Who Let the Cat In?

Am I an old fart, closer to the end than to the start? Probably. Or closer to zero than infinity, closer to nothing than everything? Most definitely. My film career? I used to teach math. There will be a quiz.

Now days, anyone can generate cartoons just by whispering the right words into an AI's electronic ear. At the other end of the spectrum, huge corporations can hire hundreds of animators and throw vast amounts of computer resources and dollars into creating animated works. What's an independent artist to do? How can one make distinctive works that not only aesthetically stand out, but thematically stand out?

I've always admired those artists who scour beaches for raw material to create works of art. My toons are like that. I assemble them one frame at a time, using my unpolished hand drawn art and bits and pieces salvaged from the public domain. What three chords and a song was to the corporate, mainstream rock of old, my animation is to the current trends. Raw. Full of rough edges. Non-conforming. Made with care, played as fast as possible.