Every peach of a couple of months still has its pit.

Four days after my last post I got work (after far to long of a dry spell) at a new effects studio.  The place is called Pixel Magic.  All in all I can safely say its hard to meet a better group of folks and a studio with such good atmosphere.  It was small and cozy, worked on three upcoming films and got to know AfterEffects a little better.
 Actually, that brings me to a point I'd like to mention. I've been using AfterEffects in some form or another since 1999.  Like any relationship, we have had our ups and downs, discoveries and arguments.  Sure, there are a few sexier compositing programs out there (I swear I'm not thinking of Nuke when I am comping in you, AE) but it gets the job done and we are comfortably happy with one another.  So it always offends me just slightly when someone says its hard to find a studio that uses AE.  But I've been in LA for a little bit now and here is the thing...EVERYWHERE I have been uses AE.  Sure, it may not be the primary comping program but it is used just the same.
  So don't listen to the haters who say its Nuke or nothin.

Back to Pixel Magic.  I met a few folks there who I highly recommend you try to work with.  Great people, brimming with positive attitudes and can play Call of Duty like it was their job (which I do consider it a healthy component.) Check out their pages when you get a chance.

Praven Mahtani                           Fabian Jimenez                                   Melissa Quintas
Brad Moylan                                  Evan James                                      Chris Keith

Chris worked on Tron and Superman 4, which puts him in a place of respect in my pantheon even if he wouldnt know what to do with himself there.  Brad is a fellow kid from Missouri makin his way into the credit sequence, so full blown props for that.  And thanks to the whole group of them I have seen every installment of 'To Catch a predator'.  I'll tell you more about that over a Mikes hard Lemonade.

This brings me to a new component of the blog that I want to start putting in.  I'm going to call it 'Life in the 401st' due to the Springfield area code being 417 and the primary in my neck of the valley is 818.  I sometimes avoid posting since I do not have any new art to put up, but considering my professional life is a compositor and I wanted to find a blog with the sort of questions a new kid in a bad part of town might want to know if they should decide to move to LA to make bad shots look good.