I am freaking out and whoever is reading this should be as well. A rejuvenation of the art world is on the rise as we speak. The animation industry shall soon change.

Working in the animation industry is my overall goal out of life. I have been a fan of animation ever since I was a child. I grew up mainly watching Disney films and shows on Cartoon Network. At around this same age I was introduced to anime (Japanese animation). At the time there was a programming hour on Cartoon Network called "Toonami." "Toonami" specifically aired various anime (some of my favorites at the time included "InuYasha," "Dragon Ball Z," and "Sailor Moon").

I soon stumbled upon an anime company which would go on to become (and still is) my favorite anime studio in the world, "Studio Ghibli." "Studio Ghibli" is a famous company both in Japan and the United States. "Studio Ghibli" has had success in the United States in part thanks to Disney as they have produced all of the English Language dubs for Studio Ghibli films. Some Studio Ghibli films include: "Howl's Moving Castle," a story about a young girl who is cursed to become old and seeks out the help of the eponymous Howl; "Kiki's Delivery Service," about a young witch who delivers packages and letters; "Spirited Away," about a child who becomes enslaved by a witch and is forced to work to free her parents; and "Ponyo on the Hill by the Sea," a retelling of the Hans Christian Anderson story The Little Mermaid.

One could easily imagine my surprise when my academic adviser sent me this link on Facebook. The site link explains that as of March 2016, Studio Ghibli has released a free version of Toonz Software the animation program which they use, and are calling it OpenToonz. OpenToonz (or at least the expensive commercial version, Toonz Software) has been used to animated the television show Futurama, and is currently being used to animate Steven Universe.

This turn of events is good news for would be animators (such as myself) as animation production is extremely expensive. One feature length animated film can take years to complete, as each frame must be drawn by hand (even if on a computer, someone still has to render every movement to make the film seamless). For those of you who wish to try your hand at the program I send a word of caution. OpenToonz has an immensely steep learning curve, I myself being on the lower end of said curve. However OpenToonz is an immensely powerful tool that is both free and legal.

With enough determination and sheer willpower, we can all achieve a new era in animation.