October Snapshot #3

Greetings!

Where to start. So I've done some introspective reflection on how I go about the process to my work and I grappled with a few questions about how to go about it elegantly. 

Before that however! I wanted to feature snippets of the animations I've been working so diligently on these past two weeks! Attached you'll see a smoothed out version of one animation featuring more corrections, cleaned up line work and transitions. I think in the future as a new approach most public projects will be featuring the first 3-5 seconds of footage as a progression loop preview. Since the second project still needed time to properly color and animate the character I've left you a preview of the painted background that the many moving parts of this animation will be featuring. So I hope you enjoy!

Patreon, Commissions and where we're at:

As some of you long time followers might know, I've been constantly experimenting with various formulas. I started out doing animations for various communities at a very cheap rate since I was essentially an unknown and for that I wanted to provide a safer investment for those early adopters. Scaling up my rates is an inevitability as it just means I'm working towards the parity of income an animator is normally compensated for while still offering an upward trajectory in the quality of the work - and animation in itself is a lot of work especially for one person, time is always the biggest stumbling block in the triad of cost/time/quality. These are all points I've mentioned before but I haven't delved into the details of my approach with interested parties. 

Generally I keep a waiting list that provides me a curation of who is next. The original model had Producer Patrons bumped up while I allowed every other project to be filled in by the original order of the list by those who approached me at the time. This worked well for the better part of a year or so, however it seems people really enjoy what I do and the demand got pretty high.

So why am I telling you all this? Because I plan on changing portions of the plan in the future. I do want to preface that this is not retroactive in the changes - all the prices and priorities of order will be maintained until I complete the current waiting list. What this does mean, is that in the future when I open up for projects once more, I'll be setting up a two slot system, one for Patreon supporters to fill and one for the wider public - these will be a first come first serve basis when announced both here and through FA. The plan is to work on one project from each category. This allows me to experiment with a few workflows I had been toying with but didn't try for one reason or another. This also means I'll be removing the 'priority' system after all the current projects are done - I’m keen to encourage this Patreon platform to be a place where supporters have a vested interest in the journey of my exploration in these works. Plus I love working with all kinds of people and having this system in place will give everyone a fair shake, it does beg the question if there can be perks so I also allowed Patreon supporters some exclusivity in terms of a slot (again not for monetary incentives just as a gesture of appreciation for the support.) It'll also be one project per client from this change in the future.

Just to reiterate again, this does not change the current list or prices for those who prescribed their interest at the time of contacting me. I've saved all that data so you need not worry about what's currently shown if you've been waiting for a bit since the changes.

Animation changes:

A thing to mention is what I've learned from the last few projects. As previously stated, upload sizes, resolution and color have been on my mind as they offer their own unique challanges. I think I've figured out some clever tricks to incorporate a 16fps instead of the traditional 24fps to allow for smaller file size when rendered (allowing longer more elaborate animations) while keeping over the 12fps I need for smooth animating. I'll still be doing 8fps for all 40 second animations as the workload is pretty hefty with that tier (not to mention the file size). 

Colors will still be available and I'm still experimenting in this field for what works best. Often I swap between two programs to do this more effectively but it is not efficient - currently I have a formula that provides a visually pleasing look but perhaps in the future, especially with the advent of my use of Blender's Grease Pencil and other technologies this will be made easier to make even nicer works.

I'm also negotiating with a fellow artist about painting work, this frees up my time to focus more on the animating side of things so following the holidays I might be able to push through these projects a bit quicker for it. I'll still be on the lookout for a co-animator to help with in-betweening but this is a first step to building a small team and expanding the output and potential of realizing people's interests, fantasies and imaginations when it comes to their characters and narratives.

As a final note I adjusted my work availability to also encompass 'assisting' those who have ongoing animation projects of their own or wanted to do collaborations. Due to the unique nature of these pricing are normally negotiated but I am all for helping others develop their works too so this will be an available service.

Alright I think that covers everything I wanted to share. I do want to extend a personal thanks and appreciation for all of you who are patient in this process, I know it might be a bit slow but I always follow through on my commitments so I will definitely ensure everyone will see their animations manifest. With that, happy Halloween!