More Ducks. Further Tales!!

Did I hear somebody say MORE DUCKTALES??? No? Well this is awkward. Cause I kiiinda already went and made more fanart and whoops!

Now it's on the internet. No undoing it now.

Yes, I've still been watching Ducktales, though less recklessly now. Maybe I'll slow down a bit and try to savor the last few episodes before I launch myself back out into the Show Void (or just rewatch more Ducktales).

I've just come out of a kinda weird week - I had the chance to spend each morning watching my brother and his classmates deliver their senior thesis speeches (online, of course) which was good change of pace but a killer for my productivity. I felt like I was mastering quarantine two weeks ago - making a piece for the Character Design Challenge, exercising, and even taking an online class on perspective drawing (my old enemy). But last week (although I did complete all my major goals, barely) I still felt a little off each day, maybe due to starting work around 2 PM or maybe even burnout from the week before. And it didn't help that my final assignment for the perspective class came up pitifully short of my expectations, despite all the cubes and planes I had been drawing the week before. Comparing these weeks (in addition to watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off) has led me to consider what really is the best way to use all this quarantine time. On one hand, this is an incredibly rare time in American history where productivity isn't a priority. We're encouraged to stay home, dabble in new hobbies, and watch brothers give amazing speeches on astounding topics. What a gift! But the competitive side of me considers how much more I could get ahead if I use this time to better myself and my craft. Get off Twitter, read quality literature. Stay inside, and take online classes. Maybe I can use this time to set myself up better for a career. Maybe I can exit this summer/covid break with a defined and impressive resume of achievements and learning. Surely that's what the people I'll be competing with for jobs are doing? If I don't will I fall behind? Even when life gets put on hold, the worries of someone aiming for an artistic career keep on going :P

And as I wrote a few weeks ago in this post, there are better and worse ways to spend leisure time, but can you leisure so hard that it becomes work? Whether in times of quarantine or no, I strive to use each day wisely. And as in most things, the wise way is probably the intermediate between slothfulness and busy-ness. I've noticed the days are passing by almost as quickly as they do in college (which is a super busy time for me). So maybe it's time to find ways to appreciate the moment. But I also do earnestly think that this is a great time to create, and learn, and (just possibly) draw in accurate perspective. That last one may not happen, but I have HIGH, 3 POINT HOPES. And so I'll keep doing those things too. I've been trying to read good books and watch good movies (which at this point means Return of the King and Kung Fu Panda 2) which feels like a good mix of leisure and learning - filling the mind with good things and experiences that I can draw on once this whole thing comes to a much anticipated end.

Speaking of that glorious moment, I cannot WAIT to go to a zoo. Is this just me? Cause I really miss it. Drawing animals, the earthy and somewhat bad smell, the themed areas and architecture - I am so ready to get back into it all. Who knows when that will happen...

But until then, and hopefully after, I will be here, rambling about things and hoping they're at least somewhat helpful to you :) Oh and before I go here's that Character Design Challenge piece I was talking about earlier:

a big thanks to nurses, past and present!

May you continue to weather these times with grace, courage, and creativity!
-dh

DUCKTALES!! (Woo-oo)

BLATHERING BLATHERSKITE!

Sooo.... I've been watching a LOT of Ducktales (2017) recently. Like a whole lot. For the first part of quarantine I was in a show-less void but after watching clips of Ducktales' recent spy and Daisy episodes I figured it was time to jump back in. Seems to be a common theme of this quarantine for me - catching up on good shows that for some reason I stopped watching. But now, I am back. Everything is ducks. Life IS like a hurricane, as the theme song had tried (in vain) to warn me. I'm now in the late second season (and part of the third, I've been hopping around :P) and man it just keeps getting so good! Perhaps it's just because the show provides a timely escape to a world where you have ample funding for globe-trotting adventures, or a world where one can go globe-trotting at all (and in close proximity to friends, no less!) Or from a more intellectual standpoint, I think the show and its creators have really figured out who the characters are and can now just have fun with more nuanced storylines. I dunno, this is just all one duck's man's opinion. But the most recent episode did have both emotional storytelling and incredible aerial robot battles and any show that can do both is worth my Disney+ subscription!

All this Ducktales and derring-do has had the effect of strengthening even more my desire to really get out there and get a job in animation. Not that that hasn't been one of my goals for a while now, but watching good shows always gets me more excited about someday working on good shows - maybe contributing a prop design or two, or pitching some boards... And although Ducktales will likely be finished with production by the time I'm in "the industry" there's got to be similar stories just waiting to get made! And I want to be there makin' them. Ducktales' focus on adventure has also gotten me thinking about the next big upcoming adventure in my life which is the question of what's gonna happen after college. Not that I haven't been thinking about that for a while now, but now that I'm kinda a senior (I refuse to admit it until I actually step back on campus) the question grows ever more pressing in my mind. Of course, the answer will likely be something I did not plan and hardly could have expected - that's often how God works.

Such is the life of an adventurer ;)
-dh