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	<title>Karen J Lloyd&#039;s Storyboard Blog &#187; My Two Cents</title>
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	<description>Visual Storytelling Insights, Tips and Advice for Anyone Who&#039;s Interested</description>
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		<title>The Post About Nothing</title>
		<link>http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2010/07/21/post-about-nothing/</link>
		<comments>http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2010/07/21/post-about-nothing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Jul 2010 07:17:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Karen J Lloyd</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Two Cents]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/?p=2351</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Hi.
Remember me?
I used to write a blog about storyboarding. Well okay, I still do&#8230; just not lately.
*slaps wrist*
And I&#8217;ve been stressing about starting up again because it&#8217;s been so long. As in&#8230;the first post back better be a GOOD ONE.
So I&#8217;m going to write a crappy one just to take the edge off, if that&#8217;s [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hi.</p>
<p>Remember me?</p>
<p>I used to write a blog about storyboarding. Well okay, I <em>still do</em>&#8230; just not lately.</p>
<p>*slaps wrist*</p>
<p>And I&#8217;ve been stressing about starting up again because it&#8217;s been so long. As in&#8230;the first post back better be a<strong> GOOD ONE</strong>.</p>
<p>So I&#8217;m going to write a<em> crappy one</em> just to take the edge off, if that&#8217;s okay.</p>
<p>Rest assured I am very much alive and well.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve just been suffering from a case of post-storyboard-contract <strong>&#8220;Lazy-ass-itis&#8221;</strong>.</p>
<h3>Here&#8217;s what I&#8217;ve been doing.</h3>
<p>I ended my<strong> Kid vs Kat</strong> contract at the end of May. *whew*</p>
<p>And survived.</p>
<p>I went to <strong>Hawaii</strong> at the beginning of June.</p>
<p>See?</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="size-full wp-image-2353 aligncenter" title="Hawaii_June_2010" src="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Hawaii_June_2010-171.jpg" alt="" width="420" height="315" /></p>
<p>Sweet, sweet Hawaii. *sigh*</p>
<p>Then home and relaxed some more. (That&#8217;s about when the &#8220;Lazy-ass-itis&#8221; kicked in.)</p>
<p>I turned down some work. (See above.)</p>
<p>I saw<strong> &#8216;Toy Story 3&#8242;</strong>. Twice.</p>
<p>Loved it. *sniff*</p>
<p><span id="more-2351"></span></p>
<p>I did some summer racing with my sailing team.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="size-full wp-image-2354 aligncenter" title="Waves_June_2010" src="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Waves_EasterSeals_June_2010-010.jpg" alt="" width="420" height="296" /></p>
<p>Still teaching at the film school once a week. That&#8217;s all good.</p>
<p>I did some <a title="Mini Storyboard Critiques" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/work-with-karen/mini-storyboard-critiques/" target="_self">Mini-Critiques</a> for people, which are tons of fun.</p>
<p>June stunk weather-wise, but July is gorgeous. So I&#8217;ve been outside.</p>
<p>Avoiding the internet. <em>A lot.</em></p>
<p>Then I had a young house guest. And did some beachy stuff and touristy stuff.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="size-full wp-image-2355 aligncenter" title="K_A_July_2010" src="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Alanna_July_2010-007.jpg" alt="" width="420" height="324" /></p>
<p>And more outside things.</p>
<p>Did I mention July has been <strong>gorgeous</strong>? When it&#8217;s gorgeous in Vancouver, you <em>go outside</em> people!</p>
<p>Starting to learn a bit of golf. (I must have some Scottish in me.)</p>
<p>Saw <strong>&#8216;Despicable Me&#8217;</strong>. Very enjoyable. Very fun. (&#8220;It&#8217;s so FLUFFY!&#8221;)</p>
<p>Going to Montreal in August. Then coming home to some work I actually <em>did</em> take. Good gig.</p>
<p><em>And I finally got a blog post written!</em> (A very bad one, but who cares?)</p>
<p>There will be a much better one coming soon.</p>
<p>I just needed to &#8216;break the creative dam&#8217; so to speak.</p>
<p>Thanks for your patience lovely readers of mine. <img src=\'http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif\' alt=\':)\' class=\'wp-smiley\' /> </p>
<p>&#8211; &#8212; &#8211; &#8212; &#8211;</p>
<p><em>Sign-up for the Storyboard Club Mailing List and get a <a title="Free Storyboard Template Downloads" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/free-storyboard-template-downloads/" target="_self">Free Storyboard Template Pack</a>! </em></p>
<p><em>Read the Storyboard Blog by <a title="Blog Feed" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/KarenJLloydsStoryboardBlog" target="_self">RSS Feed</a> or by email because I will post something full of teachy goodness soon.<br />
</em></p>
        <p>© 2007-2010 <a href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/">Karen J Lloyds Storyboard Blog</a> - All Rights Reserved.</p> <br />
<p><a href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/work-with-karen"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1603" title="Story-Consulting-Services-Storyboard-Mentoring" src="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/storyconsultingservices.gif" alt="" width="468" height="60" /></a></p>                                              

<p><strong>Some related posts other readers have enjoyed:</strong><ol><li><a href=\'http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2009/06/18/artist-linky-love/\' rel=\'bookmark\' title=\'Permanent Link: A Little Artist Lazy Linky-Love Post\'>A Little Artist Lazy Linky-Love Post</a> <small>Okay, this is a cop-out. I admit it. I&#8217;m really...</small></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>21</slash:comments>
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		<title>Just Make It Look Good</title>
		<link>http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2010/05/03/just-make-it-look-good/</link>
		<comments>http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2010/05/03/just-make-it-look-good/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 03 May 2010 08:54:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Karen J Lloyd</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Two Cents]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/?p=2325</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Thank goodness May is here. Because April was emotionally draining.
I was looking forward to April ending because of all the &#8216;death stuff&#8216;, then on the morning of the 30th (the last day of the month) I received an email with more sad news.
My ex-boss and friend of many years had succumbed to cancer and passed [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Thank goodness May is here. Because April was emotionally draining.</p>
<p>I was looking forward to April ending because of all the &#8216;<a title="The Stories We Tell Ourselves" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2010/04/24/stories-tell-ourselves/" target="_self">death stuff</a>&#8216;, then on the morning of the 30th (the <em>last</em> day of the month) I received an email with <em>more</em> sad news.</p>
<p>My ex-boss and friend of many years had succumbed to cancer and passed away at the age of 59.</p>
<p>I burst into tears. And cried all day.</p>
<p>But I don&#8217;t want to write <a title="The Stories We Tell Ourselves" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2010/04/24/stories-tell-ourselves/" target="_self">another post about death</a> (one was enough don&#8217;t ya think?). So I&#8217;d rather tell you the good stuff about my friend and one great art lesson he taught me &#8216;way back when&#8217;.</p>
<h3>Call it a little tribute.</h3>
<p>As I&#8217;ve mentioned before on the blog, I used to be a graphic designer in my twenties (remember&#8230;I&#8217;m old). I worked at a small studio out of college for a year or two, then tried to go the freelancing route at 22. A bit risky. But I was still living at home so the timing was good.</p>
<p>Through a mutual connection, I met <strong>Steve Buist</strong> who was looking for a little extra help around his small graphic design studio. He took a chance on me and I did some work for him off and on for another two years or so.<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-2327" title="Steve Buist" src="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/39984274.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="248" /></p>
<p>Then he offered me a full time position. I took it and worked at D-Zign S.A.B. for the next six years until I left to pursue animation with Steve&#8217;s blessing.</p>
<p>Back then, the studio was just me, Steve, another guy named LP and Steve&#8217;s wonderful wife Cheryl. Steve was a boss who wasn&#8217;t a &#8216;boss&#8217;. His clients loved him. His suppliers loved him.</p>
<p>He loved his job, he loved his family and he loved cars.</p>
<p>Anyone would be lucky to work for a guy like Steve. We were a little family in that studio.</p>
<p>I saw his three girls grow up. We knew what was going on in each others lives. We drank <em>a lot</em> at our little Christmas parties.</p>
<h3>And I learned tons about graphic design.</h3>
<p>Now, this was a time when a graphic designer didn&#8217;t mean &#8217;someone with 3 months of training and a MacBook&#8217;.</p>
<p>When I started, it was markers, paste-ups, wax machines, rubber cement thinner, x-acto knives, T-squares, Letraset and stat cameras (Google it). Half of the supplies could cause some serious health issues or cut the end of your finger off! Those were the days, baby.</p>
<p>Everything was done by hand. It rocked.</p>
<p><span id="more-2325"></span></p>
<p><strong>This</strong> was how you developed a sense of design and typography. <strong>This</strong> was how you honed your compositional skills. And <strong>this</strong> was how I could eventually find the center of <em>anything</em> by just looking at it.</p>
<p>(I later translated those skills to the computer when the industry started going that way. Beyond valuable!)</p>
<p>But I was still young and I was still learning. I needed advice and guidance sometimes. And when something just wasn&#8217;t &#8216;right&#8217;, I would ask Steve what he thought.</p>
<p>Sometimes he told me exactly what to fix and why.</p>
<p>And sometimes he told me this:</p>
<h3>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know. Just make it look good.&#8221;</h3>
<p>We&#8217;d laugh, I&#8217;d go back to my drafting table, and guess what?</p>
<p><em>I made it look good. </em></p>
<p>Amazing.</p>
<p>It became a running joke between me, Steve and LP.</p>
<p>&#8220;Just make it look good, Karen!&#8221;</p>
<p>And I did.</p>
<p>As time when on, I ended up telling them the same thing when they asked for <strong>my</strong> opinion.</p>
<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know. Just make it look good!&#8221;</p>
<p>It bloody well <em>worked</em>.</p>
<p>I carry that with me to this day. And smile about it.</p>
<p>What&#8217;s the translation of this little bit of wisdom?</p>
<p><strong>Figure it out! Stop whining! Don&#8217;t over-think it! Rework it! Do better! </strong></p>
<p>Do what you need to do to make it look good.</p>
<p>I haven&#8217;t really used this awesome lesson when teaching storyboarding until now. Because it <strong>is</strong> different than graphic design and a storyboard can&#8217;t <strong>just </strong>&#8216;look good&#8217;. It needs a whole lot more.</p>
<p>But the lesson can work for the composition of your shots.</p>
<p><em>Just make it look good.</em></p>
<p>Is your perspective not quite right?</p>
<p><em>Just make it look good.</em></p>
<p>Can&#8217;t get that character expression?</p>
<p><em>Just make it look good.</em></p>
<p>It really works better when someone actually says it <strong>out loud</strong> to you. I think that&#8217;s the secret. If you can&#8217;t find someone to do that, bookmark this post and pretend I&#8217;m saying it to you.</p>
<p>Because I can be bossy that way. : )</p>
<p><strong><em>Thank you Steve.</em></strong></p>
<p>Thanks for the job. Thanks for your friendship and guidance. Thanks for being one hell of a guy.</p>
<p>And thank you for that phone call on the first of April. I don&#8217;t know if you &#8216;knew&#8217; when we talked that day. But I can&#8217;t thank you enough for being able to talk to you one last time. Because when I got that sad news 30 days later, that&#8217;s really all I would have asked for.</p>
<p>As I go forward in this life, you can bet I&#8217;ll &#8220;just make it look good&#8221;.</p>
<p>*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *</p>
<p><em>(I hearby declare April 2010, &#8216;The Month of Death&#8217; CLOSED thankyouverymuch.)</em></p>
<p><em><strong>NOTE:</strong> I&#8217;ve also decided I don&#8217;t want comments on this personal post. They&#8217;ll be back next time. Thanks!<br />
</em></p>
        <p>© 2007-2010 <a href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/">Karen J Lloyds Storyboard Blog</a> - All Rights Reserved.</p> <br />
<p><a href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/work-with-karen"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1603" title="Story-Consulting-Services-Storyboard-Mentoring" src="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/storyconsultingservices.gif" alt="" width="468" height="60" /></a></p>                                              

<p>No related posts this time.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>The Stories We Tell Ourselves</title>
		<link>http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2010/04/24/stories-tell-ourselves/</link>
		<comments>http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2010/04/24/stories-tell-ourselves/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 24 Apr 2010 07:26:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Karen J Lloyd</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Two Cents]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/?p=2314</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
I hope this post isn&#8217;t too much of a downer. But it might be.
Sorry.
Because it&#8217;s a little off-subject and might not have the comic snark you&#8217;re used to if you come here often. If you are new (hi!), just know this isn&#8217;t the norm and I will get back to the business of boards eventually. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/MarheneurCrew.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-2315 aligncenter" title="Marheneur_Crew" src="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/MarheneurCrew.jpg" alt="" width="420" height="300" /></a></p>
<p>I hope this post isn&#8217;t too much of a downer. But it might be.</p>
<p>Sorry.</p>
<p>Because it&#8217;s a little off-subject and might not have the comic snark you&#8217;re used to if you come here often. If you are new (hi!), just know this isn&#8217;t the norm and I will get back to the business of boards eventually. I&#8217;m still in <strong>Kid vs Kat vs Karen</strong> mode.</p>
<p>But here it goes anyway.</p>
<h3>A man died in front of me a week ago.</h3>
<p>His funeral was yesterday but I didn&#8217;t go because I had to work and I didn&#8217;t really know him.</p>
<p>But I was thinking about him. Because I witnessed the last moments of his life.</p>
<p><span id="more-2314"></span></p>
<p>I crew on a 36 foot sailboat and I&#8217;ve been on the same boat for 9 years with mostly the same people (give or take a few over the years). That&#8217;s most of us in the picture from a happy time last year (I&#8217;m in the white hat).</p>
<p>We do organized races out of the yacht club on Wednesday nights and we do some weekend races throughout the spring and summer.</p>
<p>We had a race last weekend and since I was between boards (yay), I was happy to be able to participate in the Saturday race. We usually need 8 or 9 people to race and we were short a person. So one of the women on our crew asked along this guy Doug because she sails with him on another boat.</p>
<p>We all show up on time and gear up the boat. I shook Doug&#8217;s hand and said &#8220;Hi&#8221; as did the rest of us. It was a pissy, rainy day but once you&#8217;re a sailor it really doesn&#8217;t bother you. As long as you have your wet weather gear, it&#8217;s all good. At least it wasn&#8217;t too cold.</p>
<p>They usually try to get in 3 or 4 races on the weekends. We finished our first one and did pretty well. Then it&#8217;s clean up the lines, grab a sandwich and wait for our next start. We were in our 5 minute countdown and almost in the last minute to start when Doug was suddenly lying down in the cockpit.</p>
<h3>Not moving.</h3>
<p>First, it&#8217;s &#8220;Dude, you okay?&#8221;, then it&#8217;s &#8220;Did he hit his head?&#8221;. But when we rolled him over, we knew it wasn&#8217;t good.</p>
<p>We start motoring in to the yacht club and called 911 (thank goodness for cell phones in emergencies). We lie him down and the woman who is friends with him performed CPR.</p>
<p>But the boat can&#8217;t go any faster.</p>
<p>You can&#8217;t do anything but watch and hope. It&#8217;s such a shock and so unexpected, you&#8217;re in denial. No, no, no he&#8217;s going to snap out of it. He&#8217;s going to be okay. We&#8217;re going to have beers with him one day and talk about this.</p>
<p>And the boat can&#8217;t go any faster.</p>
<p>Even though it was only about 15 minutes till we reached the dock and the emergency workers who were there to meet us, it seemed like forever.</p>
<p>They worked on him for quite some time. They eventually got some vital signs. They took him up to the ambulance.</p>
<p>Yes, yes, yes&#8230;he&#8217;s going to be okay. Please.</p>
<p>Fifteen minutes later we get the call that he had died up in the parking lot.</p>
<p>But we all really know he died on the boat with us. From a severe heart attack. He was 57.</p>
<p>I shook hands with this man in the morning and less than 4 hours later he was gone.</p>
<h3>Sad. Horrible. Live altering.</h3>
<p>One of those things you know you&#8217;ll never forget.</p>
<p>Then the questions start in your head.</p>
<p>Why today? Why with us? What if we were further out? What if it was one of us? Why, why, why. Then there&#8217;s those <strong>big ones</strong>. The &#8216;what am I doing with my life?&#8217; ones. Yikes.</p>
<p><strong>We tell ourselves stories everyday. </strong></p>
<p>I don&#8217;t mean the movies and cartoons. I mean all the stuff that goes on in our heads that may or may not be true. That are not fact-based.</p>
<p>Stuff like &#8220;I suck.&#8221;, &#8220;I&#8217;ll never get a job.&#8221;, &#8220;Everyone hates me.&#8221; On and on. Are these facts? No, they&#8217;re stories. These kinds of stories can be damaging and do us no good.</p>
<p>But sometimes we need the other kind of stories. The better kind.</p>
<h3>I need a story for Doug.</h3>
<p>Even if I knew all his &#8216;facts&#8217;, I&#8217;d still need this story. Just to deal with what happened.</p>
<p>My story for Doug is that he was a sailor. That he&#8217;s been sailing for many, many years and he loved it. That it was a twist of fate he ended up on our boat with a crew of new friends. That maybe he was destined to have that severe heart attack on that particular Saturday. Race or no race.</p>
<p>That maybe he lived alone. That maybe he would have been alone if he hadn&#8217;t come sailing with us that day. And if he had been alone when that heart attack hit him, no one would have known for a while. And that would have been even more horrible.</p>
<p>That he never knew what hit him and he didn&#8217;t feel any pain. That at least he was on the water, doing something he loved when this happened. Among fellow sailors that loved it too.</p>
<p>And he wasn&#8217;t alone.</p>
<p>Are these the facts? Doesn&#8217;t matter.</p>
<p>I just need to keep telling myself this story. For me and for Doug.</p>
<p><strong>Rest in peace sir.</strong></p>
<p>Thanks for reading. <em>(I&#8217;ll try to be funnier next time. Promise.)</em></p>
        <p>© 2007-2010 <a href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/">Karen J Lloyds Storyboard Blog</a> - All Rights Reserved.</p> <br />
<p><a href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/work-with-karen"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1603" title="Story-Consulting-Services-Storyboard-Mentoring" src="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/storyconsultingservices.gif" alt="" width="468" height="60" /></a></p>                                              

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		<title>An Updatey Type of Thing</title>
		<link>http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2009/10/12/updatey-thing/</link>
		<comments>http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2009/10/12/updatey-thing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Oct 2009 08:41:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Karen J Lloyd</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Two Cents]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/?p=2144</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
This one will be short and sweet.
First off, go see &#8216;Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs&#8217;.
Fun, fun stuff. For the kids and adults. It was a &#8216;cartoon-cartoon&#8217; and one heck of a ride.
I went out of my way NOT to see it in craptastic &#8216;Real 3D&#8217; and I have to say, there was not one [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="size-full wp-image-2147 aligncenter" title="cloudy_with_chance_meatballs" src="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/cloudy_chance_meatballs.jpg" alt="cloudy_with_chance_meatballs" width="440" height="330" /></p>
<p>This one will be short and sweet.</p>
<h3>First off, go see &#8216;Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs&#8217;.</h3>
<p>Fun, fun stuff. For the kids <em>and </em>adults. It was a<strong> &#8216;cartoon-cartoon&#8217;</strong> and one heck of a ride.</p>
<p>I went out of my way NOT to see it in craptastic &#8216;Real 3D&#8217; and I have to say, there was not <em>one second</em> when I thought &#8220;Hey, I wish this was blurrier and stuff was flying at my face.&#8221;</p>
<p>Not once.</p>
<p>Between this and &#8216;Surf&#8217;s Up&#8217; (<em>love </em>that one), <a title="Sony Pictures Animation" href="http://www.sonypicturesanimation.com/" target="_blank">Sony Pictures Animation</a> has earned my total respect. They are making some great stuff over there. <em>Thank you Sony Animation people!</em></p>
<p>Maybe I&#8217;ll write more of a review thingy on &#8216;Cloudy&#8217; soon. In the meantime, go see it.</p>
<h3>Second, I can&#8217;t wait for the Princess and the Frog!</h3>
<p>2D classical animation is coming back. I&#8217;m all giddy about it.</p>
<p>Just sayin&#8217;.</p>
<h3>Third, I&#8217;m starting a new season of &#8216;Kid vs Kat&#8217;.</h3>
<p>Like <em>today</em>.</p>
<p>Should be a fun season. Lots of work ahead. Lots of late nights. But it&#8217;s cool.</p>
<p>I even splurged (i.e. racked up credit card) for my own Cintiq 21UX (insert rapid inhalation of breath here). Kind of scary. But it&#8217;s <em>purrrrrtty</em>. I will be drawing my boards digitally this time around. And I&#8217;ll be writing about the process in the <a title="Production Journal: Kid vs Kat" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/category/production-journal-storyboarding-k-vs-k/" target="_self">Production Journal</a> to keep you up on the madness that is working on an animated TV series.</p>
<h3>Fourth, the Mini Storyboard Critiques are going up!</h3>
<p>In price.</p>
<p>It was supposed to be today. But I felt I should give the people &#8216;on the fence&#8217; a little more time.</p>
<p>So there&#8217;s a slight delay in the price increase. It&#8217;s now Wednesday, October 14th. Yeah, in TWO DAYS.</p>
<p>Then the <strong>$32</strong> <a title="Mini Storyboard Critiques" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/work-with-karen/mini-storyboard-critiques/" target="_self">Mini Storyboard Critique</a> goes up to <strong>$54</strong> and the <a title="Mini Storyboard Critiques" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/work-with-karen/mini-storyboard-critiques/" target="_self">Mini Critique 3-Pack</a> goes from <strong>$89</strong> to <strong>$149</strong>. (Do the math on that one. Smart people are scooping up the 3-pack.)</p>
<p>You can use these ANY time, so no worries if  you don&#8217;t have work to send me right away. We&#8217;ll just tuck it away until  you&#8217;re ready. Or set a date in the future and use that as accountability to get your butt in gear if you  need it!</p>
<p>We artist types tend to do that &#8216;procrastination thing&#8217;. <strong>Accountability </strong>is a good cure for that.</p>
<p>So if you&#8217;re on the fence, now is the time to hop off and snatch up one (or three) of these suckers. Because the price certainly won&#8217;t go <em>down </em>in the future.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s it, that&#8217;s all, c&#8217;est tout.</p>
<p>For now. <img src=\'http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif\' alt=\':)\' class=\'wp-smiley\' /> </p>
<p style="text-align: left;">_._._._._._._</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><em>Sign-up for the Storyboard Club Mailing List and get a <a title="Free Storyboard Template Downloads" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/free-storyboard-template-downloads/" target="_self">Free Storyboard Template Pack</a>! </em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><em>Get your own <a title="Mini Storyboard Critiques" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/work-with-karen/mini-storyboard-critiques/" target="_self">Mini Storyboard Critique here</a> before the price increases on <strong>October <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">12th</span> 14th!!!</strong><br />
</em></p>
<p><em>Read the Storyboard Blog by <a title="Blog Feed" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/KarenJLloydsStoryboardBlog" target="_self">RSS Feed</a> or by email for some KvK madness in the future.</em></p>
        <p>© 2007-2010 <a href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/">Karen J Lloyds Storyboard Blog</a> - All Rights Reserved.</p> <br />
<p><a href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/work-with-karen"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1603" title="Story-Consulting-Services-Storyboard-Mentoring" src="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/storyconsultingservices.gif" alt="" width="468" height="60" /></a></p>                                              

<p><strong>Some related posts other readers have enjoyed:</strong><ol><li><a href=\'http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2009/09/21/im-back/\' rel=\'bookmark\' title=\'Permanent Link: I&#8217;m Back\'>I&#8217;m Back</a> <small> Oy. What the heck happened there? How long have...</small></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>14</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>I&#8217;m Back</title>
		<link>http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2009/09/21/im-back/</link>
		<comments>http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2009/09/21/im-back/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Sep 2009 04:55:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Karen J Lloyd</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Two Cents]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/?p=2101</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Oy.
What the heck happened there? How long have I been absent? Way too long, apparently.
Funny how time can slip away from you when you&#8217;re working 16 hour days, huh? Sorry about that, but I just couldn&#8217;t summon up the brain power or the time to write anything.
But I have returned! (If anyone cares.)
And yes, that [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-2104" title="terminator2_Im_back" src="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/terminator2.jpg" alt="terminator2_Im_back" width="339" height="275" /></p>
<p>Oy.</p>
<p>What the heck happened there? How long have I been absent? Way too long, apparently.</p>
<p>Funny how time can slip away from you when you&#8217;re working 16 hour days, huh? Sorry about that, but I just couldn&#8217;t summon up the brain power or the time to write anything.</p>
<p>But I have returned! (If anyone cares.)</p>
<p>And yes, that photo is totally silly.</p>
<h3>So here&#8217;s a couple of things.</h3>
<p>I&#8217;m teaching again. Yes, I am once again the storyboard instructor at the Vancouver Film School. If you are planning on attending there in the near future, it will be I who whips you into storyboarding shape and <a title="Dealing with the Crushing of Dreams" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2009/02/27/dealing-with-feedback/" target="_self">crushes your dreams</a>.</p>
<p>Wee! Fun times.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m also working again. I know I haven&#8217;t really talked about it, but this past year has *sucked* work-wise. <em>Everyone</em> has been feeling it in my neck of the woods. And a lot of them still are. Ick.</p>
<p>Then it all came tumbling at me at once (which is how it always goes). A rush development board this past month which turned out rather well. Happy clients make it all worth it. (And money helps. I had forgotten how to press &#8216;deposit&#8217; on the bank machine.)</p>
<p>Then I&#8217;ll be working on the next season of <strong>&#8216;Kid Vs Kat&#8217;</strong>. So the <a title="Production Journal: Kid vs Kat" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/category/production-journal-storyboarding-k-vs-k/" target="_self">Production Journal </a>shall live on! Which means more late nights and all around insanity for the next seven months. Eep.</p>
<p>But it&#8217;s all in the name of going back to Hawaii, right? RIGHT?</p>
<p>Don&#8217;t worry, the blog shall prevail. I promise. I may have to skip a week here and there, but I&#8217;ll do my best.</p>
<p>Plus I&#8217;ll still be offering my <a title="One-On-One Storyboard Consultations" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/work-with-karen/storyboard-consultations/" target="_self">One-On-One Storyboard Consulting</a> and the <a title="Mini Storyboard Critiques" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/work-with-karen/mini-storyboard-critiques/" target="_self">Mini Storyboard Critiques</a>. And hopefully a few little learning products.</p>
<h3>And please note:</h3>
<p>I will be <em><strong>raising the price</strong></em> of the <a title="Mini Storyboard Critiques" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/work-with-karen/mini-storyboard-critiques/" target="_self">Mini Critiques</a> on <strong>October 12th</strong>. It&#8217;s going from <strong>$32</strong> to <strong>$54</strong>. Yup. So if you&#8217;ve been on the fence thinking about getting one, <em>now is the time</em>! You don&#8217;t have to use it right away either. You can tuck it away and use it anytime you like in the future.</p>
<p>Now, the next post will be the follow-up to Aidan&#8217;s revised storyboard. Really! It will! Honest Aidan, honest!!</p>
<p>Thank you all for your patience. : )</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">_._._._._._._</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><em>Sign-up for the Storyboard Club Mailing List and get a <a title="Free Storyboard Template Downloads" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/free-storyboard-template-downloads/" target="_self">Free Storyboard Template Pack</a>! </em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><em>Get your own awesome <a title="Mini Storyboard Critiques" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/work-with-karen/mini-storyboard-critiques/" target="_self">Mini Storyboard Critique here</a> before the price increases on October 12th!<br />
</em></p>
<p><em>Read the Storyboard Blog by <a title="Blog Feed" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/KarenJLloydsStoryboardBlog" target="_self">RSS Feed</a> or by email because I *will* be back. Again.<br />
</em></p>
        <p>© 2007-2010 <a href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/">Karen J Lloyds Storyboard Blog</a> - All Rights Reserved.</p> <br />
<p><a href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/work-with-karen"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1603" title="Story-Consulting-Services-Storyboard-Mentoring" src="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/storyconsultingservices.gif" alt="" width="468" height="60" /></a></p>                                              

<p><strong>Some related posts other readers have enjoyed:</strong><ol><li><a href=\'http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2009/10/12/updatey-thing/\' rel=\'bookmark\' title=\'Permanent Link: An Updatey Type of Thing\'>An Updatey Type of Thing</a> <small> This one will be short and sweet. First off,...</small></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>12</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>A Little Artist Lazy Linky-Love Post</title>
		<link>http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2009/06/18/artist-linky-love/</link>
		<comments>http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2009/06/18/artist-linky-love/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:58:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Karen J Lloyd</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Two Cents]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/?p=1894</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Okay, this is a cop-out. I admit it.
I&#8217;m really working on a post (or series of posts) with an interview I did with Anne Denman of Studio B Productions about resumes, portfolios and applying to studios and stuff.
We recorded the interview during lunch on an audio cassette and I&#8217;ve transcribed it. But digging through it [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Okay, this is a cop-out. I admit it.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m really working on a post (or series of posts) with an interview I did with <strong>Anne Denman</strong> of <strong>Studio B Productions</strong> about resumes, portfolios and applying to studios and stuff.</p>
<p>We recorded the interview during lunch on an audio cassette and I&#8217;ve transcribed it. But digging through it all and actually *writing* the article is inflicting all sorts of procrastination-ish stuff on me.</p>
<p>I <strong>will</strong> get it done though!</p>
<p>So to fill in the gap, I&#8217;m going to pimp out a few artists.</p>
<p>This is what happens when you sign up to the <strong>Storyboard Club Mailing List Which Is Really Kind Of A Newsletter Thingy</strong> on your right.</p>
<p>Some of my &#8216;list people&#8217; wrote to me and gave me a link to their sites. And they&#8217;re very good, so you should look at them and learn.</p>
<p>There are some good examples of making a blog a half-decent portfolio. And some are just really nice drawings.</p>
<h3>Take it away Eric the orchestra leader!<em> </em></h3>
<p><em>(Name that reference and you get a cookie.)</em></p>
<p><em></em><strong>Aidan Casserly</strong> has two nice sites. <a title="Aidan Casserly Portfolio" href="http://www.aidancasserly.com/index.html" target="_blank">Aidan&#8217;s portfolio site</a> is clean and easy to navigate. <a title="Aidan Casserly Blog" href="http://aidancasserly.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Aidan&#8217;s blog</a> is full of more storyboard goodness. Check them out.</p>
<p><strong>Drew Blom</strong>. After reading my series of posts on <a title="Your Portfolio Blog: Using Pages" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2009/04/20/portfolio-site-pages/" target="_self">making a portfolio site</a>, Drew <a title="Drew Blom Site" href="http://drewblom.weebly.com/index.html" target="_blank">made a very nice site</a> on <a title="Weebly.com" href="http://www.weebly.com/" target="_blank">Weebly.com</a>. Watch and learn folks.</p>
<p><span id="more-1894"></span></p>
<p><strong>Valery Koval</strong> is a storyboard and concept artist in Russia (wow, people read me in Russia?). He sent me <a title="Valery Koval" href="http://smf-koval-63.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">his site link</a> yesterday and I thought his drawing style was cool. His site is a pretty good use of a <a title="Your Portfolio Blog: Now What?" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2009/04/07/portfolio-blog-now-what/" target="_self">Blogger blog as a portfolio site</a> too.</p>
<p>Remember my <a title="Which Animation Student Are You" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2008/09/16/which-animation-student-are-you/" target="_self">Which Animation Student Are You?</a> post? Well, I always said I should do a follow-up because there were definitely more types.</p>
<p><em>Well, I don&#8217;t have to anymore.</em> Because this guy, <a title="Which Art Student Are You" href="http://blog30x30.blogspot.com/2009/06/which-student-are-you.html" target="_blank"><strong>Chuck Dillon</strong>, already did it</a>. With <strong>pictures</strong>! (Yes, it&#8217;s about &#8216;art students&#8217;, but close enough. And it&#8217;s funny cause it&#8217;s true.)</p>
<p>And finally a little video love for my consulting client <a title="R.J. Pena" href="http://gunslingers19.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><strong>R.J. Pena</strong></a>. It&#8217;s his thesis film that he worked <em>long</em> and <em>hard</em> on. And I think anyone who puts in all the blood, sweat and tears into creating and finishing their first animated film deserves an audience. (Plus my name is in the credits&#8230;ha!)</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><object width="400" height="270"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=4684395&#038;server=vimeo.com&#038;show_title=1&#038;show_byline=0&#038;show_portrait=0&#038;color=cc0000&#038;fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=4684395&#038;server=vimeo.com&#038;show_title=1&#038;show_byline=0&#038;show_portrait=0&#038;color=cc0000&#038;fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="270"></embed></object></p>
<p>That&#8217;s it for now! You may go about your lives as normal.</p>
<p>I may continue the procrastination by going to see &#8216;UP&#8217; again&#8230;</p>
<p>_._._._._._._</p>
<p><em>Sign-up for the Storyboard Club Mailing List and get a <a title="Free Storyboard Template Downloads" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/free-storyboard-template-downloads/" target="_self">Free Storyboard Template Pack</a>!</em></p>
<p><em>Read the Storyboard Blog by <a title="Blog Feed" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/KarenJLloydsStoryboardBlog" target="_self">RSS Feed</a> or by email because I WILL finish that resume post! </em></p>
        <p>© 2007-2010 <a href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/">Karen J Lloyds Storyboard Blog</a> - All Rights Reserved.</p> <br />
<p><a href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/work-with-karen"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1603" title="Story-Consulting-Services-Storyboard-Mentoring" src="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/storyconsultingservices.gif" alt="" width="468" height="60" /></a></p>                                              

<p><strong>Some related posts other readers have enjoyed:</strong><ol><li><a href=\'http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2010/07/21/post-about-nothing/\' rel=\'bookmark\' title=\'Permanent Link: The Post About Nothing\'>The Post About Nothing</a> <small>Hi. Remember me? I used to write a blog about...</small></li>
<li><a href=\'http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2009/08/24/artist-process-revisions/\' rel=\'bookmark\' title=\'Permanent Link: One Artist’s Process: The Revisions\'>One Artist’s Process: The Revisions</a> <small>Okay. So I know I was going to post up...</small></li>
<li><a href=\'http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2009/03/13/lazy-lessons-week/\' rel=\'bookmark\' title=\'Permanent Link: Lazy Lessons for the Week\'>Lazy Lessons for the Week</a> <small> You know you&#8217;re getting old (*points at self*) when...</small></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>A Video Non-Review of &#8216;UP&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2009/06/09/video-non-review-up/</link>
		<comments>http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2009/06/09/video-non-review-up/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Jun 2009 07:14:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Karen J Lloyd</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Two Cents]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/?p=1880</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
OK, this is an experiment.
One that I may regret. I&#8217;m not sure yet.
But I feel as though I&#8217;m in a bit of a &#8216;posting slump&#8217; and need to shake things up a bit. And since I started using audio in my Mini Critiques, I realized that audio and video really are a godsend to a [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="size-full wp-image-1885 aligncenter" title="up_poster_dug" src="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/up_poster_dug.jpg" alt="" width="350" height="426" /></p>
<p>OK, this is an experiment.</p>
<p>One that I may regret. I&#8217;m not sure yet.</p>
<p>But I feel as though I&#8217;m in a bit of a &#8216;posting slump&#8217; and need to shake things up a bit. And since I started using audio in my <a title="Mini Storyboard Critiques" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/work-with-karen/mini-storyboard-critiques/" target="_self">Mini Critiques</a>, I realized that audio and video really are a godsend to a lazy ass like me.</p>
<p>Sorta.</p>
<p>Because I can talk a heckuva lot faster than I can type.</p>
<p>And I&#8217;m a bit of a ham.</p>
<h3>So I went to see Pixar&#8217;s &#8216;UP&#8217;.</h3>
<p>And I was going to give it one of my &#8216;tri-perspective&#8217; reviews and all. Much like <a title="The Coraline Effect" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2009/03/05/coraline-effect/" target="_self">my Coraline review</a>, I was going to focus on the <em>experience</em> of seeing the movie.</p>
<p>Well, <strong>this</strong> was my experience.</p>
<p>Sorry if the video is too long. Sorry if it&#8217;s not loud enough. Sorry that there is <strong>no real review</strong> at this time. When I see the movie again, I&#8217;ll give one (the short version is: <strong>it&#8217;s fabulous</strong>).</p>
<p>But there were &#8216;technical difficulties&#8217; that I need to rant about.</p>
<p>So in the name of &#8220;putting myself out there&#8221; here is my &#8216;UP&#8217; experience.</p>
<p>My apologies. : )</p>
<p>(Judging from the still frame on the video, I assume the video Gods are punishing me already.)</p>
<p><em>If you can&#8217;t see the video in your feed reader, <a title="A Video Non-Review of UP" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2009/06/09/video-non-review-up/" target="_self">click through to the post</a>.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><object width="400" height="300"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5071647&#038;server=vimeo.com&#038;show_title=1&#038;show_byline=0&#038;show_portrait=0&#038;color=cc0000&#038;fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5071647&#038;server=vimeo.com&#038;show_title=1&#038;show_byline=0&#038;show_portrait=0&#038;color=cc0000&#038;fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"></embed></object></p>
<p>_._._._._._._</p>
<p><em>Sign-up for the Storyboard Club Mailing List and get a <a title="Free Storyboard Template Downloads" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/free-storyboard-template-downloads/" target="_self">Free Storyboard Template Pack</a>!</em></p>
<p><em>Read the Storyboard Blog by <a title="Blog Feed" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/KarenJLloydsStoryboardBlog" target="_self">RSS Feed</a> or by email to see if I ever video-blog again. </em></p>
        <p>© 2007-2010 <a href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/">Karen J Lloyds Storyboard Blog</a> - All Rights Reserved.</p> <br />
<p><a href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/work-with-karen"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1603" title="Story-Consulting-Services-Storyboard-Mentoring" src="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/storyconsultingservices.gif" alt="" width="468" height="60" /></a></p>                                              

<p><strong>Some related posts other readers have enjoyed:</strong><ol><li><a href=\'http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2008/03/31/aniboom-and-radiohead-music-video-contest/\' rel=\'bookmark\' title=\'Permanent Link: Aniboom and Radiohead Music Video Contest\'>Aniboom and Radiohead Music Video Contest</a> <small> This was first brought to my attention by Will...</small></li>
</ol></p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>45</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>A Few Announcements and Processing the Process</title>
		<link>http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2009/04/13/processing-the-process/</link>
		<comments>http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2009/04/13/processing-the-process/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2009 08:06:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Karen J Lloyd</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Two Cents]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/?p=1612</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Lookie! New stuff in the sidebar!
(If you&#8217;re reading this in a feed reader, head on over here and take a peek.)
I&#8217;m starting a little club.
The Storyboard Club.
At this point, it&#8217;s just a free mailing list. But it will turn into more.
With this list, I will occasionally keep in touch with you by email. I might [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="size-full wp-image-1628 aligncenter" title="Free Storyboard Template Pack" src="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/templategrouppartialsmall.gif" alt="" width="480" height="235" /></p>
<p>Lookie! New stuff in the sidebar!</p>
<p>(If you&#8217;re reading this in a feed reader, <a title="Karen J Lloyd\'s Storyboard Blog" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/" target="_self">head on over here</a> and take a peek.)</p>
<p>I&#8217;m starting a little club.</p>
<h3>The Storyboard Club.</h3>
<p>At this point, it&#8217;s just a free mailing list. But it will turn into more.</p>
<p>With this list, I will occasionally keep in touch with you by email. I might send out a monthly &#8216;blog round-up&#8217; of the month&#8217;s posts with some extra insights. Or a newsletter-ish thingy. Or give you a link to something cool I won&#8217;t necessarily post on the blog.</p>
<p>When I make an eBook or host a webinar, <strong>you</strong> will hear about it first. And you will get it for <strong>less money</strong> than the general public. First dibs, baby.</p>
<p>Because when you&#8217;re part of my &#8216;club&#8217;, you&#8217;re all special and stuff.</p>
<p>If this appeals to you <strong>at all</strong>, I&#8217;d love you to sign up!</p>
<p>To top it off, you get a <em>cool free thing</em> when you do. A big ol&#8217; <strong>Storyboard Template Pack</strong> and <strong>Short Film Tip Sheet</strong>.</p>
<p>If you like the <a title="Free Storyboard Template Downloads" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/free-storyboard-template-downloads/" target="_self">free templates</a> I already offer, you will <strong>love </strong>this thing. Head on over to the <a title="Free Storyboard Template Downloads" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/free-storyboard-template-downloads/" target="_self">Download Page</a> for all the juicy details.</p>
<p><span id="more-1612"></span></p>
<p>Then fill in the sign-up form in the sidebar and you&#8217;re golden.</p>
<p><em>(<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>UPDATE:</strong></span> There was a glitch that came to my attention. Apparently the sign-up form wasn&#8217;t showing up in all browsers. It should be *beneath* the template image in the sidebar. I have changed the code and hope it&#8217;s working. If you can&#8217;t see it, please let me know in the comments. I&#8217;d really appreciate it.)</em></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>A note to email subscribers:</strong></span> I will <strong>not</strong> automatically include you in the <strong>Storyboard Club Mailing List</strong>. That would be kinda sleazy, because maybe you don&#8217;t <em>want</em> to be on the list. So if you do, just opt-in and you&#8217;ll still get blog updates <em>and</em> the Storyboard Club emails. I really hope you do!</p>
<h3>Yay! Exciting.</h3>
<p>Next thing.</p>
<p>I had a great couple of questions in the &#8216;<a title="Why You Hiding?" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2009/03/19/internet-hiding/" target="_self">Why You Hiding</a>&#8216; comments a couple of weeks ago. It was from Djordje (I haven&#8217;t a clue how to pronounce that) and was as follows:</p>
<blockquote><p>I’ve had a question on my mind and have to ask, how do you go about analyzing animation/live action from a storyboard artists perspective? What do you exactly look for? Is it a combination of composition, staging, rule of thirds, depth and shot choice for individual frames and scenes? Then would you look at how the scenes cut together and flow?</p></blockquote>
<p>It was a little too much to tackle in the comment section and I thought it would make a great post or series of posts. I still do, and I will do that.</p>
<p>But when I started to think about it, I had a hard time wondering <strong>how</strong> I would explain it.</p>
<p>I mean sure, I could get all technical and analytical and stuff (bor-ing), but I was trying to find the real &#8216;heart&#8217; of it. How <strong>do</strong> I go about critiquing a story? What <strong>am</strong> I looking for?</p>
<p>Not to tell <em>you</em> how to do it, but how do <em>I </em>do it?</p>
<p>The only thing that kept coming up for me, was that it&#8217;s &#8216;<strong>just a feeling</strong>&#8216;.</p>
<h3>Really helpful, huh?</h3>
<p>I believe people are born with certain talents and abilities. Yes, you can <em>learn</em> almost anything. You can even learn to be <em>pretty damn good</em> at something.</p>
<p>Then there are some things you&#8217;re just <strong>born</strong> with.</p>
<p>I can draw. I always have drawn. I get better when I draw more. I&#8217;m pretty good and make a living at it. But I see other people&#8217;s <em>amazing</em> work and just know I could never do that. Hell, I don&#8217;t have the drive to do that.</p>
<p>You can tell they live and breath it and were born with that &#8216;extra something&#8217;.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s the same for music.</p>
<p>I learned to play the bass way back when. I loved it. I was pretty good at it. But it wasn&#8217;t because I was a <em>born musician</em>. It was because I was a good student, I practiced and I have a really good sense of timing.</p>
<p>But I could never do a solo. I could never write music. Because I am <strong>no musician</strong>. And never will be.</p>
<p>And that&#8217;s OK. It didn&#8217;t make me love it any less.</p>
<p>We&#8217;ve all seen those people who are <em>born</em> to play music. Who are <em>born</em> to dance. Who are <em>born</em> to make amazing, original art. You may be one of them. Cool.</p>
<p>Over the years of doing what I do, I think I&#8217;ve come to the realization that although I make my living drawing, I am really a &#8216;<strong>teller of stories</strong>&#8216;.</p>
<h3>Other people&#8217;s stories.</h3>
<p>That&#8217;s why I&#8217;ve kept doing what I&#8217;ve been doing. I get off finding that &#8216;<em>feeling</em>&#8216; of the right beat, the good gag, the great reveal, the satisfying ending.</p>
<p>I dig it.</p>
<p>I get a <em>sense</em> of when something isn&#8217;t working. I get this little <em>nagging feeling</em> when a story is missing something. I get an <em>ahhh</em> feeling through me when it flows smoothly. I just <strong>know</strong> it works.</p>
<p>Because I think I have that &#8216;born thing&#8217; when it comes to visual storytelling.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s why I&#8217;m shifting my career path.</p>
<p>Yes, I&#8217;ll still storyboard when I have to. It pays the bills and I&#8217;m good at it.</p>
<p>But I <em>really </em>want to be a story consultant and storyboard mentor to help other people tell<strong> their stories</strong>.</p>
<h3>There. I said it.</h3>
<p>So in celebration of that, I&#8217;ve reworked my &#8216;<a title="Work With Karen" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/work-with-karen/" target="_self">Work With Karen</a>&#8216; pages. It now has <a title="One-On-One Storyboard Consultations" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/work-with-karen/storyboard-consultations/" target="_self">One-On-One Storyboard Consultations</a> and the brand spanking new <a title="Mini Storyboard Critiques" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/work-with-karen/mini-storyboard-critiques/" target="_self">Mini Storyboard Critiques</a>.</p>
<p>Different options for different needs and different budgets.</p>
<p>Check them out if you have that &#8216;<em>feeling</em>&#8216; you have a story to tell.</p>
<p>And if you need some guidance and <a title="Dealing with the Crushing of Dreams" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2009/02/27/dealing-with-feedback/" target="_self">feedback</a>, let me help you.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll dig it.</p>
<p>How do I know?</p>
<p>Just a feeling. : )</p>
<p>_._._._._._._</p>
<p><em>Sign-up for the Storyboard Club Mailing List and get a <a title="Free Storyboard Template Downloads" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/free-storyboard-template-downloads/" target="_self">Free Storyboard Template Pack</a>!</em></p>
<p><em>Read the Storyboard Blog by <a title="Blog Feed" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/KarenJLloydsStoryboardBlog" target="_self">RSS Feed</a> or by email for more processes on processing the process.<br />
</em></p>
        <p>© 2007-2010 <a href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/">Karen J Lloyds Storyboard Blog</a> - All Rights Reserved.</p> <br />
<p><a href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/work-with-karen"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1603" title="Story-Consulting-Services-Storyboard-Mentoring" src="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/storyconsultingservices.gif" alt="" width="468" height="60" /></a></p>                                              

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		<title>The &#8216;Coraline&#8217; Effect</title>
		<link>http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2009/03/05/coraline-effect/</link>
		<comments>http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2009/03/05/coraline-effect/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Mar 2009 03:07:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Karen J Lloyd</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Two Cents]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/?p=1419</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
© 2009 Laika Entertainment.



I took my little ten year-old companion to see &#8216;Coraline&#8216; last weekend.
So why not give my two cents about it? (Plus, I didn&#8217;t know what else to write about this week.)
Much like my little review of &#8216;Igor&#8216;, I won&#8217;t be going the normal &#8216;movie review&#8217; route. As in, no story synopsis and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<address style="text-align: center;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1420" title="coraline-movie" src="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/coraline.jpg" alt="" width="440" height="289" /></address>
<address style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999;">© 2009 Laika Entertainment.</span></address>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #000000;"><br />
</span>
</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #000000;">I took my little ten year-old companion to see &#8216;<strong>Coraline</strong>&#8216; last weekend.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">So why not give my two cents about it? (Plus, I didn&#8217;t know what else to write about this week.)</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Much like my <a title="Where Igor Went Wrong" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2008/09/23/where-igor-went-wrong/" target="_self">little review of &#8216;<strong>Igor</strong>&#8216;</a>, I won&#8217;t be going the normal &#8216;movie review&#8217; route. As in, no story synopsis and naming all the people involved and all that. You can search that stuff on Google.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I prefer to talk about the experience of seeing the movie. First impressions. My impressions. Story stuff.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">But not give it all away or anything.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I have not read the book or the graphic novel. I went in cold with no expectations.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">And I have only seen it once. When I watch a movie for the first time, I&#8217;m all in &#8216;viewer mode&#8217; and not thinking too much like a storyboard artist or industry person. I like to let that go and just watch.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">And hopefully enjoy.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">I enjoyed.</h3>
<p style="text-align: left;">While I can name a whole whack of things that stink about going to a matinee full of kids <em>with</em> a kid, sometimes it&#8217;s a delight.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">This time was a delight. Yippee.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span id="more-1419"></span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">First off, it wasn&#8217;t too crowded. Second, there was an equal amount of adults in the theatre. Third, the movie rocked the Casbah.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I was worried going in because we were going to see it in that &#8216;Real 3D&#8217; crap. Yes. I said crap. We saw &#8216;<strong>Bolt</strong>&#8216; in that 3D crap and it was fuzzy and useless to the story as far as I was concerned.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I would have preferred to see it, you know&#8230;<strong>normal</strong>.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Rant ahead:</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Note to all big-wig filmmakers in Hollywood:</strong></span> We <strong>don&#8217;t care</strong> about your stupid wowee zowee technology as much as you <em>want us to</em>. We hate having to wear geeky-looking glasses and keep adjusting our eyes while just being gouged at the box office to justify the expense of said glasses. That we didn&#8217;t want in the first place. Get over the whole &#8216;Real 3D&#8217; thing already! It&#8217;s just &#8216;Real Annoying&#8217;.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Rant complete.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">So I put on my glasses on top of my <em>other glasses</em> that I need to like, <strong>see with</strong> and waited for the movie to begin.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">And lo and behold, the 3D thing was actually <strong>working</strong>! It fit the style and looked pretty good. I think this stuff works better with stop-motion animation rather than computer animation. It has a better &#8216;we&#8217;re in the set too&#8217; feel. So they get brownie points for that.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Visually, this movie is amazing.</h3>
<p style="text-align: left;">You get sucked in right away and taken inside Coraline&#8217;s world.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Coraline&#8217;s highly-detailed-oh-my-god-that-must-have-taken-forever-to-animate world.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">(OK, the industry-type part of me leaked in a little.)</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">One of my first impressions was that I loved the character of Coraline. She was smart. And adventurous. Not all &#8216;girly&#8217; and silly. Love that.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">She&#8217;s someone a little girl could want to be like and not want to make me hurl.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The acting was top notch. Yes, there are celebrity voices, but they didn&#8217;t stand out as a &#8216;who&#8217;s who&#8217;. You just enjoyed the acting and the voices felt like the <em>character&#8217;s</em> voices. Good casting.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">But it&#8217;s the animation acting that I&#8217;m really talking about. Great stuff, fun to watch and draws you in.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The story was wonderful. What I liked is that it has an &#8216;old classic story&#8217; feel while remaining somewhat modern. As in, Coraline&#8217;s parents work on computers all day.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The story wasn&#8217;t sugary and cute. It has a creepy side. A slightly disturbing side. That whole &#8216;Nightmare Before Christmas&#8217; feel.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">It was a refreshing change.</h3>
<p style="text-align: left;">Was there anything that bugged me? Yes. There were a couple of <em>minor</em> story issues that nagged me a bit when it was over. But nothing to make me say it is anything less than great. (I can leave that stuff for a more in-depth analysis when the DVD comes out.)</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">So what do I mean by &#8220;the Coraline effect&#8221;?</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I mean &#8216;<strong>Coraline</strong>&#8216; did one of those rare things to that movie theatre audience.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">It shut them the heck up.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Except for one young little boy (who was getting a little freaked near the end), that theatre was silent for the whole movie.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">People didn&#8217;t move. My ten year-old companion didn&#8217;t move.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Everyone sat. Everyone watched. Nobody spoke.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">They were taken inside that story.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Ahhhhh.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Thanks &#8216;<strong>Coraline</strong>&#8216;. I needed that.</p>
<h3>So readers, should you see it?</h3>
<p>Here is the storyboard blog’s tri-perspective recommendation:</p>
<p><strong>For animation types:</strong> For the love of all that is good and holy, YES! You will appreciate this movie on all levels. A must see.</p>
<p><strong>For the kiddies</strong>: They&#8217;ll love it. They will get sucked in to this story and stay mesmerized. BUT it is a little creepy-scary for very young ones, I think. So be careful with the under-six crowd.</p>
<p><strong>For ‘regular’ adults</strong>: You&#8217;ll probably like it with or with out some kiddlets with you. If you&#8217;re the type that feels weird seeing a &#8216;kid&#8217;s movie&#8217; alone, then rent some out. Or suck it up and go see it anyway.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s just good old-fashioned storytelling that works.</p>
<p>With some amazing eye-candy to go along with it.</p>
<p><em>Read the Storyboard Blog by <a title="Blog Feed" href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/KarenJLloydsStoryboardBlog" target="_self">RSS Feed</a> or by email for more review-ishness in the future.<br />
</em></p>
        <p>© 2007-2010 <a href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/">Karen J Lloyds Storyboard Blog</a> - All Rights Reserved.</p> <br />
<p><a href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/work-with-karen"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1603" title="Story-Consulting-Services-Storyboard-Mentoring" src="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/storyconsultingservices.gif" alt="" width="468" height="60" /></a></p>                                              

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		<title>Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy from the Storyboard Blog!</title>
		<link>http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2008/12/25/happy-joy-storyboard-blog/</link>
		<comments>http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2008/12/25/happy-joy-storyboard-blog/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 26 Dec 2008 01:36:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Karen J Lloyd</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[My Two Cents]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/?p=1093</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Well, I was really going to put up the next Wall-E post this week. I really was.
Then I got work.
So I&#8217;ve been working.
Funny how I always seem to snag a new gig at the beginning of December, so I have to do work over the holidays.
Oh well. Said work will pay for those holidays, so [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1094" title="happy-holidays-storyboard-blog" src="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/happy-holidays.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="233" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Well, I was <em>really</em> going to put up the next <a title="The Shot Tells the Story: Wall-E" href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2008/11/20/shot-tells-story-walle/" target="_self"><strong>Wall-E</strong> post</a> this week. I really was.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Then I got work.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">So I&#8217;ve been working.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Funny how I always seem to snag a new gig at the beginning of December, so I have to do work over the holidays.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Oh well. Said work will <strong>pay</strong> for those holidays, so it&#8217;s all good.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Then I had to do &#8216;<strong>holiday stuff</strong>&#8216;. So I didn&#8217;t get it done.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Then, lo and behold, it <strong>actually IS the holidays</strong>, so there you go. No Wall-E post.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I know it&#8217;s not <strong>that</strong> big a deal because many of you are doing some sort of &#8216;holiday thang&#8217; anyway.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">So <strong>Wall-E</strong> is still coming with the <strong>Close-Up</strong> lesson.</h3>
<p style="text-align: left;">Fear not. <img src='http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p style="text-align: left;">It just might happen next week. Or a bit later. We&#8217;ll see.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">In the meantime, I just want to wish you a <strong>very happy &#8216;whatever you celebrate&#8217;</strong> (if anything) and one flipping fantastic <strong>2009</strong>!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">At the very least, have a very nice weekend.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I appreciate <strong>each and every one of you</strong> who stops by to read the storyboard blog.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">Thank you soooo much!</h3>
<p style="text-align: left;">Now let&#8217;s have a drink and eat something totally bad for us and enjoy.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Cheers to all!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">K</p>
        <p>© 2007-2010 <a href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/">Karen J Lloyds Storyboard Blog</a> - All Rights Reserved.</p> <br />
<p><a href="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/work-with-karen"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1603" title="Story-Consulting-Services-Storyboard-Mentoring" src="http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/storyconsultingservices.gif" alt="" width="468" height="60" /></a></p>                                              

<p><strong>Some related posts other readers have enjoyed:</strong><ol><li><a href='http://karenjlloyd.com/blog/2007/12/24/happy-holidays-from-the-storyboard-blog/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Happy Holidays from the Storyboard Blog!'>Happy Holidays from the Storyboard Blog!</a> <small>I just wanted to take a moment to thank those...</small></li>
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