S:2 E:18: Emmy Nominated Animation Director - Saxton Moore

🎵 Welcome back my nerds, geeks, blurts, and freaks to another episode of Geeky, Sexual, and Intellectual. I'm your host Q, and today's guest is Mr. Saxton Moore. If you don't know who that is, I don't know what's wrong with you. You need to go to his Instagram right now. So as the banner states, he is an Emmy-nominated animation director. The first time I ever noticed his work before I knew who he was, I was watching Nick Jr. with my daughter, and it was Black History Month. And there were animations during the commercials talking about black civil rights activists and black leaders and creators on the commercial breaks, just talking about them as children and how they grew into the great pioneers that they were. And that always stuck with me. And when I found out it was Saxton, my mind was blown. It's annoying. And then it'll be years down the line, you found out, and it'll just blow your mind all over again. So I just want to let you guys know, if you are a up-and-coming artist, black creator, creator, this is the episode for you. This is a note-taking episode. So please get your pen and paper, because Saxton got all the knowledge. We also talk about the industry. I know that's a hot topic right now, but this is coming from the people that know what the industry needs, and the industry keeps trying to, I don't know how to say it, carbon copy what they don't know. Create what they don't know the stories of. I don't know. But he talks about how we need to get in those rooms and how corporations can involve us in their storytelling. So get ready, y'all. Here we go. Me and Saxton get into it. Drop it. All right. Welcome back to another episode of Geeky, Sexual, and Intellectual. I am your host, Q. Today's guest is Mr. Saxton Moore. How are you doing today? I'm doing great. Great. I'm glad to come aboard and do this thing. Oh, yeah, because we've been, I kind of like to say it, insta-homies for, I guess, about a year now. And I don't even know how that started, but I'm glad it did. Yeah, yeah. Likewise. I've been following you for quite some time. Yeah. And I'm always like, why is this man following me? Because I go to your page, and I'm like, look at this important shit he's doing, and I'm just over here playing. Okay, so what I'm going to do is, for the people that don't know you, which I don't even know why I know these people and why they listen to me, because I've reshared a lot of your work on my Instagram. But Saxton Moore is a professional, award-winning animation director slash creative visionary. Saxton has almost 20 years of experience producing animated content for the biggest entertainment companies in the United States. He started out as one of the leading visionaries that helped brand and launch Cartoon Network. So when I first started, I was like, oh, my God. When I found that out about you, that was my dream job in college. When I lived in Atlanta, Georgia, I was like, I want to work for Cartoon Network. None of us in my art department worked for Cartoon Network. Right. So basically what I want to get into is how this journey for Little Saxton started. So tell me about your childhood and any influences that created the artist that you are today. Well, as a kid, I used to love cartoons. Comic books, Garbage Pail Kids, all that weird, you know, because like a lot of my, a lot of the kids I grew up with, you know, that was during the era where like drugs was heavy and all that other stuff. And I was the kid that drew. And so drawing kept me out of trouble. So I would watch cartoons, read comics. You know, I was a collector and all that other stuff. So I tried to stay away from the streetlight and focused on, you know, my craft as an artist because I was like, man, I want to. First, I want to. I want to be a comic book artist. And then I found out, you know, I would send letters to the, you know, Image Comics, Marvel's comics. Right. And as a boy, it's a boys club. Like, you know, wouldn't really know black people there. And I would get rejection letter after rejection letter. And this was like me in high school. And I would airbrush on pants and shirts and stuff like that. Like that was my hustle. You know what I'm saying? While Cass was out there selling drugs and all this other stuff, getting in trouble. I would like airbrush cartoon characters with people's names and stuff and have a backpack full of clothes. And I would just hustle that in school, you know. And then, yeah, and I grew up in Atlanta as well. Out in Marietta, Cobb County. I lived there once. Yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, after I did that, you know, my art teachers nurtured me and so on and so forth. And they urged me to go to art school. Which I went to the Art Institute of Atlanta. Right? And then, you know, just like I said before, to go back to the cartoons, after school, I went straight home. Caught the cartoons after school. You know, like Thundercats, G.I. Joe, all that stuff like that was before Cartoon Network. And then, you know, Saturday morning cartoons. Because back then, cartoons were rare. Like you didn't have 24-hour cartoons. So you had to catch them when you could. And, like, once I found out that people got caught, I was like, oh, my God. I got paid to make these. Because as a kid, you don't, you watch them. But you don't know people make them and get paid to do it. That was out of the question. Paid to make cartoons? That's what I'm doing. Exactly. And so, what I started doing, I was like, there was no such thing as an animation school from my knowledge. I would, like, take a VHS tape and I would record Looney Tunes on VHS. Okay. And we had a VHS player where you can single frame. You could play it. You could pause the picture and frame by frame. And I would sit there with my sketchbook. I made my own. This is my own study. And I would sit there and I'd draw each frame and write numbers of how long it was on the screen and all this other stuff. Like, I used to be obsessed like that. And then when, like, I kind of dropped out of art school because it was the first year they offered animation. Right? As a career. So, I ended up, like, they were trying to teach me how to do animation with, like, AutoCAD or something like that. Okay. Which was, like, because the animation software hadn't really came out yet. And so, I was like, man, this is not how, you know, Walt Disney said that it goes down. So, I was, like, I was, like, looking at different books, going to the library. And so, I did my projects on paper the way I used to do it. And I would hang out in the computer lab and we would, like, we figured out a process where you could scan your artwork. And then sequence it. And so, I turned my project in like that. And the teacher was like, you know, I was the only person that did it that way. So, I thought I was in trouble. But everybody's mind was blown. Oh, how did you do that? You know? And then I was like, the teacher said, good job. Good job. All right. Everybody, class dismissed. And Saxon State, stay back. And I thought I was in trouble. Right? And he was like, yeah, so tell me how you did this. And I was like, okay, well, I did this and this. And then I was nervous. I still thought I was in trouble. He was like, okay, okay. Thanks, thanks. He was taking notes. And I was like, so, did I get a good grade? Or, you know, he's like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You aced it. You aced it. Good job. And I walked out excited. And then I got halfway down the hall. And I was like, wait a second. Is this dude taking notes? Exactly. Is my teacher taking notes? And I'm paying this dude. And so, there was a couple of other situations that happened in the school that I was like, you know, I had an opportunity. I had an opportunity to take an internship, a paid internship, right? They wanted to give my internship to an upperclassman, right? I was like, you know what? I said, I dropped out. I took that paid internship because I was going to get paid to draw. And then years later, they used my animation to promote the school. Oh, no. That's what I'm saying. You rewrote the lesson plan for dude. He didn't have, oh, I didn't even think about that. Like, you're the instructor. How could you not think about the easiest process? I'm paying you. And you take the lesson. You're taking notes from me. I was like, I'm out. And, you know, a couple years after that, well, my first internship, I went to visit my father in San Francisco, right? And I got my first internship at Wild Brain Studios, which was the, like, they were the hottest animator. They were doing all the dope stuff in animation at the time. The dude that created Eon Flux was there. It was like a whole bunch of. Great animation directors. It was all there. And so I got an internship there for about a year. And then I got a call back to Atlanta where this one commercial company was offering me a full-time job. So I was like, I'm going to fly back to Atlanta. And it was a sweet job because we literally did animated commercials maybe once every other month. So outside of that, I was kicking it. I was just drawing whatever I wanted to draw and getting paid. - Yeah. came around and then a couple of the guys that was working with me there left. I didn't know where they went or whatever. And so they started taking me to lunch and said, hey, man, you should come over to this studio that's called Primal Screen. And they were in Atlanta. And he was like, yeah, man, we're doing stuff. There's going to be a 24-hour cartoon channel. I was like, man, ain't nobody watching cartoons 24 hours a day. I had a sweet job where I literally didn't have to work until every other month. And then a commercial would come in and we animate stuff for four commercials and stuff like that. And then I was like, man, I'm not leaving a full-time job. I can leave and go two-hour lunches and stuff like that. I'm not leaving. And then all of a sudden, it was like, just come by the studio, Sax. Just come by the studio. I went to the studio. Man, on the wall, they had storyboards of Speed Racer, Looney Tunes, Fred Flintstone, Johnny Quest. Y'all get to work on these shows? It's like, yeah, we're branding the network, right? There's a 24-hour network that's going to come out. And we're doing all the commercials surrounding all the shows. So we get to animate those money. We get to animate Looney Tunes and Animaniacs and stuff like that that was going to be on the network. I was like, all right, I'm in. But I was like, and this is how I was a director early because I negotiated. Because I was young. Every director there came from like Disney or some other place down to Atlanta to help brand this network at the studio. And they each had two or three assistants, right? And I told them, I was like, look, if you want me to leave my current job to come work with you guys, this is great and everything, but I need some assurances. I need to guarantee my employment for at least two years. And I have to be a director. I'm not going to come in here. Like, I'm already animating stuff. I'm already a director here. And they were like, okay, fine. But it was like a one-year thing, one-year trial. I come in full-time as a director. But the messed up thing was is they were hungry. Atlanta wasn't a place for animation. Right? And so, they were recruiting kids from art school and stuff like that and training them up. But I had already been doing animation. So, when I got in there, I didn't have any assistants. And so, we were knocking out those little five, they're called powerhouse bumpers. And 10-second interstitials between the shows. And they had to look just like the show. So, that was my boot camp into like animation in different styles, different timing. And I learned. It was my boot camp. And we were animating on paper. And I had to deliver all my stuff the same time that these other directors were doing. And they had three people helping them. Wow. I would come in first thing in the morning. I wouldn't leave till like 11 o'clock at night. Have to drive 30 minutes away down to Cobb County, go to sleep, wait right back up and get back to work. I was exhausted, but it was fun. I was making cartoons. Yeah, yeah. And I did that for about three years. You know, and I directed over like seven commercials, like 70 bumpers, right? They were the ones that had the check wipes between and said, "We'll be back after these messages." Yeah. And then we moved into like 30-second spots, which were longer. And I worked on like the, there's a classic commercial where it was live action and animation with the cartoon characters finding a parking lot, trying to find a parking space. And so, that was my foray into long form. So, that's how I got in to do work in that space. Yeah. I was working at, doing stuff for Cartoon Network. And a lot of those guys now that I came up with in the beginning are now other big studios, like Floyd County, Bento Box. All this stuff is popping off in Atlanta right now with like Archer and all those shows. A lot of the guys are the people that I started with in the industry. But needless to say, I didn't see too many black faces. And I had the opportunity as a director to bring in, you know, some young brothers that were in the industry. And so, you know, it was like, I discovered that we're super talented, and I trained them up, and they became my assistants. And a lot of them still work in the industry today. Okay. Well, you know, when you spoke on school, you said you went to the Art Institute of Atlanta, and I was going to ask you that. I went to the Atlanta College of Art. So, did you ever work with anybody from there? No, I had a couple of friends that went there. Actually, my good friend, Andre Moore, went to the Art Institute of Atlanta. Okay. I mean, he went to Atlanta. Yeah, Atlanta College of Art. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, no, and sadly, you know, that school got like a hostile takeover by Savannah. Yes. I was like, I don't even know who to get my credits at. Who do I call to get my credits? But yeah, that is fascinating. And it's just crazy how, you know, we never knew each other in life, but just to have, you did the thing, and I just had the aspiration. I was like, this is amazing. You were behind the scenes already, you know, doing it. And I was like, I just want to be in there. I would walk past where the big Cartoon Network sign was. I was like, I just want to be in there. I'll take a tour. Y'all don't got to hire me. I just want to be in there. They did give tours, though, even if you were just like some random person that wanted to be an artist. If you knew you can find somebody there, they'd be more than happy to give you tours. That's how they did a lot of people, you know? Yeah. And I don't know what stopped me from doing it. I don't know. Maybe I was another feeling of being overwhelmed, and I was like, I hate to be that close to the dream and can't have it. So I'm just going to stay on the outside, which is really sad. That sounds pathetic. I think it would have been different if you saw somebody that looked like you that worked there. Exactly. Exactly. There's a whole lot of difference. Man. OK. So when did you realize that you had a talent for creating people, places and things that others could not? Like I said, in high school, right, I was the guy that could draw, you know, and I drew all through elementary school. Middle school. And then by the time I got to high school, all my peers knew me for being able to draw well. Right. And I was originally inspired by the Muppets. That's what got me started. And so when I was real little in elementary school and kindergarten, when they had like those Disney coloring books, like for some reason there was some tracing paper laying around, I remember. And as everybody was like scribbling and coloring with their crayons on the inside, I took the tracing paper and I was like, what's this? What kind of paper is this? I could see through it. And I started tracing the drawings in the coloring book. It made it look just like the Disney drawings. And everybody was like, oh, man, how'd you do that? You know, and then once people were excited about what I could do, I was like watching them. I was like, let me try to draw, you know, some of these Muppet characters, even though they weren't illustrations. They were like character puppets. And then I would try to learn how to shade. Like in kindergarten. And so once I started getting in, it was all about people being amazed of my ability at a young age. And I kept that up because I like, you know, people giving me credit for the work that I was doing. And so I read all the way through high school when I was airbrushing and whatnot. And so, you know, by the time I was on that wave right throughout my childhood, all through high school, and I was like, wait a second. I'm about to graduate. I need to figure out what I'm going to do with my life. I was like, I don't know how to do nothing but draw now. You know, like you're going to find some way to get a job getting paid drawing or you're going to join the military. Right. Yeah. I don't know what else. I don't want a nine to five job because I've been doing that forever. And I don't like don't I didn't like people telling me what to do and when to do it all the time. And I was like, man, I got it. I got to find some kind of way to get paid. Draw. What's that going to be? Yeah, man. It's funny that you say that because this interview not about me, but you said something that hit a nerve that when I realized I could do something that other people could because I've been drawing since I was five. And so I went to I had to go to private school and then I had art class and my teacher was she saw me drawing something. She was like, huh? Hold on. Stop what you're doing. And she went and got a book and it was like a it was basically an art history book. Right. And there was a drawing. It was a drawing of a black man that was in stipple. So she was like, can you draw this? I was like, I don't know. Let me try. So I drew it identically. And I think I was in seventh grade and she was like, oh, my God. So she started calling other teachers in and I could just feel like this. I don't know, this rush of like greatness inside of me, like, oh, my God, the adults think I'm great. She was like, oh, my God. OK, when you finish, you let me know. And she like ran down to the office and like he laminated it and she got to get into an art class. And I was like, can't everybody do this? So I started looking at everybody else's paper. I just I don't know why they never entered my mind to look at everybody else's artwork. And I was like, that's some bullshit. That's usually how it works when somebody takes notice. You felt seen. Right. You felt appreciated and you felt you feel unique and different and set you apart from everybody else. And you want to keep that momentum going. Right. And then in order to do that, you have to, like, get even better at it. And then, God forbid. Somebody that can also do it as good or better than you shows up. You got it. You got it. you know protect your territory you gotta protect your territory he's like hold up yeah they can draw way better than me you know what i need to go back to the drawing board stay up late and start drawing until i can do as good or better than that person because you know nothing's wrong with healthy healthy competition yeah because i see not to you know it's not down talking about but i see a lot of artists they are stagnant because they're not around and like you said anybody that'll challenge them so i i even see some instagrams i'm like either you haven't been doing this longer you're not practicing and you got to have a sense of being humble because i wasn't humble until i got to high school i went to a performing and visual arts high school so all my life i was better than everybody until i got to the ninth grade and you had to audition to get into this school so during the audition i'm like i can't do that what is she doing i've never seen that before so i was like and i got panicky like i'm not gonna make it into this school i can't do that i'm not gonna make it into this school i can't do that i'm not gonna make it into this school i can't do that i'm not gonna make it into this school i can't do what she's doing and i made it in and then that began the process of me learning different types of um art styles and um the way that you like stippling i didn't know it was called stippling when my teacher asked me to do it in seventh grade i didn't know what charcoal was just all this crazy stuff so it just expanded my mind and then i got better at something i saw somebody else do so i felt like i was levels behind them and i'm like i'm gonna catch up with that ass i gotta learn how to do this because i've been great all my life and you come in here make me feel a certain way about myself i can't get it yeah so you know what's funny about the whole school thing it was like that wave that i was riding off through childhood and high school i tried that shit when i get into art the art institute my first day and my first project i did i was like you know everybody's about to draw all the artists today it's an art school so everybody's an artist i was like you know what we about to see who good up in this bitch right so my first project like we were supposed to draw a building at uh what was it a linux mall it was right across the street we had to draw i was like we had to draw what we saw out the window and i threw the hell out that building right and then i was waiting to see everybody else's i was like yeah i got this i got this and then when the grades came in i got a seat what mine was literally top notch but i got a seat and then i asked the teachers like well did not did not do a good job like i strived to be this is like yeah we grade on a scale like it we see you're super talented but we want to see you do greater and i was like do all my teachers grade like this and i immediately took all my classes and i dumbed down all my work projects just so that i could that's just the way i think you curve the curve yeah i was working three jobs to pay to go to school you know what i'm saying i need to ace everything and if you graded me on a certain scale i need to be on a certain scale i need to be on a certain scale i need to be on a certain scale i need to like you know hone it down yeah you know just so i can get some good grades so see and that was the see you keep tapping on stuff you said when you drew lennox mall we did the same thing and i drew that fountain in the front the triangle so my um my teacher i got a low grade on that i said what was wrong with it she said quincy your perspectives are off and i was like what the hell is the perspective so she was like angles the way everything has to line up and i said oh and i got taken back again i'm like this humbling ain't cool but hey i learned something i didn't know because i don't think in the high school they taught us about perspectives we may have drew the hallway or some like that but that was one dimension at you know mentioning point and she was like no you gotta see the perspective of the angle of the building and wait how the the fountain lines up with that i was like you're speaking a foreign language to me this is all new so the whole class had to learn about perspectives at that point yeah oh shit you almost made me cry because that that was my thing i'm like don't tell me i don't know how to do this thing i've been doing it since i was five she's like nope i'm here to tell you you don't got this shit all right so let's see um what i'm sorry uh were you one of those artists types in middle school and high school that would draw for your classmates and charge you next to nothing or little to nothing for projects i know you said that was your hustle but now when you look back at it would you like i don't know what you're talking about i don't know what you're like oh i should have been charging their asses way more well no i charged top dollar i was flipping oh wow i would like i would like it got it got to the point where because you know during during that time for me everybody like that was the thing was hip-hop bill the bro was out all that stuff you know and everybody was wearing that in the music video so i was like charging top dollar dollar because i was like really really dope artist at the time and then i was like when like rhinestones and all that stuff came out i started putting it on the baseball caps and then i would buy the baseball caps to match the outfits you know what i'm saying like i would have hats with the rhinestones and the sports letters yeah and then i had the uh a jersey or a shirt to match it and i was like charging top like i was it was in my my backpack was swole you know i come in and i'd be it was like i was selling drugs or some shit between class like me in the bathroom and dudes was you know kids would save up to you know meet with me and it'd be like thursdays and fridays it's on meet me in the bathroom i got you see i love that because that's a sense of confidence and that you knew your worth and i didn't have that sense of worth because i did this i sold this drawing it's like somebody wanted a self-portrait or something like that and i was not charging shit and so when i look back i was like that was something nobody could do but that's a problem with a lot of artists like young that they've been doing it for a long time whatever they just don't know their value and what they should be charging because people always try to nickel and dime you for art like oh yeah you don't understand the process and the time that it takes to get this to the level that you you're gonna be in love with it i can't i don't feel right selling it to you if i'm not in love with it so when you say ah you said 400 but you you think you can do it for 100 no it's 400 you know what for uh just a tip for a lot of artists you want airbrushing back then is you have to charge not just for your talent and your time but for materials yes you know what i'm saying and like there's there's two ways you can charge one is a flat rate and one is an hourly rate you know what i'm saying and then if you charge a flat rate and the client comes back and wants changes or adjustments you charge an hourly rate on top of that flat rate you know what i'm saying and that's that's the best way to kind of like gauge what you want to want to do and then even on a professional level people still trying to these young artists like some dope artists i see online and then professional companies will come at them right they're young and they don't know the business and they will get them for dirt cheap and they're excited to do it because they're like a major company yeah you know i'm saying but you're already dope matter of fact there was one artist i'm not gonna say who it was but they had thousands no no no i think it was like i think they had like two mil followers on social media and the studio that was i am right had less than them yeah then they gave them a development deal for a show they came in and i don't fall for the okie doke because i've been through it before you know what i'm saying so they gave that person a development deal to work on their content that they created for a year so they still stopped you know they weren't posting this frequently they stepped aside for this opportunity and then of course that network was like you know what uh we're gonna pass on that you know we're gonna pass on that and they were they were distraught they were distraught over oh man you know oh they were almost wanting to give like they had their own property that they were developing and they had more followers than the network did and they were like heartbreak i was like dude you got more followers than why why are you talking about like take you know i think they were going to put it to the side for a while and reevaluate them themselves but at the same time you know what that network did the network was like you know we're going to pass on it but we have these terrific projects that we would love you to be a part of you see what i'm saying yeah i was like dude you had way more followers than they did right you had way more eyeballs than they did and now you're second guessing whether you're right that's crazy yeah since we have we have access to youtube all the social media if you can garner enough eyeballs why do you even need that network to fulfill your dreams right exactly you you got the talent you buckle down and do it and if it's worth anything they'll come knocking right it's better to pitch something that's done that you that you put some sweat equity into than to go to them with a handout exactly now you're making a sale and see i feel like that that transcends all um media platforms like music i have a friend that's in music and he's been in rooms with some some you know some heavy hitters in the industry but they want to nickel and dime him and give him these crazy contracts i'm like dude if you want to just take that money it's like basically the worst loan in the world when you sign these contracts like hey we're going to give you 50 000 but you know you can't have any creative control over it and we're going to put it out with no help from you from none of your input and if it sells great but if it doesn't you still owe us this fifty thousand dollars like no that is a game that's a mob move sir i don't want to discourage people from taking that route because even if you get nickeled and dime in the beginning if you don't understand the business that you're getting into you can take it as a lesson you know learn from that from that experience so that you're inside that industry and then be a sponge and learn how everything works within that that industry get better as an artist and then once you obtain that knowledge then you flip it i mean that's what jay-z does career he surrounded himself by people that were greater than him he learned from it absorbed that knowledge and then went on and became greater yeah and you know that you said not to knock that that that path to what you're trying to get to but don't be so hungry you can't be smart because you're saying with so social media and just the internet in general if you don't like what they're trying to give you for your content just keep doing what you've been doing somebody else is going to come knocking at the door and you're still getting all those views and reach or whatever you're trying to uh obtain through what you were already doing you don't need this you know quote-unquote big company to come and save you like no they need you that's why they knocked on your they need content right now they can content more than ever because everybody's stuck at home they got nothing to do but absorb that content at the same time we as creative people with with all with all these platforms at at our at our disposal as a community of creative people we should be able to help each other it's like hey there's some projects coming up like i follow uh uh shout out to like uh black and animated like they got their podcasts and they're doing all their things but they have uh industry events where they bring like black artists within other uh studios together and we get to connect and touch base with each other and find out you know who's hiring where what project is coming up you got to do the same thing on social media as well if you're other artists and we follow each other it's like if you know more about the business and you know rates contracts all that other stuff and you need help reach out to that other individual um and find out it's like hey i got this opportunity with this with this company but i don't know what to charge or i don't know about the contracts and then we have to help each other out in that aspect and i want to speak to that too because you know i've been trying to dabble back into that because i'm trying to look for other streams of income with the you know the climate we're living in um but what i found particularly on instagram i would reach out to artists to ask them just like simple questions either no comment or hey you know i have a patreon i'm like i know you're trying to do your hustle but god damn you just you can't answer this simple question and one in particular there's an artist uh he goes by art attacks on instagram his name is sean and i was like he was my last resource i was like i'ma write this brother if he don't write me back okay i'm done trying to get help and i asked him how to use a tool in procreating that's all i need to know how how do i set this tool to do what i needed to do he was like you know what i'm at work right now but when i go to lunch i'm gonna send you a video i was like god damn i just wanted to type a couple of words and he sent me three videos on how to use this tool and then what it can do i was like brother thank you i've been asking people for three months to help you just and i was like now it's it's nothing it's cake just to use um just uh it's a it was a i can't remember the name of the tool setting but anyway i was like that's all i needed we don't want to help each other because we feel like somebody's our competition if you're doing you i can't ruin what you're already doing right so why not help and lend a helping hand to your fellow artists yeah especially as people of color as well too because like right now the industry is looking that well they appear to be looking for black content they appear to be like trying to uh bring in you know black talent and stuff like that but i'm still skeptical because right now i've heard from a few people that yeah this company this company came to me and and they were like offer me all these opportunities and then it got quiet it looked good for those places to bring in people and interview people of color but if they don't act on it then what's the what's the point they're aware of you but they have been and i i don't want to point out students i don't want to point out studios names but there there are companies that will download people's images put them on the wall right they have meetings looking at other styles and stuff like that they'll have meetings they'll look they won't even contact that artist but they'll use it as a point of reference so they can mimic that style and whatnot you know you got to be careful we got to look out for each other we got to help each other we got to educate each other yeah and see it's crazy you in my mind i'm not sure if i'm going to be able to do that but i'm not sure if i'm going to be able to do that but you know it's all about uh hiring a you know it's all about uh hiring a you know it's all about uh hiring a person of color person of color person of color uh as a decision maker uh as a decision maker uh as a decision maker it's not enough just to have a person it's not enough just to have a person it's not enough just to have a person of color in the room that room if of color in the room that room if of color in the room that room if you're pitching to some someplace or you're pitching to some someplace or you're pitching to some someplace or you're reviewing artwork right especially you're reviewing artwork right especially if you're looking for a talent if you're looking for a talent if you're looking for a talent that's uh you know african-american that's uh you know african-american that's uh you know african-american latino what have you if you're looking latino what have you if you're looking latino what have you if you're looking at that work you need somebody that at that work you need somebody that at that work you need somebody that can relate to that work and that can relate to that work and that can relate to that work and that person's experience as well that pitch person's experience as well that pitch person's experience as well that pitch room should look like the united nations room should look like the united nations room should look like the united nations yeah you know what i'm saying and like yeah you know what i'm saying and like yeah you know what i'm saying and like those people in that room should be able those people in that room should be able those people in that room should be able to make a decision collectively not just to make a decision collectively not just to make a decision collectively not just one person you know what i'm saying one person you know what i'm saying one person you know what i'm saying and so because you need to understand the and so because you need to understand the and so because you need to understand the material material material of the people that you're bringing in of the people that you're bringing in of the people that you're bringing in right um right um right um yeah so yeah so yeah so yeah that's my answer that's why i yeah that's my answer that's why i yeah that's my answer that's why i would do that but at the same time would do that but at the same time would do that but at the same time you know i have respect for those networks you know i have respect for those networks you know i have respect for those networks but those are those but those are those that that's their business they're that that's their business they're that that's their business they're at the bottom line is that they're a at the bottom line is that they're a at the bottom line is that they're a business business business and as a as a creator and a storyteller and as a as a creator and a storyteller and as a as a creator and a storyteller you should look to those businesses as you should look to those businesses as you should look to those businesses as distribution distribution distribution not as like hey i have this great idea not as like hey i have this great idea not as like hey i have this great idea give me some money give me some money give me some money yeah like i like i like i told my friend yeah like i like i like i told my friend yeah like i like i like i told my friend yesterday yesterday yesterday it's like as a company it's like as a company it's like as a company they have a backlog of content that they have a backlog of content that they have a backlog of content that they've already acquired they've already acquired they've already acquired or uh got development deals on and if or uh got development deals on and if or uh got development deals on and if they acquire it they acquire it they acquire it or they put money toward it as a or they put money toward it as a or they put money toward it as a development deal they've invested development deal they've invested finance into it right and they have finance into it right and they have finance into it right and they have hundreds of those hundreds of those hundreds of those then on top of that they have like a team then on top of that they have like a team then on top of that they have like a team of artists that they of artists that they of artists that they recruited internally that are supposed to recruited internally that are supposed to recruited internally that are supposed to develop and create things within that develop and create things within that develop and create things within that company company company two layers of content that they have two layers of content that they have two layers of content that they have inside that that's all investment inside that that's all investment inside that that's all investment but then you got this you know you got but then you got this you know you got but then you got this you know you got these hot up-and-coming artists these hot up-and-coming artists these hot up-and-coming artists that don't work there have amazing work that don't work there have amazing work that don't work there have amazing work make unique styles and whatnot and then make unique styles and whatnot and then make unique styles and whatnot and then they're pitching they're pitching they're pitching right so now you have foreign content right so now you have foreign content right so now you have foreign content coming in it may be amazing but you've coming in it may be amazing but you've coming in it may be amazing but you've already invested in all this other stuff already invested in all this other stuff already invested in all this other stuff and all these other people so that that and all these other people so that that and all these other people so that that tells you how tells you how tells you how your chances are and so like i don't your chances are and so like i don't your chances are and so like i don't want to discourage people from pitching want to discourage people from pitching want to discourage people from pitching and things like that but you're and things like that but you're and things like that but you're pitching ideas pitching ideas pitching ideas right if you if you really want right if you if you really want right if you if you really want something to happen you should look at something to happen you should look at something to happen you should look at them as a distributor them as a distributor them as a distributor right and if you have the means to right and if you have the means to right and if you have the means to animate something animated like a animate something animated like a animate something animated like a that film they'll make that film right that film they'll make that film right that film they'll make that film right so you have to have that same mentality so you have to have that same mentality so you have to have that same mentality animation is a long process and a long animation is a long process and a long animation is a long process and a long game if you have that talent that skill game if you have that talent that skill game if you have that talent that skill to do so do it right if you don't you're to do so do it right if you don't you're to do so do it right if you don't you're just a creator and a storyteller paint just a creator and a storyteller paint just a creator and a storyteller paint portraits on canvases you know what i'm portraits on canvases you know what i'm portraits on canvases you know what i'm saying like tell a story through that saying like tell a story through that saying like tell a story through that or do a children's book graphic novel or do a children's book graphic novel or do a children's book graphic novel novel get your story out by any means novel get your story out by any means novel get your story out by any means and then submit that because at that and then submit that because at that and then submit that because at that point your storytelling is done point your storytelling is done point your storytelling is done right now it's a matter of like if they right now it's a matter of like if they right now it's a matter of like if they believe in it then they can invest in believe in it then they can invest in believe in it then they can invest in something that's fully developed something that's fully developed something that's fully developed you know and do it that route you know and do it that route you know and do it that route yeah and what i always found funny yeah and what i always found funny yeah and what i always found funny because i'm on the outside looking in because i'm on the outside looking in because i'm on the outside looking in but it is basically to me with these big but it is basically to me with these big but it is basically to me with these big production companies production companies production companies is that you leaving money on the floor is that you leaving money on the floor is that you leaving money on the floor when you don't invite like you said when you don't invite like you said when you don't invite like you said those other faces in the room and it's those other faces in the room and it's those other faces in the room and it's not just always about black faces I'm like, when the last time did you see an accurate account of a Native American story or an Asian American story or anything? Right. And I sometimes I watch this. So when I was like, I know that person that race was not in that room when they wrote that, because that was kind of that was borderline racist. And I just said that to the children. Yeah, that's an important fact, too. We have to tell our stories. Right. Like, that's why Black Panther was done so well, because it had a black writer, black director, the whole team. They did. They hired black camera crew because, you know. We should be able to tell our stories. If you want effective results and you want authenticity, right, then you have to allow us to tell our stories, right? It's going to be brilliant. And when we as people of color, we see that on the screen, then, you know, when we go to the movies, we'll see a Black film and then we'll claim it as ours. That's our movie. Yeah. That's our movie. That's our show. Black Panther, that's ours, right? Yeah. But if there's some falsity to it and it doesn't really represent us, we'll spot that out. We'll do our interview. Man, it's Black, but there's something about it. I don't know. Something just – and then we'll investigate, but, oh, yeah, that's why. You know, I'm feeling that now. That's not ours. Yeah. So if you want authentic storytelling and you want the people that you're marketing it to really appreciate it and champion it and support it, then you have to let us tell those stories. And I don't like saying let us. You have to, you know, invest in those storytellers. Yeah. And that's why I'm proud of a lot of creators, you know, POC creators. They're like, you know what? I'm not waiting on nobody to let me tell my story. I'm going to publish my own graphic novel. I'm going to start a Kickstarter for my own cartoon. I'm going to illustrate my own children's book. Because people are going to buy it. With the power of the Internet, if you put a Kickstarter up, oh, I'll buy that shit. I don't have to wait on you to get into Target and then buy this children's book for my daughter. You got a Kickstarter. It's mine when your shit is over and you made, you know, your budget. So I'm proud of us for that because, you know, I don't really know you like this section, but I'm going to be me. Fuck them companies. I mean, but you still – they got there the same way that we're trying to get there. If we can own our own content, we have to come together as a community and support each other, right? So if you see a bomb artist and they got a book coming out, you know, they're trying to raise money for that book. They're trying to raise money for that animation. Support them. And then in doing so – I mean, that's the beauty of Kickstarter. I've done a few Kickstarters. The beauty of Kickstarters is over the time since it started, a community within Kickstarter has grown, right? And so all the people that have done a Kickstarter campaign that has successfully raised their money, they still frequent that website, right? And then they pay it forward. A lot of those people pay it forward by like, okay, well, people donated to my campaign. I'm going to pay it forward and donate to other campaigns that I believe in. And they create community. And over the years, that community grows and grows and grows. So now it's a whole lot easier if you have a great project. And a lot of people that are believing and supporting to it, then you'll be able to raise that money. And that's what we have to do as a creative community is if you love an artist, support them. They got a T-shirt coming out, hit that up. Get that T-shirt. Rock that T-shirt. They got a book coming out. Do that. And then build a community of like-minded people. If we all do that together, then we can, you know, come together, build our own organizations, and then it will be self-sufficient. In the meantime, we do have to lean towards those companies to, you know, distribute the content, right, until something else comes up, until we build our own. You know, you can, you can, you can still pitch, right? You can still create content and sell it to them, you know, because that's, that's wide exposure. But on the other hand, if you got way more viewers on your social media than they do, then you may not need them. But, and it's not all about chasing the dollar either. If you're consistent with your work and you build a library of your work, then people will come and support, right? Yeah. Like Patreon. People have their whole shows on Patreon. They own that. You put it on YouTube, you don't really own it. You start sharing your content with YouTube and Instagram, and it's not yours. But Patreon, you have subscribers that pay to come and look at your consistent content. You got a show. You airing your show. People are viewing your content. So don't. Don't don't be mad if Netflix don't want to pick it up because you're stinking your monthly money. Yeah, like I had a successful YouTube channel for a while. I just started a new one, but you make some decent money off ad dollars. The way I don't know how it works now, but I know for a while, the way it works is for every one million views, right? I think it was for every one million views. It's a thousand dollars. Oh, okay. But that's like, you don't have to just like, if you have. 10 videos and each one of them has a million views collectively, right? During that period, that's $10,000. Yeah. There's like, so there's some cats on there that frequent a million views per video, right? And if you think about it, it's not just that one time. Once you have a library content, people that'll come there for the first time to see that one video will go back and watch all the other videos. Yeah, because I do. And the views accumulate. And you're making ad dollars. Some of these YouTubers, like a major studio will reach out to the YouTubers. Hey, you know, come over here and we want to shoot something on our platform. And like, I'm making $10,000 a month. Unless you give me $10,000 a month for this deal, you're asking me to leave this audience to come work with you. Stop doing this where I'm making some money and come work with you. At this point now, as a creative person, you can be self-sufficient to a certain extent. Yeah, because their names can't carry them anymore. They, you know, they're a brand name, but I don't care about your brand name. Like you said, if your brand name can't match or beat what I'm already making by myself, you need to take the backseat, sir. I mean, but you got it. You got to work hard. You got to master your craft. You have to do it every day. You have to believe in yourself and other people will believe in you as well and support you. Exactly. And speaking of that, me, you and I talked off camera, but something I think you threw my name in the hat and I got a piece of the pie. I, and I'm so appreciative of that because I was like, am I ready for this? You've always wanted this all your life. And I was telling my husband, I was like, I was geeked. I was like, I've been wanting to be an artist all my life and it's happening. You know, I dabble and do a little something for somebody there and I really don't, in my realm, I don't consider that really being an artist. I'm like, I'm just doing this little logo for somebody that's, I mean, I'm not being swamped by logos that would fall into my realm of being an artist. But then when that came into my life, I was like, it's happening. Jesus, make me ready, Lord. So, yeah, you get the, you know, I was, you know, I was happy to pass that, you know, work over your way. You know, you just got to pay it forward. You got to do that with other artists as well. If you're booked and you have another opportunity coming your way, pass it on to somebody else you believe in, give them an opportunity. But at the same time, you know, like it's a lot of work. And once you, once you get those opportunities. You got to rise to the occasion, go above and beyond on that thing. Like when you mentioned logos and stuff like that, like I never considered myself a designer, like a character designer and stuff in the realm of animation. Yes. But like fonts, lettering and logos and stuff like that. In the past, hadn't been my wheelhouse, but I was given an opportunity to design a logo. And once I did, right, it started spinning out of control and more logo. Like I did the hill, the low. Go on Netflix, I did Chico Bon Bon logo, which is a new show on Netflix as well. And then, you know, I've just got a knack for doing logos now. And so I had to, once I got those opportunities, I was like, oh man, I don't want to end up with egg on my face. So let me search type typeface fonts, all that other stuff. And so I had to be a sponge and learn because if it's going out in the public, if you're doing work and it's going to go out to the masses, right, your name is going to be attached to it. Your name's got to mean something, you know what I'm saying? And so you don't say, well, who did, like, if it's, if it's trash, like who did that, maybe it's going to be on there. They look at it and it's dope. They're going to remember that they will remember who did that and that they did it. Well, you know, nothing compares to a job. Well done. And if it's trash, they're going to remember that. Yeah. I'm not going to throw no dough. They wait. That was garbage, but like some of the titles you were talking about that you worked on that a lot of people like, for instance, I didn't know until I started looking into your background. I was like, so like the black history, um, illustrations doing like the commercial spots on Nickelodeon, like they would talk about Sacagawea and all it, you know, the different black leaders. I was like, oh my God, me and my baby used to, when she was a baby watching Nickelodeon and we saw those commercials. ads for a black history month I was like you are in people's lives and they don't even know it they've seen your work then we have a freeze I think we had a freeze are you still there yeah so you were saying the black history something yeah so the black history animation that was during commercial spots on Nickelodeon so they would talk about Barack Obama and Sacagawea and da da da da da and I was like I I know that that me and my baby used to watch that when she was hard on Nickelodeon I was like and that was before I even knew you so I was like people have been touched by your artwork and they don't even know it so some of the titles like if I can run it down you've done work for the Care Bears like you said uh Chico Bombon uh the uh children's book Hair Love um uh what is it Sugar and Toys I didn't work on I didn't work on Hair Love I didn't work I did a fan fan art for that oh okay yeah but they did bring that to me when they were doing Kickstarter I was supposed to do uh you know be a director on that but you know things didn't work out and uh but I'm a big fan of Hair Love oh yeah it's beautiful um you worked on uh and like you did correct me if I'm wrong um you worked on uh Rugrats no you didn't work on Rugrats no who the hell is writing your credits R.I.M.B.B. yeah oh yeah there's some things on there I was like it was like this old stuff like Rugrats um you know what's funny though so I got two close friends that I work with in the animation industry and I think they make because like I said like there's not a lot of black people in the animation industry and if you go back to like old school stuff maybe they think we all look alike we all say I don't know what it is but my friend work my close friend in the animation industry you worked on uh Rugrats and stuff like that he did it you know a picture of a dude when I typed in your name another dude popped up and I was like that's not Saxon why is he why does his name pop up we all the same I don't know that's hilarious but okay so I don't get it mixed up run run a list of stuff that you worked on that people watch okay I'm gonna go back to the beginning I told you about the Cartoon Network stuff right yeah so the Cartoon Network bumpers uh I worked on the first season of Aqua Teen Hunger Force Harvey Birdman Squid Billies um I worked on uh I did a music video for Tony Braxton which I'm proud of at first because before the Tony Braxton animation in that video the only animation and you know uh live action was uh Paul Abdul right okay the Tony Braxton thing and it was on Jay Leno and it was like yeah I wish I had an at that time but it was everywhere music video awards and all that stuff my animation was playing um so there was the Tony Braxton music video uh I worked on Care Bear Strawberry Shortcake Madballs um what else uh see oh yeah most recently where I was a director and a creative director on Sugar and Toys for Fuse TV um I worked on uh what else uh Zombie Walk music video for a designer uh did an animated music video for Tyga um what else yeah I mean in the in the what I'm most proud of is those history spots I did for Nickelodeon did like 27 of those yeah they were beautiful and that was a contract that lasted like three to four years and so like the most important thing to me and I realized that by doing those history pieces is that you know when you teach history to children like when you as a kid you open up the history book everything is black and white so you think it's all dated you just just glaze over it don't pay attention to it but that was an opportunity to show kids uh historical figures in full color and the medium of the animation right and little short stories uh and the kids remembered it because the formula was it showed that historical figure as a child yep right showed how they got inspired who they became and then you know how that how how what they've done inspired others later on and so by doing those right kids with kids would respond they'd be like yeah I remember that that's such a they remember who that figure was because of those spots yeah right and I was like man that was I made my heart melt and if I could have that type of effect on other young kids whether they want to be an artist an astronaut whatever through the the medium of animation then that's what I want to do that's always been my main focus is I want to create animated content and I don't know if you notice this but a lot of the content that I create have some historical value in it but it's always entertainment first so that when you watch it and then you find out some uh something that's historical there's a wait a second is that real yeah I like my work to be multi-layered okay so I'm very proud of the the history and Heritage projects over at Nickelodeon Nick Jr yeah what I thought was great about that like you said it showed him as a child kids when they're in school they look it's a disconnect because first of all we talking about adults like you said it was old I don't want to talk about this old stuff but the connection came together because they could see that um person as a child like oh okay well I didn't see I didn't even think of them as a kid so I can connect with it and so they grew to be there so I can grow to be that but once you just show them as an adult they were like well I'm tapped out I don't know of course they can do it yes that's that's it was it's funny when I saw that I was like I saw that my baby was like glued to the screen every time one of those will come on between I don't know yo Gabba Gabba or something she was watching yeah and then it pop on yeah but we were talking about you know how artists need to connect what are some artists uh that you um you've worked with or have influenced uh your work uh what that influenced my work yeah that have influenced you as an artist not your work per se what influenced you as an artist oh man uh artists that influenced me is like Miyazaki most definitely we're talking about like seniors right because that's the only but like some young artists inspire me but at the same time my motto is always look to people that are the greatest at it right I need to look to the people like the that has done put years and working and they're Masters like I try to look up to Masters and so like Miyazaki um Jim Henson like Jim Henson uh who else um like uh heart ones oh man I love Kehinde Wiley okay fine art um music outcast uh Radiohead you know what I'm saying these are artists these are these are artists in their own right but from different aspects outside to just animation I get inspired Quentin Tarantino films uh Alfred Hitchcock yep Rod Sterling because they're like thrillers you know what I'm saying suspense I'm inspired by uh Jordan Peele um yeah yeah I'm inspired I don't know if you saw I'm inspired it sounds so cliche but I don't care I'm inspired by Beyonce did you watch that uh oh my God I couldn't watch nothing else afterwards yes I was like this I was telling my husband anything because I was thinking of um the last project that she did uh well lemonade that whole lemonade app I'm like everything that she and her creative team put together you can freeze frame it and make a a portrait or a photo of it and hang it in your home it's all every inch of that film is art and blackness yes blackness it's almost like when you see something like that you forgot black people exist on on the screen you know what I'm saying like yeah there's pinnacle moments of blackness when it's like for a bit it was like oh yeah we was black and powerful yeah damn like the Maasai tribe she she shows influences like the hair and the claws that the way I'm just like oh and like the jumping at the Maasai tribe dude and this stuff pops up and I'm like I thought I only know about that now it's on the TV like you you feel a connection with it man and then I was like this thing is so long I was like this thing was expensive as hell I didn't want it to stop right right you know I loved it I loved everything about it like especially the blackness you know because that's that's what's missing and a lot of the stuff that comes out is when you go to the movies and you go to the movies and you walk away from black content if you walk away with a sense of pride right and like that's that's that's my that's the that's the goal it's like if if I can make some something and have you know my people walk away with a sense of pride then you you did it you know yeah and as a parent now as I'm watching that uh uh Black is King I'm watching my daughter at the same time and her eyes I'm like is she gonna blink is she ever gonna blink like her eyes are your eyeballs dry and I can see her just sucking it in and then when it's over like even doing it she's like the song ain't been out for five seconds she already singing you know the chorus to it then at the end she get up and dancing and she's trying to you know do something with an African-inspired and then while we're watching it I'm explaining to her okay they showed you the the jungle in the Serengeti but that's not all Africa baby that's what they tell us I'm like they are a thriving society and so she showed the progression through the movie right and what really had me just rolling over in laughter is when Jay Z rolled up to the mansion right and the servants out front was white I'm just like just rolling over like the white butler carrying a train on a dress I'm like you know because we've always been portrayed as the housekeepers and servants in American storytelling so I was just you know trying to break it down for her it's like no we do we can do great things we can be great things and we can still be ourselves we don't have to sugarcoat it right be this yeah she's a queen yes you're a queen we're all we're all descendants of God right we're gods we were made in his and her images yeah somebody made it was a quote in there about that was like I am God why would I believe in God the father of all creation and I think I'm a guy that's just crazy you are your parents yeah no matter what you do why would you sell yourself short of doing any and let's go back to you know artists charging different rates you know not charging enough it's like you've done the work right you've done the work you you're trying to master that craft and somebody wants to sell you short you know don't sell yourself short you know I'm saying don't lower your prices you know because you're good at what you do right and so like we're strong we're powerful we're kings and queens and we tend to forget that and when we react to like videos like that Beyonce film right I almost forgot that yes you see an example of it you know what I'm saying and we need to see way more examples of it yes I'm just proud because she's been doing that she's trying to feed us what we need and I'm like I love it I love it so you know with her and then the Black Panther I was like can't nobody tell me shit now we we all need to do the same exactly we've been talking about the advancement of black artists and all of this just the whole Gambit but now I want to hit you with this I call it superficial it's a superficial debate okay so in the day in the age-old debate of what is considered anime because you know from my page I love anime right so we're always going back and forth in these little debates what can be considered anime so like the boondocks would you consider that anime the reason I say I do see I knew he was gonna say no sorry the reason I say that is because I don't want to talk about it I say I do is because from when I was getting the DVDs you know they have the extras in it and stuff so from my understanding is that they were having a Japanese company produce the cartoon and then it would air in the United States Japanese companies produce a lot of cartoons yeah yeah they do that's what I consider I consider those anime because they are created by Japanese artists but then in the flip of that I was talking to my husband about it and he was saying well what if some Japanese Americans created uh a cartoon would that be considered anime I'm like dude I don't know I gotta ask Saxon what he thinks well to answer your question because I you know because I hate I've posted things about this before yeah yeah so right now as black people we don't have that much content out there all right and when it does come out like with boondocks like that it was anime inspired right and and and you know it was definitely inspired by anime but it still kept Aaron Magruder's style he drew he drew those characters that way anyway yeah you know what I'm saying we just seen it on a on a broader scale and so it was definitely anime inspired but at the same time it's its own thing yeah we had enough of that right we if we right now you say boondocks like dynamite you put some more things together it's its own thing it's only it's different because in my mind and anime is literally animation that showcases their culture okay it's a culture thing right because like Hayao Miyazaki doesn't want his his word called anime it's Japanese yeah anime is a different style but it's it's Japanese culture you see what I'm saying okay but anime you know it's their life school life right yeah uh a lot of stuff is martial arts right it's it's giant robots and they've established a whole realm within their culture and that's why we love it so much and I always not I'm just going off to a little bit of a tangent but you know how you go into uh it's like oh it's taco Tuesday let's go to a Mexican restaurant as soon as you walk through that door you're immersed in that culture yes right you're like I'm not just you can go into a uh even Taco Bell all that yeah but at a Mexican restaurant you're immersed in the culture yeah sometimes you're going there they have a sombrero or they have like you're eating their food and they want you to feel like you're in that world and within that culture and the same thing with the the the animation that we consume we love Japanese animation because we want to be immersed in that culture oh they wear school they wear school outfits when they go to school what's that like right you know it's like they have giant robots and samurais and all that other stuff and and their weapons and that's their culture now if we did the same thing spinning off of boondocks and black dynamite and what have you with black animation we're immersing people within that culture love those shows so much like black dynamite takes you back to the 70s but a lot of what happens in there is still relatable to today yeah and the boondocks tackle you know uh modern day subjects right from a black perspective right it's a cultural thing to me okay is just Japanese culture okay they try to mix the two to get like I know Netflix is doing a lot of that but then and it's great to see that type of collaboration but we still have a lot of work to do I want to see more uh my I want to see my in the three I want to see uh uh you know I want to see more Latin and Mexican stories you know what I'm saying yeah them to have their own uh realm of animated storytelling I want to see you know the same way Japanese did I want us to be able to have that we should have a wide spectrum of different storytelling I don't know around my way to answer your question but no that was it you know what and that's I'm glad you expressed it that way because in my head anime I I guess it began and uh it started and ended at was it produced by the Japanese that's it I was like so when and Netflix will say they have an original anime I'm like what was it was it created by Japanese people then it's in America it's in a Western cartoon at this point so why did you put anime on it it's not right I think what it has to blow down to is the storyteller okay right the director the writer and director and the creator of that story uh who works on it really I know there's some Japanese most Japanese and Korean Studios work on the majority of the animation that we have coming out but that doesn't make it that it's the creator and the storytellers that created it you know what I'm saying yeah and and and the perspective and the lens that they're expressing that story through you know what I'm saying wild card in there so what about the brother with the uh the animation company in Japan would that still be considered anime I mean it depends on the type of stories that he's trying to I I I don't think that I don't know but you know do they have original stuff that they created that's their own yet like I'm a big fan of the art shitajia yeah yeah I can never pronounce it yeah I'm not I'm not I met with that brother uh one of the brothers because there's two brothers um and they're twins too um I met with that one brother yeah okay go ahead yeah I met with that brother really cool dude I love what he's doing out there he's he's a pioneer you know what I'm saying they do phenomenal work you know what I'm saying and I look forward to seeing what they come with uh from that's original their own you know what I'm saying so like we're on the pinnacle of all this stuff like we we need to make more content there's a lot of people now that's creating that opportunity and they're one of them you know there's also noir Caesar but like it's different though too because like you got a lot of a lot of young brothers and sisters that that love anime and they want to do anime right but if you want to tell a black story and you just want to you can be anime inspired yes but it all boils down to the creator the storyteller and the people that are originating that story right not necessarily people that work on it yeah so and I always say and I've said it a couple of times on this show I feel like uh black people in general gravitate to anime because it's something that we can connect to it's not our story but they're they're very like you say culture um it's in-depth in their culture so we don't really per se have a culture that we know about it was it was it was hidden from us yes exactly remember until beyonce last night yeah so we see something like animated stuff that looks like that yeah but it's just that okay so we talk about dragon ball z a lot it's really not even so that the characters we look nothing like the characters it's the story that we can connect to so what i always go back to is like goku everybody loves goku happy-go-lucky dude but goku was a trash ass dad a lot of black people can say oh yeah my daddy was cool but he was a trash ass i'm like he wasn't trying to do his responsibilities he was trying to do what he was trying to do no matter the consequence to his family that's goku then we talk about piccolo piccolo was like that dude in the hood that looked after the kids you know your trash ass daddy ain't around so i'm gonna show this little dude what he needs to do to be better so it's just the stories of anime that we connect to so strongly because we like that culture we're hungry for culture basically right yeah our culture was stripped from us yeah but we're hungry for it that's why when black panther and and beyonce dropped something new we're like we're reminded right and the fact that japanese anime and manga and they locked in their culture yeah right that the japanese love that it's part of their day-to-day they're immersed in that manga is just laying around you know what i'm saying adults read it on the train yeah we need to do that for ourselves you know what i'm saying we need to have we need to be immersed in our culture and reminded of our culture daily yeah because like the closest thing i can think of to something that we do culturally on a day-to-day basis well not right now but it's like you know when somebody give you dab you know that's something that we did culturally like in anime they do things like they battle each other right you know i had to look up there i was like what is that all about and so you like you said you see something you research it like what does that mean or you're gonna take their shoes off or you know they do their whatever they pray when they before they eat we pray before we eat i'm just saying you see those things you want to learn more so when you see it with your own culture you're like i'm hungry i want it all yeah exactly yeah we need to start doing more i want to see more of that in books i want to see more of that in animation you know so just a a consistent reminder yeah man and i think it would be if you could see anything from like you said the story of the stories that beyonce tells and what we saw the beauty of the culture in black panther we could make whole universes that will be magnificent if we just put them out there could be anything at this point said again there are some things out there but we got to support them and the artists that create them oh yeah right but that was deep i get sweaty when i get passionate my husband's like why don't we get out your interviews you're all sweaty i'm like because i'm talking to people that's passionate about stuff that i'm passionate about but we're gonna remove the stress and the sweats for a second and get silly so i do this thing uh do you want to get with this or do you want to get with that okay so you just tell me what you want to get with that me which you prefer if you want to elaborate that's cool sometimes i give people stank eye for the answers so we'll see if we run into that uh which you prefer netflix or hulu uh yeah well since i'm working with because netflix paying me right now okay and at this point this is what i give folks the stank eye because for a minute netflix is just grabbing all the content good or bad and just putting it out i'm like please stop you don't got to have all the content just have some good content that's all i want i have one recommendation on hulu 10 15 what is that i haven't heard that 10 15 hands down it's a comedy yeah just i ain't gonna go into detail see about either this month or next month but watch season one of 10 15 i won't steer you wrong okay i'm gonna write that down okay console gaming or pc gaming i don't know if you're a gamer but console console yeah damn because that shit hidden keys and joysticks and there's too much i'm getting older i just want the controller okay why compad or a procreate on ipad i could dive deep into that uh because right now i'm working off uh an ipad right and i have a i have a wacom tablet as well not a cintiq uh but it's hard because like i've recently i've gone back to paper but right now i've been using procreate and then sometimes i'm reading it because there's an issue with procreate that i can't stand and no one can tell me the way out of this what is it so people do high resolution beautiful detailed artwork but you're not able if you scale it if you scale it up or shrink it down or move it the resolution drops i've found that too and so most people that do the high detail of work will say oh no i don't scale anything i just zoom in zoom out and that's it like i don't move it i was like man i need i need to move my stuff for like professional client work or whatever i need those layers you have a limited amount of layers yes so what i do now this is a tip and i'm sorry to go off on a tangent but i'll do it in a minute and then i'm going to show you how to do it in a minute i'll draw assets from my whole piece and procreate at a large size and i'll export it into photoshop oh okay because i was trying to finagle my way around it i was like okay so i'm gonna start with a large uh dimension so say i do something 18 by 18 and then i'm like okay so now i can bring up the resolution but now i won't be able to i'll have like 11 or 12 layers at that point and when i get what i want then i'll start merging the layers down if you if you work your client sometimes wants to make adjustments yeah and you can't you can't just be flattening stuff like that so i'll do uh i'll do my whole layout because with the ipad you can do it in your lap and go outside whatever yeah and so i'll lay it out and then when i do like the final piece i'll do it in chunks like certain areas and then i'll export it into photoshop and then i'll piece it all together okay i just like the convenience of being able to go anywhere with my my ipad now yeah that's the thing you got to come up with all these different side plans because that's what i say i'll condense it but before i condense layers i'll make a duplicate file and then go back to my original yes that's the struggle in procreate yeah you know what i'm saying i'm about i'm about to get the new ipad so i won't have to have that much of a problem because the new ipad is supposed to be super powerful okay yeah well let me know the price point of that you know i ain't living like you living okay uh when you're driving or on the train do you prefer music or podcast music okay uh what you listening to right now oh man i've been listening to uh what i just bought beyonce um the thing didn't even end yet i was like let me buy this real quick so i got to listen to that i've been listening to earthgang okay have you heard of earthgang? uh-uh have you heard of earthgang? uh uh if if you loved outcast okay like the next evolution of outcast is earthgang they they rock with j cole dreamville they're on dreamville so like i've been listening to earthgang i've been listening to movie soundtracks so like i listen to a lot of that and yeah i think that's about it my i don't i listen to more podcasts right now but my always go to and i don't know why i'm stuck in like 2006 or something but i keep listening to most deaths um what is it november december it's just an instrumental and i used to bump it on the train in atlanta like as high as i could get it and people would give me a stank out on the train you guys was a backpack kid and so they was like she turned that shit down like no most death my i really knew a weird tip as an artist right if you were if you ever did like a really dope piece that you're really proud of you would damn it because like when i listen to music i listen to music my my hand seems to tends to flow my line work is confident i'm just flowing with the music to that beat if you ever want to re ever ever recreate that moment listen to that old track again when you work it's almost it's almost like repetition oh yeah like muscle memory yeah yeah it could be old right but if it really inspired you and you was on that wave for a moment and you were making that really dope piece and you were listening to that listen to it again next time you need to you know what i'm saying that's crazy because i used to paint listening to that song it wasn't just on the train but when i would be in art class you know the studio was empty i'd paint and i just listened to that on rotation yeah you tapped on something see i'm finna get this done okay so would you prefer a big party or a small gathering when outside officially officially opens small gathering i keep my circle close yeah um would you want to do camping or binge watching your favorite shows at home depends on who i'm camping with yeah that's true you know burying some goddamn body would you prefer what do you prefer uh studio ghibli over disney animation oh well we're talking about classic disney i really love all the classic just they're both magic yeah and they're but they kind of both inspire well miyazaki was inspired off inspired off the old disney works man i have to pick between the two you gotta pick one gotta go you have to go to therapy after this no we gotta go oh my god i guess right now i have to go with miyazaki yeah because i was watching um spirited away the other day that was actually one that put me on him and i just you know watched all i was in college when i saw spirited away and i was like this is fucking beautiful right who does this unless they insane to put so much intricate detail into the thing i watched the wind rises yesterday i just i love everything princess mononoke mononoko or i can't remember how to pronounce it but yeah the fucking scenes with her riding the wolf and just the movement of the whole thing i just can't understand how somebody doesn't go insane after creating something like this magic it's magic and if to all the anime animator fans out there if you know who the nine old men are from disney no they're not oh my gosh you don't know who the nine old men are no the nine old men were the like key animators over at disney that made all the movies that people grow them to love and know and all the important moments uh like you know jungle well jungle book was the last one they really worked on but like bambi snow white all the other stuff but the nine old men are the people the the guys that really took animation to the next level to where you'll see an animated character and you'll feel emotion they mastered emotion in animation there's one film i recommend to any animator watch frank and ollie i've heard that before but i've never watched that before the two two of the nine old men they they they're the ones that captured the most heartwarming scenes and most of the original disney animated features and watch frank and holly okay because i did watch something where they would break down the process of their animation so you know they would record the actress you know running and falling out and stuff like that and then recreate that and that's why i had such a human feel because you know you see some cartoons that's robotic and i'm like no they went for the whole spectrum of movement back then oh you know what back then when they were animating on paper yeah right because right now you can do it on the computer and see it right away when they animated all that stuff on paper a lot of times they were all on the same sheet so they were masters and so when they shot when you when you animate on paper you have a camera and you have to shoot it off right and so the timing has to be right they couldn't see what it looked like for like a week or two later they had to send it away and then it come back and there's okay well i need to fix this it ain't got that time so they had to master it and get it right the first time so those are the ultimate masters were the ultimate masters in animation you know what i'm saying watch frank and ollie and you know you'll get it see you speak on that paper when i was going to the atlanta college of art we had to do that and i was like oh no the animation game for me i need to be a character designer it was like you know they they're going away from that really i was like i don't even want to have to do it one day i don't want to do this i'm going to design the characters the principles are still the same yeah um let's see here um american cartoons or japanese anime western american cartoons that have not been free because i know you would dig deep had it been produced by the japanese no american artists making american cartoons and japanese making japanese anime oh well i have to go with american cartoons there's a word because that's your responsibility and style okay yes the versatility and style you got like spongebob you got looney tunes you got amazing world of gumball you got like it's so versatile you know what i'm saying then you got boondocks and then you got like you know what i'm saying it's very versatile and style i dare you come on my show and make me think because you're right i'm like no anime all day and then i'm like i do like gumball i do like regular show you're right you're right let's see um would you prefer a comic book or a comic book movie it's different now since marvel started making a lot of movies they raised the car uh right now right now it's kind of movies i've i've i've been reading comic books but they they do have limitations but you got to have the book before it's like the chicken who can't prefer the chicken or the egg the the stories came first in the books yeah i just yeah to me the best transition from comic to film was scott pilgrim versus the world yes oh my god i thought that was just like the best ever because i'm like the comic book it's got a great story but it's so simplistic the style is simplistic and then to see it on the big screen i'm like oh they pulled out all the bells and whistles on this damn this it was it well done uh let's see would you prefer a rich friend or a loyal friend loyalty exactly you know what i got good people on this show now one person has picked a rich friend because they could possibly be trash um would you prefer a horror movie or a japanese horror movie i like japanese horror movies hell yeah because they don't give a damn about your psyche what are you done with like they we're going to show you the most gruesome ever you're never going to forget it you're going to be sleeping with the lights on for about a week what was the last japanese horror movie you watched i i can't i tried to watch a couple of new ones but i think i don't know if it's considered a japanese horror movie but i do have a recommendation uh called i saw the devil oh damn i'm already messed up off the title no it's amazing it's about that movie i saw the devil is that on netflix it was i don't know if it still is but it's a it's definitely a must-see it could be a good one but i don't know if it's gonna be a good one but i don't know if it's gonna be a good one but i don't know if it's gonna be a good one but i don't know if it's gonna be a good one but it it fits within that realm but yeah okay all right man that's all because i can i can talk all day to you about art and cartoons and because we didn't say nothing about shira and he-man that was my that's what put me on yeah oh if i can draw this and jim and holograms and my mother has all my sketchbooks of me just reading huh new he-man coming i just i get it i get it i get it i get it i just i get it i get it i get it i get it i get it i get it i get it i get it i just i get disappointed when they bring old stuff back like the thundercats like just don't do it if you're not gonna do it right yeah you still you still have the classics you know yeah like i was on the fence of the new thundercats but at the same time it's it's almost making fun of them fun of the thundercats and i love i love the animation i love the silliness to it because the original still exists yeah it does but then i look back i'm like look how beautiful you know what is it huh if that was beautiful and that's what struck a chord with you look at that yeah you're right i just hate these babies get the you know the half face i call it the half ass anime oh you got that little thundercat half ass go ahead with yourself then all right if you could tell the listeners where they can find you uh you can find me on instagram everything is just at saxton more you find me on instagram i'm on twitter i'm on facebook but i'm migrating off of facebook um i'm doing a lot of migrating but i think right now you can mostly find me on uh instagram you can see my work on behance i recommend any artist starting their portfolio use behance uh i have saxton more productions is on youtube as well so follow me on there all right sexy well it was great talking to you i hope it's not the last time and any future projects you're working on you want to come on and talk about please let me know so they're coming there and it works i'm grinding yeah you've been grinding that's all you do i got some new stuff coming soon all right well you take it easy out here in these corona streets thank you thank you i greatly appreciate you bringing me on and uh interviewing me and i had a lot of fun and hopefully we can do it again soon oh yeah man you were a lot of fun all right y'all that was our show i hope you enjoyed yourself as always hope you learned something as always i know what that i did and me personally talking to another artist that have has walk that walk and dream that dream and are aspiring and constantly creating within that dream of being a creator is very inspiring to me so uh afterwards we had a great conversation it is always nice to talk to Saxton I can't believe it took this long since we had been insta buddies in the dms for so damn long but I was so happy that we had a great conversation you all could be a part of that um if you have any questions just reach out to him uh he was you know kind of open to me I don't know if he'd be open to y'all but give it a try so I hope you took your notes if you missed something please go back share this with any up-and-coming artists especially young people that you know um I think it'll be very eye-opening and it'll spark something in them um so like I said this is the end of our show I want to do my my roundabouts uh if you want to support the show you can go to cash app the cap shop is dollar sign gadgets and geekery or you can also support the show on patreon.com and you can also support the show on patreon.com and you can show by giving a donation or tip through uh anchor um you can also go over to the gadgets and geekery.com we've got merch over there t-shirts hats cell phone cases and I'm thinking I'm at some new stuff pretty soon but I got a lot of stuff going on right now so I need to you know try to keep it together because I can get spread thin real quick um if you have any questions or comments or suggestions or just want to tell me if you like the show if you don't I mean because I'm working on my thick skin uh so I think I can take it just call a sister the hotline number is 972-664-4886 eventually I'll be uh putting together a giveaway for people that actually call because you know what y'all I pay for this phone and y'all is not calling me okay I don't like to be paying for something that ain't getting utilized so let me try to put together a giveaway get them calls coming in um you can follow me on social media instagram is where I live or you can find me on facebook or twitter gadgets and geekery we also have a Twitter account and I'll see you in the next one bye bye 21 and up discord if you'd like to be a part of that please dm me eventually that will be a part of the patreon when I put that on a long list of things that I need to do and if you are a hip-hop artist lyricist singer we have a showcase called nerdcore spotlight that we're bringing back that we did in season one so send me an email send me um a song that you'd like to have aired and the public would really love to hear that um anything that's dealing with nerd culture and again this is your girl Q hope you enjoy the show and I'll see y'all next time