Penciled Past

January 23-- Week 3

My relationship with cartoons as a young one.

I started at a young age obsessed with Fievel Goes West, a Spielberg produced film chronicling a story of my two favorite things, cowboys and Jewish mice. Really though, as a cowboy freak and a child smack in the middle of the Fievel trilogy's demographic, I've seen the film over 100 times, maybe 200; even to this day I doubt I've seen any piece of media more than I've seen that one. I sometimes believe that I based a lot of my developmental social feelings and skills off of those animated situations, I still remember the characters, their mannerisms, and the punchlines, the slapstick humor and overarching theme basing an integral part of being human on a longing for home and love.

I used to read batman and Sonic the Hedgehog comic books (Really, what WAS a Sega Genesis if it wasn't a Cartoon play-along machine?), but have long dismissed cartoons in most forms. The content has stayed stale and dormant (Not including the outrageously good "Spirited Aways" and a "Princess Mononoke" or two), and I really hate to say this for fear of pissing off the nerd peanut gallery that is Media Arts, but I hate cartoons, they're below my psychological stimulation level.

Family Guy is shamefully teenage, Adult Swim is for drug abusing high schoolers and I couldn't be less interested in a comic book.

Around here we all are, if nothing else unifies us, art snobs, right?

Flipping Out

January 16-- Week 2

Currently in the middle of a process of flipbooking and converting from analog to digital, one quickly learns that we're dealing with taming different animals here.
I'm still not crazy about After Effects, everything so cumbersome in the way that you have to upload frame per frame, I'm sure someone has created a better, more streamlined process by now, but I haven't found it yet. The part that bothers me the most is the strobing, I hate the way that it "bounces" within the frame and creates movement and makes it choppy rather than silky smooth.
I also need to study more films per frame, as my animation tends to slow and dash in certain spots, making movement start in seeming slo-mo and end in race car mode.
I have somewhat enjoyed the process, but as I am not a hand artist this was more difficult and frustrating to me.   I also was unhappy with how I didn't have enough time (or patience or both) to dedicate to adding color to the animation.

Story over everything.

Characters over story.

Develop.

Future Austin: You Da Boss, Never Forget.

Yo, Chieftain. I know you're stressing hard right now, but this is all  a loss of positive perception, with the realignment of your energy you can remember the truth, that you were born different, better, stronger, bigger. You were born DA BOSS.

It's going to be a long semester, and though it may be tempting to freak out right about now, remember who you are, and that you have the potential to shine. Remember that you can't dig yourself out of every hole, work ahead, prepare yourself for success and harvest the results humbly. Push for bigger, leave the state. Don't stay in Greenville, don't do the easy, push out and go to Portland or Chicago. Dig in, do something that scares you, do what you know you were made to you. Biology didn't create you as the safe type, stay true to that. Use the fire in your veins and the spark in your mind that makes you different. They can't do what you do, play your game, not theirs.

Continue writing, let the music fade, write for Ad. Copy-writing isn't the most sexy profession, but you're building, remember that. Remember how far you can reach, but again, you have to build to reach your creative pinnacle. Push towards your ten thousand hours, focus on the things your great at, forget the things you're good at, or are "fun". Have fun in your spare time, work fulfills.

"Change the changeable, accept the unchangeable and reject the unacceptable."

Stay Hungry, Bulls*** the Bulls***ers.