Hollywood Jesus Gathering

More info...

http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/HJAG2007.html

A Hippo for Christmas

Here's a little video from Christmas morning last year, with our idea for me to give a puppet performance for Ariel's amusement. I'm not sure what she thinks though....she fell asleep shortly after we did this.

New Adventures

Well, since Jay has announced this at her blog, I figure I should break my silence here too. My next big project coming up is a new job offer I've accepted to build and teach an online stop-motion animation course for the Academy of Art CyberCampus based out of San Francisco. I was referred to them by David Nethery, who I met at the Ottawa Animation Festival last year. The idea has been in the works for a few months now, but it's finally been made more official. The process has barely started at this point; I've been assigned a team to work with me in putting the course together, and currently collecting resources and brainstorming the outline. I expect things to start rolling along within the next month or so, and will keep me pretty busy through most of the new year. The course is supposed to be launched in Sept 2008. So, I'm quite looking forward to this new challenge.

It's especially amazing to me to see how the hand of God has brought this opportunity to light. It was through more of a chance meeting with David, who had worked with Calvin, who came with me to Ottawa, and gave us a more unique chance to connect. And then nearly a year later...I had been contemplating how I really wished I could spend more time teaching, and then this option fell into my lap, much like how my book got started. So the chess pieces were very well aligned in this case!

Also coming up is the second Hollywood Jesus Gathering in Renton, WA over New Years. I'm scheduled to give a presentation on 'Animation as an Act of Worship' on the Monday Dec 31. All are welcome to attend! (I'll post more details soon)

Pixar Story Review

My new review of The Pixar Story is now posted live on Hollywood Jesus here.
Enjoy!

2D or not 2D Day 3

Saturday was the last full day for the festival. The first film scheduled to screen at 9:30am, a feature film (apparently about a farting pig?) was cancelled due to the fact that it didn't arrive in time. We were too wiped out to attend anyway, and found out when we did arrive that they replaced it with the festival winners from last year...which included A Mano. I was pleased to see at least a dozen of the full-time VanArts students (see below) make the trip down for the show today. Some of my part-timers too.



11am began the first initial program of shorts. This was probably my favorite line-up out of all of them. Included with this set was our Librarian from the Black Lagoon, which was received very well with many laughs. (Nancy Beiman was particularly taken with it, since her mother was a librarian). Other highlights from this program were A Dogs Life by Adam Comiskey (very funny 2D film about the various antics of a dog around the house while his owner is away), My Happy End by Milen Vitanov (also 2D, about a dog whose best friend is his tail), and Alien for Christmas (very well-directed Flash music video with excellent character design). There were a few repeated films as well, such as a live-action/CG animated short we ended up seeing a few times altogether, called Fish, about a fish that shares a flat with a human; starts off funny enough but ends with a stomach-churning burp & fart war. All of the films in this segment were narrative and more cartoony; no abstract stuff.


Following was lunch break with Calvin and Nancy, and then back to the theater by 2pm for the next program of shorts. This one was a mix of different styles, including both narrative and abstract. Highlights were Marcelino and Bartolomeo by my friend and fellow VanArts alumnus Mario Pochat, a CG short he completed through AnimationMentor...Everything will be OK by Don Hertzfeldt, which is still brilliant the second time around for me, and a brilliantly-executed Flash(?) sci-fi epic called Glitch with great editing, design and overall slickness. At the end of the screening, I got to see that Mario and another ol' friend from VanArts, Peter Fiala, had finally arrived, unfortunately too late to see his film play.


Next up was a presentation by Michel Gagne, who showed us his various character & effects animation from his own films like Prelude to Eden and feature projects Quest for Camelot, Osmosis Jones, Iron Giant, Ratatouille and Insanely Twisted Shadow Puppets. In addition were some top-secret projects he's currently working on, which I'm supposed to pretend I didn't see. Michel's work is breathtakingly amazing, and he is absolutely dedicated to his art & craft. I've seen very few artists as passionate and productive as this guy, and he's also slightly insane, but in a good way. Just shake your head and drool at the beauty of his work.



Next we had a brief window of time open for dinner so Cal, Nancy & I were joined this time by former Disney/Simpsons Movie animator/producer Bert Klein and Hyun-Min Lee, director of The Chestnut Tree. Hyun-Min is now in the apprenticeship program at Disney, and deservedly so! As I said yesterday, her film is wonderful. After dinner we rushed back for presentation by Tony White about his career with Richard Williams & Animus Productions, the Animaticus Foundation and DigiPen. The goals that Tony has for the future of animation are admirable and exciting, and should surely be supported by anyone who is passionate about the art form.



Next up was the keynote speaker Don Hahn, who was eloquent, humorous and incredibly enthusiastic sharing his passion for filmmaking, animation and illustration art. A literal gold mine of material was shown, including archive material by Disney artists from the early 80s and beyond. Trying to condense Don's talk into a summary would barely do it justice. A big highlight for me was the inclusion of Lorenzo, which I've been wanting to see for YEARS since reading about it. It was worth the wait...quite an amazingly surreal piece of work.


After Don's wonderful presentation was the Awards Ceremony, which went by pretty quickly since most of the filmmakers spread all over the world were not present. Librarian received a Certificate of Merit which I got to accept on Galen's behalf.


We closed the evening with a Gala Event of food and mingling. I got to chat with Don Hahn and was honored to discover that he owned a copy of my book and had made reference to it in preparation for a stop-motion panel he recently was in. He's a fan of stop-motion and is glad to see it becoming popular again. It was a great honor to meet him.



The 2D or not 2D Animation Festival is a great event that is still in the fledgling stages of gaining momentum, and I hope it continues to get bigger & better every year! I hope to make it an annual tradition, so I encourage all to check it out again in 2008!

2D or not 2D Day 2

Today was Friday, a very long day. Started with some shopping and a few random observations about local Everett. For starters, popping into Borders Books so Calvin could inquire if they possibly had the new Pixar Story BOOK in stock. It took the girls working there about 10 minutes to figure out how to use their computer, in order to tell us that NO, they didn't have it yet. Which brings me to the 'random observance.' Every girl working there (I believe we counted three different ones) had the exact same appearance: long dark-blonde straight hair tied in a ponytail, slender, about 5'7" with horn-rimmed glasses. (Think of the brainy girlin your high school yearbook who loved cats) All of them! The same! It was like the Stepford Book Store Employees! This gave way to many musings about their hiring policies.

Whereupon we shopped around for some movies, books, stocking stuffers for the family, whatever we could find for a good deal on our current US dollar. Got a few books for the VanArts library, and I also found a DVD of Walt Disney:Man Behind the Myth documentary and a small Gumby set including episodes spanning 3 decades and the original Gumbasia. This made me happy cuz all these years I always felt strange not having any Gumby clips to show in my stop-mo history lectures.

In Everett we also got to see some local statues and architecture.


Visiting with the world's largest pear.

Whoever lives on the top floor of this building got gypped on the size of their balcony, compared to everyone else.

In the afternoon we had some appointments with two prospective students, one of whom did not show, but the other girl came with her mom and had a fantastic sketchbook, so that was great to see. Then I killed some more time exploring the local comic shop and used book stores yet again with Calvin and Nancy Beiman. We also grabbed dinner together; Nancy had many amazing stories about working at Disney and various other studios, too multi-faceted to document entirely here, but they involved everything from the funny to the tragic...from studio pranks involving Saran Wrap to animators committing suicide. I found out through their conversation that Disney animator Nik Ranieri, whose work I've always liked, wrote a Christian childrens' book called The Great Elephant, so I'm gonna have to check that out.

The festival itself commenced at 7pm to a decent-sized crowd. Festival Director Ken Rowe (in picture) introduced the opening film program of shorts, which were all directed by women, including Nancy Beiman herself (with an intriguing short based on one of her nightmares!) Many of the films were student projects, and about half of them were abstract in nature, which is sometimes good and sometimes causing a bit of squirming. The highlights, I felt, were Geirald the 5-Legged Spider by Sam Rusztyn, Invaders from Inner Space by Tristyn Pease, I Am PillowCat by Elaine Lee, and Especially (the capital E is intentional) The Chestnut Tree by Hyun-Min Lee. The latter film, apparently a tender silent tribute to the filmmaker's late mother, listed the assistance of Don Hahn, Bert Klein, Eric Goldberg and other Disney people in the credits. Goldberg's influence was deeply felt...it was straight pencil on white backgrounds with the classic flowing Disney touch. Absolutely breathtaking! I hope to acquire a copy somehow.

Following was a presentation of Girls Night in Animation with three reknowned women animators. First was Nancy Beiman (in picture), who showed her character designs and animation work from Hercules (the three Fates) and Treasure Planet (Billy Bones). She had worked on these scenes also with Nik Ranieri, and Calvin whispered to me that he had done clean-up on Nancy's Treasure Planet sequence she animated. We also were lucky enough to see her amazing short film from 1983, Your Feet's Too Big. Though I've met Nancy briefly before upon her visit to VanArts in 2005, it was a treat to get a better sense today of her great artistic talent.

Next up was Kathie Flood from Microsoft, who talked about game animation vs. film animation and how the two are similar yet different. The game promo she showed, for a PC racing game, was incredibly realistic for an intro reel. Pretty interesting stuff, and many questions from the Seattle-game-happy audience.

Finally we heard from and met afterwards Kureha Yokoo, an animator from Pixar who started as a crowd animator on Bugs' Life and has been there eversince. Got to see progression reels from scenes she animated for The Incredibles and Ratatouille. Beautiful work, and a humble spirit. She was rather delightful to listen to.

Next up was the "Surprise Screening" of the evening, which turned out to be Dianne Jackson's The Snowman. I had never actually seen the entire thing on a big screen before tonight, so it was a joy to see. And finally, the late night 11pm screening of more 'adult' animated films for the midnight movie crowd. A rather eclectic mix of styles, techniques and genres, including film noir, blood, poop, zombies, an insane homeless guy, Mexican cowboys shooting robots, a young boy who leaves his clothes all over town, a messed-up My Little Pony parody complete with a burning castle, and a stop-motion vicar who wants to have a "relationship" (of a more explicit nature) with God. Yeah, I'm not kidding. One thing about some animated films that bothers me is the occasions when you have a great-looking film but questionable content. Oh well.

As you can imagine, I'm exhausted and ready to recharge for another full day of animation!

2D or not 2D, Day 1

Here's my first post from Everett, WA where Calvin Leduc and I are in town for the 2D or not 2D Animation Festival. We drove down this morning and arrived at the Everett Theatre for our presentation to a group of high school students. Afterwards we explored the town and found some used book stores. One of them had a very good copy of 'Of Muppets and Men' for $14, which I would have bought on the spot if I didn't have a copy already. Calvin bought it instead. Another store was run by an eccentric old lady who said she didn't have any books that would have been published after 1960, unless we did a Google search for a specific title to see if they had it. (I don't know what it is about Washington...sometimes it's literally like traveling through Twin Peaks. Funny people.) In yet another book store we found, literally called 'Half Price Books', all the books were...you'll never guess...half price! I got some good deals, but I can't reveal all of them here because some of them will be Christmas gifts. The only one I will mention is finding a good-condition copy for only $10 of Where the Sidewalk Ends, one of my favorite books which I plan on keeping to give Ariel in a few years when she can read. And I will also mention that if any hard-core Walt Kelly's Pogo fans out there (paging Mr. Fott? Mr. Nethery?) have an extra $350 kicking around, you can find a signed copy of one of his books inside a glass case there.

Today's other big event was making the trek to see the documentary The Pixar Story. As some others have said, most of the information about the studio itself was not new to us, as we have been following the studio in the news since its birth. The historical background of John Lasseter and his CalArts days was a bit more informative, highlighting the struggles the animators went through in those early days of computer animation. The film does a good job of tracing the roots of the medium, and really emphasizing it as a technique that was developed largely by scientists and artists working together, and that one group could not have advanced without the other. I've always felt the first Toy Story was a metaphor for this whole relationship, with Woody representing the traditional arts and Buzz representing the new technology. Overall, the whole film inspired me to re-watch all of the Pixar films again and soak them in more...and the ending notes signal a song of hope for what they will continue to do in partnership with Disney. No matter how much you already know about this amazing studio, you're bound to learn a bit more and see some amazing rare footage of the pioneering steps that brought them forward. Go see it, if it comes through your town!

Animation Shows

In the past few days I've had the chance to check out some local animation screenings hosted by the NFB for World Animation Day. Last Thursday was Ron Diamond's Animation Show of Shows, a touring program affiliated with AWN. We were asked to send Ron our thoughts on some of the films, so these are the ones I felt were the most worthy to write home about.

John and Karen - Nothing short of brilliant! Character animation at its finest. I'm glad this film was included and it was a perfect way to open the show.

Madame Tutli-Putli - Astonishing and beautiful, and definitely raises stop-motion to a new level. This one has been talked about alot, and deservedly so. It's probably the most interesting stop-motion film to come out of Canada since The Sandcastle.


I Met the Walrus - I'm not usually too impressed by films in this medium, the sort-of abstract quality that looks like it's done in Flash or AfterEffects(?), but this one was an exception. A clever idea using innovative use of computer animation. But what's up with Canada being described as "Nothing"?


Ujbaz Izbeneki Has Lost His Soul - Loved it! Great puppets & animation, brilliant sets. Had a great Twilight Zone quality to the writing.

Pearce Sisters - I saw this film for the first time at the Platform Festival. Enjoyed it even more this second time. Very innovative use of 2D/3D and finding a new way to use technology but still maintain a hand-crafted look, while at the same time, creating an atmosphere. You actually feel like you are on that rainy island! The story, although slightly macabre, is still charming in a strange way.


How to Hook Up your Home Theater - the highlight of the evening, and the main reason I made sure I attended the show. I love the classic Goofy shorts and it's great to see the studio bringing this tradition back. I only hope the film gets the wide release it deserves. Outside of being screened along with 'Enchanted' it should be made available to the public afterwards. The writing and cartoon exaggeration was superb, and perfectly captured the essence of what it's like to hook up a home theater. I kept saying to myself, 'Yes, that's exactly what it's like!' Wonderful wonderful wonderful.


Administrators - Amazing, especially for a student film. Was extremely entertaining and funny, while at the same time it had a good message.

I found something interesting and enjoyable about almost all of the other films, some more than others...there's always the strange art-speak droning abstract stuff you have to sit through at these things, and funny films with really bad drawings (And why is it that ALL French films have accordion music?) I suggest anyone who gets a chance to see this travelling show to check it out.

These days I'm fighting off my annual cold into submission by drinking lots of fluids and trying to stay happy so I'm not down for the count for trick-or-treats or the animation festival this weekend.

The Future of Animation

Gotta start 'em younger these days.

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Tonight we carved pumpkins and afterwards I watched my favorite TV special...I'd like to incorporate the two events into an annual tradition, once Ariel can sit still through both of them. She seemed a little freaked out by the actual pumpkins, and she didn't stay awake long enough for the animated ones.

Here's a visual tribute to some memorable images from this masterpiece which always takes me back to childhood and represents the season for me. The animation is great, even when it's sloppy. The dialogue is very surreal, and overall it's just really strange, but I love every frame of it. And the music is perfect too. One of my favorite things about this show is the watercolor backgrounds.











Here's the REAL Great Pumpkin!

We have a winner!

Thanks to everyone who voted for Ariel's Bon Jovi Dancing video, which won the Crave 95 radio contest! Visit Jay's blog for more details on all the loot she got.

Here's the winning video:


This still cracks me up each time I see it. She sure loves to dance! This one cracks me up too...in particular the little shuffle she does at about :11 seconds. I was showing it to my colleagues at work the other day as great animation reference.

Big Scary Pumpkins

Unfortunately I wasn't around for this, but I knew I had to document some of the activity from Jay & Ariel's day at the Pumpkin Patch. Looks like they sure had a good time! Wish I could have been there.




Is it gonna eat me, Mommy?



These things look curiously like the Greedy from the Raggedy Ann & Andy Movie.



And here is the official website for the Pumpkin Patch! If you visit the site here, Corny Corn will actually talk to you. Before I saw the site itself, it was funnier when Jay imitated it.



Corny Corn also looks curiously like...



Holy crap, I hope Ariel isn't having nightmares right now about big scary pumpkins and corn with giant eyes that turn you to stone. I know I might. The only thing worse would be if they suddenly emerged from around the corner and didn't make any sound.



Is this cute, brilliant, or simply wrong? I can't decide.

Bunnies Invade New York!

Intrigued?

Then click here and see the 'Play Doh Bunny Ad' and also watch how they did it. It has to be seen to be believed.

Animation Festival coming up...

So today I found the long-awaited program finally posted for this year's 2D or not 2D Animation Festival. It's the 2nd annual festival hosted by Tony White and the Animaticus Foundation, and I missed it last year, so after learning more about it I've been intent ever since on attending this time. I encourage anyone in the animation community reading my posts, especially if you're on the West Coast or Pacific Northwest, to skip on over and check it out!


www.2Dornot2D.org
Animation festivals, in the past few years, have become a small obsession for me and something I look forward to, especially now that some have sprung up closer to home. The big appeal for me has been the opportunity to meet many of my heroes...various animation historians and independent animators whose work I enjoy, and generally just chatting up animation & watching films with others who love it as much as I do. Even though I work everyday with lots of animators, during the daily grind there's not always much time for the same kind of animation-chat. When it comes to conversations, I'm not much of a "guy-talk" person...I don't like sports, politics, cars, gas prices, stock portfolios, construction or the other kinds of things most guys usually talk about. But when it comes to movies, music, art & faith, and especially weird animated films, I can chat up a storm and become rather animated myself. This is a big part of why I'm drawn to these events, for meeting with kindred spirits and making connections, a few of which have led to nurturing present & future projects. When Ariel is old enough, I look forward to toting her along to enjoy the kid-friendly events these festivals usually provide.

Ironically enough, today I ended up having a brief chat with Youth Pastor Dan about the idea I have for a 'festival' of my own. So more news on that as it crystallizes....

Over & out...Ariel's awake.

September Happenings

So here we are in my favorite time of year...

Starting to settle into the new VanArts building nicely. It's weird; I feel like I'm at summer camp or something. Except I'm realizing I won't be returning to the old building anymore. Oh well, I like my new office.

I was shocked last weekend to find out that one of my favorite writers, Madeline L'Engle, has passed away. I read 'Wrinkle in Time' and her other Time Trilogy books when I was a kid, and enjoyed them very much. In more recent years, I've gotten a lot of spiritual strength, reassurance and inspiration from her wonderful works 'Walking on Water' and 'The Genesis Trilogy.' I always thought it would be neat to meet her or converse with her about life. Perhaps on another plane of time & eternity.

Old School VanArts

VanArts, the school where I work, is about to enter a new era. We're down to the last few days of occupying the original building at 837 Beatty Street, and starting next week we will all be living at the new campus on Pender. A big part of me is looking forward to a change of atmosphere. The school is now offering more diverse programs and is no longer the tiny animation-only Termite Terrace it once was. I think there are many good things to happen ahead, but at the same time, it's kind of sad leaving behind such a legacy of great memories and the feeling of the 'old school' VanArts. So I thought it appropriate to dig through my photos and present here just a small slice of the history behind this place that changed my life.

I first found VanArts on the web while finishing up my BFA at UofM and working as an animator for Steve Stanchfield. I thought it would be a good way to focus my self-taught animation skills into just one year of formal training, so I could develop a demo reel and then get crackin' applying to studios. In Spring of 1998 I traveled with Steve and animator Kit Mobley to Los Angeles for the World Animation Celebration. I just had applied to VanArts, and they had a booth at the event. It was there that I first met Lee Mishkin, who was the founding director of the Classical Animation program. I saw him enter the trade show floor and recognized him from the VanArts brochure, so I rushed over to introduce myself and he responded, "Nice to meet you! Do you know where our booth is?"



Lee Mishkin, 1927-2001
At the end of that summer I drove across the country from Michigan to Vancouver with my friend Brandon Moses, who flew back home a few days later we arrived. That road trip is a whole 'nother story (documented on my old website), but the day after we landed, September 2 1998, we went over to VanArts to check it out. We were greeted by school president Alan Phillips who graciously showed us around. In those days, Alan did everything...there was no admissions department or many other managers. The school was only on the 2nd floor, with some additional 1st floor space in an adjacent building. The 2nd floor was shared by Soul 2 Soul Hair Salon, which blasted hip-hop music and emitted a 'wet dog' stench every now & then.

In a few days I started my animation classes with instructors Lee Mishkin, Charles Phillips, & Marcos Gonzalez. I made a few quick friends and got an apartment with another student from India named Rahul Dabholkar, who has since had an amazing career in animation. Most of the other students spent most of their time bragging about how drunk they got the night before and how sick they got. This disappointing turn of events I didn't try to let affect me too much...I just animated away and would then go home to watch more animation. On the weekends I would go to Stanley Park, walk along the seawall pondering my future, and take naps in the trees.


Our animation lab upstairs for the first half of the year. My roommate Rahul is in the right corner in the sweater. I sat a few seats away in the same row.
For the second half of the year, the big class was split into classical and CG, and us classical guys were moved downstairs. This space later became a plant shop, and is now a ticket place. I think the classical group (CA5 as we were called) started with 11 students. By the end of the year we were down to 4 or 5. One student ran away with some guy she met at a rock concert...several others got homesick or stayed up all night playing video games so they rarely showed up.


The new CG lab upstairs with the scary wood floor, after they built the wall dividing up the old life drawing room.


The late Lee Mishkin watches over us while Abdiel, one of our Mexican casualties, poses for the camera. I took over his desk after he dropped out.

Me at my new desk with my puppet friend Skraboonikus, who would accompany me to English Bay Beach on weekends to perplex young children.
When summer of '99 rolled around, things got really fun, because not only did we all get caught up in the Nerd Frenzy surrounding the release of The Phantom Menace, but the summer students arrived! I was asked to be a T.A. for them while finishing up my studies, and I instantly fell in love with teaching, and with many of the young students there who were so enthusiastic about the art form.


My good friends Nick D'Auria and Kate Freeman were kids when they first came, and years later they returned as college hippies, and then became animators.

Kens Unite! Our guest instructor, Disney/MGM/Hanna-Barbera veteran Ken Southworth. Ironically, I had already met Ken in L.A. previously because Steve hired him for one of the Tonka games we made together. I got to in-between his scenes!
My original plan was only to stay in Vancouver for 1 year of training, then return to Michigan and continue working for Steve until more animation jobs came along. But meanwhile, the studio back home had slowed down, so this was a big turning point when I made the difficult decision to stay. The school had offered me the chance to stick around for a 2nd year and make a film, while working part-time as a T.A. and assisting their new smiley admissions guy Chris.


My new 'desk' where I began returning to my stop-motion & puppet-building roots. Note the head of the Skeksis Chamberlain on top, which was part of a full body puppet I made for Halloween. I can't believe they let me set up shop here. I'm sure I freaked everyone out, which was OK by me, really.
I was well on my way now to becoming the Hagrid of VanArts. Lots of changes rapidly occurred thereafter, including the arrival of a new batch of animation students who came to my apartment a couple times to party.


A gaggle of animators! I'm still very good friends with many of these folks, especially the cute one on the right sitting on the floor in the red sweater.
Yep...this turn of events brought Jay into my life. Good thing I stuck around eh?


Romance blossoms at VanArts, complete with funny hand puppets.
The past few years at VanArts have become such a blur, really. I couldn't really tell you anymore what year most students started or finished, and some of their names are starting to fade from memory, but I really must emphasize it's only "some"...most of the souls I've had the pleasure to meet there are still very good friends and colleagues. And of course there were a few students who really freaked me out, not always in a good way, but you know how artistic people are. I haven't the energy or inclination to spill out every single memory I have of this place, as there are only so many hours in a day. There's mountains more where this came from, but here's just a sprinkling of images (hey, we're all visual people right?) from my archives...


Me and Jay with "Uncle Bill" Matthews, Disney Legend and dear friend.

"A Phone Call" director Chun-Sin Loh with "A Mano" directors Carlos Miranda and Jose Perez, all now making their marks in the animation industry.

Colby, Katie, Steph, Tomoko, Kristy, Carling, David & Josh pose with all the food collected for the annual Christmas Food Drive.

Allan Cortez, Clarissa Koo, Micah Baker & Nick again(see? he's a college hippie now!)...guilty, as usual. Crazy kids...

Me with Galen Fott and his family...who would have thought years later he'd hire me? (Currently animating freelance on another film he's directing!)

Christmas Party!

Mario is scary on Halloween, and Killer Bunny eats his head.

Me with the great Bob Godfrey!

Bob and Nancy Beiman at a Grad Show.

Birgitta Pollanen with one of her Layout classes.

The dark & mysterious Chris Woods ponders just how the phenomenon of animation is possible.

Several successful grads!
This barely stratches the surface and doesn't come close to doing justice to all the wacky stuff that's happened in that old building. As a job, it's had the ups and downs that any workplace would have...at times it was all-consuming. But overall, it's the dozens of talented artists, animators and co-workers I've had the privilege to know that has made everything worth it. Today was my last day entering the building to work, and then leaving it. Times of change are good and necessary, but they're sad at the same time. Leaky roofs and all, I owe a lot to this place and the opportunities it's allowed me to experience. Thanks to everyone who made VanArts what it was in the Old Beatty Place.