Oct. 2024 Battle Plan (Newsletter) (Patreon)

Hey everyone! There are so many new faces lately I keep forgetting to give you guys a proper thank you, so here goes. big inhale THHHHHAAAAAAANNNNKKKKK YYYYYOOOOUUUUU <3 <3 <3 Seriously, it means the world to me that so many people love my work and want to see me continue to do what I love. It truly makes me so happy <3 I'll be sure to update all the names in the credits for the full release of SwS, the cutoff for that will probably be Oct 23rd! If you'd like to opt out, you can always message me and I can make a note for you.

Upcoming content

Content is in a bit of a weird spot right now as I'm starting up work on an older project again and its a doozy. The main shot I'm working on now is 2 loops and 2 transitions plus lipsyncing for the entire 17 second shot! So needless to say its taking a little while. I didnt plan that project with early access in mind since that one was originally going to be a single release. However, the amount of work left on the project will probably take me at least a week and probably into the end of October, so I'm a little hard pressed for EA content at the moment. I dont want to take time away from finally completing it either by working on smaller loops (as much as I really want to animate Burnice lately XD). Its dragged on long enough and I'm in a good headspace to get it wrapped up, just know that it might be a little sparse on the early access posts for a little bit.

Life stuff

Okay so following the absolute grind that was Service with Saki I've been trying to take a little time to myself lately. Having a schedule with smaller but manageable deadlines really helped me stay focused and on task and I think I'll do little raodmaps like that for future projects too. However, I'm not sure if anyone noticed on the SwS release schedule, but I forgot to give myself weekends or account for routine content like the monday doodle pages. So lately I've been making sure to give myself a little break as a reward for wrapping up a larger project. Its been really nice playing games again and leaving my cave to socialize with friends XD But I cant let myself get too lazy! Break time is over and I gotta get my butt back into gear if I want to stay on top of things. I'll be sure to account for breaks in my future projects XD

Now that I'm starting to work my way out from underneath all my current projects I'm finally starting to feel like I've got a little bit of freedom again and its nice. Its like a breath of fresh air. I've missed this feeling for a while now.

Art stuff

Gaaaaahhh There are so many things I want to improve on. I've been getting so caught in making things for others that I've been forgetting to draw for myself too. I feel like I've been getting a little stagnant in my skill and I want to make sure I can take the time to to do a little learning while I work. Some of the main things I've thinking about lately are:
- Post-processing and compositing with After Effects. This is a big pipeline change so it'll be pretty experimental when I decide to try this out. I normally do all this in CSP but I've been feeling like it can lead to inconsistency between shots which isn't ideal. It would also allow me to do some things that are an absolute pain to do by hand.
- Rendering and material studies, especially in my own style and making it work for animation. I feel like I have so many holes in my current artistic knowledge and I feel kinda stuck at times. I've been feeling like my own lack of knowledge and expertise in areas is making me slip into what's comfortable and what I know, rather than what is correct. But this takes a lot of study and a lot of practice. I've got a lot of books I've been meaning to read through and put into practice but I've just been so crammed for time lately. I finally feel like my schedule is opening up again so its the perfect time to rekindle that learning spirit and fire myself up again.
- Anatomy and Gesture. I feel like I've become very complacent with my growth and I need to start breaking the mold and challenging myself again. My anatomy right now is fine I guess, but I feel like I kinda just need to work on everything. I've been realizing lately just how little I've properly studied and put into practice on just about every aspect of the human form. Some areas in particular are hands, drawing the head at all angles, mouths, feet, and joints like the wrists, elbows, shoulders and hips. I think the way I'll probably go about doing these is actually to animate them, but to focus specifically on a certain element and really focusing on the form and underlying structure. I'll probably start these up some time in November, its a matter of finding ways to turn that study into something sexy XD Now that I have a list of stuff to work on though, maybe I'll plan out an animation or series of shorts with a shot focusing on each aspect? That could be a fun way to go about it.
- Animation Fundamentals and techniques. Another area I've been working on lately in disguise has been trying to reinforce my animation principles. I feel like some aspects of my work lately have been feeling a little rigid because I've been focusing too much on consistency but I've been neglecting the details and little touches that really make a piece shine. Maybe I'll do a dedicated series to studying those too or combine them with some of the anatomy studies.
- Composition and Cinematography. Similar to the struggles with anatomy I feel like my choice of shots and compositions has been too "safe" lately. I keep working with what I know and what's comfortable and I want to break out of those habits and depict things in new ways. I do a lot of POV content and that's fine I guess, but its been starting to feel a little same-y to me lately and I want to start really messing with composition and perspective and moving the camera in more interesting ways. Like if I'm doing a POV shot, the camera should be acting too. It is the point of view, it should be directing the focus of the viewer and playing a part in the storytelling of the shot.