Thursday, August 08, 2013

What a Slacker!

I'm a total slacker. I haven't updated this blog in over a year.  That's even slower than my normal pace! In the meantime, though, I've been pressing hard to tackle that monster-of-a-film-project of mine. I took this picture while my wife and I were out on errands - so I got to see clouds rather than monitor glow.



 It's a wonderful experience. Getting to draw, act, compose, edit, color, edit, re-block, edit, all the time, every week towards a large goal is just fantastic. I have gotten some valuable help, too, though this is largely a solo effort. My 'brain trust' offers many suggestions which I weigh heavily - but ultimately I fail or succeed on my own. This was my whiteboard of goals (frames completed) at the end of December last year.

I stay up late more often than not. Usually working until 3, on a good night 4. My ADD much favors nighttime as most of the world and it's distractions lay sleeping.  On this night, I was so tired I started humming "Puff the Magic Dragon", and decided a little painting would change my scenery.



I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to my Dad.

 
He'll see my work when I'm done. 



I really like working in Toon Boom Harmony - a nice software package with one hundred percent of the interface dedicated to an animator's craft. I've used Toon Boom Storyboard, Animate Pro (or Digital Pro), and Harmony and they're all solid software packages. What I don't like is that it's essentially software rental and not ownership.
 I have to remind myself that updating is only necessary when everything else is updating. Software packages can be your art tools without it. There are great studios out there creating great work... on Photoshop 3!



There are many reasons I retired my website. I was tired of looking at it, and I've got big plans that necessitate a change of image. I'll honestly miss it. It was bloody hard to update too - I now favor the low-maintenance of a Vimeo page. My film has diminished my freelance presence, so potential clients aren't looking for me as much as they did 3 years ago.

So that's been my year. I'll update more often.