getting creative with technology

Getting creative with technology

One day when I was bored I wrote a story about Fruit People. When the receptionist saw it she thought that it had potential and then with the help and encouragement from Mencap I sent it away to different places. This was my first real big idea and I really believed it was good.   My Mencap support worker put me in touch with the Disability Arts Council and we were able to get a grant to develop my idea further.  I was able to work with a young animator who would help me learn.  This was the beginning of an exciting time for me. One of the first things that teacher taught me was how to do claymation. This is where you take a background scene set it up then you take the character and move it centimeter by centimeter. I found this to be very slow and I did not enjoy doing it. Then he taught me about using computers and how that would help me to animate. I began to enjoy going to see him. After a time his apprentice came to my house and taught me how to use a package  called toonboom.  I loved working on this project and I knew this was something I wanted to do in my life.

When this project was finished I sent it off to different TV studios and I was invited over to Cartoon Network studios in London. This reinforced my love for cartoons and animation as I loved being in a place where they talked about cartoons and animation all day. My Fruit People was also shown on RTE “wee programme” on a Saturday morning.  I then was introduced to Toon Boom. I used this package to create a small short called As the ball bounces. I found this very difficult even with help from a home tutor. But I was determined to keep trying to learn it. Then I was introduced to Crazy Talk   which was a little simpler and I got another grant to help pay for another tutor who has helped me greatly. She still works with me. I also did an animation about my life called The Way See It.  The last one I worked on with her was called the Digital Switchover  which Mencap have used on the LiveNet site.

 I think that  everybody should be given a chance to see what they can do and  often people are left out because they do not have the opportunities and no one takes an interest in them.  I was lucky