Ahoy and welcome aboard.
This is my first log entry, though I’m not usually a blogger. I’m trying to create a childhood dream, albeit with an adult approach. Like so many, I fell in love with Disney animation, as well as ooneyTunes. I honestly preferred the Warner Bros. stuff due to its less nice antics. Mickey never dressed as a woman as a foil to mess with his antagonist. I spent Saturdays glued to the tube as a kid. My oldest sister constantly reminds me of the time I packed a suitcase to leave and join the Herculoids. I was/am the world of animation’s target.
There was a catch, tho. How to do it. I grew up in a kudzu covered small Mississippi town whose only claim to tourism and fame was the National Tobacco Spitting Contest. Yep, the town reveled in tobacco addiction to raise money. That meant they also had no arts program. School curriculum was the classic 3 R’s. Although Arithmetic starts with an “A”, it was the only curriculum study they supported. There was no art study courses, and few books on the subject in out town library. Trust me on that one…. I lived in our library.
So I learned to draw the old fashioned way. I asked my Mom and Dad. Daddy was a carpenter, but had more talent than just technical skill needed for great carpentry. (Yes, I’m a carpenter’s son, but not the sin-free one.) Momma did several media types. She had this one portrait she’d done of JFK that was a big influence on me. She also had an oil she’d done of that sin-free carpenter’s kid. It was prominently displayed in our house. The other one was this huuuuuuuge painting of the malt liquor bull. It was the last artwork she’d created. They supported my talent, gave me pointers, and constantly questioned my subject matter.
At one point my Mother asked me why I can’t just do still life art. I had a couple of responses ready: I never learned how, and my artistic heroes were Frank Frazzetta, Boris Valejo,, Richard Corben, Jim Aparo, and Neal Adams. See my influences?
So how does any of this even relate to the topic?
I’m getting there.
So, without reading my enTIRE medical history, Last year (2021) I had a quadruple bypass and ended up on dialysis from failing kidneys. Prior to the outbreak of the pandemic I had been learning Cartoon Animator 4 by Reallusion. What I haven’t mentioned here, but have throughout the site, is that I created a comic strip based on the 9 years I served in the US Navy. So now this site shows how it’s going. I wanna show how you can make those childhood dreams happen. I may not be able to go live with the Herculoids, but I lived with my shipmates for years,and they still live in my mind.
Buuuuuuuut…
Being in the chair for 2+ hours of dialysis per night isn’t really conducive to animating. I’m using a laptop I bought so it would be powerful enough to animate, but I really don’t have the space with all I need for dialysis. What do I do then? Well you’re reading part of it. I do watch TV/movies with my wife. I also work on scripts. watch tutorials, edit sound files and video. I’m not gonna be the guy to whinge about poor, pitiful me. My daughter won’t let me.
Yeah, she’s got the artistic gene. I chat with her via Discord while I’m in the chair, too. She’s a driving force for making Haze Gray happen.
That’s more than I’d planned to write, so, for now……
That is all…
Galoot
