Skip to main content

TET Animation Project Update for 2020

TET Animation Updates.
It's the start of a new year which means it's a great time to run down my own personal animation project plans for this year.

Patreon

Before the end of January I hope to be launching my Patreon Membership Account. I've been largely reluctant to go the Patreon route for funding my animated projects but it appears to be the best way to fund projects that only the smallest of audiences have any interest in.

While the majority of the work on my animated projects will still be done by me, the main goal of the Patreon is to raise funds to pay for voice artists. I don't have the vocal range to voice all of my characters. Voice changers and Text to Speech Apps aren't at a quality that sounds professional, and I want my productions to be elevated in a way that only real voice actors can.

As much as I have friends who would gladly volunteer time to voice characters, that's not a reliable system, as people get busy, and the quality of recording can vary a lot depending on recording equipment available. I'd much rather pay someone who voice acts for a living and is excited to bring my characters to life.

Watch out for the launch of my Patreon and, if you do have an interest in seeing more of my animations, please consider becoming a Patreon. There will be Patreon only benefits, which I will detail when I"m set to launch.

Upcoming Projects

Bat Storm

Bat Storm, created in iClone, is going to be my major animation project this year. It is specifically for this project that I'm launching my Patreon (though not limited to just this project). Bat Storm has a lot of characters in just the main cast alone, before even thinking about the supporting cast. I really want his stories to be a showcase of my animation work, and having access to real voice artists is a MUST.

Bat Storm, Bat Flash, and Senior Detective Smith.
Created with Reallusion's CC3 and iClone.
I've previously shown Bat Storm's character design. Since then I've created Bat Flash and Detective Smith (neither of whom I have any chance of being able to voice myself).

I think the characters look really good and they deserve to have quality voices actors bringing them to life.

While I've yet to write a complete new script for Bat Storm's next adventure I'm thinking very hard about starting with his unfinished adventure from back in his GoAnimate days called, Pain.

Other Animated Shorts

As much as I've long been interested in the 3D pixar style animation I'm using for Bat Storm, my first love is 2D animation, because all my original cartoon characters are 2D drawings.

This year I want to continue making 2D animated shorts with Cartoon Animator 4, some with my own characters but also quite a few with the characters I've bought through Reallusion's content stores and other places.

There's nothing more satisfying than having a funny idea for an animated short and putting it together as quickly as possible with whatever content you have. That's how my Water Valet animations came about, and I'd like to continue with that kind of production.

Despite the goal being quick animated shorts, I'd still like to raise the production quality with professional voice actors, so some of my Patreon funds will go towards these.

Reallusion Marketplace Store

I don't promote it a lot but I do have a Reallusion Marketplace Store. I don't want to get too ambitious and say I'll be making a lot more characters this year, but I am looking to moving my focus back to this store and stocking it with more of my original content.

Even though I'm not an official Reallusion Content Developer, I do earn a lot of DA points (basically money in the marketplace) that comes in very handy for buying additional content used in my animations.

For example, did you know a lot of the items sold in bundle packs in the Reallusion Content store can be purchased individually through the Reallusion Marketplace with DA points. That's how I purchased Bat Storm's Assassin Pack cape... as an individual item rather than having to buy the whole Assassin's pack.

---o ---o--- o---

That's it for 2020. I do have a lot of past projects, mentioned previously in this blog, that have kind of fallen by the wayside but have not necessarily been forgotten entirely. I will try to get back to them and finish them off.

However, this year, I feel it's time to focus my efforts a little more to one main project (Bat Storm) and a few smaller side projects for whenever I need a bit of a recharge with something different.

Remember that my Patreon is coming. I will definitely let you know when it launches and give you a full run down on the Patreon only benefits. I really do want you to get something worthwhile out of supporting me financially.

If you do have any thoughts for what kind of benefits I could offer that would get you to sign up please let me know in the comments below.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Inochi2D - Free Open Source 2D VTuber Avatar Rigging and Puppeteering Software (Part 1)

Inochi2D Creator - Free Open Source VTuber Software. If you've been looking for a way to live perform as a 2D cartoon avatar on camera, whether it be for a live stream or for pre-recorded content like educational videos, then VTuber software is a low cost (or even no cost) option worth looking into. In my previous post, How to Become a VTuber - 2D and 3D Software for Creating and Controlling Your Avatar , I took a brief look at the relatively new but completely free and open source Inochi2D  which I thought showed great potential for my own needs of creating a live performance character rig for my own TET Avatar that I use for all my promotional materials. While it is possible to live perform my character using Cartoon Animator itself, Reallusion's MotionLive2D capture system isn't great - with lip sync in particular. More importantly though, I can't exactly teach people how to use Cartoon Animator if I'm using Cartoon Animator to control my Avatar. What is Inochi2D

2D Animation Side Hustle - How to Package, Upload, Optimize, Price, and Promote Your Content in the Reallusion 2D Marketplace

T his is the final post in my four part, 2D Animation Side Hustle series on Selling in the Reallusion 2D Marketplace. I'll look at how to package up your content and upload it to the Marketplace, how to optimize your listings, price, and how to sell through your store backend as well as off site through social media and other channels. If you haven't read previous articles in the series click these links for Part 1 - Can You Make Real Money , Part 2 - Finding Niches , and Part 3 - What to Sell . Before getting started you'll need to register as a Content Developer in order to see the backend of your store on the Reallusion Marketplace . Packaging Content and Uploading to the Marketplace Since the release of Cartoon Animator 5 the software has a built in Package Manager that makes it easy to assemble and upload your Content to the Marketplace. Reallusion has a comprehensive, official video (embeded below) that quickly explains the entire process in less than seven minutes. 

Moho 14 Released - Still the Best 2D Animation Software for Indy Animators on a Budget

Moho 14 Released. Regular readers know I am a Reallusion, Cartoon Animator advocate through and through. Hands down I would recommend Cartoon Animator 5 first over Lost Marble's Moho 14 to anyone who is just starting in 2D animation, is a team of one, or just needs to animate as quickly as possible. However, feature for feature, Moho is, arguably, the best 2D animation software for the rest of us who can't justify a Toon Boom Harmony , or Adobe Creative Cloud subscription (and even with their applications Moho is very competitive on features). You can get started with Moho Debut for just USD$59.99 which is a cut down version of Moho Pro but it still has the most essential features needed for 2D animation. While Moho Pro is a whopping USD$399.99 (Cartoon Animator, which only has one version, is just USD$149.00) upgrades to new version numbers come down to a quarter of the price at USD$99.00. Even though Reallusion just released features like Motion Pilot Puppet Animation and

Wonder Unit Storyboarder - Free Storyboarding Software for People Who Can (or Can't) Draw

Wonder Unit Storyboarder.  As an independent and solo animator I'm always tempted to try and skip storyboarding my animated shorts because they're usually only single scene sketch comedy type jokes. As a result I have many unfinished projects that kind of petered out due to having no clear finishing line. Storyboarding your productions, no matter how small, gives you a step by step guide of every shot that needs to be completed (no planning shots as you animate). It also allows you to create an animatic that gives you a rough preview of the finished production. In short, you shouldn't skip storyboards as they, generally, increase the chance of the project being completed. Disclaimer - I'm Not a Fan of Storyboarder Upfront, Wonder Unit's Storyboarder  is not my preferred storyboarding software. However it's completely free, has a number of very compelling featu

The Ultimate Independent Animator's App and Resource List 2019-2023 - Animation and Video Life

Image created with Cartoon Animator 4. Being an independent animator is not like a studio animation job. There's so much more to do that is indirectly related to the actual task of animating. Over the years I've sought out many apps, tools, and services that can help me achieve that one single task, expressing myself through animation. Below is my Ultimate Independent Animator's Resource List for 2019-2022. It started out as a list of free or low cost apps that could help you in every stage of producing either 2D or 3D animation, and then just kind of grew from there. You may not have been looking for a Time Management App as much as you needed something to get you started in 3D animation but when those commissioned projects start coming in you'll have a head start on maximizing your time. All the apps and services on this list had to meet two main criteria: They had to be useful and relevant to an Indy Animator/artist. The base app/service had to be US$

Start Your 2D Animation Side Hustle - Sell Your Cartoon Animator Characters, Props, Scenes, and Motion Files in the Reallusion 2D/3D Marketplace

Have you thought about starting a side hustle selling your original Cartoon Animator assets in the Reallusion 2D/3D Marketplace ? In this article, the first in a series on selling in the marketplace, I'll give you an overview of what's involved, why you should give it some thought, and whether you can earn enough to quit your day job (or at least have a worthwhile side hustle). If you're an artist with any kind of drawing skills, and you're creating your own original characters, props, scenes, and even motion files for your Cartoon Animator projects, then setting up your own store in the Reallusion Marketplace should be a no brainer. You're making content already, it doesn't cost you anything to set up, and Reallusion only takes a 30% commission from each item sold. (If you think that's a lot, I'll address that further down). Don't be put off if you think your art skills aren't up to professional standards. There are plenty of artists with naïve

Prome AI Sketch Render Tool - Your Tradigital Clean Up and Colorist Artist for Character and Background Design

Random character head, Biro sketches drawn by TET (left). Render by PromeAI (right) using Prome's Sketch Render tool set to 'Comon:Cartoon, Render Mode: Outline'. W hile I don't do New Year Resolutions, one of my plans for the year ahead is to do more of my own art. Specifically character design drawn in an actual, physical sketchbook.  To that end, I have been spending the last half hour of most days drawing a page or two of random biro sketches in my sketchbook and posting the pages to my Instagram account  (this link will take you to one of my posts). These sketches are mostly practicing my skills because I don't really draw regularly anymore. Here is a tip, if you do this kind of sketching, and push yourself to keep doing it, you will see many drawings that could be taken further, even if you don't have anything they're suited for just at the moment. Which is where my second favorite AI Image Tool (after Leonardo.ai )  PromeAI comes into play. PromeAI