During the meticulous process of shooting the 'Popsicle' and 'Bony Lil's Creation' animations I've always had the urge to veer violently off course and create a new improvised narritive. I begin each scene with an envelope or two filled with small cutout arms and heads and props and bodies of the characters. As I'm replacing a new head onto a character so it can look to the right, for instance, I have an overwhelming impulse to have the head slowly drift off the body and swim around the page like a goldfish. The impulse toward improvisation surfaces even in the most strictly structured settings.
So this time I indulged. I made a scene whose purpose was to explore the surreal possibilities of all these little cutouts. It was a hoot. I started with a general setup of craziness and got the delight of watching the possibilities unfold as I went. What if the arms swinging the violin around batted the floating head with gnashing teeth? My, the trajectory seems to be going over near those disembodied hands! There's not much more thrilling than the improvised discovery of new possibilities.
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