DISCLAIMER: Sorry if this post seems really negative. I just found out one of my former collaborators is going to set up a YouTube series that borrows heavily from my work and even employs some of the same people.
It was a calculated act on her part, waiting for me to go on hiatus and work to find animators, investors and sponsors.
She has her parent's income to tap into, and use of their homes in Vegas and San Diego, so she's already well ahead of me on the production end.
I never had her sign an intellectual property agreement because she bullied her way in and offered to work for free.
I feel like I have no legal recourse and I'm angry about it.
Out with The Old
This assignment is incredibly difficult for me because during this class I've had to face the realization that my work is appealing to a clientel that I have no interest in entertaining.
Setting a schedule for posts means that I am still, by far and large, advertising to the people following me. Frequency of posts does increase the likelihood that attract better clients, but I'm going to have to shift away from my previously established persona.
I have already started posting more video clips of me painting and working on projects.
I have been accepted into the Baton Rouge Gallery Surreal Studio for this year, and will hopefully be posting about that as soon as the gallery makes its formal announcement.
They lost one of my paintings :UPDATE: They found my painting. The postal service dropped it off at a random house in the same zipcode 15 miles from the gallery!
I haven't really posted much about my audiodrama or podcast, because the more I think about it, the less I relate to that project.
I'd rather reboot the story as a highly illustrated book, NOT a comic book, but a book with narrative and beautiful, well thought out art.
More in the vein of Brom's "Plucker"
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The cover illustration for "Plucker" by Brom
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I posted a storyboard from some of my work, but I hate and resent the audience that will be attracted to an animation project.
So I want to supplement my posts with a lot of travel, fitness, and lifestyle posts.
Hopefully, this change in direction will prove distasteful to my current following, without ostracizing them (or rather their elderly parents money.)
I know the art show crowd makes a big deal about how frugally they live (though not really by choice), how they don't care about their apperance (more because of negligence than anything as lofty as they'd have you believe) and that everything they want in life can be found at their favourite coffee shop, with their bestest best friends.
Health and lifestyle content seems to be what people of affluence respond to (young or old) and throwing out a few snippets from my gallery shows will secure my place as a respectable artist and not just a comic book weirdo.
This way, when I do release my animations, illustrated books or (cringe) comics, they will be seen as high animation and collectable, novelty pieces, nothing so base as typical comic or cartoon.
Schedule
I can't really plan out a full month, but I can plan a week and try to commit to that schedule.
Mondays:
It is my hope that on Mondays, I can post video of my hand painted nursery letters, which I create for my Etsy site, The Green Carousel.
I have found posting on TikTok and reposting to reels on Instagram, then Instagram feeds and next to Facebook, Twitter etc.
I can post on my main page and then on my pages related to Green Carousel.
Tuesday:
On Tuesdays I want to post something Health/Fitness related, possibly a short video about obstacles I faced. I have a number of saved messages from people trying to
A) convince me that quitting alcohol and binge eating is a form of orthorexia and thus an eating disorder
B) Weightloss is fat phobic and thus bigotted
C) I look like a man now- which is the perfect gateway for talking about PCOS and Endometriosis.
Recommiting to my health has been one of the biggest steps in recovering my mental wellbeing and realizing that the people I was surrounding myself with were desperate hold me down, and keep me at their same level.
They did it by appealing to my appetite for food and alcohol, keeping me in a constant daze due to my insulin resistance. They deliberately did this to assure I'd never accomplished anything for myself, and they could steal my half finished work and ideas for themselves.
They did this by convincing me that people like me, or who they decided I was, aren't the type of people galleries accept, and I'm better off doing comic book conventions and pop up art shows in coffee shops.
They made YouTube videos, rewriting history and turning themselves into the victim, because I did something selfish, like refused to move in to their dad's house in Las Vegas to be their constant playmate/captive.
This is probably what I'm most passionate about and what opened my eyes to the sickness and abuse of my so called friends
WEDNESDAY:
On Wednesday I'd like to post something relating to Creeping Wave Radio, either some character art, a personal video update on my process, or a short reading from scripts.
Since I definitely won't be getting this done anytime soon or without sponsors and investors, I need to try and keep the fire stoked.
I can also talk about my process, and how long I've been working on this, as well as the people in my life who stole my ideas and tried to pass them off on their own.
I was already working on a piece called "They'll never take your side" about what one of my former collaborates sad to me when I accused her of taking credit for my work.
She is proving herself to be right, as she has spent a lifetime cultivating pity for herself an I just lived my life.
Thursday:
On Thursday I want to try and put together something for The U Mind, possibly a short segment of an interview, possibly an explanation of the direction I want to take in the future.
I wrote a while piece about how I don't like doing interviews with artists and only did so to try and expand my viewer/listener-ship. I could put that into video format.
My hope for the U Mind is to actually bring on celebrities, but only have them read one or two lines.
However, I know if I make that known, that my "friends" will be quick to access their parents bank accounts and make it happen before I can.
That's a huge part of my problem. I have so many monsters, following me around, waiting eagerly outside my door, waiting to devour up my scraps.
Friday
On Friday I'd like to post a short video showing work I'm doing for my gallery level art, and the collection I'm currently working on called "The Homunculi" about creatures born or created with bizarre meldings of parts from various species.
Saturday
On Saturday I'd like to post about my artwork for Grimerica, which has been a regular gig for me since 2016.
I don't sgree with a lot of what they say, but I do like the bizarre prompts that are offered from the esoteric interviews they conduct.
Sunday
Id like to post some travel, lifestyle, history or food content.
I've been considering doing a short mocktails bit, where I show how to make non alcoholic versions of cocktails.
I also want to start doing pieces about historical figures, Jane Austen subtext (Emma is the tale of an elaborate murder plot) or even Disney characters and their actual motivations.
My husband and I travel a lot, and have a bunch of unused footage from last summer that I can easily include in this.
I can double up with Creeping Wave Radio here as well, because one of our key plot points is time travel.
I hope that by pairing my audiodrama content with more travel related fair I start to lose the moniker or geek, or weirdo.
My whole life I've been told that people like me don't care about nice homes, clothes, furniture, or their apperance. I always though I was defective in that I did care about those things, and very much wanted to live well.
The truth is people just took one look at me and decided that I was fat, weird, and gross, so clearly, I didn't want anything good for myself.
They assigned me the character of the wide eyed iconoclast, who marches to the beat of their own drum.
It made them feel good to tell themselves that I WANTED to live in a shitty apartment, and constantly get my car vandalized. It warmed their hearts to think that I dressed poorly because of some wild caprice of expression, and not because of weight or financial issues.
People are just in love with the idea of the girl who's either "one of the guys" or "not like the other girls"
They arent so much in love with the idea that such women are written into a corner like this by people's pre-existing expectations.
I really want to talk about this in my Sunday lifestyle pieces too.
This kind of thinking is rampant in the "geek" community. If a girl has short hair, glasses, is chubby, she's sure to be your geeky comicbook loving, videogame playing queen.
They never consider that these markers are physical, not mental, and were assigned by the film industry to distinguish characters in scripted scenarios, not as an actual reflection of life.
Buying into the idea that a person can be summarized by their appearance is dangerous, whether you're cheering them on for being a body positive, infinifat queen or tearing them down for being a skinny, blonde bitch.
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