I thought I'd take some time to write a bit about it, before I get lost in the throes of putting it together. I'm pacing myself not to overdo it, but I'm also getting ready to jump in and get completely lost for a while. It might turn me into a sleep deprived, comatose, glazed donut for a bit, but I have a deadline to keep up with. There are no excuses. So long as I keep it fun, and focus my energy on the right things; we're laughing. I'm sure there will be tears in there too. Nothing challenging is ever easy.
I've structured my story, my characters, my environment, with room to make things visually interesting. I want to make a bit of a dream sequence, that also illustrates the way that my mind functions with imagery, because it's quite elaborate and abstract. A great friend of mine (Andrea, illustrated above) asked me to describe a day in my head, and I spent weeks trying to figure out how to put it into words. I started to draw it out, and from there, it sort of led the path to shaping my story into something even more personal. I don't really know how to explain it without the visual. It's an interesting place, for sure.
As a kid, I was a very active dreamer. So much, I had moments where my teachers would almost have to literally shake me out of my fantasies. A word, a color, a shape, a voice, a person's gait, the color of their sweater; anything could take my thoughts into a different world. Many of my parent teacher interviews involved talk about my "trips down the yellow brick road" because my imagination knew how to get in the way of learning. While most of my teachers appreciated the drawings I did for them on my tests, there was a lot of conflict with my wandering mind.
For years, I thought that I had some kind of a learning disability, because I struggled in all of my classes that weren't creatively driven. I managed to make something out of Science, Human Anatomy, and Psychology; because I was able to memorize things through drawing diagrams. Had I realized that this was my learning process, I probably could have applied it to all of my classes and done really well. Instead, I honestly thought I had a problem. Not even kidding. The concept of what is right and wrong can really fog one's view of themselves. For years, I thought I was seriously stupid.
Being creative is far from being stupid, and I had to teach myself that in order to accept my skills as something more than just drawing dreamy pictures. Creativity is a different form of intelligence, that I feel more of the world could use. The way I see the world, and even my own life, is quite emotionally driven. I get caught on so many different things at once, sometimes I will even rush home to jot them down so that the idea doesn't fade away. I don't know if I'd want to trade that for anything, because being a sensitive artist allows me to see a unique sort of beauty in practically everything. I'm hoping I can illustrate this into my animation. My life is one big dream sequence.
I still have so much to share on this topic, and even more on how I have grown to love animation; and how it has affected my life. Sharing these emotional sides of myself aren't the easiest to put into words, but I'm doing my best to focus my energy in doing these posts, as a reminder to keep going because I have something big to share. This is a lifelong passion of mine, an incredibly lofty dream, and a huge piece of my heart. Now that you have an idea of what goes on in my head (sorta) maybe this animation will be just as special to you, as it is to me. Thanks for joining the visual journey with me. Let's keep going!
No comments:
Post a Comment