Animation Backstory: A Bizarre Thing Happened My First Day of Animating

So I catch the animation bug shortly after moving to New York. I start following animation blogs, read up on old Disney guys. I think, "I have a film background, I can draw - I should give this a go." I plan an animation test.

On day one of drawing, in the afternoon, a butterfly flutters in through an open window. I pause and admire. Back to drawing.

A bit later I notice it has landed on the bottom-side of my camera lens. It stays, though I'm using the camera. 

The next day the butterfly is still there. I use the camera all day, working on the test. The butterfly budges not.

To place this all on the calendar, the day is the first day of the Jewish New Year, or Rosh Hashanah, 2012.

The next morning the butterfly remains. Day three of butterfly-in-studio. I think, "Golly Beave, Mr. Butterfly has not had anything to eat or drink in days." I plan to catch him and release him out the window. If he wants to fly back in, well he's more than welcome.

A friend thinks the butterfly has died.

I walk over. Clasp my hands about him. Stillness.

Then he bursts into a flutter. I release him and watch him fly away into the big blue sky.

Animation Test:

Animation Intro. AKA, "1,860 Drawings" AKA, "BRIDGE WISH LOVE"

Logging the process of my animation project. It will be hand-drawn, charcoal on paper. Pictured is the blank sheet of paper that I will be drawing on. Here is the process: I will draw. Snap a photo. Erase some. Draw some. Snap a photo. And so on. Then, I will take all the photos, drop them into editing software, hit play and watch. I have already shot and edited the live-action film. The edit will be the guide track for my drawings.

For the run time of two minutes, thirty-five seconds, I will be drawing one thousand eight hundred sixty drawings.

The animated short film is called "Bridge Wish Love." It involves a couples' argument on the Brooklyn Bridge. It is a comedy. Sarah Silk stars and I play the guy.

Captain John Hance, born 1840

Just completed a portrait of the true-life character of the Old West: Captain John Hance. Basically, he lived on a cliff over-looking the Grand Canyon and built its first trails. The writer, Edith Sessions Tupper, says this about him:

"All the way from Albuquerque you have heard of John Hance. You have read about him in all the guidebooks you have bought. People whom you meet tell you all about the flap-jacks he will cook for you at the canyon camp. You constantly hear references to 'Hance's Trail', 'Hance's New Trail', 'Hance's Old Trail', 'Hance's Peak', and 'Hance's Cabin' until you wonder if John Hance owns the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. When you get to Flagstaff the air is still filled with confused murmurs of Hance. You come to have a sort of 'See Hance-and-die' feeling and are a little uncertain whether you have come thousands of miles to see the Grand Canyon or John Hance of Arizona."

Captain John Hance, 50" x 38" Pastel on 320g paper

Detail