Organizing

I came to some decisions about how I want to start and organize the new endeavor. I decided that Squeaktoy will be the umbrella site which will host all of my artistic endeavors. This includes illistration, freelance, sketchbook and other portfolio pieces.

But the animation shorts are something different and should be hosted by an affiliated but seperate company. This is because the ultimate goal is to collaberate with non-profits and organizations and create animated shorts that will promote issues. As much as I love my squeaktoy label, it doens’t really say anything about this mission and therefore the company deserves a seperate branding. Something that speaks to what I’m trying to do.

So in the process of working on a children’s book with a friend, and taking up a few freelance projects, I am actively starting production on a short to promote my feelings about gun violence. It is only forty seconds long and hopefully I can have it fully animated by the summer. My hope is that I can give it away to like-minded organizations before the election season. My motivation is three-fold:

It is an issue I care about.

I need to wet my feet on something to learn how to animate in 2-d again.

It will be my portfolio piece to launch my new company

I feel all of this is appropriately ambitious given my time constrants. But it is doable. My plan is to finish crafting this website right around the time I am ready to launch the sort so I can similtaniously put it out there and point to this site.

Exciting times! I’m super jazzed about 2016.