Wasting Time

It just hit me.
I've been wasting my time.
"With what?" You might ask.
"OMG it's not art is it? D,8" NO!

It's time for me to dive into the core of why I started this blog in the first place...

Recently I joined a small lil forum that centers around bickering about a certain artist who's just right down to the core oblivious, stupid, naive, and talentless. We all sit around on our butts like old ladies and old men who spread gossip around a gated community. The only difference is that the gossip never reaches the one we're attacking. Because the forum is private. And we're all too chicken-ass to actually confront this person without fear of getting the ban-hammer or somehow exiled from the DeviantArt community.

It wasn't until now that I realized I've been wasting my time with this forum. Will I ever come to like this artist? No. Will I ever speak my mind to this artist? Probably not. Will I stop participating in the forum? ... No not really. Will I do my best to make sure no one else in their right MIND ever turns out like that artist? HELL YES.

Instead of bickering, being angry, and at the same time (oddly) feeling sorry for this artist. I'm going to spend my time with a journal (perhaps a series of them) explaining the path of a cartoonist/artist from the experience and advice I've been given. Not only that but my contribution to the community my own advice and collection of observations I've made in the art world. Should you act as though I'm God of animation and that everything I say is exact and true? No. But I am asking you to listen and be open minded towards my experience as an artist.

Also please feel free to contribute also. I don't really want it to be just about me. I want to have an ultimate source of information gathered in one place. None of it has to be cited or exact, it just needs to be said.

This came to me NOT because I'm an ego-maniac; but because recently I've come face-to-face with questions like "how can I become a better artist?" and "what kind of programs do you use?" which we ALL know is the n00b-code for; "how can I become a better artist?" and also because even I've come up to people with the same question.

So if you'd like to see this happen please let me know by commenting on this blog.

Update on Strange Strays!

(07-19-08) The day is here! Tod and Tetti are up on fiction press!

(07-20-08) Took it down. Needs a prologue.

(o7-21-08) I somewhat lied. It doesn't NEED a prologue. What it needs is a good author. Yeah. I'm a coward for deleting it. I'm stupid for putting up random nonsense on my profile about it. I just think that I need a bit more time. Just a little more time. I feel guilty, yet content. Damn it.

You know that "thing" some people have where they eat everything in sight to comfort themselves?? Well! I write. And when I write, I don't want anyone to see it. But inside I want to strive to please. Strive. Please. A never ending cycle...

Love,

Anna

Old, Homework???

Yes. I have nothing better to do than go through my computer and put up old English assignments. So shoot me! No, wait, on second thought, don't.

So one of my last English assignments was that I had to make a couple of poems based on the word they gave me. Then a wild card. Then I also had to explain the story or reason I wrote the poem. Enjoy.

The future, as they say
Will soon come our way
The future is technically the next few minutes
It’s our choice to figure out what we’ll do in it
What the future holds, time will tell
Not a fortune in a cookie, or with some kind of spell
I could tell you, what I want to do
And all my dreams that will come true
But the truth of the matter is that I don’t know
I have no idea what life will throw
I’ll tell you what I hope to be
A cartoonist, who makes life come to the T.V.
I want to make all still things alive
Including the small child in adults thrive
It’s a simple task this is true
It’s a small dream that I probably won’t have trouble getting to
But this is my dream, and my future as well
It will be long, but full of hope, the story that time will only tell


My poem talks about time, and the future. It also talks about my future. It shares my thoughts, my feelings and my dreams. I love it in many ways. However, if I were to pick one I would say that I love it because of its “relevance” and personal opinion on the future.

My cat’s name is Snowball
She was born six years ago around the fall
She was given that name because she was white
Unlike her sister who’s as dark as the night
Snowball isn’t smart
And when she meows, it’s not art
But she’s a friend
And I’ll be with her till her end
Her blue eyes are wide
And even though she grays with time
I maybe far from her mind, but she’s not far from mine
I love her even though she’s small I love my little, cute, fuzzy snowball

You can never beat a good cat poem. Cats are my favorite animals in the entire world. I love big cats and domesticated ones. I’ve grown a deep love and respect for them. This poem reflects that very well.

I’m thankful for the Earth
I love it and all for what its worth
I’m thankful for the sea
And what it’s given to me
I’m thankful for mothers and fathers
Thankful they’re there when things seem like blurs
I’m thankful for my creator
Who is simply greater
Thanks

This poem pretty much covers it all. No matter how horrible that statement sounds, it’s true. I think that it was a brilliant way of putting in such a way, that it all rhymed.

Title: Tod and Tetti

Tod and Tetti
They’ll be ready
For anything you can put ‘em through
They’ll be the best
They’ll beat the rest
That’s what they’ll try to do

Uh. Yeah. Um. Probably the worst song-like poem ever written, but it’s the best I could come up with. See, Tod and Tetti are my characters that I plan animating into action later on in my life. They were on my mind so I decided to throw them into the mix.

The next, and last assignment given to me was one called an autobiographical reflection. To my teacher, it was one of the best things that she had ever read. I don't think that though, because I did hold a lot back. But I was glad to know she enjoyed it. And I hope all of you do also.

The golden sun was hanging low in the mid-day sky. The heavens were preparing to launch itself into a wonderful display of colors. The clouds had passed through days ago, and had not returned from their journey. Just as the last few days of school were coming to an end. Even so, I had no intention on seeing any of the sky that day. No, I merely sat in the backyard of my grandmother’s house, in a seat that would be uncomfortable and stiff to anyone else. To me, it was my desk.

I sat there, swinging back and forth, looking up to an empty seat in front of me; only to trail my blue eyes back to the green paper that sat on my lap. The tedious paper stared right back at me, holding all my expectations on a string in front of me. It taunted me, but I wanted to prove that I could be able to finish the tasks on that paper. A lock of my short bobbed hair brushed my nose as I swung backwards. I scribbled on my lap, in that uncomfortable chair made of plastic and metal.

The bench swung forwards as I bent closer to the page. The tree to the left corner of the yard gently moved, along with all the other plants, cheering me on. My bright blue eyes fiercely moved across the lime-green paper, as did my cramping hands. However, even if my hands screamed for me to stop, I didn’t listen. Instead, my mind was concentrated on the sound that trailed through the grass of the yard. The noise was passed the loud and obnoxious squeaking of the metal contraption, which I had come accustomed to. This sound crawled across the sidewalk, and the source came from the side window.

Inside that house was a discovery that I had made only a day earlier. The discovery of a lifetime, and it was sitting in my grandmother’s bedroom. She didn’t occupy it during that time of day, so the door would be wide open. I even smiled at the thought of me bursting through the door, launching my body onto the bed and reaching for that wondrous new world that I had discovered.

I shook my head of these thoughts, for I was trailing off into something that was distracting my thoughts from the obstacle in front of me. English homework. Any other time I loved it, but at that moment, it was trying my patience. I hunched over again, causing the metal and the plastic to swing foreword again. Almost unconsciously I was swinging myself. It was comforting, just a bit, but I still needed to focus.

Little did I know that the sun would soon leave the plants and I. He went down a bit lower, and began peeking over the fence. The birds crossed above my head again, and the flowers moved subtly. They wanted me to pay attention to them, I knew that, but I had stopped to smell those roses yesterday, and today I had things to look forward to after my homework.

Those faded, empty lines glared at me. I glared back, fighting them off with my pencil. The battle was becoming intense, as I had left the big words for last. Together had thrown a hit at me, but I blocked it, as I remembered that the way to spell together, is to get her. Definitely came in for the kill, but I fought it off, scaring it with my newly sharpened number two pencil. I found words and banded them together to create a sentence, forcing qualified into it. My brain was reeling, and a grin played on my face. I had usually cornered; it shivered in fear, begging for mercy. I paid no heed to its prayers as I struck my pencil right through it.

I grinned in glee as I realized I was finished with my four page English assignment. I brought up my thin long-sleeved shirt to look at my Hello Kitty watch. The time said five, and with that I slowed the swing down, edging my white shoes into the ground. In the sick fantasy of my head, I was swinging from a deadly rope, dodging the arrows of a native tribe. When in reality I jumped off and ran around the porch to open a screen door. Before it even closed I threw open the large sliding glass door. I made sure to close that door; I didn’t want the natives to get inside.

My head displayed a wonderful scene of ancient sculptures that surrounded me. I decided to pick up the pace; I raced through the living room, my brother choked a bit on his soda at the surprise of the door. I jogged through the kitchen, into the main room, down the hall, and threw open that door. My mind was telling me I had dodged thousands of arrows and had wound up into a room made of pure gold.

My legs bent just before I launched myself onto the bed, and I safely landed on its wondrous cushion. I turned towards the television, turned it on with the remote, and dove in. I was nose first, when my mind dove straight into that world full of gold. Some who had passed by wondered if my mind would ever come out. They never verbally expressed it, so I never told them the answer was ‘yes’.

It was a colorful world, perhaps a little faded, but the world was full of characters that were more alive than I could ever imagine. The truth was that I would come out of it, but I would come out of that world changed. My eyes wandered through Tom and Jerry’s kitchen. I traveled with Elmer “qwietly” through Bugs Bunny’s forest. I smiled, I laughed, I even cried with those characters. Some claim it’s the only world I knew. They were wrong of course. However, I always saw it as a better world. It was a world I wanted to be apart of.

That was the day I realized, I wanted that ability. I wanted to give to people the same experience I had. It was the day, when I wanted to become an animator.

Well that's about it for now. Make sure to check back for updates on the "Strange Strays" story process.

Love,
Anna

Strange Strays @ fictionpress.com

Be on the look out for Strange Strays a.k.a. Tod, Tetti, and the rest of the gang's origin story on fictionpress.com!

This is my userpage: http://www.fictionpress.com/u/457343/

it has nothing on it yet, but it will very soon! I'll let you guys know! (if anyone cares) M'kay?

Febuurruary

Well it's February.

In this chapter of my blog I'll be talking about my inspirations. In order of gained knowledge...

Craig McCracken - I got to know about him through the Power Puff Girls. I used to be a gigantic fan of the show. I went out and bought the bed spread, the plushies, school supplies and stickers. I loved everything and anything that had those lovable bug-eyed girls on it. My fourth favorite character had to be the talking cat. He was awesome.

Jhonen Vazquez - Aaah Jhonen. Just recently (date 2007) I had gotten signatures from him one on a Squee comic, and another on my drawing I did right at the San Diego comic convention. I've always been such a big fan. I just love his style, even if it was too narrow and pointy for my bubbly style. I really practiced hard to draw Zim Dib and GIR correctly. He gave me the realization of styles- and gave me courage to not only try others, but make my own.

Fred Quimby - A real inspiration with his Tom and Jerry shorts. Now, I know that the names might look mixed up to you, but I never really knew who created T & J until I started watching Invader Zim and appreciating the development of animation. Basically who created what and how. I looked back to T & J and saw Fred Quimby.

Chuck Jones - I looked back again and saw Chuck Jones. Not literally, but almost mentally. Chuck had gotten me hooked on Toons. The concept that cartoon characters are more than what they seem to be on the screen. With episodes like "A Star Is Bored" and "A Hare Grows In Manhattan".

Tom Ruegger/Jean MacCurdy - Okay, so they're not really animators, but they're directors and/or producers for Animaniacs. This would be the time that I discovered Animaniacs. Such a fun loving show, which not only got me interested into the actual process of Animation, but the know-how on writing and musical production. These guys (along with Richard Stone- RIP) have given me the inspiration to not only make music with a show, but apart of a show. Just like they had done.

Robert Zemeckis/Richard Williams - I have a love, great understanding, and appreciation for both of Robert and Richard's talent and imagination. The both of them seemed to me like butter and toast- perfect together in creating such an amazing look at cartoons. No cartoon fan-fiction, nor would most of the cartoons today would ever survive in a world without "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". The elements that made such a successful movie are so genuine. It simply can never be reproduced by computer. *cough*Out Of Jimmy's Head*cough*

Maxwell Atoms - self explanatory. No, I'm just kidding. But if you must know, I've always been a fan of The Grim Adventures, and I've watched every episode I could get my hands on. I also got his signature at Comic-Con.

John K. - The director/producer/creator of Ren and Stimpy. Ren and Stimpy is a cartoon that can be related to a mouse. You see it scurry across the floor, and you shriek or shout out in fear and shock. You go to great lengths to catch and kill it. Then you realize it's tame, and a pet mouse- and become attached to it. Well, that's what it was like for me anyway. ^-^; Besides that, I find his blog (linked on the side of the page) is really inspirational and very informative.

Bob Clampett - To me, there would be no Bob Clampett influence in my art if there never was a John K. to talk about him.

Tex Avery - This amazing guy came on board my inspirations when I revisited Roger Rabbit. I saw Droopy- slapped a hand on my head and let out a huge "DUUUUUHUH!" and did as much research as I could on his animations.

C.H. Greenblatt - An inspiration really. He inspired me for my full blown plan to take over Toon Town. He rose up from a story board artist, to a creator of his own show! How cool is that? Well, I could be very wrong. As I'm only a fan of small proportions for now... but I just adore his show Chowder. The comedy is physical, and verbal. "Radda radda radda!" is PURE GENIUS!

Of course, my friends are also a big inspiration to me. Friends make the world go round. I love them all- in uh, a friendly way. ^-^;

I'll probably add more later on in my life- and probably add more information on these guys too. But for now it's like this...

Greetings!

This is my first entry on my new blog. I wanted to do this because I wanted to document everything down in here that relates to my goal in life. Which is to become an animator. A great one too. ^-^

Right now I'm only sixteen years old, but I personally believe that the sooner you know what you want to achieve in life, the better. I really hope to break into the business soon, and grace the animation department with everything that I have to offer. I kinda sound awfully full of myself don't I? Ah well...

So I should probably start some explanations huh? Like; what I believe my inspirations are and I'm guessing all the way down to my characters...

Well, as a kid (we're talking from 2-7) I had no thought in my mind about picking up a pencil, and drawing a character like my Dad used to do oh-so many times. I never even knew what an cartoonist was. Not even an artist for that matter. All I knew was pretty moving pictures on the screen. I thought like that for the longest- longest time.

As I grew older we (the family) eventually got our own place. When I was eight, my life turned around with the touch of a few buttons. My interests went from Barbies and Furbies to Anime, and rightfully to plain western cartoons. Spongebob Squarepants was the first cartoon I saw (besides Disney stuff)- and yet the PPG series is what won my fandom. It began by tuning into every new episode, and then after buying a magazine, came the want to buy most of the merchandise.

Suddenly Cartoon Network did the most glorious thing in the world that changed my whole aspect of cartoons. They began to play Tom and Jerry shorts, which immediately lined up with the time of day when I was back home from school. I would go into the backyard, do some homework, then race to my grandmother's back room and turn on her TV. I would catch a very short glimpse of the Animaniacs, enough to watch the WB door closing on the characters. But those guys that had doors closed on them had nothin' on Tom and Jerry. I would watch Tom and Jerry for an hour, then walk home. It wasn't until I gained more control over the remote, that I saw a curious title next to it on the "Guide".

Looney Tunes was the name. Yep! I sat through Tom and Jerry, and had my eyes swell up into the world of Bugs Bunny and his pals. It had more words, and I realized it was somewhat less violent than Tom and Jerry. Soon I began shifting the schedule to come and watch Bugs and Daffy going at each other. Usually if the long-eared rabbit wasn't on, I'd flip the channel- sometimes on a rare occasion I'd flip the whole TV off.

Never once, in my entire knowledge of cartoon land that my grandmother's television provided, had I turned the channel to the Disney Channel. I never saw Darkwing Duck, never laid eyes on Chip and Dale, and certainly never saw Tale Spin. Some of you say I'm deprived, but I had the classics to satisfy me. I grew up on the old Spongebob, PPG, Dexter's Lab, and with classics like Tom and Jerry, Looney Tunes, and in the mornings I had Scooby Doo.

It wasn't until I started becoming more engrossed with the later showings that I learned about all the other cast members of LT. The only sad part about this is that I had no knowledge that Looney Tunes was ever ripped away off of Cartoon Network until I was fourteen. I was kind of lost in my own world, so now I feel like I left the Looney Toons cast behind. This phase was when I started to become more involved with the internet. I explored art sites, and I learned knowledge of Invader Zim, and webcomics like Bleedman's and Megatokyo.

I went into a slight depression when I found out that Invader Zim was canceled before I could even lay eyes on the show. But eventually it came to a point where it never really bothered me, so I drew the characters. The comic "Megatokyo" inspired me to make my own characters. I was even convinced I would make my own webcomic. But instead of that, Megatokyo kind of gestured me towards The Animaniacs, in which I caught a glimpse of the three's faces. I ignored it... again. Suddenly, after fanart central took a portion of my life, fanfiction.net became apart of it too. I explored the I.Z. section. Then when I saw that no more updates were being spit out every five seconds, I went to tread into another territory- the author's favorites.

Galaxy Dancer- my fan-art central "idol", connected me through FAC, to FF.net, to The Island Hopper; a fantastic author who wrote large stories, about a subject I had no clue about. I could only imagine 'Yakko' 'Wakko' and 'Dot' looked like. I had to settle my curiosity. I began my research, starting with Wikipedia. I looked at the Warner's faces and I could've sworn it was love at first sight. I began to go deeper into Yahoo, and I found Youtube. On Youtube, I found "Lookit The Fuzzy Heads" and from that moment on, I knew I was a major fan of the Warners. (date 2003)

See, basically, the show that had gotten me interested in animation period was Tom and Jerry. The thing that got me into animation development was, Invader Zim. Then Animaniacs got me interested in the quality/process of animation.

While on FF.net, I wrote out my IZ fan-fictions (which have been deleted for lack of descriptive creativity- nothing less nothing more), and then my Animaniacs fan-fictions. So when people sent me feedback on my Animaniacs fan-fictions (only three- two are visible on my account now), I became more involved with the community, and I greeted new commers with open arms. One of these "characters" happened to be my best internet friend; Sonja. She's a wonderful writer, and I've have had the wonderful opportunity to walk her through her writing, and her artwork.

In fact, through the long months (which have seemed like years) of being with her on FF.net another art site, and chatting on MSN- we both have become close friends. We both share our dreams, our passions, and our emotions with one another. It's one of the best (and only) long distance friendship I've had on the internet. We've sent video files, audio files, photos and pieces of artwork back and forth. We've both have been ultra supportive of each other, and have great respect for one another.

But my longest running online friend is Kelli. http://www.freewebs.com/elevatormusicinc/ She's also very awesome. x3

So I had a lot of people following me, I went off the radar after leaving FAC for FF.net at a point, but I got back on the chart when I went to Deviant Art. Unfortunately I've been blocked from the website, but I'm now- slowly- recovering.

And now I've joined the fun here! So, I hope to make some friends that have the same aspirations and likes and such. I also hope the stalkers have fun looking at all the art I have to offer...

Speaking of art, I'm guessing I should explain the character you see above the blog... her name is Catalina AKA Catty- sometimes Cat on rare occasion. She's a shy, worrisome, and sensitive girl. Her body and facial structure have actually changed drastically since the sketch- but I still love the expressions. She is the ideal character I would pick out if someone were to ask me what character I have that represents me. Catty is the one that goes along with two other characters I have. I'm being kinda A.D.D. and stupid for presenting her first, but her image was available first... :3

Enjoy!