I don't mean to offend anyone, but I need to get this off my chest. You claim to be my fans. You claim that a great Pivot Animator has just been lost. Yet you seem completely unaware of the fact that I began loosing interest in Pivot almost FOUR YEARS ago.
When was the last time I was
actively releasing Pivot Animations? Was it 2013? Nope. Not a single Pivot Animation that year. Was it 2012? Nope. One skit about umbrellas, and two other ideas that went nowhere. Was it 2011? Almost, though I only made one decent animation that year. The rest went nowhere. 2010? Yes, though the frequency of my animations was drastically reduced from the year prior.
I was 14 years old when I hit my peak. 2009 was a magical year, you know. I'd release animations every other week, and my skills each month were drastically improved from the months prior. However, stickmen could only take me so far. My animations in 2010 were starting to get too detailed. The limitations of the program were making it unrealistic to continue. By the time I was ranked Elite in 2011, Pivot was
just holding me back.
If Pivot 4 had been released two years earlier, things might have been different. That didn't happen though. By the time Pivot 4 came around, I had accepted that stick figures would never get me anywhere in life. It didn't help that the forum was dying, too.
You're probably aware by now that I removed almost all of my old animations from my Youtube channel. I believe I was justified in doing so. Three years ago, my entire channel was deleted and I had to re-upload everything. None of my animations except for The Last Fall of Crimson got their views back.
Even after three years, animations that once had 10,000+ views were stuck below 200. I check my Youtube Analytics frequently. Most of them were getting less than 5 views per month. I felt weighed down and depressed. It was not an easy decision, but it had to be done. (I will make a compilation video for ALL of my animations, including ones you've never seen before. I have some old hard-drives I still need to search through, but I am working on it).
I owe a lot to Pivot Animation. I owe a lot to Peter Bone. I owe a lot to DarkDemon.org. To all the animators who inspired me, all the members who gave constructive criticism, all the staff who tolerated my bullshit, and my supporting fans most of all, I cannot thank you enough. You all helped me to become the person who I am today. However, I cannot continue with the same old thing forever.
I had to move on eventually, as much as I hate leaving it all behind. I'm sorry, guys.
Flash is the next logical step up from Pivot. I eventually stumbled across MLP and found it to be entertaining (I know,
shoot me). In 2012 I thought I'd give animating it a try and see if I could learn Flash at the same time. And you know what?
I enjoyed myself. For the first time since 2009 I actually had fun animating.
Whether you like it or not, the MLP community is incredibly resourceful. Considering the fact that my drawing sucks (I used Pivot for a long ass time, and I never needed to draw anything) the Flash rigs that were available were a life-saver. Since then I have learnt to build my own rigs, which I would NOT have known how to do before-hand.
There are also a LOT of big connections within the industry here, too. I had the honour of working with
Grey DeLisle last year. She was the voice of 'Derpy' in something I animated for a big Youtube Channel (The channel has 90,000+ subscribers. Unfortunately, the animation is no longer available to the public). Grey DeLisle is known for her work in a lot of shows and video games.
This character in particular is one of my favourites that she has voiced.
Some of you suggested that MLP is all I'm doing and all I'm ever going to do. That is not what is happening. Me and my girlfriend always planned on expanding beyond MLP animation. We left a number of not-so-subtle hints to this fact in the NightFalls update video.
Another thing to consider is that I am currently studying Advanced 3D Animation at my college. I have been since the beginning of last year. After I graduate, I will pay off my student loans and then move to America to become a professional animator. I can guarantee that I will NOT be animating MLP for my job (And even if I was, does it really matter? It's just a cartoon).
At the end of the day, I can't force any of you to follow me against your will. I wouldn't want to even if I could. Just know that I will be moving beyond MLP eventually and that I fully intend on making epic animations again some day. Just know that they wont be animated in Pivot.
