Tag: animation

2021 – Turning the page on 2020

Firstly, belated Happy New Year greetings to all my readers!!!

#one piece from •Anime is my World•

Shortly after my previous post at the end of November, I embarked on a PC building mission that I had been planning for nearly a year. After eight years of usage, my lovely laptop (a Lenovo G505s) deserved a break. It was also time that I switched gears to a PC to accommodate my personal aspirations in digital art and writing. The occasional gaming came as a bonus.

Being a complete amateur to building a PC, I spent much of November reading up on the parts required to build a system while planning my budget for the subsequent purchases. Though it seemed intimidating in the beginning, once the individual parts began to arrive, I couldn’t help but feel excited.

As Edmonton edged toward another Covid-19 lockdown mid-December, I bundled up all the parts onto my office space in my apartment and began building the PC. I was determined to finish the process over the course of a day, and I was mighty proud that I was able to. Reading up on the process as well as watching multiple Youtube videos of others’ mistakes beforehand really made a world of a difference.

I would succeed in completing the build by the afternoon and following a nerve wracking few minutes while turning on the power supply, I was elated to find that my efforts paid off in a fully functioning PC that is now geared with my favorite games, and digital art software.

livememe.com - Success Kid

Unfortunately, thanks to a sensitive nose and a sudden drop in temperatures the same day, I would end up falling sick the following day. It wouldn’t be until late December that my circadian rhythm would right itself amid the change in weather, setting me off on my path to recovery, and finally being able to use my PC.

Over the last week, I’ve enjoyed the near silent workspace environment of my PC amidst some much-needed gaming and writing to cap off 2020. The next four months will be important as I round up my doctoral studies, and even more importantly, as my wife and I expect the newest member of our family.  

2020 has been a tough year for many around the world. I’m thankful to the enduring support of my friends and family who have been so positive through it all. I’m also thankful to my loving wife who has been my strength and inspiration throughout this period. Stepping foot into 2021, I can’t wait to embark on a new journey with you and our little one. As a father-to-be, I intend to put to good use the sleepless nights that are to follow working on the final and most grueling phase of my graphic novel: drawing it all out. I also look forward to fully committing to a career in writing and animation following the completion of my doctoral studies.

As opposed to what may have been a very static 2020, I hope and wish 2021 will be a year of promising, and exciting transitions for everyone. I look forward to seeing you all in my follow up post where I shall detail my PC building process for those who are interested in building your very own PC from scratch.

Expos, Research, Scripts, and a whole lot of Books…

The last two weeks have been a blast. Back-to-back events involving my doctoral research, comic book script, art and animation expos, and a bucket load of books that hit my purchase list have kept me on my toes.

Research during a pandemic

Most of us have had to work from home since COVID-19 introduced itself to the world. It has been the same for me for the most part of the last 5 months. September’s arrival marked the beginning of the final year of my doctoral studies and I’ve spent the last few weeks working intermittently between home and the university.

Science is a collaborative effort and I’m thankful to the support I have received from my colleagues who have assisted in my research especially during a period of time where most research facilities are running at smaller capacity. While this has generally led to a lower results yield, I count myself lucky in that the majority of my research was complete prior to the shutdown.

Nothing beats the joy of getting experimental results that work and support your paper.

Looking ahead, I have also had the chance to engage in some networking for science writing by getting a membership at the National Association of Science Writers, successful registration in a Science Write-a-thon event, submitting a few pitches to scientific journals (fingers crossed, I get to write about my research, the wait has been killing me), and starting a medium account where I also share my posts on The Procrastinating Scientist.

Lightbox

On that note, I made a giant leap in progress when it came to my efforts in pursuing a career in art and animation. Shout out to the Lightbox team for setting up an amazing expo over the course of a hyper-content loaded weekend.

The expo provided a wonderful insider look at the animation, arts, and comic book industry. Networking was also a big plus with sponsors and representatives from Disney, Pixar, etc. More than anything else, the expo provided a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. Be it if you are an amateur or a professional, there were no distinctions and the event altogether served as a wonderful community experience where everyone could learn from everyone.

An awesome source of inspiration, Lightbox left me wanting more. I cannot wait for next year’s expo in an experience that I heartily recommend to anyone who wishes to pursue a career in animation or the film industry.

Script and a whole lot of books

Attending Lightbox expo with a writer’s background (as opposed to an artistic background) gave me unique insights into my own progress with my comic book script. In art, it is very common for the instructor to advise the student to step back from his piece every now and then to gain a larger perspective of his project’s goal.

My experience at Lightbox made me do the same. My recent struggles in transcribing my script into art notwithstanding, I had to take a step back and recognize that there was still much left to do in organizing the plot, not to mention the plot holes that have been creeping out of nowhere in recent days.

It has been a steep learning curve but one that I have appreciated very much. It helped to find common ground in my struggles with many professional artists and writers who attended the expo. With that being said, I have made great progress in demolishing my original draft and elevating it toward greener pastures with every passing day. My goal is to have a fully polished script alongside preliminary concept art ready by the end of the year. Whether I make the deadline is up in the air but I know I’m going to enjoy every bit of it.

This brings us to the end of my two-week adventure. I hope you’ve all had a great weekend and I will see you soon with another post. My newly bought bookshelf speaks to the volumes of reading I will be doing in the coming weeks, so look forward to some book reviews in the near future.

See you all next week!!

Turning 3, and 28

On June 28, 2019, I turned 28 years of age, and The Pensive Reverie completed its online journey of three years with 83 posts, and a sum total of 105 followers. A lot has happened over the last three years, but first I would like to give a big shout-out to my followers and fellow bloggers who have been supportive to the blog’s growth. Thank you very much!

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Looking back to the night of June 27, 2016 when I published my first post in “Introducing Me, and the Pensive Reverie!” I had made a humble goal to reach at least 100 followers on the blog. Three years have flown since then, and having achieved this goal, I’m now even more motivated to further expand and build this blog, not to mention update my personal profile and status! That first blog post began with the question, “Who am I?” Three years down the road, I can now confidently ask myself a different question (one that builds on its predecessor), “Who do I intend to become?”

My name is Ajay Peter Manuel. I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, my home. I hail from Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. As a teenager, I traveled around the world with my family. I would complete my elementary education at Cairo, Egypt, followed by my secondary studies at Khartoum, Sudan. I was around 19 years old when I first set foot in Edmonton to begin my higher studies at the University of Alberta. Following the completion of my undergraduate studies in Astrophysics, I would self-publish my autobiography, Our Last Summer: A Personal Memoir, in the summer of 2013. With the book’s publication I would acknowledge an annoyingly persistent identity crisis, and in the years that followed, with the help of my loved ones and friends, overcome the greatest obstacle in my life: myself.

Having learned the price of freedom and individuality, I embraced the mistakes and regrets of my past, learned to live my present, and to happily look towards the future without fear and hesitation.  caption

This journey would culminate in the publication of a second book in A Little Bit of Everything, a treasure trove of memories involving the friends and family who had helped me along my journey, and most importantly my partner and soulmate. Back then, I wished to become an individual who “integrated his various passions in education, innovation, writing, art, music, science, critical thinking, accompanied with an endless appetite for life” and I continue to work hard on that front.

I’m happy to say that I have found my true-calling in becoming a writer and an artist. As I currently pursue a doctoral degree, I intend to further hone my skills on both these fronts, so that I may one day reach my penultimate goal of “sun-lighting” as a prominent science writer, and “moon-lighting” as a writer/comic book artist and animator. My dreams remain as far-fetched as they usually have been, but I can’t deny that as an individual my journey with The Pensive Reverie has motivated me to meet these challenges head-on, and with confidence.

Settling into the fourth year of this blog, I intend to stick to its original message in sharing my life’s adventures, hobbies, and interests. For all incoming and future visitors, I welcome you to read and engage with me on the posts I have written thus far, and hope that you enjoy them. For my current friends and followers, thank you very much once again for your support!

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