G-Rated Postapocalypse

Okay, so I'm still in the process of scanning my sketchbook on the computer. In the meantime...I have to let it out. I saw Wall-E on Saturday. I expected it to blow me away. And that it did.

There's a quote allegedly by Alfred Hitchcock that explains the difference between European movies and American movies. European movies start out with a shot of clouds, another shot of clouds, and then another shot of clouds. An American movie starts out with a shot of clouds, then a shot of an airplane, and then if the next shot isn't of the airplane blowing up, everyone will walk out of the theater.

Well, those "cloud-cloud-cloud" movies I thoroughly enjoy, and I imagined that one day through animation I could make a movie like that. A movie that would show that animation isn't its own genre, only its own medium. Too many people think of animation as being for kids, and involving talking and singing animals and witches and goblins. But why can't an animated movie deal with deeper issues? Why not an animated film noir? Or an animated courtroom drama?

Anyway, Wall-E makes a bold move in the "cloud-cloud-cloud" direction. There is hardly any dialogue really. The voice actor who gets top billing is a sound editor (the great Ben Burtt). So much of the story is told by nothing more than personality, Chaplinesque humor (the humor is so brilliant because it's so simple), and flawless animation. And yet it raises poignant awareness of human evolution (devolution?) toward technological dependence, epidemic obesity and tragic laziness.

Blade Runner, Minority Report, I Robot...and Wall-E? Most definitely.

The animated version of The Catcher in the Rye, anyone?

People Sitting Around the Wilkinson Center

(x-ray view through the chair here)

(I didn't draw this guy's face so well...but I like everything else)

Tan Cómodo

My favorite sitting position. So much my favorite that I risk calling attention to myself from the person whose back rests on the other side of whatever that my legs are resting on.

Plus, it makes for a fun sketch. I love the angles and lines with the legs, and the way the feet dangle.

'Scuse Me

One of many downsides to huge lecture classes. You get in people's way. Infringing on space, intentionally or otherwise.

Entering The Wide World Of Blogging

So, I did it. I gave in. I've given in to the human inclination to utterly open up to complete strangers online, as if I had anything important to say. Everyone wants an audience, even if they don't really deserve it (I'm usually in that category). Everyone wants their fifteen minutes of fame, and I'm (sorry to say that I'm) no different.

Mostly this blog will be a channel for my artwork. I cannot possibly trace back to the moment when I began to draw, because it's been a part of me ever since I was born. For Mr. Schulz, happiness was a warm puppy. For me, it's a clean sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" paper and a freshly sharpened pencil. If I have a pencil in my hand, I'm either using it or I have to withstand the urge to use it (and often I don't, hence the bottomless horde of doodled-over homework that you can find in landfills all across the Pacific Northwest, or in my basement). A pencil has even become part of my wardrobe, tucked behind my right ear as I go about town. That way I can provide a cartoon at a moment's notice.

I have dreamed about drawing cartoons for a living as far back as I can remember. It's something that I would do the rest of my life for free, so I figure it would make for a good career. I know a career in something sucks at least some of the fun out of it, even if it's video-gaming or windsurfing. But if I get paid to draw every day, I'll never complain about lack of self-fulfillment at my job. I'll look forward to work every day.

There has always been a special/large place in my heart for Disney. I always rooted for them, even when ABC was in third place or when Dreamworks came along with their entrepreneurial pizzazz and their irreverent and basely gratifying humor. I was even hanging on during the dark Eisner days. I know that Disney did it first and did it better.

My loyalty also spills over to Pixar. The two are now separate entities in the business world, but they both claim the same affinity from me. Pixar is just so good, and in the words of the Beatles, "gettin' better all the time." You won't find any presumptuous self-righteousness at Pixar, even though they are the kings of the computer animation game. They know that special effects become yesterday's news if they aren't founded on an amazing story. (They're like George Lucas thirty years ago.) Every Pixar movie changes my life a little bit. 'Monster's Inc.' still makes me cry at the end.

Fast forward to now, at 21 years old, where loving cartoons transitions from hobby and delight to degrees and majors. I'm here at Brigham Young University, six months after living in Argentina for two years as a missionary (more on that in later posts), and ready for the next milestone in life: graduating college. I arrived here excited to move on. No breaks in between milestones for me. I got all the info and took all the prerequisites and crossed my fingers and prayed for acceptance into the nation's best college animation program.

...Alas, I was not accepted. But, I was specifically told to work on some things and try again for August. So that's my master plan. Part of that master plan is to make my sketches a bit more public. I think if I have an audience (whether or not I deserve one), it will push me to eliminate the crap drawings and get out the acceptance-worthy stuff, by 1) knowing that the other people who see my drawings will be artists as well, and therefore can point out what's wrong with my drawings, and 2) it will prevent me from being lazy, and keep me drawing so as to get all the crap drawings out of my system.

Anyway, I've taken more than enough time to introduce this whole blog thing. So much for a human inclination. I've delved in so far as to be inextinguishable.

Before I babble on any longer...thanks for coming. Hope you enjoy.