Well hello all! And welcome to our little slice o’ the bloggy pie!
I guess I'll start off by going through the basics. An introduction of sorts. The WHO'S-its,
WHY'S-its, and WHAT'S-its of what this is all about.
THE WHO'S
My name (for blogs sake) is "Handel". I am a professional in several "arts" industries. Comics, children’s books, Animation (both feature films and television), as a story artist, animator, character designer, and visual development. I've also done crap loads of illustration for books, magazines, etc.
Painting, drawing, Sculpture and Gallery work.
I don’t say this for bragging, I Only mention it so that there is an understanding that there IS a source of reference that I have, when I start spouting off MY OPINIONS about these and other industries. Of which there will be no shortage of.
I have been a professional in these industries for quite awhile. And its been a hoot. Once you learn to bypass the egos, It really is a great ‘bid-ness’ to be in.
So why am I doing this? Well I've actually thought about doing a blog type of thing for sometime. But have always resisted due to the fact that these things often, NOT ALWAYS, but very often turn into "fan site's" of sorts. With themselves being the fans...of. well......themselves.
People posting pics and drawings from themselves and co-workers, all of which they heap ENDLESS praise upon.
One has to only look at any number of "blogs" to see that that is indeed the case. And believe me, we’ll be talking about those types in detail.
So why should I do a blog? I mean I have my OWN website that serves as my online portfolio with a minimal comments page, where I would answer questions and discuss certain topics. But it is and always has been a MINIMAL type of forum. But it DOES suit its purpose.
I already have my own journals of which I write in almost religiously. You know the typical type of important journal stuff.: “today: got up, pooped. Had breakfast, coffee, showered. Put on wife’s underpants and frolicked around before going to work.” You know. the usual stuff.
Plus: Do I even have the TIME to do a "blog" regularly.
But in February, A friend of mine in the animation industry, pointed out this one particular blog--run by a group of story 'artists'. Of which I thought a few entries were rather interesting. But their blogs DID fit the mold of “BLOG FAN SITES” . Where everyone knew each other and just spewed the “GOSH, GOLLY GEE WHIZZZZ , YOU ARE THE GREATEST IN THE WORLD!” comments about each others work. So I thought I would post a comment, a REAL actual SUGGESTION. Just to mix things up a bit.
So I posted a reply. A very mild crit, to TWO of the boards. And you would have thought that I called there Momma’s fat.
“THE AUDACITY!!! WHO ARE YOU TO MAKE A SUGGESTION! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT!! ARE YEEEEEEEEWWWWW IN THE INDUSTRY? WHAT DO YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWW DO???WAAAHH WAHHHH WAAAAAH!!!”
I had, in effect, bruised some egos. You see…In the animation industry, well…in any arts industry OVERFLOWING with smarmy elitist’s, even the slightest suggestion, can rupture an inflated ego. And God forbid that THAT happen.
So I had broken the golden rule of the 'industry blog', which is ONLY PRAISE IS WANTED.
Ironically, There IS a "comments" page. But what they REALLY want is ...............................
C O M P L I M E N T S.
An ego stroking. (more on this later.)
After a good back and fourth which consisted of me basically defending my mild crit, along with me showing them for what they are..(ahem..((cough cough!!)).hypocrits((cough cough))!!) What happened was, that THEY (being the 'progressives' that they are) ..ended up banning me from there respective blogs.
To be truthfully honest, I SHOULD have been banned, and they had every reason to ban me from them. After all, I didn’t meet the requirement which was to be a fellow butt sniffer, and heap endless (fake) PRAISE on them. """oooooooo your sooo neat-o!" OOOOOOOO your so brilliant! No YOU are! Nooo YEEEWWW are!" I had the audacity to offer a real COMMENT to them. ((GASP!!))
So therefore…...banned.
So I thought that’s that. And went on my merry way.
Afterwards, I was surprised to hear from so many of you---not just the regulars to MY site, but even a lot of those that post on THOSE SAME BLOGS! ( don’t worry, I promised you via email that I wouldn’t say who you are --don’t want you to be banned to! >:)
So many comments mentioning that it was good to hear a real debate and that you liked what you were hearing---even if some didn’t agree with me- that they liked the thought provoking conversation.
I was asked to start ......a blog.
SO!.....after much thinkin about it, and going back and fourth and talking with some of you and some friends, I thought ...."ok. lets give it a go. but with a condition."
Which brings us to.........
THE WHAT'S
What’s this gonna be like. what sort of blog is this to be. Well its going to be me basically giving my takes on any number of things. From politics to animation to people IN the industry! I'm even gonna be giving opinions and reviews of blogs that are out there right now! The GOOD, And the ones stinkin up the joint. And we're naming names. A virtual smackdown and bitch slappin’ of the highest degree. Because those that know me, or at least know me from my past posts on the butt sniffer blogs; you know that I dislike elitist ass creepers. (you know who you are. and if not, your gonna be reminded:)
Now, just so that there IS an understanding...
1) I will NOT be posting EVERYDAY. I am not a story artist after all---SO I simply don’t have the time to hit it everyday..(just kidding. sort of). As much as I would LIKE to. but I will as OFTEN as I can. And I will sincerely try.
2) This IS NOT a blog where I am going to post any of my work. As I mentioned, I have a site that serves as a portfolio, and that will have to do. Neither will I post a link to it. WELL….I shouldn’t be too hasty on that decision about posting any work. I may in the future. We’ll see. But for now. this is just to serve as a blog of thoughts. I WILL be posting OTHERS work to show, to illustrate points—good and bad.
3) There WILL be a COMMENTS area up SOON. Unlike those who have a link to a comments page but only want compliments. I really DO like to engage in debate and conversation. although since its going to be hard to carry on a long debate due to lack of time. When I go onto another subject, I'll ask you to feel free to send email to the listed addy. Its different from my online portfolio addy because I don’t wanna clog up that box.
The comments page will be up shortly---I wanna play a little catch up first.
It wont always be a harsh look at the arts industry. I will also point out the best of the best- from blogs to artists. The people that I think are deserving of the comments and compliments. And more importantly, WHY I think they are worthy of it. Who I look at and say.....”wow”.
And lastly; there is no promise that this will stay up forever. If it just gets to the point where I feel that I cant give the time to it that I think it deserves, Then I will just delete it. OR maybe just add all this onto my site.
As for you ELITIST ass creepers out there...................................welcome to THUNDERDOME.
