I dont think people fully understand the scale of production animation requires. Let me see if I can part the veil a little bit.

Let's say you're an animator fresh out of college. You're passionate, you're experienced, and you've got big plans for an amazing animated series that will finally unseat the mouse. You've even got a successful kickstarter which has secured your livelihood for the next 4 years. All you have to do now is make it.

Episode one, we're going to start small. It's tempting to put everything you've got into this first episode, but it's more important to have a quick turnaround. So let's do 5 minutes. At 12 fps that's only 3600 frames. With an average shot length of 16 seconds that's 225 drawings to animate. (That's a big handwave, but I'm just trying to give you an idea of scale here.) We keep the shots flat but expressive, and auto tween as much as possible. We still want it to look professional so we need color and backgrounds. And of course we need voice actors, sound effects and music. Let's pretend we got a buddy to help us out with that who's amazing and got all of the audio situated perfectly.

It still takes about a year for that first episode. 225 drawings is still so much for one person, and compromises probably happened somewhere. Maybe you wind up trimming it down to four minutes. Maybe you reused the same drawing for your main character across several shots. Maybe 12 fps is sorta more like 8 fps in practice. But it's done, you did it, and you release the first episode of your passion project out into the wild to critical acclaim and an audience hungry for more.

Next episode you hire someone on to do backgrounds because screw that and you have the budget for it. Your audio wizard friend still has everything figured out on their end. All you have to do is animate. It's easier this time, you've had a year drawing these characters now. The introduction of your primary antagonist in episode two requires fancy new backgrounds, new music, and definitely lighting. You want to give them a proper entrance. Episode two comes out in a year as well, but with fewer compromises and better overall production. Your audience still loves it.

You've found your stride now, and you've hired on some extra talent. Over the next two years you're able to slam out three more epidodes. And great news, you were right! Your series is amazing: it's the indie darling everyone has been waiting for! You open a patreon and get enough support to continue the series indefinitely!

In the time it's taken you to make 5 episodes, Disney has released Amphibia in its entirety.

Animation is labor intensive. It's a team sport, even at the smallest scale. And if you get it wrong? That's a year of your life traded in for five minutes of fame. It. Is. Hard. Burnout is real. Mistakes happen. It's high risk, very little reward. There's a reason these indie productions tend to be flashes in a pan, and why so many projects get dropped out of nowhere.

I dont want to be discouraging. If you want to be the one to make the youtube animated series to rival The Owl House, I respect it and I want to see it. But maybe consider animation not the best media you could chose for long form entertainment.

the funniest meltdown ive ever had was in college when i got so overstimulated that i could Not speak, including over text. one of my friends was trying to talk me through it but i was solely using emojis because they were easier than trying to come up with words so he started using primarily emojis as well just to make things feel balanced. this was not the Most effective strategy... until. he tried to ask me "you okay?" but the way he chose to do that was by sending "👉🏼👌🏼❓" and i was so shocked by suddenly being asked if i was dtf that i was like WHAT???? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?????????? and thus was verbal again

the way people online talk about autism is getting really weird, like do they know that neurotypicals still have interests? that someone being passionate about a hobby doesn't mean they're autistic? you guys know that right

EVERY SINGLE DAY there are MILLIONS of characters in their late 20s who get falsely accused of being father figures to teenagers when in reality the description of "weird older cousin" or "step-sibling that moved out before you were born" is 1000000x more apt

i got rickrolled today but it didn't work because i have adblocker installed, so youtube just told me i violated the terms of service. yesterday i was trying to edit a picture as a joke for my girlfriend, and google made me check a box to prove i'm human because i wasn't "searching normally".

it isn't just that capitalism is killing fun and whimsy, it is that any element of entertainment or joy is being fed upon by this mosquito body, one that will suck you dry at any vulnerability.

do you want to meet new friends in your city? download this app, visit our website, sign up for our email list. pay for this class on making a terrarium, on candlemaking, on cooking. it will be 90 dollars a session. you can go to group fitness, but only under our specific gym membership. solve the puzzle, sign up for our puzzle-of-the-month-club. what is a club if not just a paid opportunity - you are all paying for the same thing, which makes you a community.

but you're like me, i know it - you're careful, you try the library meetings and the stuff at the local school and all of that. the problem is that you kind of want really specific opportunities that used to exist. you are so grateful for libraries and the publicly-funded things: they are, however, an exception - and everything they have, they've fought tooth-and-nail to protect. you read a headline about how in many other states, libraries have virtually nothing left.

do you want to meet up with your friends afterwards? gift your friends the discord app. you can choose to go to a cafe (buy a coffee, at least), a bar (money, alcohol) or you can all stay in and catch a movie (streaming) or you can all stay in bed (rent. don't get me started) and scream (noise complaint. ticket at least).

you want to read a new book, but the book has to have 124 buzzwords from tiktok readers that are, like, weirdly horny. you can purchase this audiobook on audible! your podcast isn't on spotify, it's on its own server, pay for a different site. fuck, at least you're supporting artists you like. the art museum just raised their ticket price. once, they had a temporary exhibit that acknowledged that ~85% of their permanent art galleries were from cis white men, and that they had thousands of works by women (even famous women, like frida! georgia o'keefe!) just rotting in their basement. that exhibit lasted for 3 months and then they put everything away again.

walmart proudly supports this strip of land by the street! here are some flowers with wilting leaves. its employees have to pay out-of-pocket for their uniforms. my friend once got fined by the city because she organized a community pick-up of the riverfront, which was technically private property.

no, you cannot afford to take that dance class, neither can i. by the way - i'm a teacher. i'm absolutely not saying "educators shouldn't be paid fairly." i'm saying that when i taught classes, renting a studio went from 20 bucks an hour to 180 in the span of 6 months. no significant changes to the studio were made, except they now list the place as updated and friendly. the heat still doesn't work in the building. i have literally never seen the landlord who ignores my emails. recently they've been renting it out at night as an "unusual nightclub; a once-in-a-lifetime close-knit party." they spent some of those 180 dollars on LEDs and called it renovating. the high heels they invite in have been ruining the marley.

do you want to experience the old internet? do you want to play flash games or get back the temporary joy of club penguin? you can, you just need to pay for it. i have a weird, neurodivergent obsession with occasionally checking in to watch the downfall and NFT-ification of neopets. if i'm honest with you all - i never got into webkins, my family didn't have the money to buy me a pointless elephant. people forget that "being poor" can mean literally "if i buy you that toy, i can't afford rent."

you and i don't have time to make good food, and we don't have the budget for it. we are not gonna be able to host dinner parties, we're not made of money, kid. do you want some kind of 3rd space? a space that isn't home or work or school? you could try being online, but - what places actually exist for you? tiktok counts as social media because you see other people on it, not because they actually talk to you.

there was a local winter tradition of sledding down the hill at my school. kids would use pizza boxes and jackets and whatever worked, howling and laughing. back in september, they made a big announcement that this time, rules were changing, and everyone must pay 10 dollars to participate. when im not scared shitless, i kind of appreciate the environmental irony - it hasn't gone below 40. so much for snow & joyriding.

i saw a bulletin for a local dogwalking group and, nervous about making a good first impression, showed up early. the first guy there grimaced at me. "sorry," he said. "there's a 30-dollar buy-in fee." i thought he was joking. wait. for what? the group doesn't offer anything except friendship and people with whom to walk around the city.

he didn't know the answer. just shrugged at me. "you know," he said. "these days, everything costs money."

The secret Dungeon Meshi sauce that's getting people to eat better is that it's so non-judgmental. Senshi and the rest of the gang never talk about what not to eat besides things that taste bad and literal poison. They don't even talk about "health" that much besides the importance of a balanced diet. It's so much easier to eat well when you think of food simply as something your body needs, and that it's often worth the extra effort to make it taste good, especially when you understand how to connect "things your body needs" with "things that taste good"

LOOK I JUST REALLY ENJOY THEIR FRIENDSHIP OK?? You can't tell me they wouldn't hang after their respective personal quests (spawn ending ofc)/emotional breakdowns over their own mortality

EDIT: I forgot to watermark these so now more than ever PLEASE don't repost

It's really fucked up when you treat characters like people and people like characters.

Nothing will dispell the "the curtains were just blue" myth faster than writing something yourself, because the amount of pretentious symbolism i am putting in my silly little fanfics is ridiculous. I mean SO much with these words, literally every single one of them. This fic has twenty five typos and zero correct uses of punctuation but if there's curtains you bet your ass I put thought into what colour they were.

when we’re done with our overwhelming grief we’ll eat i guess

I don't know how to talk about this

At a party and a guy was telling me about how one of his coworkers was complaining about how he thought his dealer was lacing his heroin with cocaine and then the party guy was like “but his dealer was his brother” and I said “that’s some cocaine and abel shit” and the joke flopped so hard but I stand by it so I had to share it somewhere

me when i dont know anything about feminism in rok

A general tip for students who are sending those dreaded Religious Absence Emails to your professors: Rather than asking permission to take the day(s) off, politely let them know that you will be taking the day(s) off.

In other words, consider not saying this:

"May I miss class on [date] so I can observe [holiday]?"

It's not that there's anything wrong with the above, per se. But because it's phrased as a request, it risks coming across as optional — a favor you hope to be granted. Problem is, favors are not owed, and so unfortunately asking permission opens the door for the professor to respond "Thanks for asking. No, you may not. :)"

Instead, try something along the lines of:

"I will need to miss class on [date] because I will be observing [holiday]. I wanted to let you know of this conflict now, and to ask your assistance in making arrangements for making up whatever material I may miss as a result of this absence."

This is pretty formal language (naturally, you can and should tweak it to sound more like your voice). But the important piece is that, while still being respectful, it shifts the focus of the discussion so that the question becomes not "Is it okay for me to observe my religion?", but rather, "How can we best accommodate my observance?"

Because the first question should not be up for debate: freedom of religion is a right, not a favor. And the second question is the subject you need to discuss.

(Ideally, do this after you've looked up your school's policy on religious absences, so you know what you're working within and that religious discrimination is illegal. Just in case your professor forgot.)

"aphobia doesn't exist"

bitch literally not that long ago an aroace youtuber animator was insulted by almost half of its community for being it

less than two weeks after a law passed that bans transgender people in utah from using bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity, an elected official is already inciting death threats against a child:

the girl in question (who is cisgender) is under police protection currently after a member of the STATE EDUCATION BOARD posted her photos on facebook and implied that the girl was trans. she took the photos down after learning that the girl was cis, but the damage had already been done. the student in question had already recieved a barrage of death threats.

the board member, natalie cline, has faced backlash and state legislature has already started discussion on how to impeach state board officials, but I find it important to reiterate that the girl she accused of being trans was in fact cisgender. I doubt the backlash would be quite so widespread if this wasn't a false accusation. this behavior is being normalized and encouraged by our bigoted state legislation.

we're going to see more of this kind of thing in the future, most likely. please keep your eyes on utah