Adapt

Monday Mind Dump

(Back to your regularly scheduled Mind Dump.)

I know I’ve mentioned this at various times. When I was a kid, my dream was to be an animator. I loved animation and the art behind it, but couldn’t draw all that well. However, I could write. I made up lots of stories…wrote fanfic for various cartoons I loved, like Thundercats. That was my favorite.

When computer animation became a thing, I got excited, thinking I would finally be able to be an animator as it became clear you didn’t have to be a perfect artist to use it. There were other ways. I wrote a ton.

Then, when it came to going to college what I wanted to do wasn’t offered! They put me in Graphic Design, with an expectation that I would know everything I needed to take college level courses. That was disappointing. They didn’t actually teach in college. They expected you to KNOW the basics and do the work on your own. At the time, that only went so far and I wasn’t happy about being loaded down with basics and no way of getting to what I really wanted to do, which was animation.

I watched as technology changed the industry. Those who mastered computer programs took the places of the slower hand drawing animators with zero remorse for what they were doing. I always thought they could coexist if they wanted.

They did for a time. I bring up the zero remorse thing, because now, a generation, look who is being replaced NOW. It’s the same artists who more than happily embraced the technology of the day who refuse to upgrade their skill sets.

Now, I’m NOT talking about AI doing everything. AI is a tool and there’s nothing remotely intelligent about it. It makes errors and is only as smart as its programming. By the way, ever really look into Chaos Theory? The longer something runs, the more it spins out of control. That’s what we see constantly with AI. It requires a human to WORK IT to get the MOST out of it. That would be a human who already has the skills, knowledge, and experience in their fields.

Yes, you can just enter a prompt and get a picture or whatnot, but to truly use it you need to KNOW what you’re doing. The same goes with writing. What AI produces on its own is eye-rolling awful. It has clear patterns…even if I’m not convinced most people can tell just by glancing at something. Some people just write in a different way.

In any case, back to the animation thing. I’d seen news in the industry for the last decade about programs being made to handle in betweens. That’s the basic animation between key frames, like image A - Standing to Image B-Turning around. You need a lot of those for smooth animation. Far more than the average person can quickly do. Of course, this was reserved for studios that can afford the software.

However, right now…that technology is reachable by anyone. I’ve seen examples of it and have played with one of the programs, but I’m not ready to really go into it. I now have a vision in mind to use my work, my own words, create lyrics, go through Suno, create key frames for an entire music video exactly how I want it, and using that to promote my written work.

It’s funny, because I began drawing comics, while saying I was a better writer than artist, specifically so I could see my work illustrated. When I began, I made it a point to never think about what I was asking the artist (me) to draw in a comic script. I would do whatever it was that was needed. Yes, that ended up with sloppy panels, but I reasoned: I will do it better next time!

No. Still not a master and never expect to be, but I do enjoy my work and hope to get back to it more efficiently…which is why I’m adapting to the future where it’s required.

I now have a list of 15 songs related to JUST Wrong Turn at the Spring that I’m going to go through and consider how I would storyboard…and animate them into music videos. Music first. Got to listen to all of them and tweak them first.