Most people don’t know this about me, but I am not supposed to be an animator. If you were to hop into a time machine and travel back in time to ask my grade school self what my career is going to be one day I will tell you that I am going to be a jet pilot. That, or a cartoonist.
Cartooning has always been a real passion of mine. When other kids were reading Spiderman and Batman, I was reading Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes. I had many comic strip collections lined up on my shelves and I would spend hours pouring over the pages examining the illustration techniques and the joke constructions. I would create my own comics as well. Of course none of them were very good and mostly they were rip-offs of much, much better work, but it was good practice for my future career as a famous cartoonist.
In fact, the portfolio I submitted to the Savannah College of Art and Design was pretty much exclusively comics. (Stuff I had done for local papers and newsletters and the like.) It wasn’t until after I was accepted and was preparing to move halfway across the country that I sorta sobered up a bit and came to the realization that I really wasn’t a natural artist, had little in the way of inspiration and probably wouldn’t be able to get a job yet alone support a family on cartooning. It was at that point that I decided to change my focus and give this strange, new thing called “computer animation” a try.
That decision has worked out pretty well for me so far. Eleven years later I have a wonderful career doing what I love in both motion graphics and character animation, and I get to share that love with my students, co-workers and clients. I can count myself among the lucky few who enjoy their jobs and for that, I am grateful.
Even still, I have continued to harbor a strong desire to start a comic strip of my own. My job has me on the computer all day, every day and the notion of actually putting pen to paper to create art is very enticing. At the very same time, I am extremely lazy and in years past simply the thought of having to write and draw a new strip several times a week was enough to make me want to go take a nap. I seriously lacked motivation.
When my daughter was born all of that changed. Having parenthood suddenly thrust upon me was enough to inspire me and with that inspiration came an overwhelming urge create something wonderful and unique for her. I want to invent a world for my daughter to explore filled with amusing characters to befriend and exciting adventures to be had. I want to share with her a literary form that meant so much to me when I was young. I want her to one day bring a book of collected strips into class for show and tell and to hold it up in the front of the room and with a smile on her face say: “My Daddy made this for me.”
And so I start off on this adventure with a few simple words that mean so very much to me:
This story is dedicated to Georgia; the most wonderful source of inspiration in her daddy’s life.
truly inspiring, you are on the right path and I know you will succeed.
So deep and so beautifully put! I knew you had it in you all along.
Great story, and very close to some of my own experiences so I can relate. I’m glad you took the step to get out here and do it.