Reblog if you’re 30 or older
This is an experiment to see if there really are as few of us as people think.You can also use this to freak out your followers who think you’re 25 or something. Yay!
…Older. :)
*Angrily huffs*
I was going to turn this blog into a new art blog for me to get a fresh start…..
I SHOULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!!!
WALT DISNEY PRODUCTION WORKERS NEED YOUR HELP!
Hey fam! The Mouse is refusing to recognize the unionization efforts of its production workers. If you're not familiar with what PAs or PMs do, I'll outline it briefly. The tl;dr is that NO ANIMATION WOULD GET DONE WITHOUT PRODUCTION WORKERS. They are the glue holding together every single production of your very favorite cartoons!
- They take notes in all the meetings with the artists.
- They make sure the artists are meeting their deadlines (and showing up to the meetings in the first place).
- They help us navigate studio servers to find the files we're looking for.
- They send us our time cards, and make sure we get paid!
Production workers do all this and more, often for minimum wage. The hardships that they suffer as a result--the long hours, the unpaid overtime, the abuses of power--are horrific.
You'd really think that they'd be compensated fairly for these jobs! Can you imagine trying to live in Los Angeles or New York on minimum wage with a job that definitely won't allow you time to pick up a second or third one??
This has to stop, and you can help.
All that Walt Disney Animation Studio's production workers ask is that you add your name to this petition! That's it.
This isn't some Change.org petition. It's not going to sell your email to spam companies. This is through IATSE (our union)'s website.
TELL DISNEY YOU STAND WITH PRODUCTION WORKERS!!!
if you're not in this job, you would never know how intense, involved, and straight up complex animation production is, but because it's mainly administrative, behind the scenes, and most skills are taught, production staff are often viewed as highly replaceable and unimportant. not everyone is nice to us, and more and more studios are stripping production personnel of our "corporate" status, meaning if the show ends or gets cancelled, studios aren't required to relocate us to another one. when this happens to artists, the guild protects them, but production will lose all benefits and will need to file for unemployment until they can find a new job (which isn't easy in the animation industry these days!). remember, a season of a show takes only about a year and a half to make. losing all benefits and having to file for unemployment every year and a half is NOT a way to build a career nor is it a stable and sustainable way to live!
to follow up on OP's points, here's some more stuff production staff does:
STORYBOARD AND ANIMATIC
- managing the master project file, which sometimes means scanning, cropping, camera adjusting, and typing hundreds or even thousands of panels, dialogue, and action notes by hand into storyboard pro if the artist drew them in photoshop or traditionally
- pinning up and taking down boards for pitches and reviews (yes, manually, with push pins on walls). every note drawn on those pieces of paper needs to be scanned and sent to the artists.
- inputting new and revised panels into the board project file and then exporting them to the animatic editor, which necessitates memorizing the board front to back because artists don't always track their panels or tell you which ones have been updated and you have to know instinctively.
- conforming, which means going panel by panel and comparing it to every frame of the animatic to make sure they're a complete match, which happens multiple times and usually requires quick turnarounds.
RECORD
- reaching out to recording studios, voice directors, and talent agencies to coordinate record times and availabilities.
- creating the schedules, typing up scripts, adding line numbers, updating line counts, exporting boards, collecting audition tapes, arranging catering, watermarking literally everything, and making sure everyone involved gets the right stuff and the most updated versions of that stuff ahead of time.
- circle takes.
- sending the raw selects to the dialogue editor, arranging radio plays, and sending the clean selects to the animatic or post editors.
DESIGN AND SHIPPING
- creating all the templates artists need to design a show's assets (hundreds of them!), which includes pulling board references so they know exactly what to draw, compiling brush libraries, mood boards, and vis dev pieces.
- tracking the progress of hundreds of designs across multiple episodes in every stage they're in (and as OP said, making sure the artists turn them in on time).
- creating a reference list (a GIANT spreadsheet breaking down every single use of every single design in every single scene of the episode--takes DAYS to create for just one episode!)
- preparing shipments of everything the animation production facility (usually international) needs to make the cartoon, which involves a lot of exporting, layer adjustments, cropping, re-exporting, and cataloguing.
POST
- acting as the main point of contact for those overseas animation facilities, which often means trying to field questions from a non-native english speaker every day.
- making sure the showrunner and exec producer review weeklies/dailies quickly and thoroughly and the notes get to the overseas studio on time.
- configuring the retake list so the production can stay under budget (determining retake categories and footage count, which are connected to prices--involves a surprising amount of math!)
- assembling retake materials, including creating lists of tasks for artists to do, getting them the shots or designs they need to fix, and making sure all fixes are completed in time.
CONTRACTS
- negotiating rates with every non-corporate player involved in the making of a cartoon and making sure all NDAs and legal contracts are signed and correct.
LEGAL, TRACK READ, TIMING, CHECKING, EXECS, ACCOUNTING
- sending boards, designs, animatics, (and as OP said, time cards) to dozens of people with highly specified jobs who require very specific items to do those jobs, making sure they get them at the right times, and making sure whatever they send back (be it notes, sheets, or lists) makes it to the appropriate party so the right action is taken.
and this is all in addition to very stereotypical secretarial work like taking notes at meetings like OP said, managing the showrunner and producer's calendars, and maintaining a pleasant atmosphere for the crew (coordinating game nights, decorating the office, organizing parties or lunches, etc.). production is expected to know everything, what's going on at all times, and how to fix it, which is a lot of work and often, a lot of pressure!
tl;dr:
SUPPORT PRODUCTION UNIONIZATION EFFORTS!
Helping the link stand out:
This.
lumberjackloving
today is christmas eve so i want to take a moment to send some love to
- all the trans boys and nb people who are going to get ‘girly’ presents
- all the trans girls and nb people who are going to get ‘masculine’ presents
- all the lesbians who are going to be asked why they don’t have a boyfriend/husband
- all the gay boys who are going to be asked why they don’t have a girlfriend/wife
- all the closeted kids who are going to have to listen to their families being homophobic, transphobic, and bigoted
- all the lgbt kids who have to spend time with their abusive family members
- all the lgbt kids who are spending christmas alone bc they are unwelcome around family
- all the trans boys and nb people who are going to have to dress wrong and will be misgendered
- all the trans girls and nb people who are going to have to dress wrong and will be misgendered
you still have a community that loves you. i wish you the safest christmas you can have
To the people in the notes: we are holding hands now
It’s that time of the year again
Poinsettias actually aren't any more toxic to cats than most household plants. The idea that they're highly toxic is a myth and it would take your cat eating A LOT for there to be any serious issues.
The rest of these plants are accurate though and I want to stress the lilies especially. Lilies are one of the most common ornamental plants for people to keep in their homes and also one of the most dangerous for cats; even licking a bit of pollen from their fur or drinking water from the vase can cause a cat to experience fatal kidney failure. If you have cats, just don't bring lilies into your home at all. It's not worth it.
That includes daylilies, tiger lilies, Easter lilies, and tulips, which are often included in lists of "safe" plants but are absolutely not safe. Tulips are part of the lily family and just as toxic to cats.
if twitter actually does collapse completely ill be extremely sad about how much art and history is being devoured by it, but at the moment I'm kind of just in awe of the grim spectacle of elon musk getting shoved down the stairs by the people he tried to bully (albeit less literally this time)
here's your reminder to shill your artist friends really hard right now. tumblr not having a discoverability algorithm makes it difficult to reach a wide audience on here
hey I have some advice for people that wish they could do more to support artists but maybe can’t do as much financially!!!
- leave really positive comments on things you like, and make them as specific as possible.
Literally, nothing makes my day more than a comment that’s really taken the time to analyze my art and describe WHAT about it they liked. this is really helpful for artists for a couple reasons:
- many artists have adhd, anxiety, or some other flavor of Brain Stuff, and either respond VERY VERY STRONGLY to praise or (unfortunately) maybe just have a hard time believing their art deserves praise (IT DOES!!)
- when comments are specific, that’s sooooooo much more helpful to grow! It’s a lot easier to figure out what you’re doing successfully when people tell you what their favorite part of your art is. But it can also help when you notice your joke doesn’t seem to be landing or if people are reacting a lot differently than you were expecting, and then you can better gauge how to course correct for next time. What stood out to you? Was it visual, aka lines, color, stylization, or composition? Or was it more emotional, aka dialogue, expressions, or poses? How did you feel looking at it?
- it feels nice HDHSHJFJD but it does! Plus it works out your art analysis brain a little bit, and you’ll get more precise the more you do it. I love being a little cheerleader in the tags of my friends’ art. Gas em up and give em kisses on the cheek.
Don’t get me wrong, I love all comments. I love people who I can tell make an effort to comment something, even if it’s just a keysmash or incoherent wailing or a simple “I really like this op!” I also LOVE comments that are funny “op you are feeding me like a baby bird” (I have a little folder for screenshots of my favorites heehee).
But, again, it is really appreciated when people give specific, analytic comments. those are comments that turn me into a weeping little puddle. And this is not a “if you never ever comment you’re evil” post, it’s just saying if you do, we notice and thank you for it!
Anonymous asked
Do you consider cat declawing to be unethical, and if so, what would you consider to be the best alternative?
yeah declawing is ABSOLUTELY unethical from a medical standpoint, and I’ll tell you why!
so this is what a cat’s paw looks like on the inside:
take a quick second to look it over, and note which parts of it are actually touching the ground and bearing the cat’s weight.
it’s the “palm” and the ends of the toes, right?
well, that’s the problem. so you probably ALSO noticed that the cat’s claws are actually attached to those last toe bones, which is why when a cat is declawed, they remove that entire last toe joint like this:
so the issue is, the bone that was bearing the cat’s weight is gone. it no longer exists. this forces the weight of the cat’s body onto the end of the second bone, here:
and that’s a HUGE fucking problem. that bone was never meant to touch earth, the ends of it are covered in nerves and connective tissue instead of padding! putting weight on it WILL cause the cat pain, chronic-for-the-rest-of-your-life pain!
cats are terrible about actually expressing pain, but if you pay attention to how declawed and non-declawed cats walk, you’ll notice that declawed cats put their feet down much more gingerly and are more hesitant with their first steps.
and this is because it hurts.
please don’t declaw your cat. just use claw caps or keep their nails trimmed.
thanks for attending my TED talk bye