Start: David Rodriguez

Studio:  ReelFX

College: San Francisco State University/ Animation Mentor

I got a BA in Fine Art (emphasis in printmaking) from SFSU in 2007.  After graduating, I started thinking of what I was going to do.  I was working as a secretary at an advertising company at the time.  I was planning on applying to The Academy of Art for a MFA in Illustration, but then came across Animation Mentor (AM) after reading about it on an animation blog.  That was on a Wednesday, and by Thursday evening, I had applied and was eager to start!  I kept working for the first two classes of AM, but then decided to live off my savings and not work for the last year of AM.  After 18 months, I went from knowing nothing about animation to being not horrible.  Unfortunately, I graduated at a less than ideal time, and not many places were hiring.  After graduating, I went to live with a friend in Switzerland for 2 months to finish my short film and relax.  After I got back, I worked odd jobs and took a class with Jean-Denis Haas at his Spungella workshop in San Francisco to properly finish my short film.  After that, I got a job at the Academy of Art of San Fransico, helping students in their animation computer lab with technical issues, all while continuing to work on my demo reel.  I was lucky enough to get inot a small private class with Michal Makarewicz (an Annie award winning animator from Pixar) and I kept learning and pushing myself.  Then on April 15th, 2011, I got a call from Rhythm & Hues: I had gotten into their apprentice program.  That was a great experience!  It was tough and I learned a lot about posing.  After the 1 month apprenticeship, I rolled onto Alvin and the Chipmunks 3 and learned a lot!  After that film, I moved to Norway for 3 months and spent time with my fiancee, moonlighting as a freelance animator at an ad agency, and took a class at iAnimate.net to continue learning  and getting better.  When I got back to the states, I got a job at Red5 Studios, working on Firefall (a first person shooter Massive Multiplayer game).  Six months into that job, out of the blue I got an email from a friend at ReelFX asking if I would be interested in moving to Dallas to work on their first feature film, "Turkeys".  By the time I had gotten married and my wife, who is also an animator, had moved from Norway to Southern California.  She wasn't too keen on being stuck at home all day without much of a network of people she knew beyond my family, and the idea of moving away from even that small network didn't sit so well.  So after I had my interview and got my offer from ReelFX, she applied as well -- she would soon be getting her work permit and could take a job.  I sent that email on Wednesday, and by the next Monday, she had had her interview and got an offer as well!  So that brings us to today.  My wife and I have both been at ReelFX since September 2012, and are loving it here!  We are both working on our first fully animated American feature film together: Free Birds!  Life is good!

Advice:

Work your ass off, but don't stress over things out of your control, and enjoy the ride, because after all, the ride is the best part!  Oh ya, and KEEP IT SIMPLE!

PS. Work smarter, not harder!