Production Update 221: Budgets and Conventions

This past week I had a work retreat so I was offline and unplugged for a couple days. After the work retreat I had some catching up to do on my TA work. Anyways, I got my voice over budget put together and have heard back from most of the voice actors. The plan is to be reaching out to them this week and start getting materials put together to send out.

This weekend I have a convention, Nebraskon. I am looking forward to going to Nebraskon again, it is one of my favorite conventions to check out. This year I am presenting three panels, two of them are on animation.

Other than that, last week was a little hectic but I am looking forward to pushing on this week and getting more elements put together for the animatic for episode 2.

Production Update 209: Books and Orientation!

I wanted to record a video this week, but the week took a bit of an unexpected turn. We had a death in the family so we spent some time away this weekend helping to go through some things and just to support other family members and plan for a funeral later this week.

I completed 2 more chapters in my book on animation production and have crossed the hallways point. I am on pace to finish the book while on vacation, which will help me form a route on episode 2 for Cosmic Rage.

I also completed my orientation for my online class, which is a go at your own pace, traditional animation class. I plan on documenting the progress of the class and hopefully recording my work as I go through it. The first video/lesson is planning out a shoe animation with timing charts and such. This will be a good way to knock off the rust and also try out some new tools, AnimDessn, a plug in for animating in Photoshop and also my new Cintiq which I haven’t used nearly enough since I purchased it. I look forward to sharing everything with you! Let’s get to work!

Production Update 204: Script Near Completion

Production Update time once again, let’s do this! I spent time this week working on the script and pushing it towards completion. My goal is to wrap it up this week before a local film-maker meet up so I can have a few people give it a look over and poke holes in the story. Since I am so close to the project it is good to have a few more sets of eyes and perspectives on it. I am very excited to meet up with the crew again and for us all to check in on each others progress and talk about each of our projects.

Once the script is being passed around to fellow film-makers to look at, I will be spending some time working on getting things ready for my art show in May, where I will be showing Cosmic Rage.

Outside of the script work, I have been pushing ahead on a freelance project which will go towards paying for voice over work for episode 2. I am very excited to be getting things near completion so I can begin storyboarding and drawing. Thank you all for your support!

Production Update 203: Script Work

Last week there was some work to do on the back end of the site, routine web maintenance, so I didn’t get a chance to update. So let’s get into it!

I started working on polishing up the script for the second episode. It has been a while since I had a chance to look at it so it was a nice time to work with it some more and get familiarized with the contents again. I got about half done with it this past week, so my goal is to finish it up by the weekend so I can get some more eyes on it to look at and see if they can poke some holes in it.

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While the script will be with a handful of people to take a look at, I will be spending the time after that to prepare for a local art show, giving Cosmic Rage the chance to get in front of more people but also to help explain the animation process to people who may not know. I am very excited to see my work hanging up in a venue again 😀

With convention season approaching, I’ve been working on getting a few panels submitted to some conventions I have planned out to travel to. Most of my convention season is going to be late summer and into the fall since this is a pretty busy summer but you will get a chance to see me at conventions in 2017!

I am starting another freelance project which is needed. Since my Patreon page hasn’t quite covered my VO costs for the second episode, I needed to pick up a project. This will also help with my convention travel this summer as well so it’s just a small price to pay. But in terms of timing it works out really well since the script will be making the rounds to trusted friends and writers and while some files will be at the print shop for the art show.

Thank you everyone for checking out the blog and as always, thank you to my Patreon supporters for their continued support!

 

 

 

Production Update 201: Back to Work!

Lot’s of things have been going on so I haven’t been on the blog as much as I would have liked to for the month of February. However, things have calmed back down and we’ve got some catching up to do. So much, it required a video update. Take a look!

Production Update 193: Con-Season Recap and the Future

The 2016 con season has reached it’s conclusion for Cosmic Rage. It has been a successful year debuting Cosmic Rage at a variety of conventions. I’ll recap the convention season and discuss what the future holds for Cosmic Rage as well as planning for Episode 2.

Production Update 167: Screening Information

Episode one is getting closer and closer to reaching our premiere date. I thought I would take a quick moment to share confirmed appearances and screenings of the first episode at conventions this year. I am still working out what an online release looks like so don’t worry if you can’t make it to a convention to see it. I will share more on this front when things are a little clearer.

Anyways, the premiere will be in my home-state South Dakota at Siouxper Con. I am very excited to be able to share the first episode here. The following week, I will be at Anime Detour for a screening on Friday. No better way to kick Detour off than seeing some original animation in my opinion. Cosmic Rage has also been confirmed for Tokyo in Tulsa in Oklahoma as well in July.

There are a few more I am working on and still looking at more conventions in the midwest and south to get to, so if you know of any, feel free to send some info my way!

On to the production update! It has been a very good week in terms of production. I received more audio files for scenes and we are only a few scenes away from having the audio work all wrapped up. There is some fine tuning going on for a couple scenes that had more animation and artwork added to them during the process.

In terms of animation, I wrapped up a few scenes that I had some edits to and also wrapped up a new scene that required more extensive artwork and compositing than the other scenes that needed extensions. I have one scene remaining that has more extensive work on it, the other scenes are more minor tweaks and edits.

More updates and news coming soon!

Production Update 163: Audio Galore

It’s been a productive week on the homework front. I wrapped up a draft of my art history paper that I am going to let sit for a few days and come back and take a fresh look at it again.

I did sneak in some Cosmic Rage work this week. I am starting to go through all of the audio and finalizing lines and going through areas for revisions. I have a couple audio sections to go through for scenes and I also have to render some out to send in for audio work to get done. I will for sure get more in this week since my classes are starting to settle down a bit. We are getting so close on Cosmic Rage!

Sorry for the short update, but next week’s should be a bit longer. Thanks for stopping by! I will be unveiling another voice actor this week!

Production Update 162: 3D Renders!

Hey everyone! I really appreciate your patience over the last few weeks. There has been a lot of things going on, so let me get you all up to speed!

At work I have been putting in a little bit of extra time in on a few projects. It comes with the territory. Things have settled down recently which has freed me up a little bit.

I’ve also been back in school this semester working towards finishing my graphic design degree. I’m taking two courses this semester versus just one. My branding class is going great so far. The course that has been throwing me a slight curveball is my Art History advanced writing class. I have a big paper that is due by the end of February so I have been putting in white a bit of time on that. I am getting close to getting to the next check point on this paper so this course will have a lighter workload.

One thing I have also started but haven’t mentioned here yet, is I am also doing some assistant teaching/critiquing for an online animation course. My class has been fantastic so far and I have enjoyed every minute of providing feedback to other animators looking to up their game. The course is starting to level out so I am getting some of my free time back.

Slowly but surely I am getting some of my time back to keep plugging away on Cosmic Rage. While it sounds like I haven’t gotten things done, I assure you that isn’t the case. I have been doing some light 3D work and getting some renders set up so that the files can render while I am doing all of these other things. As things start to settle down, I will have my 3D renders ready to go for when I get back into After Effects.

Things have been forming nicely on the voice over cast. I will be updating you more on the VO cast really soon! Thanks again everyone for you patience, I am excited to get back in action!