Life Drawing at the Denver Zoo

African Wild Dog


Common Eland


Dromedary Camel


Hippos


Okapi


Ostrich (same one twice)


Polar Bear


Polar Bear sleeping


Rhino


Rhino relaxing

The Denver Zoo is one of the best places to draw. They have a wide variety of animals and the staff and patrons are friendly.

30 Days of Cryptids Day 4: The Banshee

After nearly a week hiatus that is. Thursday morning my computer began shutting itself off of its own volition. I took it to the Apple Store and discovered that many of the early 20 inch iMacs have a manufacturer's defect regarding the power supply. Some of you may have seen information on forums to that effect. They kept it over night and then called to say they would replace the power supply, which would take 2-4 days. The next day (this is now Saturday) they called to say that the power supply didn't work, and that they would be giving me a new computer, and would I like a data transfer of all my info? Sure!

So today I now have a new machine, 1 GB more of space than I had before, and no weird mysterious shutting off problems. I highly recommend to all you Apple users out there that you get Apple Care - it's worth they price and my replacement computer ended up being free as a result!

So now that I have my baby back, I bring you:

Cryptids Day 4: The Banshee



Known as the Bean Sidhe in Irish folklore and the Caoineag in Scottish folklore, the banshee is a wailing spirit believed to traverse the hillsides who appears near homes when someone is about to die. She's also the daughter of Oberon and Titania for all of you Gargoyles fans.

Cryptids Day 3: Faerie

This picture has been the most fun to draw thus far. I particularly like my little faerie's dragonfly wings.

Web Comic Review: Lackadaisy and The Phoenix Requiem

I bring your attention to some awesome web comics found on the net.

The first, Lackadaisy, by Tracy Butler, tells the story of Prohibition in St. Louis, MO and features an all cat cast running an underground speakeasy, the Lackadaisy. Mayhem ensues as Rocky, one of the main characters who desires to accomplish great things, gets into a scuffle with some local baddies who come after him and the speakeasy for some massive payback. Now I know what you're thinking, "What the heck, 1920s America...with cats? Eh?"

Seriously folks, this is one of the BEST comics I've read in quite a while. The superb artwork is matched only by the richness of the characters. This story is well worth your time.



The second comic, The Phoenix Requiem, by Sarah Ellerton, is consistently voted #1 on TopWebComics. Requiem tells the story of a young woman living in what appears to be some sort of late 1800s early 1900s country filled with spirits and all sorts of weirdness. It has romance, suspense, horror, and even better, the creator updates the comic TWICE a week for a total of FOUR PAGES a week. This type of dedication is virtually unheard of on the net and Ms. Ellerton gets mad props for her consistently great work.



So there you have it - two great comics which now have a link in the web comics section of this blog. If you find any other comics that you particularly enjoy, drop me a line and I may feature them here next week.

Cryptids Day 2: Sasquatch

The elusive Sasquatch, also known as Bigfoot, is an ape-like creature purported to roam the Pacific Northwest. Appearances of such ape men have been sworn upon by visitors and locals for decades (some even say centuries) however, most of them have proven to be hoaxes. Still, it's fun to pretend that a big furry beast may stumble upon your camp ground looking for Slim Jims.

30 Days of Cryptids and other Fantastical Creatures

Because there is nothing more amazing than bizarre creatures of legend (Yetis are real! Really!) I present to you 30 Days of Cryptids and other Fantastical Creatures. These are some of the most well-known, not-so-known, and I seriously-doubt-they're-real-but-I-wish-they-were beasties to grace the imagination of men and women the world over.

What is a Cryptid you ask? According to *questionably* accurate Wikipedia:

Cryptid is a term used in the study of cryptozoology to refer to a creature whose existence has been suggested but not demonstrated scientifically. Belief in a cryptid's existence is typically based on anecdotal evidence and other forms of evidence insufficient to comply with normal scientific zoological standards. The term cryptid was coined by John E. Wall in 1983.[1]

In other words "Me and Billie Jean saw it in the woods! We swear!"
In spite of evidence to the contrary folks out there still think that there are things that go bump in the night, swim in lakes, and are generally creepified. Two cases that illustrate this point are the recent news articles purporting the existence of the chupabara and the poor saps who thought they had purchased a real Bigfoot.

But whether they're real or not, one fact remains: they're REALLY fun to draw.

Day 1: The Mermaid



Sailors of yore thought that mermaids were beautiful half-women, half-fish that occupied the sea. Today we know that most likely they were looking at manatees (how you could confuse a manatee with a lady is beyond me, guess they were really desperate and lonely.)

Here's a tutorial on how I created my Mermaid.

Step 1: Scan Your Drawing

I first scanned my drawing using 300 dpi. My scanner leaves much to be desired, so the image looked like this:



Step 2: Clean Up



To get rid of bad scanner quality go to Image > Mode and select Grayscale.
Next, go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast and set Contrast to +25.
Then use the eraser tool to get rid of unwanted scanner color saturation, which in this case, was on the left side of the image. I highly recommend using a Wacom Tablet as well, that way you can redraw anything you might accidentally erase. Once you've cleaned up your image, set the color back to RGB and save.


Step 3: The Real Fun Begins!

This is where the power of layers comes into play.



Change the layer property to multiply and add as many new as you need layers. Save the first layer (the one at the very bottom) to Background. I created five other layers total: Linework, Hair/face, Tail, Fin, and Skin. I lock the layers I'm not using to prevent misshaps.

For the Background (BG) layer, I colored it in green.

Then I used the Hair/face layer for blue.



Then the Tail layer for yellow.



Fin layer for dark blue.



And so on.

Step 4: Special Effects

Use the dodge tool on BG layer to create cool swirly-water. Use the burn tool to create shadows on the Mermaid's body and the dodge tool to give her hair highlights.



Step 5: Done



Add whatever finishing touches you want, and you're done!

For more great ideas, check out Mike Maihack's Buffalog and Kazu Kibuishi's Copper Tutorial.

Tomorrow: The Sasquatch!

Register to Vote By October 6th Colorado!

This is a public service announcement courtesy of The Animator's Journal:

Fellow Coloradoans, whether you are voting for Obama, McCain or are undecided, remember to register to vote BY OCTOBER 6th! The deadline is coming soon. Don't miss this opportunity to let your voice be heard.




Several websites allow you to register:

Colorado Secretary of State's Office

Vote for Change

Rock the Vote

You can also sign up to receive a mail-in ballot. No waiting in line!

Don't delay, register today!

What a crazy random happenstance!

So I finally checked out Joss Whedon's dramedy "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" starring Nathan Fillion (Mal!) and Neil Patrick Harris (NPH! Barney! Doogie Howser!) and Felicia Day (Vi!) Is it perfect? Heavens no, but it IS entertaining. And it looks like it cost $15 to make. And I totally want a pair of Horrible goggles now.

Check it.

Thank you, interwebs.

PRSA Winner

Tonight my coworkers and I attended the 50th Annual PRSA awards. For those who don't know, each chapter of Public Relations Society of America hosts a nice banquet every year for the Gold Pick Awards, which honors excellence in PR. We won two Silver Picks and a Gold Pick this year for our member magazine and for press releases related to our Spring Impressionism exhibition, respectively.

The dinner was more low key than I expected but chilling with my cohorts outside of the office is always fun and really, you can't say no to free food (baked chicken - YUM). And it's nice to be honored for doing a great job.

So kudos to us. Hoo-rah!

Drawings!

Yo peeps.

So this is the third week of my drawing class over at the Art Students League of Denver. I am enjoying the course immensely. Our teacher is using some techniques from the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards to teach us how to see. Drawing is all about seeing, being able to know in your mind the relationships between lines and shapes that make up objects. If you can see those relationships, you will produce more accurate drawings.

I know this from personal experience, as I have been drawing this way since I was a child. Until now though, I didn't realize you could write a whole book on the process, nor did it occur to me that some people don't know to do this. So all this time I've been ahead of the curve (sweet!) But now everyone can learn how to be better artists, which is way cool. Viva la drawing!

Here are some of the projects I have completed thus far:

I went to Civic Center Park and did a contour drawing of this flower (which was surrounded by a whole mess 'o bees!)


Here's my left hand.


And here's a funky outlining project that ate up two markers. It was fun though.

John August's Scene Challenge

One of the most prolific bloggers and successful screenwriters online is launching his latest scene challenge tomorrow. Here are the deets.

Brad Meltzer Book Signing

Thursday I had the pleasure of attending a book signing featuring #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Brad Meltzer at Tattered Cover Highland Ranch.



And let me tell you, Brad is no wallflower. A whitty guy to be sure, he entertained the crowds with ancedotes about his life, previous books, comic book writing career and even the outfit he wore, starting off the evening by saying that only a loser would wear the same outfit as the photo in the book jacket of his current novel, The Book of Lies.

I purchased a copy of his graphic novel, Identity Crisis, and he even signed it "For Angela, My Hero." How cool is that? Pretty cool. If he's ever in your town buy a book and say hi, you won't regret it.

He also promoted an awesome charity to save the house where Superman was created -Ordinary People Change the World. Check it out and donate to save a great piece of Americana.

Cool Things I Found On The Net This Week

Word Balloon Podcast
Radio veteran John Siuntres speaks with comic writers and artists, animators, and film creators from all over the United States. Hilariously entertaining and often spireling into wacky out-of-control tangents, the podcast has featured such notable luminaries like Mike Mignola, Dwanye McDuffie, Brian Michael Bendis, Andrea Romano, Joe Quesada, and Brad Meltzer, to name but a few. This is one program that is worth your time - you'll learn about the creative process and be inspired at the same time. Shiny!




The Dreamer
Created by Lora Innes, The Dreamer tells the story of Bea, a high school senior with a penchant for theater who every night dreams of being involved in the revolutionary war between the Americans and the Brits. Lora is a history pro, having researched the time period extensively, and even uses real people from the time in her comic. Of all the web comics I've read, this is by far the most professionally created comic I've seen. And not only that, but every page COMES OUT ON TIME, which is almost unheard of on the Internet. Her comic is now available in print form from IDW Publishing and you can order it from your local comic book shop by using order code SEPT084131E.



Fey Winds
This week I found yet another excellent comic through Tomgeeks that is definitely worth your time. The story of Fey Winds, created by Nicole Chartrand, centers around the misadventures of Kit, not a fox, yet not a human, x xx and xxx as they try to find the special objects that will lift their various curses. It has your standard fantasy fair but with a sense of humor that is often lacking in these types of stories - OK, that is never there to begin with - and art that is fabulous. And if you really want to be impressed, check out Chartrand's 1 minute animated short she completed for her last year of college. Absolutely stunning.

This Week in Movie Awesome

This week I had the pleasure of seeing TWO films at the dollar cinema, the only way to watch a movie as far as I'm concerned, especially blockbuster summer spectacles that looked iffy in the previews. If you can get passed the sticky floors and not so great projector quality, you'll have a mighty fine time.

First film: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull



I saw Indiana Jones KOTCS on Tuesday, officially making me one of the last humans in America to see the most current enstallment of the renergized franchise. And...well, it's no Raiders of the Lost Ark. Not by a looonnnggg shot. That did not diminish my enjoyment of the movie, but like Matt Fraction stated in his June Word Balloon interview, the more time passes after you watch this film, the less you like it.

And I totally get why.

See if you're like me - a child of the 80s - then you've no doubt seen Raiders a minimum of 15 times. MINIMUM. When we lived in California it came on KCAL 9 no less than once every 3 months, and I always caught it at the exact same spot (when Indy is in the desert, digging for the awesome built to scale city map). I remember watching the spirits ascend from the ark and liquify people behind the safety of the living room couch (the best place to watch any and all things scary). The music from the film is permanently embedded in my brain, right next to my collection of cartoon theme songs.

And yet, we are drawn to this film like a moth to a flame. Why? Because Indy is an icon, right up there with Bond, hotdogs and every other cliched American thing we can think of.



But friends, this is no Star Wars or Raiders. It's not even Temple of Doom, which is saying a lot, considering how exceedingly annoying the screaming woman was (really, is there anyone else who was sad that she didn't burn up in molten lava? I know I was.)

This, my friends, was an Indy movie that morphed into a weird hybrid of poor dialog, bland characterization, and National Treasure rip-off discovery with a bit of X-Files conspiracy thrown in for good measure. A funny film, but in a "Wow this is pretty ludicrous," sort of way, not unlike the poor fodder thrown to the robots of MST3K.



The sad thing is that there was absolutely no reason for it to be this bad. Harrison Ford, Shia LeBoef and Cate Blanchett are fine actors stuck in a badly written film with CGI monkeys. CGI monkeys. Really? Is that even necessary? And why is it that Cate's Russian spy sounded like Natasha from Rocky and Bullwinkle? I kept waiting for her to bust out with "Must capture moose and squirrel!"



Team Lucas/Spielberg didn't fare so well with this one. Which by no means will influence whether I see any more of their movies. Because I will. Because that's how myself and every other person in the 18-49 demographic roll. Darn you, Star Wars and Raiders, we shall never be free from your death grip of awesome.

Film two: Hellboy II: The Golden Army



On the complete opposite side of the spectrum was last night's film, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, which I also had near zero expectations of and was greatly impressed by the story as well as the creatures. Seriously, Guillermo del Toro makes Jim Henson's creature shop look like child's play.

Del Toro and Mike Mignola are cut from the same cloth. And you can definitely see how the director's work in Pan's Labyrinth plays out in this film.



The best character by far was the Angel of Death, a beautifully creepy creation. I would like nothing better than to meet Guillermo and see the innerworkings of his mind when he creatues such fantastic monsters. Never have I seen an angel look like this.



And not just the angel, but all of the creatures were fantastic, from the lovely yet strange Elves to the reinvisioning of Tooth Fairies as sadistic little buggers.

The best part of all of these creations is that they are not only scary, but beautiful in an odd way. They are more than monsters, each with their own motivations and feelings for why they do what they do, not unlike Frankenstein's monster.



The supporting cast of creepies nearly overshadow everyone else, but all of them pull their weight nicely, particularly Ron Perlman as the cigar chomping Hellboy and Abe Sapien, who is given a little romance this time around.



The flaw of the film though is that the theme is not given enough screen time.
Prince Neuda makes an interesting argument to Hellboy, why fight against your own for those who will hate you when you can join those who will view you as a god? It's a rather compelling argument, given Hellboy's appearance (he's not named Hellboy for nothing you know), the fact that his best friend is a fish hybrid and his girl is pyrokentic which a propensity for blowing up buildings. It's also a theme that
deserved more screen time, as it is mentioned only briefly after the Elemental fight scene and then becomes no more than an afterthought. Considering that this was truly the heart of the film, I am surprised that Del Toro did not give it the consideration it deserved.

Lots and Lots Going On

Oh geez and it never stops, you know?

August 2008 will officially be known henceforth as the month that went CRAZYTOWN.

So many things going on - most important is that I will be hunting for another job soon, which makes me sad but it was a great run and I look forward to the next assignment.

And I am now taking another drawing class! Very excited about this. My teacher is fab. I've learned a great deal and I've only been to one class so far.

As for screenwriting, after taking a month hiatus I'm now back in the saddle rewriting "Quest for the Soul Stone." I'm diving into writing better dialog and developing deeper relationships between the characters. I must say it is exciting and hard work and I am looking forward to entering it in contests this fall.

I would like to thank Joss Whedon and the cast of "Firefly" for showing me what awesome writing truly looks like. What a great show.



I remember that by the time I learned that the show had come out and that I should take a looksee that Fox cancelled it.



I'm sure they're still kicking themselves over that one. I must say that Zoe, Wash, and Mal are my favorites, they all tie for first place. Truly excellent characters indeed.



If you haven't seen the show yet, go buy it.

And if you're interested in seeing the awesome that is the writing team of this show, check out the Firefly Wiki where you can read actual scripts.

Dragonflies!

Ever since my Grandad gave me a book on insects I've loved bugs. Which is a good thing because in Texas they grow them BIG. Here are some sketches I made of some of my all time favorite creepy crawlies.

Summer Movie Mayhem

Unless you've been living under a rock under the ocean deep in a crater, you've by now heard that Iron Man is SUPREMELY AWESOME IN EVERY WAY. I saw the film on opening day and I must say - WOW. I never read the comic, in fact, had never heard of it until my best friend bought me "The Marvel Encyclopedia" (thanks Annie!) And honestly, it sounded like a lame Batman rip-off: rich dude with a mega corporation becomes super hero. Yawn.



But my friends, it is SO MUCH more. Not only are the special effects excellent, but seriously, Robert Downey, Jr. IS Tony Stark. The man practically lived the character's life in real time. Not to mention the best part of the whole movie: the script. Screenwriters rejoice, you can create a major blockbuster tent pole movie with heart and soul.

And speaking of soul, saw The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian on Sunday. GO SEE THIS MOVIE. If you are a fan of action/adventure/fantasy/Christian symbolism/family entertainment/hot guys named Caspian this is the film for you my friend.



Few sequels live up to the hype and this one was definitely worth the $5.50 matinee price. Once again, I commend the script -- the children especially show a great range of depth and emotion.



Will they follow Aslan or will they fight their battles themselves? Will they save Narnia or die trying? Will Susan insist on playing the role of Ice Queen to Prince Caspian? You have to see it to find out!



Next up: Kung Fu Panda. Yes! Jack Black can do no wrong.

The Return of the Blogger

Well it's been a relaxing hiatus from the blogosphere, but I'm glad to be back.
Been working on several projects concurrently as of late (and also getting paid for a few of them, which is always a BIG PLUS in my book). The Super Cool Future Project is underway. Also, I've been revamping "Xia" which is great because I received this from the Disney Fellowship this afternoon:

Please continue to check our website. The new application the writing program and deadline will go up in 2 weeks. The application deadline is July 31, and the program is slated to start Feb 2009.

Good to hear that this one didn't fall off the face of the map. For those who don't know, this is a PAID fellowship in LA that allows you to work with those in the industry so that you can hone your writing chops. They accept both screenplays and spec scripts. And as you have TWO WHOLE MONTHS to get something together, what excuse do you have? Honestly? Go write something!

Also been catching up on everyone else's blogs as of late. John August wrote an excellent piece of writing specs for animation, Rogers actually shows what it's like to be in the writing room, and Amanda is fun and witty as always.

And if you're more into comics, check out Buffalog, as Cleopatra in Spaaace! may be ending soon, and Earthsong, which Ms. Lady Yates has returned to after her fun vacay in Egypt.

Whew, time to go back to the drawing board. Literally. TTFN.

Screenwriting Blogs Recap - Friday Edition

Hello all my scribblers out there. It's time for another recap of the best in the blogosphere.

It's been relatively quiet this week -- people are busy, hiding, working hard, dealing with down servers (glad you're still out there Unk) or potentially giving up their blogs (say it ain't so, Dave!) but there are some nice gold nuggets of wisdom out there in the wilderness.

First up, Mystery Man details how you can tell that a script is suffering from serious crapiocity. Pretty entertaining, to say the least.

Blake Snyder extols on the summer blockbuster and what Hollywood can do to keep itself afloat.

John August explains why making up your own jargon is both fun AND educational!

And Amanda dishes out the reality of living/working/writing in LA and why you shouldn't pack up and leave after one short year.

And that's the scoop, ladies and gents. On my end, I'm off to finish/seriously rewrite QftSS so that I can rewrite Xia. And then Darkness Rising. And then start my next spec...

Ah, a writer's life. Never bored. Too many things to do.

I'm a Script Frenzy Champion!

Well after a month of sweat I won Script Frenzy again this year.

Go me go me!

And kudos to the more than 450 other writers who cranked out 100 pages (or more) this year. The screenplay's far from done, I've got at least 10 more pages left and a serious rewrite for May, but I achieved my goal, and the contest stimulated the old imagination, which is always a plus. And best of all, I REALLY LIKE Quest for the Soul Stone now, which is not something that I could say before.



So to all my readers who participated, congratulations!

And now a word from our sponsor - if you participated (or even if you didn't but wish you had) please consider donating a bit of your spare change to Script Frenzy. They are way below on their donations again this year and could use the help to spread good karma the world over. I bought myself a shirt and intend to buy either this year's shirt or a travel mug (or both) soon. Also, if you are unable to donate money in this nasty economy, you can still help by using the search engine Goodsearch. All you have to do is type in which charity you would like to donate the money and Goodsearch donates cash to your charity of choice. At last count the folks at the Office of Letters and Light, who run the Screnzy, received a fat check for $1000, so it's definitely a good way to help them out.

That's it for me. Peace out, yo.

Even MORE Avatar News

According to Animation Magazine the first Avatar movie, entitled simply The Last Airbender, is slated to arrive in theaters on Friday, July 2, 2010.

2010?!
I can't wait that long!

But I must. I am excited to see one of my favorite shows on the big screen. I am also glad that they were able to compromise with the title. While it would have been cool to call the trilogy Avatar: The Last Airbender, it would not have been cool to get sued by James Cameron, who, as many of you may know, is also coming out with his own Avatar film that has no relation whatsoever with Aang and his element-bending buddies.

I have mixed feelings about M. Night Shyamalan directing the upcoming Avatar films though. On the one hand he directed The Six Sense, one of the most poignantly scary films I've ever seen. On the other hand, he directed The Village. And Unbreakable. And Signs. *shudder*

However, given the source material and the fact that creators Michael DiMartino and Brian Konietzko are on board as executive producers, I do not foresee the film bombing at the box office. And I can only imagine how cool the special effects will look in a live action picture. So here's to M. Night making a great film! (I hope!)

Screenwriting Blogs Recap - Monday Edition

Greetings fellow screenwriters! I hope that the weekend treated you well and that all of you are busy crafting your masterpieces. Quest for the Soul Stone is on track to be completed by the Script Frenzy April 30th deadline. I am excited for this screenplay. Thus far the adventure/family-friendly tone works well for it and I look forward to submitting it to contests after the rewrite(s). I am disappointed though in the Frenzy fallout. What I learned being an ML this year is that many people sign up for the challenge but few remain by the end. The write-ins consisted of myself and one to three other people (sometimes), even though 56 people signed up for the area. Not sure if they finished their specs or not, hopefully they did and they were too busy/swamped/shy to show up, but you never know. I fully intend to ML next year so we'll see what happens in 2009.

As for the Scribosphere, your favorites are back and ready to lend their wealth of knowledge to us, the burgeoning troop of future professional screenwriters.

First off, Jane is back online after taking time to work on her script for "Battlestar Galatica." She even includes a piece of the actual script for her loyal readers to peruse. Fabulous!

Personal fave Amanda will be blessed by the karma of the universe for her list of companies to call in regard to finding a job in LA. Thanks Amanda.

John August shows that he is not only a wonderful writer but also human by revealing that it took him six hours to write one scene. Glad to hear that I'm not the only one.

Mystery Man continues with Craig and John's rant about the now-infamous WGA blacklist. Shameful what the Guild has stooped to after doing so well with the strike.

Blake Snyder gives a warm shout-out to everyone who attended his recent meet and greet. His previous post is truly inspiring as well and definitely worth a read.

Alex gives tips on how to showcase a phone conversation in your script.

And in sadder news, Man Bytes Hollywood may or may not return. David is struggling with whether he should keep the blog or allow it to spontaneously combust when he returns from his retreat. The selfish part of me hopes that he will keep the blog as he provides a wealth of information, but he alone knows what he should do with his time. We'll find out what happens when he returns.

My Poorly Drawn Life - Web Comic of the Week

Back when I lived in NYC I had the pleasure of meeting Rising Stars of Manga vol. 2 winner Tania del Rio at MoCCA Fest.

Tania's an awesome manga/comic artist who recently relocated to Cali.
She worked on Archie comics' Sabrina the Teenage Witch and also published a book called Manga Ka America highlighting American manga artists that all of you should buy right now. The art is amazing and showcases that you don't have to be from Japan to produce quality manga.

Every Monday Tania writes/illustrates a fantastically crude (as in badly drawn) web comic called My Poorly Drawn Life where she highlights interesting things going on in her life and the life of her family. It's always entertaining and just goes to show that you don't have to make everything Disney quality in order to entertain people.

Enjoy!

Disney/ABC Fellowship where are you?

Does anyone have any idea what happened to this program?
The last update says that submissions must be sent in by July 1, 2007.

Eh?

Every screenwriting blog out there promotes this competition but silly Disney/ABC won't respond to email inquires and their automated phone messaging service is stuck in a loop.

I myself have called and emailed four times now with no success. Perhaps you will have more success than I. Here is their contact info:

The Disney•ABC Writing Fellowship
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521-4016

www.disneyabctalentdevelopment.com
E-mail: abc.fellowships@abc.com
Telephone: (818) 560-6894

In all seriousness if anyone out there knows if this fellowship will be offered in 2009 please let me know so I can post the information. Thanks.

I AM Punk Rock

At long last I have an offer for a JOB. I am excited.
Here's the story:

2 weeks ago I began to get antsy as I attempted to find work in this town. As I scoured the Colorado film scene I came across a company featured by the Colorado Film and Video Commission. I checked out their awesome website and found the place that I wanted to work for. Alas, I have NO, read ZERO film editing, film creation experience, unless you count the two videos I filmed for junior history class in high school. (Which were, by the way, fantastic, or as fantastic as two short films with no budget and a Sony Handicam can be. But that's beside the point.)

Knowing that I would have to be creative in my offer, I sent them an email that basically read, "Look here's the deal. I recently moved here from New York. I love animation. I'm interested in your company. I can edit articles, do PR work, file, be an office assistant, an intern, what have you. Do you need someone awesome who can help you with the tasks you don't have time to do? If you do, please give me a call." And I inserted a creative subject line, "Do you need a volunteer/editor/office manager/lackey?"

I figured two things would happen:

a) They would laugh at my inquiry and give me a call
b) They would laugh at my inquiry and it would end up in the spam filter

Lo and behold, I get an email on Tuesday saying they LOVED the email, though it was charming and original and would I like to come in today to discuss a small project?

Cha-CHING!

I went to their fabulous office today and turns out they need press releases. And since I would be working freelance they are testing me by giving me a sample to write. If they like it, I get paid, and thus starts a beautiful relationship. And they also need interns, so I have the potential of getting to work for them at their office as well.

Yours truly is majorly stoked and hopefully this is my opportunity to get my foot in the door at a place that is truly magical.