BrainedBySaucepans

Thanks, now to figure out the implications to my personal philosophy.1 I'm not sure whether being a brony is a good thing or not,2 but who cares?3 -------- 1 Since I originally reached my conclusions based on a strong desire to evade pigeon-holes, having been assigned the label "brony" seems somewhat counter-productive. However, it does provide another juicy contradiction... 2 Philosophically speaking. 3 Wait. That's probably me.4 4 Great, now I've started with the footnotes I can't stop. Someone help me!

DON'T SAY THAT! Now I'll have to go through it and add some...1 -------- 1 Assuming I have a massive case of OCD of course.2 2 Crap.

Nice to see I didn't immediately alienate everyone with that self-important wall of text.1 Although I'm kind of disappointed no one's answered my questions... -------- 1 Of course it was self-important; I am important!

Thank you Rainb00m, I hope you say my response to your question about animating in the Art Discussion forum.1 I strongly advise you check out that Youtube series; it helped me a lot. -------- 1 http://www.canterlot...nimation-stuff/

Hi to both of you! I'm a big fan of the term myself. Ironically, I can't remember where I picked it up from, so if anybody asks, I tell them I picked it up through cultural osmosis. As far as the footnotes go, I think there's probably a reason most people don't use them1, and I don't usually myself. I was just writing in complete stream of consciousness and liked what I wrote enough to not want to delete it.2 They probably won't return unless I end up pulling loads more all nighters...3 -------- 1They're kind of a crutch, and an affectation at that. A way of saying "look at me, I have so much to say I can barely cram it in". 2 First rule of editing - kill your darlings. 3 So... loads of footnotes to come.

Please excuse me if I fail to avoid getting banned, but the link provided ( http://www.canterlot...getting-banned/ ) doesn't appear to work. I'm just going to assume it consists mainly of rules about not angering the Termite King. I'm not sure whether I belong here, but it's as good as anywhere else. You see, the problem is that I have intentionally cultivated a personality so deliberately self-contradictory that the only real consistent points are insomnia and smoking. Since I realised when I was about 15 that the standard secondary school personality stereotypes only existed to keep people from actually becoming interesting, I have sought out things that most people assume I wouldn't enjoy, with the intent of embracing the fundamental internal contradictions that would expand my horizons.1 The process so far has been a catastrophic failure, and it is GLORIOUS! As regards to my two constants, they vary as well; for a time I only smoked cigars, but I switched to cigarettes, writing my favourite Coleridge verses on the side. Then I settled on a pipe. The insomnia is the cause of my somewhat stream of consciousness writing style at the moment, but don't worry; my style is typically far more eloquent and less theatrical.2 Well I've written three and a bit paragraphs3 and still haven't really got to the point. Well I'll spare you further pointless meanderings4 by putting them in footnotes so you can safely ignore them.8 I honestly have no idea if I’m a brony or not. I deliberately avoided My Little Pony for a long time, as it seemed like something I’d really enjoy.9 I finally got round to watching it simply because it was too much effort to keep avoiding it. That and it became clear that I was missing out on some vital context on some conversations with friends. So I watched the series and… it was pretty okay. Certainly way above the standard I would have expected without the hype, but a bit below the benchmark set by contextual clues from my friends and acquaintances. So yeah. It’s pretty good. I’ve watched all the available episodes, sought out some fan-fics, and volunteered to be animator for a project by one of the guys who so admirably drew me into the fandom.10 I’ve even made my own…ponysona…11 if Google is correct in that being the term used. I shall go by the name of Ashen Smirk. It took me a while to come up with the name, and I only noticed the pun once I’d put it online.12 So. Opinions on my artwork would be appreciated.13 I fully expect that I’ll be posting more artwork and some animations here in future. Unless I don’t. Either way, please answer me this, and put my mind at rest: Am I a brony? Whatever your answer, thanks for putting up with me this far. All hail the Termite King! -------- Footnotes begin here. No I am not kidding. 1 I am fully aware that this is not actually a significant revelation; rather it is in fact self-indulgent and stereotypically teenage BS. The problem is that that very awareness creates an internal contradiction which my philosophy demands that I embrace. I could always just rethink the whole thing, but I already decided I was right years ago. If I now declare that I was in fact wrong, then my life since the revelation could have been spent more productively, and that would be terrible. The fact that I spent the time in question mainly sitting around accomplishing very little has no bearing on the matter. 2 And with fewer footnotes 3 And three footnotes. 4 I'm probably lying here, but these footnotes are being written as I come to them. As I write this, it is Schrödinger’s lie, only collapsing into truth or falsehood once I get back to the main body of my already over-long self-introduction. I think I'll savour the possibilities for a moment. I encourage you to do the same. Ooh, I know what can do to extend the possibility; a recursive footnote! Go to 5 if you want my explanation on why most people who cite Schrödinger on the internet are missing the point entirely. 5 Okay, I may as well give you the full explanation. Schrödinger’s cat is a thought experiment that states that if you put a cat in a box with a thing that has a 50% chance of killing it, until you open the box and actually look at the cat, the cat is NEITHER ALIVE NOR DEAD. Most people6 assume that this was Schrödinger’s way of explaining to a layman how quantum mechanics works, but what they all miss is how INSANELY STUPID Schrödinger’s experiment was. Schrödinger’s point was that the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics sucked, and the experiment was SUPPOSED to be as inane as possible so as to get this across. Sadly, he overestimated the average person's scepticism, and underestimated their tendency to automatically believe what a man in a white coat says, no matter how obviously insane their statements. Poor Schrödinger.7 6 Idiots 7 Although it does serve him right for having a name so annoying to type. 8 It was the truth! Sort of! I frigging love footnotes! 9 If this statement confuses you, go back to the beginning of this post. You clearly haven’t been paying attention. 10 No. I will not do any animation for your project. Unless I feel like it. You’d have to be really convincing. Although more experience is a good thing for me…. Fine, you’ve talked me into it. Join the queue. 11 As a grammar nazi, I feel highly uncomfortable using even mild terms like this. You will most likely not catch me using the term “somepony” or anything similar. If you do… I’d like to make it known at this stage that I am susceptible to blackmail, and will do all I can to keep any such slips secret. 12 Not the obvious one, I didn’t miss that, look slightly deeper. 13 And anyone who knows how any sensible and extremely well read pony should react to that cutie mark14 gets a whole host of obscure trivia geek points. 14 And why. You need to know why. -------- If you started reading at the end for some bizarre reasons, and are worried that this post makes no sense, be aware that these are footnotes. Start from the beginning; it won't make more sense, but it will be nonsense in context, and context is important.

In my experience (which is by no means vast), the best way to learn animation is to animate. Seriously, open up flash and just play around. Create some stuff and get the best possible feel you can for the tools available. If you feel struck for ideas, have a look at a particular sequence you like, slowing it down and viewing it frame by frame to work out how they got it to work. If you're feeling too lazy to do this (we all feel like that sometimes) or can't think of any sequence in particular, I can't recommend gbeaudette's MLP Animation Analysis series any higher (Link: http://mlpfanart.wik...mation_Analysis). The videos all look at a very specific element of the show in great detail, but many of the principles he shows have a great many general applications, and they all show a great insight into the sort of mindset you need. Also useful is this resource pack, apparently obtained from the show by Drud14: http://drud14.devian...-2-1-303426524? At the end of the day though, I'll reiterate again; learn by doing. Unless you strike it extremely lucky, to get experience and training in animation, you need to be a good animator. Catch 22 can suck sometimes, but you have a big advantage in that you're still in school. Seek out your school's art department and find out which of the teachers knows (or even has a passing interest in) about animation, then badger them about it every chance you get. If you're lucky, they'll know a bit about the topic themselves and will be willing to teach it (that's kind of their job). If not, get them to look out for opportunities and courses, and don't forget to do the same yourself. Above all, show enthusiasm and passion for the subject. In my experience school (and to a lesser extent University) is one of the only places that raw enthusiasm actually gets rewarded. After that, the focus shifts to experience and ability, and if you don't have the former, you won't get many chances to demonstrate the latter. One final word, in my mind, animation isn't a hobby. It's a job or an obsession, at least if you want to get anything approaching professional quality. I started on working on a pretty big project (as solo animator) a week ago, and since then I've put at least 8 hours a day into it (the joys of unemployment XD). I now have a grand total of 24 seconds and over 300 library assets. If there's some bits of animation that you find slightly annoying right now, you will probably end up despising them. Take a look at the final credits of My Little Pony, or any other animated show, and look at all the animators they list. There's a reason it's that long. BUT If you stick with it and still enjoy it, it's truly a great feeling. Those 24 seconds are one of the things I'm most proud of, and when you look at something you've poured in your time, energy, blood, sweat and tears into and it works... it's indescribable. Overall, I hope animation is for you; if it is, stick with it through the good and the bad, and it'll pay dividends. If it isn't, find something else and feel proud that you gave it your all. The world needs more people who love what they do.