The Heart and Soul of Modern Animation

The cartoons of the past that people most readily identify with are those created by Walt Disney. The legacy he bequeathed to animation and the American psyche has left an indelible imprint upon Western Civilization through the simple retelling of fairy tales. The Disney Empire began with a simple cartoon titled “Steamboat Willie” which put Mickey and Minnie before an audience eager for distraction.

This comical, but hugely influential cartoon, would become the basis for modern animation as we know it. Yet for all the story telling devices available through incorporating techniques such as exaggeration, anticipation, secondary motion, and appeal the writer finds the Disney style to give little to the art of storytelling except bland anthropomorphized idealism and a myopic view of good vs evil, gender roles, race, class, and acceptable social mores.

Trust me. I'm an.. Artist??!?

No. Really. Apparently, in just a few months, I went from techno-geek to (starving) artist.

This isn't the path I expected myself to go down. I still don't expect to be an "artist" when I finish my education at the Art Institute. However, with just a few months of experience, I am certain that I will always -be- an artist. In just a few months I have learned how to take tools from around me and create something which was merely a vision in my head. I've never been able to do that before, but art has helped make that possible for me.

I've found a passion for working in ink. I'm not very good at free hand so I rely heavily on stencils and rulers. That doesn't make me a bad artist it just means I work differently than some people.

One of the most exciting things I have done in several years is so sign up for Fine Art America account. My artist account allows me not only to post my artistic work but to sell it as well. Far from being an "artist", I feel like a business man, an entrepreneur who is creating his own future and building his own wealth. I haven't sold anything (yet) but I only posted last evening. I've already had 30 page views which makes me very excited.