Post Animation Discussion

There's nothing like that feeling of achievement when you finally finish something that started off wonderful and ended up tedious and annoying! The animations for the Predictions show are done and I am breathing huge massive sighs of relief. At first they come easily, and I laugh and enjoy the play between me and my art, but after countless hoursof computer work, a month later I begin to tire of it and crave the freedom that collage allows me.
It's within my brain that I feel the difference. I am always well aware of what steps need to be performed to create an animation, and most of it is computer work, inputting frames, animating things, timing to music....it keeps going and going the list of commands and mouse executions I need to perform grows and expands but that's all there is. I am a fast typer and an even faster thinker so things move along, but still, after awhile it just feels tedious.
On the other hand, when i am on the collage table, I feel the freedom to look thru that magazine for just the right little piece. And if I come across something that strikes me for another project I can grab that too...or stop for a moment and read a funny little ditty I find in an 1850's newspaper while I am searching. These pleasant little distractions just don't occur in the middle of working on a computer animation. It's balls to the wall work, for both brain and body.
And so having said that, I am really glad to be done with all 6 of them. I know I am complaining a bit, but I must also be truthful and show the good. There's something hugely satisfying and powerful about being able to see your art come to life. It's as tho I can go in and complete my thoughts, and actually show you what I was thinking behind the scenes. I love that feeling, and it's that very feeling that spurs me on when my wrist starts to ache--and my eyes go fuzzy. It's the knowing that there is no end to the fantasy within me. I love that. They get pretty tedious, but I still seem to be compelled to do it!
After countless hours of work tho, in the end I have to feel justified, and the animations are kind of a dead issue so far for me, at least as far as money is concerned. How i hate it that money even comes into this equation. it's about love! it's about doing! it's about being while I am doing! but my resources =time are limited. I need to justify these things even to be able to afford to continue them all--with shows, sales, and maybe soon some teaching. I need to prioritize with such a busy life, I just have no choice.
So back to the animations, I can't share them or sell them as a product as of themselves, they are ethereal. They are aether. So I'm compiling them into a DVD now, so I can share it and sell it. I don't imagine myself ever getting rich on them specifically, but certainly this skill set of mine isn't a common one! I have done Dreamiverse, Fairies Fantasticus, 8 AEZine CDs, Stand and Deliver...I guess I have done several computer pieces that were designed to accompany artwork, but I have always had the book as a product to sell along with it. For this project, all I have is the DVD.
Such are the lamentations of a wayward collage/computer artist.
This last phase of compiling should take me just one more half day, and then I will be ready for next Friday night's performance. I have to get the details together on that, but that's for another blog post.
Happy arting this weekend ya'll!