In an excerpt from “seeing the Brick”, the author writes, “the appeal of making images apparently move- the ‘fever to create’ which underpins the work of all animators.” I have experienced the “fever to create” many times. Sometimes when an assignment is given, my brain is automatically thinking of all the possible ways to complete it. But I do not want to do it just halfheartedly; I want to give it my all and challenge myself to do better than what I thought I could do. I want to step out of my comfort zones, even if it is just a little bit, to do the best I can do on the assignment. The surge of excitement and energy is the “fever to create.”

Having some experience in animation, I’ve had assignments where I have experienced this “fever” before. As opposed to non-moving arts, in animation, you can visibly see the change and progress you make as you create it. With a painting or a non-moving piece, it comes together but you do not have the luxury of replaying the progress back multiple times. With animation, it is also as if the animator is literally giving life to something. There is movement, expressions, sounds and reactions that allow the animation to have some life-like qualities. With a still piece, there is rarely any sort of reaction. A painting does not transition from happy to sad as fluidly as with an animation.

The challenge of creating multiple still images to create the illusion of movement is also something appealing. One image alone cannot portray an entire action. In comics and drawings, actions lines represent the movement and our brains must process it that a certain action is taking place. However, with multiple images playing at a certain rate, our brains do not see them as individual images but a seemingly fluid action occurring. The challenge of achieving this end result can be quite appealing in itself.