Hello everyone!
It felt great to finally release a new Grickle cartoon last week! The thrill of uploading something new never gets old! It tickles that exact perfect spot on your ego or whatever. It's the whole reason to do art I suppose. At least for me. Make something and get a reaction. Simple.
But I will admit it is a brief sensation. And in this day and age even more incredibly brief than its ever been on the internet.
Back in the old days, like 2007 to 2009 or so, when I uploaded a new cartoon the aftermath of reaction would flow for a good long while. Like throwing a rock in a calm lake and watching the ripples go outward. Nowadays launching a cartoon feels more akin to tossing a pebble into a stormy sea. If you look really carefully you might see the pebble hit the ocean surface. Then it's gone. It's still super satisfying to chuck that rock but it just doesn't last long.
I'm guessing that everyone, myself included, has such an overwhelming input of tweets, posts, updates, etc., in their various feeds that every new blurb gets pushed downstream so fast that if you blink you miss it.
C'est la vie.
Or maybe I should say vive la nouveau?
As I edge closer to being a legitimate 'old man', I find it increasingly tricky to keep up out there. When I look over all the newer avenues of social media my heart begins to race oddly, my palms get sweaty, my breath becomes short, and I get this overwhelming feeling of not doing enough and being hopelessly behind the times.
Truly an old man staring down at the rabbit hole of the internet. Or chasing the dragon of cyberspace. Or something like that.
But like all those people who watch Youtube videos of folks unwrapping presents, I can't deny that desire to see something new! Capitalism and consumerism at its worst. The excitement of trying a new app out and successfully posting in unknown territory belies the fear and anxiety. Not to mention the pathetic 'old guy' bragging rights of saying to peers "Really? You don't have an account on there? Oh yeah, I've been using that app for years now!"
And so I've begun to chase that rabbit or dragon. An attempt to branch out from my usual twitter, blog, Flickr, and Facebook audiences.
Some new arenas (to me) I've stumbled around in recently are Instagram, Tumblr, Google+, and Vine.
For the Instagram and Tumblr accounts I've been posting a morning doodle every day. It's been a healthy drawing exercise if nothing else. The audience is slowly growing so we'll see what the future holds. I'm going to try and keep it up for as long as I can.
I also took a stab at updating and using my Google+ page. It's been fun to tinker on it but I really get the feeling not a ton of people use Google+ on a daily basis? Maybe I'm wrong. I'm going to continue tinkering on it regardless. If you're interested in following any of these new venues, here are my accounts:
Grickle14 on Instagram
Tumblin' Grickle
GrickleGoogle+
The Vine account is a slightly different beast. I've had one for quite some time but frankly could never get my head around it.
Until last week, that is!
I had an inspiring conversation with an animator friend, Kevin Parry (you should really follow his amazing stuff on Vine!) and now I'm so excited about it I'm trying to keep myself from spending all my free time there! The concept of doing little 6 second shorts is so compelling and not dissimilar from the early days of the monkey scream shorts on the Grickle Channel. It's definitely stoked the creative fires!
I've got more ideas than I can handle for it but I'm going to try and exhibit some restraint. If you want to keep an eye on those proceedings look no further than here:
Grickle on Vine
That's as far as I've managed to chase the rabbit/dragon currently.
I would love to hear from folks if they thought there was an app or place I was sorely overlooking for Grickle stuff! I just want to make sure that when I create a new piece of art, be it a sketch or animated short, that I'm really posting it in the most appropriate places to be seen and appreciated/hated these days.
Make something, get a reaction.
Simple.
3 comments:
Interesting! I'm sure I speak for many when I say that your cartoons are instant classics. Truly nothing out there like them. They're as fun and anxiety-inducing as ever. I think you're right though about the times. There's a weird instant-gratification thing that's been happening for a while now. It's a habit that most people have formed. "I must have everything the second I want it!" Sadly, it encompasses all things, including artwork and comics and animations, etc. It's like a rush to go buy your favorite book that just came out so you can toss it in your library, just to have it.
I've stopped making sense so I'll stop ranting! Thanks for all the great and wonderful images and cartoons. They're something I'll carry with me for the rest of my life.
I love the short vines. It lets our imagination do the work. Where is dirt weasel running from? His shady past? Where is he running to? Does it have something to do with the shady looking weasel?
Nice post. I realize more and more how important comments can be in motivating artists to keep sites alive. I follow this blog on my feedly subscription and I love seeing your updates. Thanks for the inspiration.
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