A Universe of Trouble—Ep12

"A cold and fishy eye."

Flying around space fixing hyperspace beacons can be dangerous.


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A Universe of Trouble TEASER!


On Wednesday, April 29, 2015 I started this journey.

At that time, I was struggling to simultaneously draw a 5-minute film while also learning to draw.

It. Wasn't. Working.

My skills were not sufficient to make the film as I pictured it in my head. And learning to draw while also trying to draw a project was getting me nowhere since I was splitting my limited time.

Through all of that, I had a nagging desire to complete some THING. Any THING!

I had calculated that at my present pace, my 5-minute film would take 3-5 YEARS to complete!

So I thought if I did a project shorter than 5-minutes, it would be completed quickly and satisfy my need to make something.

That's when I found Harry Harrison's "The Repairman" and was grabbed by the story. It felt like an excellent opportunity to tell a new story with a black woman in a compelling situation that had nothing to do with being black or female. It was perfect!

When I started I thought it'd take a few months to a year to complete. That quickly became a dream after it took 3 months just to complete the first episode…out of 17 episodes!

Yeah, I miscalculated. Badly.

Now, exactly 2 years later on Saturday, April 29, 2017, I completed this project! One month before my deadline!

I didn't fully realize how stressful working on this project was until it was over. I spent so much time on it that other parts of my life suffered. Despite the stress, however, I would have done it again. What I've learned from doing this project could ONLY have been learned by doing this project!

Now that I've made something and will be sharing it with the world, I'm excited and eager to get back to just pure drawing skills development.

I'll be discussing what I learned from doing this project in future posts in addition to what I'm learning now as I return to drawing practice.

I hope you enjoy my project! Please give me your feedback. As long as it's constructive criticism and observations (and not pure hating), it can only make me better.

Thanks for following me on this journey!

A Universe of Trouble—Ep16 Storyboard

Here it is, the penultimate episode of my web series "A Universe of Trouble."

This is the episode that I originally had split into two. But after a second look, I decided to make it one long episode instead of two short ones. I think it makes sense storywise but also…it helps me psychologically. Once I decided I had one less episode to create, I felt less pressure! It's still the same amount of work BUT it feels like less work since it's one less episode. If I need this mind trick to complete this project, so be it.







Ep14 DONE! Ep15 DONE!

Scene from Episode 14.

Scene from Episode 15.
I've been so immersed in my Big Push that I didn't realize I hadn't posted since Jan. 30!

And since the last post I've completed TWO MORE EPISODES!

The light at the end of the tunnel has gotten a bit brighter now. There's one big scene and one small scene to complete and then I'll be done with this two-year challenge.

Next post: the storyboard for Episode 16

Episode 13 Production Has Begun

Continuing with my "Big Push Period" to complete the last 6 episodes of "A Universe of Trouble" on Memorial Day weekend, 2017, I completed the storyboard and scenes 01 and 02 this weekend. In the process I discovered that scene 03 is simply a closeup and scene 02 which saved me from having to do another scene.

This scene will be the last time for awhile that the Repairwoman is in the temple. After this, she moves into the actual hyperspace beacon to make the repairs.

Here's the storyboard:




I'm relieved that after doing a 30-scene episode, this episode has a mere 13 scenes.

There's no excuse to complete this quickly!

THE BIG PUSH!



April, 2017 will be the 2-year anniversary of working on "A Universe of Trouble."

My original intent was to quickly get some work out into the world. I assumed telling a short story would take less time than animating a 5-minute film.

Yes, I will complete this web series sooner than I would have completed the animation for "Adult Toy Story."

No, it's still not THAT fast!

I'm pleased with the progress of this project and am enjoying the process. However…I want it to be OVER!

First, I want it to be over because I'm eager to do so many other projects. But none of those projects can be worked on until I learn two important things: human anatomy and perspective.

Second, I want to enjoy my summer this year! Meaning, I want to get out of my drawing room and ride my bike while not having a little voice telling me that I should be working.

Therefore, I decided to make the remainder of the winter and some of the spring my BIG PUSH TIME. This means that I will cut back slightly on drawing practice to work as much as possible on completing these last 6 episodes (I'm days away from completing episode 12 of 18).

That's 4 months to complete 6 episodes. Right now it's dark and cold and I don't want to be outside anyway. THIS is the time to really push, to wake up even earlier (5am) to get this project DONE!

My new deadline is Monday, May 29, 2017—Memorial Day—to complete this project. That will be a long weekend and the official start of summer. What better time is there to wrap this up?

My Newest Favorite "A Universe of Trouble" Scene!

I'm happy to report that abruptly switching from Toon Boom Animate Pro to Harmony is not nearly as traumatic as I thought it would be. The two programs look and work similarly which is a great help.

BUT Harmony has many more features than Animate Pro and I happily discovered one of them: the Quake module!

In Animate Pro, I was able to do a camera shake effect by altering the x, y and z coordinates of the camera in the timeline. It was effective but a little time consuming.

In Harmony, I drag a module into the Node View, attach it to the camera node…and I'm done!

Here's the Quake module at work in my newest favorite scene of the series:


What do you think of this scene?