So I had a job interview yesterday that I wasn't too crazy about. There was an ad in the paper about them needing a freelance artist. It was very vague. I emailed my resume just for kicks, thinking they wouldn't call me or anything, since it said experience with Flash was necessary and I never mentioned it on my resume or in the work on my site.
I guess it didn't matter. I was in and out of the office in 10 minutes with a contract in hand and my head spinning. I told the guy to give me a week or two to get familiar with Flash once more, as I'd only used it once a couple years ago to animate lyrics to a song for a class assignment. If I do take the job, I'll be creating animated banner ads for the paper's website.
I hate banner ads, doesn't everyone? I have Adblock on my browser for a reason, but now I've turned it off on certain sites FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES. I feel weird about that. I feel weird about getting paid to create something I despise that exists solely to annoy people and make them accidentally click on something they don't want to. But it's extra income, and it's experience, it's something to put on the resume aside from self-published comics and flyers for local punk shows.
So I spent much of last night watching video tutorials on Flash and spent most of my day at work screwing around in Flash trying to figure things out. Then I came home, watched MORE tutorials, and fucked around MORE in Flash until I finally managed to make something that, well, WORKED.
Most of my designer friends that I went to school with hate Flash. Most designers hate Flash and avoid it any way they can. And I get that completely. It's bulky, confusing, and just frustrating in how it fights back all the time.
Basically, forcing myself to understand Flash is probably the single most masochistic thing I've ever done to myself. I'm approaching it the same way I approach an intensely difficult videogame like Ikaruga or Dark Souls, as an interesting challenge to try and tackle. I'm trying not to get discouraged, but every little bit of progress is good.
So we'll see what happens. Maybe by the time I've figured most of it out they'll have hired someone else. Hopefully not...
I guess it didn't matter. I was in and out of the office in 10 minutes with a contract in hand and my head spinning. I told the guy to give me a week or two to get familiar with Flash once more, as I'd only used it once a couple years ago to animate lyrics to a song for a class assignment. If I do take the job, I'll be creating animated banner ads for the paper's website.
I hate banner ads, doesn't everyone? I have Adblock on my browser for a reason, but now I've turned it off on certain sites FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES. I feel weird about that. I feel weird about getting paid to create something I despise that exists solely to annoy people and make them accidentally click on something they don't want to. But it's extra income, and it's experience, it's something to put on the resume aside from self-published comics and flyers for local punk shows.
So I spent much of last night watching video tutorials on Flash and spent most of my day at work screwing around in Flash trying to figure things out. Then I came home, watched MORE tutorials, and fucked around MORE in Flash until I finally managed to make something that, well, WORKED.
Most of my designer friends that I went to school with hate Flash. Most designers hate Flash and avoid it any way they can. And I get that completely. It's bulky, confusing, and just frustrating in how it fights back all the time.
Basically, forcing myself to understand Flash is probably the single most masochistic thing I've ever done to myself. I'm approaching it the same way I approach an intensely difficult videogame like Ikaruga or Dark Souls, as an interesting challenge to try and tackle. I'm trying not to get discouraged, but every little bit of progress is good.
So we'll see what happens. Maybe by the time I've figured most of it out they'll have hired someone else. Hopefully not...