Once upon a time, I knew Flash. An awesome program which created a lot of the cartoons you might still see on Cable now. Then Toonboom came out. I barely got the hang of Flash then had to jump to trying to learn Toonboom. The learning curve was huge, and with clients wanting animation "right now" I had to drop both of them and do the animation the old fashioned way. It was not the most efficient way though. So now, I am watching a series of tutorials online to re-educated myself with Flash and then learn Toonboom. I want to do my kickstarter project using one or both of these programs as both have their pros and cons. Either way, creating an online animation program for myself is very exciting. 

These trucks came out incredible. What I didn't realize was that this was for a Mom, Dad and daughter. Mom's truck had all pink letters while Dad's letters were all green. How cool to make the daughters truck a mix of green and pink. This happened totally by mistake and they loved it!

I was invited to speak at the National Association of Latino Independent Producers this summer. Should be lots of fun. Topic is about Latinos making the leap from comics to the big screen. Come check me out if you're in town. http://www.nalip.org/2015_media_summit

I just found this video testimonial that I did on Youtube. I purchased a book for animators on human facial expressions by Best-Selling Author, Storyboard Artist Mark Simon. He recorded this video of me at the NATPE convention in Miami 2013. While sitting in the audience listening to panel discussion, It turned out I was sitting right next to him. We got to talking and he asked me if I could give him a video testimonial. Here it is..

I am my toughest critic and I don't usually say this, but dang this one came out awesome! I love it.

Working on finishing up two character logos. This one is coming along nicely. I should have the rest of it inked tonight in photoshop and have all the colors in by the end of Monday night. I'll post it up once it's done. 

     I have been freelancing since 1997. But I have always had a passion to teach. Fortunately for me, my passion and my freelancing experiences merged to create this incredible opportunity that I was recently given. Since my last teaching job at The Urban Arts youth center a few years back, I have always yearned to continue helping young artists figure out ways to hone their skills while teaching them how to earn money with their talents. In September 2014, I re-designed the curriculum that I created for the Urban Arts Center and shifted it around to target digital freelancers. The objective: to provide tips on the business of freelancing and help them find new ways to generate business. The long term goal was to create a 15 week program, but the short term was to shape it into a 5 week workshop on the business of freelancing. 

     After completing a detailed syllabus for a 5 week workshop, I pitched it to The Art Center College of Design and was incredibly honored to hear that they were interested in the new course proposal. They hired me to teach the course that I put together this summer! I am excited about this new opportunity not just professionally but personally because now it puts me in a position to help fellow artists with obstacles that I had to overcome through trial and error....but mostly through error! 

Awesome new additions to the custom truck line..More to come. I didn't realize it would be this much fun to create these! 

Easily one of the best feelings as a business owner is to browse the web and find an interview someone did of you that you totally forgot about. Read the article here!

Working on an explainer video for a client - This is one of the storyboard panels..

Click on image and take a look at the new whiteboard marketing videos for a new service called Cuddle Up. 

Herediadesigns.com is now Herediacartoons.com. Though the company name is still Heredia Designs, LLC, I was forced to change the domain name due to some server issues. 

I was asked to participate in a panel at the Art Institute in North Hollywood about the business of freelancing. Apart from this honor, I will have the privilege to show a whiteboard animation I created exclusively for the event. Here is a still from the video. I'm excited about this great opportunity!