The other day I came across The Interview Codex by Deathink and The-Great-One, where I picked up on a random interview to read. I ended up reading Hikarian's story. The interview covered a lot of topics and it inspired me to read about her creative process. I went to bed that night, thinking about my own animations. After realizing I've been here for over 10 years, I started wondering about my personal developments. There may not be a lot of projects to show for it, but there's definitely been progress, and my style has developed dramatically over time. I decided to put all of that in perspective over a couple of days.This is however by no means an autobiography. I'm writing this so that I may uncover my strengths and weaknesses.

Each of these blog entries discuss the following topics:

1. Reasons To Create (Philosophy, Motivation & Inspiration)
2. Creative Developments (Visual Style, Skills & Habits)
3. Outcome (Experience, Dedication, Achievements & Continuity)

=== A FRESH START ===

When I just discovered the internet, DragonballZ was probably my favorite show. Through a search engine that wasn't google, I used to look for websites about the series. This is how I first stumbled across pixelated animated gifs, taken from videogames. They fascinated me thoroughly! I was hoping to make something like that myself using MS paint, but of course that didn't work. I did play around with RPG Maker though, making sprite sheets that would be animated within the software. Also, - inspired by the animations I had seen on Newgrounds - I made a frame by frame movie once, using stick figures I drew in MS Paint, and then dragged those images into Windows Movie Maker. Those were my very first attempts at animation. When I showed this to my causins, they had a chuckle. That's when they introduced me to Flash.

I picked up flash pretty quickly, though there was a lot for me to learn. For instance, I didn't know what layers were, so my first project was a huge ass animation - complete with backgrounds - using only one layer. It contained very badly drawn videogame characters from Super Smash Bros and some very crude humor. I made everything up as I went along. From what I remember, it was mostly inspired by the Arfenhouse series. It got blammed twice.

But then I learned about Layers and Symbols, and that's how I started on Dragonball Future. I drew an original character in the style of Dragonball, and had him avenge an alien species for destroying his planet. Three episodes made it through the portal. I thought I was doing pretty well!

• Reasons To Create: I had no reason to create anything at this point, but submitting stuff on the internet was oddly addicting somehow. My biggest inspiration sources were DragonballZ, videogames and flashes made by other Newgrounders.
• Creative Developments: I was lacking in every aspect. My visual style was odd and unpredictable, I was limited to the standard color pallette, and I didn't even know what Frame By Frame meant.
• Outcome: I got some flashes to pass judgment and made friends with some of the helpful reviewers. I had a lot of fun, and wanted to continue doing this.

Newgrounds is the alpha and omega of my heart, and all that I could ever hope to want from an unlike community. Free of the shackles of political correctness, and of big buck productions that saturate western media today.

- VicariousE

"I published New Ground from my parents' basement in Perkasie, PA, sending sporadic issues to around 100 members of a club on Prodigy. I was 13 at the time, which explains why I have so much faith in today's thirteen year olds."

- TomFulp

"I know that Jobs told the world that flash sucks, but he is dead, and his idiocy should die with him."

- fuckoffasshole

"So much awesome on Newgrounds... I could literally login everyday for the rest of my life and find at least one more talented person to fav..."

- CrabbWalker

"Newgrounds as a brand is associated with some really strong and respectable stances on creator's rights in light of how youtube and other platforms treat people, because Tom has always been a creator who runs a website for other creators as opposed to a businessman running a service marketed to creators. Tom wouldn't sell NG any more than he could sell a childhood pet."

- FUNKbrs

[INDEX]  

1. A FRESH START
2. THE FIRST STRUGGLE
3. THE COMFORT ZONE
4. THE UNDERDOG
5. FUTURE PROJECTS