So how it’s “supposed” to work; the idea; the story; the
screenplay/script; storyboards; shot lists; character creation; cell sketches;
ink; paint; camera (or digital); direction; animation; editing; and finally
presentation.
That is what everything I read said.
The problem was, but the time I got through the first three
or four steps, I was board with the story, I had drawn and redrawn the same
characters hundreds of times and had not one finished cell to show for it. Then other ideas get to sounding more
exciting. And the project just ends up in a “I’ll finish it later” folder.
I’ve done that for nearly two years now. Tried to follow “The Production Workflow
Process.” The problem was, I wasn’t a
production house. I was just me. I write the script, mostly voice, direct,
sketch, ink, paint, animate, edit, title, and finally publish it all. I do get my music and extra voices from
friends who are good at that sort of thing, but the final audio designs are
mine as well.
This is not a brag, it’s just a fact, and a discovery. The production process isn’t just a formula
set out by years of labor in large and small production houses, it’s what works
for you (me). And I just don’t have the time,
or for that matter, the attention span to go through motions that I really don’t
need for what I’m working on. I’m going
back to the way I did things years ago when I was being so prolific… and having
fun.
That’s not to say that I didn’t learn a thing or two. I did.
And some of what I did is sure to affect my workflow. I can now write and rewrite and rewrite
(yawn) a script in the proper format. I
can make a storyboard of a script to see if the story moves fluidly. I can do a
lot of things that I only THOUGHT I could before.
But I’ll only use them when I need them and the story calls
for them.
In the mean time, I’m going back to having fun.
