Who is that skinny fellow behind the curtain?

"No!!  Don't pull that back! I don't have my face on yet!!" 
 *puts arm over face Lugosi-style and hisses*

Greetings!  If you've found your way here you're probably either a fan of animation, a fellow animator or a friend who's feeling bad about my low traffic and decided to throw me a bone.  Regardless, welcome.

I decided to ramp up this blog to catalog my travails during the training that I'm currently going through at Animation Mentor.  I also figured it'd give me a place to evacuate my brain droppings on anything else in the creative vein I feel the urge to "wax poetic" about.   (I will try and keep it as PG-13 as possible.....but I'm not making any promises. You have been warned. :) )

A brief history of me:  I've been a 3D pro for about 8 years now, primarily for the gaming industry as a modeler and texture artist(I was a graphic designer for about 10 years prior to that).  I've done my fair share of animation as well, and some of its offshoots(rigging, etc.)   Here's a(somewhat dated) reel with some of my game stuff if you feel like perusing(or you can check out the full-sized version here):

If I'm being 100% honest though, I feel like I'm a "generalist."   That's what I was trained to be, even though my primary goal and reason for entering the industry was to become an animator.  What skills as an animator that I do posses have pretty much been self-taught or gleaned from the brainpans of  friends, supervisors, fellow employees, et al.

Which is pretty much the reason I decided to actually take the plunge back into full-time studies again.  I have not lost the focus of wanting to animate, and even though I technically wear an "animator" hat where I currently work I want to get better.  A lot better.   I feel that if I continue to try and piecemeal together my knowledge that I'm doing my career, and myself, a disservice.  I have ideas and stories in my head that I want to bring outside of it, but I'm honest enough to admit I can't do them justice quite yet.  So that's the goal:  Feature-quality animation skills so "justice can be served", so to speak.

Anyway, this has gone on long enough for Post #0001.  Thanks for shuffling past and I'll see you next time.  Mind the dip on your way out.