I'm going to tell you a story...

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."

Concept Art - Dive Suit

This is pretty close to what the dive suit will look like...You'll just have to wait and see what it's used for...

This is not easy (for me)!!!

If anyone has any good rigging tutorials for Cinema 4D, please send them my way. I am very close to scrapping 3d for the characters (except the heads), as I can not seem to get a proper rig going. Anyway, there will be an animation test, I just don't know if it will be with my original 2.9D technique...maybe more 2.6D, hah.

Fathoms For Change

I have decided that I want my personal projects to be a vehicle for change. Not just for me, or for you, but for the world. Therefore, any present or future short film I make will be in connection with at least one non-profit that I think is changing the world for the better.

For Fathoms I want you (I know there's at least two of you out there!) to pick the charity that Fathoms' proceeds will support. I've narrowed it down to these four relevant groups, but feel free to suggest something else in the comments.

Vote in the sidebar, and click on the following images to find out more about each group





THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!

However big or small the donations, they are important. It's better to try and fail then to give up before you even start. I want to see what I can do to give something back, it's not all about me (or you) you know!!! So, I thank you, in advance, wherever you are, for choosing who to give to and for giving back.

PS - You have just over two weeks to choose your charity!

Sink or Swim, keep on kickin

I am currently working on an animation test. Life has been full of business, so it is going to take me a little longer than expected to produce my proof of concept. Within two weeks I should have a short test to post.

This is requiring me to first (re)finalize the character designs. For me this is not a small thing. But I am trying to push through as I have had months of back and forth about the characters looks.

I have trouble deciding on the exact face of the female lead, Sam. I don't want her to be too beautiful and I don't want her to be too beat up.

I may place 2 or 3 final designs of her face up for a vote on here in a few days. So, let me know if anyone's interested, and keep your eyeballs peeled!

In Summary...

More Concept Art

In a cave somewhere...

Grants or no grants? How does one afford this stuff?

I want to make my art. It might further my career, it might not. But my goal is to make the art I want to make. To tell a story I need to tell. To apply everything I've learned and everything I love. To have full ownership and authorship of my work, for better or worse.

So, I make more money than I need. So that I can work 9 months of the year, and take 3 months, unpaid, and continue to pay the rent and the bills and just work on whatever I want.

I work in a creative industry. But, the clients have the money, and ultimately the say. This can be very frustrating, as even they stand in the way of their best interest at times. They are tied to a system of meetings, and notes, and blindly distributed accountability.

Grants are their own issue...I've looked into them in the past. It seemed to me that the leg work involved (making a trailer for a short film that's not already made?) did not equate with the pay off ($2500???). This is money I could save simply by working, and not living beyond my means.

In the end it's about how you spend your money. I don't spend my money on fancy suits, or cars. Sure, I invest in technology, but most of that is related to my creations. I use my money to buy time. Time to make some stuff I like.

The process of making moving story picture titles

Here's a great article on Wired about the development process behind Toy Story 3. I don't normally link to external stuff, but, this is right up Fathoms ally.

How to deal with distractions?

How do I deal with distractions?

Not well. hah, I have ADHD, and I am sooo easily distracted. For this reason I can NEVER work at a coffee shop. I mostly will just end up people watching, because people are interesting, and there is so much distraction. I don't know how people focus better in those environments. Maybe it's just the stimulants?

I think it ends up being that when I get to crunch time, and I need to get stuff done, I quit Firefox and iChat. These are my main distractions during the day.

I've seen apps that will disable the internet on your computer for a preset period of time, but this seems like overkill to me. It's just about not running those apps. That internet is damn addicting, especially for procrastination.

The only legitimate excuse I have for internet while I'm working on Fathoms is for tutorials or forums for when I can't find the right nob to turn in Cinema4D.

There's also real world stuff to distract, but, in my home office, with some good music cranked up, nothing phases me.