What The Hell Is Wrong With The Pancakes Cartoon: The Direction and Attitude

Some final thoughts

     So I think I've analyzed just about every aspect of The Pancakes Cartoon and I covered just about all the main points. And with that, I figure it's time to address the root of all the problems I've had with the whole thing. Because the cartoon could have been good if it only had bad drawings. It could have been good if it only had a bad story. It could have been good if it only had bad animation. It could have been good if it only had technical problems. But the fact that all the categories I brought up were done either mediocre or poorly, I think it all points to one thing: the thought process behind each and every step.

     I had a good feeling going into the cartoon. It was something that Justin and I had been talking about for a while, and we were dreaming big. The story didn't ware on me, and neither did the voice acting. We enjoyed animating starting out, but then it just kept going. And going. And going...

     And before you know it, we were getting bored with the project. After our initial excitement wore off, The Pancakes Cartoon, like so many other comics and art school projects I did, became something that merely needed to be finished. Not something to enjoy while creating, but a task or chore. Above all else, I think that attitude is what lead to the mediocrity that is The Pancakes Cartoon.

     You can just tell when somebody enjoys what they do or what they make, and in this cartoon, I think you can tell we were both just churning out a product. And that's not a knock on commercial art; a lot of my favorite cartoons were released by big studios like Warner Bros, and Disney, and Nickelodeon. I'm just saying that it didn't feel personal. It didn't have a point of view. Anybody in the world could have made this cartoon if they sat down and worked on it for a few months.

     Sure, the amount of time put into the cartoon is impressive, but it's just that much more disappointing when the finished product was utterly forgettable. I feel like my little pancakes joke could have been good for a few laughs, but when the time came for me to start the cartoon, I just went through the story with no revisions or so much as a second thought. When I would ask people what they thought of it weeks or even months later, they said they liked it even though they don't remember much of what it was about. Yeah, that's a great sign.

     The worst thing about the cartoon is that I, myself, don't find it very entertaining or worth watching. I feel like I'm just watching something that was begrudgingly done with the sole purpose of just being finished, and no thought towards what it was even about. That really is the problem since it affected just about every aspect of the cartoon. And it affected a lot of my other cartoons. And, quite frankly, I'm getting sick of it. I only wished I realized this problem sooner.

     Once I finished the cartoon, I started on my next project, a remake of the cartoon above, that I made back in 2009. And I was going to make the same mistakes all over again, because I went in with the same attitude. I put a lot of work into it, but I'm glad I stopped before I put too much work into an ultimately uninteresting project. Maybe I'll post the video with the storyboards and the voices, but that's for another post another time.

     Getting to the point, I honestly can't justify why I would want to make anything half-assed. There's no need for it, especially for entertainment. I want to make cartoons that I can actually be proud of, even if it's just a stupid comedy. Most of all, I want my work to mean something, even if it only means something to me.

     My theory about doing what you love is to be selfish about it. And I say that because, if you don't really like what you're doing, what makes you think anyone else will? That's why I want to focus on these studies for right now (even though I haven't done one in weeks) because I want to use those skills to enhance the stories I want to tell. Even if I don't get the skills down as fast as I like, I want to focus on just making stuff that I like while improving those skills.

     And I can understand wanting to just get stuff done, like homework or car payments, but you should never have that attitude towards something you claim to enjoy. It took me my whole childhood to figure that out, and while I could mope about the wasted time, I prefer to at least start getting better now.

     So, if you're an artist/writer/entertainer or whatever that might be reading this and you're not satisfied with what you're doing, there's still time to learn. Look at me. Here I'm 21 and I'm only just now taking the time to learn the skills I need to figure out what I want to do with my work. You need passion in your work if you want it to mean anything. You need to be your own worst critic because nobody else can do that for you. It might suck having to be humble and tear yourself down, but it's a hell of a lot better than somebody else doing it, right? If you truly enjoy what you do, you'll have to go through personal hardships to get better. Otherwise what's the point? Would you rather churn out bland forgettable products, or would you rather make something that means something to you and maybe even other people?