I had always been creative before Newgrounds; Art classes, drawing on the corners of notebook paper, things like that. When I was like... eh... 9, I decided I wanted to do something with my... talent. So I searched google and found "Game Maker". That's right, the same Game maker used by SFB. I used that, made a REALLY crappy pac-man platformer, then quit. I was done with this just-out-of-the-trash piece of junk. So I didn't do anything for a couple years.
But after all of those years I craved something; a little movie making. So I made some really crappy movies about Mentos using my mom's new video camera and edited them with windows movie maker. But it wasn't enough. If I wanted something that was completely my creation, I was going to have to do something else. Being a directer was too limited.
So, Much later that year (like... 5 months), New Years Eve, there I am, thinking of something to do. 11 year olds don't often stay up until 12 at night (at least this one didn't). So I get to thinking, why not be creative? I remembered Game Maker, so I opened it back up. You could make like 3 frame movements for the characters, so I did. They sucked.
Finally, I opened paint. That's right, paint. I remembered my previous experience with Windows Movie Maker and I remembered being able import pictures. I'm sure you can all guess what I did from there. I made an animation. This was that animation.
I was proud as could be. I sent it to everyone I knew. The people who say I suck NOW said that it was good. I thought it was promising. But it didn't matter. The grueling task of making the animation was just too much. I didn't think I would do anything like that ever again. In a way, I was right. That following year, I found one of the greatest MMORPG's in history. No, it's not WOW, but it's popularity around the world is a threat to be reckoned with- Ragnarok. It was fun and I was addicted for well over a year.
While I played, I kept telling people that I was gonna make an animation about our server. At first, I didn't, I couldn't. But then It was over. Ragnarok got old. Same old people, same old enemies. I started making marble tracks in my room, no longer going onto the computer.
But sometimes I did go onto my computer. When I found out that the new Decline of Video Gaming was out (I worshiped SFB... I still like them, but now my respect is spread throughout newgrounds), I jumped at the chance to watch it. Knowing of only one site to see it, I turned to ugoplayer.com. I watched it once, then again, then I looked at the menu.
"This Flash and More, Also on Newgrounds!"
Newgrounds? What's that, I asked myself. I checked it out. I was immediately entertained through the abundance of animations. I saw the good and the bad, then became a regular in the portal. It was amazing. Because I was going on the computer so much, I began to play RO again. It was a new level of Geekiness.
It still wasn't enough to satisfy my creative hunger. I ate it all up, sure, but I wanted to do it myself. I looked at the tutorials under "Help/FAQ", then I tried flash. I liked it , so I got it. I began with a flash called "DBZ vs. Kirby", which is on my site (www.spare-jello.tk). It got blammed, I gave up. At the age of 13, I started again.
I did many a collab, starting with the SSBM Collab (the third of which is starting now... join it), then finally came to my senses. I wasn't original yet. Nothing was mine. I was leeching off of other peoples work. Sure, collabs are great, but not when it's all you do. So I worked on a short project of my own. It was called "Check it!". That was my first animation in the portal that passed, and God was I happy when It did.
I started animating again. I made episode 2 in less than a day, then I began to work my little butt off. An animation a week one month (starting with Check it 2, ending with Wreck the Halls). That's been my peak so far, but I'm getting better.
I've been working with flash ever since then. It's a fun hobby that I plan to be doing until the day I die.
