"it's about time Benny, my clothes are goin outta style!"

This could not have been stated more perfectly. Like Squints, the gangly baseball geek with coke bottle glasses sweltering outside from the intense heat and waiting for that glorious moment of refreshment, I have also been waiting for this one moment a very long time. For years I have dabbled with cartooning and animation (mostly flip books made out of sticky notes for my brothers to enjoy) and have often dreamed of becoming THAT name in the long list of credits at the end of an animated feature film.


This now brings me to an amazing opportunity to which I have been recently accepted. It's called Animation Mentor, which is an online intensive character animation program. I will be taught by animators working in the industry now and it will last for (if I pass all of my classes) a year and a half. (So that means in the spring of 2009, I SHOULD be on my way to becoming an animation ninja and joining all of the geniuses in the animation industry... or at least that's the goal.) I wanted you to be a part of my journey to fulfilling my life-long dream and I hope you enjoy my craziness along the way. I would love to have any feedback, good or bad, because in order to be successful at this, you, the audience, are the most important part of my animation. If it's not clear to you or you find it not believable, I need to know this!

Thanks again and welcome to the life of Erds: aspiring animator.

(Below I have attached a .jpg of my first sketchbook assignment. We had to sketch people in a public place and pose STU, our friendly Maya character, in one of those poses. enjoy.)