Animators of the Drome, UNITE!!
 

I have a dream... not that I have time to fulfill it now, not that I'll have time in the next decade... but hopefully with the profession I'm working towards, I'll eventually be making way the heck more money than I would as an animator and thus would be able to spare some money maybe to produce a really high-quality hand-animated TMNT movie. I have a lot of animation contacts, as well -- not that they aren't insanely busy too, but they are freaking good, as in Disney/Pixar good. I know a few of them must be TMNT fans...

Anyways. Even in the midst of my studies, I am keeping alive my drawing skills (and animation in the summer -- just orderered a new pegbar:D ). Make sure you keep in contact with other artists and animators and just people in general -- contacts are key to success. Even great talent can go unnoticed if you don't have someone to put in a good word for you somewhere. Keep in touch with friends who are especially good writers (as in disturbingly talented scriptwriter good), because the basis of a good movie is a strong, tight story. And dialogue, too.

So, that's my dream. Now, how many animators or "wanna-be" animators do we have here? (As of now, I fall into the latter category.) I'm saying we'll make a pact as members of the Technodrome forums: some day, before we all die or become invalids, we are going to make a high-quality hand-animated TMNT movie that takes full advantage of the beauty of the movement of martial arts, of the shadows and stealth associated with ninjitsu, and has a strong story with good dialogue that isn't a slave to cliches, pop culture, and bad jokes, etc.

Well... at the very least, is anyone interested?

*raises hand* Definite wanna-be here. Hoping to get into the major at college and get trained not to suck.

That is indeed one of the things I have thought wistfully about... a hand-animated TMNT feature, done in the same kind of tone the old comics were ('cept maybe a little lighter on the gore). And with a kickbutt story that would make nobody think of it as just shallow kiddie material. That's another dream of mine: stop the "TMNT are for 5 year olds" misconception.

Dunno if it would ever happen, but seeing such a thing happen (or working on it, even) would be incredibly awesome.

Uh, not an animator or an artist in that regard, but you need voice over people. There's where my talents lie, could you use someone to do the dialogue?

I'm majoring in Animation and Media Arts at my art school. I could do a variety of things--cartoons, movies, comics, illustrations, possibly even videogames. Cartoons are my interest though. I'd love to voice act for one someday.

Okay.:D Yeah, Jester. If that's what you're good at, then put this on your to-do list. (Heheh... maybe we can get you to do dying ninja sound effects:evilgrin: ) Any more?

And before anyone else jumps in, I assume that none of you guys are over the age of 60... because who knows how long it might take for us to put this together.

Ooooohhhh neat project, Fled!

As my animation skills and drawing skills leave alot to be desired compared to many others here, I offer my writing skills and my Martial arts and weapons training for technical support. (I have trained in all the weapons the guys use for many years, plus kamas, naginata, tonfa, yumi and yari)

Shouldn't that thread be in the Fan Art section?

I can help you with over-analysing and reading too much into your work. I'm fairly good at it.

I'm 73, mentally.

I'm all for life-long projects, Fled! Go for it.

I'm no animator. In fact I'd say that, on a professional level, I have just about zero artist skills. However, I do have an unusual and useful hobby: marketing. I'm far from a pro at it, but I'm very slowly gaining experience.

If you're serious about this, we should get in touch sans screen-names. I can provide references that will tell you I'm not an axe-wielding psycho, if you want them. I demand such references of others on occasion (online).

One of my best friends just completed a program of study in computer animation. I've never talked turtles with her, to my recollection, but she's totally kick-ass and serious. I used to do comic strips with her at lunch in high school. :)

hmm..I like this idea :-) You know what? I remember when Dreamwave was around a whole bunch of people got to be in the DW book of artists. 2 people I knew drew awsome work but DW said last mintue no to them and a few others but did the book anyways.

See this is artwork my friend Mark did of my character, second is my character and her brothers and to think THAT awsome talent ignoired by Dreamwave

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ghtkisses1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...fenderbots.jpg

But back to topic, I'd love to be part of this idea, count me in

Marketing, you say? I'm hoping to major in Marketing in June or September 2006... So, if anyone's interested in hiring a professional marketer... like me, for instance... Anyone? ... Hello?

I'll hire you ;) and keep you too

heheheh, I feel dumb now, I should also have offered my marketing and finance skills to the project.

bachelors in Marketing, masters in Finance, masters in Marketing....

eh whatever.

hopefully i add doctorate in Environmental science to that list too soon....um maybe for the ooze angle?

That's awesome! I thought about going for envr sci myself, long ago. I did animal science & cell bio instead. I'm thinking about going back for some kind of degree in marketing as well as a PhD in... something... can you have a PhD in "Undecided"? :lol:

Don't sell your martial arts skills short, Katie. I think that would be awesomely helpful to a project like this.

Edit:
When I mentioned marketing I wasn't really thinking of any financial aspect to any of this. I was thinking purely of spreading the word. I have no idea what Fled has in mind, if anything. Sounds like this is a "for the pure love of TMNT" type of thing? Or is there maybe a rough idea to have sanctioning by the Big E & L down the line? Or to work with the same?

Whenever I really dig a project I start thinking about the logistics needed to make sure something comes of it. Too many great ideas languish because there's no built-in mechanism to move them forward. But... if you build it... ;)

This would be one of those "for love of TMNT" and "for love of animation" kind of things. Sort of like Roger William's director's cut of The Thief and the Cobbler... except with a strong story. I am really hoping for some strong art.

The basis? Contacts and money. While I'm earning it, you may not see me for a long time. My job will have little to do with animation; that is why I am keeping animation as my ultimate extremely serious hobby. The ultimate goal is to actually make a film -- a good film, for fun and the fulfillment of making something great. I'm not ready yet to share my official identity with anyone -- not for a few years. In the meantime, next year my work might get so intense I won't be able to waste my extra minutes at the Drome. But I'm not the type to relinquish dreams. (Both gift and curse). Once my career has stabilized, I'll be back. Before I decide to take any long-term hiatus (as in a few years) I will establish contacts with interested board members.

If Laird is still alive by the time we get around to this (how old is the guy now?), we'll of course need to ask his permission to do something so huge... and PRAY that he doesn't want to get too involved. This will be our fan piece, a big-scale, professional quality fan piece.

I'm not asking you guys to start preparing now, but what I am saying is after we've all grown up, settled down with our jobs at Pixar and ILM, maybe before you go out and invest in a family... we should do this one thing. Marketing, VAs, great! Keep up your strengths. Continue to develop your talents! Just keep this in the back of your mind. Because these things can and do happen. Don't forget. Otherwise, I'll have to do it all myself.

Ah, I see what you're sayin' now. In that case, we'll need lawyers too.

LOL... Peter Laird is only 51. Soon to be 52 (January 27, according to his Wiki). It's 2006... he just might live for another 60 years.

What, you're the lost prince of Bavaria, hiding from assassins? You're on a mission to assassinate the lost prince of Bavaria and you're hiding from him?

Kidding... I never shared my identity with anyone until 2003, after 9 years online. Although if you're looking to network... I'm not sure how that would work for you.

Anyway, take my advice... at some point you want to set up some way to keep in touch with people on a RL level. A central point of contact. Because people drift in and out of forums, change email addresses, etc and so forth... and it happens quickly, often without warning. But since you're not ready for a RL level... I've got an idea, actually...

Set up a permanent webdomain. Explain the idea there. Set up an XML feed and recommend tags for the site, and explain to people how to tap it. Maybe use Google Groups... it's free and has a mailing list for those of us who are still XML-ignorant. So when you're ready to update your idea, everyone can get notified. All you have to do is keep the site in existence (no depressing "does not exist" messages), and keep telling people about it. Maybe some banners/buttons for other sites to post would help. ...There you go. Quick, easy, possibly free. No identity revealification necessary.

Well you could try doing this in small chapters or acts.

I'm actually very serious about this myself so much so that I tried to get in contact with Wayne Grayson and Sam Riegel for voice work. No luck yet and it's probably for the best because lately I've been leaning towards unknown voice talent. But, the most important thing is to get the animated short film done which I have yet to do. Oh God this is gonna be hell.

I'm in. PM me.

...
 

I'm intrigued by the idea of this. I want to get into Animation (I finally got Flash and Photoshop for my computer, both of which I've had experience with, as well as Maya). I'd like to see where this is going, though, before I commit to being a part of it. This does look like it could be promising, but keep in mind that - especially if you want this hand-drawn - it takes hundreds of people to make a quality animated film, and I doubt you'll find that many on this board alone. Nonetheless, keep me posted. I'm more than decent when it comes to both art and writing.

I'm a half-assed artistically-challenged Flash animator/graphic whatchamacallit who is willing to chip in a bit of blood, sweat and tears for the greater good. I fancy myself something of a writer, so I'll toss that hat into the ring as well.

And yeah, like I always do whenever I get the chance, I'm gonna plug my latest [read: 8 months old] flash movie: A Week in the Life of a Ninja.

I'm glad to see yet more people interested. No harm in that. This month is absolutely insane -- next month, too. I like that idea of setting up a permanent webdomain, though, and will try to get to it as soon as time allows. (I assume it will take more than a few spare minutes here and there, which is why I'm not on it now...)

Once again, keep your animation contacts. Find out who would give a rip about a hand-animated turtle movie and get those persons's infoszzzz... Even if they don't give a rip now, keep in contact. Contacts will save your life. And they will keep us together after we're 30 and decrepid.:P

Yeah, so this is kinda the preliminary sign on -- if this thread moves back a few pages, I will resurrect it, since it kinda has lots of valuable info already... anyways, good to see more faces.

Interesting flash, Damnhooligan...