did you make it to portland for good?
Posted by dermot on November 12, 2008 at 4:17 pm
I received this nice email from GK (who found my tutorials through my other site, which is more political):
What can I say but thank you for your tutorials and political ramblings. I stumbled upon your site just the other day, as I was looking for good, free/inexpensive, animation training and tips, and was amazed at the amount of good work you’ve put up on your site for “noobs” like me to look over. Very valuable information. I will be donating soon, and pimping out your site as much as I can in the meantime.
I was also surprised to later realize that you are quite political and conscientious, which seem like qualities that are hard to find in anyone working in the fields of animation, design etc. (at least in my limited experience). While I have at best 10% of your skills and talent, it was nice to know there are others that battle with having to work for mega corp. and wanting more out of life. As a craptastic illustrator and 3D generalist I often wonder if there is anywhere for people who don’t want to make six figures and die of a heart attack at 40 after a life of pushing useless and wasteful products- your site and blog give me a bit of hope.
So did you make it to Portland? Are you living in an Oregon cob home, growing your own veggies, ridding a bike, and finding another use for cumin each day? Are you feeling left out by not being a vegan lesbian with pink hair? I do!
If you are in PDX, I was wondering if you ever thought of teaching basic animation at any of the schools to earn extra income and not directly support mega corp. so much. Many would like to have animation classes, and there is demand, but they don’t want pay some half ass 3D guy (like me) and spend a lot on software to do so. They almost all have flash in their computer labs etc. Let me know if you’re intersted and I’ll see what some of the people on the “inside” know about these possible teaching jobs. Maybe teaching is not your thing though?
If you are working for mega corp. here is it through flying rhino, Laika etc? Did the former Disney employees at Laika freak you out too much?
And lastly- do you know of any book that talks about working in the animation/FX industry on a human nitty gritty level? I’d like to know more about the BS that goes on and not just the “miracle of life” disney version of the disney story. Maybe that’s a book for you to write?
Man- what a long rambling email. I’ll stop here while I’m just way behind (never been ahead).
Well, to try to answer (on this blog, as the reply might be of use to several people):
I’m glad the tutorials were useful - they were posted back in 2000 on idleworm, and they’ve done the rounds. Google “animation tutorial” and idleworm comes up on the first page - usually in second place, which shows how many people have linked to them over the years!
The animation industry is, in general, not a hotbed of politically active people. There’s a large minority of people who are far more aware than average - these ones can talk your ear off. Usually in a large studio, they’ll find one another and kill a lot of time (and productivity) talking. I got my introduction to the conspiracy end of the political spectrum from a Canadian co-worker at the Bluth studio in the 1980s. He had audio tapes of lectures by the likes of Robert Anton Wilson - very entertaining, and a great way to kill the tedium of hand drawing inbetweens.
I met a fellow Peak Oiler at the Disney Internet Group a couple of years ago - we hooked up through a Permaculture event. He animated this short film (which comes up first in a youtube search for “peak oil”:
So, there are people in the industry who are serious about politics - though their numbers are <10%.
Funny that you mention making six figures and dying of a heart attack at 40. Ten years ago, I was that guy - making $1800 a week (sometimes more with overtime) and working on average, 80 hours a week (sometimes more). Once I had horrible pains down my left arm - it felt like my bone marrow was burning. It subsided after half an hour - but it was scary. I don’t remember taking it seriously; I didn’t go to a doctor - haven’t seen one since 1993. Life took a major turn in 2002, and over the years from 2002 to 2005 my values and expectations changed 180 degrees.
Over the course of those years, I lost everything - and the industry pretty much collapsed. I’d spent the time from 2000-2002 retraining to use Flash, as it seemed obvious that it would soon be the next big thing. A correct prediction, but the timeline was off - by YEARS. As it turned out, Flash wouldn’t start offering serious employment opportunities until around 2004/2005; requiring the art of surviving without spending money.
I went from being seriously overweight (190-200lbs) to less than 140 (like being 20 again); stopped spending money on toys and trinkets; stopped eating crappy food; stopped eating meat, dairy and sodas; stopped driving (a big money-sink) and started walking; and most importantly, stopped craving material success and wealth.
To live this life, you must become Capitalism’s worst nightmare.
I was close to moving back to Ireland when the Disney Internet Group offered a job in 2005. It was a dream position in some respects: the work was doable in 20 hours - the remainder 20 hours being used to surf the web.
The work became increasingly tedious - as did LA. I began looking at other studios to see what kinds of jobs were out there. Eventually, a posting from Fatkat in Canada: a Flash studio with about 60 employees, in a small town called Miramichi in the middle of nowhere. Not having any connections holding me down, the place was worth a try. Long story short, I worked there for a year. Great experience, and worth the effort…as LA can seem like (or be) an open air prison. It’s surprisingly difficult to leave the place.
Soon after arriving in Miramichi, what struck me was the age profile of most of the crew - early to mid 20s. I was 38 - one of the oldest people - certainly the oldest animator. That was a first…and it was a bit scary! You realise that it’s time to get serious, as the years start to blur past a little faster with each year.
Consider the comment from the writer John Mortimer, who is now in his 80s: “At my age, it seems like you’re having breakfast every five minutes”.
Being a bit of a burn-out (the result of over-work in the 90s) the work-week of a TV show was more than I could handle. There was no let up … it was a constant production rate, and each week it became a little bit harder to meet the quota. They weren’t asking for much - about 30 or 35 seconds a week. Even so, a damaged brain can only take so much. Once again, the prospect of moving back to Ireland beckoned.
The very week that I was making arrangements to move home, my former roommate from LA phoned - the first time we’d talked in six months. He’s working at Laika on a 3D job.
“Why don’t you move to Portland?” he suggested.
He told me that I could find an apartment for about $400 or $500 a month. That was a shock, as the apartment in Canada (in the middle of nowhere) was costing $560! I began looking at studios in Portland - Renegade and Laika being the two best known. An application to Renegade went into the event horizon of a Black Hole. Drat. Suddenly the realisation hit me that a fulltime position wasn’t needed - as enough cash was coming in from the occasional contract job to pay the bills. My monthly living costs are about $800-$1000 for everything - so that’s just $200-$250 a week. idleworm (my other site) makes about $200 - $300 a month, so that just left ~$500 a month to get by.
Easy.
So, I haunted Craigslist, checked out Portland on google street view, and spoke with my ex-roommate about which areas were best. Then a stroke of luck: a member of a peak-oil group offered to put me up in their family home until I found a place. I stayed with them for two weeks, and then a second stroke of luck: finding a really nice place to live (thanks to Craigslist), for a very decent rental price.
I work from home and live low on the hog: a low consumption/low stress lifestyle. One leads directly to the other.
It’s not for everyone, but well worth the change if you think you can handle it.
Regarding teaching - it’s something that I’d like to do at some point - it just depends on the time constraints, and logistics. I’d definitely be interested.
Hm; regarding books on working inside a studio … none that I know of - but that doesn’t mean that they’re not out there. Shamus Culhane’s book “Animation, from Script to Screen” is an excellent work, as it deals with the psychological aspect of creative block. At one point, I was so frustrated that I was unable to make more than a mark on a piece of paper without tearing it up in frustration. Partly, this was the result of the atmosphere at the Dublin Bluth studio, which was not conducive to creativity. I’ll write more on this in the future…
Any help with getting the movie shown would be greatly appreciated. Fifteen minutes are complete, and fifteen are left. With any luck, it’ll be finished sometime next year (it had better be!)
Many thanks for the rambling email…though the reply rambled even more!
One Response to “did you make it to portland for good?”
Dermot,
FYI I’m a fellow Portlander in the IT industry (databases, not animation) and I’ve recently started teaching part-time at a local community college. I’ve found it to be an excellent experience; the campus is an isolated community, the students smart and motivated (for the most part). The pay isn’t extraordinary but makes for a nice supplemental income.
I believe there’s a Flash class taught in a related department. Dunno if they’re hiring (I was on a waiting list for 5 years before they called me!) but it’s certainly worth filling out an online application if you’re interested.
- DAM
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