Due to circumstances beyond our control, there is no South Side Animation Club in September. We are encouraging interested animators in checking out the animation block at the Tacoma Film Festival in October at The Grand Cinema, and we will return virtually in November.
Thank you for your patience and support!
Suzanne
Hi Animators,
I have some news, but more importantly, a whole lot of questions for you.
Our host, The Grand Cinema, is welcoming us back in person in September from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. on Wednesday, September 12 (the second Wednesday of the month). However, due to two scheduling conflicts, we need to make alternate arrangements for October and November, whether that is simply moving the meeting to another week (1st or 3rd Wednesday), exploring virtual options for these months, or another option (like taking a break for October and changing the venue for November).
This leads me to another issue I have been weighing since the start of this club: how do I make an all ages animation club where professionals, amateurs, and hobbyists feel welcome? I originally made the age range “all ages” so as it to make it possible for animators with caregiving duties to attend, but I also want to make a space for kids who are interested in/ serious about animation to get their questions answered and to form connections. Do adult animators feel welcome at this gathering? If not, why not? Should I separate the club into two age ranges with two separate meeting times? Is there enough interest in a more formal class for kids? Would parent artists interested in making animation be able to attend if I institute an age limit on one of the meeting times?
To help me figure out what will make the South Side Animation Club as accessible, useful, and enjoyable as possible for animators in the Tacoma region in terms of dates, times, and meeting location (virtual vs. in person), it would be great to get your feedback! To complete the survey, please click here. If you have difficulties opening this link, or if you have thoughts on the issue of whether to make a separate meeting for kids and adults, send me a message to nominestudios@gmail.com. If you want a more formal class for yourself or your kid(s), let me know!
If you live outside the region but would like to participate if there is a virtual option, please email nominestudios@gmail.com with the subject line: “I want a Virtual Animation Club Option!” In the body of the message, include your name, age, location, a link to your portfolio if applicable (not required), and times/ days that would work best for you. If you are a parent/guardian emailing on behalf of your kid, please let me know. If you are under 18, please have your parent/guardian email for you.
Thank you!
Suzanne
The South Side Animation Club returns to The Grand Cinema from 6 – 8 p.m. on August 9 (tonight)!
Animators looking to collaborate, work on projects, or showcase your progress, this is for you! This meeting is free & all ages; children are welcome with adult supervision. Some general supplies such as newsprint and light tracing boxes will be provided for shared use, but feel free to bring laptops, tablets, sketchbooks, tracing paper, pens/ pencils, or anything you need to work on your own project. The Grand is providing a projector and screen so that we can share works in progress, so please consider bringing a USB drive with your work if you’d like.
Indie game devs, writers, voiceover actors, composers, sound designers, and more, you’re welcome, too!
Thank you to The Grand Cinema for hosting us, as well as the City of Tacoma Arts Commission and Office of Arts and Cultural Vitality for sponsoring the Animation Club as a 2023 Community Arts Project.
See you at The Grand, and bring a friend! 🙂
Suzanne
Good morning, and happy Thursday!
I have some fun announcements to share, so let’s get started.
First things first, South Side Animation Club returns to The Grand Cinema on Wednesday, August 9 from 6-8 p.m. It is a free and all ages opportunity for animators of any skill level. Come hang out with us as we work on individual and collaborative projects, network, and showcase our work in various stages of production, from concept to finished piece. Children are welcome with adult supervision. Thank you to everyone at The Grand Cinema for making this possible!
Second, I am excited to announce that I’ll be moderating a GeekGirlCon panel created by Maddy from Foul Play Games! More details will be shared once our date, time, and location are confirmed, but I’m excited to lead the discussion with others creating their own paths in the game industry. GeekGirlCon is a wonderful event, and this will be the third year I have been invited to be on a panel there.
Finally, I have been working to get back into the swing of daily drawing, which as other parents know is not always the easiest when kids are home from school for summer break. [As if the pandemic didn’t drive this point home, I know…] For the month of August, I’ve set myself the task of drawing and posting a new dino/ dino adjacent illustration every day on my Instagram account. Artists, join the challenge and let me know what kind of work you create! If you haven’t followed No, Mine! Studios on Instagram, I would love your support.
Also finally (this time I mean it), one of yesterday’s illustrations is available on my Redbubble shop, along with several other works you may or may not have seen. Check out the shop and let me know if there is anything that you’d like me to add there!
Finally finally (third time’s the charm), thank you for supporting a small, Tacoma-based, woman-owned business and indie artist. I appreciate you!
Have a wonderful day!
Suzanne
Exciting Announcement!
Because the weather has been in our favor lately, we are holding the next South Side Animation Club outdoors!
Join us on Saturday, May 20 from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. at Wapato Lake Park (6500 S. Sheridan Ave
Tacoma, WA 98408). The exact location will be posted on the website (https://www.nominestudios.com/) and Instagram (@nominestudios) once we set up, but we should be easy to spot! Bring camping chairs, blankets, sunscreen, snacks, and cold drinks (non-alcoholic per club and park rules), as well as a sketchbook, pencils, pens, watercolors, or whatever else you would like to work with outdoors. I’ll bring some supplementary art supplies to share (colored pencils, sharpeners, loose flip book supplies). [As this month’s meeting is outdoors, it will be relatively technology free except for what attendees choose to bring.] Wapato Lake is a wonderful setting to work on background art as a group, but as always, everyone is free to work on their own projects and encouraged to share progress with the group.
For those who sign in on Saturday, we’ll have a drawing for some mini-door prizes halfway through the session. We’ll announce the drawing winners at the meeting.
The South Side Animation Club is all ages, free, and intended for artists of all mediums and skill levels with an interest in making animation: digital and traditional animation and stop motion, sound design, writing, directing, and more.
Children are welcome when accompanied by guardian. Please note: We are unable to provide supervision for unattended children. Thank you for understanding.
Please refrain from smoking/ vaping near the club meeting spot out of respect for individuals with respiratory and other conditions. We also still encourage masks and/ or social distancing as appropriate to keep our group as accessible as possible.
This Community Arts Project is made possible with support from the City of Tacoma Office of Arts and Cultural Vitality and the Tacoma Arts Commission. Please feel free to email any questions you may have about the club to Suzanne Skaar at No, Mine! Studios: nominestudios@gmail.com.
Thank you for your support, and we hope to see you this Saturday!
Suzanne
Just an update:
Starting in May, the South Side Animation Club will be changing locations. As a result, we may need to change the dates and times. More details to come!
Thank you for your support!
Suzanne
What’s New
The date for the first South Side Animation Club is getting closer (March 25, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. at the Tacoma Public Library Moore Branch), and preparations are going well!
No, Mine! Studios Interns Jillian Schmitt and Sterling Kelly helped assemble 40 Animation Kits that will be given away to participants for free on a first come, first served basis. We’re also planning to expand the resources available for the stop motion station, so last week I trekked out to TinkerTopia to get some ideas. I highly recommend supporting this local business if you’re looking for additional stop motion set building supplies and figurines to use for animation.
Club Meeting Format
Each club meeting will be set up with multiple stations dedicated to different styles of animation. Participants are free to float between stations.
Digital
Participants can check out a limited number of Chromebooks at the Moore Library front desk, use Adobe products on the computers in the main area, or bring your own laptop/tablet. If there is interest in collaborating on a digital group drawing, I’ll make a Magma Studio link available the morning of the club meeting(s). USB thumb drives are included with the free Animation Kits.
Hand Drawn
The free Animation Kits include tracing paper, coloring pencils, sharpeners, and more useful supplies. We will have newsprint, pencils, coloring pencils, and a light trace box for general use/ collaboration, and participants are welcome to bring their own supplies.
Flip Books
Flip books are included in the Animation Kits. We’ll have some loose paper as well as a flip book size light box for shared use. Participants are also welcome to bring their own drawing supplies from home.
Stop Motion
We have Two Hue Animation Studio stop motion cameras so up to two groups can work on different projects simultaneously. We’ll also have some other set building materials for smaller projects.
Teardown of stop motion projects (returning cameras to the No, Mine! Studios team and materials to their proper bins) will need to be completed by 11:50 a.m.
Audio
The South Side Animation Club will have mini-lessons on audio editing and sound design for animation at a future meeting. Because noise may be a factor, there won’t be a dedicated audio station at the first meeting, but library card holders can check out podcast kits for recording ahead of time from the Tacoma Public Library: (Podcast Kit Style 1/ Podcast Kit Style 2)
The Tacoma Library’s Digital Media Lab at the Main Branch (downtown) also schedules appointments for those who want to work on recording and editing.
If you have some basic questions about audio editing with Audacity or Adobe Audition, I will do my best to help at the club meetings after the mini-lesson and before the Showcase.
Showcase
As a reminder, we have access to the library’s projector! Those who want to showcase their animations should email a YouTube/ other link to nominestudios@gmail.com or bring a USB drive with the work. (This is an all-ages event, so please share work that is PG/ General Audiences friendly.) The showcase will start at around 11:30 a.m. (or sooner) depending on how many participants we have, so please get your digital files to me by 11 a.m. that day or sooner. We will also plan a longer Showcase later in the year. More details to come!
Local game devs, you are welcome to share your work here as well! Message me ahead of time so we can make sure we have the necessary equipment/ cables.
Share with Friends!
Please help us get the word out to as many interested community members as possible!
Acknowledgments
The South Side Animation Club wouldn’t be possible without the Tacoma Public Library Moore Branch, the City of Tacoma Arts Commission, the City of Tacoma Office of Arts and Cultural Vitality, and the support of the greater Tacoma community.
Thank you for your support!
Suzanne
Join the South Side Animation Club at the Tacoma Public Library Moore Branch (215 S 56th St) on Saturday, March 25, 2023 for our first meeting! The monthly club meetings are free and all ages.
Presented by No, Mine! Studios and the Tacoma Public Library, with support from the City of Tacoma Arts Commission.
I often get an inordinate amount of glee from purchasing art supplies, but that’s tenfold this week because — Some of the supplies for the South Side Animation Club kits arrived this morning! 😁 2 gallon Ziploc bags, #2 pencils, and nonphoto blue pencils. Now just waiting on the tracing paper, USB drives, and the motivation to design and print out the package labels. 😄
The kits will be available for free to the public at Tacoma’s Moore Library starting at the first club meeting on March 25 at 10 a.m. In the meantime, I’ve been thinking of some other smaller items to add (plain sketchbooks, small notepads, erasers, …). If any local businesses would like to contribute items to the kits or equipment to the club, please contact me at nominestudios@gmail.com.
Thank you everyone for your support, especially the City of Tacoma Arts Commission, the City of Tacoma Office of Arts and Cultural Vitality, and the Tacoma Public Library Moore Branch for helping this project come to life!
It’s official! The South Side Animation Club has found a home at Tacoma’s Moore Library. Our first meeting will be on Saturday, March 25 from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. Please help get the word out and share/RSVP to the Facebook event. Thank you to the City of Tacoma Office of Arts and Cultural Vitality and the Tacoma Arts Commission for helping make this project a reality!
In other news, I am excited to announce that for the first time Interns through Tacoma Public School’s Next Move Program will join No, Mine! Studios! In addition to learning about indie game dev, they’ll be contributing to the South Side Animation Club in a variety of ways. Welcome!
And one last update, I will be joining a local Tacoma high school as an adjunct instructor for Game Design and Animation starting next week, which means…. BRING ON THE POWERPOINTS!
(I may be at my happiest when making slideshows.)
Thank you everyone for your support along the way. Here’s to an amazing 2023!
Suzanne
No, Mine! Studios 