I went up to Monroe, LA to teach a 3D modeling and animation workshop at Louisiana Delta Community College. This was my first time in north Louisiana. It was an all-day workshop (9am-3pm) and we had a great time. My students were excited when their cylinders turned into tires on their cars. We mostly did modeling, but I was able to show them some animation by animated a ball and tail rig for them at the end of the session.

I'm helping the guys in Troop 1911 get their animation merit badge. Here are pictures from the first session.

Yesterday, I taught a 2 hour workshop on Xavier University's campus for the New Orleans 100 Black Men chapter's mentee program. It was an awesome experience. Both kids and adults were captivated and asking plenty of questions. I taught them about the basics of animation, the different types, jobs in animation and we ended with a project. The students made flipbooks using post-it note pads. I helped them work through their ideas and there were some quality animations made. For a couple of them, my response (in my head) was, "Wow! I taught THEM how to do THAT?!" We had 3 young men that won Walmart gift cards provided by the chapter. All in all, it was a great experience and I look forward to working with them again.

During the month of November, I led a 4-session workshop at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) where I taught the students how to 3D model in Autodesk Maya. I taught them about the different aspects of 3D animation and specifics about creating good 3D models. Since I was teaching art students, I gave them the option to design their own chess pieces. We then used different 3D modeling techniques to bring our chess pieces to life. It was the first time these students were introduced to 3D.