So right after I graduated college, and without any real prospects on what my step would be, I ended up traveling back and forth to LA and taking art classes. I had found a school called Associates In Art that was located in Sherman Oaks and it was great to basically pick and choose courses. See...up until this time, I never really had very much in the way of art education. I took mainly music and math classes in high school (took my one and only art class my senior year), and in college after jumping around in majors (Computer Science, then Liberal Arts, and finally English), basically all my art was just self taught. But I have some great parents who basically just allowed me the chance, without a job or anything else, to keep pursuing art through classes.

I stacked up on classes about 3 each day, for two days out of the week. That way I could go down to LA, go to school, spend the night in a hotel, go to classes the next day, then drive back home which ended up being around a 6 hour round trip. This went on for a year. I took a couple life drawing classes, character design, storyboarding, beginning animation, cleanup & inbetweening, and a few others. Sometimes would even take a trip to CalArts and take some life drawing classes there on Sundays. It was such a cool experience being in a place with so many professionals as well as aspiring students. You just sit there and absorb everything like a sponge and get inspired by your peers.

One artist I got to know well was Joseph Lee. We both were in an inbetweening animation class, and a few of us were picked to work after class preparing an animatic pitch. Aside from that, Joseph and I worked on our portfolios and had the chance to go over to Film Roman to tour the department and drop off our samples. I don't think either of us really felt like we were ready, but then again...who is ever really ready to submit a portfolio? As artists, we're always a "work in progress". But we still dropped it off, with the goal to actually get a test to work on from any company and then complete that and hopefully get a job.

Joseph did just that. He got picked up by Film Roman on "King Of The Hill" and worked there for a number of years before moving over to "Family Guy" where he's at currently. That fun Star Wars themed episode you enjoyed? Well, he had a hand in directing some of that.

As for me, I took all sorts of tests for companies but just never got picked. That's part of the process as anyone can attest...driving all over LA, finding as many studios as one can, dropping off portfolios, and hoping for a test. I was tested on Family Guy, Big Guy & Rusty, Starship Troopers, Batman Beyond, and even the tail end of Invader Zim before that show was cancelled. Even went in to be tested at Dreamworks for their animated horse movie "Spirit", which turned into the craziest day ever as I took the test and was abandoned in their art building with no one to deliver my test to (the lights were literally turned off and everyone left forgetting I was there)! I was worried I had even been locked in with the alarm on, but luckily I hadn't. I had to deliver my samples to the guard at the front gate and explain my situation. heh Just one of the many stories I can tell.

After the year was up, I came back home, got a normal job, and then things took off in comics. Just one separate path on the road of art. Although I sometimes wonder how things might've gone if things would've went differently.

Having friends in animation, there's always that pull to try to get you to come over and join the team. But comics just feels right. I grew up with this stuff...riding my bike to the 7-11, buying comics off the rack of magazine shops (back when there was such a thing as a magazine shop), and just lived, breathed, and slept comics ever since grade school. So as long as the industry will have me, I'll continue to keep at it. Funny books are great!

- D