Animation is magic.

Sorry to blog so late in the day - go me! But I wanted to celebrate my first ever guest blog post over at THREE FOR THE ROAD! My friend Jillian is immensely talented and one of the sweetest, most gracious people I have ever met. So blessed to call her my friend both online and off!

After writing that post I was reminded about how much I used to love and obsess over animation - indeed it used to be a dream of mine.

I was fortunate enough to grow up in Disney's second "golden age" - when each movie nearly surpassed the one before it. The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, Hercules, Mulan..you know.

(source: gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca)

Growing up in the back of a fine art gallery/custom framing shop there isn't much to do - except draw. And boy am I glad. I drew the HECK out of the McDonald's happy meal boxes (back when they were still boxes and had disney characters gracing all 4 sides). I would pretend to be an animator sitting at my fancy desk - all the pens and ink and pencils I could ever need - and draw "character sketches" or "concept art."

(source: f*ckyeahdisneyconcept.tumblr.com)

I would then memorize not only the soundtracks to each film but look up the voice actors and performers who brought, what I thought to be at least, the most beautiful princesses and most handsome princes to life. I paused the VHS tapes at the end credits and studied the names of the incredible people that worked on those films - names like Glen Keane and John Lasseter stuck in my mind. I so wanted to see my name on there one day.

In my mind, animation was as close to creating magic as one could get - you could create characters and make them move. Give them life.

However, without getting too negative, Disney took a bit of a nosedive. Once that happened my so-certain self became not so certain, and I instead attended a community college to begin my fine art career. The Princess Frog and Tangled (especially Tangled) brought me new hope. But now that I'm 21 (almost 22) and thinking about my career, the idea of living in California isn't too appealing (call me crazy). Watching incredible films, whether by Pixar, Disney, or Miyazaki (he's deserving of an entire post blog, to be sure), still makes my heart flutter and I feel that yearning reappear. I once again want to be a part of the action - a part of something that starts as pencil, paper, ink and paint and becomes a living, breathing masterpiece.

But who knows? I'm only 21. ; )

xoxo Amy