MattePainting.org Arizona Gathering

[mordecaidesign]

Cliff and I are setting up a meeting at Red Robin (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=l&hl=en&geocode=&q=red+robin&near=peoria,+az&ie=UTF8&om=1&ll=33.707205,-112.145691&spn=0.61919,1.109619&z=10&iwloc=A) in Peoria. 6:00 pm. I'll be there with a sign.

We both have families so we're making it a family affair.

Anyone is welcome to join and eat some Whiskey Burgers.

[RiKToR]

Its cool to get a change to meet up with people I spend half my time discussing my passion for the art of matte painting with any way. It should be fun.

[mordecaidesign]

I have sent PM's to all the "active" (within two months) members in Arizona. See you guys there.

[mordecaidesign]

Doh! Guys, I forgot to mention we're meeting up tonight. On Saturday. Somehow I forgot to mention that. So yes. tonight.

[RiKToR]

Yeah Apologies to the one who traveled to meet on friday night. We planned this one the phone yesterday morning and it kinda went from there.

Matthew dont forget to put intuos 3 drivers on your ibook to try out my tablet.

[RQuack]

Well crap! I've been out of town and would love to come but I just got this message and can't make it tonight. If you guys do it again sometime, let me know. Have fun!

[RiKToR]

Im sure will do it again, we will let you know.

[j.vandie]

yes! please do! i live in Scottsdale, but until the end of august im in IL filming some stuff for a business reality show. i'd really enjoy meeting up sometime!

James

[GabrielNaylor]

thanks for the meet today! Had a great time meeting new people and talking about the biz. Hope to do it again soon!

[RiKToR]

Yeah it was great and informative and I hope to do it again.

[RiKToR]

Oh yeah and thanks for the iWeb tip Matt... after I looked into it... its a wonder why a guy like me with no web expertise what so ever would want to remake a site in dreamweaver.

[mordecaidesign]

typing this from my wii...

yes. Apple does it again. Pm me for tips/help. iLife 08's version of iWeb has some big improvements too.

a web guy like me even has uses for it. And sometimes i rec. it to clients who need a nice cms. Its when they want custom logic, actionscript, custom visuals, and e-commerce I recommend that we build something from scratch. 508 compliant of course.

The meetup was great. I'll elaborate more when I have more free time and hands

[RiKToR]

Yeah I saw most of the tutorials on apple's site are from iLife 08 but I figure a matte painter doesnt need to be a web designer... present company accepted of course. Quite frankly for me its just getting it done and with iWeb its taken me maybe an hour to get something decent up and maybe another our for the portfolio section and then Im done. Using dreamweaver would have made it a weeks worth of work for me.

[Alex Jenyon]

No pictures from your gathering?

Be nice to see what everyone looks like.

AJ

[GabrielNaylor]

Here is my photo from the meet at Red Robin. :)

http://www.gabrielnaylor.com/mattepaintingmeet.jpg

[RiKToR]

and for clarity thats Matt (mordecaidesign) and his family to the left and me on the right with my wife and my son, and my little baby is asleep in the carseat behind me.

[mordecaidesign]

Thoughts on some of the discussions we had during the meeting.

1. People know a lot more then they let on. The other guys knew more about compositing, computer architecture, and fine art then people give them credit for. I think this was the biggest thing I got out of the meeting. I deal with a lot of people who have an attitude about what they know. And none of the other Matte Painters I've met have had this attitude. With a lot of other designers I get text book answers to things that we discuss. It's a lot like asking a mechanic how your brakes look and instead getting an hour long dissertation on how brakes work. This SELDOM happens to me on mattepainting.org ...cept when someone doesn't REALLY read my post and just assumes I'm an idiot

2. I need to share more information. There's quite a few resources that I haven't shared because of past experiences with other web designers. (I share and other people don't)

3. You can prepare yourself to be a matte painter but you'll never "be ready", so you shouldn't limit yourself just because you feel your work is sub par.

4. I draw, I sketch, I digitally sketch. Almost every-day. These things are IMPORTANT. I'm actually doing something right!

5. I wasn't jealous of the work the other guys are doing. I feel like a peer, instead of an enemy or competition. I really feel like I'm going to be working alongside these guys someday.

[nickmarshallvfx]

So who is who in the pic guys?

Nick

[Justin Atkinson]

Cool this is gonna catch on.