A Long Awaited Update

Well I’ve done it again. I’ve let almost a year go by since I last updated. Although I’ve been completely silent here, there has been a lot going on in my life lately. Last summer I worked at a flower shop in Boulder, met a bunch of awesome new friends and built a small portfolio of chalkboard signs that I created for the store.

Then I went on to work as a technical artist at Real D, helping with the development of their TrueImage technology and brushing off my kick ass Nuke skills (basically a complete 180 from my summer job!) More recently as my time is needed less and less at Real D, I’m changing up my schedule to be part-time with them and I’m starting part-time back at the flower shop this spring. So I’ll be working two part-time jobs this summer.

I’m always active on Instagram where I post photos of everything I’m up to and I’m also on Ravelry and GoodReads for knitting and books.

Here are a few of my chalkboard creations.

 

 

Digital Domain Florida Closes It’s Doors

When everyone at Digital Domain in Florida got the news on Friday morning that the studio was shutting down and we were all being laid off, it came as a total shock. Though there were some worrying stories in the press about DDMG’s low-performing stock and our CEO John Textor, we were assured in an all-hands meeting on Tuesday that everything was fine and we had nothing to worry about, our jobs were secure. Then Friday came and they dropped the bombshell, we were all out of jobs and we had a few hours to clean out our desks and vacate the building.


As I’m putting my resume and reel out there to other studios, I’m still kind of in shock. It’s really scary when this kind of thing happens and it makes you realize that no job is ever really secure, no matter how comfortable you get. The silver lining in all of this is the amazing support everyone in the Port Saint Lucie community has been offering and the support of my former co-workers. In a weird way, being laid off has brought us all closer together.

As for me and Brian, we’re really hoping that we will be back in California before the end of the year. We’ve spent two years here in Florida and though it’s been an amazing experience, we have both been homesick for California for a while now.

Life Lessons

You can’t always control the changes in your life, but you can control how you react to them. This is one of those important life lessons that I end up learning over and over again. I’ve always been a knee-jerk reaction, shoot-from-the-hip kind of girl but recently a situation at work arose where I actually took a step back and considered how I should respond (I know, weird right? I must be growing up or something).

As a manager of a team, it’s always surprising to me how much my level of energy and enthusiasm effects my artists. On days when I’m just not feeling it, they’re not feeling it either and if they see me start to slack off, they’ll slack off too. This means that when we hit a major roadblock on a project I need to stay positive, not just for myself but also to set an example for the team. We all feed off of each other’s energy, consciously or not, and as a leader it should be my responsibility to be a source of positive energy for my team.

This is a trait that is constantly pulling on me. It’s so hard for me to remember to check myself before I make a sour face or say something I shouldn’t. Sometimes I’m good about it and other times I’m horribly bad about it, but I try to be aware of how my behavior effects those around me and I try my hardest to react appropriately in tough situations.

Mets Intro

I was waiting for this project to get released somewhere online before posting about it here, but I guess a hand held video from Citi Field (that a co-worker found on Youtube) is good enough for now. I totally worked on this!

 See all the little people in the stands in the background? I made that part. :)

Best Laid Plans

Work has been insane since we got back from our honeymoon and I haven’t had a spare moment for blogging at all. I’m heading up a project at work that is supposed to continue all the way into August (and possibly September) and it’s been keeping me crazy busy.



It seems no matter how badly I want this blog to be updated regularly, life always gets in the way. Here’s what my typical work day is like right now.

7:45 am- 8:50 am	Wake up, get ready for work
9:00 am- 11:00 am	Arrive at work
	Get coffee
	Check on overnight depth map renders
	Check with production artists on shot statuses
	Check with paint lead on shot statuses
11:00 am- 11:15am	Break time/walk about on the lawn behind the building
11:15 am- 1:00 pm	QC shots from artists
	Request revisions on shots
	Submit shots for screening
	Assist compositors with depth map compositing
1:00 pm- 2:00 pm	Lunch
2:00 pm- 4:00 pm	Check in with paint lead on shot statuses again
	Request new elements from paint department
	Submit depth maps for rendering
	Attempt to submit as many shots as possible for screening before 4 pm
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm	Screening with stereographer
5:00 pm- 8:00 pm	Address stereographer revisions with artists
	Talk with compositors about effects revisions
	QC revised shots
	Submit new depth maps for rendering
8:00 pm- 11:30pm	Go home, eat dinner
	Clean the kitchen
	Spend some time with my family
	Read
	Go to sleep