TRAVELING MENTOR

Thailand

2011-11-09T23:11:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks I have been island hopping in South East Thailand. Ko Samui, Ko Tao, Ko Phanang, Krabi and am heading to Lanta and Phi Phi. Afterwards, Maylasia! The Thai vibe and people are very warm, and the deep water solo climbing, diving and beach hunting has been choice. I have been blessed with great weather and the only negative is a pesky staph infection from a motorbike crash and swimming with an open wound. Lesson learned.

Bali

2011-10-19T22:26:00.000-07:00

My reward to myself for finishing Uncharted 3, several weeks in Bali! First, Padang Padang surf camp. Afterwards a group of us spend a day biking Ubud, scootering and cliff jumping in Lombongan, and then I headed to Gili islands to enjoy true island life, no motorized vehicles allowed, only horse and bicycle. The diving was great and the water was warm. I capped it off with a few days in Ubud where I relaxed, ate well, and did some yogo. Met tons of amazing people along the way, particularly my traveling partners, Til and Anna from Germany and Sweden.

local boy playing with styrofoam

sunset on Gili T

Til and me with some Fins and French Canucks

Up next ... Thailand!

2 days...

2011-09-26T07:04:00.001-07:00

Almost there...

Crunch Time

2011-07-14T00:50:00.000-07:00

Just got home. We have quite a bit to do these last 2 month....after that a much needed vacation and on to new adventures...but now...Uncharted 3 all the way!!! I'm going to add some pics of all us animators working hard to make this game look good. Now I sit next to Keith Paciello, a long time friend who I worked with at Blue Sky. Good things are happening at Naughty Dog.

Uncharted 3

2011-06-13T22:58:00.000-07:00

Another summer of intense work on the sequel to the hit game Uncharted 2. Still living in Manhattan Beach and trying to enjoy the summer, but we have been crunching hard to get the game to look good for everyone. Just finished our trailer for E3 and it is coming along. Three more months of this and we can breath again! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgJqxJA7q54

Seattle

2011-03-01T15:41:00.000-08:00

I was fortunate enough to get a couple weeks in Seattle working at 'Sucker Punch' on the upcoming "Infamous 2". A big shout out to my boy Billy for making this happen! Up there I got to visit my old Blue Sky partner in Crime Tom Saville at Bungie, and Aaron Halifax at Valve. Great people and studios. I also got to meet one of my current AM students, Nathan Comes. Good times. Now continuing the prolonged vacation, heading back to Tahoe, then Japan to snowboard Hakuba, and then a visit to Hawaii Animation Studios in April. After that I shall be working hard all summer on "Uncharted 3" at 'Naughty Dog'. Looking forward to it.

Gas Works Park

Yosemite below!

In house mocap suit for reference at Sucker Punch!

Nathan and I

Space Needle

Vacation

2010-12-06T23:30:00.000-08:00

Phew! Time for vacation! After finishing up on Rio Dec 1st, I plan on splitting the next 4 months between my beach apartment in LA playing beach volleyball and doing random things like mud runs. and my friends place in Tahoe to get some snowboarding in, then in March I'm off to Japan. After that a new animation venture will await me. Going to do some life drawing and keep teaching on Animation Mentor in the meantime to keep the creative juices flowing. Spent last Saturday with my good friend Geoff Wheeler volunteering to draw cartoons for kids at the Ronald McDonald camp.

Drawing for the kids

Learning to Surf

Mud Run fun

Beach sunset 2 blocks from my apt.

Palos Verdes

Mulhulland Dr.

Return to Blue Sky

2010-08-21T12:45:00.000-07:00

The past 7 weeks have flown by working on Rio. Its amazing to be back with such talented people and some of my best friends in the world, in one of the best cities in the world. The team is on full steam and we only have about 25% left to animate!

The animation crew

Rio

Surprise 30th party for Rizzi

Robert Moses beach visit

Wakeboarding Friday afternoons

Beddini airborne

NY night

Sunset in my neighborhood

Leaving Europe

2010-07-02T18:53:00.000-07:00

After 8 months in London and 18 of the past 24 months abroad, I have returned to the US. My time at DNEG was sweet and working on Paul and Iron Man taught me a lot. But I missed the fun cartoony animation and the allure of Blue Sky's 'RIO' was too much to bare. I will be helping them finish this fabulous film for the next 3 months. But I got a last trip in before leaving, visiting Edinburgh for the Stag of my good Irish animator friend Terry O' Reilly.

Edinburgh

The groom in short shorts

Ariel assult. Obstacle course 100 feet in the air!

Stag crew

Castle

Prague and Brussels

2010-05-29T04:30:00.000-07:00

Another couple of beautiful European cities...check! Summer is arriving in London finally, and work on Paul is going great. The movie is going to be funny as heck and the animation will impress everyone. Its all keyframe and looking very nice rendered. Now if they would only stop changing audio...

Prague

Don Giovanni as puppets

Brussels

Iron Man 2 wrap party

2010-03-29T12:48:00.001-07:00

Letting the aggression out on all the painful days to final shots. Good times. And a party ensued.

French Alps

2010-03-20T15:36:00.001-07:00

Ces't bon! 9 days boarding and skiing the French Alps. That will refresh you for animation again! Iron Man 2 is wrapped officially, my first vfx project in the books! On to Paul! :)

Milan Geneva Barcelona

2010-01-24T01:57:00.000-08:00

More traveling....over x-mas and a long weekend. Ahh Europe.

Happy Holidays

2009-12-25T07:03:00.000-08:00

I have been working in London for 2 months now. Also got a nice visit to Paris. DNEG has been great. Working on Iron Man 2 until Feb then Paul. After that John Carter of Mars with Andrew Stanton. I moved to Angel and am settling in. Start teaching class 2 at AM in a few weeks after the break. During which I am heading to Milan and Geneva and my friend John Wheeler from Disney is coming over to visit for New Years.

DNEG xmas party

Halifax and London

2009-11-19T05:41:00.000-08:00

On my route to London I stopped for a week in Halifax NS to visit my best buddy Kev. Then it was off to the UK. For my new job at Double Negative. Upon arriving to London I found my temporary pad, thanks to David Sloss, (and his lovely parents) a former AMer who now works at Blue Sky. There I celebrated Halloween and met this random guy with the best costume ever.

Quaid!

Casa de Sloss

Mmmm...still alive.

Halifax

Unemployed

2009-10-08T06:37:00.001-07:00

Nothing like being unemployed when you have a job in London lined up in a few weeks. My time off has been spent with family and friends. I spent fantastic weekends in Puerto Rico, and Chicago. Friends from Blue Sky, Pixar, Dreamworks, ILM and others all gathered for Dave and Jess's awesome wedding. And I managed to get a few more days of surfing in sunny SoCal. Which I will miss in the UK.

Blurring the Chicago skyline at night with Blue Skiers

Me, Wes (ILM) Mark (Pixar) and Greg (BlueSky) take a ride

My amigos!

Lots of (awesome) animators.

Puerto Rico underwater

Best beach ever.

PR

Finished!

2009-08-31T18:05:00.000-07:00

Uncharted 2 is done! Well, almost, a couple days until gold master... and I will soon be on vacation before heading to London, and DNEG to work on Paul. Now my only job is the prestigious one of Animation Mentor! And enjoying life.

My 30th B-day! With Elsa and Umberto my crazy college roomate.

Getting close to vacation...

2009-08-11T21:48:00.001-07:00

Only 4 weeks left at Naughty Dog. We are in major crunch. So much to do. But the game is looking amazing and I am confident it will be game of the year. Its really friggn fun and has multi-player, so it has everything going for it. 10/10! Tomorrow is my 30th b-day and I will be spending it working, but in a few weeks, I will have a 6 weeks off to relax before my next adventure, which is taking me back to Europe!

Where I spend most my time now.

Chloe and Drake

Summer in Cali

2009-06-27T23:22:00.000-07:00

I moved to Manhattan Beach for the summer while I will be working with the Dogs on the game of the year, Uncharted 2...learning how to surf, playing some beach volleyball, and enjoying the sun. Not too far from my doorsteps...and quick trips to vegas and san fran a short hop in a plane!

one block to beach!

our volleyball team!

uncharted 2 trailer at e3 09

smashball

my roomates Brendon and Andrew get in 4th of july spirit

another beachside breakfast

Another day at manhattan beach, on 6th man.

Back to the USofA

2009-06-27T23:16:00.000-07:00

So after my 9 months abroad I had to return. In April I flew back into NYC to visit all my old Blue Sky peeps, and check out the new Studio. I also went out on the town with one of my AM students, another Jason. Good times. Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs looked great, and it was amazing seeing everyone after all that time. Seemed like the entire look of the team had changed!

After that I headed home to WI for some good ol' R&R with the parents, and packed up for my x-country road adventure to Cali, where I will be spending the summer working on Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, at Naughty Dog. The road trip was great, and I got to stop at some national parks, Zion, Arches and Grand Canyon.

Mi ultimio dia en Espania!

2009-03-31T11:36:00.000-07:00

Y Ilion Animation Studios tambien. Adios todos! I'll miss you guys.

The Planet 51 crew.

London visit

2009-03-28T11:04:00.000-07:00

Just got back from three (sunny!) days of exploring the city and visiting studios. We got to meet Eamonn Butler at Double Negative who was a great host and got a quick visit into Framestore as well. Lots of big stuff coming up in London. Special thanks to Kai for putting Hugo and I up and hanging with us and showing us the best Sushi in Soho. Camdon market food rocks. Who said the brits dont eat well?

The final weeks...

2009-03-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

My five months in Spain are almost over! I'm down to 2.5 more weeks here at Ilion Animation Studios, and the movie is just about finished in animation. The film is looking great despite the crazy schedule, thanks to some of the talented people working here. Next week I am heading to London to visit a few Studios there, then I return to the States. I will miss Madrid and all my awesome international friends, but hopefully someday I shall return. Here are some of the folks who are working, or pretending to, in the animation dept. As you can see, its quite a cultural mix here at Ilion....

The Stein from Norway

Abraham-ham-ham from Spain

Harmut the wise and witty German

Ramero from Argentina

Andrew the Scott or Brit or Welsh or - whatever

Marco the deadly Italien

Yannick from France

Hugo another crazy German

Wampaa from Hoth

Terry the Irish rover

Pepe and Andrew, helping Harmut, or causing problems?

Dani the laughing Spaniard

A visit with Sergio Pablos!

2009-02-07T23:35:00.000-08:00

I recently had the honor of visiting Animagic and got to see a real 2D studio still in action! They are doing mostly commercial work, but have a feature coming in and are boarding some short films they will do in in the realm of 3D. Sergio was so laid back and cool, and showed us some of what he has been working on. Not only is he one of the top animators in the world, he has a great mind for character development and story, I wish him all the best and would love to work with him someday. Love to see those pages flipping! Thanks to Hugo for setting up the meeting!

And of course I have been working away on Planet 51. We are getting pretty busy and now entering our last couple months of production. Less then 25% left to animate! The animation is looking good and I think people will enjoy it. Hopefully the weather warms here in Madrid soon, its been an abnormally cold winter as you can see....

Small world...

2008-12-04T02:57:00.001-08:00

Early one October morning we were exploring a tomb along the Nile, when out of the blue, some guy grinning ear to ear came running up to Anthea, who was right next to me. It took a few seconds to recognize him, but sure enough, Mr. Bobby Beck himself was there with us. He was on vacation as well and happened to be at the same ruin at the same time. In Egypt of all places! Small world.

Spain

2008-12-04T02:56:00.001-08:00

Goofing of at Illion studios in Madrid with some of my new coworkers. A bunch of former and current AMers working here on Planet 51. Martin Esnaola, Jorge Vigara, Diego Supervia, Anthea Kerou, Gustavo Calle, Alberto Corral, Pako Baqur, "Tote", Terry Reilly, myself, and the evil Julio Lorenzo.

The Bond villain himself, Julio.

Egypt & Jordan

2008-12-04T02:45:00.000-08:00

After Greece we hopped a jet to Egypt and Jordan for three weeks of ancient ruins and Red Sea diving. Camels with bad teeth posed for phot. We got lost in the desert of Petra and took a ride in a hot air baloon over the valley of Luxar. We swam and cruised the Nile, and ate most of everything...besides the chilled monkey brains.

Rose city of Petra, recognize it Indy fans?

Wadi Rum desert. Where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed.

Cliff jumping in greece

2008-12-04T02:41:00.000-08:00

A 50 foot drop into the warm waters of Corfu!

Snorkling is fun with a waterproof camera.

Greece

2008-12-04T02:24:00.000-08:00

Greece! After leaving Rio and enduring ten flights in four days. I flew home through Peru and Mexico, to NY for a quick visit to Blue Sky then home to Wisconsin for a quick repack. Then back to NY, off to Dublin, London, and finally landing in Corfu Greece. There I met my new awesome and travel partner and former AMer Anthea! We proceeded to travel around the Greek islands for the next month. Corfu, Kefalonia, Santorini, Mykonos, Paros and of course Athens. What a trip. And the food was even better then the views.

Leaping around the maze of Mykonos town.

Gazing at Corfu town.

Sitting at the Acropolis in Athens.

The train doors open quick in Athens.

Rio De Janeiro

2008-09-21T09:08:00.001-07:00

RIO. A week in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The food, beach, samba, music, fresh fruit, fun in the sun. Met some even more Brazilian AM students; Rapheal, Wagner, Rodrigo and Chris, who all took us out and showed us the true Rio. I also got to hang out with Carlos Saldanha's (Director of Ice Age 2 & 3) sister in Ipanema. Go Blue Sky! We enjoyed a visit to Seagulls Fly animation studio, which has the best views in the world, and they close the blinds. :) I want to give a special thanks to the folks at AM for making it possible for me to meet these great people.

AMers in Sao Paulo!

2008-09-04T16:07:00.000-07:00

Just left Sao Paulo, the AM capital of South America, where I got meet 15 AM students. Ana and Fernando toured us all over the city and even took us to a futbol match between Santos and Sao Paulo. 0-0, but it was still exciting. We had a few fantastic Brazilian meals and I got to talk to many current and future animation peers. I had a great time and hope to see all of you guys soon!

Buenos Aires

2008-08-27T19:47:00.000-07:00

So after a brief stop in Salta and Cordoba, one crazy day which Argentina beat Brazil in the Olympic futbal match, we arrived in Buenos Aires. The week spent there was one of the highlitghts of the trip. We lucked out with perfect weather, a fun hostel and great new friends. And I got to meet my first AMer Leandro Pedrouzo! He was a grand host, took us on a mini tour of Palermo and to a fantastic grilled pizza place. And gave us valuable insight on the city. Gracias Leandro! We got to watch La Boca futbol team play and enjoyed some great Carne Asado. Good times.

Accidently in Chile

2008-08-18T14:59:00.000-07:00

We ended up in San Pedro Chile a few days because we thought it would save us some time, it turned out in the end it did, but we almost got stuck and had to hitch out to Argentina. It was a good adventure and after almost missing a few buses (one was pulling out with all of our stuff on it) we finally made it to Salta....Its been a juggling act so far!

Boliva Salt Flats

2008-08-18T14:54:00.000-07:00

I celebrated my 29th birthday on the spectacular Sal De Uyuni. But pictures do not do it justice. The sense of endless space, the stars at night and the silence was uncanny. We spent 3 hot days followed by frigid nights, without changing clothes or showering, passing endless desert, train graveyards, volcanos, gysers, green red and blue lagunas filled with pink flamingos, and amazing rock formations.

Snickers bar 'cake' on a deck of cards with 4 human candles.

La Paz

2008-08-18T14:50:00.000-07:00

After a confusing bus ride, where the bus actually kicked us off and took a boat across the lake, and we followed in a dingy, we arrived in La Paz, Bolivia. Upon arrival we found out that we were stuck there for three days. It was elections and EVERYTHING was closed. So we made the best of it, met some new friends and visited the infamous San Pedro prison. Driving into La Paz was amazing. This giant city looked like it was built in a huge creator. And being the highest capital in the world, it left us breathless.

Lake Titicaca

2008-08-18T14:42:00.000-07:00

After Cuzco we headed down to Puno and spent 3 days at lake Titicaca. We stood on the floating reed islands and slept on Arminati island with a local family. There was no electricity and it was absolutely freezing but the people were so nice and the lake was an experience not to be missed. One night we enjoyed a candle lit fiesta where locals danced around a few hours and dressed us up in ponchos.

Watch out!

2008-08-05T15:36:00.000-07:00

Llama x-ing! On the road again....first to Puno, then La Paz, then the Salt Flats.....

Machu Picchu

2008-08-05T15:27:00.000-07:00

So we finally got to walk around where the Incas created one of most amazing cities in history and abandoned 500 years ago...wow.

Trek to Machu Picchu

2008-08-05T15:07:00.000-07:00

We started out four day trek at 3900 meters and hiked up to Mt. Salkantay at 4625 meters the first day. 50k in 3 days. Quite a workout at this altitude. Then descended into the valley ´cloud forest´and river hopped. On the second day we entered the jungle, the third day up a mountain to see Machu Picchu from distance and the last day we found ourselves on the legendary city of the clouds. A breathtaking trek made fun and educational due to our superb guide ´Big Willie.´

We got dirty

I'm sitting on that rock above...

In Cuzco

2008-08-05T15:04:00.001-07:00

After a brutal 10 hour nighttime bus, we arrived in Cuzco, the city of way too many steps. Just a day to recover before the big trek.

Smile!

2008-08-05T15:02:00.000-07:00

This guy creeped me out.

Mountain biking a volcano

2008-08-05T14:56:00.001-07:00

We headed down Mt. Chichani the last day in Arequipa. From 4900 meters up we cruised down 60 k in 2 hours. Awesome.

Santa Catalina

2008-08-05T14:41:00.001-07:00

We visited the santa Catalina monestary in Arequipa and were quietly awed by atmosphere.

Arequipa and Colca Canyon

2008-08-05T14:28:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Arequipa Peru and headed out to Colca Canyon for two days. Elevations of 5000 meters plus and altitude sickness hit hard. But we got to see one of the deepest canyons in the world. At some points it dropped 2k behind us! Huge condors circled overhead and the vistas were stunning.

Peru!

2008-07-23T18:12:00.000-07:00

The adventure begins! In smog infested Lima. I have been here for two days allready. Our host family have been amazing. Kevin and I have explored downtown, surfed at the beach, and ate some great local food...and inhaled 10kilos of diesel fumes.

Test hike

2008-07-19T16:12:00.001-07:00

Kevin and I hiking in the Gunks in NY with our new packs.

A map of our rough plan in South America

Leaving Blue Sky

2008-07-18T15:53:00.000-07:00

Leaving Blue Sky was one of the most difficult decisions I have made. Leaving my awesome NY apartment on top of that made it even worse. But I will have the memories! The feeling of family our department had was stronger then any other studio could have. The talent level of the team on Horton was unreal. All the good and bad. The overtime, Nisi rationalizing it, the release date finally arriving, the excitement of box office success, life drawing at 11, the flooding basements, basketball and frisbee games at lunch, the bbq's at Rich's pad and Jimmy's. But most of all my friends. Pete and Bruno´s friendly email chains, Jackie making faces at her monitor, Scott fixing something, Rizzi overworking, Slossums, Coats complaining about the rigs, Ray's 'snap', late nights in NYC with Galen, Ed, Tonin, Rich, Ryan and Barker, Melvin speaking engrish, Tom laughing about some nonsense Greengo was up too...Jess making fun of Davisms....

Good times.

The Horton crew early on.

Ice Age crew. I'm bottom right next to scrat.

Horton premiere LA.

The Roughnecks. I wish we had more of these games.

View from my nyc rooftop.

Dave, Jess, Jackie and Thea Halloween 07.

Fun in the sunwith ultimate at lunch.

Adam, Rich, Tom and Coats.

Dave, Tonin and 'Supersup' Chu.

Evil Dead the Musical with Tom, Nick, Wheels and the Chirico

The Traveling Mentor Bog

2008-07-18T15:37:00.000-07:00

Hola!

This is the first post to my new blog, which I will attempt to update as much as possible. I will be traveling in Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil the next few months, and then heading to Europe. I hope to meet as many AM students/mentors/alumni as I can and see how big this community is out there.