News! TV-series progression, Pitch applications, Animation & More!

Dear Patrons,

I hope you're all well! It's been a little while since I sat down and wrote a proper update, and a lot has been happening - so how about we jump right into it?

TALES OF ZALE (TV-SERIES) HAS FOUND A PRODUCER:

Alright, so starting off with one of the big changes Tales of Zale has found a producer. Three, actually. One from Germany and two from a Danish studio. Now I don't think that it at this current point in time makes sense to share too many details about this. Thing is, it's a big step that needed to be taken, but it's still no guarantee that the show will happen. There's still not even any budget behind it yet. It's exceptionally tricky to secure funding for a series in Denmark, and although we have plan B's and C's, all that we can do is to start from one end and work at it from there. What IS great though, is that if I hadn't found a producer soon, moving forward with the project would've been increasingly difficult. But now, with a studio backing it it opens a lot of doors for where I can go next. Speaking of which...

ANNECY PITCH APPLICATION:

So since I got producers on board just in the nick of time, I was actually able to put together a new bible for an Annecy MIFA Pitch application. I've always dreamt of going to forums like MIFA and Cartoon Forum to pitch, so it came as a bit of a shock when it all of a sudden became a feasible thing with reasonable chances. I had to work pretty intensely to get the new bible version done in time for the deadline, but we managed to pull it off. Apart from a few last pages, I've attached the whole thing in this post for you all to have a look at if you'd like.

EPISODE 3:

I started out the year with animating a short action sequence in the episode between Elva and Morpheus. I'm not completely sure I like how it flows, though, so I've been holding back on sharing it. I'll probably share it here in an upcoming post, but I'll put that particular scene on hold till I can view it with fresh eyes. I think it's probably fine? It might just be needing some sound effects and comping to give a better sense of impact. We'll see. So you might be wondering: with the TV-series moving forward as it is right now, is it going to impact the episode 3 production? Answer: not any more than it's done before. There may be times I have to step back to focus on applications, pitches, and writing like in the past. But generally, I count this episode production as my full-time job right now, and I can still keep that going for a good while. The only difference is that right now, as you can see in the video clip, I might pick out certain scenes that I bring through clean-up, coloring, and comp immediately. That's because I can use some of those clips in my pitch. And sometimes it's also just nice to get a better view of the final product.

ANIMATION SANS FRONTIÉRE:

Since I last wrote, I've been participating in the 3rd Animation Sans Frontière module, with the 4th coming up in another two weeks. A lot of my time during the previous module was spent on making the Annecy application and settling things down. But I also had some time to get feedback from one of the writers participating and start writing some sample episodes for the TV-series. Since then, I've been working at it. But instead of writing things down, I've actually been recording my thoughts instead. It's been really helpful to my process, and I've been considering posting some of the recordings as a little writing series here on Patreon, where we finally end up with a full pilot episode script. Done very casually, of course. Do you think that might be content you'd be interested in listening to?

PATREON ART BOOKS:

The Patreon Art books have been sent off to all those who requested it. Of course, I made sure to make some back-ups, so I've got about 15 left. I've decided to make a $10 Patreon tier for the remaining ones. The idea is to give newcomers a chance to get one, with the tier price covering all the shipping costs - almost like me having a storefront, but without adding more stuff to the list of things I have to manage. Maybe I should make a higher tier for the remaining Elva Lino prints as well? I've been sleeping a bit on those since Patreon told me I couldn't do art raffles anymore, but they're still sitting around looking cool. What do you guys think?

For those wanting a digital version of the art book I'll attach that in this post as well!

Okay. I think those were the big main points. I've probably forgotten something or other, but this should cover the big picture. If you took the time to read all of that then thank you very much!

Best wishes till next time!

- Sif