Portfolio Visit

I went to my first portfolio visit today, i went to see a free lancer named Derek Linsley. He was kind enough to invite me to his house so that i could show him some of my work and he could show me some of his. I was very nervous about going up to his house as he said his 12 year old son was going to be there and he wanted me to give his son some advise on art, design and animation! When i got there he had got out a load of different advertising leaflets that he sends out to different companies. They all had different pictures of what his work looked like. There was one in particular that i found really interesting, it was a still from an animation he had done where a milk float drives across a dull landscape turning everything it passes into a more beautiful scene and brings things to life. He did mention to me that he is not the animator himself he works with various companies as the director (he has the ideas and gets involved with companies to bring them to life). He also gave me a tour of his house and showed me some of his graphics work and photography for catalogues like littles woods. After he showed me all this amazing work it was eventually time to show him mine. I made up a short showreel that had my scratch films, rotascoping and my 3D frog. He was really intrigued with how i made the frog so i showed him my development within my sketchbook like my drawings and screen shots and he was very impressed!! I think he appreciated it a fair bit because he hasn't touched upon that much 3D animation he was fascinated that the frog was made starting with just a cube! He also mentioned not to become too focused on a particular area of work at this moment in time he said to get out there and get involved in all sorts of things and try everything and then maybe figure out what you want to focus on. Derek never focus on one particular part of the design world however he has always been in creative control and directing all of his ideas never anyone else's. He also mentioned that if i need any more advise or any guidence i can contact him when ever i like so he gave me his mobile number and email address so i think he will be really helpful to me in the future.