Animator. Director. Artist. Scapegoat.
I actually have been working this past week, I’m just nowhere near ready to share any animation yet. Here though is a still from a work-in-progress. Everything might look different in the final thing, but at least this is evidence I’ve been doing something.
I interrupt this series of Ziz iterations to tell you about a new book you are likely to enjoy. It’s called Crazy Little Thing: Why Love and Sex Drive us Mad, by Liz Langley. Why are you reading about it here on my blog? Because there’s a whole chapter about ME, that’s why! Apparently I am a paragon of how not to kill your ex in a tormented rage, and make a work of art instead. Most of the other profiles in the book are about people killing/maiming/permanently damaging their exes or themselves after breakups, but an alternative is to make a feature film, which is what I did and how I merited this sweeeet chapter. Also the book is well-written and funny, and you should read it.
See, this is why I leave myself open to comments, even though they can cause discomfort. Sasha Rubel made an excellent suggestion. On areas that were already brown, I used gold outlines.
Two Zizzes, actually. The first has black outlines, which are thicker in the animated gif than the source file:
The second has no outlines, reminding me of 1930’s travel posters.
Maybe this Ziz is on its way to visit Palestine.
Slight improvements? Or exprovements? Either way, I’m still fiddling and posting the Ziz as it develops.
I’ve only just learned that if you post a work in progress, everyone wants to tell you how to change it. Not once did I request advice, but advice is clearly what I’ll get if I post unfinished work (or finished work, come to think of it). I’m free to ignore any or all of it; everyone on the interwebs is just talking, they don’t have any power over me unless I give it to them. I can “take what I like and leave the rest” – and sometimes someone offers something useful. (Of course praise is always useful! It’s like water and sunshine to a plant.) Instead of criticizing the critics, which was my initial impulse, I’m remembering that it’s my choice to post these W-I-P’s, and my choice to accept or ignore people’s “helpful suggestions”, and that I’m actually in control here.
If I can learn to do that here, I’ll be better at living with criticism elsewhere. As my daily prayer says:
…forgive us our criticisms
As we forgive those who critique against us
So whether you’re criticizing or praising or ignoring what I post here, I’m benefiting by getting a little stronger and growing up a little more. And hey look – a ZIZ!
This is a test. This is only a test.
