Shopping & 2024 wrap-up (also Sirens)

I hope you all had good holidays! It's a little late to post here now, but here's the key art for Shopping and the Subpar Sirens calendar art from the episode.

I've mentioned it before, but Shopping is actually an old unused script from season 2 (with a couple of tweaks and new lines). Each year I had considered making it, and sometimes I just didn't think it was substantial enough to bother with, while other years I started thinking about it too late. Now that it's finally out, I think it works fine in this spot in season 3-- it makes sense that Vanessica is still annoyed with Katy after the events of Nightclub.

Nightclub was such a big tentpole episode that it became a tough act to follow, which would have been ok if I hadn't taken this long to do it! Anyway I guess I handled that by doing what Robert Rodriguez talks about in his book Rebel Without a Crew, making a few little things first so there isn't just one main object you can look to with the full weight of follow-up expectations. I wrote this whole season expecting it to come out in about two or three years like the previous ones had. The arc and rhythms would make more sense in that timeframe, rather than stretched this far. People have been asking for months what'll happen next with Katy, but the truth is we still won't touch on her personal crisis again for a couple more episodes. I felt that after Picnic, Tito's Pants and Nightclub, for the sake of balance we would need a break from focusing on her so much... but of course now there's been a long break anyway and people are understandably getting antsy.

The average episode lengths have increased as the series progresses, which means they take longer to make. The entire first season (2015-2016) was barely longer than the Nightclub episode! I did manage to put out a few cartoons this year but a lot of things kept me from being able to focus as much as I'd like on Sublo, including a really difficult directing job on a show that took over my life and then got canceled before it was even publicly announced (story of the animation industry right now!)

A big goal for 2025 is for Sublo and Tangy Mustard to come out more regularly, to be more of a proper show and not just an annual short. Admittedly I said that this time last year too, but then I had just moved back to Toronto from LA and it obviously took a while for me to adjust to my new/old life here. Also damn, this year will mark the 10-year anniversary of the show. Truly horrifying!

One bonus Patreon thing I was thinking of doing soon is a commentary/rough animation collection of my old Fester Fish shorts. I want to take a look at them again. I'm also compiling old notes and art into a Sublo making-of zine, along with more polished artbooks and the full series soundtrack... But the priority is getting several full episodes out this year. As always, I truly appreciate all of your support on here. Happy new year!