All about Tommy Vogt...
Here is some background on who I am and how I came to be interested in animation and digital art in general. I got my first 3D modeling/animation program as a senior in High School back in 1997. The program was Truespace 2, and after a few weeks with it I was hooked! I was originally most interested in modeling. I spent almost every waking moment outside of school working on becoming better at modeling and rendering with Truespace. Even though I was not able to get where I wanted to I figured part of it was due to the software, so in the fall of my senior year, I took out my first signature loan and purchased a 21” CRT and a copy of 3DSMax R2.5! I spent a good deal of time learning NURBS and other modeling techniques. After a while I decided I wanted to work in games so I focused my attention towards polygons.
I was accepted into and attended the Kansas City Art Institute for a year before loosing some interest in it. I wanted to learn animation but at the time they did not have a very good animation program. After stumbling there and realizing what huge student loans I would have I redirected my attention toward IT stuff. I ended up getting a job with Deluxe (the check company) as an IT analyst. I learned a lot about programing and all sorts of stuff about IT work. I spent a majority of my free time learning programming. I even had several interviews with Nintendo at one point, although I did not get the job… While working for Deluxe I met my wife Melinda and we have been married for over 7 years now! I also started getting back into modeling. After leaving Deluxe and moving to and then back from California, I ended up at Hallmark Cards. First in IT, and then in Operations, as a Digital Engraver. During this time I learned a lot about modeling and progressed pretty far with polygonal modeling (box modeling). At one point though I decided that animation was what I really wanted to do and decided to dedicate myself to learning it. In the last term of getting my degree at Westwood Online, I started the Animation program at AnimationMentor. It was tough trying to do both but I got through it and was able to dedicate a great majority of my time outside of work to animation. I have spent about 6 years between getting my degree and completing AniamtionMentor, and I am not prepared to stop now!
I love animals and my wife and I have a few cats and 2 dogs!!! They are great and a great source of reference and inspiration for animation. The way they move and go about their business really makes me think about the principals of animation, as they are quite visible in all they do. Anyways, in addition to all of this, I have a great family, although they are constantly busy we all find time to spend together. I love movies (HD stuff especially), animation, and games. I aspire to have a career in animation, whether it is in games, TV, or feature film, the idea of working in one of these fields would be great fun and a challenge!
