To our newest members:
A huge welcome to all of our newest members and affiliates!! Welcome to the Pixar Planet forum boards! Feel free to help yourself to the chocolate chip cookies on the counter and take care not to tread on the rats underfoot. 
To everyone else:
Eheh. Hi, guys… 
My sincere apologies for stressing my absence here on the boards, and for popping up randomly and out of the blue, but I felt like saying a quick, “Hello” to all of you guys here. I know I’m gonna sound like a broken record here, but, even though I won’t be able to visit Pixar Planet as often as I used to (as is beyond apparent – heh), I still absolutely love this place to bits and would never leave it for the world.
Not much has happened in my life lately. I’ve been rather busy at work and at school to the point where drawing time for me is limited. However, despite this constricted time frame (artistic-wise), I’ve come to love just sketching in general more than I could ever have imagined. Setting aside the fact that this might sound a little cliche, I only realized how much I loved drawing after I found that I hardly have any time to do it this semester. Heh. All the better, though! My love for the realm of artistry has grown rapidly over the past several weeks, and I think that my drawing skills have improved because of it. I’m literally watching at least one animated film a night now and drawing a character or characters from it so as to become more familiar with poses and expressions. To be blunt, I’ve been having way too much fun sketching. (You know, in all honesty, I really don’t see how anyone could possibly hate drawing. I believe it was Glenn McQueen who said that “everyone should be jealous” of the artist and his profession. He was right.)
Umm… let’s see. What else…? Well, umm, I met Brad Bird again a couple of days ago. There was this Iron Giant 10th Anniversary reunion party that took place on the Warner Bros. back lot last Friday (on the twenty-third), and… my sister wanted to go so… we went. (To make a long story short, we almost didn’t get in, but I prayed about it and… voila’! Good thing too, otherwise my sister would have been pissed.) It was nice seeing Mr. Bird again. I embarrassed my socks off by asking him if he remembered me and thanking him for taking a couple of minutes out of his time to see me the last time I met him. Low and behold, he remembered… Heh. I was still embarrassed, though. For one thing, I don’t think my sentences came out right, even though he smiled anyway. For another thing, I acted like a complete idiot beforehand… See, just before my sister and I went into the theater where the event was to take place, my sister taped me on the shoulder and pointed behind her. Well, Brad Bird was right there. We could have had him all to ourselves, since there was hardly anyone else around, but we were too freakin’ embarrassed to say anything! Gah!! I’m such an idiot… Other than that, though, it was fun! My sister gave Mr. Bird a drawing that she did of the Iron Giant (I wonder what he did with it…? Heh…) and Brad said that he liked our t-shirts (my sister had on an “Incredibles” shirt and I had on a… well, I don’t have to mention it 'cause you guys already know what I was wearing…)… blushes
I may go to that Pixar Animation Studios event this November. I’ll just buy the freakin’ ticket even if I end up not being able to find the means to pay for the train/bus ticket. Heh.
Yet another event coming up in November is the CTN Animation Expo. I’m guessing that practically everybody (well, not everybody, but a fair few) in the animation industry will be there (not including the major studios; some will be there, but not all; I don’t think that that many people from Pixar will be in attendance). They’ll be looking at portfolios… There is no WAY… on this EARTH… that I’d miss this. I already purchased tickets for my dad, mom, and I, so we’ll be there. If anyone else will be attending this event, please let me know so as we may meet up!!!
Here is the link to the official CTN Expo, if anyone is interested: Go!
Other than that, life has been too busy, yet not exciting enough at the same time! To put things in a deeper perspective, I’m sick and tired of watching all of my friends and people that I admire advance artistically while I gaze on longingly from the sidelines. ENOUGH of that. I swear, after this semester is over I’ll be taking some real life drawing classes so as to get ahead in life – specifically, in the life that I want to live in. Not that I hate my college classes or anything but, hey, I’m not going to get anywhere by reading stupid books on evolution when I could be drawing my heart out at an art university. If I go back to college at all next year it will be so as I might take an advanced English class and that’s IT…
Sooo… there ya’ have it! Again, I’m terribly sorry that I haven’t popped in often enough. I really am pretty busy, though. That said, I’ll never abandon this place. Never…
– Mitch
P.S. Oh! For those who are wondering, I saw Up eleven times in the theater. Needless to say, I kinda liked it. I’ll have to tell Pete Docter how much of a freakin’ genius he is if I see him this Tuesday. Yes, Mr. Docter will be in town this week, too. I swear, everybody lives in California; it’s not even funny.
).
I’m quite much of a newby when it comes to Photoshop, so this was kind of hard, but I managed. 
. But I like to drop a “hello” to the new members every so often. So, enjoy the Pixar Planet Community