October Update: What a busy month!

Dear Patrons,

September was a crazy busy month, as expected. 

I was animation supervising on a new TV-series project, and at the same time still animation supervising on the short film I've been on for most of the year. It had it's final-final deadline last Monday, and just 7 days before that the clean-up studio wrote to us that they'd need to go 10 days over time in order to finish. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option since we were already overdue, so I had to go ahead and work weekends and evenings to make sure that things got done on time. I don't know what kind of lucky star I've been walking under, but despite pushing myself so hard, and both my mom (coming for a visit) and the co-worker sitting next to me getting sick with Corona, I somehow got out of it all in one piece and full health.

And on top of that, directing the Tales of Zale pilot episode has been ongoing - and there was also an animation festival and Artist Alley to top it all off. It's especially preparation work on the latter that I'll be focusing on in this update. I'm going to try to be nice to myself and keep the update relatively short and simple, because I need to finish making notes on Tales of Zale storyboards and script before the new week begins!

I should say that this material will also be sold in the online store before long - but I'm still waiting for a couple of pieces to arrive before I can re-open the store.

NEW ART PIECE:

I've been eager to share this one, but it was never picked in the polls because 'more concept art' doesn't sound quite as glamorous as a whole new character design or animation. Either way, I've taken matters into my own hands and decided to share it this month, since I want to put it in the online store as a print. It also makes for a great desktop background, especially for double monitors, so I've attached a file with it in this post :)

This piece was made by Nicole Di Fresco during our last weeks of visual development for Tales of Zale last year.

FIGURINE:

Speaking of stuff I'm excited to share! This one has been underway for a good while - ever since I wrote that I was planning on opening up the merch store earlier in the summer. Josh, who those of you who visit the Discord server should be well familiar with, reached out for a collaboration, and he's been hitting it out of the park!

We started out with researching what could be done with 3D printing, and what sort of limitations applied. Since it would be our first time making a figurine of this type, we decided to go for something that would be relatively simple to print, by keeping it in one solid piece. These are the concept sketches I did to get us started.

Josh got started modelling, with this being an early pass.

We wanted to go with something stylized, like a whittled wood figure. I didn't think Zale's eyes would translate that well into 3D otherwise.

The 3D figure started coming together little bit by bit, with us going back and forth on some of the stylistic elements until we got to the point where all that was left was to see him IRL.

Thankfully, Josh knew somebody who specialized in high-quality resin 3D prints. Cambell from Two Soups does a lot of DND and Warhammer-themed things, but he was happy to take on the challenge of a fox figurine run! He also hand-painted them so they got that extra bit of charm.

We had 25 made to start off with, and of course some of them have already found new homes. Because this manufacturing process is a bit more hands-on and involved, you can count on the figurines being sold at around $50. If there's enough interest in them despite this, we will hopefully make some more!

PINS:

Now, I've always had figurines on my wish-list, and of course plushies are also high up there once that finally becomes possible. But another thing I always wanted has been pins. So I decided to try my hand at some wooden anniversary pins! Well - they were supposed to be anniversary pins, but the first shipment got lost in the mail, so I'm still waiting for them to arrive... They will at least be Flickering Lights themed.

STICKERS:

I just couldn't help but to order some stickers with these cute interactions by Sammy Torres once I got the opportunity. I won't be selling these, but I'll be putting one in every order as a little surprise (who knows which you'll get!?). Unfortunately, this was in the same shipment as the badges, so I am still waiting for these to arrive as well.

WOODEN STANDEE:

These aren't new, but I really liked how they came out last year, so I've made some more!

I'll be making a post once the online store is open again, but for now I just wanted to show some of what has been in the works.

FESTIVAL:

Of course, there was also the VAF animation festival, where I got to see Flickering Lights on the big screen one last time. I'm also told that I got a very close second place among the children's jury, which is honestly quite humbling, since the winner was a fully broadcaster-financed short film in a style that the creators have been spending decades perfecting. 

With this, the festival run should be over - though it will apparently continue a little bit in New York. The film was selected for the New York Animation Film Awards, and I was just told that it is also going to New York through the Fredrikstad collection's nordic program. Though I don't know which festival that will be at. Who knows, maybe it's the same one? Though there's probably a lot happening in NYC. 

ARTIST ALLEY:

I already wrote enough about artist alley, but here's a picture!

ARTIST TALK:

And it's already so far back that I almost forgot I did an artist talk in Farum. It went well - definitely not my best, I really wish I had had more time to prepare, but all things considered it was nice. And it was a super cool culture center, so I'm happy I got to see it.

ROUND-UP:

And with that, I am going to head back to work! What do you guys think of the new Patreon design? I like that I can sort things into collections now, and that I have a venue to sell the digital version of the art book in the same place, without having to do it in a really round-about way now. But I hear mixed opinions, so I'd be curious to hear your thoughts.

All the best,

- Sif