End of August Update: Where's the Beef? (Patreon)

Hey everyone! Just putting up a post to let you know that I've had more of a rhythm lately on my work and I have actually been putting updates up on the discord. You may have also noticed me posting up smaller animations as I go over on https://twitter.com/Alsnapz ! That still remains the best way to keep up with me, since FA does not allow .mp4 uploads and the gif size limit can often not be enough. But, I digress: The Patreon Discord.

Now you might hop on there and notice that there are a distinct lack of updates for the two characters I teased last, Gridiron and The Gryphon. The primary issue there being a complete and total lack of interesting ideas for either, complicated further by the fact that both characters are, well...

...complicated. (This isn't even all of the layers on The Gryphon.)

Mind you, more layers tends to make for a more interesting, more varied, more expressive, character; but it also means that Flash starts to slow down massively, very quickly. It means that animating is just way, way more difficult, straight up. It's a massive project in pretty much every way, and I need to find a better way to handle these massive projects without burning myself out almost immediately every time.

So unfortunately, those who are waiting for the bird and the gator, you're going to have to wait a little longer.

In the meantime though, since it's better to work on *something* than nothing at all:

Some of you might know and remember Sandoval from his significantly more saucey Barbftr release. If that wasn't your thing, then know that Sandoval's presence in Helixftr will be far more oral-vore oriented, with the CV stuff being left for Barbftr. Beyond a couple of minor issues with his gut giving me troubles, the fella's been a joy to work on. It's nice to go back and work on something relatively simple after the pain and struggles of far, far more complex works.

I've also learned that, yes, I can actually put sound to animation before the very end. I was originally under the assumption that slapping all the sounds in would cause lag and generally make life miserable; this does not actually seem to be the case. So, unlike other characters, who tend to get their sounds *last*, most of Sandoval's animations already have their sounds added in, which I think is a general improvement to the workflow and for y'all, who are always clamoring for sounds.

Side note on the sounds, I've actually started to get a hang of modifying sounds, so I'm *hoping* the new sound that show up are satisfactory! Folks seem to appreciate them so far.

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On the future of this Patreon:

I have been thinking a lot about ways to improve productivity and give myself more defined goals, along with actually letting y'all feel like you have some control and understanding of what I'm animating, where things are going, etc. So, I'm thinking, maybe starting next month, of doing things different two part:

1) Fielding what people want over in the Patreon Discord server, getting ideas of where to go, what people want to see versus what I want to work on, and creating a list of goals to shoot for.

2) Converting these ideas into Patreon poll options that Patrons can vote on, with higher tier patrons getting more voting power.

This is a little more organized than I am, usually- but I think the change would be good for both myself and y'all. Having defined objectives to reach aught to help both sides, I imagine! And I guess if it doesn't work, I just go back to following whimsy as I do now? I wanted to start with this in September, but I'm just not set up or ready for it. 

Let me see if I can't finish up Sandoval this coming month and start with this new system come October.

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Other things to note: I frequently struggle with depressive thoughts, the stress of life as a self-employed animator and trying to meet both my own expectations and the expectations I feel are put on me by my audience, and so on. Sometimes it's stifling, suffocating, sometimes the weight feels like it squeezes the life out of me. 

Good news!

This month has generally, surprisingly, been pretty kind to me- I've been taking some efforts to make a few life changes that seem to be working and leaving me feeling a bit more lively and energetic. I won't go into depth into it, but know that I'm generally feeling better now than I have for the past few months. Here's to hoping it stays that way.

I think that's about all I've got to say for today; I've been meaning to make this post for a while now, but time's just sort of slipped away from me. This month has basically disappeared, I can't believe it's already the 31st. I blame Baldur's Gate 3.

Thank all of you who've supported me! As per usual, when Sandoval is complete there'll be a new, free, release; until then, updates and WIP builds of new characters will be updated to the Patreon discord.