Why is starting these always so hard? Let’s see, one moment, let me talk about the weather again real quick:
Feels like April. Since I moved back to my hometown, it has been raining and thundering with some intervals of sun when you need them. It’s nice! But cold… I never would have thought I’d need my hoodie when working at my desktop this summer yet here I am! Ah yes, where I am… I am at my dad’s for the remainder of August and Septmeber. Let me break you the news; I finally got an internship position and I was very fortunate to get the spot that I most wanted out of my selection. It is a highly established yet small animation studio in Stuttgart, so not too company-like and within close proximity that I can visit my relatives every once in a while. I am very excited for it given for how long I have wondered how my mandatory internship would look like and I’ll be able to give more insight in October. But what I can say now is that I will continue to work with anthropomorphic animals and dive back into 3D work with blender. Since I have gotten a little rusty with 3D works, I am planning to do some exercises with modelling and animation this month and a little in September –
ohh excuse me, I was just distracted by my dad’s cat. She’s a handful, or two, rather – as she’s a biggie.
but yeah, getting back to blender, not sure what I’ll be doing. Years ago, I planned for a 3D model of Zavi, maybe I’ll do that.
Aside from what’s to come, let me talk about what all was last month and there was a LOT.
Let’s start with the biggest thing: My animation short reached its presentable stage. I mentioned in last month’s reflection how I was working on the audio part and I did finsih it, however, there was a lot left to be done before I could show it off. I was given the deadline of the 18th , so approx. two weeks to finish up the animations, add shading, light and effects until then. With so much else (I’ll get to that later), it was a hassle but luckily the shading and lighting stage went quicker than anticipated. I had to crunch a couple 13h shifts right before the deadline but managed to get it done. My film premiered on July 25th to a limited audience at our University during our faculty event and while it is missing the final music and credits, I am very happy with the result. It’s been about 2 years since I finished the script and around one year of occasional production intervals to get it done and I utilized stylization restrictions to save as much time as a single animator. In hind sight, working with a vector-based animation program would have saved a lot more time and had me more flexible in some cases, but that realization came too late in the animation process to be considered. All in all, it was wonderful to see my characters on a big screen in front of a life audience and while this is a mere experiment, I’d really like to – one day – make a really meaningful piece for festivals. However, since I want to try my luck with said festivals just for now, the film is better to be kept hidden, otherwise if most festival holders will find out it is publically available somewhere online, it makes it less attractive to host in their programme. Hence you won’t be able to see it for a while longer but that’s just the nature of things TvT
Still in the beginning of July, I visited a small convention called German Dev Days targeted to – as the name suggests – german developers. My student accreditation let me visit it for free, I ust had to travel and stay in Frankfurt for a day. They had interesting panels and a very nice atmosphere there and if I still happen to have my student badge net year, I would very much like to visit it once more. I took the time on the trainrides to preproduce sketches for my last ongoing commission before Eurofurence, and one that I tell myself will be finished by the end of the month. Updates will be posted on my bluesky.
In preparation to Eurofurence, I wanted to stock-up my booth with new merch. Following a rather sizeable vograce order, I was pressed / no, I pressed myself to finish some more designs including buttons, stickers and my first pin, which I am very anxious excited about. Of course, it’s always in combination with thoughts like “will the order turn out the way I wanted it to?” or “will it arrive in time?”, but following the good news of my internship and now with a more relaxing August, I decided no matter the outcome, I will approach the convention with as much joy as I’d regularly would. Last year was too stressful, it was my first time dealing at a big convention with a whole new booth and I had plenty of things to get done beforehand. This time, I want to get more of the convention itself, take less commissions, take more breaks attend more panels, find more enjoyment. All I have to be careful of is not to get a big nasty crud like with NFC, because I want to attend TFI right after. Speaking of which, I just recently finished the shirt and lanyard designs, so the biggest things are dealt with. I honestly cannot state how much I’m looking forward to the convention.
Let’s see what else was there, ah yes, Art Fight!
The first time July wasn’t completely taken over by it and yet, I still managed to finish 4 main pieces. I was inspired by Libera, the character on the top right (which I finsihed last) how I could but her bloodied theme in a comical spaghetti ice cream bowl with strawberry sauce on top. And then I wondered, why not make all attacks this year like it? I gathered some ideas and references to be ready for the first batch. Usually, I reserve one weekend per piece, as I need the time to do preplanning sketches, coloring studies and wait for the ink of the linework to dry before I’m able to erase the pencil layer beneath. Yet I somehow managed to finish one drawing per day during the weekend… twice. Which happened at the cost of some downtime but hey, it was a good challenge, though one that I could not uphold after the second weekend as my animation project was higher in priority.
I would have loved to stick around some more. I saw lots of characters I would have liked to portray but did not have the time for. It’s always the case that Im left yearning for the next year when ArtFight is over.
Back in July, I attended Christopher Street Day in the local city and there were a couple Art booths there. The Artist Dodovieh (https://www.instagram.com/dodovieh.art/) invited me to a small vernissage in a clubhouse that she organized. A couple of artists went together to sell and display their works there (Rat ‘n Riot it was called) together with some music and all income through the art booths would go to the local animal shelter. As luck would have it, it was right after a furry regular’s which I interested enough to come on over, which filled up the place quite a bunch. It was a great little event and a wonderful day altogether.
So, the last week of July was full of preparation for the aforementioned faculty showcase we had at uni not much to mention here. The event itself was very ncie and a fine end to the semester, while it could have ended a little less stressful for me, I was still able to watch the screening of my film and even practice my cocktail making skills, which I really enjoyed. Perhaps I can work in a bar one day to get some side income. As long as it’s a fancy one and not a club with irritating music.,,
The moving went rather smooth. It was a little more stuff than I anticipated but still little enough to be able to take it in one go. Since I landed here back in my hometown, I was able to settle some. Not much, though, but it’s good not to let yourself drop to othign and slowly ease in to a relaxed state.
I’ve been doing formalities and planning, working on the comm here and finishing up some revenge arts for art fight. And I’m very happy with those! Adding some additional shade with markers works out fine. I still have some things to get out of the way, like finding a proper accomodation for my internship. But for now, I want to chill some. I dug out my favourite LEGO set from my grandma’s attic and I wnat to put it togetehr this weekend for old time’s sake. And I’ve been looking forward to meeting up with my old lads and lasses again.
But ya, enough for now, I wish a very lovely weekend for now and a great August! I’ll be back after two cons and my first week at the internship position.
Sincerely,
Souvillaine