April Preview

Dear Patrons,

A slightly delayed preview this month, but hopefully you can forgive me. As you could see from my bonus post, I got a bit busy with some commissioned work for a couple of weeks. That's one reason for the late post - the other is that I was awaiting some exciting news... so let's get into it!

THIS MONTH'S PREVIEW:

This month's preview is not one I consider entirely done. Apart from the last shot, which I haven't touched at all because I want to redraw the background, there are still shots that I don't feel completely done with. I need to freshen up my eyes before I make any further color pushes though. It's easy to get a bit blind to it all. Either way, here are some before-and-after comparisons to give a better idea of what I've been working at:

EPISODE 3:

I've gotten to work on some real cool bits of compositing on episode 3, and even do some of the fixes that were on my list. Admittedly it has been a bit slow during this double-work period, but it's still on schedule to finish along with the sound work. There's unfortunately not too much new to report on the sound front yet, other than that the sound designer has started work now.

TV-SERIES:

Now this is where the awaited news come in... I'm very happy to report that the funding for visual development for Tales of Zale that we had applied for was approved in full!! This is super exciting, because it means that I can spend the summer together with a few talented artists (and possibly a few interns) to develop the final visual style for Tales of Zale. But it's also super daunting, because it is both an extremely tight budget and schedule. I'll have to start making prep work as soon as humanly possible. Luckily the full-time job's contract is expiring at the end of May, which fits pretty well with the schedule. I did have the option to extend it, but I don't think it's physically possible or responsible to split my time and energy any further than I currently am.

There are some less good - though expected - news as well. Unfortunately we didn't get the Annecy MIFA pitching spot that we'd applied for. That hardly comes as a surprise though, due to the nature of that selection process. We will still be attending the festival and presenting the project - just rather on a one-on-one basis. I just booked the flight tickets! Really looking forward to it!!

Now that we've got that settled, we are looking into applying for a different forum. But I'll let you know more about that at a later date, if it becomes relevant!

ROUND-UP:

We got more development funding for Tales of Zale!! That should be the main take-away. It is absolutely an uphill battle to get any sort of animated project financed here in Denmark, and there are certain institutions that I am certainly not looking forward to encountering as we get further along. Still, my first and foremost job is to believe in the project with all my might - I'll just cross my fingers that that rubs off on the rest of the world, whether it be sooner or later!

Looking forward to sharing more news with you soon. All the best till then,

- Sif