Featured Student: Vincent Florio
AnimationMentor.com
What inspired you to learn animation?
Vincent:
Realizing it wasn't magic. There was a point around five years old when I learned that there was a process behind it all blending science and creativity.
Something both sides of my brain could chew on was refreshing given the fact that at its core I was an artist and it was an art. I love security, though, and need to always see that next step in front of me at all times; every few years I'd sit down and check with myself that it was still what I wanted to do with my life, and could hardly get the words out of my head before a resounding "YEAH!?" would echo through my sinuses.
AnimationMentor.com
What would be your ultimate dream job?
Vincent:
It's changed, actually. Initially film was all I knew - I grew up on a strict Looney Tunes diet and as far as I'd been told they were films. A few years back I thought, "Hey, you're an intelligent chap, and you like answering questions, why not create a show, be a consultant? I'm sure they'll let you get some animation work in, and if not you'll always have the pilot." I'd be fortunate to land a job in TV, but right now I think "Past Me" was a little misguided. As it stands I want to direct animation for features.
It's lofty but for me it means I'd be starting to master things a little more while also presenting me with opportunities to lead and to organize. That or kissing-scene trainer for Marisa Tomei.
AnimationMentor.com
How has your experience at AnimationMentor.com been so far?
Vincent:
Beyond what I expected. I'm the sort of person who makes expectations and rationalizes how reasonable they are.
Other plans hadn't worked out, and here was this promising open door. Common sense gives a place like this appeal. Every individual, from the students to the founders themselves, make themselves directly available. I arrived full of animation knowledge but my work didn't show it, and I wondered given what was on deck for the first class, "Is there really any new information? What could be so different that no one else knows?" I figured I must be missing something, because I had all the pieces, so it must be my ignorance holding me back. Nope. Even in covering basics, it turns out AM has information not available anywhere else, but really, the change was that previously what I knew was broken and scattered, and now under their virtual roof it's come together for me. The workload forces you to manage your time so it's actually made me a more well-managed student overall.
AnimationMentor.com
What's one of the most important and/or interesting lessons you've learned while at AnimationMentor.com?
Vincent:
I try to be civil, and through other education you get prone to defending your critiques. Not that the other person is wrong in voicing their opinions, I mean in the sense of explaining your decision-making.
One of my lessons has been "cut it out." For one, if your work isn't successful, it can't be useful to provide details on how you've managed to create junk.
Spend time listening to improve it! If a comment is way off-base, remember it but unless it continues to be a problem, you don't have to address everyone's concerns because then you'll wonder whose got the right idea and muddle your work in trying to please everyone.
AnimationMentor.com
Who is your favorite animator?
Vincent:
If I am exposed to it I can find something to appreciate even if I don't catch the name. Anyone legendary like Chuck Jones has to compete, but on the flipside I respect those working their way up making their own names and am also infatuated with independent animation because we share a spirit. So I'm picking a group. I'm picking the mentees. Right now they're my favorite animators because they're putting their whole lives on hold to crack down and do what they love. They're of strong integrity and work ethic, and many of them are generous and classy. Add to that consistent inventiveness, pushing work in a way that honors the tradition of passing down knowledge and wisdom and essentially keeping apprenticeship alive in the industry. When does that ever happen? With them, idealism is as successful as the effort you put behind it. I've taken classes where the teachers and students were strangers to the principles and the thrown-together course was simply a requirement of a stranger major. Now my fellow students are working professionals, or people who just recently found this as their bliss and pump out material week after week that leaves my head shaking in disbelief and admiration. It defies the odds that such a great many are this good.
AnimationMentor.com
What is your favorite animated/CG scene of all time?
Vincent:
I'll let you know after I've handed it off to the director. Kidding, kidding. Aha! One I haven't seen in a long while, but really left a mark on me career-wise, is "One Froggy Evening." Disney deservedly got its fair share of credit on emoting characters, but from a person infamous for so-called whacked-out crazy slapstick hijinks comes this compelling, complete story that has a character with a dynamic emotion, a character that steals the show with a lack of emotion, a twist that has you yourself feeling emotion -- and no dialogue. A masterpiece for stories well-told.
AnimationMentor.com
Anything else you want to say to your fellow and prospective students of AnimationMentor.com?
Vincent:
If you're a prospective student, there's a 90% chance you'll be coming here eventually anyhow, so cut out the middle man. To my fellow students, as great as AM is there is zero likelihood I'd be developing at this pace without you. Just the other night a student contacted me alerting me that an idea I tried implementing was completely backwards. I flipped things around and all of the sudden a shockwave goes through me -- I was so excited to get something looking reasonable I stayed up the entire night purging this stream of drawing and animation.
Also, an interesting thing happened to me a week or so ago. Concentrating on one of my other lessons - "It could be better so even if you're exhausted from pushing it, every extra second you spend will give it more polish" - I realized a transition had been made. I found myself truly excited about the learning -- just the learning. I've had a passion for animation since youth but digging so deep and seeing the noticeable effects is its own kind of thrill. I can make connections here but AM's job is simply to educate me. And, when a great many people are doing projects of their own design that they weren't even assigned, simply because they want that badly to understand concepts and practice to better themselves, AM is obviously doing something very right.
What inspired you to learn animation?
Vincent:
Realizing it wasn't magic. There was a point around five years old when I learned that there was a process behind it all blending science and creativity.
Something both sides of my brain could chew on was refreshing given the fact that at its core I was an artist and it was an art. I love security, though, and need to always see that next step in front of me at all times; every few years I'd sit down and check with myself that it was still what I wanted to do with my life, and could hardly get the words out of my head before a resounding "YEAH!?" would echo through my sinuses.
AnimationMentor.com
What would be your ultimate dream job?
Vincent:
It's changed, actually. Initially film was all I knew - I grew up on a strict Looney Tunes diet and as far as I'd been told they were films. A few years back I thought, "Hey, you're an intelligent chap, and you like answering questions, why not create a show, be a consultant? I'm sure they'll let you get some animation work in, and if not you'll always have the pilot." I'd be fortunate to land a job in TV, but right now I think "Past Me" was a little misguided. As it stands I want to direct animation for features.
It's lofty but for me it means I'd be starting to master things a little more while also presenting me with opportunities to lead and to organize. That or kissing-scene trainer for Marisa Tomei.
AnimationMentor.com
How has your experience at AnimationMentor.com been so far?
Vincent:
Beyond what I expected. I'm the sort of person who makes expectations and rationalizes how reasonable they are.
Other plans hadn't worked out, and here was this promising open door. Common sense gives a place like this appeal. Every individual, from the students to the founders themselves, make themselves directly available. I arrived full of animation knowledge but my work didn't show it, and I wondered given what was on deck for the first class, "Is there really any new information? What could be so different that no one else knows?" I figured I must be missing something, because I had all the pieces, so it must be my ignorance holding me back. Nope. Even in covering basics, it turns out AM has information not available anywhere else, but really, the change was that previously what I knew was broken and scattered, and now under their virtual roof it's come together for me. The workload forces you to manage your time so it's actually made me a more well-managed student overall.
AnimationMentor.com
What's one of the most important and/or interesting lessons you've learned while at AnimationMentor.com?
Vincent:
I try to be civil, and through other education you get prone to defending your critiques. Not that the other person is wrong in voicing their opinions, I mean in the sense of explaining your decision-making.
One of my lessons has been "cut it out." For one, if your work isn't successful, it can't be useful to provide details on how you've managed to create junk.
Spend time listening to improve it! If a comment is way off-base, remember it but unless it continues to be a problem, you don't have to address everyone's concerns because then you'll wonder whose got the right idea and muddle your work in trying to please everyone.
AnimationMentor.com
Who is your favorite animator?
Vincent:
If I am exposed to it I can find something to appreciate even if I don't catch the name. Anyone legendary like Chuck Jones has to compete, but on the flipside I respect those working their way up making their own names and am also infatuated with independent animation because we share a spirit. So I'm picking a group. I'm picking the mentees. Right now they're my favorite animators because they're putting their whole lives on hold to crack down and do what they love. They're of strong integrity and work ethic, and many of them are generous and classy. Add to that consistent inventiveness, pushing work in a way that honors the tradition of passing down knowledge and wisdom and essentially keeping apprenticeship alive in the industry. When does that ever happen? With them, idealism is as successful as the effort you put behind it. I've taken classes where the teachers and students were strangers to the principles and the thrown-together course was simply a requirement of a stranger major. Now my fellow students are working professionals, or people who just recently found this as their bliss and pump out material week after week that leaves my head shaking in disbelief and admiration. It defies the odds that such a great many are this good.
AnimationMentor.com
What is your favorite animated/CG scene of all time?
Vincent:
I'll let you know after I've handed it off to the director. Kidding, kidding. Aha! One I haven't seen in a long while, but really left a mark on me career-wise, is "One Froggy Evening." Disney deservedly got its fair share of credit on emoting characters, but from a person infamous for so-called whacked-out crazy slapstick hijinks comes this compelling, complete story that has a character with a dynamic emotion, a character that steals the show with a lack of emotion, a twist that has you yourself feeling emotion -- and no dialogue. A masterpiece for stories well-told.
AnimationMentor.com
Anything else you want to say to your fellow and prospective students of AnimationMentor.com?
Vincent:
If you're a prospective student, there's a 90% chance you'll be coming here eventually anyhow, so cut out the middle man. To my fellow students, as great as AM is there is zero likelihood I'd be developing at this pace without you. Just the other night a student contacted me alerting me that an idea I tried implementing was completely backwards. I flipped things around and all of the sudden a shockwave goes through me -- I was so excited to get something looking reasonable I stayed up the entire night purging this stream of drawing and animation.
Also, an interesting thing happened to me a week or so ago. Concentrating on one of my other lessons - "It could be better so even if you're exhausted from pushing it, every extra second you spend will give it more polish" - I realized a transition had been made. I found myself truly excited about the learning -- just the learning. I've had a passion for animation since youth but digging so deep and seeing the noticeable effects is its own kind of thrill. I can make connections here but AM's job is simply to educate me. And, when a great many people are doing projects of their own design that they weren't even assigned, simply because they want that badly to understand concepts and practice to better themselves, AM is obviously doing something very right.