I’ve had a blast producing the show. I’ve learned so much about art, artists, and about myself. Since day one, I decided to produce my show to a higher standard of quality than most others in terms of production value, editing, writing, music, comedy, and honesty in the content.
From Studio Raul it's Man vs. Art!
The inherent difficulty and comedic irony of producing a show about Visual Arts in audio.
Why on Earth would I choose to produce an audio podcast about visual art? What am I stupid?!
If I may borrow from the great JFK, I shall explain why.
But why, some say, an audio podcast about the Visual Arts?? Why choose this as your goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 84 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Wolverine fight the Hulk?
I choose to produce an audio podcast about visual art. (interrupted by applause) I choose to produce an audio podcast about visual art in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of my Artistic energies and skills, because that challenge is one that I am willing to accept, one I am unwilling to postpone, and one which I intend to win, and the others, too.
I’ve busted my butt and am damned proud of what I have created. It takes a lot of hard work and time to produce each and every episode and I’m always looking for ways to raise the bar and give The Minions the best show possible.
What are you saying?
Man vs Art is about the struggle it is to be an artist in this day and age. There are many obstacles in your way. I don’t try to sell everyone on art being all warm and fuzzy and that success is just one pencil stroke away. On the contrary, I try to put it bluntly and tell you how tough art can be. Not to discourage you of course, but to get you to work that much harder and be prepared when you hit a snag. It would be irresponsible for me to paint this ideal picture of being an artist, full of romance, fun, money, and fame only to leave you to be taken advantage of.
Being an artist is tough. But if you stick with it and do your best, no matter how rich or famous or poor and unknown you end up, you will have a BODY of work that is your own, and in the end on your deathbed that’s all that should matter to an artist. Did I leave a body of work that is worth conserving? Worth studying? That’s the ultimate reward. Money comes and goes and fame, well someone once asked Homer Simpson what being famous was like and his response said it all. “Being famous is great. People know your name and you don’t know theirs.”
Then and now.
Man vs. Art started with me just experimenting with podcasting and it took about a dozen shows before it clicked. The show has really come together nicely with it’s standard features like Interviews, Personal Rants, The Minion Mailbag, the Pantheon of Awesomeness, Minion Voice mail, The Art Joke Minute, Project Jose and more! Then there are the recurring characters, some more recurring than others. There’s my drunk midget announcer and sidekick Che, Jim Lujan, Jose Gonzalez, Sheila from West Hollywood, Chibi fan Noodles, and Sebastian Snotpockets from Saskatchewan!
To my Guests.
I’d like to thank all of my past guests for all of their valuable input and time. I’m pretty selective about who I bring on as a guest. I only bring passionate, fun, creative, and hard working people to the show. People who can talk up a storm about art and have the body of work to back up their words are requirements. No matter how talented an artist may be, no one wants to listen to an inarticulate bore with the personality of a log.
The Man vs. Art Minions RAWK!
I would especially like to thank all of the Minions. Those of you who listen to the show and follow the blog, you rule! You folks are the heart and soul of the show. Without the Minions Man vs. Art would be some lone nut talking to himself about cartoons. Instead it’s some lone nut talking about cartoons to thousands of lone nuts who listen to him while drawing cartoons. Beautiful isn’t it?
Today’s podcast is a “Greatest Hits” collection of some of my best informative rants, interviews, and some shout outs from true Minions!
First up is Don Bluth from episode 28. He’s the highly prolific animation director who’s vast body of work that includes some of the greatest animated films of all time like An American Tail, The Land Before Time, and my personal favorite The Secret of NIMH.
From Episode 31 Some cartoon wisdom from Animator Writer Director Tom Sito who was trained by some notable animation artists of Hollywood’s Golden Age as well as cartoonist legends like Harvey Kurtzman and Shamus Culhane. He has worked in almost all sides animation production- Feature films, television, titles, industrials and commercial advertising.
Then from Episode 40 is the exceptionally talented Artist, Animator, Director, Professor, and Writer Nancy Beiman who has worked with Chuck Jones, Bill Melendez, Gerhard Hahn, Steven Spielberg, Walt Disney Feature Animation, the Disney Channel, Disney television movies, and Warner Bros.
Lastly from Episode 34 is my unforgettable chat with the King of Independent animation, the one and only Bill Plympton whose signature technique and dazzling visuals have been tickling your animation cockles for over 25 years. Here Bill shares with us some behind the scenes fun on his latest feature THE MOVIE THE NEW YORK TIMES IS CALLING “RELENTLESS AND BRILLIANT”! Idiots and Angels.
SHOUT OUTS
Special thanks to the folks that took time to call ed in on The Man vs. Art Minion Hotline and give a nickel’s worth of their two cents for this episode!
Ever notice that whenever you begin an new artistic project like a new book, painting, portfolio, short film, etc that the darned Fear of Failure Demon always seems to drop in to petrify you? You spend sleepless gut wrenching nights where all you can imagine is doom. You toss and turn with dark visions of both yourself and your art as objects of scorn, ridicule, or even worse objects of pity. So you put off trying for the thousandth time, and ditch your dreams. Ask the top painters, cartoonists, designers, illustrators, comic creators, animators, poets, writers, directors, and they will all claim that they are no different! They too have had to deal with the Fear of Failure Demon and have had their shares of crushing disappointment.
I’d like to give a shout out to Krishna Sadashivam The creator of the killer web comic PC Weenies! He called in and left a voice mail question on the Man vs. Art Minion Hotline! He asks what animation studios are looking for in terms of Storyboard Artist Portfolios. Check out the podcast if you want to know what I had to say on that.
Born in 1920 Isaac Asimov was a writer of some of the greatest classic Science Fiction stories of the last hundred years. Of his works The Foundation Series… The Galactic Empire series and his Robot series were major contributions to the world of sci-fi literature. And These are just a few among the 500 books that he wrote or edited in his lifetime.
In particular Asimov’s Robot series generated 2 lasting concepts in science fiction including the invention of a robot’s ‘Positronic’ brain and the 3 laws of Robotics. Both concepts were featured in the movies ‘The Bicentennial Man’ and ‘I Robot’ which were loosely based on his characters.
Lastly I’d like to present you with some samples of the 2D Traditional and some 3D digital Animation my students did from my History and Principles of Animation and Timing for Animation Classes at the Gnomon School of Visual effects in Hollywood California.
Jerry Beck Cartoon Animation Super Curator on the Man vs. Art Podcast! Jerry Beck is an animation historian, cartoon producer and is the L.A Editor of the mind bogglingly cool animation blog http://www.cartoonbrew.com! He joined me for a little cartoon talk on Man vs. Art today and it’s my pleasure to share it with you.
I’m going to make a big sweeping generalization right now. I’m going to “paint with a broad brush” so to speak.
It’s tough being an Artist.
Yup.
It always has been I suppose. There’s a bunch of crap we have to put up with! But you know which artists have it the worst I think?
Little kid artists. Especially lower income little kids. In the hood there is no support for the arts. The kids have no access to supplies, equipment, training, mentors, books, or even a place to sit down and draw. Luckily for the young artists in El Monte California there is a guy like Enrique Diaz, a wonderful and generous man driven by a great passion for the arts!
Today I want to rip apart and put to rest 7 awful myths and misconceptions about of art!
These Myths are totally wrong and mess up the integrity and purpose of art.
1. Art means whatever people want it to mean.
No way Jose! A professional artist, always has intention, and it’s his job to communicate that intent through mastering their craft and applying their skill in the form of hard work.
2. Art is all a matter of opinion and is subjective.
Hello! Every kind of response to art is an opinion, so that’s not news. What the myth implies is that all opinions are equally valid. That is FALSE! Some opinions are better than others. Opinions that are based on better reasoning are much stronger than opinions based on bad or zero reasoning!
Not all art is subjective. Some art is objectively good, and some art is objectively bad. The correct assessment depends on the evaluation of the criteria, not on the viewer’s whims or tastes.
