Hello! I guess if you are on this page you actually want to know more about me, the guy who made it all happen….who brought you a little smile during your day….does that sound about right?
(I’m the one that looks out of place)
I wish I was that important! I’m one of those guys who dreamed of being an animator as a kid, but never took the steps to make that happen until I was in my thirties. After helping run a Kung Fu School in Houston, TX for about 3 years, I moved back to NC and opened a skateboard shop with a long time friend (Blacksheep Skateshop). During that time I was part of the first class at Animation Mentor, the year was 2005. I graduated in 2006 and in 2007 I got married and we moved to San Francisco to chase my animation dream. I couldn’t find work because my skill wasn’t up to par yet. So after 4 months we moved back to NC and luckily enough I got my first remote animation job. I thought that was it, I’m in the door…..but I’m still jamming my foot in the door trying to slide in before it closes. The problem is, even with all the stress I still love it! After moving to California again in 2012, we moved back to North Carolina from Los Angeles after 9 months. Do you see the pattern? So once back in NC I knew I needed to invest in some animation training, but I wanted to do something different. Something that would excite me, not just work on some cg animation shots to add to my demo reel. Luckily, I came across AnimationATeam and they were offering an online stop motion course. Being a huge fan of the medium and knowing the possibility of getting noticed was much higher than in cg, I signed up and have never looked back. I knew I would like it, but I fell in love with it. I owe it all to my mentor, Chuck Duke, who really pushed me to improve. I started the class in February 2013 and finished up in August that year. So here it is 1 year after diving into stop motion and I’m making a short film with actual celebrities. I have also ended up on the radar of Stoopid Buddy Soodios, which is a dream come true. Maybe I’ll be working there soon!
I hope that was interesting and not a few minutes of wasted time you can never recover. On a closing note, I would like to say….
Do what you love, it won’t always be easy, and 99% of the success stories out there didn’t happen overnight. There will be good times and bad times and times that you want to give up. Someone shared this truth with me and it stuck, “No one ever became a success by giving up”. Am I a success? Well, that is yet to be seen…BUT I sure am lucky to love what I do and to have a wife and two kids that support me!
CONTACT: kungfudorkstudios “at” gmail “dot” com