Todd Ramsay Visit

November 23rd, 2018,

Todd Ramsay, the co-owner of a local animation company, called Yeti Farm Creative, cam to visit our class.

This was because of the tour we had taken back on October 26th, 2018, where we got to see their demo reel, cartoons in the process of being made, and talk to fellow animators who had previously gone to CATO. Who showed us a bit of what they do, and gave us some helpful tips.

During Todd Ramsay's visit, he gave a speech about when he was in our position as college students, through his struggles, to him owning his own studio.

When I listened to his speech I thought a lot about how similar our stories are, wanting to start our own company, as well as create our own show.

Todd had also brought up being in high school, how he would do poorly in every class but art, and how when he started to not care, he began to do poorly in art. Which concerned his family, who started to tell him to work harder, but as a normal high-schooler, he wouldn't listen, and he was sent to go do some hands on work to get some extra experience under his belt.

I relate to this a lot, because in school I was never good at anything other than art, my grades in most of my classes were C-'s to the occasional B, though my grades in my art classes were B+'s to A's. However at the beginning in grade 10, I wasn't able to join any art classes, so I was forced to learn languages, ad study classes I didn't want to be in.

Eventually in grade 11 and 12 I was able to get into a total of 3 art classes, which was the full amount of art classes I had ever taken in my 12 years of schooling.

During the summers and winters, my dad got me to work on concerts, and on movie sets, sometimes just driving a Pistonbully up and down Crystal Mountain for hours on end. While it was fun, it gave me a lot of time to think about all the stuff I could be doing, which is what happened to Todd.

Todd talked a lot about starting up his own company, and creating his own show. Which really resonated with me, because all I have wanted to do for the last 5 years, is create a cartoon and a company.

He talked about his struggles in doing so, which really helped me, because it gave me insight to what I should do if I am to hit a similar road block in trying to succeed at my goal.

When we toured Yeti Farm Creative, we were told that they give opportunities to their employees to pitch a show idea.

After they said that, it made me start to think more about Yeti Farm Creative, and how when I graduate, I definitely wouldn't mind working for them, even if it was just for a little it.