Do you remember when we met?

Julia Pott has a style all her own -- and knows how to market herself. Her Etsy is chock-full of goodies featuring her art; from prints to tote bags to 'zines to even tattoos! And, on top of all this, she's an accomplished freelance animator at 25 years young working for hot indie bands like Bats for Lashes and The Decemberists. Here's a 2008 music video for the delightfully lo-fi "Casiotone for the Painfully Alone":



She cites a lot of her influence from Igor Kovalyov, the Ahh!!! Real Monsters and Rugrats designer (totally can see that). In addition to all the success she's had so far...on top of all of that...she's also just finished her first year at the prestigious Royal College of Art in London! Her first year film displays, I think, on top of unique design...more importantly, a strong sense of storytelling. I can't wait to see what she does next:

Finals

Its finally happened. I'm all done with my ghost movie. To those of you keeping track, that's my first year film. I also completed a second year film, "An Inconvenient Fish", which was, let's say, a tad shorter than the 8:15 goliath that was You're My Ghoul. I literally spent the last three weeks on campus in the "mac lab" using a Cintiq and my sore hands to remove wires in After Effects. Why oh why did my characters have to fly? I certainly learned more than my share of a few things on this production. Clean plates and watching your character's shadows in regards to your wires is kinda important, unless you want to kill yourself in post later.



The production and running time of my second year film was a lot shorter -- but I had a ton of fun on it. I made the animation for each scene a different challenge, not to mention having a new set for each scene. I animated water in several different ways -- a first for me, and I even painted frame by frame, trying not to bleed into unwanted areas in fear of having to remake the figure over.

For those that are interested, my films are playing at the annual UCLA Animation Workshop Festival of Animation, or PROM to the students, this Saturday June 5th at 4PM and 7:30. Its "sold out" online, but they always have standby tickets for those interested (and its free!). Check it out.

I can't wait to see my fellow students' animations. There are actually a surprising number of stop motion films including my dear friend Debra Chow's "Til Death Do Us Part":



Her production design skills far surpass mine and its a joy to see what she cooks up. The rain in her film, in particular, is a fun analog representation that works well with her style.

I'm looking forward to cooking up some new stop motion delights over summer as well (and tackling the task of an idea for my thesis film!)