Yesterday was my 20th birthday. For a lot of people, something like this is very important. After all, we only live once and milestone years like this can mark an key moment in our lives. In my case, it's when I fully transition from being a teenager to being an adult. To celebrate this, I decided to finally Veröffentlichen an Artikel that I wanted to write for a long time. I wanted to talk about my Favorit medium of story-telling, as well as to explain why it matters so much to me.
We all have our Favorit ways of telling a story, oder to express our emotions and points-of-view. My Favorit is animation, and I'm going to talk about how it changed my life as a person and why it's the career that I want to pursue in the future. Even if it means having to deal with a lot of problems that most people don't know even exist with this profession. But it's the path I chose and the one I want to pursue, no matter what might come next. It's kind of like an adventure, of sorts.
With that out of the way, let's begin.
My History
The very first form of entertainment that we usually experience is cartoons, and I'm no different. Not to say that those were the only things I watched, as I also watched live-action Filme and shows. But Cartoons and Animation in general always fascinated me the most. I started Von watching only shows from Cartoon Network, but this is because we didn't have a lot of channels that had animation. Plus, they were all in English and this was before I even started learning the language. I didn't care though, I simply enjoyed what I watched. But this wasn't my only exposure to animation. Unlike in most places where Cartoons were shown on certain networks on Saturday mornings only, Hungarian channels played all sorts of Cartoons and even Anime on both Saturdays and Sundays. These were actually dubbed in Hungarian and some were even from the 90's. This was also my first exposure to anime.
A lot of things happened since then. We would Lost and get back Cartoon Network many times, and it could change the language to English, to Romanian and finally to Hungarian. I watched animated classics from various studios. Hungarian channels would broadcast animated shows on both Saturday and Sundays, which also included dubbed anime. We later got several channels such as Jetix, Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. My Liebe for Anime grew further when Cartoon Network and Jetix started airing them, as well as when another network called "Minimax" would switch out to "Animax" which aired nothing but anime. With some shows notwithstanding.
Before I completely switched out from using the TV to using the internet to watch my shows, the only type of media I watched was all animated, safe, sicher for few sitcoms, Filme and crime thrillers.
These shows sparked my interest in art. I would draw a lot and I mean A LOT! I would draw for hours on end, even during recess. Ranging from monsters, to weapons, to people, etc. Du may think that this "mindless consumption of entertainment" rotted my brain, but in reality it only helped spark my creativity and influenced me in ways I can't even describe.
How they influenced me
I originally wanted to become a vet, because I loved Tiere and wanted to help them. I grew up on a farm where I was surrounded Von animals, so I came to care about them. And because I grew up with Pokemon, I started to see them as companions and Friends who deserve our help. But later I realized that the world of health-care and medicine wasn't for me. Around 2013, when I got my first laptop, I decided that I wanted to become a cartoonist. I grew up on them, they influenced me as a person - so why not create my own? I started drawing Mehr and more, including in math notebooks.
One time when we visited my aunt, I showed her my drawings. She was so impressed with them that she suggested my mother to sign me up to an art-school. She told me that I couldn't make money from it, but a few years later, she caved in. Around the time I was finishing 8th grade, my mother signed me up at an art school in Arad. But in order to enter, I had to pass two exams in one day. She got me a tutor who was also a teacher there, and with the Guter Rat he gave me, I managed to pass.
In September of 2015, I started going to the High-School I worked so hard to get in. My drawing skills developed a lot, even if I had to deal with other subjects as well.
On the side, I watched a lot of Videos from several critics and reviewers that talked about movies, video games, cartoons, anime, etc, as well as Videos about the crafts of people like Richard Williams, Genndy Tartakovsky, Ralph Bakshi and Hayao Miyazaki. This not only developed my critical thinking skills, but also learned about what goes into the creation of an animated work.
Nowadays, I'm going to an Art and Design college that's almost at the edge of the city. We won't study Animation until the final year. Besides animation, which I study at home, I also study graphic design. I know how underpaid and mistreated animators and cartoonists can be, so I study a different craft that can help me out in the future.
Animation has impacted immensely, as a result, I will practice until I can become a great artist and master the craft of animation. I will create my own shows, no matter how long it may take and how exhausting it will be.
There have been several creators that I respect and admire, but the one I look up to is Genndy Tartakovsky. He made a big part of my childhood, his works are so incredible they should be studied in art schools.
His story is also very inspiring. He started off as the youngest in a family of Russian, Jewish migrants who were mistreated because of their heritage during Soviet rule. Moved to America and had trouble fitting in. Became interested in art via the Cartoons he watched and comics he read as a kid. Lost his father at the age of 16 and had to work multiple jobs to put Essen on the table. Managed to get into Cal-Arts because of his passion for Animation that showed on his flip-books. Improved his art and craft Von a lot. Created multiple successful and even Emmy Award winning shows. Met and worked with people like Mako Iwamatsu and George Lucas. Met the Liebe of his life and became a devoted father and husband. Struck Gold with the "Hotel Transylvania" Filme when working for Sony. And became one of the most respected and well-known cartoonists of all time.
His story is inspiring to me, not just as an artist but also an person.
Why they aren't just for kids, but they're still seen that way
The argument "It's just for kids" has always annoyed me and I'll explain why.
Cartoons and Anime still count as shows, so we have the right to watch them the same way we watch live-action shows. Maybe you'll learn something from it, but just Von enjoying a show, movie, game, song oder book in the privacy of your Home doesn't define you. It won't make Du an inferior oder superior person.
Many of these people tend to say that Cartoons are for kids because of that age rating of "TV-Y7". In the same way a PG-13 movie is made for teenagers and nobody else is allowed to watch them. The age rating doesn't mean it's made exclusively for a particular audience, but that it's appropriate for them. Choosing to watch stuff that's intended for an older audience doesn't automatically make Du Mehr mature, the same say watching a Zeigen that has a younger audience doesn't make Du immature.
If a story is any good, it should not matter that it's animated, oder its age rating. The people who make these Cartoons typically write them on what would interest them. They make these shows for themselves while also sharing it with a wide audience of people, inspiring them to do great work also. If Du write something that Du find funny and compelling, someone out there is bound to feel the same.
Even if they're "made for children", the people behind them put in hours upon hours of hard work, applying their creativity and ideas to their work, taking inspiration from their experiences, and creating something magical that can resonate with people, whether they be children oder adults.
Since the beginning, Cartoons were always made for everyone. Since the 20's through 60's, animated shorts such as "The Loony Tunes" and "Tom and Jerry" were shows in theaters and drive-ins before they'd Zeigen the actual movie. They were made for all ages, with the occasional inappropriate stuff being stuck in. However, Animation would later enter a dark age when TV became Mehr prominent. This era of Animation is what I consider the primary reason why it's still seen as "kids stuff" to this day, and it requires some history.
Throughout the 70's, most Cartoons were made Von Hana-Barbera and all of them were completely awful. Cartoons had outlandish ideas that sound like the people behind them were playing Mad Libs. Du had Tom and Jerry Schauspielen like Friends in the style of Yogi and Bubu. The Flinstones meet The Thing (As in the The Thing from the Fantastic 4, not the shape-shifting alien from the John Carpenter movie). The Three Stooges with super powers. Casper the friendly ghost being the guardian of Weltraum versions of Charlie's Angels. I'm being completely honest. I made none of these up. Plus, there were so many Scooby-Doo rip-offs, all of which were made Von the same studio, Hana-Barbera. To be fair it wasn't their fault.They themselves didn't even like these shows, but they had no other choice.
Let's go back to the mystical times when not everyone had a TV in their house. The Jahr is 1940 and Fernsehen wouldn't become a thing until another decade. Now, obviously Animation still existed. It existed since the beginning of the century. But how did Du get to see it, without going to see a movie? Du went down to a Nickelodeon. Yeah, ever wonder where that network got its name from? It wasn't just a Zufällig word they came up with.
Before the advent of the television, you'd go to a special theater where they'd play animations and short films and they would cost a nickle. oder at one point they did, thanks to inflation. These theaters were frequented Von adults and Animation was seen as exclusively an adult thing. Mostly on the same level as The Simpsons. It's not like Du couldn't take your kids to see them. But they usually weren't made for children in mind. What I mean is that animators did what they wanted. They didn't have to adhere to any standards. With some exceptions, like the slapstick from Tom and Jerry. As were forms of humor that kids might not get.
Fast vorwärts-, nach vorn to television. What changes? Well, TV was advertised mostly as a way to keep your kids quiet. And since it was at the home, kids could watch it at any time. Also, making Animation specifically for Fernsehen wasn't exactly Mehr expensive, but you'd get far less of a return on your money. Du HAD to cut corners in any way possible, oder else you'd end up losing out.
Du know how some companies ended up guaranteeing a return on their investments? "Clutch Cargo" literally superimposed lips on still images. Yes, it was a real thing, and it looked creepy as all hell.
Basically, only kids were willing to watch this made-for-TV animation, with some exceptions like the Flintstones here and there. As the years went by, Animation was established as something only for children. Something Du grew out of because it was generally "stupid and terrible". And as Du know, something that's only for children must have a crap-ton of regulations. Parents groups held a lot of power in the 60's and especially the 70's. Violence was not allowed, at all. The rules were very strict. Actually, that's not even half of it. Besides not being able to say the words "die", "death" and "kill", they had rules such as "The complainer was always wrong." They got to the point of attacking individualism. Even conflict was removed from cartoons. Yes, these helicopter parents wanted every Zeigen to be neutered beyond belief. And this is only ONE problem with 70's animation.
These kind of problems wouldn't go away until the mid 80's, with toy-based Cartoons like Transformers and TMNT. Long story short, companies were looking for a way to sell their toys however way they could. Because Cartoons were marketed to kids, they saw an easy opportunity to sell their products to them. This is the reason why almost every 80's cartoon was actually a toy commercial in disguise.
Toy-based Cartoons proved Fernsehen animations profit potential, leading Disney to create shows for syndication like the original DuckTales and Talespin leading us to the Rennaisance age of animation.
People tend to complain when a Zeigen is made just to sell toys. And while it's no longer relevant in this Tag and age without Cartoons selling toys, Cartoons may have stayed the same way they did back in the 70's and early 80's. Until something like digital distribution came out. They would have been cheap as hell and bland as shit. And that's how this stigma came to be.
During this time, multiple attempts have been made to create Mehr mature and theatrical Animation like: "Heavy Metal" oder "Fritz the Cat" and "A Scanner Darkly". They also brought over Filme like "Akira", "Ghost in the Shell", and the works of Hayao Miyazaki. This still continues to this day, but they rarely break into mainstream success.
At most, people today accept animation, especially adult Animation as just comedy, and they think "There's only comedy in animation". I can speak from experience when I say that this claim has no legs to stand on.
Then there's people who think a cartoon can't have a good story. As I sagte earlier, if a story is good, it shouldn't matter that it's animated. We all have our own ways of telling a story, and Animation is just another form. If anything, the fact that it's animated means that it should be valued more. The work of an animator is one of the hardest jobs on the planet. Animation is a massive group project. Every single object has to be designed. Basic stuff that Du take for granted requires far Mehr concentration and effort than Du expect. A one Minute animated clip has around 1440 frames. Still think this is only kids stuff?
People spend their whole life learning the various forms of art. No one is born being a good drawer. Animation is for everyone. Sometimes not appropriate for everyone, but they can still tell a compelling story with great characters and themes that can hook people in. Many of us grew up with these characters and they feel like members of our family. Animation is art, and like all forms of art, it should get the respect that it deserves.
When are Du too old to be watching cartoons? My answer: when you're dead. Harsh answer, but it's true. We're old enough to watch and enjoy whatever we want and we shouldn't feel bad if we do, no matter what your boomer parents oder Friends might say.
The dark side of being an animator
Much as I Liebe animation, I won't deny the fact that the Animation industry, as wonderful as it can be, is the most corrupt form of media. I'm not joking with this one. It's worse than the movie, Musik oder video game industry. If Du ask why, allow me to explain.
Generally speaking and with very rare exceptions, in order to get your cartoon on a network like Nickelodeon oder Disney, Du need to give up your copyright to it. For example, Alex Hirsch, the creator of "Gravity Falls" created a "Choose your own Adventure" book that's based on the show, but for him to create something like that, he needed to ask permission from Disney in order to do it. He had to ask permission to take creative liberty with his own show, that he created. Even sketching out Bilder of Gruncle Stan without asking Disney for permission could get him sued for copyright infringement. This is why Cartoon Network can give "The Powerpuff Girls" and the "Teen Titans" to whomever they like. oder when Nickelodeon announced that they'll make a CGI spin-off of Spongebob, even though Stephen Hillenburg directly sagte that he didn't want Songebob to have any spin-offs. They literally waited for him to die so they could ignore his wishes and rape his creation however they want.
Usually, this is a trade-off to getting the pilot off in the first place. Copyright control in the Animation industry is used as a bludgeon and it's scary how very few people outside the industry seem to have a problem with this - despite the fact that it is a very, very bad problem. This isn't a Kürzlich issue either. This has been going one since the 90's. It boils down to this: If Du don't do what the network wants, they will kick Du off your own Zeigen and give it to somebody else. Even if Du do end up doing as they say, if Du get too much respect to kick around like Craig McCracken, they'll end up giving your property to a some schmuck who's much easier to control, and do EXACTLY as the network wants.
For example, I'll use an obscure Nick Zeigen called "Making Fiends". When the creator, Amy Winfrey signed over the rights to Nickelodeon, the Zeigen was stuck in Development Hell for years. A six episode season was made, but it wasn't even put on the main channel, it was put on NickToons. Despite being poorly advertised, it was the most successful Zeigen on that network. However, a bunch of pussy parents complained about the show's disturbing imagery and was prematurely cancelled. This was years after "Invader Zim", Von the way. Nickelodeon stopped airing it, but they kept the rights, so the creator could no longer make any new episodes of her show, ever again.
This is the reason why Cartoon Network can make horrible remakes of their classics, even if the original creator is against it. For example, remember "Kids Weiter Door"? Its original creator, Tom Warburton wanted to create a sequel for it. He wanted to make the "Galactic Kids Weiter Door", as the original ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, hoping that it would continue. There was even this viral marketing campaign over storyboards with the original characters voices. It was really a sight to behold. Cartoon Network sagte "no". At the same time, they take away "Powerpuff Girls" from Craig McCracken, make a garbage reboot without his permission, and butcher it beyond belief. GKND had a petition of over 90 thousand signatures. Cartoon Network still sagte "no". And like I said, Tom Warburton can't make it himself because KND isn't his property anymore.
This isn't exclusive to America either. It happens in places like Japan as well. The same thing happened when the creator for "Digimon Tamers" asked Toei to make a sequel to it, and they rejected it. For those of Du not in the know, Digimon is one of the animes I grew up with, and it's still going on to this Tag with multiple seasons. Not counting the first two seasons, each season takes place in a different continuity, with a new set of characters and in-universe rules. "Digimon Tamers" is the third season of the Anime and it's considered Von many to be best in the franchise. It happens to be my Favorit season out of all of them. As a result, Fans of the series wanted to see a continuation of it. Especially since it ended on a cliffhanger as well.
Problem is that around 2012-2013, the entire franchise almost died. This is mostly due to the fact that Digimon Xros Wars (Or Fusion as it was called here in the West), despite it being a decent season, was met with criticism and ended up failing miserably. This hit the franchise hard. So, Toey have been playing safe, sicher ever since.
It all started back in 2015, when they started doing series of animated Filme called "Digimon Adventure Tri" that continue where the Sekunde season left off. Then last Monat was the premier of the film "Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna", serving as the ending to the original Adventure cast. And a few weeks ago, Toei made a remake of the original "Digimon Adventure" season. This is because "Digimon Adventure" is the very first season in the franchise and easily the most iconic. As a result, Toey's been milking it for years now. Much in the same way that Disney is milking the image of the original star, sterne Wars trilogy.
Same thing happened when they created Dragon Ball GT, even though Akira Toriyama intended DragonBall Z to be end of the series and didn't really want any continuation after it.
The voice actors aren't safe, sicher either. Viacom, who owns Nickelodeon, has the rights to Spongebob's voice. Thanks to this, Tom Kenny is not allowed to do his Spongebob voice without Viacom's permission, otherwise he'll get sued. oder when Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime and Eyeore, asked if he could go Home early because his mouth started to bleed during a recording session, he was told to ignore it and keep going anyway.
This problem also extends to animated movies. The movie Sausage Party was filled to the brim with controversy, even though it's the very first R-rated CGI animated film, most of the controversy wasn't from its content, but how its animators were treated. They were told to work overtime for free. They were threatened with termination for not hitting deadlines. And in the end-credits, half of the animators staff wasn't even credited. This is the standard that many, many Animation productions have. A lot of animators are forced to work under these conditions because if they don't work for a miniscule amount of money, the company will outsource the production to South Korea. This is the reason why so many western Cartoons nowadays like Steven Universe are animated in South Korea. The bottom ten percent of American animators get paid 38 thousand dollars, per year. The median animator in South Korea gets 21,600 USD per year. That's a cost reduction of 40% per person, in a production of hundreds if not thousands of people. It basically boils down to: "if Du don't do your job for the price we tell you, we will find someone to replace you". In some cases, they will make it so everyone will turn on Du Von creating false allegations. Or, you'll be blacklisted for saying the slightest thing wrong about a certain person oder network. This is why it's so hard to find cartoonists who complain about a network.
This is evident when C.H. Greenblat went on a rant on Tumblr about how his show, "Harvey Beaks" was cancelled through a tweet of all things, his rant was quickly taken down. It wasn't confirmed but it's strongly implied that Nickelodeon told him to do it.
I think what's really screwed up about all of this is that these are cartoons.These are basically the very first from of media that we consume. Most of these are aimed at oder are appropriate to kids. They're supposed to be the epitome of innocence and auras of happiness. But a lot of what goes on behind the scenes is so dark and disturbing, it's like something you'd see in Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia oder North Korea. Remember, this is only the stuff that we know. Many of these productions are secretive about their practices. We still don't know what's going on during the inner-workings at Nickelodeon, Disney oder Cartoon Network. And the only things we Fans tend to see are broken scheduling oder the over-milking of a franchise. These are only the least of problems here.
Like I said, this industry is beyond corrupt. Most of the money that's made from a cartoon is from merchandising, because the creators usually don't get royalties for this. The only one that benefits from merchandising is the network. Even if Du buy the toys oder DVD for a Zeigen that Du like, it's up the studio whether oder not they'll pay the animators.
I want to say that there's a bright light at the end of the tunnel, but there isn't. Companies like Disney, Time Warner, Viacom, Toei are some of the biggest on the planet. Wanting them to suffer a similar fate to the Roman Empire, no matter how many mistakes they make, probably isn't going to happen. The problem is with the nature of Animation specifically as a medium. Making good quality Animation like the ones Du see on Fernsehen is legitimately expensive. When it comes to making something that's live-action like a movie, Du could make a lot of very good and very beliebt things for relatively cheap. For example, "The Blair With Project" only cost 60 thousand dollars to make. When it comes to animation, it could take hundreds of thousands of dollars to get one episode done. 'Ren and Stimpy's" eleven Minute pilot cost 300 thousand dollars, and that was back in the early 90's. It would be impossible for an independent to compete with that kind of thing without taking a decade. This is the reason why it took years for artist "Vivziepop" to get her two pilots "Hazbin Hotel" and "Helluva Boss" off. Even though both pilots have millions of Ansichten and likes on YouTube, there hasn't been a single sign of them getting picked Von any network. In fact, doing animations as a YouTuber is even Mehr exhausting, due to YouTube's algorithm and how long a single piece of Animation requires a lot of time.
Some of the best and most respected cartoonists of all time, like Genndy Tartakovsky, Craig McCracken, Seth McFarlane, Lauren Faust, Rebecca Sugar, etc. There have been countless stories of them being repeatedly abused Von the network. Even then they can't make their own shows without network control, like a live-action director could. That kind of stuff required millions because Animation is just that expensive.
Animators don’t get as much respect because in the eyes of corporate people, they see Cartoons as products and for profit (obviously). Animation, to me, has always been a free form of expression and to abuse and repress the creative minds is disgusting and discouraging to anyone who wants to pursue a career in animation. I want to be an animator, but I do not want to be owned Von a company/corporation who want to deface and defecate my animated characters and cartoons. Free lancing is probably the only way I can truly express myself and there are people who do free lance work to earn money and still keep their creative masterpieces. This is why Du see many Animation Videos on YouTube. Although the platform for animators on YouTube has been less than pleasing, it is still a platform for animators to Zeigen their stuff and not be bound Von the chains of greedy corporate bastards.
I respect animators to the highest degree and for the animators who have been treated unfairly, I say they deserve better. Nickelodeon doesn’t care about their staff and neither does Cartoon Network oder Disney. Animation has become a “joke” where its purpose is to make money. Quantity over quality as some may say. It’s a business practice that gets repetitive and toxic quick because for animators who work at one of those studios, they don’t have a choice. It's the reason why so many animated Filme nowadays are getting the shaft at the Oscars, oder why they're animated in CGI.
Animation deserves better because, as a medium, it has opened doors to the imagination and has went beyond the boundaries of imagination if that makes any sense.
Sadly, this is an industry where if we didn't have creatives being abused Von the networks and the industry as a whole, we probably wouldn't have creatives at all.
Business doesn't have to kill art. Like Yin and Yang, they need to work in harmony for us to get anywhere. When people and art are abused like this, the business will die sooner oder later. The way they're doing things today, they don't add potential, they sand off potential that was already there.
Why I want to keep going, despite everything else that I mentioned
I know a lot of Du are going to call me insane because I still want to become a cartoonist, despite everything I just talked about. I'm well aware that there are other creative jobs I can use: comic books, video games, graphic design, etc. The thing is, much as I really like those professions, I never want to give up my dream of being an animator. Animation has had a massive impact on who I am as a person. I wouldn't be here on this site if I didn't relate to Elsa from "Frozen" and didn't want to write Artikel about her. I would most likely be a spoiled, arrogant arsch if it weren't for Samurai Jack teaching me respect, humbleness and selflessness. I wouldn't be a comic book oder video game enthusiast if it weren't for the Cartoons and Anime that are based on them. I wouldn't have met so many amazing people if it hadn't been for our shared Liebe for animation. I would never have considered becoming an artist, had it not been for the Cartoons and Anime that I watched. I wouldn't know anything about different cultures if it weren't for Cartoons getting me interested in them.
Out of all form of art that exists today, I will never give up my dream of being creative myself. Especially since I don't want to deprive people of the stories that I want to share with them. I wouldn't do it to make money. If I wanted to make money via my art, I'd do commissions online and be a graphic designer as a part time job. I know it sounds like a hard thing to do, but if it means sharing my ideas with the world, then it's worth it.
If Du guys are wondering what network I want to work for, it would be Adult Swim. While they don't always make gold, I'm able to respect them far Mehr than other networks, at this point. The reason why I respect them so much is because they're the only network that gives a damn about their creators. They also seem to be making money, they're loved Von their audience, and at this point they should be their own network entirely.
Another network I consider working for is Netflix, especially how amazing the movie "Klaus" was, as well as the third season of "Castlevania", I could give it a chance. I don't see why not, considering that people nowadays use streaming services instead of television.
In Conclusion
I have no idea what the future might hold. None of us are Prometheus and know what will happen in the future. After all, none of predicted the coming of the Corona virus and that we'd be in quarantine for a long time. But it's precisely why we don't know what the future holds that we have prepare ourselves for comes next, take a chance and give it our best. We only live one life on this planet. As a result, we want to make sure that we leave a legacy behind and people will remember us for it. I strive to be Mehr than just a name on a tombstone that people pass-by without even looking at it. And I've chosen Animation to be my legacy. And I'm going to fight to achieve my goal, no matter how long it may take, oder how much I have to sacrifice.
I have now become 20 years old. I've just transitioned from one way of life to another. There will be responsibilities and expectations for me, but unlike Mehr people my age, I won't hide in a safe-space and rant about how life sucks. As a man, adult and an artist, taking on life's challenges won't be easy. Creating my own Zeigen won't be easy. Socializing with other co-workers won't be easy. Trying to make ends-meat won't be easy. Trying not to get myself into some stupid controversy won't be easy. Balancing a busy lifestyle won't be easy. But facing these challenges head on and learning from them is what is what's going to transform us into someone great.
As always, remember to take care of yourselves and each other, stay strong and don't Lost hope. Have a nice day.
We all have our Favorit ways of telling a story, oder to express our emotions and points-of-view. My Favorit is animation, and I'm going to talk about how it changed my life as a person and why it's the career that I want to pursue in the future. Even if it means having to deal with a lot of problems that most people don't know even exist with this profession. But it's the path I chose and the one I want to pursue, no matter what might come next. It's kind of like an adventure, of sorts.
With that out of the way, let's begin.
My History
The very first form of entertainment that we usually experience is cartoons, and I'm no different. Not to say that those were the only things I watched, as I also watched live-action Filme and shows. But Cartoons and Animation in general always fascinated me the most. I started Von watching only shows from Cartoon Network, but this is because we didn't have a lot of channels that had animation. Plus, they were all in English and this was before I even started learning the language. I didn't care though, I simply enjoyed what I watched. But this wasn't my only exposure to animation. Unlike in most places where Cartoons were shown on certain networks on Saturday mornings only, Hungarian channels played all sorts of Cartoons and even Anime on both Saturdays and Sundays. These were actually dubbed in Hungarian and some were even from the 90's. This was also my first exposure to anime.
A lot of things happened since then. We would Lost and get back Cartoon Network many times, and it could change the language to English, to Romanian and finally to Hungarian. I watched animated classics from various studios. Hungarian channels would broadcast animated shows on both Saturday and Sundays, which also included dubbed anime. We later got several channels such as Jetix, Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. My Liebe for Anime grew further when Cartoon Network and Jetix started airing them, as well as when another network called "Minimax" would switch out to "Animax" which aired nothing but anime. With some shows notwithstanding.
Before I completely switched out from using the TV to using the internet to watch my shows, the only type of media I watched was all animated, safe, sicher for few sitcoms, Filme and crime thrillers.
These shows sparked my interest in art. I would draw a lot and I mean A LOT! I would draw for hours on end, even during recess. Ranging from monsters, to weapons, to people, etc. Du may think that this "mindless consumption of entertainment" rotted my brain, but in reality it only helped spark my creativity and influenced me in ways I can't even describe.
How they influenced me
I originally wanted to become a vet, because I loved Tiere and wanted to help them. I grew up on a farm where I was surrounded Von animals, so I came to care about them. And because I grew up with Pokemon, I started to see them as companions and Friends who deserve our help. But later I realized that the world of health-care and medicine wasn't for me. Around 2013, when I got my first laptop, I decided that I wanted to become a cartoonist. I grew up on them, they influenced me as a person - so why not create my own? I started drawing Mehr and more, including in math notebooks.
One time when we visited my aunt, I showed her my drawings. She was so impressed with them that she suggested my mother to sign me up to an art-school. She told me that I couldn't make money from it, but a few years later, she caved in. Around the time I was finishing 8th grade, my mother signed me up at an art school in Arad. But in order to enter, I had to pass two exams in one day. She got me a tutor who was also a teacher there, and with the Guter Rat he gave me, I managed to pass.
In September of 2015, I started going to the High-School I worked so hard to get in. My drawing skills developed a lot, even if I had to deal with other subjects as well.
On the side, I watched a lot of Videos from several critics and reviewers that talked about movies, video games, cartoons, anime, etc, as well as Videos about the crafts of people like Richard Williams, Genndy Tartakovsky, Ralph Bakshi and Hayao Miyazaki. This not only developed my critical thinking skills, but also learned about what goes into the creation of an animated work.
Nowadays, I'm going to an Art and Design college that's almost at the edge of the city. We won't study Animation until the final year. Besides animation, which I study at home, I also study graphic design. I know how underpaid and mistreated animators and cartoonists can be, so I study a different craft that can help me out in the future.
Animation has impacted immensely, as a result, I will practice until I can become a great artist and master the craft of animation. I will create my own shows, no matter how long it may take and how exhausting it will be.
There have been several creators that I respect and admire, but the one I look up to is Genndy Tartakovsky. He made a big part of my childhood, his works are so incredible they should be studied in art schools.
His story is also very inspiring. He started off as the youngest in a family of Russian, Jewish migrants who were mistreated because of their heritage during Soviet rule. Moved to America and had trouble fitting in. Became interested in art via the Cartoons he watched and comics he read as a kid. Lost his father at the age of 16 and had to work multiple jobs to put Essen on the table. Managed to get into Cal-Arts because of his passion for Animation that showed on his flip-books. Improved his art and craft Von a lot. Created multiple successful and even Emmy Award winning shows. Met and worked with people like Mako Iwamatsu and George Lucas. Met the Liebe of his life and became a devoted father and husband. Struck Gold with the "Hotel Transylvania" Filme when working for Sony. And became one of the most respected and well-known cartoonists of all time.
His story is inspiring to me, not just as an artist but also an person.
Why they aren't just for kids, but they're still seen that way
The argument "It's just for kids" has always annoyed me and I'll explain why.
Cartoons and Anime still count as shows, so we have the right to watch them the same way we watch live-action shows. Maybe you'll learn something from it, but just Von enjoying a show, movie, game, song oder book in the privacy of your Home doesn't define you. It won't make Du an inferior oder superior person.
Many of these people tend to say that Cartoons are for kids because of that age rating of "TV-Y7". In the same way a PG-13 movie is made for teenagers and nobody else is allowed to watch them. The age rating doesn't mean it's made exclusively for a particular audience, but that it's appropriate for them. Choosing to watch stuff that's intended for an older audience doesn't automatically make Du Mehr mature, the same say watching a Zeigen that has a younger audience doesn't make Du immature.
If a story is any good, it should not matter that it's animated, oder its age rating. The people who make these Cartoons typically write them on what would interest them. They make these shows for themselves while also sharing it with a wide audience of people, inspiring them to do great work also. If Du write something that Du find funny and compelling, someone out there is bound to feel the same.
Even if they're "made for children", the people behind them put in hours upon hours of hard work, applying their creativity and ideas to their work, taking inspiration from their experiences, and creating something magical that can resonate with people, whether they be children oder adults.
Since the beginning, Cartoons were always made for everyone. Since the 20's through 60's, animated shorts such as "The Loony Tunes" and "Tom and Jerry" were shows in theaters and drive-ins before they'd Zeigen the actual movie. They were made for all ages, with the occasional inappropriate stuff being stuck in. However, Animation would later enter a dark age when TV became Mehr prominent. This era of Animation is what I consider the primary reason why it's still seen as "kids stuff" to this day, and it requires some history.
Throughout the 70's, most Cartoons were made Von Hana-Barbera and all of them were completely awful. Cartoons had outlandish ideas that sound like the people behind them were playing Mad Libs. Du had Tom and Jerry Schauspielen like Friends in the style of Yogi and Bubu. The Flinstones meet The Thing (As in the The Thing from the Fantastic 4, not the shape-shifting alien from the John Carpenter movie). The Three Stooges with super powers. Casper the friendly ghost being the guardian of Weltraum versions of Charlie's Angels. I'm being completely honest. I made none of these up. Plus, there were so many Scooby-Doo rip-offs, all of which were made Von the same studio, Hana-Barbera. To be fair it wasn't their fault.They themselves didn't even like these shows, but they had no other choice.
Let's go back to the mystical times when not everyone had a TV in their house. The Jahr is 1940 and Fernsehen wouldn't become a thing until another decade. Now, obviously Animation still existed. It existed since the beginning of the century. But how did Du get to see it, without going to see a movie? Du went down to a Nickelodeon. Yeah, ever wonder where that network got its name from? It wasn't just a Zufällig word they came up with.
Before the advent of the television, you'd go to a special theater where they'd play animations and short films and they would cost a nickle. oder at one point they did, thanks to inflation. These theaters were frequented Von adults and Animation was seen as exclusively an adult thing. Mostly on the same level as The Simpsons. It's not like Du couldn't take your kids to see them. But they usually weren't made for children in mind. What I mean is that animators did what they wanted. They didn't have to adhere to any standards. With some exceptions, like the slapstick from Tom and Jerry. As were forms of humor that kids might not get.
Fast vorwärts-, nach vorn to television. What changes? Well, TV was advertised mostly as a way to keep your kids quiet. And since it was at the home, kids could watch it at any time. Also, making Animation specifically for Fernsehen wasn't exactly Mehr expensive, but you'd get far less of a return on your money. Du HAD to cut corners in any way possible, oder else you'd end up losing out.
Du know how some companies ended up guaranteeing a return on their investments? "Clutch Cargo" literally superimposed lips on still images. Yes, it was a real thing, and it looked creepy as all hell.
Basically, only kids were willing to watch this made-for-TV animation, with some exceptions like the Flintstones here and there. As the years went by, Animation was established as something only for children. Something Du grew out of because it was generally "stupid and terrible". And as Du know, something that's only for children must have a crap-ton of regulations. Parents groups held a lot of power in the 60's and especially the 70's. Violence was not allowed, at all. The rules were very strict. Actually, that's not even half of it. Besides not being able to say the words "die", "death" and "kill", they had rules such as "The complainer was always wrong." They got to the point of attacking individualism. Even conflict was removed from cartoons. Yes, these helicopter parents wanted every Zeigen to be neutered beyond belief. And this is only ONE problem with 70's animation.
These kind of problems wouldn't go away until the mid 80's, with toy-based Cartoons like Transformers and TMNT. Long story short, companies were looking for a way to sell their toys however way they could. Because Cartoons were marketed to kids, they saw an easy opportunity to sell their products to them. This is the reason why almost every 80's cartoon was actually a toy commercial in disguise.
Toy-based Cartoons proved Fernsehen animations profit potential, leading Disney to create shows for syndication like the original DuckTales and Talespin leading us to the Rennaisance age of animation.
People tend to complain when a Zeigen is made just to sell toys. And while it's no longer relevant in this Tag and age without Cartoons selling toys, Cartoons may have stayed the same way they did back in the 70's and early 80's. Until something like digital distribution came out. They would have been cheap as hell and bland as shit. And that's how this stigma came to be.
During this time, multiple attempts have been made to create Mehr mature and theatrical Animation like: "Heavy Metal" oder "Fritz the Cat" and "A Scanner Darkly". They also brought over Filme like "Akira", "Ghost in the Shell", and the works of Hayao Miyazaki. This still continues to this day, but they rarely break into mainstream success.
At most, people today accept animation, especially adult Animation as just comedy, and they think "There's only comedy in animation". I can speak from experience when I say that this claim has no legs to stand on.
Then there's people who think a cartoon can't have a good story. As I sagte earlier, if a story is good, it shouldn't matter that it's animated. We all have our own ways of telling a story, and Animation is just another form. If anything, the fact that it's animated means that it should be valued more. The work of an animator is one of the hardest jobs on the planet. Animation is a massive group project. Every single object has to be designed. Basic stuff that Du take for granted requires far Mehr concentration and effort than Du expect. A one Minute animated clip has around 1440 frames. Still think this is only kids stuff?
People spend their whole life learning the various forms of art. No one is born being a good drawer. Animation is for everyone. Sometimes not appropriate for everyone, but they can still tell a compelling story with great characters and themes that can hook people in. Many of us grew up with these characters and they feel like members of our family. Animation is art, and like all forms of art, it should get the respect that it deserves.
When are Du too old to be watching cartoons? My answer: when you're dead. Harsh answer, but it's true. We're old enough to watch and enjoy whatever we want and we shouldn't feel bad if we do, no matter what your boomer parents oder Friends might say.
The dark side of being an animator
Much as I Liebe animation, I won't deny the fact that the Animation industry, as wonderful as it can be, is the most corrupt form of media. I'm not joking with this one. It's worse than the movie, Musik oder video game industry. If Du ask why, allow me to explain.
Generally speaking and with very rare exceptions, in order to get your cartoon on a network like Nickelodeon oder Disney, Du need to give up your copyright to it. For example, Alex Hirsch, the creator of "Gravity Falls" created a "Choose your own Adventure" book that's based on the show, but for him to create something like that, he needed to ask permission from Disney in order to do it. He had to ask permission to take creative liberty with his own show, that he created. Even sketching out Bilder of Gruncle Stan without asking Disney for permission could get him sued for copyright infringement. This is why Cartoon Network can give "The Powerpuff Girls" and the "Teen Titans" to whomever they like. oder when Nickelodeon announced that they'll make a CGI spin-off of Spongebob, even though Stephen Hillenburg directly sagte that he didn't want Songebob to have any spin-offs. They literally waited for him to die so they could ignore his wishes and rape his creation however they want.
Usually, this is a trade-off to getting the pilot off in the first place. Copyright control in the Animation industry is used as a bludgeon and it's scary how very few people outside the industry seem to have a problem with this - despite the fact that it is a very, very bad problem. This isn't a Kürzlich issue either. This has been going one since the 90's. It boils down to this: If Du don't do what the network wants, they will kick Du off your own Zeigen and give it to somebody else. Even if Du do end up doing as they say, if Du get too much respect to kick around like Craig McCracken, they'll end up giving your property to a some schmuck who's much easier to control, and do EXACTLY as the network wants.
For example, I'll use an obscure Nick Zeigen called "Making Fiends". When the creator, Amy Winfrey signed over the rights to Nickelodeon, the Zeigen was stuck in Development Hell for years. A six episode season was made, but it wasn't even put on the main channel, it was put on NickToons. Despite being poorly advertised, it was the most successful Zeigen on that network. However, a bunch of pussy parents complained about the show's disturbing imagery and was prematurely cancelled. This was years after "Invader Zim", Von the way. Nickelodeon stopped airing it, but they kept the rights, so the creator could no longer make any new episodes of her show, ever again.
This is the reason why Cartoon Network can make horrible remakes of their classics, even if the original creator is against it. For example, remember "Kids Weiter Door"? Its original creator, Tom Warburton wanted to create a sequel for it. He wanted to make the "Galactic Kids Weiter Door", as the original ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, hoping that it would continue. There was even this viral marketing campaign over storyboards with the original characters voices. It was really a sight to behold. Cartoon Network sagte "no". At the same time, they take away "Powerpuff Girls" from Craig McCracken, make a garbage reboot without his permission, and butcher it beyond belief. GKND had a petition of over 90 thousand signatures. Cartoon Network still sagte "no". And like I said, Tom Warburton can't make it himself because KND isn't his property anymore.
This isn't exclusive to America either. It happens in places like Japan as well. The same thing happened when the creator for "Digimon Tamers" asked Toei to make a sequel to it, and they rejected it. For those of Du not in the know, Digimon is one of the animes I grew up with, and it's still going on to this Tag with multiple seasons. Not counting the first two seasons, each season takes place in a different continuity, with a new set of characters and in-universe rules. "Digimon Tamers" is the third season of the Anime and it's considered Von many to be best in the franchise. It happens to be my Favorit season out of all of them. As a result, Fans of the series wanted to see a continuation of it. Especially since it ended on a cliffhanger as well.
Problem is that around 2012-2013, the entire franchise almost died. This is mostly due to the fact that Digimon Xros Wars (Or Fusion as it was called here in the West), despite it being a decent season, was met with criticism and ended up failing miserably. This hit the franchise hard. So, Toey have been playing safe, sicher ever since.
It all started back in 2015, when they started doing series of animated Filme called "Digimon Adventure Tri" that continue where the Sekunde season left off. Then last Monat was the premier of the film "Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna", serving as the ending to the original Adventure cast. And a few weeks ago, Toei made a remake of the original "Digimon Adventure" season. This is because "Digimon Adventure" is the very first season in the franchise and easily the most iconic. As a result, Toey's been milking it for years now. Much in the same way that Disney is milking the image of the original star, sterne Wars trilogy.
Same thing happened when they created Dragon Ball GT, even though Akira Toriyama intended DragonBall Z to be end of the series and didn't really want any continuation after it.
The voice actors aren't safe, sicher either. Viacom, who owns Nickelodeon, has the rights to Spongebob's voice. Thanks to this, Tom Kenny is not allowed to do his Spongebob voice without Viacom's permission, otherwise he'll get sued. oder when Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime and Eyeore, asked if he could go Home early because his mouth started to bleed during a recording session, he was told to ignore it and keep going anyway.
This problem also extends to animated movies. The movie Sausage Party was filled to the brim with controversy, even though it's the very first R-rated CGI animated film, most of the controversy wasn't from its content, but how its animators were treated. They were told to work overtime for free. They were threatened with termination for not hitting deadlines. And in the end-credits, half of the animators staff wasn't even credited. This is the standard that many, many Animation productions have. A lot of animators are forced to work under these conditions because if they don't work for a miniscule amount of money, the company will outsource the production to South Korea. This is the reason why so many western Cartoons nowadays like Steven Universe are animated in South Korea. The bottom ten percent of American animators get paid 38 thousand dollars, per year. The median animator in South Korea gets 21,600 USD per year. That's a cost reduction of 40% per person, in a production of hundreds if not thousands of people. It basically boils down to: "if Du don't do your job for the price we tell you, we will find someone to replace you". In some cases, they will make it so everyone will turn on Du Von creating false allegations. Or, you'll be blacklisted for saying the slightest thing wrong about a certain person oder network. This is why it's so hard to find cartoonists who complain about a network.
This is evident when C.H. Greenblat went on a rant on Tumblr about how his show, "Harvey Beaks" was cancelled through a tweet of all things, his rant was quickly taken down. It wasn't confirmed but it's strongly implied that Nickelodeon told him to do it.
I think what's really screwed up about all of this is that these are cartoons.These are basically the very first from of media that we consume. Most of these are aimed at oder are appropriate to kids. They're supposed to be the epitome of innocence and auras of happiness. But a lot of what goes on behind the scenes is so dark and disturbing, it's like something you'd see in Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia oder North Korea. Remember, this is only the stuff that we know. Many of these productions are secretive about their practices. We still don't know what's going on during the inner-workings at Nickelodeon, Disney oder Cartoon Network. And the only things we Fans tend to see are broken scheduling oder the over-milking of a franchise. These are only the least of problems here.
Like I said, this industry is beyond corrupt. Most of the money that's made from a cartoon is from merchandising, because the creators usually don't get royalties for this. The only one that benefits from merchandising is the network. Even if Du buy the toys oder DVD for a Zeigen that Du like, it's up the studio whether oder not they'll pay the animators.
I want to say that there's a bright light at the end of the tunnel, but there isn't. Companies like Disney, Time Warner, Viacom, Toei are some of the biggest on the planet. Wanting them to suffer a similar fate to the Roman Empire, no matter how many mistakes they make, probably isn't going to happen. The problem is with the nature of Animation specifically as a medium. Making good quality Animation like the ones Du see on Fernsehen is legitimately expensive. When it comes to making something that's live-action like a movie, Du could make a lot of very good and very beliebt things for relatively cheap. For example, "The Blair With Project" only cost 60 thousand dollars to make. When it comes to animation, it could take hundreds of thousands of dollars to get one episode done. 'Ren and Stimpy's" eleven Minute pilot cost 300 thousand dollars, and that was back in the early 90's. It would be impossible for an independent to compete with that kind of thing without taking a decade. This is the reason why it took years for artist "Vivziepop" to get her two pilots "Hazbin Hotel" and "Helluva Boss" off. Even though both pilots have millions of Ansichten and likes on YouTube, there hasn't been a single sign of them getting picked Von any network. In fact, doing animations as a YouTuber is even Mehr exhausting, due to YouTube's algorithm and how long a single piece of Animation requires a lot of time.
Some of the best and most respected cartoonists of all time, like Genndy Tartakovsky, Craig McCracken, Seth McFarlane, Lauren Faust, Rebecca Sugar, etc. There have been countless stories of them being repeatedly abused Von the network. Even then they can't make their own shows without network control, like a live-action director could. That kind of stuff required millions because Animation is just that expensive.
Animators don’t get as much respect because in the eyes of corporate people, they see Cartoons as products and for profit (obviously). Animation, to me, has always been a free form of expression and to abuse and repress the creative minds is disgusting and discouraging to anyone who wants to pursue a career in animation. I want to be an animator, but I do not want to be owned Von a company/corporation who want to deface and defecate my animated characters and cartoons. Free lancing is probably the only way I can truly express myself and there are people who do free lance work to earn money and still keep their creative masterpieces. This is why Du see many Animation Videos on YouTube. Although the platform for animators on YouTube has been less than pleasing, it is still a platform for animators to Zeigen their stuff and not be bound Von the chains of greedy corporate bastards.
I respect animators to the highest degree and for the animators who have been treated unfairly, I say they deserve better. Nickelodeon doesn’t care about their staff and neither does Cartoon Network oder Disney. Animation has become a “joke” where its purpose is to make money. Quantity over quality as some may say. It’s a business practice that gets repetitive and toxic quick because for animators who work at one of those studios, they don’t have a choice. It's the reason why so many animated Filme nowadays are getting the shaft at the Oscars, oder why they're animated in CGI.
Animation deserves better because, as a medium, it has opened doors to the imagination and has went beyond the boundaries of imagination if that makes any sense.
Sadly, this is an industry where if we didn't have creatives being abused Von the networks and the industry as a whole, we probably wouldn't have creatives at all.
Business doesn't have to kill art. Like Yin and Yang, they need to work in harmony for us to get anywhere. When people and art are abused like this, the business will die sooner oder later. The way they're doing things today, they don't add potential, they sand off potential that was already there.
Why I want to keep going, despite everything else that I mentioned
I know a lot of Du are going to call me insane because I still want to become a cartoonist, despite everything I just talked about. I'm well aware that there are other creative jobs I can use: comic books, video games, graphic design, etc. The thing is, much as I really like those professions, I never want to give up my dream of being an animator. Animation has had a massive impact on who I am as a person. I wouldn't be here on this site if I didn't relate to Elsa from "Frozen" and didn't want to write Artikel about her. I would most likely be a spoiled, arrogant arsch if it weren't for Samurai Jack teaching me respect, humbleness and selflessness. I wouldn't be a comic book oder video game enthusiast if it weren't for the Cartoons and Anime that are based on them. I wouldn't have met so many amazing people if it hadn't been for our shared Liebe for animation. I would never have considered becoming an artist, had it not been for the Cartoons and Anime that I watched. I wouldn't know anything about different cultures if it weren't for Cartoons getting me interested in them.
Out of all form of art that exists today, I will never give up my dream of being creative myself. Especially since I don't want to deprive people of the stories that I want to share with them. I wouldn't do it to make money. If I wanted to make money via my art, I'd do commissions online and be a graphic designer as a part time job. I know it sounds like a hard thing to do, but if it means sharing my ideas with the world, then it's worth it.
If Du guys are wondering what network I want to work for, it would be Adult Swim. While they don't always make gold, I'm able to respect them far Mehr than other networks, at this point. The reason why I respect them so much is because they're the only network that gives a damn about their creators. They also seem to be making money, they're loved Von their audience, and at this point they should be their own network entirely.
Another network I consider working for is Netflix, especially how amazing the movie "Klaus" was, as well as the third season of "Castlevania", I could give it a chance. I don't see why not, considering that people nowadays use streaming services instead of television.
In Conclusion
I have no idea what the future might hold. None of us are Prometheus and know what will happen in the future. After all, none of predicted the coming of the Corona virus and that we'd be in quarantine for a long time. But it's precisely why we don't know what the future holds that we have prepare ourselves for comes next, take a chance and give it our best. We only live one life on this planet. As a result, we want to make sure that we leave a legacy behind and people will remember us for it. I strive to be Mehr than just a name on a tombstone that people pass-by without even looking at it. And I've chosen Animation to be my legacy. And I'm going to fight to achieve my goal, no matter how long it may take, oder how much I have to sacrifice.
I have now become 20 years old. I've just transitioned from one way of life to another. There will be responsibilities and expectations for me, but unlike Mehr people my age, I won't hide in a safe-space and rant about how life sucks. As a man, adult and an artist, taking on life's challenges won't be easy. Creating my own Zeigen won't be easy. Socializing with other co-workers won't be easy. Trying to make ends-meat won't be easy. Trying not to get myself into some stupid controversy won't be easy. Balancing a busy lifestyle won't be easy. But facing these challenges head on and learning from them is what is what's going to transform us into someone great.
As always, remember to take care of yourselves and each other, stay strong and don't Lost hope. Have a nice day.
Hello dudes and dudettes,Silent Borse is in the house and I have a not so special announcement to make:
Remember Opposite Tag last year?Well get ready for the madness once again this Jahr because after making a Umfrage about whether oder not we should hold another Opposite Day(and turn it into an annual event in general)to see if the others agree as well:link
I(with the suggestions of Lefteris and Riku) have come to the conclusion that we should hold the Opposite Tag on November 25 this Sunday.Reason why this datum was chosen?Because the majority of users on here should have free time on that day.
P.S.
If anyone has any disagreements about the datum than feel free to contact me.
Remember Opposite Tag last year?Well get ready for the madness once again this Jahr because after making a Umfrage about whether oder not we should hold another Opposite Day(and turn it into an annual event in general)to see if the others agree as well:link
I(with the suggestions of Lefteris and Riku) have come to the conclusion that we should hold the Opposite Tag on November 25 this Sunday.Reason why this datum was chosen?Because the majority of users on here should have free time on that day.
P.S.
If anyone has any disagreements about the datum than feel free to contact me.