I've just come back from watching the Back to the Future Trilogy on the big screen. And as well as revelling in how arse-kickingly awesome those movies are (Seriously, Robert Zemekis used to make cinema. Unlike the whatever it is he tries to make now), it really took me back to the childhood roots of who I am. (This is gonna be a text heavy flashback, so feel free to scroll down to the pictures and video. Seriously, don't feel bad. I'm guilty of it too.)
Growing up the chubby asthmatic kid I was (and continue to be) I wanted to be Doctor Emmett L. Brown. He made soooo many cool things out of his garage and was always so enthusiastic about everything. He could do anything, and science was his tools to creation.
In grade three I was rocking up to school with solar kits and crystal radio sets, by grade six I'd fixed and revamped a rotary style phone in a classy classy wooden box case. And who has two thumbs and used to sit behind the portables tinkering with a radio he disassembled and re-assembled into his lunchbox? Yo...
Oh it was great fun. I even went on a two day science camp thing in year nine where we learned about robots and made borax based slime (No more crummy cornstarch based gunk for us!) Then something interesting happened. All the while as I'd been sciencing it up I'd been drawing and doodling and at some point I realised a fantastic truth. Leaving it on paper is SO much easier than actually making it work. Even looking back at it now, animating a frog turning into a hair-dryer is infinitely simpler than getting ti to happen with science. Even on ONES it's be easier.
Long story short, Back to the Future I, II and II plus laziness equals the animator you see today.
Oh, here's a sketch dump before I bury you in text again.
I dunno... I guess I've been thinking a lot about myself lately. As it turns out I've been making banner ads for a full year now and the void of creativity that comes with it has been taking its toll.
A fantastically wise person pointed out to me recently that I brighten up when I talk about animation, and I do. I really do. The high point of my Friday at work was when one of my colleagues who's recently become a dad didn't know what the 'ladybugs picnic' animation from sesame street was. At which point I found a link to it, wrote a short speil on Bud Luckey and concluded the email with a link to Pixar's Boundin'. (which he also did)
Following that high I (well, once work ended) I rode around until I was good and lost, found a park and recorded the following:
Uke's bring their own sunshine to things. I've been practising a lot more lately, especially walking up and down Chapel Street.
Anyways, my venting seems to be loosing momentum and direction. Both very good things for a vent to loose.
I'll end tonight with an image I've had on my drive for a while now. When I first made this I was too scared to post it anywhere, not for fear of criticism, but for darker and more ridiculous reasons. Reasons that've been ranted about enough in other forums.
Enjoy that those reasons are gone! I certainly do :D
Hope everyone's having a great weekend,
I promise, next post'll be back to regular scribbly drivel.
-Daniel
