Mentorship Hours

Location	Date	Hours	Instructor	What I did	Total Hours
Art Center College of Design, Pasadena	12/8/2012	3 hours	Ron Llanos ·         Illustrator/artist ·         B.F.A. with honors from  Art Center College of Design	Brought in bound portfolio, complete with all sketches and Wizard of Oz related work. Presented the story idea for my version of the Wizard of Oz and showed my concept illustrations to go along with it. Required to illustrate a designated scene from our version stories with own stylized characters allowing only a 30 minute time frame to test our ability for quick work assignments. Near the end of class was permitted to go to other classes to see what kinds of art they had been working on for the semester.	40 hours 15 minutes

Mentorship Hours

Location	Date	Hours	Instructor	What I did	Total Hours
Art Center College of Design, Pasadena	12/1/2012	3 hours	Ron Llanos ·         Illustrator/artist ·         B.F.A. with honors from  Art Center College of Design	Finished up homework and presented it. Then did 2 of my characters in 6 different action poses complete with facial expressions. Was required to present this as well. The instructor showed some work  of students from previous years and stated what he liked about them and what could have been improved. New homework was assigned. Required to take Wizard of Oz characters developed from last week and put them into  four different scenarios, complete with a background for each. Class ended with him announcing that we have to complete the portfolio with all the work from all the previous class. All sketches and drawings need to be inked. Color optional. All pictures must be photocopied and bound for the last day of class.	37 hours 15 minutes

Senior Project Update

1) For my independent component, I am currently working on a portfolio to show all the work I have accomplished. It will include the handouts I received from my instructor about different drawing techniques and perspectives, as well as several original pieces I have worked on myself.

2) I think one of the most interesting pieces of research I read was a book on Hybrid Animation. It was about combining aspects of both 2D and 3D animation. Some of the book was technical, and contained parts I did not understand much, particularly because these parts were about using animation software such as Maya. I have no experience with Maya, and the book was more for people who have used the program before to animate. It was still interesting nevertheless. I learned a few basics about both 2D animation and 3D animation and about conveying emotion to the audience. Of course, also it talked about the process of combining 2D animation and 3D animation into one feature (this part was a little confusing as this is where it mentions the use of Maya). It even gave examples of films in which this feat was accomplished, like Iron Giant and Treasure Planet. This information is important to me because part of my senior project goes into talking about Hybrid Animation.

3) Character Design: Rico – Turnaround (front, side, back, 3/4)

Bibliography of past week

11/18/2012	ARTL          (Article)	"California Work Permit." BizParentz Foundation. The BizParentz Foundation, Web. 18 Nov. 2012. <http://www.bizparentz.org/gettingstarted/caworkpermit.html>	An article stating how it is required for children working in the industry to have a permit to work. Mostly talks about the application process in order to receive said permit, and the requirements to keep it valid. Comes with an example sheet of minors' work hours, education, supervisors, etc.
11/19/2012	ARTL          (Article)	Gerber, Andrew J... "A Minor Dilemma: Sports And Entertainment Contracts Involving Minors." Welcome to the Sports & Entertainment Law Section. NC Bar Association, 8 June 2012. Web. 19 Nov. 2012. <http://sportsandentertainmentlaw.ncbar.org/newsletters/sportsentertainmentjune2012/dilemma.aspx>	Talks about the "Coogan Act." A law that protects minors wages from squandering by their parents/guardian/manager and makes it so that a portion of it must go into a savings plan and belong to the minor only, which they can access at 18 years of age. It might be a good add-on or amendment for the bill.
11/23/2012	BK          (Book)	O'Hailey, Tina. "Chapter 1: The Main Problems." Hybrid Animation: Integrating 2D & 3D Assets. Burlington, MA: Focal Press, 2010. 3-24. Print.	Book about combining 2D and 3D animation. Mentions movies in which this process occurred in and talks about techniques used to make these effects, not just for the movies they provided as examples, but for a student project as well (if you're in college).

Mentorship

·         Art Center College of Design, Pasadena ·         CTN Animation Expo, Burbank

11/17/2012

3 hours 3 hours

Ron Llanos ·         Illustrator/artist ·         B.F.A. with honors from  Art Center College of Design

Class started with the completion of  last week’s homework; required to finish the sketches, inking them and coming up with quotes and names for the characters. Was then required to present my idea for the Wizard of Oz character remake, of which I remade 5 of the characters. Homework for next session requires me to draw a full-body turnaround of two of my characters (front, side, back, 3/4). Went to the CTN Animation Expo in Burbank. Saw and spoke with several professionals from well-known animation companies such as Disney ,  Sony Animation, Dreamworks, Nickelodeon, and even Duncan Studio, where I spent my summer mentorship!  Witnessed their displayed work and some of their most recent projects (i.e Wreck-It-Ralph, Hotel Transylvania, Rise of the Guardians, etc.) also learned that Dreamworks’ Rise of the Guardians was the winner of the Hollywood Animation Award at Hollywood film festival. Other booths I approached were various media art schools such as CalArts, Animation Mentor, Ai of Ca, LCAD, and iAnimate.net. Many of the schools displayed the work of their students. There were many vendors selling their products such as animation software, computer drawing tablets, pens and markers, and books depicting the artist’s work. Met a concept illustrator by the name of Sean “Cheeks” Galloway – he also signed his book that I purchased.

34 hours 15 minutes

Mentorship

Art Center College of Design, Pasadena

11/10/2012

3 hours

Ron Llanos ·         Illustrator/artist B.F.A. with honors from  Art Center College of Design

I turned in homework from last week and received help for a character design that was not working out. Was taken on a tour of the art college to see student artwork and character designs. Returned back to the class and received a new assignment, this part of a bigger project in which I have to replace at least two characters from the Wizard of Oz franchise with my own character designs and find a way to integrate them into the story. The instructor then announced a field trip to an animation expo next week. Can’t wait!

28 hours 15 minutes

Blog 5b: Science Fair Proposal

1. My topic is digital animation.

2. The problem behind my experiment is:

    “Has there been an increase in the amount of animators being hired into studios in the past 5 years?”      

   

    My quote to support it is:

“Time spent on hiring is time well spent.”      Robert Half quote

3. Hypothesis:
   If an animator has a quality background in working with 3D animation, they are more likely to be hired into a renowned studio compared to five years ago.

4. I plan on researching and locating at least 25 animation studios within LA county. I then plan to make contact and learn the current wages of the working animators. I am searching for wages per a 40 hour work week. I also need to find the average wages for most animators back in 2007 to compare to the current wages. Next, I have to find the backgrounds of the animators from the studios (backgrounds: education, skills, prior occupaations, etc.) to determine if it affects their current job status and wages they earn.
 
5. Behavioral/Social Science

Blog 9: Working EQ and Possible Answers

1) The working EQ I used for my presentation was: “How has digital technology become an integral part  

     of an Animator’s professional training?”

2) I am not going to revise my EQ at this time, but I am thinking about it.

3) One possible answer I have so far is:

    “Computer proficiency has became a primary method of animation production by using CGI software   

     such as Maya to speed up the process of texturing, lighting, and rendering of character designs by the

     artist. They can create quicker and smoother movement with the use of digital technology.”

Mentorship

Location	Date	Hours	Instructor	What I did	Total Hours
Art Center College of Design, Pasadena	11/3/2012	3 hours	Ron Llanos ·         Illustrator/artist B.F.A. with honors from  Art Center College of Design	When class started, I was allowed to finish my homework from last week for the first ten minutes. After time was up, I received new handouts about body shape for characters. Learned how many characters’ body structures are made of basic shapes such as triangles, circles, and squares. Also learned about body types such as the endomorph (fat), the ectomorph (skinny), the mesomorph (average), endo-meso, and ecto-meso. For class, I was required to draw one character for each body type. My homework for this week was simply to finish what I started in class.	25 hours 15 minutes

Mentorship

Location	Date	Hours	Instructor	What I did	Total Hours
Art Center College of Design, Pasadena	10/6/2012	3 hours	Ron Llanos ·         Illustrator/artist ·         B.F.A. with honors from  Art Center College of Design	After entering the class I received several handouts that were all about designing characters, both human and non-human. Had examples of characters concepts for Diego from Ice Age and Remy from Ratatouille. Shown silhouettes of well-known cartoon characters and then did an exercise in which you draw your own silhouette (it’s supposed to be spontaneous, it’s not supposed to be based off of anything), then trace the outline of the silhouette onto tracing paper and make a character out of it (even if the character doesn’t seem to make much sense). Later I had to practice drawing a human head with realistic proportions. I received homework in which I have to draw two busts of my own characters from four different views. He explained how drawing is a crucial starting point for all animators.	13 hours 15 minutes
Art Center College of Design, Pasadena	10/13/2012	3 hours	Ron Llanos ·         Illustrator/artist ·         B.F.A. with honors from  Art Center College of Design	At start of class I received new handouts, about facial and body expressions. After a short drawing exercise (had to draw Thumper from Bambi), the instructor showed a few clips classic cartoons such as Tom and Jerry and Looney Toons and to show the behind-the-scenes drawings of the characters animation sequences used for the episodes. Then, in celebration of Halloween, I had to draw a witch character and come up with a background story for it.	16 hours 15 minutes
Art Center College of Design, Pasadena	10/20/2012	3 hours	Ron Llanos ·         Illustrator/artist B.F.A. with honors from  Art Center College of Design	Received new handouts at the beginning of class, this time about skeletal structure, proportions, and action poses. Got to visit campus library and look through reference books regarding different movies such as Bolt, Avengers, and even Kiki’s Delivery Service (which was written in Japanese). The books contained character designs, backgrounds for different scenes, and bits of the storyboard involved. After that, headed back to the classroom. Studied proportions of men and women and learned how to determine the height of a character by the number of heads (7 heads tall - realistic height; 8 heads tall - idealistic height; 81/2 to 9 heads tall- superhuman). Received a homework assignment in which I have to come up with two characters, a male and a female, who are both eight heads tall and need to be portrayed in 4 different action poses.	19 hours 15 minutes
Art Center College of Design, Pasadena	10/27/2012	3 hours	Ron Llanos ·         Illustrator/artist B.F.A. with honors from  Art Center College of Design	I turned in my homework from last week. I was required to draw two of my characters, a male and a female both eight heads tall, in 4 different poses that conveyed action. Received a new handout, this time about different character styles. Some of the styles included comic book design (like in a graphic novel), manga, video game, feature film, and CGI. The instructor then explained the differences in the appearance of the character’s body, size, and facial features that all help determine that character’s age and gave us a handout that depicted a caricatured human like this.  I was required to do a drawing exercise in which I drew one of my characters, a dragon, in different stages of development, starting with a baby, then going on to child, teenager, adult, and senior.  After it was completed, I was required to explain each stage. At the end of class I was given a new homework assignment in which I was required to draw six action poses of the character I created in one of his stages of age.	22 hours 15 minutes