The following is feedback that I have gotten from people around the world, telling me their story, and how the Animator Letters Project has encouraged and inspired them in their pursuit to become an animator. It is a blessing and a huge encouragement to me to get these kinds of responses from people, because it shows me that this project is truly impacting people's lives and making a difference, and that is what it is all about. If you are an aspiring animator, and have a story to share about how this project has impacted you, then please send me an email. If you are a professional animator, then please read some of these stories and you will see just how much of a difference your letter- your story- can make in some else's life.
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"Hi Willie!
I wanted to write you so you know how your project has affected my life... thought it would be nice for you to have a little feedback on that.
I've always been the changes-and-challenges-scared-to-death type of girl. When I was 13 years old I discovered what would be my BIGGEST dream in the whole wide world: to become a Pixar animator.
Since then I always thought that would be what I'd studie (animation) but when the time came, for several reasons, I had to give that dream up, at least for some time.
Money was tight at home, and unfortunately (for this matter) I live in México and we don't have good schools for animation, so I ended up studying another one of my passions: photography. Today I'm 6 months away from graduating, and I really like it, but for some reason I keep feeling like there's something missing. I must admit, the big "WHAT IF?" has been haunting me for almost 3 years, since I started the whole photography thing.
So last week right after a long conversation with my Dad 'bout what would or should my next move be I found out about your project, just like a Godsend. I was and still am completely blown away by it, I LOVE literally everything about it, and I don't think I'll ever get tired of saying it. All of a sudden the 'fearfull' girl became the 'fearless' girl, that same day I found out about "Animation Mentor" (read about it in the Aaron Hartline letter) and e-mailed them immediately.
I talked it over with my parents who have always been amazingly supportive, and here I am a week later about to apply! So regardless of what happens now your project has already changed my life by giving me the courage to pursue my lifelong dream. And I thought I'd write you what turn out to be a very long 'thank you' note, sorry for the "very long" part, I just had so much to say. God is certainly using you in incredible ways!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
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"Hi Willie
I followed Lee Unkrich's retweet onto your website and it made me cry. It was as if this website was written for me!! :')
I have always been a doodler... on the walls at home when I was little, then on my notes in class from when I started school till now in university. I spent the most of my childhood wanting to be a cartoonist, illustrator, children's story book writer.. However, growing up in ever-pragmatic Singapore, it was never an option to pursue an 'artistic' career. Going the conventional, and 'sensible' route, I am lucky enough to have landed myself in University College London, where I am now finishing up the last week in my four-year undergraduate degree in speech and language therapy.
I have always enjoyed drawing, but I have never once thought I was nearly good enough to pursue it as a career. However, recently, while watching Steve Jobs' graduation address on TED about following your dreams and never settling, I got all fired up and started thinking about really going for this childhood dream again. Despite really enjoying what I am doing at the moment, and garnering a 6 year contract working with people with communication problems in hospital in Singapore beginning this autumn, I really really think I would regret it on my deathbed if I never once in my life truly set a foot down to pursue this childhood dream. I want to be an illustrator!! I WANT TO WORK IN PIXAR!!
Telling my friends and family this has been hard. Most friends pass it over with 'yeah, you do that', and my family laugh it off and I suppose none of them are taking me seriously when I tell them how I plan to use this 6 years of having a stable job to save up, to better my drawing skills, so that after this 6 years I will have the skill set to find a job in the industry and the money to sustain myself through this (what I expect to be) hard process. It has been hard to find someone who truly believes in my pursuing this dream.
And now, when I am beginning to seriously plan my way of breaking into the industry and fulfilling my dream, it is really really inspiring and encouraging to come across your project. I just wanted to share my story with you and tell you how what you're doing is truly amazing. I will work hard and I will keep my dream alive. Aww, I can't tell you more how much this means to me.
Thank you!!!"
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"Hi Willie I read your blog and I just love it. I'm a French student in 3D animation, I was in a school that was supposed to teach 3D for two years, and I leave it now for Animation Mentor in September. The more I was learning (almost everything by myself concerning animation), the more I was kind of sad an asked myself lots of question because the school was nothing but a money trap. Now I'm in a little studio in Paris for a work placement, and I see that I still have many mountains to climb before to be a true professional animator (and then, maybe, reach my dream of working at Pixar... Well, at least find a job! ^^). Anyway, like Jeff Joe wrote, everyone has his own story and that's great. All I can say is that I love this blog and I really hope you'll go on with it. Cheers."
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"Hi Willie I love so much your idea am cg artist from Tunisia and I have the same dream as you since 2005 I remember when Animation Mentor is started, I visited the site each day... just to watch their program and since that I tried to put money aside for this school, but every time I had some financial problems.. Now I have no job because of revolution of 14/01/11 so i decided to study animation using the videos tutorials by jason ryan and keith Lango. sorry for my bad
English."
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"Hi Willie, I finally got around to reading what this project was about and I want to say its a great project :D. Like you I struggled to make the decision of leaving a degree in pursuit of a dream of animation. Im from London and I was studying Architecture at university and even from day 1, I hated it and new like that my dream job would be to work at a big studio like Pixar. I plodded along through 1st and second year, and when it came to final year I couldn't take it anymore and was hating the degree so much and not learning anything because i wasn't enjoying it, so I ended up leaving without a degree after investing 3 yrs and a lot of money :S ... It was hard seeing all my friends graduate and get jobs and move onto their new 'adult' lives, whilst for me it seemed like i was left behind and stuck between a rock and a hard place. Whilst my mother supported and supports me with this career change, i get the impression my father has seen it as a failure... I think that has been a hard thing to come to terms with as i am now 23 and in the same position i was in at 18... One of my biggest regrets was not having courage to apply to art school straight out of secondary school( high school). Like the young girl on your blog, I too had always had a love for drawing and when I was younger my room was my canvas, but i too never thought myself good enough to become a professional. but i'm doing it now and what has made me feel stronger is that now i KNOW I'm doing this for ME and because its what I LOVE!!, and i'm happier for it, BETTER LATE THEN NEVER ey.. I am only at the beginning of this journey and am looking to develop my skills and grow as an artist, which is no small fait and look to apply to colleges state side for 2012, and i KNOW one day i WILL make it to Pixar, so i also want to say thank you for doing this project, its comforting to know that there are others out there who have been through/ are going through a similar situations and that we should always have the courage and conviction to chase our dreams :D Much Love"
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"Hi Willie As an aspiring animator, I've found your site a real inspiration. Lately, I've been slugging it out, hunting for resources and working on independent projects, but with very few people having my back, it can be rather discouraging, so thank you. Wishing you well."
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"Hi Willie, I'm Soh Fia from Singapore and i stumbled across your post in the AB forum about this project and i wanna say a big THANK YOU for doing this! It brought tears to my eyes now my keyboard's all wet hahaha! I want to work in Disney and Pixar one day and those letters gave me the extra boost to work even harder and learn more and more each day. I've sent the link to all my mentors, some of which are amazing long time animation veterans in the industry. Thanks for starting this project, i'm sure so much more animators-to-be would be able to pull through because of this! Thanks!"
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"Hi Mr. Downs, First off, i want to say what you are doing with animation letters is pure genius, i myself would always try and email animators hoping for a reply. Needless to say, i didn't get a reply, which i totally understand why as they are usually very busy with their work. I am from Singapore as well, i am an aspiring animator hoping to work at Pixar someday. Like the Singaporean before me, starting out in animation in a small country with limited resources is difficult, even more difficult when you are a junior in high school. Unfortunately i don’t have a story about how i was depressed and decided to push through the and prove my peers wrong. On the plus side i am grateful i have such supportive parents and peers who are always there to push me further. While they might think its the greatest piece of animation out there, i know, as with anyone in the industry that it could be better. How have i tried to improve my animation skills ? books ? i have tried to browse through books on maya but im not sure if you noticed this but most maya books, focus on the modeling/rigging side of it, strange huh ? My solution...go back to the roots of animation, hand-drawn animation. I purchased a lightbox and bought some animation paper..which was not cheap. It was totally worth it ! It was a great tool for just getting the fundamentals of animation down like squash and stretch. This is ideally not where i want to go though, im focused on working at pixar someday , 3D animation. Do you know any online classes i can take, i wish animation mentor did like a summer class for high school students. This summer, I will be attending the CCA pre-college animation program in Oakland and am very excited for that, hopefully ill get my first visit of Pixar Studios! Although i sometimes envy people for having those “connections” with people at the studios, i know as long as i “don’t give up” like Mr. Hartline said, i will eventually achieve my goal. I love this project and it keeps me motivated. I know this is impossible but it would be awesome to have a letter a day, something nice to read before i start school every morning. Great work and wish you all the best.”
