Fractured Fairytales" If you want to be an artist, you gotta suffer"

Those poignant words came from a diffinative cartoon that was narrated by Everett Horton. His humor, while cynical, did contain concepts that were tested by the viewers. Many a comic book had a page "Test your Drawing Skills" or "Win a Prize" as motivational statements. Well reading the tread on expectations for animators has led me to reflect on proven success theories:

My preface is that in the United States we can do anything. Whether your choice is to be an engineer (as mine was) or an animator you need to work on your chops to get anywhere. Now in my mid-fifties, I didn't pickup a paintbrush or airbrush until 6 years ago. Rather than generate a bunch of sketch projects, my mechanical skills drove my projects as did my deep seated beliefs in capitalism. Resolved: Use art as a paying hobbie. Rather than paint on "Canvas", I started painting old guitar bodies, as a guitar will eventually sell as it has utility beyond the art. Viewing animation has been a lifelong pleasure. I started by recreating the characters that i liked. By Painting one off's of someone elses characters the 1st Amendment gives us latitude. I did a few RAT-FINKS after Big Daddy passed and did get to talk to the families lawyers. So respecting his memory and the family, I went on to something else.

The point is aspiring animators, can benefit by controlling their own destiny. My father had an adage: "You have to make something". These simple five words are the key to man's (woman's) strength. My Path of painting guitars, may not be for you, put it is a great training tool as i can attest. I could go on and on about all the applied computer skills that guitar painting has required. But beyond that you get to a final product. You don't need a backer, you don't need to wait for a consortium to recognize your skills.

You just need to make something.