Five Years for Six Minutes: Pigeon Impossible
Written by Deb Dorchak - January 18, 2010 4 Comments
Pigeon Impossible
I can always tell when Dad’s checking his email. Usually once every couple of weeks I get machine gun spurts of forwarded jokes, political anecdotes and photos from around the web. This in turn prompts me to crawl out of the Cave and make my bi-monthly call home to see how things are.
I have to admit, Dad sends a lot of good stuff. I don’t usually share a lot of it because the political views expressed might be hilarious and thought provoking to me, but just downright provoking to the rest of the world. If it’s one thing I learned in all these years of blogging is never discuss politics or religion.
Animation, however, is a completely different story.
Cartoons Aren’t Just For Kids Anymore
And they haven’t been for a long time. Not since my generation grew up and started animating for themselves. How many of you remember Saturday Morning Cartoons? In the 70s, this time slot for kids is what I consider the Golden Age of Saturday morning cartoon. Much to Mom’s dismay, my Dad, brother and I would sit in front of that television from 7am to somewhere around noon.
When the 80s came along with first run syndication and home videos, the Saturday morning cartoons suffered. The biggest contributing factor to this was the cable channels like Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. No one had to wait until Saturday anymore to get their animated fix.
Once my generation grew up (and I use the term loosely) many of us embraced computer aided design and became pioneers in the field of 3D animation. George Lucas paved the way for Industrial Light and Magic with the release of the first Star Wars movie back in 1977 and from there other animation studios like Pixar and Dreamworks sprang up.
I’m happy to say that for the past few years, animation is in it’s Renaissance period.
Not As Easy As It Looks
Any professional can make what they do look easy. I’m sure many of you designers out there have heard time and again, “How hard can it be to make a little (insert seemingly small, insignificant project here)?”
For example, take a logo. It’s small and easy to dismiss as one of those easy projects. Sit down and think about it, though; do you know how many hours went into coming up with that one perfect design that totally encompassed the entire essence of a company’s brand into an object you only look at for 3 seconds or less?
The same goes for many graphics projects. Even the most minimal of sites can take up to 6 hours to do. An ebook can take twice as long. And a 6 minute animation? Years.
Yes, that’s right. Years.
Lucas Martell, the creator of our video of the week, Pigeon Impossible, took 5 years to create the 6 minute short you’re viewing today. Why would anyone take that long to do a single project? Here’s what Lucas has to say about it:
“When the project started, it was mostly an excuse to learn 3D animation, but by the end of the project I had spent so much time reworking and polishing the story that I just wanted people to laugh.”
That’s it. Knowledge, laughter and a love of his craft.
Work Is Play
It’s easy to lose the joy in our work. Many creative people find themselves bending beneath the demands of the outside world to compromise their creative integrity. It doesn’t take much to lose that spark and when you lose that spark, it shows.
However, life doesn’t have to be that way. Your career doesn’t have to be that way (notice I didn’t call it a “job”). Every new project is an opportunity for you to learn something new, whether it’s a new technique, a new tool, or a new way of doing the same old, same old.
Knowledge is what keeps life fresh. And the beautiful part about learning? You’re never too old to do it.
What’s Your 6 Minutes?
Wendi is fond of saying that we all have a sock drawer full of old projects. And, as I remarked to her once before, mine is full of mis-matched socks. There’s a blue one here, a red one there, and we can’t forget the garishly colored holiday sock trying to look inconspicuous way back in the corner.
Eventually, all of these socks find a match and when they do, it turns into something spectacular.
What have you got tucked away? How long has it been there? Go take a look now and pull it out into the light and look at it with fresh eyes. Can’t do it all by yourself? That’s ok. In the end, Lucas Martell had over 100 people helping him finish his 6 minutes of fame.
Whether it’s a website, ebook, novel or business idea, if you love it enough that’s all you need to bring it to life – even if it does take five years.
Long Story Short
Ah, yes, I did have an ulterior motive to all this. In February Sirius will begin a series of articles on ebooks, covering everything from the initial planning stages up through design, marketing and publication. Like Pigeon Impossible, an ebook, or any book for that matter, is a labor of love.
We’ll also be having guest posts from folks who have been through the ebook experience writing for us on Special Edition Wednesdays.
As a bit of incentive to all of you future ebook authors out there, Sirius has also decided to offer 10% off all ebook services for the month of February. This includes cover designs, full layouts, writing, marketing, ads…whatever you need to make your ebook fly.
So, what are you waiting for? You don’t have any excuses left. Your own Pigeon Impossible is waiting for you.
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Read the Comments
4 Outstanding Responses to "Five Years for Six Minutes: Pigeon Impossible"
Betsy Wuebker on January 18, 2010 at 7:44 am | Permalink
Hi Deb – Interestingly, coincidentally? I think not, the post I read just before this one in my reader was Godin’s, about Tim Burton’s lists of projects. The point was, ole Tim has produced some mighty fine work, but there were just as many (if not more) that were not still breathing or had never fogged a mirror. So, our ideas may be great or not so depending upon a great variety of things. I like your idea of being open to resurrecting something that may deserve our attention now, as well as keeping such a list to begin with. Thanks.
Betsy Wuebker’s last blog post… When Your Inner Critic is on Steroids
Deb Dorchak on January 18, 2010 at 7:51 am | Permalink
I read that this morning too! Seth and I must’ve been on the same brainwave last night. With that amazing stockpile Burton has I’m sure there’s some more gems waiting to be revisited.
Sara on February 1, 2010 at 12:37 pm | Permalink
Deb — After reading Hilary’s comment and then your comment, I had to check out this post. I couldn’t figure out how a pigeon related, but I’m glad I found this post.
It is GREAT and I laughed all through it. I loved the part right before he blows up the rocket and he and pigeon are staring each other down.
This was a well done animated video and I am very glad I got to see it. Thanks to you and Hilary!
Regarding unmatched socks, I have a special file on my desktop called my cupboard. I put ideas and bits of posts that were not ready into this file. Every so often, I will pull one out to see if it’s ready to bloom. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t. I think of this cupboard as containing wildflower seeds. You never know exactly when or what flower will decide to grow:~)
Sara’s last blog post… Picture Story: Photo Playing
Deb Dorchak on February 1, 2010 at 1:11 pm | Permalink
@Sara: There were so many little details in that piece that made me smile – including the way they got the multi-colored sheen to the pigeon’s neck feathers while it was in the briefcase). The part you mentioned was one of my favorites, too. Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope to see you around more often!