contemplating the direction of all this

I have been thinking a lot about what I have been doing the last couple of weeks. The main thing is to have a simple project that will let me try out different aspects of animation, but I keep thinking well, okay, this interplanetary circus may make a good cartoon one day, eventually, but is it really the type of animation I most want to do? The answer is no. There are three or four projects that mean much more to me than the interplanetary circus even though I see its potential for lots of fun, I can't see a lot of depth there, at this point anyway.

Perhaps the most important project to me is the Nitcheketa project which is animation based on the traditional Indian Katho Upanishad story of Nitcheketa, a boy who goes into the underworld in search of the meaning of life. Over 2000 years old, it is a dramatic universal story, funny, in my mind anyway, has beautiful poetry and the potential for beautiful moving images and characters. I have been thinking about this story for ten years. I will put some images up later. Conceptually I keep imagining and reimagining it. The overall look is starting to come together now since I finished my last work contract a couple of months ago.

Another project is an animation on walking meditation. I was going to do it as a book at one stage, but I think it will really come to life in animation.

Another project is the Spiritual History of the Tree. How the tree has featured symbolically in the spiritual traditions of the world over time. It is a thesis in itself I think. I am looking to find ways to present the trees that flow through the story. Originally I was thinking 3D but now I think that it may be better in 2D.

Do I feel ready to go for these animations just yet, not quite. This morning I started recording my voice to see if I could come up with a monologue that I can use to back an animation portfolio, and afterwards I drew about ten pictures to go with it. This is looking like what I will try now and see how it comes together. Letting the drawings lead me along and see what comes out of it.