1. HELLO, WORLD!!!

I rant, introduce my projects, and say a really inspiring and original quote.

GREETINGS, MY ZERO SUBSCRIBERS, AND WELCOME TO MY SUBSTACK!

Yes, yes, I’ve heard all the demand, the commotion, the hubbub, the hullabaloo, all that. And I’ve decided, I can’t just leave my desperate fans wasting away as they beg for my ever-reaching wisdom! And so, I’ve carefully hand-crafted my own substack for all to read. Well, the substack developers did the hand-crafting, I kinda just wrote my name in some blanks and stuff. But it counts!

Wait… what’s that I hear?

Absolute silence?

No, it can’t be! Do I really have no fans, no agonized cries caviling at the lack of my online presence? AM I NOT WORLD FAMOUS, AFTER ALL?

Luckily for me, that’s not the goal of this substack. Sorry for making you read that dragged out jumble of a joke. If you’re reading this, I’m assuming you’re here to hear (haha, “here to hear”) about my grand journey to become an author, learn how to animate, and demystify the secrets of this Earth. Well then, I’ll say once more…

WELCOME!

My Life Story

The day I was born, the warm sun waved its hellos as the world welcomed me to- wait, you don’t want to hear about my whole life story? Ah well, then.

Writing About Writing

Since I was a wee lad, I was always interested in telling stories. I used to make a lot of comics, the medium usually being random notebooks, and the style being unintelligible scribbles. I know, very avant-garde of me.

Anyhow, when the great Covid Pandemic of 2020 hit, extroverts suffered all around the world. However, I’m an introvert, so I was already planning on staying home all year. During that time, I took some of the characters from my extensive universe of comics and began incorporating them into a novel. The plot was rewritten more times than the U.S. constitution was amended, and I hit so many roadblocks and writer’s blocks and other assorted blocks that I sometimes questioned what I was doing. But, the same way you should keep on driving if you accidentally hit a car, I continued on, never looking behind me as I wrote and rewrote. Okay, that might’ve not been the best comparison ever. For the record, I don’t have a driver’s license yet, so you can relax… for now.

Right now, my trilogy of fantasy-adventure books is heavily outlined, and the first book has its first draft finished. It’s currently being proofread by my team of professional beta readers, A.K.A. my English teachers. While I polish my first book, I’m planning on leaving my comfort zone and researching the whole publication and querying-for-an-agent process. Expect many updates on that in the future. Hopefully they won’t all just be, “Yeah I got rejected, I’ll try a different guy” and “Yeah I got rejected again, I’ll try a different guy”. Then again, I’ve heard from many authors that perseverance is the key, and just because you got rejected doesn’t mean your book is bad. It’s just not what the agent was looking for. So, try, try again!

Hey, look, a piece of wisdom from your favorite wannabe-author already! I knew I was extravagantly enlightened, but I didn’t know I was this powerful!

“So, try, try again!”

-me, 2024

That’s definitely going on my fridge.

As you might’ve noticed, I try to be lighthearted about everything. After all, I like to do creative stuff because it’s fun. Whether or not my book becomes published and earns me a bignumbertillion dollars, I’ll still see all the years I spent working on it as totally worth it. At the very least, I got to write the kind of story I wanted to write. To me, that’s the very most.

Also, I don’t have to pay rent or taxes right now, so my young, innocent mind isn’t poisoned yet.

What About Animation?

Good question, my zero subscribers! When I was born, a witch sneakily crept into my hospital room to curse me with the desire to do everything. And so, I don’t just want stories on the page. I want them on the screen!

Back in 2020, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and telephones were still tethered to the wall, I became interested in animating when I realized there were free programs out there to help me do it. While I’m not interested in becoming an animator as a career, I like it as a hobby, and it’s just another way to make cool stories. Lately, I’ve been outlining an animated miniseries codenamed Project Forever. If you take the name, double it, then add one, that’s how many days it will take to finish it. I’m trying not to be too ambitious, but it’s a cool story which demands to be animated.

For the past, er, year, I’ve been bouncing back and forth between animating Project Forever in hand-drawn 2D or stylized 3D. I’ve done some tests, including going through the pain of making a 3D model of one of my characters, and I think I’ve finally made up my mind. There’s a lot of pros and cons to 2D and 3D, mainly boiling down to, “Do I want to draw a reallybignumbertillion frames of 2D animation” vs. “Do I want to deal with all the technical stuff that comes with 3D animation?” While in 2D, you can just draw a character instantly, in 3D, you have to model, texture, rig, and weight paint it. However, you only have to make a 3D character once, unlike 2D.

Effort isn’t the only factor. If it was, I’d be trying to make ChatGPT animate the whole thing for me somehow. I like doing things myself, though. I like control and manipulation. That’s why I’m running for president in 2024. Click that button below to vote for me. I promise I’ll fix the economy!

Ignore what’s actually written on the button. It’s a lie.

Anyways, another factor in my decision is quality and control. In 2D, you can draw anything however you’d like. You can add charm and exaggeration to your characters. In 3D, you can only push a rig so hard before it devolves into a whirlwind of jumbled vertices. Being the controlling person I am, I’ve decided (so far, at least) that 2D is the way to go.

Below are two versions of one of my characters from Project Forever. One in 2D, one in 3D. While 3D allows for fancier lighting, 2D gives me less headaches at the end of the day. Unfortunately, this means I must now learn how to draw. Outside of a character standing straight up and facing the camera, I can’t really do any other poses.

By the way, those screenshots are extremely confidential. Click the button below to sign my NDA, or else I’ll be relatively displeased.

Yesterday, I did a quick test to see if there was any hope for me animating a miniseries all by myself before I have to relocate to my local graveyard. Luckily, it wasn’t too bad, so I may release episode 1 before Mars gets terraformed.

Yes, I know, I still have to learn how to draw hands.

Making Goals I May or May Not Achieve

So, what’s next in my journey to slowly siphon away every last opportunity for sleep I have left? For my trilogy, I’ll begin researching agents for Book 1 and continuing to outline Book 2. I’m addicted to outlining, also referred to as overthinking, and I want the plot and characters for my next book to be as good as possible before I start writing it. While writing Book 1, I realized 85% and 30 chapters in that I didn’t like the plot, so I scrapped everything and started over. It took years to rewrite the whole thing. Definitely worth it, but I don’t want the same thing to happen with Book 2. And thus, I must outline.

For animation, I’m going to begin, once again, outlining each episode of Project Forever. Notice a theme? If so, you’re going to keep noticing it, and if not, you’re lying. Indeed, I love to outline. However, I’m close to being done with Project Forever’s flow charts and character descriptions and all that, and soon I’ll get to start scripting episode 1! Very fun.

“In Conclusion…”

I’m going to end this post before it becomes the world’s longest piece of literature. But a few more words. Thank you for following, or at least taking a brief glance at my journey. It means a lot! If you have any questions, comments, or scathing remarks, please do send them my way. Expect a new post every Sunday, and if I miss a day, they found me and they’re coming for you next. In the future, I’ll try to cover my learning process, any mistakes I make, what inspires me, and develop an adequate sense of humor. That last one is a definite work in progress.

Adieu! Good luck circling your own storms, my fellow zero subscribers! And a massive shout-out to Tom, if you’re reading this!

(leaves stage-left, then slowly and sheepishly crawls back)

Oh, and also, happy father’s day!

(begins to dodge the barrage of fresh produce thrown my way from the audience)

Geez, okay, I get it!

Until the next stop, folks.