Another change of pace

A friend of mine sent me a video a few weeks ago, and as usual I'm only now getting to it. It seems I'm always about 2 weeks behind when communicating with people online as my friends can probably all attest to the Tyrone time delay. Unfortunately I might have the same problem in the real world, just ask my mother.

There are a lot of great principles in this lecture, but what struck me most were Randy's comments on breadth versus mastery. This concept isn't necessarily new to me, but being reminded of it tonight is a game changer. The most instantly visible change for you, the reader, will be my blog. Originally I wanted this blog to be my professional portfolio, an online extension of my elementary school "show and tell" days, a sterile environment in which I can show you, my captive audience, my latest creations. Perhaps elementary school isn't the best analogy when sterility is a consideration.

I think I see why my friend sent me this video. I need to play to my strengths. In the past I would only post when I had something worthwhile to show in relation to the pursuit of my animation career. I don't have the mastery I would like to feel confident in applying for an animator position. The downside to this world-view is that there is always something else to learn to feel like you've mastered the art. Even the nine old men would say they have yet to master animation.

While I have a lot to learn in the world of animation my value isn't measured in number of successful films completed. Although I'm excited to increase that number, my value as an animator might be better assessed by my value as a person. When I think of it that way I do feel more confident in my abilities. Though I'm still striving for mastery I am confident in my breadth. I want my blog to reflect that.

From now on I'm going to post anything worthwhile, whether it's a new song I've learned on the piano, a new eye opening revelation from an audiobook or a new jQuery plugin I wrote at work. Things will be a bit less sterile and more like elementary school around here. Maybe that's the way it's supposed to be.

I enjoy paradigm changes. Thanks Dave.

Let me explain

Save the girl storytelling has been around for ages. There's something about chivalry that connects with us on a base level. Do men like being heroes? Do women like being saved? I don't know, but I like it.

This blog is a portfolio. I won't be posting about my life per se, except on levels that show how personal experiences have affected my professional life. The title of this blog reflects that.

"Save the Girl" has become my personal mantra. I was once reading an interview with Mike Kunkel, an amazing animator / illustrator, and he was speaking to the topic of making time for personal projects. Adapting one of his quotes to put on my desktop for motivation, I came up with "If you wait until you have time for personal projects, they will never get done". Ambition finds us often lacking the time to satiate its greedy palette. Making time to complete personal projects is a huge part of feeding my ambition monster, but for my mantra, I needed something a bit more pithy.

Then there it was, I happened to put the quote on the background of an image that was already on my desktop. It's art from a game called Shadow of the Colossus.


I'm a big fan of Fumito Ueda and team ICO. I apologize in advance because I tend to gush over the art style, music and amazing, simple story.

The premise of Shadow of the Colossus is simple. You are Wander (yes that's his name) and you have entered a forbidden land to save a mysterious girl who seems to have passed away. You immediately feel Wander's pain and want the girl to be rescued from her cursed fate. Taking her to this land seems to be the only way to bring her back to life. The godlike voice of "Dormin" tells Wander that bringing the girl back is simple. There are sixteen colossi (giants) that roam this forbidden land. Slay them all and she can be saved.

See the dot in the bottom left in the above picture? That is a scale representation of the colossi and that dot is you. The game presents an unprecedented sense of scale. When you meet the first colossi, in the game, suddenly saving the girl doesn't seem so plausible.

When I view some of my personal projects I feel defeated at the impossibility of the task. Yet ambition must be fed, and goals must be achieved for one to feel satisfied with their life. So how do you do it? How do you topple sixteen colossi to save the girl? The answer is simple. One colossus at a time.