Tag Archives: portfolio

Featured Student: Erik Slader

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Where are you from originally? What’s your Origin Story?

I was born in San Fran, grew up in Vegas, (even lived in Texas for a bit), and then somehow ended up out here in Jacksonville…

 

Why are you pursuing a degree in Digital Media?

I’ve always been a creative person… I’ve also been addicted to computers since as long as I can remember. For instance, I used to draw video game and comic book characters on my homework and would often make stop action movies instead of doing said homework.

Throughout high school whenever I would be forced to move away from all my friends, I’d cope by losing myself in writing – world building entire sagas from the ground up. It soon became clear though that writing wasn’t necessarily a valid career path. When I first started college back in ’06 I knew there were things I’d like to accomplish in life, and that I needed a college degree to accomplish those goals. Problem was figuring out which degree would be the best stepping stone.

As I worked towards my AA I went through several different majors. Then, the year I completed my Associate degree, I met Dr. Troy Johnson. He informed me that FCCJ was becoming FSCJ – a four year institution and that one of the degrees offered was Digital Media.

This degree seemed way more attuned to my interests than whatever else I was considering at the time (communications?), so I decided to pursue it, even if it meant taking another couple extra years of pre-reqs…

 

Who inspires you the most and why?

This one doesn’t have an easy answer, because I could list off a thousand people and still think of more. So I’ll try and make this quick: Ridley Scott, Chris Hardwick, John Lasseter, Jim Lee, J.K. Rowling, and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

That said, I’m constantly inspired by all the professors and students in this program alike!

 

What do you do off campus?

Currently I’m a Barista at Starbucks to pay the bills. I’m also a history blogger on my site, “Epik Fails of History” (EpikFails.com), and I write comic book reviews and online content for the local comic book shops (Super Hero Beach and Super Hero Hive) @ SuperHeroBeach.com – I also help out at the store on occasion as well as events like Free Comic Book Day. I was recently on the Short Box podcast and have been working on a few articles for Movement Magazine, including a recent interview with James O’Barr, the creator of “The Crow”.

If that’s not enough, I also volunteer at the Buckman Bridge Unitarian Universalist Church (BBUUC) in Orange Park on occasion, where I run the sound system / projector for services and events.

I live with my wonderful and supportive wife, Danielle, our two feline roommates (Buffy and Willow), and our adorable dog Chewy.

 

What work are you most proud of?

I’m usually a pretty harsh critic on myself, but I’d have to say my 3D animation and modeling work: The Kraken creature model, my Bowser’s Castle design, and my Star Trek sequence especially turned out way better than I ever expected – All of which took many moons to complete and I may still end up updating them further at some point.

3D programs like Maya, Mudbox, and 3DS Max are REALLY daunting at first, but if you have patience, trust yourself, and don’t give up, the possibilities are endless. I LOVE the creative freedom that comes with 3D design.

 

Interesting facts about you:

• I love techno and video game music.

• I used to be very in shape, as a martial artist with a second degree black belt in Japanese Shotokan / Tae Kwon Do and even competed in tournaments. (I then broke my hand, had to have surgery, and have since put on a few pounds)

• I didn’t actually know much about history until I was inspired by college level humanities courses to dig deeper, eventually prompting my inspiration to write and research an ongoing blog / book about just how ridiculous it all is.

• I was working at both Blockbuster AND Borders when BOTH companies went bankrupt at the same time.

 

Favorite Book / Movie / Series / Video Game / Comic?

• Books: Michael Crichton’s “Jurassic Park”, Ernest Cline’s “Ready Player One”, and Ben Thompson’s “Badass”

• Movies: “Back to the Future”, “V For Vendetta”, J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek” (2009), Edgar Wright’s “Scott Pilgrim vs the World”, and Zack Snyder’s “Watchmen”

• Series: “Cowboy Bebop”, “Vikings”, “The Flash”, “Comic Book Men”, “Battlestar Galactica” (2004-2009), “Game of Thrones”, “Cosmos”, etc…

• Video Games: Super Mario Bros 3 (NES), Donkey Kong Country (SNES), Sonic 2 (Genesis), The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64), Mrs. Pacman, Mortal Kombat, Batman: Arkham Asylum, FEZ, etc…

• Comics: Grant Morrison’s “All Star Superman”, Scott Snyder’s “Batman”, Jason Aaron’s “Thor: God of Thunder”, Robert Kirkman’s “Invincible”, and Brian Azzarello’s “Wonder Woman”

 

What are your future goals and aspirations?

  1. Land a job that allows me to use my skills creatively within the Digital Media field.
  2. Make enough money to support my family and one day be able to put my kids through college.
  3. Become a published author.
  4. Collaborate on a comic book series.
  5. Write a feature-length screenplay.
  6. Create a video game.

One thing you wish you could share with others is…

Believe in yourself, knowledge is power, the key to the future is learning the mistakes of the past, and question everything. (I know that’s technically like 4 things, but whatever)

 

You can learn more about Erik and see some of his work at his professional website erik-slader.squarespace.com

 

 

Our featured students are student-selected. Once a student has been featured, they nominate the next student to be profiled. Come back next month to see who’s been picked!
Have any questions? Please contact Professor Liz Murphy Thomas at Liz.Thomas@fscj.edu

 

Featured student: Daniel Partenie

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Where are you from originally? What’s your Origin Story?

I was born and raised in Israel however, my family is originally European-American. My mom has been a traveler all her life and fortunately I have had many opportunities to visit a few countries. I’ve had the chance to learn about and experience diverse cultures and lifestyles. When I was young, I would watch my father (a professional artist) draw Disney characters for me every day. Since then on, I’ve known my passion was art. I’m a geek by nature and I love technology, so it was no question when I decided to pursue both art and technology as a career.

 

Why are you pursuing a degree in Digital Media? 

I’m pursuing a degree in this field because it provides my two most favorite hobbies, art and technology. I love the ability to attain multiple skills under my belt and gain as much knowledge about all the incredible 2D and 3D programs we use today.

 

Who inspires you the most and why?

I look up the most to the great minds of the past; Leonardo DaVinci and Michelangelo just to name a few. I couldn’t imagine a world without these founding fathers, they created amazing and marvelous relics we still use today. Lastly, my amazing family and friends who support me every day and believe in me.

 

What do you do off campus? 

When I’m not working my other jobs, I dedicate all my energy to side projects and improving my craft by watching professional videos, reading books, and taking notes. The way I see it is this; if I don’t learn something new every day then I’m losing time and time is very precious to me.

 

What work are you most proud of? 

This is hard question to answer because as I’m still experimenting and growing as a digital artist. I still feel like I’m not quite there to accept a medal of honor. However, I am proud of myself for growing each day and learning new things in this program.

 

Interesting facts about you:

I believe in the power of positivity. I always strive to look at events in life with a positive outlook. I credit this way of thinking to my success in life thus far. Sometimes we can get in our own way in life and I think once we change our mindset we can achieve greatness.

 

Favorite Book / Movie / Series / Video Game / Comic?

Book – The Future of the Mind

Movie – Star Wars

Series – Xena: Princess Warrior

Video Game: Age of Empire

Comic: Assassin’s Creed

 

What are your future goals and aspirations? 

I have many goals and aspirations for what lies ahead. My most important goals are that I would love to work in the video game industry, Pixar, or Disney – whichever comes first. I also want to be able to share my skills and knowledge with other teammates and lead my own team one day! 

 

One thing you wish you could share with others is… 

Practice, practice, practice, those words never get old. Practice truly does indeed make perfect. Don’t ever try to be better than others, instead; compete with yourself. You should define your own standards to hold yourself to. You’ll be much happier when you’ve reached your own unique definition of success.

 

You can learn more about Daniel and see some of his work at his professional website danielpartenie.daportfolio.com

 

 

Our featured students are student-selected. Once a student has been featured, they nominate the next student to be profiled. Come back next month to see who’s been picked!
Have any questions? Please contact Professor Liz Murphy Thomas at Liz.Thomas@fscj.edu

 

Spring 2015 portfolio review is coming up!

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Whether it has been “a maze” or “amazing” – it is time for our annual portfolio review for students currently enrolled in the portfolio course! This review has been scheduled for Friday, April 24th from noon through 4:00pm on the South campus of FSCJ.

For more information, email julia.dearriba.montgomery@fscj.edu or t.johnson@fscj.edu

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It’s the summer, but don’t lose your skills

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laptop_safe_hotThe days are warm and long, the beach and pool beckons you regularly, and friends and family are scheduling road trips – in other words, it’s the summer! Whether you are taking just a class or two or are lucky enough to have the whole summer free, summer brain drain can apply just as much in college as it did when you were in high school.

So instead of finding out that your mad Photoshop skills have degraded and that After Effects has once again become an enigma, try to keep your skills up during this time off!

Here are just a few ideas of ways you can practice (while still enjoying your time off):

Design (or update) your portfolio

You’re going to need a portfolio for the program and to get your work out to potential employers so why not get a jump-start figuring out what it’s going to look like and what kind of content you want to eventually include? If you’ve already made a portfolio, have you created any new work in the past school year that you’d like to include or swap out?

Watch some tutorial videos

This is pretty well known among the FSCJ digital media students but there are a ton of great (and free!) tutorials online that cover pretty much every piece of software we have in the labs. Was there a point your professor didn’t get to cover in as much detail or something that was especially tricky for you? There are probably some great tutorials out there for you to refresh and expand your understanding of that technique.

Give yourself an assignment

What?! This one sounds suspiciously like work, huh? But unlike assignments that you get in a class, you can design this assignment yourself!
Have you ever heard of Project 365? Well who says they have to start on January 1st? (You could start on July 1st and create your own “project 184”!) Or maybe there’s a video or animation idea you’ve had but haven’t have the time to work on it? Have you wanted to learn more about Cinemagraphs? WordPress? Pinterest? Behance? Give yourself an assignment to learn or do any of these things and you’ll find that the practice will give you a huge head start in the fall.

Whatever you choose to do, remember the important thing is to just not stagnate. Keep up with your skills, review and discover new techniques, or finally take a step towards creating that cool project that you envisioned during the school year but you knew you were just too busy at the time to attempt. August is just around the corner – be prepared!