questions + drawing requests! (Patreon)

hi everyone! its belated question + drawing request time.

before i begin- im gonna make a big announcement soon! just so you know! lol

OK here's some questions: 

Lennie asked: How do you approach the process of taking an initial idea and turning it into a fully fleshed out storyboard/script? (paraphrased) 

It’s always hard, no matter what project it is, to start moving from idea to board. For me, my first steps are that  I take the most visually intriguing parts of my outline, and just draw concept art of those scenes. Here’s some examples from Ascensia, I drew all of these before I started to board the scenes:

Doing these helped me get to a launching point for when I started to actually board. It also made me more excited to work on it, because I could see more clearly how the film might look when it was finished.

It also helps to just start trying to board it, even just putting down the worst version of what you’re thinking, so you can figure out what's not working and improve it. Let yourself just work until you have some sort of draft down, and if you don’t like it, scrap it and start over. Just let yourself think and work with it. It doesn’t have to be perfect your first time. 

OttlerMac asked: Is it worth it to stay at an art school that I’m dissatisfied with? (paraphrased) 

I think it is worth it.

Start looking for every available resource you can possibly get from the school- even really small ones. 

Focus on your own work, instead of your classes/homework. In my mind, when you pay tuition, you’re actually paying for the time and resources to make as much work as you possibly can. Make sure you pass your classes, even if barely, but focus on your work. Spend most of your time working on your own stuff. You’ll learn the most from trying and failing. That’s how I approached school when I went, hence spending my 4 years working on a feature film. 

Sgt. Pinecone asked: What do you do when you have no motivation to draw?

I don’t make myself draw when I have no motivation. I’ve realized after a while that when I force myself to draw when I’m not feeling it, nothing productive happens. I think not having motivation is a sign of burnout, let yourself rest and come back to it later. 

Sgt. Pinecone asked: How was working with Frederator? 

Working with Frederator was such an extreme mixed bag for me- There were some really positive aspects, and some really negative ones. I think overall, it was a good learning experience. Some stuff happened during production that was a traumatic for me, and I also think it was too much for me to handle in the time period when I did it. I started working on Rachel and attending CalArts at the exact same time. In the 2 year production span of Rachel, I also completed Goodbye Forever Party, The Earth is Flat, Stilton’s in Charge, Video Games, Figments, and a lot of other stuff. I think balancing Rachel on top all of that was really stressful, but in hindsight I’m glad it happened and I got the experience that I did. 

Here's drawing requests! 

Colin asked for a bat/dinosaur hybrid:

"Ross the garbage goblin" asked for Yugo's character "Hat Doctor"

"20 years late" asked for Rhody:

William JT Driver asked for a picture of Karl Marx and themself holding hands:

Lennie asked for a toad wearing a very small hat:

"Sleepyclown" asked for Dunsparce:

Cowandfox asked for an egg screaming:

"Smellie" asked for an alligator smoking a cigarette: 

Snapbackdad asked for Mira with a black cat:

SgtPinecone asked for himself: 

"Triptych" asked for their character:

Lycanthrofee asked for this slimey guy:

MoroboshiAtaru asked for a cat that carries the embodiment of the name Richie:

Bloodsbane asked for their character Unkindness, which I thought would be funny if it looked like a big muppet controlled by a bunch of people:

Here's an x ray view:

Kim asked for legos:

Leopold asked for their character Danny:

And finally, Alfy asked for their dog:

Thank you all so much! See you soon!