why do you want to animate? (with 'life update')

I've decided to apply to I-Animate.net for the next semster/class/thingy.

I've decided to hold off on starting the 'spacegirl' comic/graphic novel right now.
I'll keep working at refining the first story. But right now...I think I need to focus on 3d animation. (iow: I need to focus on getting a job animating)
(EDIT: i'm not sure about this. )


I think I've decided on Huntsville as my place of residence for the next year and a half.

Working on drawings now...I'll update later in the day.

edit:
I was on the 11secondclub forums earlier and i saw a thread marked 'why do you animate?'
or something to that degree. This is my (shortened) response. I could (and kind of wanted to) expand this
to include the people i've met, the things, i've learned, etc etc. But I don't think that would
qualify as an animation-related response. That would be more of a 'how did you get to this point in your life? What have you learned so far?'' kind of response.

Here was what I posted:

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This is more of a ramble. I tried to put only the most important stuff in here. 


I was influenced more by comics than animation.
I've 'always' watched animation but never really thought of it as something i wanted to do.
Loved stuff from Jones, Avery, Freleng, but never thought about why.
I liked to draw and comics seemed to touch on things that animation didn't. (sci-fi, drama, etc)
So it was comics...then animation. Or maybe comics, live-action, then animation.

One of my turning points happened when I saw Akira when i was...about 9.
I'd never seen anything like it before. I was used to animation being silly slapstick stuff (which is awesome)
but never saw anything like what i was seeing other than in live action or in comic books.
(both having limitations of what could be done).

Left high school. Wanted to go to art school to study comics. Couldn't afford it. So I studied Mech engineering for about 2 years. Switched to graphic design (because i wanted to draw more) and tried to bring my love of comics into that.


Then I saw The Incredibles.
Like Akira, it showed me what could be done with animation. But it took it up a notch...there was real acting. Real emotion. Real...everything. I think that was the first movie that I saw in a theater more than once and the first movie i took the time to analyze. After that, I decided that I wanted to storyboard for animation. Animation seemed really tedious and boring. I looked (without knowing where to look) for info about how storyboard and started drawing all the time everyday. At this time I started watching and analyzing movies and shows that were more drama/romance/acting-focused.

Graduated college with the idea:
'OK dammit. This is it! Time to go learn what I've been wanting to learn! I'm going to art school to learn animation!'

Didn't really start to love animating until last year. My reaction: 'holy crap!....I can make drawings move the way I want them to! I can build my own worlds! I'm a god!'
I still get that excited when animating. I don't think that will change. 


I've found that I can (most of the time) express myself...my ideas better visually. Through a loose drawing, a painting, whatever. Sometimes the idea comes through a rough drawing and it's enough...but sometimes it's limited. Where the basic idea is there...but to really push it through...you have to have several images to show it. Comics can do that...but sometimes that's not enough. Animation allows me to fine tune and get the idea to a point where....well...i get full control of a character. I can put little things in the face. I can have some things speed up and slow down and have those changes show something that people can identify with.  Where they say: 'hey! yeah! I know what that feels like!' (Like the Incredibles did with me) And sometimes, like other methods, animation may not be the best method to show an idea.

I don't always consider myself an animator. Animating is something I CAN DO. It's something I want to master. It's something I want to do for a living. Most importantly, it's a way I want to express myself. It's a way I want to use to communicate. To show people ideas in a way that they've never seen before.
That's why I want to animate.