I've just completed the first half of Episode 3, editing and all. I've discovered that doing some post-production work early on and getting some (relatively) instant gratification at seeing some of the finished product has a pleasant, sanity restoring effect.
I was also animating some rope physics for this. Rope physics are fun! My animation tutorial for rope physics:
1) Waste loads of paper trying in vain to comprehend basic movements.
2) Under no circumstances are you to use reference material.
3) Get frustrated after many hours of this and begin taking your anger out on the individual index card frames that aren't working, pretending that they have little paper feelings and that ripping them up will convince them to let you draw on them better next time (there will be no next time, you have just ruined them forever).
4) Walk away, smolder, general sulking.
5) Stay up until two in the morning.
6) If the ritual is a success, the rope physics visualization centers of your brain will now be active.
7) Continue refraining from all reference materials, YOU ARE NO MERE MORTAL
8) Gaze in awe as your digits spew forth vaguely passable representations of the material world on autopilot.
I later discovered the the top and bottom of the object I was animating got switched around during all the swooshy flippery, but it's unnoticeable in the final product.
The last half was already penciled and inked (a couple of years ago now), but upon unearthing these frames, I discovered them to be rather cromagnon when compared to the level of work I'm doing now. Also the ending has changed a bit since the project's conception. So it looks like I'm remaking the entire last half of this episode from scratch. I will likely be releasing a 'making of' video after release, which will include the (incomplete) cut content. I probably should include the original versions of several modified scenes as well, since I've been heavily reworking a ton of it to keep the quality consistent with the newer stuff I'm making.
In addition to the making of video, I'd like to get some new shirts out in case anyone cares about clothes still. I've got plans for a new Sock design, as well as three designs for the other gods, and maybe one for Ceriazibus.
Once again, when Empire is completed, I will be completely rehauling the website, getting the Tales of BarfQuestion comic back on track with regular updates, and embarking on tons of new projects, as always. I'll be reworking a couple of old music videos that either have copyright conflicts (or that I'm just unhappy with) into Toons, getting Hitting Stuff at a Building out, and announcing a trio of huge projects to be aimed at film festival distribution.
I had a speedrun of Dark Souls playing in the corner of my screen while I was touching up my frames in Photoshop this week, and started to wonder what speedruns of real life would be like before realizing that they actually exist and are called miscarriages.
