One of the Muses flew past my house last night. I briefly got her attention and explained my problem, but all she did was shrug her shoulders and dance merrily away through the night. I hope it was too dark for her to see the rude gesture I gave her as she departed…
This post could get long winded, so fill up your coffee mug and get a good comfy seat. And try not to let your snoring disturb the others around you, ‘kay? Thanks…
First of all, to those of you who have commented publicly and thru private email: thanks for the support. I mean that. I’ve received sage advice from people who have been in similar straits, and it’s always good to get that kind of perspective, especially if it can prevent me from doing something incredibly stupid. Thanks again. Keep the love coming… 
Secondly, Lucky Frog’s status. Hmmmm, what’s a good word to describe it? In limbo? Consigned to purgatory? Neither living nor dead, like the Nazgul in Lord of the Rings? Well… let’s just say it’s been moved to the inactive injured-reserve list. It’s not being dropped, and it won’t be traded, but it can’t take the field until the team doctors give us the thumbs-up…
Oh, come on, it’s not a bad thing. The robot movie and Evolution have both spent time in cryogenic freeze, and are currently enjoying revitalized returns to production. I’ve never moved a film that’s been this far through the production cycle to the list, though, so it’ll be interesting to see how it goes…
Lucky Frog’s primary sin has been the criminally-inefficient way in which it’s being created relative to its perceived worth. Confused? Let’s look at it this way: if my movies were drinks, Break Time would be a glass of champagne, easily worth the seven months it took to create. Lucky Frog, on the other hand, would be a Dixie cup of tap water with a couple of ice cubes. Maybe a lemon wedge. That’s it. It’s already chewed up six months, with at least three more left. It’s a cute little idea, but it’s not worth nine months of work…
What to do, what to do…
Hand-drawn animation still is, and will always be, a labor-intensive process, and to be successful at it, one has to be murderously efficient with one’s time and tools. I’ll readily admit I haven’t been doing a very good job at that, going out of my way at times to turn it into a bigger pain in the ass than it rightfully ought to be. So, to make things better I need to fix the broken process…
Sitting patiently in the wings are two Three-eyed Larry shorts. They’re both pretty straight-forward, single-shot films with a minimum number of moving parts and actors – the perfect prototypes of what I wanted to do with hand-drawn anis in the first place. If I can get a process hammered out and tested with these two guys, I can use it to resurrect Lucky Frog and get it finished up right. The new process might not involve Painter, or it might involve markers and Post-it notes. I don’t know yet. I’ve hinted at some things, but I won’t know for sure until I actually go out and do it. No matter what happens, though, Scary Monster Vs Lucky Frog will be back, better than ever, and the lessons I learn will help future hand-drawn movies see the light of day with less stress and distress. That’s my goal, and I’m sticking to it…
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have battle plans to draw up. Have a GREAT day… 
