Hey fellas! I haven't done an update since May/August, holy moly!
This is gonna be a long one under the fold. If you wanted a quicker version of an update, I recently posted one onto the OddBall YouTube. Go check it out! I even have a time-lapse of me animating WIP in the background.
TLDR; We're at 58% animated, design work for backgrounds has been going great, and I've started to have passive thoughts about post-release stuff.
Hope you like to read, I love to ramble!
Animation has been going smoothly :D I've had a really busy summer, between freelance work, pre-production on OddBall, and moving house, I had to take a lot of weeks off to get back to it. I was still working on it, just not at full speed is all.
And that's okay! I've been re-learning to love the creative process with this project and it's been a great breather in-between higher end stuff. Even just spending an afternoon doing some rough animation has been calming and fun. Trying out different techniques and styles has kept it fresh for me instead of going through the motions.
Animation is over halfway done now, at 58% complete! There's only 52 shots remaining, and two of those have been roughed already ooooh ooooh.
Once the episode is done I'm thinking of making a reel of rough animation to post onto my own channel. Let me know if that's something you'd be interested in.
We're also starting work on backgrounds now! Our form for 3D artists was so successful we had to close it after only a week (150 submissions in under a week!! What!!! Remind me to advertise on LinkedIn again sometime haha). We found a lovely 3D artist who's gonna be helping us out.
You probably guessed it by now, but the majority of backgrounds for WIP are going to be done in 3D. This was for a few reasons-
1. It makes reusing sets and assets SO much easier. No more do I have to redraw 30 angles of a kitchen, just make one set and move the camera out as needed.
2. It's something I've rarely seen done before in indie animation. The hyper stylized and detailed texture backgrounds of old PS2 games I grew up with were weirdly influential to the kind of art I want to make. I know I can pull it off with the right minimal compositing.
3. As much as I love watercolor backgrounds, and I still will use them on OddBall, if I have to draw another background again I am going to explode LOL. I love painting backgrounds, but I am no layout artist nor a designer.
We're in the design phase, still working on set design, colors, locations, etc, so no 3D work has been done yet. Once there is I'll for sure make a blog post detailing our process.
I'm only mildly starting to think about post-release/merch stuff. I can easily get overwhelmed by that sort've thing, so it's only been a passing thought. Won't be heavy until we get much close to release. Nothing's a promise! Just cataloging them here.
One of the things I want to do are a sketchbook/BTS book, sold digital for a small fee on my online store. It'll have some of my old sketches dating back to middle school of these characters, a bunch of production notes and concept art for the pilot, including a backend about what goes into making an indie cartoon.
I've been back and forth on whether or not I not I want to make that last one a video. Learning the behind the scenes process from the people making it was what originally got me into animation, and if I can be a resource and provide that for more people going forward that would make me so happy. That's part of why I do these long blog posts, kid me would eat this up. I hate to be perceived and come off as too self-congratulatory, so that's why I'm adverse to making it a video, but we'll see!
I still have that time-lapse of animating recorded, it'll likely be uploaded unlisted after the episode is done, which I'll link here and in a playlist.
While my online store Back Alley is still down for maintenance (long story for another day) I've been wondering if it's worth it to do a small line of stickers or charms of these little guys. Nothing I made for OddBall ever sold too well, but it's a new indie landscape than it was even 5 or 6 years ago. If there's genuine interest after the pilot's release I'll see. I also need to start plugging my Ko-Fi more... Aaah all future stuff.
Oh, and one more thing! I redrew the socials icon! The previous one was really off-model and jank. I think I was trying to make the lineart thicker so it would be more legible, but it just came out looking gross.
Thanks for taking the time to read! I've kept this project close to my chest for so long, seeing the wide interest means a lot.
