Welcome all new members of Webster’s SIGGRAPH and welcome back to all the others!  I hope you all had a great summer!

This was our first meeting and it was a good turn out!  We all started off by introducing ourselves, our majors, and why we are awesome.  (and yes, we are very, very awesome)  We discussed some of the new activities we were wanting to do as a group.  For starters, we talked about possibly doing a collaborative project.  Either a short animation or a simple Flash video game.  This will be a member-run collaborative project, so the officers are not necessarily in charge.  We will supervise and probably be part of it as well!  We will make a Facebook group for people who are interested to join and discuss things on.

We also discussed having an open critique during our meetings.  So if any members would like to have some of their work, school related or not, critiqued by their peers they would be able to.  Also, a Fall 2 class will be offered as a 1 credit hour course that will be similar to this.  It will be held on Fridays from 1-2pm and will be basically a class where you bring in your work and have it judged by everyone.  It’s a great idea if you need a second or third opinion about what you’ve done.

Another idea we have thought of was a club T-Shirt.  We thought it would be cool if we had some T-Shirts to wear around to show off how cool we are.  If you have any ideas about designs for one, bring them in for the next club meeting which will be on the 15th.

We also discussed Webster’s animation/interactive media festival: Kinematifest! It is this wonderful festival in April we hold annually where we showcase animations done by students from all over.  We need submissions for this upcoming year, so make us something pretty! We also need a video editor for the showcase reel so if you are a video editor or know of one let us know!

Another topic that came up was the annual SIGGRAPH conference.  It’s a great place to see behind the scenes footage of upcoming movies, to rub elbows with the big-wigs of the production industry, and to meet other students who love doing what we do!  This year the conference was held in LA and this upcoming year will be held in Vancouver, Canada.  The Dean offers some reimbursement so it is definitely something to check out! The official website is siggraph.org if you are interested in going.  If you sign up to a student volunteer they will pay for most of your ticket so not having the money is not an excuse!

The last thing we discussed is an optional weekly drawing assignment.  We would like everyone to draw a character the way you see them.  This meeting we all drew Mickey Mouse and there were some…. interesting renditions of him… For the next meeting, we will be drawing our favorite electrical mouse: Pikachu! So bring us some crazy stuff for the 15th!

Hey everyone. We have just update our site to WordPress 3.0. Everything seems to be running smoothly, but if you notice any problems please post them in response to this post or send me an email. Thanks!

- Michele

This is the last meeting before we all start our summer vacations! Only one week left! We can do it! Anyways, we have some news about some internship opportunities.  The Botanical Gardens here in Saint Louis is looking for someone who can do graphic design, photography, and is experienced in social media.  It isn’t paid, but it would sure look great on a resume!  Another great opportunity is at Animagic. Here, you can do whatever your interested in: character animation, compositing, etc.

We also have some pretty cool classes for the next semester for those who want to pick up an extra class.  Advanced Animation is on Thursdays from 2 to 5 and is a 2D studio where they will be making a collaborative project.  You don’t necessarily need to be an animator to be in this class.  If your more into audio, editing, or writing you can do that instead.  There is also a class that will be devoted to organizing Kinematifest 2011.  The time of this class is still up in the air, though.

In this meeting, Zach Haugen went over some Maya stuffs.

Hello… we meet yet again.

But this time, there wasnt’ many announcements! So, you won’t have to read as much as usual! How about I just use another exclamation point!

Ok, so for our first announcement, The end of the semester is coming up fast on us all the we’ll be trying to remind you about things such as the dean’s fund before we all part after the semester. For everyone going to the ACM SIGGRAPH conference this year (in LA) then you might want to look into the dean’s fund and a grant fund. As for the dean’s fund, just go to Webster’s main page and use the quick links to go to the School of Communications. Then go to current students, then student forms. In there you will find travel authorization for students and that will be the form you need to fill out. As for the grants fund… it was a little unclear as to how the funds will be brought to us so stay tuned and we will tell you as soon as we know.

Next, Kinematifest is very close! Remember, it is April 23rd to 25th and on that Friday we are going to have a BBQ. The very next day Vincent DiFate (Kristen DiFate’s uncle) will be give a presentation of his past work and anything else he feels like speaking about right before the showing of the original War of the Worlds. Immediately after that we will have a St. Louis Scavenger Hunt. It’ll be an awesome day. Then on Sunday we’ll have the actual showing and a reception afterwords. It’ll be an awesome weekend and don’t forget to invite anybody and anyone to come along. The more the merrier.

Next is Kinematifest might become a class. Instead of Kinematifest being run by meeting from time to time, it would actually be a class run by Chris Sagovac. We would still do the same things as usual but we all think it would be much easier on future Kine committees if we could have a constant, such as a professor. If you’re interested at all in having Kinematifest as a class then please bring it up with Chris Sagovac and let him know you are interested.

Also, Chris had a question for all of you. Right now, on average, the animation classes have about 3 people in them each. Now, is this because you just haven’t signed up for them, don’t know what classes are what, or something else. Chris really needs to know what needs to be done on his part, if any. Only a handful of classes are actually going to make it through if this many people stay signed up. So whatever it is that’s going on, please let someone know so we can figure this out.

Next, we had elections. Congratulations to Amanda Walker as our president, Melissa Howell as our VP, Eric Stiller as our Secretary, Jacob Cheney as our Treasurer, and Mike Dillberto as our Marketing and Networking guru. Give them a nice personal round of applause for they will be running Webster Siggraph next year. Congratulations guys.

And to finish off the evening, a Webster Alumni Jen Stolzer came into share her knowledge of photoshop’s shading and coloring. It was quite awesome to learn how to make a 70′s night fighting the creature from alien and make it look realistic. Woot for awesomeness.

Ok, so I’ll keep this one simple and to the point. First and foremost we have Kine coming up. It’s sneaking up on us fast. Basically what you need to know is that there will be from April 23-25th and you need to keep letting people know about it. The more people actually at Kine, the nicer would be.

Now, on the topic of Kine there will be a bake sale in the name of Kine. So in the next few days if you recognize some people selling goodies go tell your friends about it and then have a plethora of cookies to share between the lot of you. Again, with Kine we need to get the word out to anyone and anybody.

Also, next meeting is a very important meeting to be at, it will be elections. For all who want to run for office, please think of why you are qualified to be elected and just all around, why are you awesome? For everyone not running please still show up to vote on your favorite people.

Now, on to the ACM SIGGRAPH Conference in Los Angeles this year, we need to know for sure who is going and who isn’t. If you still aren’t decided then please get ahold of Amanda or Michele and let them know if you are going or not. We need to get the rooms filled and figure out if we have enough room.

Also, Dave Derrington, one of our wonderful professors, is having an events management course over the summer. He got the thumbs up to pretty much run the just recently created Video Game Hall of Fame. If you want in on helping him out, then he’s got a summer class to sign up for. It would be great for a resume and also the experience. They will meet about four to six times during the summer and then you’ll help out in running the event. I believe I heard he also has room and board prepared for anyone who will be working it. It sounds quite awesome.

Speaking of classes, there is a class that is trying to be pushed through at the moment. It’s called Advanced digital esthetics and Kristen DiFate will be teaching it. It is an illustrator/photoshop class and if you’re interested please let someone like Chris Sagovac know so we can get a count of how many people are actually interested.

Lastly Chris Sagovac had a couple of things to add in. First is that there will be a weekend Rotoscoping class over the summer that will be 1 credit hour. So if your interested in Rotoscoping this is quite an awesome opportunity to jump on.

Next is all about festivals. Two Webster Alumni are running a film festival (www.spxpo.com) and there will be an animation portion. So for all those animators looking for a place to send in their animations, this is a great place. And it’s free to send your stuff in. Submissions are due by June 30th so you have a little time.

Then we come to Withoutabox.com. It’s a great website for festivals across the nation and Chris Sagovac is greatly encouraging everyone to put their stuff in. I’ve visited it and it is chucked full of festivals from large to small so, go check it out. It’s another great opportunity.

Now, after all of the wonderful news we were given, the staff of Rampant did a wonderful presentation about logos and just the business in general. It was quite helpful and may I say again, awesome.

Webster Siggraph! Who wouldn’t be excited about that?! And if you aren’t, shame on you.

Ok, down to business. First order of business, registration for the ACM SIGGRAPH conference is open. Get registered before June 4th and it will be cheaper! Yea for cheaper! Also, if you haven’t already been contacted to confirm if you’re going to the conference or not, then please let Michele Narup know so she can figure out how many people are going to be in how many rooms.

Next is the bake sale, yum. Webster Siggraph and the Kinematifest committee are going to be having a bake sale on April 5th & 6th. The weekend before we might be decrorating them. Just keep an eye out for more news, we’ll have more information in it soon.

Also, the AES Summit stuff is coming up. If you are interested in going to anything speak with Amanda Walker, our wonderful president, and she can get you in free. Don’t be afraid to contact her, she doesn’t bite… often.

Anyway, Chris Sagovac had a couple of things to say. First is that the 27th of this month between 9:00 and 4:00 at the H Sam Priest Center there is going to be a Comic Book Conference. There will be professors and artists from all around Missouri and St. Louis to come and speak in panels and give talks. If I remember right, I think Chris Sagovac will be in two of the panels throughout the day. It’ll be awesome.

Next, the animation that was shown the last day that Maya Yonisho was here will soon be able to be handed out to anyone who wants a copy. It will be also in a form so you can change it in any way that you would like to. The only thing that Maya does not want to see the revised or original short is on Youtube or other sites of that manner. So let’s be polite and keep it professional.

Enrollment is coming up, are you ready? Well, if you are (or aren’t) there is going to be another class, a one credit hour class, coming up that might interest many of you. It is called “Animation Dailies” and there will be no projects from the class. All it will be is a time on Friday that you can come in, present your work and get critiques upon what you’ve shown. I think it’s an awesome idea and I know I’m signing up for it. If you are too, then see you there.

After the announcement part of the meeting concluded, Leah Bend, our wonderful ex-president, stood up and gave a talk on interview etiquette, what to bring to an animation interview, and what not to bring. It was a very informational talk and one I hope you can all use. Thank you Leah, it was awesome.

And on that note, these meeting notes are adjourned.

I think I saw more people at this Webster siggraph meeting than I think I’ve ever seen. We were packed to the walls and chairs took up just about every inch of floor space. It was an awesome meeting and thank you all for coming.

Ok, so first order of business. Amanda, our totally cool president, has found information on a job opportunity at the Botanical Gardens. It will probably be a graphic design job without pay, but if you’re interested keep an eye open, because this is all we have so far.

Next, we got our first Kinematifest submissions! Whoo! The deadline for the submissions are February 27th but if your submission is a little late, say a day or two, we should still be able to squeeze it in. If you want to know if we’ve sent them off yet or not just contact anybody in the staff. Also, get everyone you can to submit, we’re looking for quality and also we want to see as many submissions as possible.

Since Michele Narup is graduating this semester, we are going to need another person to run all the social networking sites that she has so gracefully done for Webster Siggraph. If you’re interested then contact Michele, Amanda, or pretty much anybody on the staff.

The ACM Siggraph is coming closer and sadly the deadline for student volunteer submissions are over. So, other ways to save some money is to apply for the dean’s fund. To fill out an application, go to www.webster.edu and the dropdown menu in the top right hand corner can take you to the school of communication’s site. Then go to “current students” and click on “student forms”. You’re looking for the student travel authorization form. Usually the dean’s fund is $250 per person. More information on the SGA traveler’s fund will be coming soon.

Amanda is going to be going to the school’s board to ask if we can get our hands on Zbrush. She wants to know if there’s any other programs you think there needs to be at Webster. If you can think of one just send her and e-mail.

You might want to check up www.thegnomonworkshop.com because we are going to be getting two tutorial disks from their site. Which ones are up to you, if you have a preference then go ahead and shoot any of us and e-mail with what subject you want to see. There also might be a poll on Facebook soon so don’t forget to vote on your favorite.

And lastly, Chris had his awesome announcement. Maya Yonesho, a well respected Japanese animator, is coming in this week to do multiple things. First, there’s going to a workshop on this Friday at 2:00pm in room 202. Maya is doing animation with flip books and using interesting backgrounds behind the hand drawn flip books. If you’re interested, and you should be, go to the workshop on Friday. There will probably be drawing all weekend and then on Monday meet up again at a time that hasn’t been set yet. Then on this next upcoming Wednesday Maya is going to be speaking about the commercial industry in room 202 at 9:30. I highly advise coming to this. And then that night she is going to be showing films in room 123. And Chris then wanted to give us a disclaimer that Maya Yonesho is from a different culture that is not near as “aggressive” as our culture. She is knowledgeable in our culture but please keep in mind hers, we’re representing Webster here. All in all, it will be awesome and I hope to see all of you at any of these awesome opportunities.

And then to finish off the night, Matt Sherry got to take the front stage and shared his secrets of animating to the present Webster Siggraphers. I have to say, it was quite fun doing a tutorial and then speaking about myself in third person in the last sentence. Hopefully you all learned something helpful.

Hope to see you all again soon.

Welcome fellow Webster Siggraphers to yet another exciting episode of… Webster Siggraph! If you missed the first episodes of this season you might want to go back and catch up on all the twists and turns in the world of Webster Siggraph.

In this belt buckling episode there was another appearance of Kinematifest as it’s website is officially declared up. It flashes off it’s new colors at www.kinematifest.com. And there’s a beautifully awesome kinematifest promo trailer that was created by the brilliant minds of the kinematifest committee. You should go see it.

And while Kinematifest was hogging the airtime, it reminded us all that submissions are due in by the 27th of February. We can be a little lenient with Webster’s entries but please try and get them in by the 27th. We need to mail them out to judges.

While we’re all on the topic of deadlines (and I control the topic, muhaha) the ACM SIGGRAPH convention’s student volunteer deadline is creeping up on us quickly. The deadline is 15 February 2010, 22:00 UTC/GMT, so roughly ten days left. We do have news that there will be a Dean’s fund and probably a SGA travel fund to help people with paying for the convention.

Shortly after Kinematifest left the spotlight, Matt Pierce was quick to pick up the limelight. He has announced to the public that there might be an opportunity to do a 3d/maybe after effects animation job with a film student from Webster’s own program. If you’re interested, e-mail him or keep checking here for updates (don’ t worry, there will be updates).

Then from stage left Chris Sagovac made quite the entrance, as always, and had his own announcements to make. A speaker (which I sadly forgot to grab her name…) is flying in from Japan to do some business in the states. While she is in the country, she is going to be swinging by Webster in the week of February 18th. On the 26th, she is going to be giving an awesome artist lecture at 12:00 noon in 123 Sverdrup, don’t miss it. Backtracking a little, on the 19th an animation workshop is going to start. She has her own style of animation using flip books and local backgrounds and she wants to make Webster one of those backgrounds. If you’re interested in working your butt off for the weekend and being a part of this workshop, check it out on the 19th in room 202. It’s going to be AWESOME!

Then to end the episode, Marie Enger gave some great tips, tricks, and tutorials on making facial expressions  and character sheets for animation. I personally learned a lot and I hope you all did you; very educational. And if you missed out, I have pity on you for you truly missed out.

And to end, there was much rejoicing.

Brought to you by the working of Matt Sherry and viewers like you.

Hello and welcome to yet another episode of Webster Siggraph. This past week there were tons of new and exciting things that went down. For all of you thousands of readers out there that missed the glorious meeting, I’ll sum it up for you.

First order of business, Leah Bend stepped down from her position as our president and there was many “aww”s and somebody in the back wept… but we had to fill her position and Amanda Walker stood in to take over as Webster Siggraph’s president. Congratulations to Amanda and Leah, hopefully now you have time to actually sleep.

In other news, Amanda Walker is back from Thailand!

After that election, the competitive position of Treasurer opened up and Melissa fought her way through the crowds to become our present Treasurer. Congratulations to Melissa! Give her a round of applause… literally.

At that point in time the ACM Siggraph convention was brought to our attention and deadlines are not that far away. The Siggraph convention will be held at the end of July and run for a weeks time down in LA, whoo! If you would go you will see, or even talk to personally, people from places such as Pixar and Adobe, all those big names. The convention is not the cheapest so for students, go us, we have the opportunity to help at student volunteers working either 18 or 30 hours that week, your choice. For more information just go to www.siggraph.org/s2010. Also, we already have 5 rooms booked for whomever is going, you can thank Michele for that.

One last thing about Siggraph. If you’re going to go, please bring BUSINESS CARDS. They are a must have at this convention and you’ll be sad without them and we will cry no tears of sympathy for you.

After the long discussion about the SIGGRAPH convention, there was talk about what Webster Siggraph is going to do during our meetings this year. Nothing is set in stone so if you still have any ideas that you want to see (from talks to movies to whatever) just e-mail somebody on the staff and we’ll get it to the right person.

Also, Chris Sagovac pointed out that our library now has a collection of animation magazines including “Animation Magazine”. Woot!

Kristen DiFate also has a job opportunity for anyone who wouldn’t mind making some simple looking web designs (probably in photoshop) and it you will be paid for it. If you’re interested then please e-mail Kristen DiFate and let her know.

And that was pretty much it. It was a great meeting and an awesome start to the semester. Again, congratulations to the new staff!

P.S. Leah, please remember to not randomly present bananas to strangers. It’s kinda awkward.

Welcome Webster Siggraphers to another awesome episode of our last meeting. For all of you who missed the great meeting we had for our holiday party, you missed a great holiday party. There was even a batmobile given out, not a literal batmobile, a little tiny figure of a batmobile that made you wish you had a real batmobile.

Anyway, first point of the news, we not officially have a facebook page, not just a group. If you aren’t already a fan, go find it and become one of our many fans. Woot!

Also, for all you late nighter study groups/individuals, the cybercafe (the coffee joint in the library) is going to be open until 9:00pm. Please go by there even if you don’t need the caffeine. This is a test run and if they don’t get enough business, they’ll keep the old hours, closing at 4pm. Ridiculous.

The Mr. Gorlok Competition is coming to Webster University in January? It was unclear because it was worded in horrible grammar and said come in January to get a break from studying for your finals… in January… But from what we could get out of it, it’s a male talent show where each extracurricular group sends a male to represent their group. Chris Sagovac has already stepped up and said he’d do it. I’ve got $10 for him right now.

Princess and the Frog is coming out this Friday! Being the only 2d, hand drawn movie in theaters/production for theater, you should go see it and support the old fashion/amazing style of hand drawn animation. I know I’m going to see it about eleventy billion times.

Kinematifest people, you have a meeting coming up next Wednesday. You’ll be getting e-mails as a reminder, but I’m reminding you now.

Coolfire is looking for a new intern, sweet deal. For anyone who’s interested in web development just go to the front page and there’s a pretty little exert of what you need to do to get an internship. Also, there’s talk of Coolfire having a script (the story script) intern coming this summer although it’s only a rumor at the moment.

On next Friday the 18th, the animation senior overview class is going to be showing their work at 1:00 in Sverdrup 101. There’s also going to be other work from other classes and might include a stop motion animated short. I’ve personally seen the overview work and we’ve all poured our hearts, souls, and sanity into it. It’s going to be awesome so please go check it out and enjoy the pretty colors.

And the last announcement, a very important one. Next meeting, which will be in January, we are going to have elections again. Sadly, our awesomely amazing president, Leah Bend, is stepping down from her position to give someone else a shot. We will vote on who that person might be at that meeting, if your interested, show up at that meeting, it’s quite important. The position of Treasurer might be open as well.

And for all you thousands of readers out there, peace out.