Friends of Heracles 2

Here are more gods from Mt Olympus.

Friends of Heracles 1

On Mt. Olympus, Heracles has a reunion with his fellow gods. Here are the first four.

The Animan Selz Store Goes Under!

Today, I came home from my exhausting outside job. When I checked my e-mail, this message was there waiting for me. It's from Selz, through whom I have been selling my videos.
I just wanted to reach out personally because we have some bad news about going ahead with you as a seller with us. We've just (today) found out that we are in big trouble with our banking partner if we continue to offer our services to sellers of adult materials, and unfortunately this will mean that we will need to close your account. Basically this sucks - there's no good way to say it, and I personally feel terrible about it because I know that there are hardly any options out there for sellers like you which seems unfair, seriously old fashioned and shortsighted.
As much as we wish we could keep you on, we simply can't as doing so would mean that we are operating outside the (severely conservative) terms of our payment partner and we just cannot do that. We've tried to think of every possible way to keep on sellers from your genre but at the moment we don't have any options that don't put us in breach of contract to partners to whose rules we need to comply. Our whole team is really disappointed that this is the way it has to be but the 'big guys' give us no choice.

Going forward you'll be paid out as normal this week and next, but starting in about half an hour our system will start to lock down adult accounts which means that your products won't be available for sale through us.

Again, I'm really sorry about this - you've been a really valued user of ours, given us so much awesome feedback and while we've had our ups and downs we've had a lot of fun communicating with you over the past year and a half.

At this moment, I'm not quite sure what to do. My deepest apologies to those of you who have tried to order an Animan video through Selz and were not able to do so. 

I'll need to re-organize things--and that will take a day or two.

This has been quite a year for me! What's next? (I'm afraid to ask!)

Heracles' Second Two Labours

In the original story, Heracles had many labours to overcome, but the Animan version has whittled the number down to four. 

3. The Erymanthian Boar

4. The Cretan Bull

Heracles' First Two Labours

Animan's "Heracles" is still in production, but it's getting there. At most, it will take another month. If I'm lucky, it will be finished before that. Nobody can say at this point!

In the first half of the movie, Heracles must perform 4 labours--that is, he must fight against some monstrous beings and win. Here are the first two of his adversaries.

1. THE NEMEAN LION

2. THE 5-HEADED HYDRA

An Idea Sketch

I was going through my computer files, and I found this sketch I made about 2 years ago. This is what finally became the video of "The Sheriff of Lone Gulch." My original idea was that the sheriff came into the saloon--the girl was trying to wink and get friendly with him, but he didn't care---he just ignored her, and went to the room where the outlaw Manny, was staying. When I finally made the video, the saloon girl was the first thing to disappear!  She didn't help the story, and I don't think the fans cared about her.

It's clear to see that this first design of the Sheriff is not very good. His hat is OK, but it doesn't have an attractive cartoon design to it. The Sheriff's face needs some changing to be more handsome. His chest and arms are nice and muscular, but his legs and butt need to be bigger to have a good balance and to look sexier. 

You can see that at this stage, I had no idea how to draw the inside of a cowboy saloon. I had to watch a few western movies to see what a real saloon looks like. I thought you would like to see this sketch and compare it with the finished video.

A First Peek at Hercules

Heracles is far from finished. But in the upcoming posts, I'll be showing drawings of some of the characters. This first scene is the court of King Eurystheus. He's the one who gives Heracles the labours to perform.  This building is like the tavern in Animan's Carmen. It has 3D walls, decorated with actual artwork from Ancient Greece.

Animan's Non-porn Animation?

If you've never heard of Kickstarter, it's a site which helps musicians, artists and authors get their projects off the ground. If some people so wish, they can even donate some money to help the project get started. There's a video on the site to watch for people to become acquainted with the book/music/artwork, etc. The video can always be watched for free!

A good friend of mine is receiving donations for his novel on this site. Along with helping to support me as Animan, this friend has done me about a zillion favors, so I wanted to do something for him. Although his novel is not exclusively gay, it does have some gay characters in it, so I decided to add some animated scenes to his video for fun. Here are some screengrabs.

 

                                               

Watch the free video

Another Animan video clip on Tumblr

Click these words to go to Animan's Tumblr blog.

Advertising Art--the Good and the Bad

I have an old copy of Playboy magazine from 1966, and it's filled with all sorts of interesting art. Here's a nicely-drawn sketch of Dad parading around in his tighty-whities, and as you can see, good manners insist that he keep his "unmentionable body parts" strapped in to the max--the flatter, the better.

This next picture is really something. The image of the all-American man with slim, long legs is understandable, but this is just stretching things all out of proportion!

Centaurettes

Some drawings of the female centaurs ("centaurettes") in Disney's Fantasia.

Animan Drawings and Clips on Tumblr

You can see some of my other Animan art on my Tumblr blog, here!

Fantasia in Brazil

When I was in the hospital,  my only pleasure was playing with my iPad. During the few times that I could get my wi-fi to work, I was able to find some great pictures.

Here's my favorite. In 1941, Walt Disney and his group of about 20 artists, composers and technicians went to South America to gather material to make the animated films Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros.  They visited Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru.

Disney's visit in Rio de Janeiro Brazil coincided exactly with the Brazilian premiere of Disney's 2 hour color spectacle FANTASIA. I find this theatre billboard for the film absolutely amazing! ("Fantasia will amaze-ya!") The display is truly a work of art and a magnificent example of the Brazilian flair for showmanship.

The next picture suggests that the artists must have given a demonstration of their drawing and cartooning skill for the audience. It may or may not be in the theatre shown above.

This is the third photo of the set, and seems to be a scene in a Brazilian nightclub, and it's possible that the Disney artists were there that night enjoying the show!

Hercules!

Greek mythology tells us that Hercules was a big, beautiful guy with muscles of steel and a heart of gold. The Disney film version also confirms this.  It's Hercules' goodness that sometimes gets him into trouble, since his enemies try to manipulate his emotions to their benefit.

The Animan version will not be sufficiently long to feature these virtuous character traits, but it will focus more on the hero's physical ASSets. I realize that I'm animating a true mythological hero, and so I must try to convey that, somehow. 

I get inspired by this statue of the big guy--he looks good from any angle (I wonder what the back view is like?!) :D

Animan Goes to Tumblr.

I have been informed that blogspot will be eliminating many adult-themed blogs in the coming month. There's a very good chance that Animan's World will not survive the change, so I have started a new blog at:
http://mraniman.tumblr.com/

I've always used blogger, so I'm used to it. Unfortunately, Tumblr is set up in a different way, so I have to spend time experimenting with it. At the moment, the Animania page is very plain-looking. But it's a start!

Getting Back to Normal

After my long hospital stay, I came home and turned on my computer. It was like coming back to an old friend. At first, I felt a little bit lost, but soon I got back on the track. There are so many scenes in the Hercules video, and so many characters to draw, but I have the final plan all sketched out and completed. All I have to do is follow the plan.

Scene by scene, I turn each still sketch into a completed, animated color scene, and put it into the timeline. There are lots and lots of actions to animate,  so it's a real challenge.

Working on animation is very good therapy for me--it takes my mind off of any physical discomfort I may still feel after my operation.

I found a nice painting of Hercules, so I'd like to share it here. 

Animan is Home!

I have just returned from my 16-day stay in the hospital. As you can see, I'm able to sit at my computer now.

I was mistaken about the location of the cancer. This is the correct place.

When I came back from the operating room, I was a bundle of pain. I had a tube in my throat which caused me to keep my mouth open during the operation--my tongue became swollen, and completely dry, so I could barely talk. My abdomen was all stitched up, and had that awful feeling--like doing ab crunches to the point of exhaustion, and then doing a hundred more! For a moment, I wanted to escape from my painful prison.

My partner of many years was there to watch over me. He would bring my water to me so I could sip through a straw. I wasn't allowed to drink---just enough to wet my mouth. I was so afraid of the walls of my throat sticking together--I had to be careful during the first hours, to keep my throat moist, somehow. I had to watch out for myself.

My partner asked if I wanted him to stay all night--I hesitated, because he had work the next morning (until 2 in the afternoon). But when I saw how weak I had become, I had no choice. He said he didn't mind at all. So all evening long, and all night long, he watched over me, giving me water, raising or lowering the bed angle, etc. From the corner of my eye, I could see him. That whole night long, his bed was the little folding chair in the corner.

All through the night, I had access to morphine, but it was never enough to block out the pain.

At 7 in the morning, my partner left for work. It was just the time that the nurses started regularly coming into my room, so I could ask them to help me. 2 hours later, they forced me to stand up, so I could go over to weigh myself. But the morphine had made me dizzy and nauseous, and every step was torture--my empty stomach was trying to regurgitate, but it couldn't. I broke out in an ice-cold sweat. I felt as if I were in hell!

After that, I began to improve, and that afternoon, I started slowly walking through the corridors of the hospital. And they removed the tube from my throat. But my throat is still rough and dry, even now. I guess it will take time to heal.

At about 5:30, my partner came back for another visit. At 6:30, I sent him home to get the good night's sleep he was lacking.

My wi-fi was still working, so I was always checking my e-mail. Words of encouragement, love and help were pouring into my address from Friends of Animan from all over the world! And the words were filled with love and goodness; they were healing me.

I will always be very thankful and grateful to those kind friends who took a moment from their busy day, to send Animan (me) a word of encouragement and healing. And I'll be forever thankful to the guy who uncomplainingly spent that first long, angst-ridden night in the little folding chair in the corner.

I'm Hanging in There

Thank you everyone, for your wonderful get-well messages. They work on me like a powerful tonic!

With all the time I suddenly have for thinking, it dawned on me that there has been a lot of cancer on my mother's side. She passed away from it about 2 years ago. 12 years before that, her little sister died from breast cancer. Grandma also died of cancer, if I'm not mistaken, as did her older sister. On my dad's side,  none of that. Doctors insist the disease isn't hereditary. Hmmmm.

My stitched-up abdomen isn't as painful as it was. The tube in my nose was removed the 2nd day. And they removed that nasty old catheter from my weiner the next day. Piece by piece, I'm being restored.

My impression of receiving an operation is that it's very much like being struck and almost killed by lightning. One's equilibrium is almost destroyed--standing up or walking become impossible. The doctors have perfected about 300 steps which must be followed in order to correct what has been temporarily lost. Some steps are for the doctor or nurse to carry out exactly--some are for the patient to do. Healing is a natural process, but since this is directed, maximised healing, there's a lot of discipline involved. For example, I don't dare cough, because it hurts like hell. If I need to cough, I'll do it, but as little as possible. I'm sure this will make me stronger than I was. I know that this whole surgical adventure made me a bigger man, but that was only until the swelling went down.

I'll continue the updates until I'm back to Animan-ness once again!

ALL IS WELL:)

I survived the operation and am undergoing some slightly painful rehabilitation.

Hospital Update

I met with 3 doctors today and found that my sickness is worse than I thought: it's cancer. I have been put on the semi-emergency list, and surgery will be at 6:00am on Thursday February 5, New York time.

The cancer is in the top corner of the colon, just under the stomach. The diseased portion of the colon will be removed, and the ends sewn together. 

The 2 days of bland food are over--I am now on an IV. The idea of being cut open does not delight me, but it's the only option at this time. I still have a lot of things I want to do in this lifetime.

Many thanks to those of you who have helped support me as Animan these past few years. You will never know how much I appreciate every bit of it!

If I can get my wi-fi to work, I hope to write another update before the operation. If I can't, then please know: everything's going to be all right!

Lots of love, Animan.