After finally finishing my 2D digital animated short, Veggie Propaganda a few weeks ago, I finally have time to focus on a few freelance projects as my impending maternity leave from The American University of Rome looms (November 18, 2011).

Just yesterday I created a tattoo design for a friend from my hometown of Swansea, Massachusetts. She had asked me to create a drawing revolving around “The Three Birds” song by Bob Marley. It was to go on the back of her neck and each bird would represent one of her children. Sadly, a few years ago she lost two twin boys about halfway through her pregnancy. Today however, she is the proud mother of a healthy three year-old girl.

I first played around with several compositions, with the most obvious choice being three birds sitting on a branch. However, I thought that her intended meaning might come through better if the two birds representing the twins were on the branch sleeping and in a protective pose over the flying bird representing her daughter.

 

 

 

I normally try to ask clients to give me adjectives to describe the type of drawing they want (example: somber, cartoony, morose, intricate, flirty, screaming, etc) or to give me a sample of a drawing done in a style that they like since I can imitate anything. My friend however wanted me to surprise her, so I did.

Normally when just drawing in my style, I use a lot of intricate lines and cross-hatching, but I figured a tattoo artist tracing over such an image on skin would want to kill me. I kept things very simple and somewhat innocent-looking. After all, my friend isn’t getting a battleship across her chest!

 

I ended up sending her about six variations with different color schemes as well as a few visualization images so she could picture how it might look on the back of her neck, depending on which size she wanted. I was expecting that she might want changes or have other suggestions, but this was the response she gave me for the designs:

I got them! They are perfect!! Just what I was looking for!! Didn’t get a chance to reply sooner-had to go to a work-skills-thingy. But, they are beautiful!! Just don’t know if I should do color or B&W??

 

 

Whew! So I guessed right. It was quite a fun project and I hope to be able to do more digital illustration work in the future.

Cheers, Kristen

 

Here are just a few of my favorite books and links related to topics covered in  Veggie Propaganda:

 

 

Books

Eating Animals -by Jonathan Safran Foer

Death By Supermarket. The Fattening, Dumbing-Down, and Poisoning of America -by Nancy Deville

Fast Food Nation. The Dark Side of the All-American Meal -by Eric Sclosser

The Perfectly Contented Meat-Eater’s Guide to Vegetarianism -by Mark Warren Reinhardt

 

Articles

Read more about the claims made in Veggie Propaganda here.

Podcasts

The Gary Null Show

(It was Dr. Gary Null that set off my last six year stint as a non-cheating “good” vegetarian back in 2003. I was listening to his radio show while driving to work and he was describing in such vivid detail the lives and deaths of animals trapped in Factory Farms. I was so moved, I gave up meat that very day.)

 

Cookbooks

My favorite recipes are the ones that knock people’s socks off (especially meat-eaters) but are also incredibly easy to make and require few ingredients and little time and effort. Here are a few things I can’t live without:

The Italian Vegetarian Cookbook -by Jack Bishop

Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet -by Nava Atlas

 

More About Veggie Propaganda:

Synopsis and Director’s Statement

Research Sources

Back to Veggie Propaganda Home

 

In Veggie Propaganda, a number of facts and figures are presented. I have tried to list here mainly only the most unbiased sources that are from objective media, scientific, and non-profit organizations. Here is where you can learn more about the various claims in more or less the order they are presented in the animation:

1. Modern factory farms raise animals that live tortured lives and die miserable deaths.

Factory Farming is Not the Best We Have to Offer. – National Geographic (News Watch)

 

2. Factory farmed meat is full of antibiotics, dioxin, feces, hormones, etc.

Is Your Meat Safe? Antibiotic Debate Overview -PBS

Meat and Dairy Industry -Sourcewatch.com

Dissecting Another False Meat Industry Claim -Food Safety News

 

3. Farmed animals have the same emotions and intelligence as our pets.

Was Your Meat Smarter Than Your Pet? -ABC News

 

4. Non meat-eaters live longer than meat-eaters.

Does Low Meat Consumption Increase Life Expectancy in Humans? -The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

 

5. Eating less meat is good for animals, you, and the planet.

6. Vegetarians save an average of $4000 on groceries each year.

Why Go Veg? -Vegetarian Times

Go Vegetarian to Save Money -MSN Money

 

7. The less meat you eat:

 

The more you look and feel your best:

Vegetarian Diet on Solid Ground, Experts Say -USA Today

12 Frequently Asked Questions About the Vegetarian Diet -Dr. Sears

 

The more you help end world hunger:

The more you help fight climate change:

Solution to World Hunger? Eat Less Meat New Study Urges -Winnipeg Free Press

UN Urges Global Move to Meat and Dairy-Free Diet -The Guardian

 

The more you help protect endangered species and their habitats:

How Our Food Choices Help Save the Environment -Earth Save

 

8. Eating less meat helps prevent chronic diseases.

Red Meat Raises Risk of All Kinds of Death -Study – Reuters

Meat Can be Murder on Long-term Health -Forbes

 

More About Veggie Propaganda:

Synopsis and Director’s Statement

Recommended Reading and Worthy Links

Back to Veggie Propaganda Home

Synopsis

Veggie Propaganda is a quirky, sing-song animation that puts a spotlight on animals, our relationship with them and their rights. This 2D fine-art/digital animation features original music performed by New York City band, The Penultimate. It explores childhood myths about animals vs. the reality of their lives in a human-centered world, where our food really comes from and how by simply eating less meat individuals can make an astounding positive impact on their health, their finances and the environment.

Independent animator, Kristen Palana has been a flawed, on-again/off-again vegetarian since the age of twelve. She continually is torn between her love of animals and the powerful cravings that make her want to occasionally eat them (especially when pregnant). She created this animation to raise awareness about the lives animals lead and to show that normal everyday meat-eaters have the power to make things better for animals, themselves and the planet just by taking a few baby steps towards eating less meat.

The idea to make Veggie Propaganda originally stems from Kristen’s lifelong love of animals and the growing realization as a child that perhaps the relationship between animals and humans was not as innocent as she was originally led to believe.

 

Director’s Statement

“I think every animal lover can remember the day when they first learned where meat actually comes from. For me it was at my family’s kitchen table in Swansea, Massachusetts back in 1982 when I was about four years old. Previously I had taken the bits of information the well-meaning adults told me such as “ham comes from pigs, etc…” and came up with the idea that animals “laid” the meat (good friends of ours that they were) just like a hen lays eggs or in the way that milk is extracted from a cow. I proudly repeated my theory to my parents and then 9 year-old brother to let them know that I was in the loop and knew how the world worked. I still remember my shock and dismay when my brother told me in less-than-friendly terms that the meat WAS the animal. I was in fact, a misguided idiot.

My mother, wishing to console me as I tried to process this earth-shattering news reassured me with, ‘Oh Honey, don’t worry! Animals don’t feel pain.’ It worked though. I didn’t really think about the issue again until around the age of twelve when most kids really start to ask tougher questions. That’s when I started my first stint as a vegetarian; a label I have worn with varying degrees of success, failure and hypocrisy these last twenty three years.

I wanted to make an animation that got people thinking about their relationship to animals and to their food. I have found that many ‘propaganda’ offerings that seek to convert people into vegetarians or vegans come off as heavy-handed or extremist and ultimately turn off more people to their cause. My goal was to make something funny, quirky and yet full of educational information that was targeted to regular every day meat-eaters who might be looking for good reasons to eat less meat.

From 2008 to 2010 I actually wrote and rewrote Veggie Propaganda three times during pre-production because I was trying to strike just the right tone. Also, after sending off my rough (a huge understatement) attempt at a song in to my friend Steve Rittler of Queens, NY., he ultimately got his band, The Penultimate together and they recorded a much better version- albeit two whole minutes longer than what I had originally planned for! However, I was so happy with their take on the song that I decided to rework my storyboard/animatic yet again and the result is this current six minute version.”

-Kristen Palana, October 2011.

 

More About Veggie Propaganda:

Research Sources

Recommended Reading and Worthy Links

Back to Veggie Propaganda Home

6 min. HD.

Veggie Propaganda is a quirky, sing-song animation that puts a spotlight on animals, our relationship with them and their rights.  This 2D fine-art/digital animation features original music performed by New York City band, The Penultimate.

It was completed in late 2011 and will be screened in various cities in 2012. View list of recent  and upcoming screenings.  This film also recently won an Award of Merit from the Accolade Film Awards. If you would like to request a private online viewing, please drop me a line.

Stills Gallery

 

More About Veggie Propaganda:

Synopsis and Director’s Statement

Research Sources

Recommended Reading and Worthy Links

Aura’s House is a grassroots online project that raises funds for housing, health, income generation, and education projects for needy children in developing countries. It was originally created to raise $4500 to build a safe, sturdy brick home for Aura Hernandez and her family in Guatemala. Since our goal was met in November of 2004, we decided to launch other small projects that bring big changes to the lives of families in developing countries.

3 min. 54 sec. NTSC.

Larry, a 93 year-old widower confined to a Nursing Home, remembers a time when he had more spring in his step. Based on real audio recordings from 2002, animator Kristen Palana uses individually painted digital images to imagine and recreate her grandfather’s first attempts to woo his beloved Roz. Set in both 1943 and 2007, ‘Larry and Roz’ is a three and a half-minute glimpse into one couple’s six decade relationship.

 

This animation has screened in 23 International Film and Animation Festivals and has won five Best Animation Awards. See a full list of screenings.

 

Watch Online

 

Stills Gallery