On-Site Workshop location change and open sign-ups

There is a location change happening for the On-Site Workshops. It's now:

1 Market St (in the Steuart Tower)

View Larger Map

It's still very close to the Academy of Art (since most of the animators attending are AAU students, it was important to me to minimize travel time for them).

I'm signing up with Opinno and they offer great conference rooms and one very big event space, where the majority of the sessions will be held. Seating arrangement can be reshuffled to make it super comfy!!

This all means that 

sign-ups for the Spring 2013 Workshop sessions 

are open!!

So if you want to join, let me know! Email me using signup(at)spungella.com. And if you have any questions about the workshop, hop over to spungellaonsite.blogspot.com for more information!

Update and posting will resume tonight

Hey all,

for those reading this blog, sorry for the lack of updates. I've been super busy lately, with baby responsibilities at home, teachings across AM and Workshops, but also taking on a new exciting role at work with more supervising duties.

Thanks to everybody who sent in emails with awesome animation work for me to post, don't worry, I got it all and will start posting again, starting tonight.

There went my plan of submitting 11secondclub entries each month...

Cheers
JD

Online Workshops: all-year sign-ups and new features

I've been doing this for a little bit now but haven't officially announced it via a post yet.

After doing the online workshops for a while I figured that it was a lot easier on animators who wanted to sign up if the schedule wasn't blocked out in the usual Spring, Summer and Fall fashion (which I carried over from the on-site workshops).

So from now on you can start at any time for the 16 week block! It's the usual $500 for 16 weeks, with all the details and options outlined in the SO FAQ.

I've also added the option of having animators sending me their Maya files so that I can illustrate certain points hands-on, if the written feedback is not clear enough. You can find one of those examples in this shot, where I concentrated the tweak on the hip:

(click image to play the movie)

Update as of 8/23/12:

There are some features missing in Scribbeo and the updates of the app are not as frequent as I would have hoped. So I'm going back to taking regular screen shots and drawing on top of them.

But I've also added video reviews to the mix. And so far the feedback has been very positive. 


I've also switched to Scribbeo (more on that app in a later post) for the majority of the feedback replies, which allows for a more structured breakdown of the notes.

 That's it so far!

Cheers
JD

100 Frame Animation Contest Submissions

This was a fantastic week! I got almost 30 submissions, you guys rock! I will go through them this week and show them to fellow animators at work for the judging. I will update next week with the results!

Thanks again to everybody who took time off to work on this!

JD

Fall 2011 Spungella Workshops sign-ups

The Summer Workshops are coming to an end and Fall is just around the corner! If you're interested, sign up for the On-site or Online Workshops!

To learn more about it, read the FAQs:

- On-Site Workshop FAQ
- Online Workshop FAQ

If you have questions that are not covered in the FAQs, just shoot me an email!

The On-site Workshop starts Monday, September 5th. Both Monday and Thursday are available. You can choose between the two days. How many spots are left can be seen here.

The Online Workshop starts Monday, August 29th. You can see how many spots are left here.

On-site Workshops are $800 for 16 weeks, one session a week plus email feedback.

Online Workshops are $500 for 16 weeks, with unlimited email feedback.

That's about it! See you soon!

Cheers
JD

Summer Spungella On-site Workshops are full!

Once again the On-site Workshops are full! Wow, thanks for all the interest!

You can always check the info on who is attending which day here. The Fall 2011 slots are already filling up, so feel free to email me about any future workshops.

And even if they are full, there are always changes, so email me just in case and you'll be put on the waiting list.

Thanks again and see you next week!

Cheers
JD

Mobile version of Spungella available

Thanks to the fine folks at Blogger you can now see a speedy mobile version of Spungella. Of course there's an option to view the full web version at any time.

8 Sessions available for Summer Workshops!

Hey all,

there have been a lot of requests for 8 sessions in Summer (once a week) instead of 16 (twice a week).

So from now on you have the option to do once or twice a week, both for online and on-site workshops.

As a reminder for the online workshops, each session guarantees a designated feedback day. Any additional feedback requests outside of the designated days can not always get addressed immediately due to time constraints (like the on-site workshops, job, etc.). So if you're super busy and need a lot of feedback, 16 sessions are still an option.

And of course, half the sessions means half the price! :)

8 sessions (8 weeks) on-site: $400
8 sessions (8 weeks) online: $250

Cheers
JD

- pic source

Summer SOS and SO Animation Workshops sign-up

Not that there is a specific time for sign-ups (you can always email me for future workshops), but I just wanted to "officially" remind everybody who's interested that you can sign up for the Summer Workshops by emailing me using signup (at) spungella.com

You can join the on-site Workshops here in San Francisco. Check out the FAQ about it here. The first session starts June 16th.

You can also join the online Workshop and there's an FAQ about it here.
The first week starts June 13th.

The online one is filling up but the on-site one has plenty of space left. As always, if you have any questions, check out the FAQ or email me.
The Summer Workshops are busier than the Spring/Falls ones, with two sessions a week for an 8 week total (instead of the usual 16 weeks) for those who need a lot of work done. If you can only manage one session a week, let me know in the email.

You can see the schedule and how many spots are available here for online and here for on-site workshops.

Cheers
JD

Workshop update and testimonial

This is the last week until the Online and On-site Workshops start and it's pretty hectic in terms of shuffling things around. Here is the current status:

Spring 2011 [updated 2/03/11]

The Monday #1 On-site Workshop is full.

The Thursday #2 On-site Workshop is full.

The Online Workshop has 3 spots left (current count 11).

Summer 2011 and Fall 2011

Sign-ups are starting and I have already received emails for the Summer On-site and Online Workshop, plus even a Fall 11 request. So email me if you're interested in the Summer/Fall spots.

-----------

And speaking of workshops, I always recommend that you guys leave feedback so that I can tweak the workshops to fit your needs. Here are links to the SOS and SO feedback page.

I actually got one recent testimonial which made me really happy (thanks Eric!!!) and I hope that I can continue to make it worthwhile for you guys:

Having JD as a teacher at the Academy I already knew what he was capable of, and what jedi powers he can teach me. The workshops surpassed the classes, IMO. Not only do we get 100% honest comments and critique about our work, but we also get insight on the industry of animation. Everything from making demo reels to handling clients and proving yourself as a worthy employee was covered (as long as you ask, JD is more than happy to answer your questions). Thats one of the things that separates JD's workshops from everyone elses. He gives everyday tips and knowledge about life in general and how it relates to animation. I highly recommend JD's workshops for anyone, whether you're just a beginner or a seasoned pro. Also, bring Twix.

-- Eric the Aminator

:)

Workshop update!

[update as of 1/15/11]: 2 spots left in Monday and Thursday Workshops, and open spots for the online workshop, more info here (on-site) and here (online).



Hey everybody,

I will respond to all the workshop emails tonight! With vacation and especially the week of being sick a huge mountain of emails built up. I've been going through all of them in order but the workshop part will get updated all together tonight, thanks for waiting!!

Looking at it all quickly it looks like a few spots opened up (for the on-site workshop), so if you're interested, email me (and there's always a waiting list once it's full). The online workshop has open spots, so feel free to email me about that as well!

It's also a good lead in to my post about productivity and managing work & personal life. :)
So stay tuned for that one.

Cheers
JD

I'm back!

Hey all! I'm back from vacation and a week of sickness, so postings should resume this week-end!

Spungella Workshop update

Hey all,

the #2 workshop for Fall on Thursdays has a spot open again, so email me if you're interested. #1 is full and the online workshop has plenty of room left. Spring 2011 is almost full and as always I will open up a 2nd workshop if demand is there.

I do get emails with questions about the workshops and I just wanted to point to the individual FAQs for them.

Spungella.com (as well as at the top of this blog) will give you the links to each workshop, on-site and online, and both of them have a specific FAQ (hopefully) covering all the questions you can have. If there's something unanswered, let me know, and I'll add the questions/answers to it.

Cheers
JD

Spungella Workshop updates

Hey all,

I made some little changes to the Workshop sites (On-site and Online).

The Workshop Dates and Schedules post has now more detailed information. You can see who is enrolled (first name only) since a few people were unsure if they were in the first or second Workshop, on which day it was taking place, etc. So hopefully it should be all clear now. You can see if your friends are in the same session and in case you need to switch spots you can talk to each other (just let me know in case you do switch) .

I also had to add a little price increase in case you pay via Paypal for the Onsite Workshop (due to fees). Checks are now the preferred payment method.

Even if you see that the Workshop is full, send me an email anyway (using signup (at) spungella.com) and I'll put you on the waiting list. A few weeks before the Workshop starts things get very hectic and people cancel or switch and new people can get added.

Cheers
JD

Spungella Animation Workshop updates

Hey everybody,

the Fall 2010 Workshops are going to start in about a month and a half. Payments and paperwork stuff starts in about 2 weeks, so during that time it's normal for people to ask to be on the waiting list, others cancel, some switch between Tuesdays and Thursdays, etc. etc.

So if you're interested, send me an email using signup (at) spungella.com and let me know what workshop you'd like to join (Fall On-Site or Online or even next Spring).

The two On-Site Fall Workshops are full (but there's a waiting list just in case someone changes his/her mind), the Online Workshop has plenty of room left.

The Spring 2011 On-Site Workshop is pretty much full already, but as always, if there is continuing demand I'll open up a second workshop.

I also wanted to thank all the past, present and future animators who sign(ed) up for it!!! I'm really amazed that there is so much demand and how trusting you guys are even though most of you don't know me at all. I will continue to make it worthwhile and as always, if anybody has any comments, requests or questions, don't be shy, just let me know.

Thanks!!
JD

Summer SOS Workshop #1 Sign-up

I'm starting to receive sign-up emails for the Summer SOS Workshop! Fantastic! I'm not sure yet if I will do 7 weeks with one session a week or two sessions a week, but it will be 7 weeks for sure. If it's only one session then the whole thing will cost pretty much half the current price of course.

The workshop will start June 21st. To see how many spots are left, check out this post.

As always, if you got questions, head over to spungellaonsite.blogspot.com and check out the FAQ. If you still have questions, just send me an email.

Cheers
JD

[updated] SOS Workshop... Online?

If you're interested, please write me an email using signup(at)spungella.com and put "SO Workshop" in the subject line!

___[update]___

WOW! I just got to my mail and holy moly, that's quite a demand!! Thanks everybody! Alright, so this advanced from a "maybe, if there are enough people" to "Hell yeah, I need more days in the week!" :)

In terms of who will be in it, I will have to go by "first come first served". So, sorry for those who heard about it later than others. I will check time stamps of the emails and comments and go from there.

Start date would still be around February to coincide with the start of the on-site workshops. I don't want to overlap too much since I'd like a break every now and then as well, especially for family time.

I'll set up a proper site and email for future sign-ups, just like the SOS Workshops. I guess this one will be called SOL Workshop. :) And no, it doesn't stand for sh*t out-of-luck ;)
Actually, since "online" is one word, it should be SO Workshop.

Keep posting comments if you have any feedback, concerns or if you are interested!

______________________________________________________

Hey guys, quick survey.

I'm thinking about adding an on-line extension to the SOS Workshops for those who can't make it to the on-site sessions. The model would be something like this:

- 7 animators tops

- each animator gets one day (Monday through Sunday) during which I would dedicate a certain amount of time for feedback/lectures. By that I mean: the animators can email me their work (attachment. link, etc.) at any time, any day, as always, but just like the on-site workshop has a session once a week, there would be a session once a week for each online workshop. Instead of piling up feedback for everybody during one day, each animator has his/her above mentioned set day as a weekly deadline.

- feedback will be in-depth and workshop animators will always get feedback priority (versus animators that I don't know who just send me emails, they will have to wait their turn (sorry!))

- there are advantages to the on-site workshops, so since the online-workshops are "limited' in that regard, the price will be cut in half, so $400 for 16 sessions per animator

It's not going to happen immediately this week, but depending on demand I could open this up pretty soon (February?).

Sooooo... if you're interested, leave a comment and spread the word.

Thanks!!
JD

Back from vacation!

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've enjoyed two weeks off with my family and friends in Switzerland. Now back to business!!

And Bernie! Stop posting fake anim rip-off clips!! (even though that one was awesome!).

- pic source

New SOS Workshop Signup Procedure - First Come First Served at all times

... and you can attend multiple workshops in a row. No sign-up date anymore. If you're interested in attending, please use signup@spungella(dot) at any time. For more information, go to spungellaonsite. Thanks!

Cheers
Jean-Denis

Highend3D switches to creativecrash.com

... and as a result, none of the links work anymore. Way to go Highend3D... no link forwarding?

I'll update the links on a daily basis. Thanks for your patience.

Looks like it has been updated. I will still go through the links and make sure it all works, but at least now I don't have to hurry anymore.