Re: Pitching to Nickelodeon and The cartoon network
Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 9:07 pm
I will tell a story to put my comments in context:
When in art school during a life drawing class, one of my fellow students was working on drawing heads and faces. She had spent a lot of effort on a sketch of the models head.
The teacher looked at her progress and began to draw on her artwork showing all the mistakes, the head shape was incorrect, the eyes were to far down, etc etc.
The student became FURIOUS that the teacher "ruined her drawing" by drawing all over it.
The teacher (who was AWESOME and a FANTASTIC artist in his own right, regardless that he was "teaching"), grabbed the students artwork, scribbled all over it, crumbled it up, threw it on the floor and jumped up and down on it. The student burst into tears and ran out.
I apologize that I was blunt. I was feeling that no one was being TRULY honest. If I couldn't say anything good I probably should not have said anything at all. If the title was not about pitching to networks I would not have been so honest. If this were simply an animation you did for learning the process, it would have a totally different meaning.
No, I don't have a career in animation, I haven't "produced" anything or had anything broadcast. I am not famous... however... having said that, I still have enough knowledge and talent to know the reality of what feedback you would get from Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network. They might not say anything to you directly but... holy crap... they wouldn't be as kind as anyone here... or me!
Keep in mind there are people out there with amazing talent who struggle night and day to get published and recognized, often without success, not because they lack talent but because it's freaking HARD AS HELL to hit that lottery. How many popular cartoons are on TV? Compared to the number of talented animators it's 0.000000001%. Becoming successful as an artist starts with talent first. The rest of it is a lot of luck.
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Ha ha! Slowtiger beat me to it. Was about to tell about how the Simpsons started...
The Simpsons characters were created originally by a talented cartoonist, Matt Groening and animated by the studio Slowtiger mentioned. It was created before "computer" animation. It was cell animation and was not "bad quality".
The Simpsons started out as VERY VERY SHORT SEGMENTS on "the Tracey Ullman Show". They were VERY VERY SHORT. As a matter of fact, the Tracey Ullman Show, sued when the Simpsons got its own show on FOX. Tracey Ullman felt she started it and was suppose to get a piece of the action. She lost the suit. I remember watching the ORIGINAL Simpsons on the Tracy Ullman show. It was unique and different. Not like anything done before. Those 1 minute original Simpsons shorts became more popular than the actual show they were in.
It was the QUALITY of those original short segments that got it its own show, not the QUANTITY or the length. That was my main point about your animation. Besides the quality, It's too long and has no real compelling story.
The original Simpsons was NEVER "badly animated". I believe originally it was done "old school" drawn frame by frame without computers (we are talking late 80's early 90's).
It's more "polished" now because it's been on for a decade and computers have changed how it's done.
When in art school during a life drawing class, one of my fellow students was working on drawing heads and faces. She had spent a lot of effort on a sketch of the models head.
The teacher looked at her progress and began to draw on her artwork showing all the mistakes, the head shape was incorrect, the eyes were to far down, etc etc.
The student became FURIOUS that the teacher "ruined her drawing" by drawing all over it.
The teacher (who was AWESOME and a FANTASTIC artist in his own right, regardless that he was "teaching"), grabbed the students artwork, scribbled all over it, crumbled it up, threw it on the floor and jumped up and down on it. The student burst into tears and ran out.
I apologize that I was blunt. I was feeling that no one was being TRULY honest. If I couldn't say anything good I probably should not have said anything at all. If the title was not about pitching to networks I would not have been so honest. If this were simply an animation you did for learning the process, it would have a totally different meaning.
No, I don't have a career in animation, I haven't "produced" anything or had anything broadcast. I am not famous... however... having said that, I still have enough knowledge and talent to know the reality of what feedback you would get from Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network. They might not say anything to you directly but... holy crap... they wouldn't be as kind as anyone here... or me!
Keep in mind there are people out there with amazing talent who struggle night and day to get published and recognized, often without success, not because they lack talent but because it's freaking HARD AS HELL to hit that lottery. How many popular cartoons are on TV? Compared to the number of talented animators it's 0.000000001%. Becoming successful as an artist starts with talent first. The rest of it is a lot of luck.
-----------
Ha ha! Slowtiger beat me to it. Was about to tell about how the Simpsons started...
The Simpsons characters were created originally by a talented cartoonist, Matt Groening and animated by the studio Slowtiger mentioned. It was created before "computer" animation. It was cell animation and was not "bad quality".
The Simpsons started out as VERY VERY SHORT SEGMENTS on "the Tracey Ullman Show". They were VERY VERY SHORT. As a matter of fact, the Tracey Ullman Show, sued when the Simpsons got its own show on FOX. Tracey Ullman felt she started it and was suppose to get a piece of the action. She lost the suit. I remember watching the ORIGINAL Simpsons on the Tracy Ullman show. It was unique and different. Not like anything done before. Those 1 minute original Simpsons shorts became more popular than the actual show they were in.
It was the QUALITY of those original short segments that got it its own show, not the QUANTITY or the length. That was my main point about your animation. Besides the quality, It's too long and has no real compelling story.
The original Simpsons was NEVER "badly animated". I believe originally it was done "old school" drawn frame by frame without computers (we are talking late 80's early 90's).
It's more "polished" now because it's been on for a decade and computers have changed how it's done.