Okay, the air was out of my desire-to-make-music balloon. It was flat. What was going to pump it up?
During the week following the Sunday Surf Party, the end to the “final” 2D project came into sight. The assignment sounded simple enough: Create a 10- to 20-second animation of a character speaking. The project, however, was turning out to be more difficult than it sounded.
Obviously, the purpose of computer-based animation is to use something that is already done. For the computer-impaired (read me), things are no always as easy as they should be. Trying to import a character from the computer memory resulted in . . . (drum roll, please) . . . Failure!
Back to the drawing board. Scratch head. Ponder. Idea! Do “Pablo Picasso.” We all know the words. “Some people try to pick up girls and get called . . . . But that never happened to Pablo Picasso. . . .” Execution was clear: Draw a character, create a short snippet on Garageband, and push forward with lip synch.
How about throwing in a Picasso painting for some artistic touch?
In less than a week, I reached the point where working on it any more probably would be counterproductive. If you polish the rock enough, it disappears.
The creative juices were flowing again. So why stop with “Pablo Picasso”? Thoughts raced through my head. How about a Pup animation? Isn’t that why I signed up for the course in the first place? So the time finally had come to start working up a Lava Pup character to animate.
A couple of online tutorials made clear that importing a character would work if I just checked one of the boxes in the program. Just check one of the boxes! Yes, I truly am computer-impaired.
Two days before the scheduled “Final,” a Meet the Pup animation was done. That presented a conflict between Type-A-me and trying-to-be-a-laid-back-artsy-type-me. Type A: How about submitting Meet the Pup for some extra credit? Artsy-Type: Why, Man? Then the realities of the class presented themselves. “Wait, you’re taking the class pass/fail. You don’t need no stinkin’ extra credit! That’s for the kids who want a future in ‘Art - New Media’ and may seek jobs someday.” Conflict resolved.
The day of the “Final” arrived. One-by-one, the students went up to the podium, inserted a CD into the professor’s computer, and displayed their animations on the big screen. My turn. Presentation delayed. “How you get this thing to play?” Proof again that I truly am computer-impaired.
“Pablo Picasso” finally was a click away. My animation filled the screen. “Some people try to pick up girls . . . .” Nineteen seconds and it was over. One of the students asked, “Is that one your songs?” I replied, “Thank you, but that was by the Modern Lovers.” Blank stares in response. Undaunted, I said, “Perhaps you heard the cover in Repo Man by the Burning Sensations.” More blank stares.
Were the blank stares surprising? Not really. The song “Pablo Picasso” is 40 years old. Repo Man nearly 30. And, oh, yeah, previously only one person in the class knew who Morrissey was. Not only am I computer-impaired, but I also am way old.
The creative process moved the Lava Pup back to a front burner. Was this going to put some air in the desire-to-make-music balloon?
P.S. - Check out Meet the Pup
During the week following the Sunday Surf Party, the end to the “final” 2D project came into sight. The assignment sounded simple enough: Create a 10- to 20-second animation of a character speaking. The project, however, was turning out to be more difficult than it sounded.
Obviously, the purpose of computer-based animation is to use something that is already done. For the computer-impaired (read me), things are no always as easy as they should be. Trying to import a character from the computer memory resulted in . . . (drum roll, please) . . . Failure!
Back to the drawing board. Scratch head. Ponder. Idea! Do “Pablo Picasso.” We all know the words. “Some people try to pick up girls and get called . . . . But that never happened to Pablo Picasso. . . .” Execution was clear: Draw a character, create a short snippet on Garageband, and push forward with lip synch. How about throwing in a Picasso painting for some artistic touch?
In less than a week, I reached the point where working on it any more probably would be counterproductive. If you polish the rock enough, it disappears.
The creative juices were flowing again. So why stop with “Pablo Picasso”? Thoughts raced through my head. How about a Pup animation? Isn’t that why I signed up for the course in the first place? So the time finally had come to start working up a Lava Pup character to animate.
A couple of online tutorials made clear that importing a character would work if I just checked one of the boxes in the program. Just check one of the boxes! Yes, I truly am computer-impaired.
Two days before the scheduled “Final,” a Meet the Pup animation was done. That presented a conflict between Type-A-me and trying-to-be-a-laid-back-artsy-type-me. Type A: How about submitting Meet the Pup for some extra credit? Artsy-Type: Why, Man? Then the realities of the class presented themselves. “Wait, you’re taking the class pass/fail. You don’t need no stinkin’ extra credit! That’s for the kids who want a future in ‘Art - New Media’ and may seek jobs someday.” Conflict resolved.
The day of the “Final” arrived. One-by-one, the students went up to the podium, inserted a CD into the professor’s computer, and displayed their animations on the big screen. My turn. Presentation delayed. “How you get this thing to play?” Proof again that I truly am computer-impaired.
“Pablo Picasso” finally was a click away. My animation filled the screen. “Some people try to pick up girls . . . .” Nineteen seconds and it was over. One of the students asked, “Is that one your songs?” I replied, “Thank you, but that was by the Modern Lovers.” Blank stares in response. Undaunted, I said, “Perhaps you heard the cover in Repo Man by the Burning Sensations.” More blank stares.
Were the blank stares surprising? Not really. The song “Pablo Picasso” is 40 years old. Repo Man nearly 30. And, oh, yeah, previously only one person in the class knew who Morrissey was. Not only am I computer-impaired, but I also am way old.
The creative process moved the Lava Pup back to a front burner. Was this going to put some air in the desire-to-make-music balloon?
P.S. - Check out Meet the Pup