Summer 2011 - Internship, post-grad employment, stolen car

 What a crazy Summer this has been for me! As many people know, I've happily spent the first few months of my post-grad time interning at Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, MO. It was  an awesome experience working in such a creative, multi-talented environment of writers, illustrators, sculptors, designers, and animators.

Mostly, I spent my time both at work and outside of work glued to my computer screen as I had a lot of side projects going on in addition to my time at Hallmark. I had to learn the hard way that taking on more than you can chew is sometimes a very bad idea, especially in the working world where going to work half-conscious from an all-nighter just won't fly. Still, I managed to get a lot done this Summer even if I was stretched thin between my side projects and my 8-5.

I was fairly surprised when I was offered the job of Multimedia Designer II at the company. To be honest, I was constantly humbled all Summer at the sheer talent of the workers there, and although I possess animation skills not yet supersaturated there, it's hard to imagine me living up to those high standards of art direction and design! Ultimately, I'm excited for the challenge.

 It also took a lot of consideration to fully decide whether or not it was something I wanted. A lot of my peers are either in California or New York right now and I needed to do a lot of soul searching as to whether or not I should try to join them.


It made me think of my time at SCAD. I walked in the graduation ceremony in June and was honored with an outstanding achievement award!
I do think I did a pretty good job in school, although I'm not sure outstanding is the word I'd use! I could have done better with my education- used my resources more, planned out my classes better, and the like.  I did take school pretty seriously and I loved it though because I was learning constantly. Over all I'm honored to have received the award.


I think the downfall I see in myself was that I didn't really know the direction I wanted to go with my art skills when I entered art school, and even now I'm torn between so many interests that I really can't sit down and master anything.  I think if I could go back though, I'd focus more on storyboard and illustration, but then I guess I'd lose my animation skills which I do hold very dear.

In the end, I realized this is probably how it's supposed to be that I'm going to be working in a place that will help train me in what I've missed out on while still working with the skills I loved learning from the start. I'm excited to expand my horizons and take a step out of my comfort zone.

 

Though,  it really was the people who sold me on the idea of working at the company. Everyone in the Hallmark community is so talented, humble, and unique. The creativity in the building is amazing! For instance, On the last day of my internship I got a little party and hand-made presents! I was really touched.

My car, hot-wired.

 Besides that, the only other really big thing to mention is that my car was stolen from my apartment's parking lot two days before I was supposed to go home to Virginia! On a list of not-fun experiences I'd say this would be near the top, although it does give me some stories to tell and everything turned out alright at the end. We got the car back and I managed to drive safely home to Virginia (only after a grueling waiting period of getting my car fixed from the burglar's damages, of course). I'll be starting my job at Hallmark in January and until then I'll be spending my time tying up some loose ends. All the while, there'll be a lot of new personal art coming up which I'm excited to tackle and a lot to be done for Taffetas!

All in all, thank you everyone who generally supports me and my artwork, especially my good friends and family. Without all the encouragement I receive daily I do not think I would be where I am today- doing so many cool things and going to work in a place where I get to do my hobby for a living. I am really lucky and thankful for what I have and I hope to continue working hard to make my art and animation something to be proud of! I love you all <3