My Career in Animation: Catching up on Christmas part 2

Even though I worked all the way through the holiday I was blessed to get Christmas Eve off work. I sent that time with my mentor Dan Haskett and his wonderful wife Karen Haskett. LOL I got a carrot for Christmas! It was nice to be welcomed in someones home for the holiday while missing my family back in KC. At least I didnt have to spend Christmas Eve alone or at work.

I never really had any strong male figures in my life so I would say he is the closest to a father I ever experienced. Plus he is a pretty amazing artist and animator. Little fact no body knows, Dan Haskett is the original designer of Ariel from the Little Mermaid and Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

If you dont believe me look it up your self. *wink*

The other awesome person that joined us that evening is my roommate Tiana. She is a very driven and amazing artist, as well. She has done a lot of pro work herself having worked at a animation studio in NYC. She has a great demo reel you should check it out:

Out and about in LA: Trying to do this thing

Ok so its the new year I want to start blogging again but just been slow to start. So I think if I just do a little everyday. Take some pics and put them up that will get the ball rolling.

Been doing many things at universal. Check it ou,. drew this caricature of a co-worker. I think he hated, LOL! I been working on getting better at airbrush, but I am still in the early stages.

Universal Stories: Catching up on christmas

The holiday season has been crazy. Its busy out at universal. I literally was going into work and drawing for like 8 hours straight one person after the other. it was pretty artistically exhausting.  I tried to get some picks out at the park inbetween drawings. Here are some happy customers. They tipped well, as well.

On The Desk: This Week

 So I want to start doing an hour a day on my own personal work.

I almost never do personal stuff cause I spend so much time focusing on other people that my own work gets pushed to the side.

The drawing of Amber is what I am starting out with.

At the bottom are some character designs for the little heart and the motley crew protest project. Redesigning the character.

Out and about in LA: Lot of changes taking place

So this is my official announcement.

As many people that follow my Blog and my Deviantart know, I have not posted in a very long time. Much of the reasoning behind that has to do with some serious frustration with depression and dealing with family issues and unemployment issues and so many other issues i just wont get into.

Lets just face it. Life has been sticking its foot up my ass over and over for a while now and it basically put me down for the count on an emotional, physical, and even a artistic level. I felt like I was watching the quality of my work drop out the bottom of the floor for a while now. Not to mention the pace at which i work slowing down to the equivalent of a snails crawl.

Outside doing sketch cards i just had not had the ability to be consistent on anything for a while now.

Well the official announcement is that a great deal of things have started to turn around for me finally!!

I am so freaking happy about this. A lot of things have a long way to go to be fixed but I honestly am starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel and feel a new level of creative energy growing.One of the things that helped spawn this is my recent move to LA.

I started working at Universal Studios Hollywood as a caricature artist! I am having way to much fun! This is probably the best thing to happen to me in like 5 years. I am sad to be away from the family but it was a necessary move if I were to ever start picking myself up off the ground.

I had been freelancing and looking for work for a long while in MO and just was not having any luck. I was at the point of wanting to just settle on working fast food and being a part time substitute teacher. Not to mention, dare I say it, I was very close to letting go of my art career and never drawing again.

I had reached a point of depression and frustration that I no longer wanted to be an animator or a comic artist or a artist of any sort at all. I simply was done drawing. The idea made me sad, but the idea also gave me some relief. Stop being an artist and just do anything to get by seemed way more logical than the constant struggle of trying to sell a couple of drawings for $50 every once in a while.  Art just stopped making since as a career choice and I honestly felt like my abilities were no longer desirable enough to get me anywhere.

My last effort to turn this around was a complete overhaul of my living situation.  I closed my studio in downtown KC and applied for a caricature job and got it. So here I am starting over. I have an awesome roommate and I am actually feeling pretty damn happy. Plus I get to see some cool ass shit out at Universal on a regular basis.

So check out some of the pics. They are too cool!  Thanks to all those that have been sticking by my blog over the years and following me even when I had not updated for a very long time.

Gods blessings are real and abundant!

~Arie