at Pixar animation studios for the next three months! It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I can't be thankful enough to have the honor of taking part in. I feel like years from now I can look back at me right now and say, "You have no idea..."
At the moment I'm just glad it didn't start this week, since I was hit with an unusual summer cold! I'm just hoping I'm back to my regular self by next week. I'm going to need all the energy I can get. :)
It's been a week and a half of summer break and already my "summer" is almost over... Starting Monday I'll be an animation intern at Pixar animation studios for the next three months! It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I can't be thankful enough to have the honor of taking part in. I feel like years from now I can look back at me right now and say, "You have no idea..."
At the moment I'm just glad it didn't start this week, since I was hit with an unusual summer cold! I'm just hoping I'm back to my regular self by next week. I'm going to need all the energy I can get. :)
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
happy summer!
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Okay, lets see here.
This poor old blog has been dormant for ages. I'll try to sum up the past six months as concisely as possible!
Last summer, June through August, I had a wonderful learning experience at Lightstream Animation studios in Petaluma, California. I helped out in organizing reel submissions for them, taking notes at dailies, drawing up little designs, and I even got to animate for them a little too. My favorite part, besides learning as much as I did with Maya, was being a part of the dailies meetings and conference calls. I learned so much that way, about how communication works within the studio, how animators could plus their shots, and how long it takes to do certain types of shots. It was nice to see that even the experienced, talented animators took time to get a shot working just right.
After my summer months at Lightstream I had a few weeks off before starting up school again. I took the time to visit with friends, go to the Walt Disney Family Museum (again), to the Pixar exhibit at the Oakland museum (for the first time), explore the city, and just hang out at home.
By the first week of September it was time for CalArts; my third time around. Seems like each year I gain a new perspective on those in the class before me and after me. Seniors now don't seem so daunting (since I've now known them for two and a half years), and freshmen seem so happy and, well... fresh!
I need to put myself in a certain mindset for this year. Last year, for whatever reason, I could easily make myself feel like it could be my last year at school. Thinking that way created a feeling of urgency that really helped me get through a large work load! This year I don't feel that urgency yet; maybe because I now have that security of knowing I'll be around school next year too. That's the plan at least.
This year's film is bigger than what I've attempted before; it has dialog and more than two characters! In fact, I have a whole playground full of characters. Luckily I won't have more than a few on screen at once. Once again, like last year, it won't be colored-in characters, not enough time. Watercolor backgrounds are probably the way to go--although digital background paintings are sounding more and more appealing to me, since I could paint right over pencil drawn backgrounds with time saved (very important!) and no risk of accidental smudging!
The sketches above are random storyboard drawings for my film. It's about a loris's first day at school. Do you know what a loris is? My main character is a loris, and her name is Lois.
Below are some figure drawings for this year.
Well, take care everyone. You may not here from me again for another six months. If that happens, I apologize! But I hope I have something fun to talk about next time I write. :)
This poor old blog has been dormant for ages. I'll try to sum up the past six months as concisely as possible!
Last summer, June through August, I had a wonderful learning experience at Lightstream Animation studios in Petaluma, California. I helped out in organizing reel submissions for them, taking notes at dailies, drawing up little designs, and I even got to animate for them a little too. My favorite part, besides learning as much as I did with Maya, was being a part of the dailies meetings and conference calls. I learned so much that way, about how communication works within the studio, how animators could plus their shots, and how long it takes to do certain types of shots. It was nice to see that even the experienced, talented animators took time to get a shot working just right.
After my summer months at Lightstream I had a few weeks off before starting up school again. I took the time to visit with friends, go to the Walt Disney Family Museum (again), to the Pixar exhibit at the Oakland museum (for the first time), explore the city, and just hang out at home.
By the first week of September it was time for CalArts; my third time around. Seems like each year I gain a new perspective on those in the class before me and after me. Seniors now don't seem so daunting (since I've now known them for two and a half years), and freshmen seem so happy and, well... fresh!
I need to put myself in a certain mindset for this year. Last year, for whatever reason, I could easily make myself feel like it could be my last year at school. Thinking that way created a feeling of urgency that really helped me get through a large work load! This year I don't feel that urgency yet; maybe because I now have that security of knowing I'll be around school next year too. That's the plan at least.
This year's film is bigger than what I've attempted before; it has dialog and more than two characters! In fact, I have a whole playground full of characters. Luckily I won't have more than a few on screen at once. Once again, like last year, it won't be colored-in characters, not enough time. Watercolor backgrounds are probably the way to go--although digital background paintings are sounding more and more appealing to me, since I could paint right over pencil drawn backgrounds with time saved (very important!) and no risk of accidental smudging!
The sketches above are random storyboard drawings for my film. It's about a loris's first day at school. Do you know what a loris is? My main character is a loris, and her name is Lois.
Below are some figure drawings for this year.
Well, take care everyone. You may not here from me again for another six months. If that happens, I apologize! But I hope I have something fun to talk about next time I write. :)
Saturday, July 10, 2010
catch-up
Oh look, I still have a blog!
Sort of. I have been doing a pretty terrible job of keeping this up for the past few years. I blame school for that--but then, I don't have school at the moment so I really can't use that as my excuse any more! No excuses, no matter what time of year. I've just been neglectful. :(
Well this past year at school was a roller coaster, ending on a high note. I was really happy to be a part of the Producer's Show this year. Job fair/portfolio review was pretty intense, and it happened a few days before the Show. I stayed up all night arranging and printing my story/animation portfolio (as did most of my college buddies...you gotta pull an all-nighter sometime, right?). Went to bed around 8 am and slept till sometime in the afternoon, when it was time to go back to check on the results at the portfolio review. Thanks to my friends I was kept on track and didn't miss it!
To my surprise I had a few callbacks-- Pixar and Disney were exciting ones, story and animation with Pixar and animation with Disney. Talk about nerve wracking!! I was in a daze the whole time, trying to be myself and stay positive. It's so easy for me to spill out all my weaknesses when I'm in a situation like that, but I tried not to. Who knows if I succeeded. haha.
Anyway, the fair was a great practice-interview experience, and by the end of the day I was feeling pretty comfortable. No internship at Disney or Pixar for me, but I did land an internship at a wonderful place close to home (with no connection to portfolio day). I get to draw in Photoshop and animate in Maya, and each day I'm getting a little more comfortable with the computer.
So there's my summer plan: a full-time internship at a great local studio. I'm having a blast. ;)
Sort of. I have been doing a pretty terrible job of keeping this up for the past few years. I blame school for that--but then, I don't have school at the moment so I really can't use that as my excuse any more! No excuses, no matter what time of year. I've just been neglectful. :(
Well this past year at school was a roller coaster, ending on a high note. I was really happy to be a part of the Producer's Show this year. Job fair/portfolio review was pretty intense, and it happened a few days before the Show. I stayed up all night arranging and printing my story/animation portfolio (as did most of my college buddies...you gotta pull an all-nighter sometime, right?). Went to bed around 8 am and slept till sometime in the afternoon, when it was time to go back to check on the results at the portfolio review. Thanks to my friends I was kept on track and didn't miss it!
To my surprise I had a few callbacks-- Pixar and Disney were exciting ones, story and animation with Pixar and animation with Disney. Talk about nerve wracking!! I was in a daze the whole time, trying to be myself and stay positive. It's so easy for me to spill out all my weaknesses when I'm in a situation like that, but I tried not to. Who knows if I succeeded. haha.
Anyway, the fair was a great practice-interview experience, and by the end of the day I was feeling pretty comfortable. No internship at Disney or Pixar for me, but I did land an internship at a wonderful place close to home (with no connection to portfolio day). I get to draw in Photoshop and animate in Maya, and each day I'm getting a little more comfortable with the computer.
So there's my summer plan: a full-time internship at a great local studio. I'm having a blast. ;)
Sunday, June 06, 2010
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