Blog #4: Artistic Statement critiques/ feedback

Personal Notes:
There wasn't much feedback that I thought was helpful. Most of what it said was very vague like, "Add more about Pixar" or "Add more examples". I had that sort of trouble before adding a little bit more about Pixar into my writing, but never found a method. Instead, I actually asked a lot of other people for more critiques on my writing. Some, I found very helpful. One of my friend critiqued my writing and told me about specific places where I may want to add, perhaps, quotes from people.

My plan is to start editing out some details and making the statement flow a little better. I think putting in quotes will take some more time so I want to work on that over the weekend. Even so, I'm planning to still stick to my idea of the whole process of drawing throughout the paper but say it in a way that can apply to the journey I took when I started drawing.

Second Draft:
A paper. At the time, it was only used for school work. If you told me that a single paper is where a Pixar movie sprung, I would have suggested you go sell your idea somewhere else. I was one of those little kids that would go, "OMG that's sooo cute." to almost every drawing on any paper. So you've probably guess my reaction to the first Pixar animation I watched, Monster's Inc. It was truly a work of art with the character depth, background graphics, storyline, 3D Graphics. It had exceeded their "work on the stories to make them original." The question that hung in my head was "how in the world could I ever do what they do?" Hopeless it may seem, since my explanation to anything unexplainable was, "It's magic."

A sketch. It took some time until that blank piece of paper took hold of my number two pencil and used that tool to sketch an open door into my mind. By this time, that single Pixar movie turned into many more. I remember taking a small adventure in "Toy Story", an even smaller adventure in "Bug's Life", then a pull back and headfirst dive into "Finding Nemo". My own ideas started solidifying on the paper in front of me in a language I've never taken classes for. It wasn't English, or Spanish, or evern verbal as far as I knew. It was a series of lines and shapes that eventually morphed together to make something at least slightly explainable. They started out non-digital and weren't shaded, but I saw a base, a start to my very own artistic story.

A critique. After looking at some work from the Pixar website, I learned about all the different jobs that busled around in their corperation. Everyone had a direction, whether they were a directer, sketch artist, animator, colorist, anything! Interestingly enough, even though they all wiggled around, made zig zags, went in circles, and strayed off course, they still met at the same point and brought all their ideas together. I was determined to find that direction, to place myself in the names of successful animators like Pixar. I kept creating. I found new inspirations and created more work. Critiques came naturally from people who found interest in my budding hobby. Eventually, "how can I improve?" was no longer a blank question. It had become a question brimming with unattempted answers.

A better sketch. One added word had never sounded sweeter. I unknowingly started practicing my drawing. I had ideas. I had resources. I followed a saying from a Pixar animator that went, "We try to makes them really special and so different than everything else that is out there." The best part about it was that I had my own direction, I was making my own kind of art. In Pixar, there isn't any two people with the same job. They all had somethign to say, something to add when the animation progress rolled around to their department.

I would no longer sulk on the word "hopeless". Instead, I took it as a challenge. It was a challenge that Pixar had taken and is still competing with, but now, it's a challenge that is stuck through the course of my life. Original? Well, it's up to you to decide.