Many
many talented, smart, and driven individuals will never recieve
widespread audience or acclaim.But I hope some day their work will be
enjoyed by many eyes or ears. I hope we can have every bit of artwork
published to the web archived, for people of the Future to look back on
and find beauty, strangeness, wonder, charm,...
Here is a A little problem to solve For the 21st
century artist: The
act of Advertising your work is energy taken from the process of
Creation. The effort made to network pulls your brain farther away from
its unique, isolated mode of individual operation
This is the unfortunate truth. Marketing yourself
and your work is exhausting, and a full time job on its own, without
even considering the massive time and energy it takes to make the
thing. This is a hard truth- to me, at least, it became very clear that
I was not going to waste my time with it from the beginning. Any time I
tried to share on the web, at the start especially, I felt like I was
selling myself out. It felt not-right, Like It would be better that no
one knows about my work and it exists on its own- than some dummys who
wont even care much about it to give it a internet star point or
whatever,, From then on, I decided to NOT do it like that, and only
care about getting the work uploaded as an archive for me and friends.
I grew to really enjoy presenting the work to
friends and family as I was making it. Reaching an audience is
challenging, and is not really a factor for the vids to be successful
(i make for me, and anyone who likes them too) . It is exciting to
present the work to just my small circle of friends and have a
"release" ready for them to watch,,, I want to make them laugh and get
excited about the dumb thing If
the work you are making has merit in its quality and purpose, then an
audience will form around it. Especially if you are a cool human beingg
that knows what is up
I like most about the work, this way, is its
freedom to do what it wants. I make what I want to see and what would
be cool. I learn the things necessary to see the vision through. And I
don't think about where I will market it or who will watch it while
doing so. I don;t care about that. I care about learning and practicing
whatever it will take to make interesting visual art that I want to see
and that I got to project out from within!
peace-
jack
25.jan.2021
2
Mailbox Questions:
Question
1.How close do you think you are to really
polishing your own unique style with your work (how close are you to
expressing as accurately as possible what's in your mind through
animation or other creations?) I believe we are all artists within our
minds, and the measure of a "great" artist is how accurately and
seamlessly that artist can externalize the creation within them.
______________________________________________________
This has been a quest for many years- and I often wonder if
it will ever be fully possible to project it as accurately as I
envision in my mind's eye. There comes a point with creating visual
where you are mentally exhausted and it becomes difficult to further
polish the presentation any more than what has already been done. This
"limit" is something I run into quite frequently; Mostly because of the
larger scope I like to aim for with my projects. I release a piece of
work with complete awareness of its faults and flaws and I have found
it most beneficial to output the work, and put the self-criticisms into
my pocket for the next piece of work that I will make. I choose to not
let works sit and rot on a hard drive or project file for too long.
Life is too short for this, I have concluded,,, If this means the work
presents itself as less polished for now, that is okay. But I think the
message comes across to others that I wish to amend the lack of polish
in future endeavor
I dream of pure expression of my thoughts and
mind,, With the bridge between viewer and creator almost invisible (the
seamless, fluid qualities of a piece. There are many aspects to this:.
An inherent slickness to the work. An unspoken self-awareness. A silent
nod between the viewer and creator, that exists as a part of the work
itself.) I need to better explain these thoughts even to myself, by
writing more on this connection that I know know know is possible/ and
know know know is powerful.
Because I am 1 human, there are limitations on
time and scope, absolutely 1 "issue"
with 2d animation is that it must be heavily abstracted if you were to
do a piece of scale by yourself 1 "issue"
with 3d is the raw complexity of the medium that requires massive time
and skill to produce works.
I noticed a comment on videopix, describing the
style as "maximalist". This is actually exactly what it is, to me. It
is me using the closest abstraction to something real, with a workflow
that is possible for 1 man. While allowing the freedom and flexibility
to abstract where necessary, and "cement" back to realistic when
necessary. I think The style I use grows from limitation, but with
meticulous and thoughtful energy placed into its presentation as well.
Question 2.)what sort of mindset helps
you more - a no pressure approach of like "whatever i make might suck
but that's ok, i'm going to make what i want to make" or a more driven
approach of "i'm going to be the best (fill in the blank) there is and
defy all norms, etc." or a combination of both?
______________________________________
I think the combination of both and the balance
between them is essential. There is a harmony to be found here.
Existing on both ends of the spectrum is possible, because I think that
I do exist day to day on both poles. they do not push and pull one
another. I don't know how I ended up balancing these mind states. But I
have found a sweet spot,,
Maybe something like this: Im going to
make what I want to see and what makes me excited, with zero thought
put towards what others desire, all while being the best at doing it on
multiple levels and playing fields, so That it can exist as a work I
can be proud of on a universal level (externally as well as internally)
Ultimately, I desire to be proud of my work.
Internally proud, rather from external acceptance or recognition. If I
am proud of it, then I have won. Nothing else is necessary. But I set
the bar very high for myself, and the standards nearly unattainable...
By consequence, I have found that I receive a more natural and
appreciative response to the work.
______________
So I want to say thanks to everyone who reads and watches cuz you guys
rule and you are essential to this puzzle mystery That I wish to
assemble. PEACE - Jack
The
boy, the Dream, the Journey
January.21.2021
Are
you warm and do you feel safe here? ... . this is blog page 2. the old
blog page got too big
Like a detective's bulletin board with all the case files- That gets
put into a manilla folder once they apprehend that killer, to be filled
again with leads and tangents on a separate but equally important focus.
I have gotten my hands on five new books,,,. Three of them are books on
animation- Reading an animator's perspective on core concepts is always
a treat/ The other 2 books are Rainbow Six strategy guides. I Love the
thumbnail screen shot images that paint each page.
When I was a kid I had the strategy guide for Animal Crossing: Wild
World. I loved that guide. The small
thumbnails of the game were very saturated
from the color printing on
the magazine style glossy pages.... It was like I was playing the game
when looking through the guide some times. Like it made me happy and
relaxed, as did the game. I would wake up at 5 AM before school and
play for 2 hours;
I don;t play many video games these days but I am interested in
creating one. I have a
lot of
creations, but
a game will require me to make many of the creations from scratch;
which is okay, but I understand the large scope involved and I have to
clear my calender before serious work begins. In all of my work now,
since making the initial demo, I create models as if I had to bring
them into a game engine- I am mostly speaking about the texture work; I
will create a 1024x1024 "atlas" of all the textures I need for a prop
or environment, with modifications for specific use-case-and then use
that large image canvas as a single material rather than having 17
different materials, each with their own image texture. This is a best
practice workflow, and I have grown to like it more than my old way
(which was horribly unorganized, and has led to many blend files with
missing texture data)
I have one large animation project at the moment that is occupying my
focus,. and
I have recently grown to enjoy this 1. And then a smaller project that
I am chipping away at/ then I have my personal project too. But
everything I make, I have to bring it close to my core or else I will
be miserable. External work is good, but I am pretty upfront with the
other party like hey,,, if we are going to make something, Im gona go
silent for a few weeks while I work and expand the idea in my head and
output as I go. Things take on a mind of their own- it is a flow state
I am quite fond of, but it requires me to focus on very little besides
the task at hand/ It is a quick thinking, shotgun interpretation,
solution-churning, leap frog idea interpretive dance as I chip away at
the rock face of work.
Planning your attack and strategy guide is critical for this to work
though- Because in order for the on-the-fly changes to work, you first
need a solid framework to bend and melt. If the concept was not laid
out, creating meaningful gear shifts is not as dynamic or easy. without
the base, more "random", less cohesive , which is Okay, but
not
what I aim
for. I like to warp transform my existing ideas. cohesion embedded in
the warping. And you can;'t really
do that if you dont have the idea yet
I look forward to the future; I am thankful for all human brain power.
I think it is good that we have brains
from the color printing on the magazine style glossy pages.... It was like I was playing the game when looking through the guide some times. Like it made me happy and relaxed, as did the game. I would wake up at 5 AM before school and play for 2 hours;
