Detour Stop #1: The Local Barbershop

One of my fond childhood memories of time spent with my dad is when we’d go get our haircut. It seems that the barbershop used to be an awesome place where guys would hang out all the time. Apparently, once upon a time, they would also sing. This developed into a musical style of the same name—a musical style that I had no idea was going to be a part of this trip God has me on.
















This stop actually started during the earlier stages of my senior film production—so it truly is “Detour #1.”

My all-time favorite spiritual song, which has meant so much to me over the years ends the first verse with the line “…in darkness, He giveth a song.” Indeed He has, and often, and not always just in dark times. This detour started with a bit of one though, and to help “cheer me up” an awesome buddy of mine took me out to a local restaurant. Not suspecting a thing, we soon noticed a group of old men walk in, sit down and start singing—barbershop songs! Well, my buddy and I enjoyed this impromptu performance, and, seeing our enjoyment, the guys invited us to come out to one of their meetings and sing with them. My buddy never did (pity), but I took them up on that offer—again, not suspecting a thing. I find that to be the case with things God drops into my life—I don’t suspect a thing until it’s already going strong.

So, this time, God didn’t “giveth a song,” oh no, instead He gave me a bunch of old guys with books full of songs. I thought it was just to cheer me up and give me a fun pastime, but again with the whole not suspecting a thing thing—I couldn’t have been more shortsighted.

















How does this detour apply to the pursuit of Biblical animation? Well, that’s a good question. I met these guys during the process of making my film. A couple of them came to school where we recorded some songs that I still intend to some day incorporate into an animated film (which hopefully will happen—we’ll see).

As time progressed, however, I’ve began to see that barbershop is so much more than that on this pursuit. When I finished college, the recession was in full swing—very tough to find work. Barbershop helped keep me sane with all that. Right after I finished I was in my first show (and was so nervous the butterflies in my stomach had formed governments and were waging war with each other).

Barbershop, well, my barbershop group, the 13th Colony Sound, has provided me with a host of older men as mentors. There is a tenor, Tom, who has become my business mentor. With the big opportunities I mentioned from January, God was urging me in a certain way on a certain detail. One night, at the very same restaurant where I met these guys, Tom just started advising me on business, giving me in specifics what God had urged in general. I tried not to let my mouth hang open as I realized that God was talking through Tom. When all things come to fruition with this Biblical animation thing and me, regardless of whether the still current project goes through, Tom’s business advice is the thing that will have helped most.

There is also an interesting man, Ray, who is the most amazing music guy I know. He graduated from Julilard probably 50 years ago or so, and he has also become a mentor to me. A mentor in an area that actually happens to be it’s own detour. When all things come to fruition with this Biblical animation thing and me—with God’s overall plan for me, his advice on that particular detour is the advice that helps me become a fuller, more well-rounded artist.

There are so many more such men that I could tell you about, but I’ll be content for now to mention just one more. I’m not sure how exactly this relates to Biblical animation, but it’s too awesome to leave out, so humor me, and this is a very specific awesome blessing God has purposed to give me, so yeah, here it is.

The man is a tenor, and his name is Dan. Dan is probably the oldest man in the group, and has the most interesting story of anyone I’ve ever met. One of the first things I did with 13th Colony is sing the National Anthem at a historic cemetery on Memorial Day one year. I asked Dan if he served, and he told me he did in WWII. Amazed, I asked him, “Europe or Pacific?” He responded, “Neither. I was at the laboratory in Los Alamos, working on the atom bomb.” As I came to discover, he made the trigger mechanisms for all the A-bombs used in the war—including Hiroshima and Nagasaki. My Grandpa Daniel was in the Pacific back then, and he always believed very strongly that Truman’s decision to drop the bomb saved his life, which consequently saved my dad’s and mine, since my dad had not been born yet. To get to meet this man is a huge honor, and yet I get to be friends with this guy and sing with him all the time. One last thought about Dan, who I do believe truly knows the Lord, he did this thing that saved so many people and made such an impact on the world when he was about the age I was when I met him. It goes to show you: even as a young man, full of ambition but not much else, God can use you to change the world.

Big detour, no doubt, but I’ve picked up a giant load of good things here. I am now not only a member of the Barbershop Harmony Society (formerly known as SPEPBSQSA), but I’m a current board member of the 13th Colony Sound (the Savannah Chapter). I’m in a couple of quartets—which are awesome in so many ways—and I’ve even started to write barbershop music, which will probably eventually find it’s way into my Biblical animation. How those two things will merge together is for your imagination and mine to dream up for now.

It is true that a lot of this post isn’t really necessarily all that much about Biblical animation. It is also true, however, that it is entirely about the way that God is animating me. He knows where all this is going. His leading brought me to SCAD, lead me to study animation, and instilled within me this desire for Biblical animation. He’s leading me even now, through these uncertain times, and He will lead me wherever I need to go.

A Detour of Faith

Well, it seems that it’s again been quite a while since my last post. Perhaps that’s because I’m not sure that I have anything valuable to add to this blog about Biblical animation. But lately, it occurs to me that maybe I have something to add after all.

I remember many, many years ago, my cousin Kevin got married—I think somewhere in Pennsylvania, perhaps? It’s been so long, I don’t remember. On our drive back to Michigan after the wedding, we didn’t actually head west like one would think—we headed south and east, which clearly isn’t the fastest way to get to Michigan. It is, however, a very nice detour. We visited Philadelphia, saw the Liberty Bell, drove through Delaware and Maryland, visited the Capitol, went down into Virginia, West Virginia, seeing the sights along the way. This detour gave me memories of many awesome and historical places like Gettysburg—memories that I would not otherwise have had—experiences that have stayed with me all these years. “Are we there yet, Dad—are we there yet?” No, we weren’t in Michigan yet—there were still more experiences to gain along the way.
















That pretty much describes what my time since graduating college has been. Especially graduating in this tough economic time, especially with this dream of Biblical animation, which is indeed the entire focus of this blog, this has not been as simple and straightforward of a journey as I would have thought. This part of the journey has a detour—a detour much like the one I took as child. God has given me adventures and blessings that I seriously doubt I would have gotten without this scenic route. Blessings that will no doubt impact the Biblical animation that I am able to produce.

If you’ll humor me for a bit, these next few posts may showcase a few of the highlights from this detour. It may not necessarily appear to always be perfectly related to Biblical animation, but remember that this is the scenic route. My childhood trip did finally end up back in Michigan, and likewise, I’m certain that this current trip will lead to its intended destination, but not without having gained all the good things along the way. God definitely does not seem willing to withhold any good thing from one of His children, and graciously, I am no exception. Psalm 34:10b says, “…but they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing.”

Some of the possibilities I mentioned back in January are still possibilities—I reserve those stories for when everything is a done deal. God may also choose to just drop another such possibility my way, completely out of the blue. I’ll admit that on this part of the journey, a lot like the one I took as a child, I often have the desire to ask, “Are we there yet, Dad—are we there yet?” No, not yet, there’s more to be gained along the way.

The Story of the Pachitope

I’m sure that you’ve noticed the little animal I’ve got in my demo reel, but may not know what it is. This animal does not belong to any Bible story, or even to the animal kingdom itself for that matter, yet there’s something to him that makes me think that maybe, just maybe, he does in fact belong in this blog.

So, you’re probably asking, “What is it anyway?” I don’t know either; I made it without really having any plan or reference. When I asked my high school biology teacher to figure out what it should be called, he wrote back that it appeared to him to be a combination between an elephant, a rabbit, and a deer or antelope. Thus, he figured: PACHiderm, rabbIT, antelOPE = PACHITOPE. That’s the story of how the pachitope got it’s name, now for the story of how the pachitope came to be:

Here is the one and only one place where the pachitope has anything to do with Nebuchadnezzar: this story took place somewhere in the middle of making my senior film. One day, in my art history class, the professor chose to show us a seriously disturbing film that I still don’t understand, and don’t ever intend to understand—it was probably an experiment in film’s potential as a torture device. This film reminded me of the worst experience of my life in quite a strong manner. That was more than enough to give me an unbelievably bad day, for sure. Later that evening, I had already decided not to do any homework for at least the rest of the night, all things considered, yet, somehow, I had this strong, inexplicable desire to be productive. In my strange logic, I figured I could justify doing something so long as it wasn’t homework, after all I was supposedly taking the night off.

So I sat down at the computer, launched Maya, and within 2 or 3 hours, I had modeled this creature. Again, no plan, no reference, no intention of actually doing anything serious that would ever be worth anything, but God saw something different. (I think there was one sketch that I made during the earlier part of that class that looks like an earlier version of this thing.) I also did fear that I’d never be able to look at this thing without remembering the really bad experience of that day, but, again, God saw something different. The next morning I worked on UV mapping him, and then set him aside. Over the course of my time home for all the holidays (SCAD’s schedule is really awesome, allowing you to go home before Thanksgiving and not getting back in session until after New Year’s), I found him again and resumed this project. I textured him and started rigging him. My professor in my portfolio class saw him among my other work and really took a liking to him. Now, this little unintentional creation is my logo for all the stuff that gets send/shown to prospective employers. So far, I haven’t met one person who doesn’t like this little guy—if you find one let me know. There just seems to be something about him.

So what is the thing that God apparently saw with this pachitope that makes it so special? Well, I can only think of one thing (though it does seem to have some pretty solid appeal from a design standpoint). We all have trials, we all have storms which come and start raging in our lives—storms that, as the disciples thought, are too big to handle—and you’d be right, many of these are God-sized storms. That’s why you need to allow God to come and deal with them. He comes to the front of the boat, says, “Peace be still,” and you can kiss that storm goodbye, even if the tough circumstances themselves still remain. Also, if you belong to Christ, all things work together for your benefit, remember this (Romans 8:28). Had there been no storm for me, I can safely say there would be no pachitope either. We've got to just hold out for all the pachitopes of our trials. And that’s the story of the pachitope.

A New Year, A New Post

It certainly has been far too long since I’ve posted anything new. Since the last post, I finished my degree, graduated, and have been unleashed on the job market, which is definitely less than ideal at present, but God is good and reigns over even this difficult time. Over this time in looking for work, I’ve spent time further developing the skills I developed in college, which has been a good use of time as it also increases the chances of finding work. I update my website with these new things, so visit there to see all sorts of new artwork I may not necessarily post here.

As a result of the Lord’s working and people finding my website, I have gotten contacted by individuals who want me to produce Christian animation for them. These things are still in the works at the moment, so be praying, but God has worked to this effect.

The future of this blog will probably combine stories that arise in the process of producing Christian animation and might include some posts on animation-related things that are important to the process somehow. I will definitely try to post more regularly as time allows.