FAILING UPWARDS

"The way to solve the perfect problem is to make it imperfect.
Don't just bend one of the constraints, eliminate it.
Shut down the factory.
Walk away from the job.
Change your product completely.
Ignore the board.

If the only alternative is slow and painful failure, the way to get unstuck is to blow up a constraint, deal with the pain and then run forward. Fast."

~Seth Godin


Getting over the hump is difficult. The speed bump grows to an impregnable mountain as our fears feed the beast.

Sometimes it's writers block, sometimes it's technical limitations, sometimes it's plain fear of completion.

My biggest fear is not of the inability to complete something, but rather, completing something and hating it, or worse, feeling nothing at all (meaninglessness).

NATURAL EVOLUTION

Limbo is probably the best game I've played in years. It's beautiful, and it lets you wade into it's world, without hitting you over the head, or doing lots of hand-holding.

The story is very minimal, but the world is so fantastic that it's just as fun to watch as it is to play. We need more unique voices singing different and interesting songs like this.

Ranting on, if every story is a heavy metal opus or poppy dance drone, we will go deaf, or at least be really really bored. It's the Michael Bay problem, if everything is exploding, then it's like nothing is exploding (think about it).

WHERE I HAVE BEEN, WHERE ARE WE GOING

The final *quadruple crosses finger* script is done. There are a few lines of dialogue to be tweaked/worked out, but, it's pretty much done-done! Fathoms is finally starting to shine, and I feel really confident about it. I feel very competent about the actual production side, so, feeling good about the story means there's a great chance at Fathoms coming out tops!

So what now?

I'm working on re-finalizing the character design for Sam. I may still put up a vote for which face people like/sympathize with more.

I'm also writing the shot list and starting storyboarding again.

Also, some design elements will need to change to fit the story now...including the Scavenger Arken, which I will be turning to master mechanical designer Mike Doscher to help with, seriously, I can't say enough good things about his work.

More sooner than later!

SERVICING THE THEME

Now that I know what I want, thematically, I can cut the fat.

It's much easier to see what's important, and that everything else exists solely to enhance and support the theme.

The core of this story-planet is super hard and solid, unwavering, and pure. Everything around it is a swirling, morphing vertex of supportive energy. Like harmonies in a really catchy tune, they pull you further into the melody.

Why we do the things we do

Art is therapy (for me).

I love creating things with my hands.

Things real, and things unseen.

If my hands are static, I feel hollow.

Fathoms is a dream about a story from a time when I lost my father and about the ghosts of the past that follow us through empty warehouses of the future.

This is not about monetizing my name into gold silicon wafers in the interwebs, or in the side door of a trendy vinyl toy store in SoHo.

This is about

Finally delivering on my promise (to myself) that I am a real storyteller, proving to myself that I can do it, and be satisfied (happy) with the story I tell.

Dealing with the past, expressing it on my terms, remembering it how I want, as skewed as that perspective may be.

Telling my story, for better or worse, I do have something to say (we all do, some of us have one story, some of us have many).

It's about rising above my humanity while simultaneously embracing it. This isn't the first or the last story I will tell...but so far, it's the most involved. So keep on swimming.

Tiny Inventions - Something Left, Something Taken & Making of

Tiny Inventions made this over the course of two and a half years, in between paid gigs. It's very inspirational, and technically will be similar to how my animation works.

Check out more detailed making of stuff here, it's definitely worth the jump.

Nice work guys!