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Wren-Stout In reply to KaizokuShojo [2008-12-30 18:06:20 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!!

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KaizokuShojo In reply to Wren-Stout [2008-12-31 06:01:52 +0000 UTC]

You're welcome.

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Wren-Stout In reply to Nocturnal-Link [2008-12-10 05:35:07 +0000 UTC]

Haha, Really? It's not that it's hard, it's hard now that I have a tablet. But all I did was blended using a round brush with about 50% opacity and flow. And eyedrop the mixed colors, and lay more color.
I probably can't go to a mouse now, my hands are not as used to it.

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Wren-Stout In reply to Ghang-is-Gone [2008-10-28 01:13:06 +0000 UTC]

Get outta town, Trent Jones...?! How the heck are you!!
I know! It's probably because I moved I'm at Bountiful now, but honestly.. Davis is so much better. I miss everyone there... And physics was for sure the best!
Tell me what you're up to? What college do you plan on going to? I'm going to an art school in San Fransisco, I'm completely psyched.

And thanks! Hahaha, I do more portraits now. Not as epic.

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Ghang-is-Gone In reply to Wren-Stout [2008-10-29 00:39:41 +0000 UTC]

haha, I am so good. It's totally LAME that you moved though!I miss forcing you to draw pictures of me. I'm hoping to go to BYU. I think that would lots of fun. Are you seriously going to go to school in San Fran?! That's nuts. I am way jealous of your art skills. You have no idea. And i think your portraits are way awesome. I love your skittle one. Haha, too awesome. How is school for you right now? You are going to have a stellar year book with you drawing the pictures! That's for sure. Haha, good luck and make sure you post all your amazing art on here. I love to look at it.

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Wren-Stout In reply to Ghang-is-Gone [2008-10-30 21:30:36 +0000 UTC]

BYU is amaaazing. You could totally get in. That's like the best environment too. I'm not sure what San Fran will be like? Full of freakalicious artiste types.
I had no idea you were an artiste yourself! Why didn't you tell me?! I was looking through your pictures, you're like.. Amazing. And with Photoshop too! We could have had photoshop parties.
School's pretty fun. I have to say, it's a Lot different from Davis. The school is dark and old, Everyone drives crazy in the parking lot. But other than that, it's so good! It feels like it's pretty much college for me, I feel like Davis is still my Highschool, and I'm far away from home. But now that I'm getting to know everyone, it's pretty fun. I'm so sick of the highschool scene though! Bring on College!! What do you think what major you'll be going into?
I'll be looking out for your pictures too! I loooove featureless, that's completely brilliant. Keep posting stuff

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Ghang-is-Gone In reply to Wren-Stout [2008-11-01 00:07:57 +0000 UTC]

haha, I'm pretty sure a photoshop party would be the BEST party in the world! I love that program! Thanks for saying that about my featureless. That makes me feel way good.
I totally agree with you about high school getting old though. I am way ready for college. I am going to most likely major in something to do with computers cause I am kind of completely obsessed with them! But that could mean I will be doing anything from electrical engineering to graphic design and anything in between! Haha, so nothing is set in stone at this point. I am applying with the major of information systems but that will probably change. What about you? What kind of art will you go into? Tell me all about this san fran school that you're going to!

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Wren-Stout In reply to Ghang-is-Gone [2008-11-05 03:46:04 +0000 UTC]

(Lame sauce.. I thought my message sent before, but nope, I'll just write pretty much what I said)
So what I was saying was that.. going into information systems, that's soooo smart...! The flexibility to go into something you love, because you never know what that perfect niche is.. and specialized enough to get the sweet pay, and the outlook is so high. Ah, that will be amazing, Trent!! And doing that while at BYU, oh man.
I'm thinking my major will be in Animation and Visual effects and.. a minor in Illustration or liberal arts, something like that. Again, nothing for sure ! Most likely go into the entertainment side of things, with something like what Pixar and Dreamworks does, or game production. I actually got this amaaazing opportunity to interview an animator from Dreamworks for my senior project. Ah! Soooo stinking cool.... It only made me more sure of that field.
That school in San Fran, looks so great! It's supposed to be one of the biggest art schools. I was thinking of studying abroad in Italy, I might still do that later on. (how crazy fun would that be! ) I'm excited just to get in a different environment, like in a big city, and in an apartment. That's what I'm trying to think of, how living on your own will be like! Maybe with a roommate, but still. So crazy... I still feel like I'm little, and going to college is soo out of my league, but at the same time I'm hecka excited.
Only 3 more terms left!
Do you like the technical side of things or more artistic? Oh and Happy Late Halloween!

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Ghang-is-Gone In reply to Wren-Stout [2008-11-05 04:52:25 +0000 UTC]

Haha, you are making me even more excited to go to college. It sounds so awesome. And to be able to study things like computes and graphic design rather than civics and physics sounds amazing! That is probably what i am most excited for, studying what I love.
Oh my Jenny, you make me soooo jealous! You got to interview an animator?! From Dreamworks!? Ahhhh. I am like dying right now. That sounds so cool. Will you please tell me about it? That would be wonderful.
What is the name of the school exactly that you are going to in san fran? Everytime you talk about it it sounds cooler and cooler. I'm sure that will be an amazing time for you. Ever since fifth grade I have loved your art skills and now you are going to a school dedicated to art! That is perfect! And italy!! That would be amazing. You would be surrounded by all sorts of historic art. Christian mosaics and the Sistine Chapel. haha, that makes me excited. Guess what... I am in AP art history right now at davis and might be going to Europe the teacher and a tour he does. Wouldn't that be fun? That is seriously one of my favorite classes.
As far as technical vs artistic... I'm not going to lie, I absolutely love the artistic side of things but it isn't really my strong point as much as technical is. I have always been a computer geek and have always been pretty good with computers but it isn't until recently that I have started using them to aid me in the artistic side of things. Over the summer I got really into doing special effects in movies. I actually got pretty good at it, but then I fell in love with photoshop and haven't done a whole lot with special effects since unfortunately.
I am taking multi-media next semester(it is a year long class but i am just getting into it half way through) so that should be fun. I really want to get better at flash. I understand flash but I just haven't ever really gotten into it too much.

So yes... Love both artistic and technical but I am much better at technical. I thing I am improving artistically though. I have always thought it is one of those things that you can't really get better at but I am trying to prove myself wrong. What are you into? I know you are out-of-this-world-good artistically but I know you rock with the computer too because of your 3d modeling, flash animation, and photohop. What do you prefer?

Anyways, thanks for chatting with me. Hope this message wasn't too long I look forward to hearing back from you!

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Wren-Stout In reply to Ghang-is-Gone [2008-11-11 01:56:16 +0000 UTC]

Haha, No worries! I could just talk forever about this stuff, it's so fun! Like me, Yeah definitely more artistc, but I'm trying to improve my skills with a computer. Haha, We're like... not really opposites but, you're strong with the computer and getting to be with art, I'm good with artsy stuff and trying to get into computers.. We should teach each other, or something
Like with 3D, It's So crazy, like you neeeed to know the technical stuff in order to bring out the artistic element. Like you can be Michelangelo, but it won't mean anything if you don't know the program or the technical language.
And! You can definitely improve artistic skills! I don't believe it's something really you're born with because if you practice and spend time every day looking at things, then drawing them, anyone can get better. Or getting books on the theory of art. It's just like any subject, skill comes with practice and study. But you're so great already, like the Thorn picture you have. I love that one! That traditional artwork, if you do it long enough, you can do like anything.
And oh my gosh, Are you going with Mr. Orem? Ahh, I was totally going to take that class. I've heard it's incredible. You've got to take pictures, then post them! Oh gosh, Europe, I absolutely love it.............

As for the interview, here's some of it. His name is Brandon Becksted, look for him in the next Dreamworks movie....!
What do you most like about your job?
That I love it! I would do this in my spare time, but I can make a good living LOVING what I do. That means the most to me.

What do you like least about your job?
Not much. In games sometimes the schedules don’t allow you time to do your best work, that can be a bit disheartening. So, sometimes time constraints can be an issue.

How did you decide on this type of work?
I knew I wanted something creative because I loved art. I started out in architecture school and found it to not be what I expected, I wanted more creativity. I found a book on 3d animation and instantly knew that was what I wanted after losing interest in architecture.

What type of education/training does this job need?
Very specific training as an animator, more specifically 3D animation. Studying the principles of animation, studying the physics of character motion as well as human behavior and acting to create a performance.

What type of education or training have you had?
BFA in Digital Animation Production.


He seems like such a cool guy. You should just go email someone randomly or call a studio or something and just ask if you can have an interview. They are so happy to help, it's funny. Like as soon as you say you're a highschool senior doing an interview for a future career or something. They love it. You should do that, and see if what they do is something you would like to do.
Oh! And the school in San Fransisco is called AAU, or Academy of Art University. Here's the website too [link]

Oh Trent, you've got to show some of your movies where you did special effects. That sounds so cool!! Along with more art and everything, I love your stuff. I bet your movies are amazing. I think you'll like Flash too, when you take multimedia. That's kinda funny, that's what I'm doing too. It's a full year class, but I'm taking multimedia next semester only. Yeah but animation is so addictive when you get into it, with flash. It's hard to get used to at first, with the keyframes and onionskinning and such, but I think if you do it for a while, it's a piece a cake.
As for what I prefer.. That's tough. I think Photoshop and Flash are at a tie. Just becuase animation is so insanely fun, and digital painting is all I love with oils and pastels without the mess. Plus you can do soooo much with photoshop, with manips, and editing and logos and just everything.
Anyway, I think I beat you in the long message...award. It really is so fun talking to you though, drop me a line anytime, by the way!! Lately I haven't gotten on a lot on deviantart, just because of school and such. But I'm going to be drawing a lot now, getting my portfolio up! I'm going to see if getting a scholarship is possible. (cross fingers...)
Anyway, write back! ( I am really sorry it's so long)

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Ghang-is-Gone In reply to Wren-Stout [2008-11-11 04:57:52 +0000 UTC]

haha, are you crazy? I love long messages. They are so much more fun and way more worth you time when they have things of value in them

I'm really glad to hear you talk about how you can improve your art skills like that. It's so weird because I never have been into art and things like that until just recently and it has totally change the way I look at things. I always catch myself paying attention to lighting and color in everyday life. Like when I am at a rehearsal for the school musical and the stage crew is adjusting the lighting I love paying attention to the way the color of peoples skin change and the way the shadows lay on their face. Haha, it's just really strange because I never thought I would care about that stuff.

Thanks for your comments about Thorn. That was seriously like the thing that got me into drawing and stuff. I never ever drew then one day I decided to draw the cover for Eldest and it actually turned out alright. It was kinda cool for me.

I never thought about getting any books about art and theory and stuff though. Do you have any specific books that you like alot? I would love to take a look at those.

And yes, I would be going with Oram. He is seriously the best teacher in the world and that is the best class ever. I really would love to go so much and I think my parents are actually going to give in. It would be so amazing. You should totally think about going on it too if the timing and money and everything worked out. Haha, that would be so fun!

Thanks for sharing that interview. That was really interesting. That really does seem like the dream job to me. I would love to get into more 3d art and animation. I have used a little bit of 3D Max but I haven't really gotten too deep into it. I've only skimmed the surface. What program do you use for your 3D work? I saw some of your 3D models on your homepage. Those are way impressive. You mentioned that you were taking classes on 3d modeling. Is that just at your school or is it outside of school? That's really cool that you do that.

As for my videos. I have a couple of them on youtube. I'm not sure if you can use html tags in this thing but I will try to make a link. Haha, i don't even know if that worked. If not, here is the url: [link] That is probably my favorite one that I have on the internet. And then there is this one ([link] ) which I guess would be the most technically impressive even though I don't like it very much. It kinda bugs me because one of the scenes is blurry and one of the angle changes is messy but I was too lazy to refilm it I'm sure I would be loads better if i stuck with it but I kind of grew tired of it. I didn't like all the technical issues that I always had. It was just a pain having to capture film to the computer and always having to worry about preserving quality and resolution. It would also make my computer super slow when it got really technical. That is what I love about photoshop.. you spend more time creating what you like and less time worrying about the boring stuff in my opinion. I am also obsessed with resolution and generally refuse to make things smaller and resolution lower because I always seem to regret it later. haha, i'm weird like that. Anyways, I hope those links worked (my html skills may be a bit rusty, I haven't used them in some time now) and let me know what you think.

I really do need to get more into flash too. I just have too much fun with photoshop and it is way to distracting. I think i would love flash though if I got the hang of it. I loved your animation where you lost your ten page assignment. That is the saddest story I have ever heard! That would be terrible. That was way impressive though. Stuff like that would be way cool to do.

I am way excited that you are going to be doing alot with you deviant profile.. I absolutely LOVE your art. You have such a great sense of color( i think i may have told you that before). I look forward to seeing your drawings. I'm sure you will get that scholarship.

Anyways, I should be nearing the longest-message-mark so i will let you go. Thanks so much for talking with me. I love it. Write back. See ya Jenny

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Wren-Stout In reply to Ghang-is-Gone [2008-11-21 23:23:01 +0000 UTC]

Mr. Jones . . Look at your videos!!..? ... Oh man, I'm just soo impressed. That's something I've never ever gotten into but always wanted to, with film and effects. But that just completely fascinates me! I've been browsing your YouTube gallery, It's kinda crazy how many talents you have, and like the number of fields that interest you are so much. It's inspiring! Haha,. Honestly, It kinda reminds me of the guy who was the co-founder of Pixar. His name's Alvy Ray Smith. I've been looking into Pixar and what it does, like going through all the special features in all the Pixar movies we have. One of them was a history of Pixar,(Which was soo amazing, look up "The Pixar Story" by Leslie Iwerks, it was on the Wall-E dvd) and it tells of John Lasseter, who's the incredible artist/animator who started Pixar, and also Alvy Ray Smith, who loved the arts but knew he was great at computers and was an engineer, so he had so many talents and he was crucial to making Pixar into what it is now. It's people like that, that are the ones that make a difference I think. That's why I'm excited to learn like everything in college! Like an animator... Really needs to know how to be an actor, a cinematographer, a painter, a physicist, a computer wiz . . but also how to direct, to lead, and to think creatively and keep a sense of humor. I love all those quirks you see in Pixar and Dreamworks, you can tell the animators are funny and know comedic timing and everything.

Anyways, I do hope you keep that up. It really is SO cool what you do with film. Even though you say that a scene was blurry and all the issues you were having, your videos came out fantastic! I can tell you know what you're doing.
Oh and like what you said, looking at everything differently. That's so neat, I totally know what you mean...Ah, it's crazy . . You kinda learn to love that stuff, and find yourself observing the weirdest things. Like have you ever noticed skin and the way it's kinda transparent, so the edges around shadows are red and saturated . I love it when sometimes people observe that, then write about it, like the soft red edge around shadows is called sub-surface scattering, and again with the technical/artistic side . . They had to create a computer program to imitate the transparency of skin and milk and things. It's like the difference between Milk and white paint. Milk has the soft edge which is subsurface scattering.
Does that make any sense? I hope I'm not sounding like a total nerd....! I can't lie, I absolutely love this kind of stuff!

I can't think of the books, lately pretty much I've been looking at animation books because I think I should get into that more, but there's really good stuff online. Like [link] has a lot of great articles from people in the field and amazing artwork. Oh and you'll probably like this site, it's from the University of California [link] It's like just a bunch of papers and research for the computing properties in graphics.
Probably like the foundations and theory for art are better learned in books . . Go to like Mr. Aitken(?) And ask for books. Or maybe Salt Lake Library has a bunch of great art books. As for me, I should probably go and check out some computer books or... Maybe film? I'm really lacking in those areas..But I still think you should teach me your secrets, Haha, for real how do you do your videos! Blows my mind! Oh like I've always wanted to make like a cooking show with stop-motion animation with the camera. Like making french toast.. That would be so fun. But I have no idea how to do that....

As for my art, building my portfolio has been harder than I thought..Yikes. I've been rushing it, and nothing's really good I hate that. Suppose I'll try to take more time out of my day to draw. I think that's ultimately the best way to improve. You hear it all the time, Practice makes perfect... So any art books and theory are good, but the best way is to constantly draw I've found out. You can only do so much reading from books I guess.

For the 3D program, we use Cinema 4D. . I guess it's good for like learning, but I hear it's completely different than 3D Studio Max and Maya. But yeah! Check it out! 3D is so technical, to make something look right, you neeed to know values and data, you know? It's really super duper fun. It's a class at Bountiful, how crazy is that, Bountiful has so many cool classes. This semester is 3D Modeling, So next semester we're going to learn 3D animation..! Which I'm psyched for! To be honest, I don't think I could have gone into 3D without a class. There's just so much to learn, but it gets easier after you learn the fundamentals. Of like adding polygons, and Nurbs and all that.

And thank you so much for everything, and for making me feel so happy about my art..! It really means so much to me. You have no idea. I do love hearing your thoughts and ideas. You should talk more about your technical work, and film. So interesting. And also, keep me up to date with your art-ings and college and anything else!
Oh here I should wrap up. These are getting to be whole letters! Kinda reminds me of those epic notes in Jr High, but way not pointless. Haha. But I find myself thinking deep about things, before I answer. It's really so fun.
Anyway, See you later Trent!!

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Ghang-is-Gone In reply to Wren-Stout [2009-02-08 23:02:40 +0000 UTC]

Jenny! Sorry it's been forever since I've responded. How is it going? Tell me about your life! I heard that you might be graduating early, and that you got into Art school in california (I think I read that on facebook). Is that true? That would be awesome. Are you still trying to get a scholarship their? I want to see some of your more recent work. Anyways, just thought i'd say hi. Hope life is good. Talk to ya later!

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Wren-Stout In reply to JENOVAS-PUPPET [2008-08-19 22:42:08 +0000 UTC]

XD Oh mah gosh..! Thank you!!
Hehehe, no, you're awesome! 8D

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