Not switching payments on, and an update! (Patreon)

Hello everyone! I am leaving payments off for this month, as I’m super jetlagged, Renee's rigging has taken longer than I wanted, and the contractor I am working for has a major milestone due next week. Its an unholy trinity and would have been far too stressful for me to animate some new shots to deliver a decent reward within the next fortnight. So I'll be turning on payments next month. For the pending payment cycle tonight though, no payments will be taken, and no rewards will be sent.

If you have signed up since the start of the month, then please send me a note and I'll send you the WIPS of the last rewards. I know some people have sent me notes while I was away; my sincere apologies on taking so long to reply, but I will try to do so by tomorrow. 

I'll give you all an update to cover the main progress I have made over the past two months. There have been a number of smaller things which I have been working on, but they are unrelated and something which I would like to show once they are further developed :)

DRAGON GROWTH ANIMATION:

-Renee rigging:

Renee's rig is coming along; but I was given a bit of a nasty shock regarding exactly how much time it has been taking me. Plugging a new rig into her old rig (necessary to keep her existing animation) has been a lot harder than I anticipated; but I have been delightfully surprised at how much I have learned doing it. I haven't had a rig break on me so much in years, and while frustrating, some of the solutions I stumbled on will help me in my own workflow for the future ^^. That being said, it has taken me most of the month to make, and the main reason why I have cancelled the rewards again. I still have to do her facial rig, which is going to take some time, but I am now at the point where her rig can be plugged into existing scenes!

(you can right click on this broken icon to see the image in a new tab)

The initial results look a little less spectacular as I had been hoping; it looks like her hips/spine and shoulders might need to be modified in each animation as the poses on them look a bit weird, whereas Renamon's simplicity hid these inaccuracies. Additionally, her middle fingers are always up (she has one more) so she looks very rude flipping people off all the time. I'll also need to animate her face. But it will be a lot quicker to go over all these than start from scratch for all of Renamon's animation, so I am not too worried at this stage. 

RUB FOR MORE WISHES:

- character modeller search and potential progress:

I'm planning a massive model and texture upgrade for Andre in Rubs, and I've been trying to find a really professional grade artist to do this. I talked to someone which I really felt fit the bill, and we did discuss a fairly detailed plan which involved me putting forward a significant amount of money (comfortably more than what my patreon makes in a month, put it that way). I was very excited as I felt this would land me an asset which would look as professional as anything you would find in a AAA game or film. However, that was months ago, and as time has gone on the artist has been getting harder to contact, and only provides brief communication when they do. This is fine; they are focusing more on developing their career (which I have no doubt that they will excel at, as their portfolio is already damned impressive). However, I don't know how committed they are to creating this asset, or even if they still are, despite the amount on offer. I think it's now reached the point where the difficulty in communication and apparent disinterest has become an unacceptable risk to go forward, as it's simply too important to risk it sitting in limbo with an artist who may not prioritise it high enough in their near term goals. Needing to work for their attention at this stage is a warning sign.

However, I think I may be pretty close to securing a second artist who is not quite at the same level, but is still a damned solid artist. They have said they are interested but haven't yet committed. They are currently making a completely new character for me, so I am hoping that we can sort something out once they are done. I have my fingers crossed, but these things take time to organise properly as everyone has their own lives and goals to work through. 

I've been having difficulty finding character artists in general actually; I've reached out to more than a handful of them, but a lot of my notes simply go ignored. I'm guessing that this might be because they are regular commissioners which have their own forms and procedures for specific commission items (busts, simple sculpts etc.) , and they get annoyed when I try and contact them directly for something else? Or they might simply just not be interested. I have, however, noticed that the ones who have replied with any interest have all been people who have very small followings, and some which haven't even taken commissions before. 

I also make it hard for myself because I am being very picky with who I approach... I’m only reaching out to artists which I think have a style which could fit in with my own characters. There would be nothing worse than having a library of characters which don't look consistent in their style, as it's going to make the animations look very cheap. If you are an artist reading this and fancy your sculpting and texture skills, then by all means please let me know and I'll consider you. Please don't be offended if I don't think you might be a good fit though! It doesn't mean that I don't think your work is good; it would probably just be because the style you've shown is disparate from my existing characters.

I have a few more artists which I have looked up and will contact if this current artist falls through (I've spent a good few hours trawling through FA trying to make a list). If I can't find a willing and suitable artist, then my next stop will be fiverr. I've seen some artists on there who might do a good job, but I'm hoping to keep it in the furry community. Partly because I don't know how an outsider will react to dragon balls, or how much love they will give them... but mostly because I am supported by furries, so I want to in turn support furries. The fandom is stronger if we all support and work together.

-environment and props assets:

One place I am looking outside the community though is in environment and prop assets. I’m looking for these assets on turbosquid, but they are proving fairly few and far between. There are a handful of assets which I am interested in, but I am slightly worried about potentially small texture sizes on my most preferred option. I am also still not sure if I want the environment to be dark and dungeony, or more bright and gothic, perhaps in some sort of a keep. I will settle on an option and make the purchase soon though; in all, it shouldn't cost me more than a grand for a decent interior and set of exterior environment assets (a medieval city), which would be far cheaper than trying to hire someone to make all that from scratch.

Props, however, may be a different story. I've noticed that there seem to be a noticeable shortage of decent wizard paraphernalia on turbosquid of any decent quality. It is also damned near impossible to search :s. MAY have to enlist a prop artist to make some specific props for me, as they are necessary, and I could easily spend months on them myself which I reeeeeeeally do not want to do. Fiverr would be a much more appropriate venue for these sort of assets, but as I said, I would rather keep the money within the furry community if possible. And again, if you are an artist and would be willing to make some boring magic props for some $, please contact me. As before though, please don't be offended if I don't go with you!

-audio:

I have not yet begun looking for people willing to do audio, but I will begin actively searching once I have secured the needed 3D asset creations. I will most likely voice Andre; but I'll be looking for a voice actor for the more verbose rat wizard. Preferably, the voice actor will be able to handle the rest of the foliage and mixing as well, and would have been around in the community long-term (as this may have sequels and it would suck if there was a change in voice actors :(). I liked the guy who did the sound for my little kaiju, but sadly he has since ventured into other areas after facing a significant setback. So if you know of other people who might fit the bill, please let me know so I can check them out for myself! I'll be needing voice recordings before I can animate, so it would be good to have those lined up around the time I am rigging up the new characters.

I will most likely also be looking for a musician to make a score. This is lower on my list as they will not be needed until near the end of the project, which will most likely be more than a year away.

Cheers! I hope you all had a great easter! Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!