The Three Characters That Changed My Life

     

Sorry I have been away for so long. I've gotten very busy with my film and being in the Animation BFA at my school.

My 3 favorite animated movies of all time that inspired me to dream of becoming an animator are Fantasia (1940), Pinocchio (1940), and Peter Pan (1953). It's not just the moral messages that inspired me, but rather more, the characters that encouraged me through these messages. Today, I drew my 3 favorite cartoon characters, Peter Pan, Jiminy Cricket, and most of all, Mickey Mouse.

 Third to foremost, Peter Pan always reminds me to not grow up too fast and to always have faith and trust. When I was in elementary school, I was often made fun of for liking things people thought I was 'too old' to like, such as dressing up as Mickey Mouse and watching shows like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. That made me both question my childish personality and feel pressured by society to 'grow up'. At the same time, Peter Pan encouraged me to embrace the child inside of me and to never let that go, to embrace my immaturity in that there's always something new to discover. 

 Second to most is Jiminy Cricket from Pinocchio (1940). In elementary school, I also really doubted myself on many of the decisions I was making back then and felt tempted by my tutors and parents to conform and have similar interests as peers who are the same age as me. At the same time in 5th grade when I was starting to see and believe the miracles, angels, and spirits that my Lord and Savior can bring to me, Jiminy Cricket came into my mind during the Remember Dreams Come True firework show at Disneyland, reassuring me to trust my heart, to follow my conscience, and to believe in my wishes and dreams. For the first time, I felt then that my dreams and ambitions were validated. 

 Most of all, as a lonely child in elementary school with barely any true friends, Mickey Mouse shined the light. In Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, I felt welcomed by Mickey and his pals into the clubhouse. I would always feel sad when he has to say 'so long' at the end of each episode. In the classic Mickey Mouse cartoons, he taught me what it means to love and care for each other and what true friendship means. In the Fantasmic! show at Disneyland also in 5th grade, he also inspired me to keep using my imagination and to be open to all the amazing possibilities out there. 

These 3 special characters are not just my favorite cartoon characters, they are the first true friends I met. Yes, many of you may think I am weird for saying this, but this is why I say 'Happy Birthday' to my favorite cartoon characters. 

I feel like my struggles to make friends, while it did come with feeling lonely and excluded through the end of high school, I also felt it came with a blessing in disguise. Owing to my loneliness, I thought about how Mickey and his pals, Jiminy, and Peter Pan all made me feel less lonely through their inspiration. This made me think about all the other kids and adults who may be feeling lonely and want to create my own cartoon characters to inspire them and give them lifelong friends they can relate to.

These characters didn't just gift me with my dream to move to/near L.A. and pursue animation. They also helped me to transform my heart, to open up and be vulnerable, and also blessed me with all of you, especially my wonderful and amazing friends I've met both in-person and online since I started at CSULB. 

Thank you for reading my story and for always supporting me throughout this lifelong journey. I'm really grateful for all of you and can't wait to see where this journey leads me. 

How I Found My Apartment

 Hey everyone! I'm sorry I haven't been able to post lately. I've been so busy packing my goodies and moving into my new apartment.

Right now, I'm living alone in an apartment in Anaheim around 10-15 minutes from Disneyland and 15-25 minutes from CSULB. 

As a student searching for an apartment for the first time, finding this apartment was very tough with so many uncertainties and hassles. At first, I was hoping to move to an apartment closer to CSULB with a roommate or two. But then, COVID hit and we all went back to our parents' homes. In late April of this year, after consulting with my longtime special needs doctor, Dr. Green, we decided it was safe and recommended for me to take the vaccine and head back to campus this Fall. Then, I started to look for apartments near CSULB. 

With the pandemic still lingering on, my parents and I were uncertain about whether I should find a roommate. Then in May, my parents and I saw that we could not afford most of the apartments by ourselves, so they sent me to find a roommate. It's very difficult to find a committed roommate, as many of my friends were either trying to dorm again or wait until the Spring semester. I started posting roommate ads through Discord, Facebook, Instagram, and Roomsurf. Here's my roommate ad I posted:

Unfortunately, only a few interested candidates got back to me, all of them, unfortunately, drink alcohol or do drugs of some kind, so I had to decline them all immediately. Then, in mid-June, a potential candidate who met all of my requirements messaged me on Facebook and asked if we wanted to be roommates. We then met on Zoom less than 2 weeks before my mom and I went down to Long Beach to look at apartments. 

In early July before the 4th, me and my mom met up with the potential roommate to look at several apartments around the campus, many of them almost exceeding his max budget of $700/month including utilities. We both liked the first apartment we saw very close to campus ($1589-$1670/month + utilities), but we did not want to make a decision right away since we had other apartments to check out that day. We then went to tour 2 other apartments in Lakewood (2nd and 3rd apartments, $1325/month and $1575/month respectively) and 2 more in Anaheim (4th and 5th apartments, $1175/month and $1500/month respectively). All of them allow guarantors to be added as an extra name besides the 2 students to help qualify the students rentwise, except the 4th apartment, in which only 2 names can be put on the lease at max, meaning that if I go into the 4th apartment, I will have to live alone. 

After touring all of them, we decided we wanted to try to secure a studio at the first apartment very close to campus. Unfortunately, when we returned to the first apartment, the studio we wanted at $1589/month was already taken. There was another studio at the same complex at $1670/month, so my mom and I tried to convince the potential roommate to commit and sign a roommate agreement so we can secure that apartment. He did not look like he was very committed and was still thinking about whether to room with me. While we were talking about the roommate terms with him, someone came out from the leasing office and told us that someone secured the other studio available, leaving us with no apartments to secure together. We then went our separate ways for the day. I started crying, worrying that I would not secure a place and a roommate in time for the Fall semester. 

The next day, Friday, in case the potential roommate decides not to commit, me and my mom rushed back to the 4th apartment to fill out an application. It was very overwhelming, as we had to rush to both Staples and the post office to print our required documents. Once we filled the application, we found out that we were 2nd in line, leaving even more uncertainties on whether I would get the room or not. Later Friday night, my mom and I decided it was time for the potential roommate and me to go separate ways since we had different requirements for finding an apartment. With only 1 more day left to secure a place before my mom and I drive back up to the Bay Area, I spent the 2nd night crying and almost hopeless that I would secure a place and roommate in time.

Then, on Saturday morning, we finally saw the light starting to shine. Another studio opened up at the first complex for $1639/month, so we hurried up and secured the place. I was finally happy knowing that I now had a place to live in, but due to it being expensive, was faced with even more uncertainties with whether I can find a committed roommate and how long I can stay there. 

After we arrived back in the Bay Area, on the following Tuesday, the light shined even brighter. The landlord from the 4th apartment called back and said that the applicant in front of us did not qualify, so she put our application in. Even more relieving, a day later, she called back again and said that we got the room, giving us 2 options instead of 1 to consider. 

This led my parents to discuss with me our two options. The first apartment in LB was really close to campus that I did not have to drive to every day, but was more expensive and had a late move-in date of mid-August, only a few days before the Fall semester starts. The 4th apartment in Anaheim would require me to commute 15-25 minutes to campus every day, but was a lot more affordable, still very safe, and could move in as early as late July. After weighing out the pros and cons, my parents and I decided to go with the Anaheim apartment since I could stay there alone and also because it had an earlier move-in date.

Just last Thursday on the 22nd, I officially moved into my new Anaheim apartment and I am really enjoying the place! I feel like myself getting the opportunity to live alone comfortably was a true gift from God. Before I moved into my dorm at Parkside for my 1st year, my parents requested for me to live alone because of my allergies and special needs, which did not happen. While living alone comes with its challenges, I feel like there will be so many new experiences to discover and learn from. 

I am very grateful to everyone who helped me and supported me along this journey, especially my mom. This move would not have been possible without all of you. I am very excited about all the wonderful memories I will make and all the wonderful characters and movies I will create here!

Why I Prefer Traditional Hand-Drawn Animation Over CGI and 2D Cutout Animation

 Hey everyone! I hope you guys all had a fabulous February so far! I can't believe it's already March!

Today, I wanted to talk more about my experience with animation and how it has influenced my beliefs about animation and my vision to bring back traditional hand-drawn cartoon animation to the big screen.

I first started animating in 7th grade in Mr. Pomeroy's animation class at my middle school. In middle school and high school, I animated using a combination of hand-drawing and motion tweening because I kind of felt lazy back then and due to my very limited drawing skills, did not want to draw out every single frame. Here's some of my work back from grade school:

 

Just last Spring at CSULB, I was in Tom's Animation 1 class. He was very inspiring and his experience working on shows like The Looney Tunes and Tom & Jerry really helped me to push my animation. Taking his class really left me in tears leaving his class every time. Taking his class also persuaded me to really embrace traditional hand-drawn animation and the wonderful role drawing plays in the art of animation. I also realized that it was mostly Disney's traditionally animated films (specifically Fantasia, Pinnochio, Peter Pan, and Winnie the Pooh) and the morals within them that inspired me to pursue animation in the first place. Here are some of my animations I did for Tom's Animation 1 class and some I did just this past year. All of these were animated completely hand-drawn at 24 FPS, either with 12 field animation paper and pencil, or in ToonBoom Harmony.

 

Yes, so that was the moment I really fell in love with traditional frame-by-frame animation. Before Tom's class, I saw myself creating 2D cartoons and 3D CGI films. His class really connected me more with my inner self and my heart and really reminded me of how I fell in love with animation. Now after taking his class, I now envision my studio bringing back traditional animation, paper/pencil and paperless, to the big screen. Tom's class showed me what I can do with traditional animation! All I need is good drawing/draftsman skills, a vivid imagination, and to keep the 12 Principles in mind. With these 3 major things, I can really push my animation, like the character's emotions, squash and stretch, and much more, without having to worry about the technical limitations that 3D animators and 2D puppet animators have to worry about, like rigging and 3D modeling. 

I also really like the very natural and organic movements that come with hand-drawn animation. Rewatching many of my favorite cartoons and animated films, I noticed that the animation in many of the modern cartoons being made, like Gravity Falls and Spongebob, is much more stiff and robotic than the animation made in many of the classic cartoons, like the classic Mickey Mouse cartoons from the 1940s and the classic Tom and Jerry cartoons. I also really miss the art style that came with the many traditionally animated films and classic cartoons that Disney, Warner Bros., and Sullivan Bluth released.

Also, the morals and messages being portrayed in modern films make me miss the traditionally animated films. I also believe from my heart that most of Disney's traditionally animated films from the 1940s-1970s portrayed morals more in line with Walt Disney's original vision, like faith and family, and touched my heart much more than many of Disney's modern CGI films.

CGI animation has its benefits too! I really like the nice backgrounds and the great camera shots the 3D animators do. I also really like the storytelling many of Pixar's films convey. I'm not saying CGI is bad, however, what I am noticing is a decline in the appeal of many of the characters, as well as a drop in authenticity and inspiration from those films.  With 2D puppet animation, I can definitely notice this decline much more. I also notice a big drop in the art style. I can already tell that many of the 2D cartoons I see today have much less time and thought put into them. Take the classic Mickey Mouse cartoons back from the day versus the modern Mickey Mouse cartoons. I like the classic Mickey Mouse cartoons much better for a number of reasons. First, I really like the art style much better. The look of Mickey Mouse and the other characters look much cuter than them in the modern cartoons. The anatomy looks much more believable. The movements also look much more natural and organic, feels more like the animator put his vision and time into the animation. 

That being said, as both 2D puppet/cutout animation and CGI are becoming the "new normal", I am in an area of self-conflict right now. There are 2 different sides of my mind when it comes to me thinking about this:

There's the side of me that tells me to eventually learn CGI and puppet animation, in addition to my favorite technique of hand-drawn animation, so I can land a job in the industry. This will require me eventually to upgrade my ToonBoom animation software from Harmony Advanced (the version I have now) to Harmony Premium (the highest version with the node view). Harmony Premium costs $160/year for students, which is twice as much as Harmony Advanced, which costs $80/year for students. For traditional hand-drawn animators like me, there's not too much of a difference as both have all the tools one needs to create wonderful hand-drawn animation. Harmony Premium would benefit me a little bit more with the node view and some more effects, but those are not required to create amazing professional frame-by-frame animation. However, professional cut-out animation requires Harmony Premium, as the node view is required for creating cutout/puppet animation, as well as many cutout/rigging capabilities that are not found in Harmony Advanced. 

On the opposite side of my mind, there's the other side of me that is telling me to stand up against puppet/CGI animation taking over the industry and use my full energy and time to pursue my dream of bringing hand-drawn animation and films that truly touch the heart back to the big screen. I know for sure my upcoming animated film I am making with my characters will be animated completely hand-drawn, frame-by-frame. 

When I do start my animation studio, the Yip Studios, I will for sure tell you that traditional hand-drawn animation will be coming back! I hope to not just bring paperless animated films in ToonBoom Harmony and pencil/animation paper, but I also really hope to use plastic cels and try inking and painting just how the animators did with Fantasia and Pinocchio back in the 1940s. Most of all, I really hope my films make you guys laugh and inspire all of you to love yourself and to appreciate one another. Many studios have switched to CGI because they think it would be more efficient and better for them financially. Unlike most studios and most animators, the thing is that my studio and I simply cannot be bought. Like any business, while money is important for my future studio to survive, the most important things are that my studio is God-led and that my studio touches the heart of many individuals and brings more happiness and encouragement into their lives. Traditional hand-drawn animation may require more time and much more drawing, but I feel the extra time and effort put in will be much more worth it in the end.

Overall, I would like to know what you guys think about CGI and 2D cutout animation both replacing traditional hand-drawn animation. If you feel comfortable, please feel free to leave a comment down below. I hope you guys all have a wonderful rest of your day! 🙂❤️

Life On My End Lately

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't had time to post lately! Life has been very fun and busy on my end! 

On the busy side, I have been very stressed out, sad, and extremely worried about school. Both of my classes have a lot of reading, something I really struggle with because of my ADHD and my learning disabilities. Writing also stresses me out too. I always feel like I am not writing enough for my school assignments, but somehow, a miracle happens every time that gives me more thoughts and insight to write about. When I am feeling down or getting too homesick, I isolate myself and cry to my favorite heartwarming movie soundtracks.

The online format makes it much harder for me to learn and stay in touch with my friends and professors. As a result, I took only 2 GE classes last semester and am only taking 2 classes this semester because of this, 1 GE class and 1 art history class. Unlike me, many of my peers are taking studio classes online to graduate on time, which means that I will be a year behind most of my peers that I came into CSULB with, assuming I return back to campus this Fall. I started CSULB back in the Fall of 2018 and since the animation program is a 5-year program, I was originally planning to graduate in the Spring of 2023, but because of COVID and things going online, my graduation has been postponed to Spring 2024 at the earliest. 

As graduating on time would be nice, I feel like the most important aspect when it comes to college, in general, is getting all the knowledge and experience needed to succeed in your career, as well as making lifelong friends and connections. For me, the most important goals to reach when I leave CSULB is to have a lot of animation experience (both hand-drawn and 3D), to have a more vivid imagination, and to have lifelong friends and connections with whom I can share this passion and dream with. 

On the bright side, I have been doing so much art lately! I have been doing cleanup work for both a personal scene with my characters, as well as a scene for the animation workshop I am a part of. I also have been drawing so many animals lately! Besides drawing cartoon characters, I love to draw animals, especially rabbits and dogs! 

Rabbits and dogs, especially chihuahuas, have a special place in my heart! I have always been telling my parents that I want to rescue a chihuahua one day. My parents are both very concerned for me since I do have allergies to both cats and dogs. They also worry about whether I will have enough time to care for them. When I do adopt a cute chihuahua, I envision myself cuddling with him/her and giving him/her them all the love I can give, taking them almost everywhere, even on almost every vacation! My biggest worries about adopting a chihuahua are times where I am forced to leave him/her home alone, like when I go to work or when I go to the mall or a store that does not allow dogs. The thing I am looking forward to the most when I bring an amazing chihuahua home is all the love he/she will give to everyone in my future family, as well as the quality time we will all spend together.

Speaking about the future, the future is something I always dream about 24/7. As much as we are in uncertain times right now, there is always the bright side to see and look forward to. For me, I am looking forward to the day where I can drive back home to L.A. and Los Feliz. I am also looking forward to the day where I can see my existing friends again and meet new friends! I can't wait for the day where I meet "the one" to whom I will give all my love and care, as well as whom I will have a wonderful bond with over Disney, animation, dogs, and our shared vision for the future. I'm very excited for the days where I can inspire my wonderful kids to find happiness and pursue their dreams. I can't wait for the day when I release my first film and the day I bring my animation studio to life! These are just some of the many wonderful things I am looking forward to in the future! Like I always say, the future is very exciting, yet unpredictable! 

Since last time, I started a Twitch channel to showcase what I have learned in animation with you guys. Right now, I am really focusing on getting even better at traditional/hand-drawn animation! Every Wednesday at 6:00PM PT and every Friday at 5:00PM PT! My streams are a combination of an animation class and a place to talk and hang out. I talk to my viewers through chat, while showing them animation tips and techniques at the same time! If you are interested in learning animation from me, my streams are a perfect place to start! My Twitch profile is "YipAnimation55"!

Anyway, that is all I have for now. I hope you guys all have a wonderful week filled with fun and laughter! Whichever things you guys decide to pursue or accomplish, the most important thing to me is that you guys are happy and enjoying life. 🙂

An Overwhelming Last Few Months

 Hey everyone. Jonathan Yip on the line here writing before I hit the hay for the night. These last 2 months have been a rollercoaster ride, with its ups and downs. 

    Earlier this month, I participated in the worldwide 24-Hour Animation Contest for students. In this annual contest, you get into teams of 5 and create a 30-second film within 24 hours based on the theme given. With most teams staying up the entire 24 hours straight with little to no sleep, it is very intensive, kind of like a very rushed animated film at the end, but on the bright side, one can make everlasting connections with potential future studio co-workers and gain experience working with other animators. Unfortunately, as a result of staying up basically all night but 2 hours, I got a major headache towards the end of the contest.  Now, participating in this contest for 3 straight years, with myself not feeling very well after the last 2 contests, I am starting to question the worth of doing 24 hours every year. Yes, I have met so many hard-working and friendly artists and animators along the way and received the experience of working in a team. But is this worth sacrificing my health, especially having a need for more sleep due to my special needs, especially that this lack of sleep gave me a major headache that took at least 2 days to fully recover? After asking myself these questions, most likely, as a result of my need for 9+ hours of sleep daily to function well the next day, participating in this contest for 3 consecutive years, most likely, I will probably skip out on 24 Hours next year. Anyway, my team, this year put in a lot of hard work and thought into the creation of this film on COVID, our theme for year's 24 Hour Contest. I helped out with some of the animation and character sketches. A big thank you to everyone on my team for our hard work and to everyone, including Aubry and the CSULB faculty, who made this contest possible. This is our film we made together: 

Many of my peers on Discord like to talk about their favorite popular games they play and all of that. People have asked me if I play games like Roblox or Minecraft. I feel awkward often when I tell them I'm not too big of a fan of most video games, that I don't have time to play video games, and would rather spend my time drawing and planning for my future. Honestly, unlike most people, I tend to not follow popular trends. As a kid struggling with learning challenges, I'm also not the type of person that needs to fit in with the status quo. Growing up, I have been made fun of for not fitting in and having significantly different interests. While many people live in the moment, I live for tomorrow and the future, always dreaming about what my future will look like and worrying about the potential obstacles or downsides I could be facing soon. 

That being said, I have also been doing a lot of sketching in my free time. I love to sketch animals and am thinking of more anthropomorphic characters to bring to life in the future. Here are some of my recent works:

Also, allergies have been a concern on my end lately, Growing up with allergies is a unique experience. On the dark side, I can't eat certain foods like peanuts and cow's milk, which drastically limits the number of foods I can eat and limits the number of places I can travel to. On the bright side, it made me very aware to look at the ingredients on a food package insert and to always tell others around me about my food allergies. My allergies have gotten better in recent years, I can now eat eggs and certain tree nuts. I participated in the Stanford Peanut Trial back in late-11th grade and am now ingesting 1 peanut every day. However, I still do get minor reactions from time to time, such as an itchy tongue. Usually, right after I ingest my peanut for the day, I rush to eat my regular dinner food to flush the peanut down to avoid any major reaction to the peanut.

Also as a result of COVID, I have been staying with my parents up in the Bay Area for the past few months. I usually go on night walks with them every night. What's unusual is that during certain night walks, I would come back to my parent's house having an allergic reaction, usually with a very itchy throat. Even more unusual, I have only had these reactions in the Bay Area. I have noticed these minor reactions happen spontaneously several times in high school before I left the Bay Area to pursue my dreams at CSULB, and also during the times I visited them up in the Bay Area, like the reaction a few days ago. I've never witnessed a reaction like this walking during the night back home in Los Feliz/Silverlake or at school in Long Beach. 

A friend of mine from CSULB who travels to the Bay Area often to visit family has environmental allergies as well and told me his allergies are worst in the Bay Area than they are back in Southern California. I am definitely feeling the same way right now, noticing this with my nose a lot the past 2 years, especially during the winter in the Bay Area, and now with the occasional reactions after night walks. Winters in the Bay Area are literally freezing cold most of the time that I have to wear at least 2 jackets with a beanie and a scarf. This is what a lot of times, causes my nose to get very stuffy. As with the walks, my parents and I are thinking that it may be due to the specific trees and the increased number of trees overall around Redwood Shores and the Bay Area. I'm praying that we find answers soon with my allergist tomorrow.

Anyway, that is all I have for now! Hope you guys are all having a wonderful week! Stay tuned for more animation and life posts, coming soon.

First Blog in A Long While, My First Two Years at CSULB, Where I am in Times of COVID

 Hey everyone. I have been very busy for the last year or two that I didn't have the time to post. 

Life has been really tough lately. I am currently stuck up north at my parent's house in the SF Bay Area due to the COVID pandemic and online classes. 

So far, before COVID struck us all, CSULB has been a fantastic experience. I finally got to meet my first actual friends and be part of several actual friends groups where we all met outside of our classes. Working in the art and animation studios on campus, I got to experience what studio life was like in terms of the equipment we used. I am blessed to have had several fantastic professors and mentors, especially Marian, Alex, and Tom. All of my professors have helped me a lot by giving me very helpful tips to create better drawings, characters, and animation. 

Marian was very special. She is very strict and upfront about every drawing she critiques. I didn't really like her after the first 2 or 3 classes. But as I continued moving forward on my drawings and always going to get help during her office hours, I realized that she was a professor who really cared about her students and did everything she could to make sure they succeed.  From her, I picked up a lot of new techniques and tips to becoming a better draftsman that I didn't know before I came into CSULB, especially tips to make clear, crisp, clean lines. Without her, I probably wouldn't have been able to succeed in my animation and painting classes today.

Alex, one of my current mentors I met through the SoSIA, the animation club on campus, worked in the industry for over 30 years, including 25+ years at the Walt Disney Studios as an animator and as a clean-up lead. He further helped me to strengthen my timing and drawings through showing me new approaches, like straights against curves and cleanup tips, and telling me more about the artistic lifestyle in the industry. Like Marian, he is very upfront about every critique he gives and really cares about everyone he works with. His animation workshop so far has helped me to strengthen my timing, my animation skills, and to keep my drawings more consistent with one another when animating. One tip from him I will always cherish is this: "Remember to FLIP and FLIP OFTEN." 

Tom, my Animation 1 professor, also has many years of industry experience at Warner Bros. He really encouraged me to have fun with animation and to cherish every moment of it. He also inspired me to appreciate traditional hand-drawn animation more and the natural organic movements that come with the form. With his class, I developed my sense of timing, began to separate my timings, and really push my squash-and-stretch. I can't wait to have him again for Animation 2 once we return to campus! Here's my final animation for his class I did last May:

I am also very grateful to have joined SoSIA (Society of Student Illustrators and Animators), the illustration/animation club on campus. Being a part of SoSIA, I made new friends with many other animators and those who shared similar interests. Together, we worked together on the 24 Hour Animation Contest and went to the CTN Expo in Burbank. I met many professionals who are currently working in the industry and some who have worked in traditional animation studios in the past, including my current mentor and the animation workshop I'm a part of back in Burbank. 

As a club, we also had our first art gallery this spring, where we all drew our own versions of a character we came up with as a club. It was a great experience working with many others in the art gallery for the first time because we all got to bring our ideas and techniques to the table with Aisos.

    Ever since COVID kicked in and ever since classes switched online, school and life have not been the same. My animation and perspective classes were especially different, with basically fewer critiques, fewer connections with other students, and loss of access to studio equipment. It was also much more difficult to get in contact with all my professors since we weren't seeing each other in-person. I also really discovered that learning for me is much more effective in person than online and that communication with my professors is key, especially growing up as a special needs kid. Being stuck at my parents' house, it feels much more like community college 2.0 than an actual university. 

COVID has changed my life a lot.

    On the dark side, it has made me very homesick. Being away from home in Hollywood/Burbank for around almost 5 months now, I am really missing the diversity that L.A. has to offer, life in the artistic communities of Los Feliz and Silverlake, walking in Griffith Park, going shopping at the Americana, and every trip up to the animation workshop and the studios in Burbank. 

   

    I also really miss seeing people every day, especially those I am really close to. Miss going to CTN and other animation festivals together. Just remembering all those good memories I made with my friends.

    On the bright side, with COVID putting me stuck indoors at my parents' house most of the day, I have been able to focus a lot more on my art and animation, getting more acquainted with ToonBoom Harmony, the industry-standard 2D animation software, as well as the hand-drawn animation process. I have also been able to connect with others virtually during the Riseup Disney Animation week. I have also become more self-aware and am praying more often.

    Now that Fall is online, I am taking only 2 GE classes this Fall, waiting for CSULB to resume in-person classes or at least open the art studios on campus, before taking any more studio classes. With animation usually being a 5-year program, graduation has been postponed to 2024 at the earliest. During my free time, I will continue to do more sketching and work more on my personal animated clips, as well as with the animation workshop. 

While I am praying for COVID to end soon, the best I feel I can do is to not give up, continue to work hard in animation, have faith in myself and my dreams, and to continue to pray and build my relationship with God.

Anyway, that is it for now. Thank you to everyone who have been kind and supportive the last few years. Stay tuned for future posts. Feel free to comment or contact me with any shout outs or questions. Stay tuned for my art pieces on my Instagram @yipanimation_55.

A Wonderful Look Over the Last 2 Months

Hey there once again! I have been super busy with creating still art and making films! The last 2 months have been a wonderful time being closer to home. So where did we leave off? Ummmmmm...............

Oh. The Ralph Breaks the Internet preview

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Ok. so after that day at home, college life became more stressful. No time for fun or games like usual, or ....... yeah, the usual college routine. I created a lot of pieces of art for class since then and have practiced character sketches too. Here are the art pieces I did in class:



I also have been drawing Disney characters a lot:





I also went near home to had a blast at CTN with 2 of my friends, Christian and Rodrigo, the Saturday before Thanksgiving. I met all of several animators and directors at the Walt Disney Studios near home and a lot of artists. I even ran into several more people from CSULB.

After that, he thankful week of Thanksgiving just begun. This the first Thanksgiving without my parents, as they live up in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is around 5-7 hours from the L.A. Area, depending on traffic. I spent the week going to Downtown Long Beach, including my very first visit to the Aquarium of the Pacific, as well as making two trips to Cerritos to eat authentic Chinese food!

For the next 3 weeks, life has been spent working on my final projects, as well as having more time to work on a film on my trip to CTN!

Now on to my life with my parents, My parents and I have talked almost every day. We are planning for them to come to Long Beach to pick me up in mid-December for our Christmas vacation to Las Vegas.  Following that trip, I will go see their place in the SF Bay Area for a few weeks.

I talked with them a few days ago about summer plans and they are taking us to Hawaii in June. I am excited to be revisiting the islands of Maui and Oahu. Ever since the last time I went to Hawaii, there were many new stores that opened in Waikiki and the Ala Moana Center. Swimming at the beach is also something I am very excited about.

Sure, they ask about why they have to come to L.A. and the OC 2-3 times every year.  L.A. and the OC, on the other hand, are both very spread out and both have many things to do, such as visiting Hollywood, the amusement parks, as well as many other great museums and beaches. Also, L.A. is the city I feel like is home since it is the closest big city to the entertainment industry. When I am far from the L.A. Area for a long period of time, I become homesick.

Fortunately, Las Vegas is something we are looking forward to. I am really looking forward to eating the tasty buffets, as well as seeing the crowds, and playing arcade games at the New York New York. We will be staying at the Palazzo since they have big rooms to accommodate the whole family of "5".

Anyway, stay tuned for the CTN review on my YouTube channel, as well as videos about the Ralph Breaks the Internet "Behind the Scenes" and our Las Vegas vacation. See you all next time!