ishKiia grew up in South Carolina in and just outside of Charleston. Then at 15, she moved to Cary, North Carolina. As a child she always drew and would enter those drawing contests sponsored by the Art Institute. Twice, ishKiia actually had someone come to her from the Institute in person trying to convince her parents that she really needed to push her talent. But they thought art was dead end.
ishKiia almost flunked out of High School due to being in a system and time that didn’t understand reading disabilities, though she worked very hard and into the night. After moving to Cary, she was in a band that went to Romania and Holland through Friendship Ambassadors to represent the United States.
As an adult due to health issues, ishKiia almost died twice at two different times, and contracted cancer. At one point she was given 6 months to live with a husband and two small children, so she decided that, though she wouldn’t be good at it due to her weakened state, she would do something she always wanted to do… martial arts. Long story short, ishKiia got better and in 1995 she represented the US in a world tour in Martial arts and was the first woman in the world to obtain a Master rank in the art of Balintawak.
Later after her health became bad again a few years ago she had to quit working in the regular world. That is the time when she decided to get back to what she really wanted to do.. something in the art arena. ishKiia started out going to a community college for an AA in programming. But after taking a flash course, winning and outstanding student award she began to get some notice. Her professors started telling her she needed to dream bigger than programming that she was letting a lot of talent go to waste, but that the programming would enhance what she could do in animation or gaming.
ishKiia ended up starting at Westwood College as a game art design student then changed her major to Animation. She loves all that animation is in all arenas and really found a great passion that has long been waiting to be discovered.
I haven’t been in the profession long doing freelancing here and there the past few years but mainly I’ve been in school studying the profession.
I’ve sold many pen and ink drawings at charity auctions at 7k and up. Though I almost flunked out of high school and had to quit college 25 years previously, I now hold a 3.922 cumulative GPA and have been on the Dean’s or President’s list every quarter but 2 in 4 years. I have to work harder than others but I’m doing it. My other accomplishments were previously mentioned above in the biography.
Through a professor at school telling me it was industry standard and suggested I try it since I was anal and aiming high for professional work.
Truthfully it isn’t covered in the classroom, but I use it rather than drawing on paper and scanning it in and going through the rig-a-ma-role of painful editing and separate shot lists etc.
Many classes are 30-60 people, some are 20
I never use anything else truthfully
I draw my storyboards digitally in another application. If I’m going to be using Flash for the animation I draw it in flash in layers that they will be in so I cut out a lot of duplication work. Then I export each frame as a png sequence, import them all in to Toon Boom Storyboard Pro and because working in there the rest of the time. If the class doesn’t require I use another application for an animatic, I use Storyboard Pro for that too.
The fact that I can put my own logo on it or watermark it, create a title page etc. When I am able to use Storyboard Pro for an Animatic I use the camera moves, import sound, etc. I always put scripts in there whether I use it for the animatic or not just to hold it in a good safe place if nothing else. But normally I use it for the storyboard and incorporate the dialog etc. It makes for an impressive storyboard. I am looking forward to the point where classes won’t be requiring flash to do the animatics with. Though I think I am past those stages since I’m in the portfolio review stages and will be graduating in May. I really love the robustness of Storyboard Pro and I look forward to being able to use it like I want to use it…. fully. Not using all its abilities inside is like not using arms and legs to me.
Most definitely! Soooo much faster and cuts out a lot of needless grueling unnecessary work.
Considering how many features are in it, I could at least function with it in a few hours from start to finish. I know there are many features in it that I haven’t even had a chance to discover yet. The tutorials only graze a bit on the surface to get you going.
Well if you can’t tell by now after all the questions, I would say you would be in the dark. I love it and I am not sure I would enjoy my work near as much as I do and feel good about what I put out without it unless it involved 3 times the work.
I am currently and will be freelancing due to health issues. My mind is always open so I have no limitations on myself and what I can do.
