Disney or Pixar?
This is a hard one for me. I love Disney and I love Pixar. I love they have collaborated together to make movies. Disney has such great thoughts on movies and Pixar is the whiz in animation. If you look back in time at Disney some of the first movies I remember growing up were Mickey Mouse, Pocahontas, Mulan, Hercules, and Hunchback of Notre Dame. Pixar has created amazing movies and clips on their own. I’m thinking of Bug’s Life, Toy Story, La Luna, and Day and Night for Pixar. So which is better is the question?
Delving into Pixar the movies are not really romantic and they focus on relationships usually focusing on family or friends. Finding Nemo is about Dory and Marlin coming together to save Marlin’s son Nemo. Up is about a old man named Carl who ends up becoming friends with Doug the dog, Russell from Boy Scouts, and Kevin the giant tropical bird which they all go on an amazing adventure together. Andy and Woody become friends in Toy Story. In the sequels they become friends with more characters like in Toy Story 3 Lots-o’-Huggin’ bear they end up saving him even though he tries to ditch them so they are forgotten toys like he was.
Pixar is also big on themes. It’s all about letting go of the past and focusing on the future. Wall•E is a great example. The earth is destroyed there is nothing left. No hope and just disaster so they created a world in spaceship until one day Wall•E comes across the plant and there is hope again. Another example is Marlin and Nemo. Marlin is an overprotective dad because he had watch his whole family get eaten up by a barracuda in the anemones but was only able to save the one egg Nemo. Marlin learns in the end he has too loosen the reins and let Nemo find things out for himself.
Moving on to Disney. Disney focuses most of their movies on love and empowerment. Beauty and the Beast, Frozen, Mulan, and Pocahontas are great examples. Frozen is a great movie about a broken relationship by two sisters. Elsa is powerful, free, and living her life with no worries. Where Anna is feeling abandoned and searching for her sister. Anna ends up finding true love in Kristoff but she also finds her love in her sister she has long lost. Beauty and the Beast even has empowerment. She finds love within the beast and she stands up to him regardless of the consequences. Mulan is a powerful and strong warrior as well as Pocahontas. Disney is also huge on musicals. Almost all the Disney movies one of the main characters are usually singing.
So which is better? The answer for me is neither of them. I think they both bring a lot to the table. When they collaborate they have shown us they can produce amazing movies. Alone they can be creative and both bring great ideas. I think they are both a good competition for each other and they have shown they can work extremely well together. Disney should continue to make amazing scripts and Pixar can continue to make amazing animation. Why choose when you can have both?
Advice for Emerging and Aspiring Artists
As Pablo Picasso once said, “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” I love this quote because it allows you to think outside the box and in fact encourages you too. I think as an artist you will be rejected, but don’t allow the rejection to define you. Instead use rejection to find the inner you. Appreciate what you are doing right now with your work and have a clear goal to what you want to learn in the future. Vincent Van Gogh received little to no recognition for his work. During his lifetime he only sold one painting and despite the lack of buyers he continued his passion. Love your work and if you don’t love it try to learn from your work. Hone in on your skills and think of your poor work as valuable practice.
When your art gets noticed and someone asks you about yourself and your work make sure you have a ready speech in your mind about what you’re going to say. Say it without stuttering and be prepared. Interesting conversation goes a long way. Learn easy ways to talk to people so when you are at your own art gallery or someone else’s you will have plenty of topics on hand instead of blatant silence. Also never leave a conversation without a person knowing who you are and what you are about. Treat others how you want to be treated. Have a kind word of mouth which will inevitably work with you not against you. If you have business cards, don’t focus so much on your name, but more on what you actually do.
What if you have artist block? Oh, no! We all go through this. First is to stop trying so hard. Play a little and see what you come up with. Don’t build barriers to your work which aren’t really there. There is no “right” way to make art and the only wrong way is to not even try. If you took something you love to draw, say it was fruit, take the fruit and draw it in different ways. Use different expressions, color, positions, mediums, and see what creativity seeps from inside you. Just like any kind of job you can get stuck. Sometimes it might mean you need to step away and work on a different project for awhile. Then when you feel like you have had an epiphany get right back to your work. Refer to other artists for inspiration.
Envy and art don’t mix. Be glad there is artists out there better than you because it allows you to think the possibility is out there to acquire such skills at some point in your career. It’s okay to admire an artist and you should want to acquire the skills they have learned. Use envy as a tool to who you aspire to become. Pay more attention to supporting yourself and less focus on how well other artists are doing. Envy is a sign we want something. Find out what you want and what makes you feel envy? Make changes and don’t be afraid to learn something new.
The Impact of Anime on American Cinema
When I think of Animation my favorite film studio is Pixar. Some movies or characters would be Nemo from Finding Nemo or Andy from Toy Story. Anime is such a big part in american cinema nowadays and the more exposure to anime has surpassed cultural barriers. The biggest influential groups began in the high schools and into college. Pokemon is a huge contribution which surpassed cultural barriers. Even though most people are not aware how anime came into the United States people still tend to think anime has a negative influence. Pokemon was changed in a way so american children would understand it better, for example, changing some of the characters names to american names despite being Japanese origin.
Anime has become more and more influential throughout my own life buying Pokemon cards or watching Digimon when I get home from school. Every day when I go to school we go to recess where we trade Pokemon cards. Usually on the weekends we beg our parents to go to the store so we can get more Pokemon cards to trade for the week. Watching Pokemon I have learned morals such as good and evil, knowing from right and wrong, and also formed a love for the Asian culture. Without realizing it anime has been incorporated into my daily life especially on Saturdays watching Yu-Gi-Oh or Dragonball Z. As I become older I will have more of an aesthetic approach as to the way I think of anime. I believe Asian culture has had an important impact on the world I live in especially in technology and entertainment.
The characters in Anime are almost life-like but the characters show a wide range of emotions. To some they may seem simple and cartoonish with their huge doll-like eyes, spiky hair, and simplified facial features but each character is major work of art. The characters follow the good guy vs. bad guy plot like in Pokemon, Team Rocket is the bad guy, and then you have Ash and Pikachu as the hero. Anime is so appealing because of the creativeness and dynamics of their artists. Anime is huge on onomatopoeias like “Crash,” “Bang,” or “Zoom.” These are my favorite types of words. If a character has strong emotions they are deformed and super cartoony whereas if they are in normal emotion they seem so life-like.
I believe anime has a strong impact because it is so diverse with their products. With the main focus on being children and teens the marketing continuously changes to keep their target audience. Marketing opportunities in stores such as: stationary, board games, card games, video games, DVDs, toys, and even household goods such as Sailor Moon phones. When you go to Six Flags they have whole stores dedicated to confectionary items and toys. As more advances come with technology especially nowadays with Youtube, the internet, and iphones the wider the audience can cater to the spread of anime. Fans have really widespread anime in the United States and other countries through the use of technology.
The Art of Animation 
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