We can Rebuild Him...

We have the
technology

It's been a while. Too long.

 

As it turned out, I did indeed need surgery for my back. It had gotten to the point where I could barely move due to the pain. I went under the knife at the end of July, and I'm glad to say everything went well, though it did take another two months to recover.

 

Of course, right after that, I had some issues with my drawing hand, which apparently also needed surgery for just last month. Thankfully, it's also recovering.

 

Needless to say, not much real drawing or animating from me over the last year.

 

So, aside from work, I've also been spending some time playing lots of board games, getting re-acquainted with programing for video games, and of course keeping up with advances in animation software.

 

 

I'm looking forward to starting the new year, fully functional and ready to draw again!

 

In the meantime, here's my very first attempt at stop-motion.
Even added some drawn animated effects as well, just for kicks.

 

 

2012 - A Retrospective

2012 was a wild year for me. I guess I wasn't kidding when I said it was a roller coaster!!

For the first few months, I was working on a production for my own animated web series: the content of which I still can't disclose. By April, I was already dealing with some big names in the industry, including Disney! Unfortunately, if you've been following this blog, you already know, things didn't pan out, and I was forced to shut the whole thing down.

Not to let that deter me, just a couple weeks later I was packing my bags and moving to Montreal to work as an international animation/software instructor for ToonBoom Animation! Most of my summer was spent in Italy, various parts of the USA, and even Mexico (in that order). While I was practically living out of my suitcase, I was meeting tons of people, visiting lots of studios and schools, and really enjoying the work I was doing.

Alas, for every UP in a roller-coaster, there's always a DOWN.

I'm still not sure how, or why it happened; but early in September my right foot started to hurt. I didn't think much of it at the time, but it kept getting worse, moving up to the rest of my leg. During what was supposed to be a short visit to Toronto, I decided to get it checked out. It turned out that I had effectively broken my back: herniated a spinal disc to be exact - what's also known as true sciatica. I've been in Toronto ever since.

Thankfully, it doesn't seem bad enough to warrant surgery; but it has been painful enough to keep me from doing even basic movements, never mind having to put all my art and travelling work on hiatus.

It is now January 2013, Four months later. I've done some minor side projects here and there, but I'm mostly trying to focus on getting better with lots of exercise and therapy sessions. Speaking of which, I've got a session in about 20 mins...

Here's hoping I'll be on my feet again soon, and 2013 will be a little more teacups and a little less loop-de-loop.