Miskatonic U

Until recently I worked a comfortable job as a graphics and multimedia designer for a government contractor. I have nothing at all bad to say about that job. Booz Allen Hamilton treated me very well and I found a lot of the work rewarding.

But comfort started getting more important than living my dreams. It tends to when a mortgage and family is involved. I considered quitting the job and pursuing an entertainment career for a long time, but fear got in the way.

If I can credit any one person with stoking the fire under my butt enough to take the giant leap of quitting, it would have to be Jonathan Coulton. He semi-famously quit his job as a programmer to pursue songwriting full time. He did it so well that he inspired a themed cruise called JoCo Cruise Crazy.* This “con on a boat” brought kindred spirits (self-styled “Sea Monkeys”) out of the woodwork. Trapped on a cruise ship for a week with intensely creative people, I became ready to face my fears and make the big quit. My wife Renée and I made the cross-country trek from Adelphi Maryland to Burbank, California, and now I’m pursuing full-time work in animation, with a little extra commitment to the project you are reading right now.

Miskatonic U is mainly Lovecraftian comedy, but deep down it is really about facing fears. The everyday little fears that, if allowed to accumulate unchecked, will add up to missing out on life.

* I made this “Superfriends” animation for a video contest on that cruise, and fell in love with cel animation.