Ingredients of Life: Animation

I'm waiting for the timer to go off on a cartoon competition I entered.

(I wrote this on my personal blog and then thought: I don't know. Maybe you wouldn't mind reading it with a few Braveheart changes. So ... here goes):

In two little days, the public viewing will be over and the judges from FOX cartoons will start doing what judges from FOX cartoons do.

Of course, I'd like to win. I'd like a flat in Rome, too. But I entered this for other reasons just as important as winning.

The most important was this: if I want my work out in the world, then I have to put it there.

That's probably painfully obvious to you, but I had to remind myself of it often - certainly every time I saw the young, well connected animators getting nine billion hits ( I'm really happy I have friends! Eeek.) The 'Audience Favorite' is included in the final cut, so some animators aggressively sought viewers.

At any rate, putting my work out there teaches me - every time - to make things that I enjoy. To do what I want to be doing. I appreciate anyone watching my cartoons, but I make sure I know that you don't have to like anything. I will not love you any less for not liking what I've made.

For instance, you might very well privately wonder what the hell I'm doing trying to animate.

That's something worth knowing and accepting and then getting on and doing it any way.

The urge to put my work out in the world isn't to change audiences (I'm profoundly grateful to those people who find happiness in my work (and who pay for it, too!)). No, It's important to me to change the small circles of comfort I discover myself resting in. I want to teach myself - again - that I believe in what I have to give.

So, it's fair to say I entered this contest hoping to win, yes, but also, just for ... ME!

Yippeee! If you want to see the cartoon (and you can stand the worst compression on the whole planet, maybe of all time), here you go. It's 3 minutes long.

They left me in charge of choosing Valentine's stories to animate and to know me is to know I'd probably do exactly what I did. For me, the real romance happens all on our own; daily, it's a big adventure. I have yet to feel anything but bliss - sometimes quiet, sometimes carnival-like - when I give love, when I treasure the many MANY wonderful stories around me. So ... I animated away.

Of all the videos I want to make of all the places in the world that have cast a spell, Madrid as a starting place was possibly the worst choice.

Equally possible is that it was the best one.

Either way - a few of short, short travelogues.

Here's a little animation from my new 'Tell Me How the Story Ends' series. Always and everywhere, stories have appeared to me (you, too?) and although I could have, in theory, written them myself, I was always a MUCH bigger fan of someone ELSE writing them. Ha.

Stories let us in, let us test things out, discover truths, resolve and repair and heal. Stories are our way of helping each other. I thought that, at the very least, I could record the idea.

That's what these are. I do wish I'd started with one or two of my favorite stories; I was a little afraid to make a total mess of them. That was probably a mistake, but ... I like mistakes. (Convenient, no?)

This is the second of my starting trio of animations and apparently, I was going to get a little better in spite of myself.

I can see this story getting a second chance (ooh, a SEQUEL!) Til then, I'm happy to at least put the idea out into the world ...

... the company of women whose laughter is so true, it sails and circles into a force that can lift us off our steel pedestals we thought were the only way to rise above ...

Yay. This is the last of my three test-them-and-figure-out-the-format cartoons. I thought April Fool's Day, with all its great silliness, was a good time to pop it up and so - here it is.

Blogs that are full of ideas and joy and playfulness are small miracles to me. Each one of them demonstrates the possibilities that each of us are invited to. And when others take the time to make it a conversation, it is undeniable magic. This animation is dedicated to you, a small thank you.

(And yes, it's another in the series of 'Tell Me How the Story Ends' ...)

Every year, there's a new batch of people to turn on to taking care of the earth. Happily, sometimes the kidlets are way ahead of us (and sometimes, they'd do better if Earth was a video game, but this cartoon is not about them. )

I shared this link on the wonderful Dr. Angela's blog a couple of weeks ago but then I thought (because I'm surprisingly clever sometimes) - why not just post it here.

So that is exactly what I'm doing.

Being an adult is nice & all, but there are obviously too many decisions. A sign always helps & if you're in search of good one, I like to recommend this. I animated this from the story by Brian Andreas.

Fun people are all around, creating amazing things & projects & lives, but if you want to connect with them, it helps to offer them treats. They won't come out for any old thing.

For starters, you might try long underwear.

It's a promise we make to each other, that we must make to each other. Love. Our future depends on it.

I animated this little cartoon. I was trying to just put it up in Inspirational Videos, but that's not working very well tonight.

A few weeks ago, I started a web series - very short videos that let me focus on what's right & interesting, instead of the billions of things that are wrong and clearly need fixing. I don't know. I thought the former would be way more fun. So far, it is.

I just thought one or two of you might like to take a look.

They're going to be there, no matter what. Fears. It seems so strange to me to suffer them twice - be afraid of fears? Are you KIDDING? No way. Here's episode 4 as proof. (Sort of. Two minutes hardly constitutes proof, does it? )

Sure. It looks like a short little video and that's it, that's all. There are a gazillion production details, though - kind of a surprise. Who knew it would take so much getting, learning, adjusting? Camera, lighting, mics. Sound, synching, editing so the synching might actually work. Jeesh. And restraining from using my every day profanity. Oh, THAT's been a tiny little hell (which I intend to give up. It's so not worth it, just to avoid anyone's objections.) That's been a part of the hardest part: making myself comfortable with making myself public. Originally, I meant to keep myself out of these videos. I don't care that this young internet generation is so loose with their privacy. That's their problem. Or good luck. Whatever. But I realize that, as a for instance, you can't visit a place without taking a personality along and using it as a lens. I know this too well about traveling. Send two people to the same city or neighborhood or joint and they'll experience completely different things. Have them read the same book and they'll read it differently. So. I'm still figuring it all out, but the lessons are coming fast and furious and I'm currently almost sure I'm actually learning something. Imagine THAT!