Help Me Attend Don Bluth University!

Hi everyone! I would like to share this invitation to donate to a worthy cause; that cause being myself (a local artist and aspiring animator) attending Don Bluth University starting Sept. 3, 2018. Anything helps, but those giving $15.00 or more will get their name in the back of the first book in the upcoming family-friendly series, Lost And Found, as well as a free copy of the first book. Please read below to find out why this is so important to me, and check out both the Go Fund Me link as well as the Don Bluth University link below. Thank you!

THE BEGINNING STAGES...

I remember being four years old and watching movies such as Disney’s Pinocchio and Bambi with my
family in our living room; the liveliness of the characters onscreen and especially the artfulness of the
woods not only held my attention, but inspired me to start drawing. This continued as I grew up watching more films such as Land Before Time, An American Tail, and All Dogs Go to Heaven. I even went so far as
to declare openly to my folks that I wanted to one day be an animator for Disney---all at the age of four!

Thus began my journey into the arts with particular focus in drawing, coloring, and painting, with an eventual focus on digital media such as Photoshop digital illustration by the time I was in college. However, I
never lost my love for traditional animation. When I was in junior high and high school, I would watch all the behind-the- scenes documentaries on my favorite animated films such as Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs, Bambi, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and Fantasia 2000. I would also watch the behind-the-scenes from Pixar’s heyday such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Wall-E. The more I watched and studied animation in all of its forms,
as well as improved my drawing and painting skills, the stronger my appreciation for animation (especially traditional paper- and-pencil style animation) grew.

THE COLLEGE YEARS...

This appreciation and desire to work in animation influenced my choices in enrolling in college (only to a
point, however, as I’m not from a wealthy family), which resulted in going to Stephens College in my hometown of Columbia, MO for my Bachelors Fine Arts in Digital Filmmaking, which I achieved on snowy
December 5th , 2013. During college, I studied the basics of filmmaking in terms of screenwriting,
directing, working with cameras, developing motion graphics via After Effects, and editing film in a digital sense. However, Stephens’ film school (now termed School of Interdisciplinary Studies) is not very large,
even now. There was an average of one student graduating each year that even created an animated short film for their capstone, myself being one of those students for my graduating year. Granted, there were
smaller opportunities to learn different forms of animation; examples include a small group of people
called Tiny Circus, which would teach stop-motion for about three days during the Citizen Jane film
festival, as well as whatever knowledge my instructors could give me regarding what they knew about
animation.

Because traditional animation can get expensive when it comes to affording all the necessary materials to make it, my capstone short film, G.I.Z.M.O.: Stuck Gears, ended up being more tra-digital than traditional. My capstone also took longer to complete as I was the only one with the skill set that I knew of who could get it done. Much of my skills specific to animation, therefore, were self-taught based on tutorials I would find online.

Much to my delight, I would find plenty of animation tests and short films that students from other schools more so specializing in animation that were traditional style, not just CG, stop-motion, or After Effects
puppet style. This inspired me especially after hearing about Disney (as a corporation) stating that 2D
hand-drawn traditional animation was dead! Honestly, Disney as a corporation saying such a stupid thing had me question whether or not to end up working for Disney like I had wanted to at the age of four.
To me, traditional animation is far from being dead; it simply has not been used properly. Given a good
story, and people working on it who know the art form, I am certain that it can come back and most
certainly be better than most of what is out there in theaters now, regarding CG animation in particular!

Some of Don Bluth's legendary animated film works include:

THE SECRET OF NIMH, 1982.

AN AMERICAN TAIL, 1986

THE LAND BEFORE TIME, 1988

ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN, 1989

ROCK-A-DOODLE, 1991

ANASTASIA, 1997

TITAN A.E., 2000

LIFE AS AN INDEPENDENT ARTIST...

After I had graduated college and turned in my capstone the following spring semester, I did what most
new grads do and begin the search for a job. For me, I ended up having to search for two jobs at minimum;
one for paying bills and earning money in general, and the other to give me experience and the skills I
needed professionally for what I hoped to do.

While I was working as a cashier at a local grocery store in my hometown, some members of my church
pointed me to a local filmmaker who wanted someone with the skills to do animation. This person and I
started talking online, and soon I was working as the animator and storyboard artist (freelance) for a web
series he was working on at the time. Both jobs worked out for a while, until the local short filmmaker ran out of work for me to do.

Later on, this filmmaker was casting extras for his short fan-related film in my area in 2015. I went on as
an extra, and there met Raz Wickham (who was also an extra on set) for the first time, who is the Writer/Director/Producer for R.A.W. Productions LLC; I work for him now as an official Production Assistant and Lead Production Artist. We met again at the film’s premiere, and started discussing my artistic opportunities, which at that point in time were me coming onboard as a videographer. It wasn’t until I showed my skills in Photoshop that my role from then on changed to Production Assistant and Production Artist, and
then to Lead Production Artist.

This role helped me to not only develop further skills in Photoshop digital illustration and photo
manipulation, but I got to first-hand learn the art of developing eye- catching book covers for our flagship project The Edge Of Beyond (science fiction book series shown below), and professional logos for all of
our current intellectual properties including but not limited to Gunmetal Row (an idea I came up with first in
college, and then made it a R.A.W. Productions IP in order to give it what we call “The R.A.W. Productions
Treatment”), Lost And Found (our family-friendly IP), and PreHystoria (our latest development).
Examples are featured below, so take a look! I’ve also learned the finer points of bringing characters the
industry standard, highly marketable polish that sells our hard work. In addition, I’ve been part of many
convention events including Kansas City’s Planet Comicon, where we promote The Edge Of Beyond.

Link to the official Amazon page that currently sells the epic trilogy for, The Edge Of Beyond.
https://www.amazon.com/default/e/B01BTKULVM/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1?redirectedFromKindleDbs=true

BUDGET BREAKDOWN...

TOP PRIORITY!
Tuition: $10,000 (in total and up front, no payment plan available through Don Bluth University)

EXTRA MATERIALS NEEDED!
Animation Paper:
• 12F paper 500 sheets= $24.99 per package x 50 packages= $1,249.50
Drawing Pads: $6.95 per pad
Storyboard Pads: 100 sheets per package= $31.90 x 10 packages = $319.00
Exposure Sheets: 24fps sheets 100 sheets per package = $29.95 x 10 packages = $299.50
Animation Starter Kit: (includes pencils, light box, turning wheel, erasers, 50 sheets extra paper) $499.95
Replacement Bulbs: $16.36 per bulb
Peg Bar and Re-enforcers:
• Peg Bar: $24.95
• Re-Enforcers: $10.00 per Round style, $10.00 per Slotted style

THE GRAND TAKEAWAY...

While I've gained great skills in developing characters, logos, and working in Photoshop, I do still lack
some important skills that are holding back R.A.W. Productions from truly succeeding as a company (we
are small, but mighty!). That is where Don Bluth University comes in. At Don Bluth University, I will be
learning the finer points of traditional animation under the legend himself! You may recognize a few of
his fine works as showcased above, such as Land Before Time, An American Tail, Anastasia, Secret of
NIMH, and Titan A.E.

The total cost of tuition is $10,000, which has to be paid upfront, as Don Bluth University is a small and
not yet accredited school. It’s more like a master class than a graduate studies program, but that already makes it better. It is only a year long and completely online with the exception of the last week of school
taking place in Scottsdale, Arizona. We do get a certificate of completion, and we get to add our experien-ces to our resumes for higher chance at success finding jobs in the industry. The year-round program is
specifically on topics such as drafting characters, animating those characters in a traditional fashion,
color timing, screenwriting for animated film, and others (in other words, this is all the benefits that
should be part of any college program, but aren’t because college isn’t all it’s cracked up to be anymore).

If the top priority goal of funding the $10,000 tuition is met in a timely enough fashion, the next goal to meet will be funding the additional costs for equipment, art supplies, and paper. This should total to no more than $1,500.00.

This is where you come in. You and all those on Go Fund Me that are kind enough to donate to this
wonderful cause, that is! You are not only helping me gain special, coveted skills in traditional animation
(something that, again, has been my dream since childhood!), but you will in turn be helping us at R.A.W.
Productions produce for you and the whole world the high quality franchises this world lacks anymore,
especially in traditional animation. As a thank you for donating no less than $15, your name will be
featured in the production notes of the first book of our upcoming Lost And Found series, and in addition, you will also receive a free copy signed by the R.A.W. Productions team.

HELP SUPPORT A LOCAL ARTIST BY DONATING TODAY!

LINK TO GO FUND ME PAGE: https://www.gofundme.com/tuition-for-don-bluth-university
LINK TO DON BLUTH UNIVERSITY SITE: http://www.donbluthuniversity.com