The Birth of ToonGrin.com

If I looked back on my life to find the exact moment I decided to enter the video entertainment field would be back in my freshman year of high school in 2010. I was a shy and introverted youth, not much different from today but nevertheless, it was around then where I initially became part of the Communications Technology course in my school and got acquainted with film. It was a very empowering experience to learn from scratch how to create silly videos and media that’s primary function was to make other’s smile. But what kicked me into high gear to further my experience within the film industry was when I decided to edit a video review on Don Bluth’s A Troll In Central Park.

Putting out such a video made me vulnerable to the scorn of the internet and I took that with open arms. Above anything else what I wanted to gain from starting in video production was a sense of confidence in my work and words and putting myself out there like that forced me to do so. Although this was at the beginning where all I really longed for was to have my writing and words taken seriously by my peers. I couldn’t have imagined that it would lead me to wanting not only to write but to develop a critical animation review show, a video podcast, a line of comic books, and original animated television show properties.

The advent of online media companies has exploded with the growth of media platforms like YouTube and companies such as Channel Awesome and Hi5 have garnered massive success, raking in millions of views and employees of both becoming social media icons in their inner circle of fans. It’s this sort of expansive and flexible company that I wanted to push myself into developing. I did want to work with some production studios to produce top quality content but I just felt the urge that I needed to push myself more. That lead to my solo channel at the time transforming into ToonGrin.com.

Under ToonGrin.com I wanted to create and produce work that myself and my business partner Nero Angelus could be proud of as well as work on a variety of work that would flex our creative muscles. From producing Watchin’ Stuff, a weekly video podcast detailing our spoiler filled thoughts on animated movies, to developing original book concepts like our in progress book TopNotch Robert we strive now to go further beyond our skillset and improve with each passing project. Currently ToonGrin is in talks to edit and design motion graphics for an animated movie titled Channel Awesome In The Yellow Submarine and have become editors for the speed art channel Doctor Crafty for his second season of videos.

Like any independent company, trying to find one’s foothold in the medium can be a very discouraging task as more often than not most attempts to reach that barrier of notoriety just ends up one feeling invisible and hopeless. It leaves one to self-reflect wondering if it was all worth it? The time? The pain? The heartache? Would entering this field and deciding to not on balance an independent company with freelance workloads yield any sort of positive outcome? Or does it always lead to stress, creative burnout and failure? That is where I and many business owners teeter however I hold firm because not only is the work I complete under ToonGrin work that I can be immensely proud of, but the creative control and freedom it brings makes it all worth it.