Allison Frank is creating
doodles and stuff
Helping to spread exotics education to the children!
5
$7
About
I'm an artist and animator living in NY, who is very interested in exotic pets, especially reptiles! It's my dream to use art and animation to educate the public about how wonderful reptiles and other exotics really are.
Location
Brooklyn, NY, USA
Top PatronsSee all 5
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Hi there!
Are you tired of the media misrepresenting exotic animals? Me too! Exotic animals are so often brushed aside as a throwaway pet. "They only live a few years anyway!" WRONG! We may not be able to convince the parents how to properly care for an animal, but we can certainly encourage children! I believe the way to do this is through fun and educational programming, something that's severely lacking on television these days.
"Goldfish only grow to the size of their bowl!" "Rats are fine in a glass aquarium!" "I want to buy my daughter this bunny for Easter!" We've all overheard these things at pet stores, and cringed at it. Where do people get all of this ridiculous information? Who knows. Sometimes even the pet store employees don't know they're giving bad information.
I grew up with cartoons like The Magic Schoolbus, Little Bear, David the Gnome and others, that showed me education can be fun, and animals are people too.
Here's my plan:
Brian Barczyk is launching AnimalBytesTV, a web network that's main goal is to spread education and awareness about the beautiful creatures that inhabit this earth. No more sensationalist crap spewing complete lies and rumors, no, they're going back to the good old days of real informative educational programming.
What does every network need? A cartoon! I'm going to be producing a 5 minute pilot for his network. If he likes it, maybe there will be more! Wouldn't that be so cool?
I'd like to get this wrapped up from start to finish in about 3 months. That means a lot of work, and a lot of stuff that'll be posted exclusively here!
I'd waffled on doing this for a long time, just because it would be a labor of love, but I've come to this conclusion: If I don't do this, who will? It needs to be said. I believe that this truly needs to be a message out there for kids, to be a shining beacon of information in a sea of ignorance or misinformation.
The Pilot:
The basic idea for this pilot, is to teach children that snakes are solitary creatures; That they don't get lonely. My idea was to have a baby ball python see other animals that need companions: birds, rats, etc. and wonder if it's possible for him to be lonely. A wise cockatoo named Esther tells him "some animals are better off alone," but he's curious and insists on trying. She introduces him to two other ball pythons; a big grumpy long term captive male, who refuses to even acknowledge him, and an eccentric hoity toity leucistic female who argues that every good spot in the enclosure is for her, and her only. At some point when they're fighting over a spot, it zooms out and a human says "look, they're cuddling!" It zooms back in to show him frustrated and aggravated, definitely not cuddling. He finally realizes that he's happiest alone, and after being placed back in his home, Esther, perched on a branch outside of his enclosure, says, "I'm always here if you're feeling a little lonely." And winks. He smiles and falls asleep. Possibly a PSA afterwards that says, "Always research if your pet needs companions. Many animals do best when they're alone."
Future episode ideas:
-Fish are not expendable and do not thrive in a bowl
-Hot rocks are dangerous, can burn your pet and start fires
-If a snake consistently has a bad shed, there's something wrong with your husbandry
-Bearded dragons need a balanced diet and UVB light to grow properly
-Parrots are a huge responsibility and are not an appropriate pet for most people
-Turtles need enormous enclosures and a very expensive setup to be happy, and don't stay cute and small for very long.
Become a patron and suggest more ideas!
What you can do:
I'm basically going to be doing all of the production work myself, but Patreons are more than welcome to give feedback, ideas, criticisms and the like! Depending on what you want, you'll have access to streams, tests, sketches, storyboards, you might get to see the whole process from start to finish! To start, I'm just going to list digital and traditional sketches. Once I have the designs fleshed out, it'll be on to storyboards, then animatic! As I finalize designs, I'll be posting up character turnarounds for everyone to see. If you wanna see the concept art, however, you'll have to become a patron! :D
What your money will go towards:
Living expenses, basically. I'm creating the pilot out of my passion for the subject, but passion doesn't pay the bills unfortunately. Anything you donate will be helping with my rent, utilities or food bills!
Concept Bundles:
I'm going to be releasing content in "concept bundles." I'm still getting a feel for what's fairly priced or not. Feel free to give me feedback on what you'd like to see in the concept bundles, if you feel there isn't enough per bundle, or it updates too frequently! This is my first Patreon so I want to make sure all my patrons are comfortable with how frequently they're donating and the volume of work they're seeing!
An example of my animation:
Are you tired of the media misrepresenting exotic animals? Me too! Exotic animals are so often brushed aside as a throwaway pet. "They only live a few years anyway!" WRONG! We may not be able to convince the parents how to properly care for an animal, but we can certainly encourage children! I believe the way to do this is through fun and educational programming, something that's severely lacking on television these days.
"Goldfish only grow to the size of their bowl!" "Rats are fine in a glass aquarium!" "I want to buy my daughter this bunny for Easter!" We've all overheard these things at pet stores, and cringed at it. Where do people get all of this ridiculous information? Who knows. Sometimes even the pet store employees don't know they're giving bad information.
I grew up with cartoons like The Magic Schoolbus, Little Bear, David the Gnome and others, that showed me education can be fun, and animals are people too.
Here's my plan:
Brian Barczyk is launching AnimalBytesTV, a web network that's main goal is to spread education and awareness about the beautiful creatures that inhabit this earth. No more sensationalist crap spewing complete lies and rumors, no, they're going back to the good old days of real informative educational programming.
What does every network need? A cartoon! I'm going to be producing a 5 minute pilot for his network. If he likes it, maybe there will be more! Wouldn't that be so cool?
I'd like to get this wrapped up from start to finish in about 3 months. That means a lot of work, and a lot of stuff that'll be posted exclusively here!
I'd waffled on doing this for a long time, just because it would be a labor of love, but I've come to this conclusion: If I don't do this, who will? It needs to be said. I believe that this truly needs to be a message out there for kids, to be a shining beacon of information in a sea of ignorance or misinformation.
The Pilot:
The basic idea for this pilot, is to teach children that snakes are solitary creatures; That they don't get lonely. My idea was to have a baby ball python see other animals that need companions: birds, rats, etc. and wonder if it's possible for him to be lonely. A wise cockatoo named Esther tells him "some animals are better off alone," but he's curious and insists on trying. She introduces him to two other ball pythons; a big grumpy long term captive male, who refuses to even acknowledge him, and an eccentric hoity toity leucistic female who argues that every good spot in the enclosure is for her, and her only. At some point when they're fighting over a spot, it zooms out and a human says "look, they're cuddling!" It zooms back in to show him frustrated and aggravated, definitely not cuddling. He finally realizes that he's happiest alone, and after being placed back in his home, Esther, perched on a branch outside of his enclosure, says, "I'm always here if you're feeling a little lonely." And winks. He smiles and falls asleep. Possibly a PSA afterwards that says, "Always research if your pet needs companions. Many animals do best when they're alone."
Future episode ideas:
-Fish are not expendable and do not thrive in a bowl
-Hot rocks are dangerous, can burn your pet and start fires
-If a snake consistently has a bad shed, there's something wrong with your husbandry
-Bearded dragons need a balanced diet and UVB light to grow properly
-Parrots are a huge responsibility and are not an appropriate pet for most people
-Turtles need enormous enclosures and a very expensive setup to be happy, and don't stay cute and small for very long.
Become a patron and suggest more ideas!
What you can do:
I'm basically going to be doing all of the production work myself, but Patreons are more than welcome to give feedback, ideas, criticisms and the like! Depending on what you want, you'll have access to streams, tests, sketches, storyboards, you might get to see the whole process from start to finish! To start, I'm just going to list digital and traditional sketches. Once I have the designs fleshed out, it'll be on to storyboards, then animatic! As I finalize designs, I'll be posting up character turnarounds for everyone to see. If you wanna see the concept art, however, you'll have to become a patron! :D
What your money will go towards:
Living expenses, basically. I'm creating the pilot out of my passion for the subject, but passion doesn't pay the bills unfortunately. Anything you donate will be helping with my rent, utilities or food bills!
Concept Bundles:
I'm going to be releasing content in "concept bundles." I'm still getting a feel for what's fairly priced or not. Feel free to give me feedback on what you'd like to see in the concept bundles, if you feel there isn't enough per bundle, or it updates too frequently! This is my first Patreon so I want to make sure all my patrons are comfortable with how frequently they're donating and the volume of work they're seeing!
An example of my animation: