It just got real

So I think after a lot of thinking I am going to choose Captain Dementia as the Thesis. It was I orignally set out to do. It is the reason why I chose to do what I do.

I didn’t want to be a designer because I saw a beautifully designed ad in a Communication Arts magazine. I chose to be be a designer because of the first time I saw Rocky and Bullwinkle, Beany and Cecil, and Ren & Stimpy. I chose to study visual communication because of after school cartoons, and Saturday morning breakfast cereal extravaganzas. All my life I have been influenced by cartoons, and for good reason. That is what I truly want to be — an animator so I may one day join the ranks of John Lasseter, Jay Ward, Matt Groening, Hannah and Barbera, Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones, the 9 Old Men, Gendi Tartikovsky, Miyazaki, Aaron Mcgruder, Frank Page, Berkeley Breathed, and the list goes on (I know, I know …. all male and mostly white, but I am open to any delicious portion of Americana animated pop that I can find — ooo… Erica Henderson popped to mind).

The point is this is what I want to do, so why fight it. This is my opportunity.

I know I am not an animator, and that I have chosen to focus on design for the web. However, I think that the web offers infinite possibilities to explore character, plot, and conflict. The web is a perfect platform to study the human condition. How we observe humor, how we deal with absurdity in real life, how we deal with the loss of the gods and how super heroes have become our new prometheans. These are all important when trying to examine how we learn from our shortcomings. Stuart is the perfect example. Stuart becomes the petrie dish as we try to define what makes any of us a hero? Where does this strength come from, and do we all possess it?

Next up sketches.

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3 Responses

  1. Hey. I’m not sure you got my e-mail, so I’m commenting on this here web log.

    As you know, I detest the word blog, and so refuse to use it.

    I’m also collaborating with a three-man staff to write a web cartoon. Only none of us know the first thing about web animation…we’ve got ideas and voice acting talent to spare, and we know a web cartoon is probably the best venue for what we had in mind.

    So I figured, in addition to demanding that you contact me immediately, I would give you a buzz and ask for pointers. As in: how do I go about creating a web cartoon? Do I have to contribute millions to Adobe, or are there freeware apps I could use?

    Morbo demands comment!

    O’Connor

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