I posted a thread similar to this on the old board. Here I go again. Why not tell us what part of the world you are from. It doesn't have to be specific, but it helps to know who is up late at night, and who is from a different part of the world. And also what sort of labor conditions you are working under.
How about updating your profiles and telling us if you are in the eastern or western hemispheres? Some of us live in a cardboard tube.
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Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.
I am living in Missouri until I get hired somewhere and can relocate. I would just move out to California, except I don't really have the money to do that right now without having a position waiting for me. Besides, then I'd be ruling out all sorts of stuff on the east coast I could possibly do.
So at this point in time I am in the midwest, but if anyone knows of a great studio job I could apply for, that could change...
Nathanael Fuller
----
Online Portfolio: www.fulleranimation.com
Demo Reel: www.fulleranimation.com/video/Reel_Hi.mov
Great topic, Phacker... I've always wondered what you mean by "far nothern california".
I'm originally from Santa Rosa, north of San Francisco, West of Napa, South of Ukiah. I now reside in Hollister, CA, not far from Monterey, Salinas, and Steinbeck country in general. As an English teacher it's always cool to be reading the first page of Of Mice and Men and walk over and actually point to the Gabilan Mountains when they get mentioned in the book.
We're also the place where the "riots" of 1947 occurred, which inspired the film "The Wild One" featuring Marlon Brando and Lee Marvin. Very motorcycle friendly place.
I've likely driven or ridden past something you ate, like garlic (in Gilroy), lettuce, strawberrys, or artichokes.
Okay, that's your geography lesson from the Central Coast. Back to grading papers...
Cartoon Thunder
There's a little biker in all of us...
I live in Belo Horizonte, the capital city of Minas Gerais. You may find it here, west of Rio and São Paulo:
http://www.marketintelligence.com.br/images/brazil-map.jpg
danielpoeira.org
I'm in Stratford Upon Avon, home of the Bard, very very English but a pretty cool place to live
The Brothers McLeod
[SIZE=2]brothersmcleod.co.uk[/SIZE]
I think I have a rock from Stratford...
Cartoon Thunder
There's a little biker in all of us...
I am from a town about ninety minutes east of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
I am a Multimedia Producer and voice actor. My avatar is the face of the character I play in James Farr's Xombie Flash animated series.
Geoff
www.geoffedwards.ca
"The dog is Cerberus, the girl Zoe, I'm Dirge"
Specifically I am in Red Bluff but no one's ever heard of it. It's a rural cow town.
Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.
I'm from the Midlands, England. I'm one of the people up all night! lol
Portugal... working in a little studio in the North by the sea in a small city called Espinho. there's a story that Espinho's street are parallel to the ones in New York.
"check it out, you know it makes sense!" http://miaumau.blogspot.com/
Amy, a fellow midlander, where abouts?
The Brothers McLeod
[SIZE=2]brothersmcleod.co.uk[/SIZE]
Hey, Phacker, I've heard of Red Bluff!! Been there a few times even. Was born in Chico and lived in Butte county a couple of times.
Nuttin' but Hot up there in summer!
Cartoon Thunder
There's a little biker in all of us...
I live in Stamford, CT- about 45 minutes outside of NYC. It's nice, but they think that since they are near NY, they can price everything accordingly.... :D
www.collegeuniv.com
I'm currently holed up in Savannah Georgia until I can finish school. Then I'm out of the South, thank you very much. I'm originally from Tallahassee, Florida - the capital, though no one ever seems to think so.
Ender
i'm from france , but now work in portland oregon..a pretty cool city, even if it usually rains more than what i'd normally like.
doing animation with a small but fun studio.
and it is not vinton animation, lol
P.
South Africa, Cape Town
http://www.tropicalisland.de/travel_south_africa_cape_town_peninsula.html
http://www.aboutcapetown.com/
:D
http:www.themartist.com
I'm in Vancouver, BC, Canada--and things are quite busy here. Working conditions are fair, and freelance for some, salary for others. 2D pre-prod, FLASH animation and game design are the norm. pretty much every studio here is non-union, but wages are fair for the cost of living in the area. Some studios tend to be located in odd areas, some in run-down sections of town, others in very nice spots. Really variety here.
--Ken
"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)
South City ... or South San Francisco, CA.
If one flies into SFO and drives 101N towards "The City", the first thing you see are the words "South San Francisco - The Industrial City" sprawling on the side of a huge hill. Kinda tacky, especially since I see that everyday from my window.
I'm originally from Northern Virginia, outside Washington DC. Man, I really miss the four seasons.
rupertpiston - I am very familiar with that area. Every other week, I go to salinas to visit my gf's family. Love that Garlic smell of Gilroy. Bonfonte Gardens is really nice. We actually drove thru hollister to hike at the Pinnacles too... nice rolling hills... reminds me of South West Virginia and the Roanoke Valley.
bobbyc
I'm in Central New York (just outside Syracuse) in an animation void. Aside from 3 companies (that I know of) there are really no animation companies here. Our economy is in the toilet (like so many other places) and I am unemployed. Currently looking for employment in the animation/art field--but willing to settle at the moment.
2-D animation will never die. The invention of photography did not kill painting. Why would animation be any different?
Dancing Cavy Productions
http://dancingcavy.deviantart.com
hey Cavy, I'm going to school at SUNY Oswego! I will yell your name out my window.
Awesome! My grandparents used to live within 5 minutes of the campus.
2-D animation will never die. The invention of photography did not kill painting. Why would animation be any different?
Dancing Cavy Productions
http://dancingcavy.deviantart.com
BobbyC
Nice to know somebody knows where this is!! This morning KGO radio had mention of an accident in San Benito County and I thought, "How many people in the bay area know where that is?"
Pinnacles is nice also. Had an adventure there with my dad that I won't go into. If you find yourself heading this way feel free to pop me an email.
Also, you're welcome to check out the San Jose Chapter of Animation Coop. We met in August and I was going to have one in October, but the time is slipping and my wife is due pretty soon, so I may wait a bit longer unless someone else wants to take on a meeting for me.
Cartoon Thunder
There's a little biker in all of us...
I'm in LA (aka Jellyfish Heaven)
:D Hey! With a couple of excceptions, looks like Latin America is at a loss here. So I guess I have to write to add up to the count. Seems I'm the only cuban in this forum, so if you ever come to Havana, I'll show you the sights.
Best cigars around... Hope all is well with you after the recent batch of weather!
Cartoon Thunder
There's a little biker in all of us...
Well, we didn't get as badly hit as the fellas up at Florida... Quite a few roofs are gone, though. The big trouble now is that a power station went kapput, and now our leaders have found there was no back-up, so we are having programmed power cuts of about 6 hours a day, which doesn't help much with computer time.
Going back on the thread (last time was in a hurry)
On working conditions: here if you are an animator, there are two companies (government owned) to work at. ICAIC for cinema and ICRT for TV. The pay is low, but the worst thing is that the material has to go through so many filters that I think they would never make something like Cinderella for considering it too violent. So I got myself a computer (Don't ask how, 'cause legally we can't buy them) and with a few friends, we are trying to make our own thing.)
I guess I'm not the only one doing this here, but there's a certain underground quality to the thing, so we don't know much about each other.
By the way, if I'm not here very often, that's because internet access is complicated over here.
I'm down here in the LA area of Southern California, where the sun shines year around and the sidewalks are full of beautiful people, and movie stars a plenty! :D Well, not really. Working conditions are cool here at Cartoon Network. Lots of amazingly talented people to work with and learn from. It does get alittle noisy from time to time, but thats when I just slip on my head phones. And yes, I'm one of those who are up late.
Aloha,
The Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
Portland, Oregon, all the way baby! The land of rain, hippies, and trees. I'm starving through school at the moment, but hopefully in the future, I'll just be starving. I'd like to stay here, but there isn't a whole lot of opportunity for an animator (or an architect, but still better opportunity when compared to animator). So sad.
It's almost like L.A. is inevitable.
I started out in Portland.
Yes, it's a beautiful town.
Yes, there are few opportunities there.
Yes, it's a little boring, unless you own a car so you can drive away from it.
Harvey I always figured you lived under a rock. Portland is ok, but way too much rain for me. It's pretty and green, but if you spend any time there you know why it's so green.
My part of California is pretty dry and dusty but I'd take that over the rain anytime.
Tech and artsy jobs are scarce in this part of the world, but I love the environment here, and will probably be here for the rest of my days. Hoping the the internet will make opportunities.
How do you like the East Coast Harvey?
Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.
virginia, so you guys are gonna be up later than me.
well aside from being a teen droping me alot of jobs i dont have really any other problems. aside from this town ebing in active
Hey Phacker, don't it get pretty froggy there in the winter or is that just the rest of the valley? I did construction one summer in Chico back in the day and it was pretty rigorous, but come winter it was foggy and drippy. Hollister doesn't get too much but sun and is pretty temperate and mild.
Cartoon Thunder
There's a little biker in all of us...
Most years it's pretty mild. We do sometimes get the "tule" fogs, but up in this part of the north end of the valley it's usually pretty mild. Chico is a little lower, kind of in a swale so it sees more than we do. The fog usually starts about Los Molinos and contiues down towards Chico and sometimes all the way to Sacramento. But Red Bluff is a little higher so we luck out.
Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.
I like the rain, and, yes, I like the undersides of rocks.
On second thought, how dare you!
Chill Harvey...you know I am one of your admirers and friends. Just having a little fun. No offense meant.
Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.
I live in Richmond CA now, ummm. kinda like oakland, but with less police and more murders. I was thinking about moving to portland. I like the prices of the houses up there. How are the jobs? What is the chance of getting one?
Don't do nothing because you can't do everything.
No offense taken.
I guess I forgot to include the international sign for "playing along."
;) ;) ;) ;)
I guess I should first answer the thread topic. .. Now, living in Monterey Park, CA before (hopefully) heading off to France. Long-suffering boyfriend and I applied for long-stay visas there and are waiting to be processed (like a fine cheese!).
But before that, we lived in Portland. Monkey Girl, the job situation is not great. For a while there we had the highest unemployment rate in the country. Don't know if that's still true. Some feel that biotech jobs may pull Portland out of the hole. So let's wolf down those genetically modified foods and support the industry. (...just kidding)
House prices are best in Northeast and North Portland. There's much gentrification going on there so the prices are going up. Northwest is the trendy and most expensive area, but very close to Vinton/Phil Knight Studios. But there are a few start-up graphic arts offices there and a new company called 3D Oregon just opened up on the SW side near PGE Park (sports stadium).
You can do a search for PAGDIG (this is a social group for computer game makers in Portland). They attract non-gamer animators as well. And there's a club called Backspace that is a coffee shop/ 3D computer gaming area. I didn't particularly care for the place (mindless, sexist, violent 3D games / mindless, sexist art on the walls) but that's where PAGDIG has many of their social events. Long-suffering boyfriend says the coffee's not bad either. And they have the old arcade style games (ie Pac-Man, Centipede) in a back room.
There's no sales tax in PDX and the mass transit is reliable and convenient (we never needed a car).
I guess that's all I have on the subject.
Oh Reev Whar!
No sales tax has to be the best part about Portland.
Being that I still live in Portland, I can attest to what Boutros is saying. Jobs are getting better, but verrrry slowly, particularly in art fields. It's probably better to start your own, since the cost of living up here is pretty mild compared to almost any other major city. Although we have those weird business taxes. What's up with that?
That backspace place Boutros was talking about isn't that great, like she said, but there's a cool anime/toy shop right next to it. Very nerdy, and video gamey.
Anyway, monkey girl, I wouldn't suggest moving here unless you have a job lined up, or are gung ho enough to start your own business.
By the way, Oregon 3d is not all that great. It's not really a studio as much as a facility.
That was a tangent.
i am in Mumbai,(india) right now but i am from new delhi. while working on my project i enjoyed my stay in this city! Mumbai is a great place but too crowded.
I'm lodged in a brooch on the lapel of Lincoln :D Paha Sapa-the beautiful Black Hills of the Lakota.
Hey gang, how about not just telling us in this thread where you are from. Open up your profile and make it official, so that when we are answering threads it all comes back to us.
Like I said in the beginning of this thread...you don't have to be really specific in your profile, but in some discussions it really helps to know where people are located.
Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.
Aaaaah, so there was an agenda the whole time we were sharing these details of our lives... I ssseeeeeee.... (scratches his chin, squints his eyes lopsidedly)
Cartoon Thunder
There's a little biker in all of us...
No ulterior motives, it's just nice to look up there and think and be aware sometimes that I am conversing clear across the world with someone. That's the magic of the internet.
Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.
Of course... I agree completely. (no breefsinabunch here!!)
Hey, breefsinabunch... kinda like a drive throug establishment, like Jack in the box, but with a different appeal. Hmmm...
(getrichquickidea #10,429)
Cartoon Thunder
There's a little biker in all of us...
Maybe you could come up with a short animation dealing with "breifsinabunch" and from there start a whole franchise chain of retail outlets and spin offs.
Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.
I'm with you! I seem to be the only Portuguese!!
"check it out, you know it makes sense!" http://miaumau.blogspot.com/
Redmond WA, USA
Working conditions - None and working for myself and working on improving my portfolio.
Hey, I'm avalible for freelance work if anyone is looking. Eh, there isn't any work round here. So don't move to Seattle! There are NO JOBS (for animators that is)! And the competition for even the smallest crap job is way too high.
I gotta get outa here .... :(
Tuam libera mentem - Free your mind
location? lower Manhattan: Lower East Side, East Village, West Village, Chelsea
working conditions? lots of freelancing; no benefits