We apologize for being very quiet lately.  Yes, we have a couple things to announce that will forever  change the content and direction of this site, however for now we have to stay focused and mum.

However, I’d like to relay to you and inspirational story. Here goes:

There is this guy I know.   My wife’s uncle in fact.  Back in the  the mid-1990’s, he was working as a CAD/CAM draftsman for and aerospace company.    It was a fine job, if maybe a bit on the mundane side, but still fine.  However, this guy wanted to do something more.  In his mid-30’s, he felt it was time to take a chance on his dream to work on films.  Without any previous movie-industry experience, he took an animation class through UCLA Extension on 3DS Max. He stood out amongst the rest of the class and impressed his instructors with the wizardy he could produce with the program.  So much  in fact, that he earned  an interview with Sony ImageWorks, Sony’s internal special FX company.

He quickly landed a job as an animator.  This was at a time when digital animation was just taking hold in the movies.  His first job was to create digital butterflies for the movie The Craft.  After that, he became specialist in creating living creatures in a digital form. He worked on Stuart Little,  The Polar Express, The Lion The Witch And Wardrobe, among other movies.  The hours were long and insane, but he kept it up, continued to impress, and worked his way into a leadership role. By the time he worked on Alice In Wonderland, he was an animation supervisor.  That meant he was in-charge enough to be nominated for an Academy Award this year for his work on the movie.     He didn’t win the award last night (still an honor to be nominated obviously), but his story should be inspirational to anyone in technical/artistic field, who is feeling stuck and worn down in their current job.   If you are dedicated and determined, taking a chance on your dreams and working very hard, sometimes works out very well.

In fact, his story was inspirational to me.  When I heard that he was nominated this year, I took a long look at my own work situation.    Many factors fed into my decision, but the success of my wife’s uncle was in the back of my mind.   I had always been impressed with his quiet determination and dedication to his work.  I woke up one morning not too long ago, and  I decided that it was time to move away from my own safe, corporate job, and try my hand at something really exciting.    In a couple weeks I will start that new adventure, and while I can’t attribute it all to my wife’s uncle, his example certainly helped light the path for me,  and I hope his story might do the same for some of you.

-8bitsteve