Okay so last email was about how I got an idea for my next animation, and ever since then that’s basically all I’ve been doing! This really flew by cuz it really feels like it’s only been like a couple of weeks. I guess that’s a good sign.

So what have I been doing? Well…

1. Storyboarded the entire thing. It’s a very rough looking thing, but I decided that since I’m doing the animation myself then I can get away with not actually professionally cleaning it up. It’s messy but it only took about a week.

2. Started looking for Voice Actors! Yep, a friend of mine got me to actually use my vacant CastingCall.Club account, so I put an open call there. I was lowkey scared my project would look like a scam due to all the hidden and placeholder details, but within 9 days it’s gotten 135 submissions! That’s crazy!!! I’m kinda freaking out over how I’m gonna pick just 3-4 actors out of them all but like…I guess my steak is just too juicy right now. Looks like I’ll be using CCC for more projects in the future though!

3. I’m currently halfway through the backgrounds! This project is gonna be unique for me cuz there’s actually a mix of 2D and 3D backgrounds! Yep. My first ever time touching 3D. And I’m learning Blender to do it!!! It was a bit scary at first, but I think I got the hang of it. Though anytime I’m able to go back to Clip Studio Paint (my beloved) to do 2D art, I get very relieved. Anyway as of today, I think I’m done with the most detailed of the backgrounds, so the rest should be pretty quick.

4. Figuring out the style of music. I’m not a composer, so I plan to hire someone else to actually make the custom tracks. However, I still wanna give them a strong foundation, so I’m collecting existing soundtracks to help out in advance.

Wow actually listing all that out really puts into perspective for me how much I’ve actually done! I haven’t put this much passion into a project for so long, it’s really making me very happy.

Initially, I was keeping details on this project a secret because it was in the early stages where anything could change. Today though, it’s looking a lot more solid where the main idea likely won’t change too much, and I can give definite information to the VAs and composer for them to do their jobs right. That said, I still don’t want to provide details to the public on what this animation is about. Giving out that information right now feels almost like having a crowd of people staring at me while I draw: it makes me nervous haha! And I’m sure other artists can relate. I kinda don’t wanna think about people’s expectations for this project until its actually close to being finished. So yeah, don’t expect information on what it’s about until like several months later in the future.

Anyway this next month is all about picking voice actors, getting a music composer, designing props, and maybe even beginning to do actual animating!! Now, the music thing hasn’t officially dropped yet, but if you or anyone you know would be interested, hit me up! I think you can reply to this newsletter and it’ll send an email to me?? If it don’t work then reach out to my social media DMs and tell me to fix it lol.

Okay that’s it for tonight. Take care, do your best, and God bless!