It seems like a lifetime ago I started a list of goals on this blog. It has been almost 3 years since making the list. That's not a lifetime, but it is a significant enough amount of time that I should have accomplished something, well, significant. It actually makes me sick to think of how quickly the time has past and how little I have managed to achieve in it.
I don't remember all of the goals I set out for myself. I could go back and look, but this time of the year is always hard for me. The push to set resolutions coupled with the short days, horrible weather and the come down from the holidays always reminds me how little I have done. Going over failed goals from yesteryear would just make me feel worse, so I avoid doing it at all costs.
But this year there is a high point. You see, even a semi-professional quitter (read failure) such as myself sometimes, just sometimes, manages to continue the pursuit of a goal just long enough to acquire sufficient proficiency to accomplish something to be proud of. The goal in question is this blog post:
http://ponytailsandcapris.blogspot.ca/2011/03/goal-2-animation.html
Animation was something I knew so very little about 3 years ago. Animator is something that I proudly call myself today. No I am not amazing. Yes I struggle with it. Point is, I've done something.
To be completely honest, 7 months ago I was pretty stagnant in my animation skills. They really had advanced very little in the two and a half years since I first wrote the post. I had taught myself a little After Effects, learned a couple of tricks, and left it there. But then I finally took a chance and joined hitRECord. This amazing community gave me a reason and a chance to try something new and now seven months later hitRECord on TV is close to airing and I can say that I am part of a global community that helped to make it happen.
With the lead up to the premier of the show, one of the short films for the first episode has been released. First Stars I See Tonight. I am proud to say I have animated a segment in it (the space scene from about 2:22 to 2.32).
I feel very blessed to be part of such a wonderful, supportive community and have the opportunity to contribute to such an amazing short film.
Most of all, right now, in the darkest time of the year for me I am greatly thankful the hitRECord exists and that it (and all of the amazing artists that are a part of it) have made it possible for a semi-professional quitter such as myself to achieve something nearly given up on.
