Lesson #6-Hugh Valentine

"You never remember how long it took, you only remember how good a job you did."-Hugh Valentine.

I have never come across a better way to conduct my artistic symphony than this bit of animation wisdom. Hugh Valentine was a great animation cameraman who carefully and methodically shot my first film, "Lazar" and when he uttered these words to me they burned in my brain like a hot brand on cow's ass.

The obvious point of this statement is that there is nothing worth doing unless it is done well and this is especially true in animation. Why spend weeks on a project that you "phone" in, there is just no point to wasting that much life without a payoff.

THE FREAKING TRUTH #1-RISK

Is being an animator "risky"? Any artistic pursuit is a risk, if you haven't noticed yet the world is not run by artists, it's run by corporations, money, government, and numbers. Artist don't fit in those environments and are usually vastly misunderstood by the accountants and CEO's of the world. But remember one thing, everything is designed, so therefore, everything needs a designer. If you have the stuff, you can get the work, if you get the work, it was probably worth the risk?