2020.

A few weeks ago marked my 3rd year living in Montreal, and working at Method. It made me realize how quickly 2020 went by with little to nothing to mark the passage of time- my annual trip to Comic Con in San Diego, my regular visits to NYC to see family, my travels to see friends and former colleagues scattered across the globe, or even casual work parties to celebrate the end of production or say goodbye to colleagues moving away- 2020, for the most part, was a big, grey blah.

Tibou’s rendition of 2020

That’s how it felt anyway. Career-wise, I did work on a number of projects (from the safety of home, at my studio loft located in Quartier des Spectacles in downtown Montreal- I moved to this exciting location a few minutes walk from work, just in time for everything to shutdown).

Here’s what did happen in 2020:

• We finally wrapped a nearly year-long project that I started animating on back in Oct 2019, Zemekis’ reimagining of Roald Dhal’s, “The Witches.” Being a life-long fan of Roald Dhal, I had my trepidations about yet another reboot that was mostly CG this time ’round. But it was nice to be able to character keyframe for the first time since I left Laika. I was also pleased that my nephew and niece got to watch something where they could look-out for “auntie’s” name in the credits (most VFX films I animate on are not ages 3-6 appropriate). I worked on 20-some shots in all.
• I finally got to take that long-planned trip to Costa Rica the first 3 weeks of January. We actually arrived on New Years day, just in time to watch the fireworks at the ring of midnight while trying to figure out how to get into our Airbnb in San Jose after landing at the airport. This trip was more of the adventure variety, so we didn’t have much time to relax on those gorgeous beaches, but it was probably the most memorable trips of my life including multiple rainforest treks, zip-lining, exploring old ruins, and the most remarkable wildlife sighting of my travels. I still haven’t gone through photos yet, so once they’re up I’ll post a separate entry.
• After 15 years, I paid off my last private school loan. Only federal remaining!
• I got to work, albeit briefly, on a TV show for Apple TV, “For All Mankind.”
• In place of all my cancelled trips, we went camping A LOT, including trips to Tadoussac to see the whales, Tremblant, Park Omega, Saint-Calixte, and a beautiful 5 day trip to Banff to see the glaciers, fall colors and wildlife.

• I worked on 3 more projects, including a commercial where I keyframe animated an entire tank of aquarium fish in one week!:Also worked on another product spot for the-client-who-wishes-to-be-unnamed. And a video game that was recently announced to release on the PS5 (during pandemic days we now have a new game division).
• This isn’t so much my news, but my family in NYC made a big move back to the bay area in the summer. Which means no more NY trips for me, but I’ll be able to see more of my family back in the “mother-land” once travel is possible again.

Lastly, thank you ACNH for keeping me and my family connected and sane through 2020

Categories: Animation, Life Update, Travel, Work