Sorry for taking so long to continue! School caught up with me.
Thursday March 8
On Thursday we went to the beach! Well, first we went to see Ken Bishop, who is a freelance artist who does a lot of work for EA games from his studio at home. He strongly encouraged developing our "classical skills" in art. Companies are willing to teach you the technical aspects of their software, but you need to have a foundation to start with. He told us that we need to stay "plugged in" to what's going on. Stay up to date, learn new software programs, observe life- it will keep you fresh. Also, networking. It's important. Being in the right place at the right time is about being everywhere all the time. There are a lot of people buying art at any given time, so find something you love and go after it.
After that we stopped to eat lunch near the beach. Then we went to Sony Pictures Studio and were given a presentation there by Justin Thompson and Pete Oswald. They talked to us mostly about character and environment design for movies. They told us that sometimes a character's design problems can become what's funny about them. Don't try to design out all the problems, take advantage of them! You shouldn't worry about the 3D aspect at first. Draw a beautiful drawing, then figure out how to make it 3D. Environments require a different skill set than characters and is hard work to learn. You shouldn't pigeon-hole yourself right at the start, be flexible. You're really only as good as your last drawing. It's very rare to get a beautiful piece without a lot of hard work. Draw everything! You never know what you'll need to draw someday for your job. Be willing to draw anything and in any style. Also, you should never settle on your first idea.
They also gave some advice on portfolios. If you're looking at concept design they said that you should have a finished version along with the steps leading up to it in your portfolio. It's good to show a range of style, subject matter, and lighting set ups. For concept it's good to have about 40% rough work, and 60% finished work. A 30 page maximum is recommended. Also, when in doubt, leave it out.
Then we went to the Santa Monica Pier for dinner and the art walk. I took a picture of the sunset there!
A large part of the group went and ate at Bubba Gump's, but that place was expensive so I ate with my husband and a couple friends at the Pier Burger place. The food there wasn't bad. Then we wandered down to the beach and let the waves wash over our feet. I got my pants wet because I didn't think to roll them up until after the fact. The ocean was nice. Then we wandered up to the mall area. That place was pretty cool. Some of us ended up at Barnes & Noble and looked at art books and comic books. There are so many books that I want to buy! I can't right now though. I must save my pennies. After that we finally went back to the hotel and slept.
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