Production 191: Destination Nebraskon!

Posted on November 2, 2016 by Chris Biewer

Happy Halloween everyone!

This past week I have been working on spreading the word about my new e-book Cosmic Rage, which can be downloaded in the iBooks store. This week I don’t have much planned for Cosmic Rage, I want to get caught up on a few things before I travel to Anime Nebraskon! I am putting together an all new panel for the con, one designed for people looking to get into animation. I am very excited to get this put together this week in presentation form.

That isn’t the only event I have at Nebraskon either. I will be screening Cosmic Rage once again and opening up a Q/A session afterwards in which people can ask about the process, the project and whatever else they want. This is my last convention of the season.

I will be recording a video when I get back to share some new things that are going to be going on with Cosmic Rage as things start to prep for a second episode. I am very excited what the future holds for the project and sharing it all with you!

As always, thank you for your support. it is greatly appreciated!

Production Update 189: E-book Complete!

Posted on October 17, 2016 by Chris Biewer

It feels good to get back into the swing of things. Things post-move are going pretty well. This past weekend was very nice outside so I was able to get outside and get some yard work done before things get too out of control with the weather starting to cool down. My desk is slowly starting to come together as you can see with the picture here. I am very excited to get the final boxes put away and really start to get some work done in my office area 🙂

My final editing revisions came in and have been made. This week I need to get the e-book submitted to the e-book store and that will put the finishing touches on the first episode of Cosmic Rage, allowing me to get back into the swing of fleshing out the second episode.

This week my to-do’s are getting the e-book into the store. I also want to get my desk fully functional and get things put away. I do have some freelance work I need to get some time in on as well. Finally, I will be back at Nebraskon this year and I am doing a new panel that I need to get into slides. It’ll be a busy week ahead, but that keeps life interesting. Let’s do this!

Time Flies!

Posted on October 11, 2016 by Chris Biewer

Whoa it’s been almost a month since I have been on here, writing updates and sharing the current state of my project Cosmic Rage.

It’s been a very exciting time and there has been a ton of things going on since I last blogged. I don’t like taking long breaks from the blog but there was just a lot of life event going on and Cosmic Rage was put on hold for a bit to get things sorted out. So let’s back track a bit and get all of our bases covered!

I was at Anime Fargo last month and really enjoyed the con. I had a great time talking with new people and seeing some familiar faces. I have been to Anime Fargo each of the last 3 years, which is how long the con has been running. It is always a good time to chat and catch up with people there. I met some awesome people in the Pokemon party room that were kind enough to share info about the local nests. In between events I was able to get to a nearby park that was actually a Bulbasaur nest!

After Anime Fargo, I spent the time finishing up packing for the move before I left to go on a family vacation. When I am on vacation, I really like to unplug so I try not to use social media since I am typically online for over half the day anyways. It’s a nice time to relax and enjoy nature. I did my first (and only so far) inktober piece on vacation as well. I was inspired by the ocean and the nearby Pokemon gyms so I drew up a Lapras.

Once we were back from vacation, it was time for the move. We spent all weekend moving things from our apartment to our new house. Plus, we had to remove our community garden too. Talk about a relaxing weekend right? Yesterday the internet was hooked up so I could get back online after work and get updates posted and get back into the swing of things.

So what is on deck for the upcoming week? Well, my e-book revisions are in. So I need to sit down this weekend and get those knocked out. Ideally I would like to get the book into the store over the weekend too. But I am not 100% sure how that process works since this is my first e-book. The other task at hand, I need to get my desk put back into place and get it ready to go. Things are moved into rooms, now it is just a matter of unpacking and putting things in order.

I am ready to get back into Episode 2!

Production Update 188: Where is my E-book?

Posted on September 19, 2016 by Chris Biewer

The last month has been a hectic whirlwind. Packing for the move has been in full force, it never ceases to amaze me at how much “stuff” I have until it comes time to move. Everything fits into the apartment but when it comes time to putting it in boxes, boy it feels like an endless endeavor. I love packing up my movies and seeing all of the great ones that I need to have on when I get back into work shortly. Castle in the Sky anyone? I also plan on legitimately starting a “to watch” pile for the films and series that have made their way onto my shelves and haven’t gotten viewed yet, it feels like a crime. Ghost in the Shell Innocence? *Facepalm

I got my revisions made to my e-book and have them submitted to my editor for one final pass before publishing. This should be good to go into the store soon. Most of the edits have been making sure pages didn’t have a pixel bleed that was distracting and I also need to tweak a few pieces of art, which will be things I tackle tonight. Mostly subbing in new renders for ones I didn’t get to before as I was working on the episode and shelved the e-book for a bit.

Things will calm down this week a little bit more. I finished up one of my freelance projects and things are moving pretty well on the packing front. That will wrap up before I head on vacation to unplug for a bit. More stuff coming soon!

Production Update 187: Catch Up Week & Podcast Appearance

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Chris Biewer

I had one simple goal this past week and that was to catch up on the many fronts of things I had to get done to free up some time to get back into Cosmic Rage. So how did I do?

Well, things are definitely moving forward. I started doing a bit of packing this week for my move in about 3 weeks, which one of those weeks is going to get lost due to vacation. I was able to get some file sent on my freelance projects as I am making some headway on those and getting close to get them into more of the final tweak steps. Things are going well on these projects and they are looking pretty good. I am very excited to get them out into the real world for people to see 🙂

In the middle of all of the work this week, I did get a chance to appear on the local Sioux Empire Podcast to talk about Cosmic Rage, Colin Kaepernick, a tasteless 9-11 commercial, humanity and more. Things got pretty deep. It was a great time and I had a blast chatting with the crew of the podcast and hope to be back someday, you can check it out at The Sioux Empire Podcast.

I was able to get some back end things working too. There will be more updates on this soon, probably after the move. I am mulling over some revisions to my Patreon campaign and moving more towards Youtube with more video content and things along those lines.

This week, the goal is to get back on the e-book and get this revisions knocked out so I can get that submitted into the store.

Production Update 185: Post-AnimeFest

Posted on August 23, 2016 by Chris Biewer

It’s been a week since AnimeFest wrapped up and I had an amazing time at the convention. AnimeFest felt like a completely different convention and I mean that in a great way. The con felt like it was an artist based con. I went to panels that ranged from figure photography, digital painting, 3D modeling and indy comics. This was outside of my panel and screening of Cosmic Rage. I met some very talented artists and I feel that AnimeFest is going to be a convention that I hit up every year regardless if I have a screening or not of Cosmic Rage. I really can’t say enough good things about AnimeFest, just an absolute great time. The environment of downtown Dallas was fantastic as well, so much artwork and a great place to go Pokemon hunting too.

There were a couple panels at AnimeFest that had Japanese animators doing some live drawing while answering questions that I found really entertaining. There was a round of “hot potato” drawing in which all of the artists would work on a drawing and a moderator would tell the artists to switch drawings. The results were hilarious. I even got to meet Erica Mendez, the voice actress for Ryuko from Kill La Kill. If you are looking for a new con to hit up in 2017, give AnimeFest a look.

Back into production items! My e-book is still at the editor getting combed through for consistency and type. I had a couple art revisions to make as well. I am aiming for this weekend to go through the process of actually getting it into the iBooks store. That is my fault on the hold up, I noticed some art issues that I was late getting to.

I am also going to be looking into Steam. One of the AnimeFest attendees that came to my Cosmic Rage screening suggested that I look into that and it is something I overlooked since I don’t use Steam. I will have to keep you all posted on this front since I am not sure of their platform and submission process.

This week I didn’t get much done in terms of production. I had to catch up on some work the week I got back from AnimeFest and I have also been working on a couple freelance projects. One freelance project will go to helping cover some of the VO costs for the second episode. The other freelance project will support some new equipment on the technical front. More on this soon 🙂

This week I am aiming to take another look at the second episode script and double check it for consistency and make sure it is looking good before I start diving into storyboards.

Thanks for stopping by! Hoping to have another review up again later this week and getting back on track posting clips to Facebook and Instagram.

Production Update 183: E-book, Coming Soon

Posted on August 2, 2016 by Chris Biewer

This past week I spent some time catching up on some life stuff that piled up a little bit. The reward for sacrificing the week to do that is reaping some early benefits. I was able to dive into the e-book and started polishing it up to get it ready for a release. There will probably be about another day of work in the e-book before it will be ready to submit to the store. I want to go through it one more time and make sure the text, audio and everything is consistent with the first episode. I also have one more page to design. It is a very exciting time to get this released into the store. Once the e-book makes it’s way into the store, it will close the chapter (no pun intended) on the first volume and allow me to completely transition into the second episode.

That’s not all! I will also be packing and preparing for AnimeFest in Texas since it is less than two weeks away! This will be another “first” for me, since I have never been to an AnimeFest before. I am looking forward to meeting so many new people and seeing what the convention has to offer.

One last note. This is my last week for my summer class as well. I’ll be spending one night this week wrapping up my final assignment and one night working on some freelance work as well. I am going to be jumping back into getting more content up this week as well.

Production Update 180: SoDak Wrap Up

Posted on June 27, 2016 by Chris Biewer

700 miles logged in a road trip over the weekend and it was worth it! As you may know, SoDak Con was this past weekend, which was actually my first time attending it. Over the course of the weekend I held my History of CGI in Anime panel and also had a screening for Cosmic Rage. I had an awesome time at the con. The staff was incredible and the guests were very friendly. I enjoyed my first SoDak con and the convention had a very friendly vibe to it. I hope it is the first of many more.

My panels went really well. I always love sharing the history of CGI in anime, most people haven’t seen some of the older applications of CGI in anime. It’s a blast seeing the crowds reaction to some of the early uses.

The screening of Cosmic Rage went off really well too. It is always humbling to see people show up to learn about the project and watch it. Especially when there was such a good line up of panels throughout all of SoDak Con.

A huge thank you to all of the SoDak staff and to all of the new friends I made at the con. I hope to see everyone again soon!

Now, it’s dive into the production side. I wrapped up the rest of my art grant paperwork, so that will get sent in and be cleared. While filling out the paperwork, it was sort of nostalgic seeing how far the project has come in the last year. I also spent some time on freelance work.

This week I am getting back into the production side. I am going to be working on something special for my next convention, Tokyo in Tulsa! The e-book cover is still at the top of the list for this week to get wrapped up as well.

Another update will be up Wednesday!

Production Update 179: Sketching

Posted on June 20, 2016 by Chris Biewer

I started working on sketching the e-book cover. I have things roughed out right now so this week I am going to refine it and hopefully get it inked so I can color it in the car on the way to and from SoDak Con! The original plan was to try to finish up the cover, but I picked up a freelance project so I was working on that over the weekend outside of class. My plan is to use the freelance project to help cover the cost of VO for the second episode. I am currently still pushing forward on the script, but it has taken a little bit of a backseat to the e-book cover so I can get that into the iBooks store for people to see.

Outside of that, photography class has been going pretty well, I believe I have about 6 weeks left until I am all done with school. My grant paperwork will be in the mail later this week. Once again, I need to thank the South Dakota Arts Council for their support in Cosmic Rage. This past year has been an amazing ride and the grant has helped me so much with getting the first episode wrapped up.

Finally, I have been spending a bit of time in our garden this week getting caught up on weeding and just unplugging for a bit. Our weeds were getting a little out of control, but we had to let the plants grow so we knew what a weed is and what isn’t. Hopefully we get caught up on weeding this week as well.

Next week I’ll have a recap from SoDak Con!

Production Update 178: Next Stop, E-book

Posted on June 13, 2016 by Chris Biewer

I know. I know. I have been writing the past few weeks about how my goal was to get the e-book cover or the script to the second episode written but I have a confession. The past couple months I have been creatively burnt out. I didn’t want to admit it and I thought it was just a week long funk but it turned into a good month to 6 week session. The good news, I honestly feel like I am coming out of it.

While I had some traveling this past week and some school work to do, I did start moving the ball on more Cosmic Rage items. First off, I have a rough sketch of what I want the e-book cover to be like. I spent some time in the car working on some rough layouts and working through some of the elements on I wanted. I feel like I have come to a very good solution and I am hoping to get into that this weekend! I have the lofty expectation of getting it wrapped up this weekend. (My Patreon supporters will get to see these sketches, if you are interested in supporting Cosmic Rage, check out my Patreon page)

I also need to get my grant paperwork filled out and sent in as well. I made a lot of notes and I need to flesh out to areas yet and that will be off of my plate as well.

Lastly, I had a rough outline for the second episode completed. I can now say that I have officially started on the script! While it isn’t close to done, I have begun writing out the first few scenes and I am very excited to build onto the world.

I really appreciate your patience, as much as I try to be transparent here, I really underestimated the amount of burn out I had. But I will leave you with one of my pictures from this past week in photography!