Production Update 162: 3D Renders!

Posted on February 8, 2016 by Chris Biewer

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!

Production Update 160: Back to the Real World!

Posted on January 11, 2016 by Chris Biewer

Well my grant period has come to an end. Once again, I need to say thank you to the South Dakota Arts Council for awarding me the project grant. I was able to take the entire month of December off from my full-time job so I could work exclusively on Cosmic Rage. December was a whirlwind month and I am really amazed at how fast it went. Production has been amazing and I am in a good place now. But what does that mean?

Well, I have the majority of things prepped right now, I am awaiting some of the final voice overs to come in to begin plugging away at the remaining scenes that need to be done. I am hoping that by the end of this week the VO cast is pretty much done with outside of some revisions.

I spent some time this last week finishing up mocking up some 3D backgrounds and getting things framed up. I have one drawing I want to complete for a scene, but outside of that, I think the artwork is all wrapped up.

After that is done, I will start roughing out some of the animations so when the VO comes in I can work on editing them or fine tuning them. I will be sharing more on the VO cast in the future!

Thanks for checking in, 2016 is going to be an amazing year and I promise I will keep doing some Youtube updates as well!

Production Update 159: Grant Period Week 5

Posted on January 4, 2016 by Chris Biewer

I wrapped up my art grant period this past week. Voice over lines have been filtering in this week and one of the final scenes is done. More work to be done!

Production Update 158: Grant Period Week 4

Posted on December 29, 2015 by Chris Biewer

Happy Holidays! Grant period week 4 came to a close and there is a lot of artwork and scenes coming together! I also give an update on the voice over front.

Production Update 157: Grant Period Week 3

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Chris Biewer

Week 3 of the grant production cycle is in the books! Wrapped up needed illustrations, worked with the VO cast and more.

Join the Police Force! Voice Over Edition

Posted on December 17, 2015 by Chris Biewer

Things are ramping up on the VO front! I am currently looking for some people to voice some police. You can find out more about the role on Casting Club.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me!

Production Update 156: Grant Period Week 2

Posted on December 14, 2015 by Chris Biewer

Week 2 of the project grant has been a productive one! Making revisions to existing artwork, adding in new scenes and more! Check out this weeks production update below!

Voice Over Cast Update

Posted on December 10, 2015 by Chris Biewer

I thought I would give an update on the voice over front for Cosmic Rage. My elbow and infection has put me a tad behind schedule, so I have been working to catch up to where I want to be. I have to say THANK YOU! to everyone who auditioned for characters. I had a blast going through and hearing everyone’s take on the characters, giving the their own personality and tones.

If you haven’t heard anything from me by this point, it doesn’t mean you are out of the running for any roles. I am shuffling some auditions around and trying auditions for characters on others, so a lot of mixing and matching right now. I have picked some front runners for roles but I haven’t sent messages to everyone. I had some questions about updates on the VO front this past week so I thought I would address it. Having said that, I do plan on having the cast lined up next week some time.

Again thank you to everyone who auditioned and everyone for their patience in the process. There should be a lot of exciting news up until out premiere date.

Health Update & News Announcements

Posted on November 23, 2015 by Chris Biewer

I wanted to try to get back on the blogging track this week so I wanted to update you quickly on my health and some news. First off, I am recovering from a skin infection that was triggered by some elbow inflammation. I seem to be on the mend now, the skin infection for the most part is gone. The infection required some IVs, steroids and antibiotics. The medicine makes me sleepy from time to time, but I guess that is the process of healing.

This past week I missed a bit of work and all of my classes. This weekend I have been spending time catching up on some work, freelance projects and my schoolwork. Hence why this week’s post isn’t a production update. Which leads to my next update.

I have the entire month of December schedule to work for Cosmic Rage. Meaning I am limiting freelance work, regular work and everything else so I can focus full-time on Cosmic Rage. I am very excited for this! I have one shot to finish up one scene and then I have two more scenes after that to finish up. The infection really derailed me, I had these scheduled to be done this week. Just have to stay adaptable.

The infection also delayed my ability to go through the voice over auditions and award roles for characters. I am hoping to get to this shortly after the holiday, so I appreciate everyones patience.

I should be back on Cosmic Rage this week and over the holidays. Looking forward to getting back into the swing of things!

Production Update 154: Back from Nebraskon and Major Updates

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Chris Biewer

What an amazing weekend! I went to my first Anime Nebraskon and had such a wonderful time. I will write more about this con later this week, until then, production update time!

Apologies for the delay on this weeks update, I admittedly was pretty eager to watch the Walking Dead on Monday after recovering Sunday night from the con. There is a lot of updates and I just needed a little time to get them all down.

First off, I wrapped up another scene, below is a screenshot. With this scene completed, I now have 3 scenes left until the e-book animated scenes are all wrapped up. I also sent this scene off for audio work, which is why the production update wasn’t up earlier today.

With only a few scenes left for the e-book, I bet you are wondering how much animating I have been doing. Well, when I was preparing the latest scene for audio, I put all of the existing scenes together to see how long Cosmic Rage is so far. As of today, it is just under 10 minutes! Remember, that is just animated content for the e-book. The final animated version will have new shots for the voice over and may approach the length of an actual TV episode. It wasn’t a mark I was aiming for, I want to make Cosmic Rage tell a story in the time it needs, not just hitting a number to make it long.

I will be starting a new scene tomorrow, this one consists of 6 shots. My goal is to get this scene wrapped up over the weekend. With the holidays approaching at the end of the month, the push is to get a scene done every weekend since I will be traveling for the holiday.

Also, the voice over audition period is closing at the end of the week! I have received some awesome auditions, so if you have been waiting to get yours in, I suggest sending them over asap! I will be going through them over the weekend and making decisions on who will voice what character. Hopefully cast announcements will come soon afterwards.

I also have another announcement waiting in the wing. I can probably share it next week since it isn’t set in stone yet. The announcements and news will be coming more and more over the next couple months as the final push starts.

Thank you all for your support!