COVID Dystopia: I Can’t Let It Go

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This scene from COVID Dystopia has been reworked multiple times.I might animate the guy in the foreground who is walking screen left. The rest of the crowd has subtle movement just because of the depth map.

“I can’t let it go: pretty much sums up where I am at this point in the pandemic. Hospitalizations for those infected by COVID are at the lowest point they have been at in a long time. Despite this I will continue to mask indoors and outdoors if in a crowd.

I am getting my eyes checked tomorrow. My left eye is getting blurry and distorting my view. With both eyes open I get a secondary image that distorts downwards. Since I am an artist, the vision is kind of important.

I know there is a new variant on the horizon but it hasn’t stepped in to fill the shows of JN1 yet. Talking to a student last weekend I found she has been infected 4 times so far and might have been exposed again by a friend. She was quite cavalier about being sick so often.

I follow people who are suffering from Long COVID and would like to take any steps necessary to not have to experience the way the virus destroys the immune system and can debilitate for months or years. There is no treatment and there is no cure. So I take basic precautions. I don’t mind a side wards glance. I have no need to fit in.

Is there a COVID cautious community in Orlando? If there is I haven’t seen any evidence of it.

COVID and the Brain

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I know I have written about this before but there are new studies that confirm the damage that even a mild COVID infection can cause to the brain.

A new study published in Nature Microbiology found that a COVID infection is associated with short and long term neurological complications.

Cultures were collected and compared, from people without COVID and postmortem samples from people with COVID. COVID is known to cause multi organ damage.

In another study brain autopsies were done on 44 unvaccinated individuals who died from COVID-19. The goal was to map the cell structure damage. The virus was found to replicate in respiratory and multiple non-respiratory organs including the brain. The virus was found to be replicating in the brain as much as 230 days after infection. In some patients the virus can cause systemic infection and persist in the body for months.

COVID can cause multi organ failure and shock. Some who survive, suffer from Long COVID for months or years.

COVID can cause severe neurological symptoms. COVID causes neurons in the brain to fuse. Every neuron that fused with any of the cells that hold nerve cells in place, presented a complete loss in neuronal activity. This fusion is a progressive event. Symptoms can consist of headache, fever, confusion, epileptic seizures, and a loss of taste or smell. Long-term and chronic neurological manifestations derived from viral neuroinfections are finally gaining attention five years into the pandemic. However this is an election year so there will be little talk about COVID. Hospitalizations are down to about 6000 COVID patients per week, which is the lowest it has been for years. However I am waiting for the shoe to drop on another wave.

The illustration consists of MRI scans of my brain. I am fascinated at how it interconnects with the eyes and nose. If you ever wonder why I mask indoors, it is because I value this squishy little organ that throws so many random thoughts around each day. When neurons fire, I can see things vividly. Feeling the need to fit in with the crowd is not my strong suit. Crowded restaurants and social events no longer hold any appeal. Traveling to film festivals, promoting COVID Dystopia are my one exception, but I remain masked from start to finish. Perhaps in my health’s favor, many festivals are not willing to screen the film.

COVID Dystopia: But I Can’t Let It Go

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This shot from COVID Dystopia just has a depth map applied right now. It follows the wacky wacky tube men shot which is highly active.

I now realize that I need to add more animation to this shot. I can make the girl and all the demons look like they are walking by just moving them left to right and adding some up and down motion. By altering the strides of each they can move independently without much effort.

I am also considering having the demon in front raise his hand an put it on the girls shoulder. I already animated a candle flame for the melting Giuliani shot, so I should be able to import that an duplicate it for all the flames.

I haven’t animated a shot in the film for the last week and thought I might be finished, but sometimes when I share a shot here, I realize there is room for improvement. I have started considering the story line of another short animation but I want to take care that the story being developed has heart and is more linear than COVID Dystopia. I also want to start designing the COVID Dystopia book but I am wondering if I should self publish or seek out a publisher. I am at a cross roads and want to be sure COVID Dystopia is locked in as I begin exploring the next phase.

COVID Dystopia: Yea, I should Go

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This was probably the most complex scene to animate in COVID Dystopia. I learned so much about rubber hose animation and overlapping action by doing this shot.

I am sure most people have blocked the fact that on New Year’s Eve in 2021, Times Square had no live spectators. They filled the square with Wacky Wavy Balloon Arm Men so the shots on TV would appear less deserted and more active. This was American ingenuity at work.

Right now the COVID hospitalization have dropped down to a rather high base line. England is seeing a rise in cases and as always I am sure America will follow. Now is a good time to get those medical appointments set up since this is as low as it will go before another spike in cases. We are coming off of the JN1 spike and new variants are jockeying for dominance for the next spike. The Omicron spike was huge,  so each new wave seems small in comparison. People cave been conditioned to accept mass infection.

I have stopped drinking milk because bird flu (h5N1) has infected so many dairy cow herds in America. 33 herds have tested positive so far. The cows were likely infected from chickens. Cow feed is actually laced with chicken droppings.

One in five samples of commercially available milk in stores has been found to test positive for h5N1. The hope is that pasteurization will kill the active virus, but pasteurization temperatures are not standardized. Until there is more testing, and no active virus is found in any samples, I remain cautious.

This morning I tried Almond milk on my cereal and it was actually really good. I am also thinking about making breakfast smoothies in the morning, again with almond milk and fruit like blueberries and bananas. I have made some eggs over the last week but I am making sure I cook them extra well so that they are not runny. I have one small packet of vegan cheese left over and I am thinking of switching over to vegan cheese to see how that tastes.

The primary concern should probably not be the consumption of the virus. I am sure it is airborne and that will be the primary way it spreads. Early reports are that human to human transmission has not yet happened. Then again that is what was being reported in China at the start of the COVID outbreak. Only two proteins are keeping human to human transmission from happening. I have learned to respect viruses. They are tenacious and will find a way to spread. Humans are the best mammalian host to spread the virus world wide. Since h5N1 has a 52% mortality rate, this would be a horrible outbreak if it happens.

Three Point Launch Demo

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This was a demo for one of my Elite Animation Academy online students.We had already covered one pint and two point perspective and this was a lesson in three point perspective.

I always try and convince my students to think a step beyond the basic lesson plan to create something unexpected. In this case the student had chosen to draw a tall skyscraper and I offered the possibility that it could be something other than a building.

Some students are bored by the mechanical nature of graphing out perspective, but I love teaching it and I use the premise in every sketch I do. Some students think it involves too much science and not enough fancy, so I throw some fancy into the mix as I teach it.

Right now I am waiting on about 20 different film festivals to accept or reject COVID Dystopia. I tend to post scenes from the film on this site when the film is about to be shown at a festival and when I suspect judges might check out the site for more information about the film. Since

I am in a holding pattern, I figured I would post more variety. I have started sketching rehearsals and shows again but I tech until 8pm many nights and have to schedule around my teaching schedule. I might get out to about 3 theater sketch opportunists a week. I have been sketching theaters where my film has been shown but that number is rather small.

This week I am pressing hard to refine next season’s Shakespeare posters but after that I am a tumbleweed looking for my next series of sketches to become obsessed about.

A trip to NYC several months ago got me excited about continuing my series of sketches of the 50 oldest churches in the city. I am looking at rents in Brooklyn and there are a few where the rent is less than I am paying here in Orlando. At this point, it doesn’t matter where I live and set up my studio. I really need to think about buying a place however since rent is just wasted money.

Tea Time

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Is there such a thing as an animated horror movie? Tea Time was done as a demo with one of my online art students. She had a definite story she wanted to tell about one sister poisoning her sibling. I did a series of thumbnail sketches to explore how the scene might be staged.

If this was to be pushed towards a finished illustration I would need to research the furniture the dresses, and the type of room that would best set the mood.

I didn’t push this further since my goal was to get my student’s work to shine. I offered multiple suggestions and helped push the student work along.

Students who have definite ideas they would like to pursue are the most fun to work with. Today is Saturday and I will be working six hours with 4 students. Tow of them are working on story ideas they are developing. I will be doing thumbnails like this to help inspire them to consider all the possibilities in staging a shot. The goal isn’t for them to copy what I do, but for them to come up with an idea that works best for them.

Tonight after the classes, I might go to Winter Park’s Knowles Memorial Chapel where Dvořák’s Stabat Mater is being performed. I would sketch the chapel and see if the music is audible as I sketch. I also need to re-paint the background in a Shakespeare Theater poster. I suspect I will be painting the poster until I collapse and go to bed.

Cleveland Airport

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When departing the Cleveland International Film Festival I flew out of the Cleveland Airport. Waiting to get on the plane back to Orlando, I sat away from the crush of people standing in line waiting for boarding to be announced. I managed to get a sketch of the only other person I saw in the airport wearing an n-95 mask.

He was oriental and tapping away on his laptop computer. He didn’t wear the mask the whole time. I think his mask policy was to only wear the mask if someone sat right next to him. The rest of the time he wore the mask as a chin strap. I actually sketched him in  chinstrap mode but erased it when he wore the mask correctly.

COVID hospitalization continues to drop and Florida has minimal cases for the first time since the pandemic began. I continue to mask indoors but take it off when outside. I always have a kn-95 in my breast pocket the way that British dandies used to wear folded hankies in their breast pockets.

I haven’t heard of a new variant to take JN-1’s place so hopefully America’s insane COVID infection rates will drop to a manageable baseline for the first time. However, I am not holding my breath. Well, actually I do for 5 seconds as I pass anyone walking outside.

COVID Dystopia: Golden Toilet

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This shot from COVID Dystopia has the former president tapping his iPhone while sitting on his golden toilet. The only animation is his finger poking the screen.

The camera pans down to show his pants wrapped around his ankles. The depth map for this scene works surprisingly well the sink in particular appears quite dimensional.

For a film made by traditional means using paintings and hand drawn animation the added layer of depth maps helps push each scene to a new level. It is a low tech Analog film with the added benefit of depth maps for a Digital dimensional World.

Now that production on the film is over. I am considering the idea of starting a second animated film. This one would have a more linear story line. I want to read a few books on story structure before I start.

Last night I typed out the events that would transpire. I need to edit that more today to fill in holes that I discovered. I probably will not write much about this project until I am 1000% committed. For whatever reason all the elements of this story surfaced when I had to move my studio.

COVID Dystopia: Till the Internet Went Down

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Animation in this shot form COVID Dystopia is limited to a depth map and camera move. You would think that this man would be out of the news by now but he still gets endless coverage due to his criminal trials and the fact that he is running for office again.

Now he sends out tweets during his trail claiming that thousands of his followers might invade the courthouse and he claims the judge isn’t qualified. It is just the usual rantings of a mad man. I should have put him in a straight jacked in this shot, but then he could not hold his precious phone.

Yesterday I finished the last two shot that I had correction notes for. I will go over the notes I wrote her over the past several weeks but I am feeling the film is complete.

No I face the challenge of what to do next. I can start designing the book, but I wold prefer to have a publisher rather than self publish. I would hate to print a whole lot of books that then say in boxes unsold.

H5N1 is also on the horizon with American cow herds being infected far more than previously suspected. One dairy farmer in Texas was infected from direct contact. Human to human transmission has not yet happened. At the start of the COVID outbreak in China all officials claimed the virus could not spread between humans as well. THey wanted to pacify the populace rather than warn them.If that does happen the h5N1 pandemic would be far worse than the COVID pandemic with a possible 56% mortality rate. The virus has been detected in commercially available milk but it is believed that those are viral fragments that can not cause infection. If this virus does spread we have the tools to stay safe but people have bee too well trained in denial and dark ages ignorance. People can not take precautions against something they can not see.

COVID Dystopia: No One Really Panicked

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This scene from COVID Dystopia of people running in the street of New York City was done at the height of the first COVID wave which hit the city hard. That first wave of the coronavirus pandemic remains one of the deadliest in the world, having killed almost 23,000 residents, in just three months.

During its worst 12 weeks, from March 19 to June 10, 2020, NYC reached a higher Covid-19 mortality rate than 85 percent of countries that have reported for the entire three-and-a-half years of the pandemic. The city’s peak 12-week mortality rate was the second highest of any city worldwide, just behind Mexico City.

Each person running in this scene had to be animated twice since I first animated the scene at too low a resolution. The mechanical virus is animated using puppet pins in After Effects. It crouches down while one arm moves on an arch.

For some reason I keep getting apartment walk through videos of apartments in Brooklyn which are cheaper that the rent I am now paying in Orlando. The places are surprisingly spacious. I am completely solo right now and wondering where I should live for the next chapter of my life.

Traveling to film festivals is offering me a chance to day dream of different cities. Chicago was decent but it must be bitter cold in the windy city, Berlin is out of the question, it was rainy and cold the whole time, Cleveland was very impressive, it is just a little bigger then downtown Orlando. I hope more festivals accept COVID Dystopia since I want to travel to their cities and day dream. I should travel to a city or country that has handled the COVID pandemic well. New Zealand is on that list but I haven’t found a film festival there yet.