Interview with Seal!

Monkey here:

Seal recently got interviewed by Northern Forcus, a Norcal-art blog run by Shannon Dutra that also interviewed me a while back. While the interview online here is pretty great, the 6-page full interview by Seal is really, really amazing.

Granted, I live with Seal, and we create next to each other, and have long discussions about art and live and tons of stuff, so I might be biased, but damn, that was a good interview. You have to download the full version (since it's so long), but really, if you're interested in who Eve is, both as a person and an artist, you can get a pretty large glimpse into why she creates, the incredible hurdles she has overcome, and her wide breadth of inspiration.

So enough reading here, go go go over to Northern Focus now!

Rejection = Not so bad = Try again next time

Like most of us, there have been times Monkey + Seal have been rejected. Many of these times, it's not the end of the world. Even if you have been rejected, there's nothing wrong with rejection as long as you are using these setbacks as learning experiences to better your chances next time.

Monkey really wanted some Academy of Art University recognition, and the annual Spring Show is the best of the best of all student work. It is a juried show, with a jury that consists of both Academy faculty as well as outside professionals. Monkey, when he first started at Academy, decided he wanted to win Best of Show at one of the Spring Shows. He would have three chances to make it.

The first year, he submitted a portrait of Seal rendered in charcoal. Looking back, there were a lot of small technical mistakes, and those slight mistakes are the difference between Spring Show material and good student work.

The second year, he submitted a bunch of illustrations, paintings, and a screenprinted multimedia sculptural work to the Fine Art and Illustration departments. Out of a total of 10 pieces submitted, he again didn't make it.

The third and final chance, he submitted seven illustrations, a screenprinted book, and three paintings. One illustration made it, and his screenprinted book made it as well.

Monkey considers himself to be fortunate that he got anything in such a highly competitive show, but at the same time, he failed at winning the highly coveted and prestigious Best of Show Award. And this was it. After graduating, there would be no more chances of making it into the show, as only students are allowed to compete.

Monkey could have gotten depressed about the fact the failure, but instead he realized that his style of painting would never win any awards in a school that promotes classical realism. After some retrospection, Monkey really wanted recognition from an authority figure - and AAU happened to be the most authoritative figure at the time. So, Monkey has revised his goal - he'd now much rather focus on being featured in Juxtapoz, which is much more of his style, rather than trying to get a school that promotes a non-Monkey style to fall in with him.

Seal was recently reading a blog entry about Aaron Hartline, Woody and Buzz (Toy Story) animator for Pixar.

"The day I saw Toy Story was the day I knew I wanted to work for Pixar. Well, it ended up taking me 14 years to get my dream job. For a long time, I had a board so full of rejection letters next to my desk that they were literally falling on the ground because the pins couldn't hold that many papers layered over each other. But after a mile long of rejection letters, many demo reels, interviews that didn't pan out, and countless hours in front of a computer working on the next thing that might get me into Pixar, I'm actually animating a Buzz and Woody." - Aaron Hartline, Animation Tips & Tricks.

Keep in mind that no matter how bad you think it is, there's always a second chance, and many more after that, whether you can see it or not. As an artist, you have to constantly try and try again - rejection and failure are unfortunately a part of the livelihood of an visual artist. The thing is, you can't take it personally and you can use these as learning experiences as ways to step up your game.

Portfolio, Industry Recruiters, Life as an Artist

Last week, Seal attended her art school's senior industry portfolio day, where big-name industry recruiters such as Laika, Pixar, Dreamworks, Illumination, Lucas Arts, and Blizzard were conducting one-on-one interviews on the spot. There were many recent grad students like myself who were vying to break into the animation/film industry. The students were filed into a small room and waited to be sent to the various industry representatives for their respective interviews. As soon as an industry stated what they were looking for ("we're looking for 1-2 concept artists"), all students with the "right" portfolio were called in. Sometimes the line to see a certain company snaked around the corner and your peers could hear your every exchange with the rep during your interview.

Although Seal is very grateful and she personally had a lot of fun, she also noticed a downside for her fellow artists. Unfortunately, these kinds of situations breed what Monkey and Seal calls a "mentality of lack." What I noticed was that many of the students around me were thinking in terms of limitation. Many felt that this "one day" is the only one shot to their dreams, the "be all, end all" moment. Rumors started spreading around, "they are looking for only one artist, etc." Although it may be true for a company to state such a thing, it does not mean that perhaps they will not be looking next semester or even a month from now. I can see negativity in the students' demeanor. One guy in the elevator (whom I did not even know) randomly asked me, "so, . . . how many interviews did you get?" I (don't like thinking in terms of numbers) replied, "I don't know, I wasn't really counting" and he scoffed at me, "I was called into six of them." It saddened me to think that this "artist" defined his craft and himself by how many interviews he had.

It shocked me to see that so many of my talented peers, whom I aspire to, and consider my friendly rivals, were downgrading themselves. They defined themselves by how well their portfolio was received, or how many interviews they had, not by how far they have come, where they want to go, and what they need to do in order to get there.

Although it was intense, I had a lot of fun. I heard a lot of good feedback regarding my work and also how to improve it. I now have a direction to evolve my art. I was so happy to be able to speak with creative directors/ and artists from the all the different companies and had the opportunity to pick their brain and experience. Their knowledge, time, and feedback is invaluable. After all, some of these folks have worked in the field 5-20 years. Although I understand that everyone is looking for a job, would like a job, and would like to be recognized for their artwork, the one-on-one feedback from these creatives for even just one minute - was the most rewarding and important piece of the entire experience.

With all due respect and perspective, when these experienced artists of 5-20 years, see a "recent grad student's" portfolio, they probably come to similar conclusions: "I see potential, but needs polishing."

In these kinds of situations, an artist must have pride in their work for what it is, but also see into the future of their growth. One day, I will throw away everything that is in my current portfolio because I will have grown, my work may change, and I need to move forward and constantly experiment in new ways to best express the images in my head.

There were plenty of people who had talent and a kick-ass portfolio, but the people who really did well that day, who seemed as if they shone above the crowd, were people who believed in their own potential, accepted the situation as it were, and at the same time, had the generous heart to root for their comrades during such an intense situation. A couple of people came to mind, but I was thinking specifically of my friend, Nathan. He was giving everyone the thumbs up, reassuring his colleagues, really, genuinely, was wishing well to all of his "friends and simultaneous competitors." His personally was gold. And the industry recruiters could see that. I'm happy to congratulate him on his new work in the animation industry.

The way I like to look at it is this: There are jobs for each and every artist, it's just about finding the right fit.

Your portfolio, your current skills, who you are as a person right now . . . it is what it is, but ultimately, it can be molded into anything. In the end, you are not defined by your art portfolio, but your character as a person and an artist.

Congrats to Seal and a Question for You

Today we got some good news - The visual development project she worked on all last semester has been accepted to the Academy of Art's Spring Show! Yay for Seal! The best that can come of this is that Seal gets a job offer from an animation studio, the worst is that she now has another award to put on her resume!

In other news, for all you readers out there, Monkey wants to know what your dream guide would be. Would is be about how to make a living as an artist? Would it be how to do prepress for commercial printing? Would it have something to do with the wedding industry? A design for dummies? A guide to essential tools for self-promotion? A beginner's guide to painting?

We want to hear about what YOU want. Ideally. Even if we've never talked about it before, what would your ideal guide consist of?

AOD Live Blogging: Day 2

5:26pm - Aaaand, we're done! Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by, bought some stuff, or offered moral support (or let us borrow your car). Thanks and we hope you had a great time!

5:12pm - We just had one last sale! We're waiting three more minutes to start taking down, so you have 3 minutes to get over here and buy our stuff!

4:59pm - Cosplayers are starting to put their jeans and such back on. Tables are taking down, and it seems the festival is wrapping up. We will probably start taking down soon, but we'll do it veeery sloooooowly to hopefully catch those last few sales.

4:49pm - Monkey's exhaustion/ end-of-the-festival madness is starting to come out. He's starting to sing incoherent made-up songs.

4:29pm - The con is winding down and save for a few friends stopping by, the alley has been pretty empty. We're hoping that when the Dealer's Hall closes at 5pm, we'll get a flood of people coming down, so we're planning on closing up at 5:30pm.

1:44pm - Some of the more elaborate costumes we've seen:




1:23pm - Saw Mugen from Samurai Champloo and Max from Where the Wild Things Are.

12:59pm - photos of some of the other artists' alley booths:

Monkey nerding out.

12:49pm - Seal just got caught up in a conversation where someone felt like $35 for a day-long sculpture class from the concept artist/sculptor for the STAR WARS films was too expensive. Seal and Monkey both come from very humble beginnings, so we understand what it's like to not have a lot of money, but seriously? $35 is dirt cheap for a class of that caliber. Le sigh.

12:00pm - After eating brunch, we've settled into our chairs--maybe for another 5 hours or so. We finally got a picture of the elusive Totoro. After checking out all the other artists, Seal and I (Monkey) have decided that there are some amazing artists here, and its a bit ridiculous that they are selling their prints for so little. Although our price point is probably too high for most kids, I figure that we shouldn't be lowering our prices, but that other people need to raise theirs. Artists deserve to be paid for their work, talent, and time.



10:52am - So we arrived a bit late, and after driving around parking the car, Monkey returned to see Seal selling a tie! Hopefully all the younger attendees eyeing our merch will return with parental monetary units in tow. The expo is still pretty empty, but some of the returnees have changed their costumes. Surprisingly, we saw our first Battle Royale student just a second ago.

9:13am - It was rough waking up as we were both so exhausted from yesterday (when do you ever hear us going to bed before 11pm???), but we're both up and getting ready to head back over to the Kabuki Hotel. In the spirit of Cosplay, Monkey will be wearing Seal's non-prescription glasses to nerdify a bit.

Animation on Display Live Blog - Saturday

8:41pm- Finally home and cooking dinner. Thanks for following us on the live blog and for your continual support.

8:36pm - The last hour right before take down was fairly busy. Monkey was retrieving the car. The industry dealers showroom just closed down, so they all made their way to the Artist's Alley. It was a different reception from the crowd that we had been exposed to throughout the day. In short, it was a successful and a high learning curve for the first day. Tomorrow will be round two.

7:09pm - Seal had to put up with a disgruntled customer who said her stuff "is the only booth that doesn't look like anime" I explained to him that this festival is "Animation on Display," and animation is not exclusive to anime.

6:22pm - It's official. The first artist's alley booth has begun take-down. We shall soon follow as after ~1.5 hours of sleep last night, we are exhausted.

6:13pm - Not much traffic now, as the Masquerade has just begun. So, borrowing a friend's car, we'll probably pack up soon.

5:10pm - Blood sugar levels plummeting. Fortunately, Seal goes on a quest to find a soy milk chai tea and instead finds an ice cream/mochi/green tea float at Cafe Hana and brings it back to Monkey to share. Both wake up slightly. Traffic has slowed down, and the question of when exactly are we breaking down the table for the night comes into question. Potentially we could break down at 6pm, or midnight (we think?)

3:15pm - We've been thinking for awhile, that most of the "commission" work of characters from anime/manga series like Naruto, Bleach, Pokemon, and One Piece are probably considered as derivative works and are thus violations of copyright laws. Granted, most of these artists are students and hobbyists, but if they're actually selling their work, then doesn't that make them professionals and fair game for copyright lawsuits?

3:00pm - An entire costume made out of duct tape! It was an "interesting" guy in a maid dress (made out of duct tape) and he bent over (on purpose) to pick something up and Monkey + Seal momentarily went blind. It was one of those sights that cannot be unseen once it's been seen. Let's hope better things are to come.

1:45pm - Sweet! A really awesome Link from Legend of Zelda just popped by!

1:41pm - Two more ties and a few of Seal's prints have sold! Yay! Monkey took a look around at the Dealer's Room, which is a lot more stuff that you would find in a comic/specialty store, as opposed to original art. There haven't been any programming that we've been super into (the one's we are interested in are on Sunday), but Monkey is definitely interested in checking out Neko Punch who is apparently playing at 9pm. We'll see if the sleep deprived artistic duo can last that long.

12:10pm - Sold "red blood drip on black" tie to L from Death Note. Sold 2 buttons "rock" from Janken Po and "Your apathy pisses me off." Got a lot of great feedback for Rick's ties, paintings, and screen prints. Especially the "Sprinkles are to good-for you-you dirty bastard" and "Pandamonium." Got a lot of feedback for Eve's prints, but probably the price points are too high for most of our guests. Saw a lot of good and bad cosplay costumes. Lots of furry-cat eared ladies in school girl uniforms.

11:04am - Our table setup. It was a challenge finding a home for the animation puppet. Ideally we would have a acrylic glass case and place it at the front of our table. Many people are stopping by and many are commenting on the awesome silkscreened ties and prints, unfortunately, people seem to run away as soon as we open our mouths to say hello.


9:46am - The M+S team woke up at 6:30 to walk over to the Zipcar station to pick up our rental car and we packed up and headed over to Hotel Kabuki. We were the first of the artists to arrive at 8am, and after an hour and 45 minutes, our table is set up. The opening ceremony is supposed to start at 10, and the artist's alley is still pretty sparse. The biggest thing to note is that everyone else thus far are definitely anime-styled artists, while we, as you probably know, are most definitely not. We'll see if this works to our advantage or disadvantage. All I know is that the hordes of otaku are here, and there's no turning back!

4:14am - Yes, Monkey + Seal are still up. For the last four hours we have been printing, matting, and packaging our prints for sale. Seal is currently finishing up packing up the prints in plastic (which is definitely a plus since its been raining on and off this past week) and Monkey (besides writing this) has been packing up all the fixtures, comics, and all the other necessities for exhibiting at a table. Hopefully we'll finish up soon as we have to be up early to pick up our Zipcar to lug all of our stuff over to the expo. Goodnight everyone!

Ridiculously amazing mashup:Book arts and animation

In the spirit of us vending at the San Francisco Center for the Book's Holiday Fair (this Friday from 5:30-8:30pm), here is a pretty awesome book arts video. Check out this amazing mix of paper crafting, book arts, and animation. It's completely amazing (it is amazing whether or not you have the sound turned on, but we recommend the sound on).

Blu's Muto

So if you've never seen the video Muto by artist Blu, you need to take a few minutes out of your day and see this now.

Blu inspires Monkey + Seal on so many levels. A combination of illustration, painting, street art, and stop motion animation, Blu's work is seriously an amazing injection of inspiration directly to the heart.

There isn't much to say about Blu's work besides this: it is simply amazing.

Additionally, this video of the world's 2nd largest aquarium is pretty amazingly beautiful, serene, and breathtaking all at once. Thanks to Di at What I Learned Today for the OP of this video!

Kuroshio Sea - 2nd largest aquarium tank in the world - (song is Please don't go by Barcelona) from Jon Rawlinson on Vimeo.