Persistence of Vision

The eye of an artist often sees beyond the veneer of appearance to extrapolate the essence. For example, Leonardo da Vinci was not satisfied with merely capturing external appearance. The study of his subjects bordered on mechanical dissection--including the study of motion. Hence, his works often captured a hyperreality due to this intimate understanding.

By the time I entered high school my fundamental art skills were fairly established. Yet I was not content. To expand my horizons I turned my attentions towards multimedia production, and quickly became enamored with the study of motion. Motion added a new dimension of detail which appealed to my meticulous nature. Interestingly, I found creative fulfillment in drawing the most rudimentary of cartoons. The study of motion also enhanced my overall perception of the world around me.

My first “release” before the student body was a short surf animation called, I’m Not Yellow. It was originally drawn using rapidograph pens on a simple note pad I had made in graphic arts (seen above). I then shot it frame by frame onto super 8, and roughly synced it to music. The audience reaction was overwhelming--laughing, hooting, clapping, etc. (If you’ve ever seen a surf movie in a surf community theater, you know what I’m talking about--it gets rowdy.) It was this work which caught the attention of Frank Pap, who would become my film mentor, friend, and advocate. As fate would have it, years later I also met a young director who told me that he got into film because of a short film he saw in high school. As it turned out, it was my little animated short.

After this glowing reception, I decided to take things to the next level with full color cell animation on 16 mm. This new project would consume the better part of my years in high school and on into college. (see youtube link to Oceantics ) Yet it established an artistic work ethic demanding the ability to focus on mammoth projects which require countless hours and years of personal investment. Indeed, one could say, "It requires a tenacious persistence of vision."