Crowdfunding. It is a whole new year. And with that, one can do several actions to make this more productive year. Either continue to sit on the couch, watching endless hours of streaming video content. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Watchers are keeping the creators busy. Get up, walk over to that chair in the studio and GET creating.

Keep creating. The world is starving for content. Crowdfunding can help you do that. If you want to read my recent interview with Butch Hartman, you’ll just have to wait a little bit longer.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN sang, “57 Channels and nothing on…” in his song regarding Cable TV of 1992. That has since changed. The Internet. That’s what. More channels, websites and apps will deliver more content this year to personal devices than most people will ever be able to watch. That’s a fact.

On a personal note, PATREON, a crowdfunding site, is going to be added to the tool box of content creation this year. #BRADYtheBETTA has been a webcomic for over a year now. He needs a new avenue to swim in. He is a fish and fish need to swim not in some small, cramped space but in different pools or even a different ocean. See the world and the world might just look back at you.

PATREON is his next pool to swim in. He’s a cautious fish, but takes most situations slowly with apprehension. There’re times he just dives in. While working on his tales of the world, whacky fish tails he’s encountered in his life. He felt it was time for more people to hear his story (thought I was going to use another tail reference, huh?).

Who is #BRADYtheBETTA?

#BRADYtheBETTA to begin with is a BETTA fish who has lived in his fishbowl. That fishbowl is filled with crystal, clear POLAND SPRING® WATER for over 10 years. How is that possible? His caretakers never felt safe to take normal tap water and apply chemicals. So, what did they do? Used a turkey baster, sucked out all the dirty water weekly. Then replaced each week with 2500 ml (or approximately 84.5 ounces) of fresh, room temperature POLAND SPRING® WATER.  And through a couple of cats, hermit crabs along with a few other critters, he has lived this way.

And then came the #BRADYtheBETTA web comic. He is seen on TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK and even LINKEDIN. Living life is like running a business. Just think about that for a bit. There have been over 175+ appearances. People out there like animation. Realizing not enough fingers or fins to count how many, HE decided to put a little more movement in his life. Say hello to him on PATREON. When completed, they’ll be new animated episodes on YOUTUBE.

#BRADYtheBETTA does like a simple life (for now) and wants to have explained this PATREON move and what it entails.

PATREON is a place (website) where creators create for patrons. Those patrons participate in a crowdfunding effort.

The definition of PATRON from the dictionary:

Noun

1) a person who gives financial or other support to a person, organization, cause, or activity: a celebrated patron of the arts

A successful plea by the creator, one can help defray the costs of creation, which can involve time, supplies, etc.

Step One: Register on PATREON.

This means going to the site and create a NEW account

Step Two: Set up an account.

This means logging into this new account. Fill in all the information relating to this new project. It will even involve a bank account where and when if the project is successful, people will send you the funds to keep producing. HINT: if not at the time of creating the initial account within the first month, create a video of your product pitch. This video has helped gain more patrons. So, make it creative and informative. Crowdfunding can be fun to do, but it does take work.

Step Three: Create

Roll the sleeves up and get cracking at creating that project or product (however you want to phrase it).

Step Four: Keep Creating

Show progress. The more progress, the more attention one can garner. And increase what is offered. Video chats. Special downloads only to patrons. The sky’s the limit.

OK, NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY AMAZING…

My special guest. BUTCH HARTMAN. A man of creative talent. He has been a force of creative nature. I could, but won’t reiterate WIKIPEDIA. If you have read to this point, you’ll want to hear from him.

PART 1. The Intro…

PLBthetoonist:

Good Morning, Afternoon or Evening Mr. Hartman. Thank you for taking the time to converse with me… First, I must say, I admit it, I am a fan and great admirer of your work. You always have informative and inspiring words for every YouTube or podcast you either hosted or guested on. OKAY… (taking a deep breath) Glad I got that out of the way.

Butch Hartman:

Thanks for the kind words! And It’s cool, man. Calm down. I’m just a cartoonist like you. Lol.

PLBthetoonist:

What inspires you?

Butch Hartman:

Good question! I know this sounds kind of cliche’ but I get inspiration from everywhere. Seriously. I love movies. I love comic books. I love great comedy. I love great drama. I love great animation. I love great writing. I love God. I love my family. Inspiration can really come from anywhere if you look for it and are willing to pen your mind to it. What I mean by that is, be ready to think differently than usual. Usual is good. Usual is safe. But on the off chance that something really speaks to you artistically and you feel as though you really want to give it a shot, do it. Don’t waste time. If you’re an artist and really want to write a song, do it. If you’re a songwriter and you really want to paint a picture, do it. Try everything. No one will see it, but you until you’re ready to show people. Don’t waste time with embarrassment or what people will say. That’s wasted time. 

Pause TIME… PART 2 is NEXT.

PLBthetoonist:

When creating a show or even just an individual character, is there a specific process or even creative ritual you follow?

Butch Hartman:

Nope. Sometimes the idea starts with a character drawing. Sometimes it starts with the idea itself. I just love to draw and write so it can come from either place. One time I got a movie idea from the title of a famous song. Pretty cool if you’re open to letting ideas find you. 

PLBthetoonist:

You have boundless amounts of creative energy. From YouTube appearances, your personal channel (including YooToons, Drawing YouTubers, THE BUTCH HARTMAN Channel and now SPEECH BUBBLE), The Noog Network, your current TV series, BUNSEN IS A BEAST and all the other social media outlets where you have appeared. HOW and WHEN do you find the time for all of them?

Butch Hartman:

Lol. I really owe it all to God. Only He could give me the extra hours in the day that I need. Oh sure, I’m the one doing the physical drawing and the actual work, but it’s God who gives me the energy and creativity I need. I give Him credit for everything!

PLBthetoonist:

What are some of your favorite means to create with (i.e.: paper, pen and technology)

Butch Hartman:

I still love actually drawing on paper. Digital art is awesome, don’t get me wrong, but digital art can be erased or lost forever. I’ve done plenty of it and always will, believe me, and I LOVE my iPad Pro but I really love doing actual watercolor paintings on watercolor paper and pen and ink sketches in a sketchbook. I use the ProCreate program on the iPad and I use Zebra brush pens and plain ol’ Sharpie pens in my sketchbooks. 

PART 3… The Conclusion.

PLBthetoonist:

From past, present or future, who has influenced you or you have just admired them for their creative passion, be art or any other field?

Butch Hartman:

I love Steven Spielberg, Walt Disney, Pixar, JJ Abrams, Jerry Seinfeld, Steve Carell, Sid & Marty Krofft, Hanna & Barbera and old, classic TV shows and TV animation. I love to laugh and whoever can make me do that is someone I admire. I love innovators like Steve Jobs and even the Dyson guy who rebooted the vacuum cleaner! He even created those cool hand dryers we have in restrooms now!

PLBthetoonist:

Have you ever considered crowdfunding (i.e. PATREON, KICKSTARTER, INDIEGOGO) for any one of your projects?

Butch Hartman:

No. I don’t really feel the urge to crowdfund anything right now. I don’t understand it enough and kind of don’t fully trust it. It’s not anything against the idea of crowdfunding I just don’t know enough about it.

PLBthetoonist:

I truly am humbled for you spending the time to answer my questions. Thank you very much for this.

Butch Hartman:

You got it! I appreciate YOU asking me for the interview. The honor is mine. 

Wow. Give me a minute to catch my breath. That was amazing. I’ll finish up here in just a second.

UPDATE: Thursday, February 8th.

Butch Hartman has made a life decision. After 20 years, he decided to leave the company. Off to new horizons and new projects, which he is very excited to work on these projects. I could paraphrase his YouTube video where he explained it all. I would do an injustice to it. I’ll wait. Go watch it and come back to read my closing thoughts.

Butch Hartman Leaves NICK

I have nothing else. Only to say, be creative. Be resourceful. And be sincere. You have all that? This will give you what you need to move a project to fruition. Remember that word. Crowdfunding.

The post Crowdfunding à la Carte With A Helping of Butch Hartman and PATREON appeared first on essencecartoon.

But first, what is a storyboard? It is a series of drawn panels that show the various aspects of an animated or live-action filmed sequence. For today’s purpose, I’m sticking with animation. From close-ups and camera movements, to special effects and character dialog, it is here that entire productions are produced before committing to any final work on a project. It could prove costly in the end if any sequence goes wrong (i.e. cut for time, problems arise, just doesn’t work or a multitude of other reasons).

In this case, Storyboard Pro is the solution.

This software helps anyone from amateurs to professionals layout their animated projects in a manner that will put their minds at ease. In this case, I will classify myself as “the aspiring storyboard artist” and will point out some “professionals” who have and will use this software for their creative projects.

Okay, it is time to be straight-forward with the readers of this article. For those of you who have read both INTRO articles, for Storyboard Pro and Harmony, for this one particular paragraph you might be experiencing deja vu. In this space would have been a couple of quotes from a talented animator/storyboard artist but he was called back to the drawing board. Literally. And he could not participate in this article at this time. But I am holding this spot when he will be available. I respect his abilities, time and talent. So, when he can and he will, I will update this article and place his thoughts here. Thank you for your patience in this matter, I now return you to your regularly scheduled reading on this subject.

I will admit I have not met any of the creators of the following shows I shall be pointing out but this list is quite impressive. From SpongeBob SquarePants, Bob’s Burgers, Family Guy, Archer, The Simpsons, South Park, Rick and Morty & even Hannibal (I sideswiped and slipped in a live-action show), storyboarding is essential when plotting out the story, gags, camera shots and pacing of a show. I have watched all of the TV shows over my years and I will say I have watched each and every one of these series (maybe not every single episode). And when I needed software like StoryBoard Pro, I can appreciate why these shows used this software.

Now, sit down and relax for a few minutes while I extrapolate some key features of the software. Are you comfy? Let me begin then. I will not ramble on. I’ll make them short and sweet, so you can spend your time using the software yourself.

Importing scripts make it easy to annotate dialogue in the panels, audio (albeit, scratch tracks or final audio) tracks and other Image files that will make up each panel.

Layers allow for the versatility to combine 2D drawings with 3D images or backgrounds, to give an extra layer of depth.

The drawing tools react naturally and are responsive to the user whether using a graphics tablet or a Cintiq. The drawing tools include brushes of all styles and are customizable. There is also easy color insertion/alteration and replacement of characters and objects created for the project.

Project management is a breeze with all the tools, layers and formats for exporting at your fingertips.

Outputting the completed animatics is easy. Editing camera angles, panels and timing are trouble-free so that it doesn’t bottle-neck you down during production.

Stream-lined, easy to access tools help creatives create without getting bogged down with having to learn all of the tools and menus just to get started on a project.

With a package like this, a storyboard artist never has to leave StoryBoard Pro, since it has all the tools one needs to start and finish the storyboard project. I know I’ll be using this, guaranteed. Okay, #BRADYtheBETTA, ready to get animated?

The post Part One: StoryBoard Pro: In The Beginning appeared first on essencecartoon.

But, first, what is animation? It is the concept of bringing still images to produce the effect of movement, or as some, if not all, in the industry say, the illusion of life. Series of drawings, which when filmed in succession, and replayed, bring forth action. When creating this illusion, I will have to point out a book; some call THE book for helping to create animation. It is called Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life, written by Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas. They were Two of Walt Disney’s “Nine Old Men,” master animators who put together this great book that to this day is used as a reference and overall book to thumb through over and over. I know I wore out one copy and had to buy another as it almost fell apart in my hands from use. Okay, I got sidetracked. But I will add, if one is interested in doing digital animation all of the principles discussed in this book would be beneficial and should be on your shelf as a reference, regardless if doing 2D or 3D animation.

I have watched an impressive amount of hours of animation, and I am discovering more and more every day. With software, such as Harmony, and the help content online that can be found in this digital age, those hours increase, let’s me start with a thousandfold (Estimates could be much more). With a list of studios that utilize Harmony, it is mind boggling at the hours of content that they generate. The likes of FOX, Dreamworks, Film Roman, Nelvana, Metro Goldwyn Mayer, Universal, Lucasfilm, Ltd. Cartoon Network and Disney, have integrated this software into their daily workflow. And with these names on the list of users, it rates highly as an “industry standard piece of software.”

Okay, it is time to be straight-forward with the readers of this article. For people who have read both INTRO articles for Storyboard Pro and Harmony, this is one particular paragraph where you might be experiencing deja vu. In this space would have been a couple of quotes from a talented animator/storyboard artist but he was called back to the drawing board. Literally. And he could not participate in this article at this time. But I am holding this spot when he will be available. I respect his abilities, time and talent. So, when he can and he will, I will update this article and place his thoughts here. Thank you for your patience in this matter, I now return you to your regularly scheduled reading on this subject.

Harmony, software that brings together all of these aspects of traditional animation plus a multitude and more digital features and puts it into one animation package that is powerful yet easy enough to use for any scale project.

Harmony has an elegant User Interface and Tools. Sketching is as if you had a traditional animation desk with peg board disks (which can be digitally rotated) like that at classic studios of Disney Animation or Warner Brothers. Draw in layers help you simulate the flipping of sheets in an onion-skin interface to animate. Multi-plane and Camera Moves create amazing sequences all done within the software. Effects can be applied, enhancing the look of animation once initial sequences are done, to give it that extra flair of design. Rendering in popular formats gives it that full professional quality your project deserves. You can export formats to all popular viewing standards. Pipeline Integration allows for movement through the entire project that won’t cause a backlog because one part can’t handle the output.

And with a package like this, the animator doesn’t have to worry about needing multiple software to complete their creation. Here is where I’ll be getting into a groove and getting the movement I need to bring #BRADYtheBETTA to life.

Okay. What I meant to say was to give #BRADYtheBETTA, the finesse he so deserves for his animation debut.

Well, I better get back to the drawing board. The digital drawing board and draw some life into this smart aleck fish.

So long for now.

The post Part Two: Harmony: A Novice Approach To Animation appeared first on essencecartoon.