Cheers for the New Year! It’s 2006 and things are picking up here at GUILD. For our February meeting we had Lady Luck against us. First, one of our speakers cancelled (for very good reason). Next, J. was running late to get to the meeting but that’s ok because he got stuck behind a funeral procession, oh wait… Then we get the meeting started and it turns out that the monitor cable we have to use to plug the laptop into the projector was broken. Eventually we got this beast moving and everything turned out great. I opened the meeting with an around-the-room introduction to allow people to say a bit about themselves, who they are, what they do, etc. It’s great to see new faces in the crowd along with those coming back for the New Year. Eventually
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made it and hopped on stage to divulge what GUILD is working on and trying to accomplish while I went to hook up the laptop… little did I know then the hardships I was going to endure. He introduced to the audience our newest staff member
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as Community Coordinator, aka: Public Relations Director, aka: Community Corrisponder, aka: Party Tester… eh, any way you call it we’re glad to have her helping us out and look forward to the future with her! Ok, back to the meeting. Melanie stood up and said a few words about herself and her goals which include trying to locate the various groups and organizations in the Dallas area along with what they are about and what events they have planned. J. followed this by delivering a notice of what classes we are looking to provide this year: Zbrush, Maquette creation, XSI, a business class, and After Effects. It’s going to be a busy year everyone, wow. I’m going to mention here what those that attended were notified of. On the evening of Thursday, March 30th at the Angelika theatre (www.angelikafilmcenter.com) at Mockingbird station, there will be an Event. This is an Event that anyone that is involved in films, animation, design, art, or just plain creativity better be at. Ray Harryhausen will be the guest speaker of Janimation Inc, and A Bunch of Short Guys. Check either our website (which you’re at now if you’re reading this) or, better yet, www.abunchofshortguys.com for more information.
Alright, our guest speaker for this month is Jeff Kribs! He’s an actor, writer, producer, director, self-proclaimed idea man, and freelancer. He has been involved with a number of commercials and is one of the voice actors in the popular WWII game “Brothers in Arms” by Gearbox Software, LLC. An interesting thing about the game that I didn’t know is that they got info straight from the WWII veterans, which helps the experience feel very authentic. He also has a lot of side projects going on like writing a book, a personal film, and others. One of his pet projects that he had been working on for some-odd 20 years and fairly recently been put onto DVD is “George the Head”. He gave us the history of how it was thought of and the ordeals he went thru to get it created. He showed us clips from the show and explained how Lucid Dreams (the studio that animated the show) created the animations and shots. This was meant to be a children’s show and he learned the hard way that there are a lot of rules and red tape to get that kind of show going. Also, if it does get going and goes well then expect one of the big companies to swoop in and grab your work. Oh and they’ll hire you to their payroll because that’s cheaper than just trying to give you a payoff… honest! 
Here’s a listing of some tidbits of advice he bestowed the audience:
- Don’t be afraid to take risks and chances but do so with eyes open. Be aware of troubles like when something may be too much of a risk.
- If you get an idea, run with it. Don’t just sit on it wishing to do it.
- It takes more than a great idea to get something accomplished. But even if your idea isn’t successful the entire experience teaches you something new.
- Animators, Graphic guys, and Creative types need to be business minded. “There is a Business to the Art and an Art to the Business.” There are people that will try to use you or skew a business deal to be heavily in their favor.
- Corporate America’s idea of creative is very juvenile. They just don’t have an understanding of what it takes or what it means to be creative and what they think are great ideas really aren’t. Be patient with them.
- Corporate perceives creative work as a low-cost commodity. There will always be someone that will do the work cheaper but almost always will be of poorer quality. If you’re going to do work for fee then you should negotiate for something that isn’t money. Get something for your time and knowledge. Not only will this benefit you now and in the future, but it will also help out your peers.
- You will never be fully compensated for your work because you will always spend more time than expected to make sure it’s the best quality you can provide. You’ll go over and beyond what’s needed.
- Be different, be original, and be awesome at your work. Don’t create something that just anyone can do with no thought or ability.
- Work with those that are better than you. Find those with better talent, skill, knowledge, ideas, determination, etc. Learning from those that are better than you is the easiest way you can get better yourself.
- Don’t give away work. If the client doesn’t wish to pay for everything involved in a job then negotiate till both of you get what you want. If that means not providing as much as you would have beforehand then don’t provide it. Make them get what they pay for. Try to get a lawyer (family, friends of family, etc) to create a detailed proposal and contract for you. Also, do not turn over finished or final projects without being paid. While this isn’t as much of an issue with large corporations because they have pay cycles, it is a major concern when working with a small company. As always, be careful in business.
- Finally, don’t do all jobs. If you’re not going to get what you want out of a job then don’t do it and find something else. Meet people from other fields, get to know them. It is very probably that you will need their services in the future for a project you have to do and they may need yours.
Again, it was great having Jeff Kribs be our guest speaker this month and we hope to see more from him again! Some last notes from the Usergroup meeting. We’re progressing forward with meeting other groups and organizations along with various companies. Also, look for our new website at the next meeting in March!! Thanks to everyone that was able to attend this meeting and we’ll see you in March!! |
