About the Short Story

I never thought I'd write a coming-of-age piece for a job application. Somehow, that's exactly what happened when I applied for a position with a well-known ad agency in NYC.

Suzie has been a character of mine since I was a kid. I used to create PowerPoint animations of her battling monsters and flying across the city after discovering the software on my parent's computer. You couldn't have told me that Word Art and Smart Art were meant for business presentations.

Over the years, I have sketched, written about, and modified this little girl, but I never thought she would grow up this way. Late one Sunday night, I was taken by surprise when these words started manifesting through the keyboard. My very own fingers were telling me that Suzie is a doll, representing a young girl who realizes it's time to grow up but is not quite sure she wants to let go.

I did get an interview from the agency after this, although I didn't end up with the position. I am happy to say, though, that I was offered a wonderful position with the company I've interned for since last September. I'm very happy that everything has worked out and excited for this new chapter in my life, although I guess a part of me wonders what that might mean for the little heroine from my youth...

Conference Mailing Lists as a Job-searching Opportunity

Do you give your e-mail out at networking events and conferences?

In the fall semester, one of my marketing professors here at Temple paid out of pocket for a bunch of us American Marketing Association (AMA) students to go to a great conference in New York City. The conference was organized by the Advertising Women of New York (AWNY) and took place at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Chelsea (downtown Manhattan). Here we are at the conference:

I got on AWNY's mailing list and last week received an e-mail about an internship opportunity for the summer 2009. Mind you, I haven't received one e-mail from them up until now, and I don't need an internship myself but I was excited to pass this along.

UPDATE: I was going to post the internship description here but Lynn Zalokar, AWNY's Membership Manager has asked me to take it down, since she has already received a number of resumes and only has one spot left.

Lesson learned: you never know when an opportunity may arise and you have to be quick to snatch it up. This can be really frustrating, especially when it seems like all the doors are slamming in your face. Stay positive and keep APPLYING YOURSELF through these tough times. I'm going to make my next entry more inspirational. In the meantime I'd like to know, what creative job-search strategies are you using?

Gilles Tran: 3D Genius

I recently discovered this 3D artist from France named Gilles Tran. I think his art is absolutely amazing from both a technical and artistic perspective. He uses a lot of the software and tools I use to create my own art, so it's truly an inspiration to look at his work. I really don't know anything about him other than what's posted on his website, have never heard of him before, and have no idea if he does this stuff commercially or just for fun (well of course most artists hope to make some sort of money doing what they love, right?), but I felt the need to post about him when I found this incredible statement in his online gallery.

Those of you who know me personally will probably laugh out loud when you see the title...

Late for work again ! - Encore en retard ! by gtran

The 3D model he used is from Daz3D (see ad in my bright pink sidebar), and is a free resource for the 3D community.

The amazing part is, I have seen so much 3D art I'm almost sick of seeing these figures everywhere. But Gilles has managed to make me go "wow" at almost every piece of art in his gallery (or at least once per page). The environments he creates for his characters are stunning, as is the lighting, the composition, the textures, everything. For those who can't appreciate 3D art from a technical perspective, see this rendering of NYC and tell me it doesn't look like a photo:

L'oiseau mouillé - The wet bird by gtran
Browse other Digital Art Posters

Then, look at his description of how he made the image.

Okay, now you guys know why I love 3D.