Joe Murray's Journal

I am hearing so many disturbing stories about the entertainment business right now. And it’s mostly about these corporate giants who control a bulk of the television and film output still trying to find ways for their bottom line to look attractive to stock holders. Of course, cutting funding to the latest animation project will free up a lot of cash. ( and put artists out of work.). They make the cash look like quarterly growth, and you have an imaginary healthy company.

The fact of the matter is, we still need entertainment. During the depression, it was one of the few businesses to keep flourishing. The Walt Disney Studio really came into it’s own during that time. But it took a maverick, and forward thinking minds to see it. Not huge corporate board rooms.

One Network I heard ( it will go nameless, but they supposedly show cartoons) is run by executives who don’t like animation or comedy.

So, yes,, these are nail biting times. But the ones to pull us out of this will be the small risk takers and creators of content, not the big corporate guys who slash artist jobs while they redecorate their offices with glitzy furniture to boost their egos.

The money has not disappeared. It is sitting. Waiting for the confidence to come back. I feel it will be the smaller companies that will be in a position to benefit when that happens.

It is not enough to be busy…The question is: What are we busy about?   - Henry David Thoreau

What are we saying with our lives? I mean really? What are we contributing? Are we leaving our world better than we found it, or are we sucking the life out of it?

As artists, craftspeople, and any passion we put our soul into, we are saying something that only we can say. That is added value.

But how much of our time is running around consuming and working at jobs designed only  to keep the consuming going.

Lay-offs, unemployment and bad economic climates are often opportunities for us to stop and say “What the f#*K is going on? If I died tomorrow, how much of my life has been spent on a hamster wheel?

The doom and gloom reports say with sadness that our spending is down. We are buying less. I think that is great. I don’t feel good for those who are out of work because of that, but I think everyone getting back to basics is a good thing. I’ve had to do it. Old habits are hard to break. But this is a good time to evaluate what is a good habit and a non-productive one. The economy will turn around. And a lot of good will have come out of this.

I believe that.

The Evolution of Character

While putting a press pack together, I came across these different versions of Rocko that were assembled for an Animation Magazine article. Like any animated character ( Mickey, Donald, Bugs Bunny) Rocko had many incarnations. It’s hard to explain exactly why characters always morph. In my case, it had to do with becoming easier to draw for others, for ease of movement in animated form and to match the personality that characters develop into.

A. This version was actually named Travis, for a comic strip I was trying to get syndicated. I liked him, but changed him considerably for Rocko.

B. This version was from the first RML proposal I sent off. He’s much looser, and closer to my independent film style. Didn’t think too much about how he was to be animated. I never thought it would get that far.

C. By the time the show got greenlit for a pilot,“Trash-O-Madness”. I had to start streamlining him for others to draw, and for a complete turnaround.  This version was from the pilot model sheet. We had a studio full of animators doing the pilot, and I was doing all of the layouts. When the series started, the pilot got expanded to 11 minutes, and you can see the difference in the model from the original animation to the new stuff done overseas.

D. E. F. These were all versions done  for the series, again tending to streamlining for better translation for the overseas studio this time. By the time of model F. Myself and all of the directors had become so used to quickdrawing him, and noticed that all these changes had naturally occurred, lending more to the happy personality Rocko had developed into ( less the victim, paranoid one from the beginning). I started noticing that when the overseas studio put Rocko on model, they were sucking the life out of the drawings we provided. So I went back in and officially changed the model sheet one more time.

You will find that any animated series has to flex, like a building built for earthquakes. If it’s too rigid, it falls apart. You need to keep evaluating and adjusting. It’s all a learning curve.

This is the birthday of my first wife who committed suicide. I try not to define myself by the tragedies that have occurred in my life, but sometimes it’s hard for it not to be my story. I grow from all of these experiences, and learn a lot. But the scars still stay behind. I’m sad. I was in love with her.

On another note, my sister and I were talking the other day ( thank God for my sister, she is so amazing) about how we can’t give in to the doom and gloom of the economy and such. This is a  time for positive action more than ever. Art is so healing. Help others with it. Put that extra effort into what you do. Turn off the news and know that the economy works in cycles. There will actually be a lot of good to come out of this. We just need to take it one day and a time and have gratitude for what we have!

I remember in 1989, I had just won a couple of awards for my first film, my illustration and design business was going well, and the San Francisco Giants were on their way to the world series for the first time in a couple of decades. ( I lived in the Bay area, I had been a fan since I was old enough to stick a Willie Mays poster on my wall). Well, the Bay Area suddenly got rocked by a catastrophic 7.1 earthquake, my Grandfather, who I was extremely close to, dies. The economy and my business suddenly stops and dries up, and ( although it seems to small in the scope of all of these other things ) the Giants lost the World Series in 4 games.

With all of the free time on my hands from lack of work, I could have sank into despair over my grandfather, but instead I used the last bit of my savings and bought a video pencil test system, and started working on my film “My Dog Zero”. It was healing for me, and took my mind off of my non-ringing phone. It was a tremendous learning period in animation for me.

Pretty soon, I had a rough version of the film done, and that was what led to Rocko.

If we can, I’m sure we can find projects, from personal ones, to paid, to volunteer, that will contribute to the positive energy. If we all did it, we can turn this thing around.

Getting into more expanded studio and office space. Trying to shore up all of the details. Business stuff  on top of creative. Or actually, creative on top of a foundation of business stuff. It all runs the machine.

Walt Disney said once (paraphrasing)  ” Money is only as good as the things you can do with it.” I agree that it has always been a tool for the next project. And when you have kids, a means to keep them healthy and growing. And what’s that quote from a movie ” Money is like manure. It’s only worth something when it’s spread around helping things grow”.

My projects too have been stepping stones. To learn, and to be in a position to help others.

On another note, I get inquiries into my summer internship program. I’m going over candidates right now, so if you are an animation college student, have means to be in LA during the summer and are willing to work your ass off in exchange for experience and education, send me a link to your reel. Interns have quite often found employment in the industry, but I’m tying up the decisions soon.

How much of our ego creates resistance to our art?

Yes, there is the “I can’t make enough money at my art to show the world that I am a success” because so many of us hinge our self worth on our possessions and standard of living. Many people are more willing to work a profession they don’t like to have all of these things, than to work at something they love where they have a different quality of life while still having the possibility of making good money.

But I’m also talking about how ego can cut off the flow of inspiration to us. There is a saying that EGO “Edges God Out”. I think God is an overused word with many interpretations, but for me it means that energy flow that comes from “who knows where’ that creates the inspired art. The essence. Worrying that your stuff isn’t good enough, as good as the next persons or good enough to make money will cut off the flow. That’s resistance.  But also, if you are successful, ( because you are working out of the flow) the ego can step in and start taking credit for it and “pop”, the inspired flow gets shut down. You can no longer service the work with a swelled head full of ego.

How do we get rid of it? Feel that you are at the service of something else. When we were doing Rocko, we felt that we were helping ( as other shows were as well) to pull TV animation out of the uninspired dark ages. We were on a mission. But ego did start creeping in to our work, and that’s one of the reasons I shut it down.

I can look back at the work I felt was done in an state of flow, and others that were produced from ego. There is a connection that more people make to something that comes from that tether to inspiration.

We all need to reconnect. In many areas of our lives. It’s available for the asking, and costs less than a big screen TV.

Just received an attractive offer from Random House/Watson Guptil to publish my book “Crafting a Cartoon”.This is great news as it will make the information more widely accessible, but they are asking that I shut down the ebook. ( Understandably). 

So since the hardcover edition of the book won’t be out until July 2010, (and it may be slightly more mainstream and less personal than my ebook)  if you feel you will be in need of this information sooner than July 2010, , I would buy the ebook now. Not sure how long I will be able to leave this version up for sale, but once its down, it’s gone for good.

Thank you to all who bought it. It’s received a great reaction so far, with over 500 copies sold!

Okay, so I’m constantly accused of being mentally deranged. That’s fine. I am. I admit it. But I try to put it to good use. Animation allows me to do that. I’m not a destructive or violent mentally deranged. I’m thankful for that. I”m able to bring productions in on time and under budget. Run huge teams of creatives ( mostly deranged artists like myself). I feel I’m a good dad in the “Dick Van Dyke dad in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” sort of way.”

I’m crazy, and crazy enough to sell it. It has served me well. Interacting with people on a daily basis, thats a whole ‘nother ball of wax. Challenging for me. I don’t do parties. I’m not social. I have little patience for small talk and social for social sake. Maybe I analyze it too much, but I’m very particular about how I spend my time. Too honest for my own good. I offend due to my frank comments. It’s not that I don’t like people, I do. ( well, most people). And you will know it if I don’t. I have trouble hiding it. 

Why am I sharing this today? I don’t know.

Maybe because I’m mentally deranged.

“This is the strangest life I’ve ever known.”  - Jim Morrision

Lately I’ve been splitting my days with more work on my film, and then work on development of a new series.

It’s important to look beyond the overall concept to the production process it would take to produce the show. ( I talk about this in my book). Just like a designer of clothing needs to make the design work, but also have it so it can be manufactured for the price that it will be sold at. Same with books, toys, etc.

For two days I struggled with the background style. Some styles were really cool, but would take too long to paint in a volume environment. Try again. Try again. My studio became littered with paintings that were of no use, and tubes of paint that were dispensed on my palette then tossed aside.

I finally found something in the darkness of the night. It works. It’s able to be reproduced. But does it work with the characters on it? I scan it. Yes.

Okay. I like these characters, but they need to be simplified.

I’m often amazed at what a volatile life I lead. People live in your life. People die. Millions of dollars come and they go. Security is fleeting so I don’t even think about it anymore. I get angry at certain people in my life, and then realize I’m only robbing myself of the moment.

And all of these yin and yang moments help me realize how alive I am. And all of these experiences give a deep flavor to my art, my stories and my characters.

Thank God for volatility.

Quote from Milt Kahl on Animation- 1979

I keep a lot of notebooks with any info I can find from the animators I’ve studied, from the Disney greats to my notes from Richard Williams class. I came across this quote from Milt Kahl that I always liked about animation and how he rates himself. He was one of the best. He made it look easy, but you will hear it was not;

“It’s a very difficult medium. Animation necessarily requires a pretty good draftsman, because you’ve got to turn things, to be able to draw well enough to turn things from every angle. You have to understand movement, which in itself is quite a study. You have to be an actor. You have to put on a performance, to be a showman, to be able to evaluate how good the entertainment is. You have to know what’s the best way of doing it, and have an appreciation of where it belongs in the picture. you have to be a pretty good story man. To be a really good animator, then, you have to be a jack-of-all-trades. I don’t mean to say that I’m all these things, but I try hard. I got accused over the years of being a fine draftsman. Actually, I don’t really draw that well. It’s just that I don’t stop trying as quickly. I keep at it. I happen to have high standards and I try to meet them. I have to struggle like hell to make a drawing look good.”