Make it Move

When someone takes an avid interest in something, he or she likely remembers exactly what it is that sparks it. The first time I ever saw a Flash video (back in 2004, when I was 13) was on Joel Veitch’s wonderfully whimsical website www.rathergood.com, when my parents had stumbled upon just about the craziest thing ever to grace the field of animation. Most people remember this video as “the one with the psychotic, Photoshopped gerbils” from the Quizno’s Subs commercials, but others who had seen it first know the original tune, “We Like the Moon.” I sort of had a lukewarm reaction to it, but after browsing Mr. Veitch’s site, we found and enjoyed another series of his, “Tales of the Blode.” It featured the events of a simple cartoon character and his friends, as they deal with terrifying enemies such as the Woe Cat and the Hitler Crab. The series, simple as it was, inspired me try and match this animator’s genius.

I bought the animation program Corel R.A.V.E. 2.0, only to learn that it takes more than a 13-year-old with a second-rate animation program to make an entertaining cartoon. I became frustrated with the fact that my imagination’s fantasies never translated well to the computer screen, and abandoned that idea to take up stick figure animation. Neither venture ended up well, and two years later I learned that I didn’t know the first thing about animation and cartoons (the whole experience was actually counterproductive–my creativity took a hit after all that time on the Internet). By my 16th birthday, I wisened up and took another look at what I had been unsuccessfully attempting for three years.

I finally understand that I understand nothing about animation. Although my animation attempts in the past weren’t terrible, I wanted more than to draw the same boring stick figure over and over, throwing punches and kicks at another stick figure. That’s why I’m starting this blog–to not only kickstart my path to becoming a decent self-taught animator, but also to find out what it actually means to be able to create such simple, entertaining cartoons.

Here’s to every kid who ever wanted the same thing.