Post #3: SlaughterHouse 5

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Hello hello to my three readers. (wait.. apparently four readers now because my stats show me someone in the Ukraine is reading my blog) ((and to Mr. or Ms. Ukraine I ask you, "whyyyy?"))

     I just finished reading a book named "Slaughterhouse 5". I figure many people have tried to write a war novel that tries to communicate how meaningless the whole act of war is and at the same time show how it destroys a person's life. "The Sun Also Rises" by Hemingway is the only other book I can think of that does this without actually ever including a war scene. Take Hemingway's book: add a person who is going insane, few mentions of the massacre at Dresden, some time travel and some other crazy shit like aliens (obviously it has aliens.. lol) and you have "SlaughterHouse 5". Its a classic yet crazy book that makes no sense until you finish it. And then you question.. is he really insane? But because the book is written so well, it keeps you from tossing it into a fire. Also, i recommend read it quickly, other wise you'd be opt to put it down and never return to it because it is so random. My two cents.

*WTH Danny.. I came here for animation wisdom, not a fucking book report...

     Hey! I read a lot.. so sue me. I either procrastinate on my short film through reading all day or watching "Friends" on Netflix for 7 hours straight! #LifeGoals, (am i right?) These posts are about the journey of making a film from scratch, and procrastination is a huge part of it whether I'd like to admit it or not. So yesterday I procrastinated by sitting at a train station for hours, the whole while determined to finish the second half of my book in one sitting. (its a short book) After I finished the book I looked around me. I'm sitting at a pretty empty bar. (if you know me you're rolling your eyes and saying, "of course he's at a bar")
     So back to the point: when you finish the book, you're left with a feeling that life just 'IS' and nothing really matters. I take a glance at the lives around me after i finish the last sentence. 4 bar stools to my right theres a kid, probably 23 years old with his laptop typing away at spreadsheet. It's a windows laptop so I don't think he's the obnoxious type.. He seems cool but he nursed a beer and a half for 2 hours so my respect for him fell a bit. Plus you could tell he wanted to talk to the two cute bartenders taking care of us but he never worked up the courage to do so. One of the bartenders was showing off some roses she received from a friend. A good luck token for her procedure tomorrow. A procedure for what? I didn't care enough to ask. I was more interested in; if the two basketball enthusiast to my left, actually had a chance with the bartender. for a good hour they were trying their best to flirt and start a conversation. They were always shot down with one word answers. Being there all day made the bartenders comfortable around me i guess, so when we chatted it it flowed without effort. "What are you reading, Where are you from, etc etc.. again, I couldn't of cared less. I just liked being there.

CUT TO:

     - When I was on a train somewhere backpacking between Bucharest and Kiev (Eastern Europe) I sat hugging my backpack and it was so warm and sunny. The word "warm" I use liberally because it was winter and it was still cold.. But still, it was blue skies for miles, and it was so peaceful. The mountain ranges and the forest looked so picture perfect that everybody on the train had their noses glued the windows. Especially the two women sitting across from me with their new Cannon cameras. I didn't know what language they were speaking but you can spot a tourist no matter what tongue they talk in. Everyone was wide eyed, taking in the scenery, everyone except me, I couldn't care less. Instead I chose to nap. Once in a while I'd open my eyes to soak in the view but to be honest I was soooo content just being in a place i didn't know, all the way across the planet surrounded by people I'd never see again.. I just relaxed and enjoyed "existing." Was it an existential moment? Meh, I wouldn't go that far to label it that. Maybe I was just content for surviving South Africa and the Middle East the two months prior.. IDK, i just liked being there.

On a train.. Somewhere in Romania.. 

Shit I haven't story boarded in 3 days.. But on the plus side I just had pancakes
...small victories are what count..

Looking For Animation Books?

List of a few books for animators that are must read:
-Animators Survival Kit -Richard Williams*
-Illusion of Life -Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson
-Dream Worlds -Hans Bachor*
-Drawn To Life -Walt Stanchfield*
-Animation: The archive Series (Disney)
-Elemental Magic- Joseph Galland*


      Sorry for the lack of Posting, I am working on a Hand Drawn Short. I will definitely be posting some progress reels and some words on how I go about talking a project. IN TWO DAYS expect something.


Thanks!
-Daniel Gonzales

Motivation And Inspiration

         Motivation is a delicate elusive feeling. Some people have trouble finding motivation, Some people have trouble keeping their motivation, and worst of all I see people not knowing what to do when motivation slaps them in the face..

I'm sure it happens to you if you, even if you aren't an art student. You are out and about and you see something... inspiring. You stop in your tracks because you are starting to get cool ideas. you all of a sudden WANT to go home and work. So you make a mental note. Then go on with the rest of your day and then go home. When you get home you sit to work and... all you do is look at your white blank paper.. and thats all. you don't FEEL like working anymore. And you wonder where all your motivation went.

3 things went wrong here. you didn't do anything when your motivation/ inspiration was high because you were unprepared for it thus, letting it fade away. . 

1) What to do when motivation slaps you in the face unexpectedly: 

           First off you DO NOT forget about it and wait till you get home to address your inspiration. The feeling of inspiration is precious, you can create so many ideas that you wouldn't if you had no inspiration. Inspiration is the fuel of creativity, and if you let it come and go it is nothing less but a waste of potential creativity. 

          That's why I carry a sketch book, to write, doodle, glue in, staple anything that I want in it. If something is inspiring you, you have to try to capture it's essence immediately. So you do not have to just remember it when you get home, you can see your take on what it was and can return to it later. IF you ever find yourself without a sketch book and Some inspiration happens to walk by... oh man.. there is only one thing to do. You think about it UNTIL you reach somewhere where you can jot it down. I mean it. Thats what I do. My girlfriend hates it. Like I'll be in the car with her and I'll look a out the window and BAM, I see something that rocks my world (creatively). I shut down. I don't talk, I don't look around. My eyes are glazed and straight forward. All my recourses are put to remembering and exploring what this inspiration means. I do this the whole way home. So this sucks if we just left to go to safeway for groceries.. 

2) Keeping your motivation 

            Besides your sketch book you can do quite a bit to keep your motivation going. I see a lot of people burn out mentally during the school year especially after midterms and before finals. The way I stayed focus and kept my motivation to finish long projects is to transform your work space. For me I needed a visual and an audio set up. You have to surround yourself with inspiring things. The things I put up on my walls around my desk not stuff I liked, but stuff that made me think. I didn't put up a poster of The Beatles but I put up a Russian painting I never saw before. Ilya Repin's 'Ivan the terrible and his Son.'

           -Such a powerful piece. The emotion is captured so specifically, only a father would hold his son like that after he just murdered him..  A masterpiece that I could go on forever about. So transform your place, play your music, surround your self with things that make you think. Unless a white walled room is your kind of thing.

3) Finding inspiration

          You can't always search for inspiration. Because sometimes you will find yourself searching the web for inspiration or reference and you find yourself youtube surfing or reading about dogs on wikipedia and you don't even know why.. (never feed your dog a grape by the way). Next thing you know it's 2 hours later and you haven't done anything. You need your inspiration served to you 50/50. Half the time it needs to be unexpected. Other half of the time you have to go to your stash. Your stash is a place where you have saved all things and thoughts that have inspired you in the past. It can be a group of links on your bookmarks, it can be newspaper cut outs. So If you don't have a stash.. MAKE ONE.

I hope this helped some of you out. 

-If you need help starting a stash use the links on my page. There is a list of names on the right hand side on my homepage Click any one of those amazing artists names I guarantee you will find amazing work. Alberto Ruiz has good stuff and so does Enrico Casarosa. ALL OF THEM have good stuff. I have sites right above the names that are also amazing. I also just recently posted new work on Youtube and Vimeo. Be sure to check it out. 

So now you have no excuse to not being able to find inspiration. Go buy a sketchbook. and Let me know what you do to stay motivated I'm sure others would like to know as well. 

-Daniel Gonzales