My Creative Experience
My original plan before I started working on the animatic:
Make a rough layout of the animatic events onto paper
Scan the pages of the rough layout
Import the images into Storyboard Pro 7
Using my Huion Kamvas Pro 16, I will draw digitally revised versions of the original sketches within Storyboard Pro
The thing about this process is that it’s not always so clear cut. I often find out I need to go back to a certain step to add a new idea or fix a scene entirely. Sometimes I come up with scene ideas that weren’t part of my original layout at all. I usually edit the timeline after making a new board for the scene so that it doesn’t get confusing when I draw the rest of the boards. However, I often find I have to go back and make changes to the timeline because the timing is off by a certain amount. Either way, there’s no clear cut process but I hope I can refine it as I become more familiar with the software.
The Storyboard Pro 7 subscription normally costs like $63 per month, however, because I am a student, it only costs $10 for me instead. That is an amazing bargain!
My Following Experience
Earlier this semester, I could not find a way to inject a deeper meaning into my project, I just wanted to test my storytelling abilities. It was just a bunch of funny cartoon characters doing funny things and that was it.
It might be a little selfish to say this, but this art has been specifically designed to serve and be dedicated to literally no one except me. My characters are a culmination of my childhood interests, so it is very personal. I am more than happy to welcome anyone other space or cartoon lovers to enjoy my work but… for this project specifically, everything I did was only for me.
In a strange turn of events, my experience with making this project holds more intrinsic value to the general audience than the actual content itself. This animatic has allowed me to reflect on my art process more than any of my previous works. It let me confront my ability to continue long term projects and analyze the relationship between my past and future self.
One year ago, when I first conceived the idea of Main Sequence Star, I was extremely passionate about it. No one had asked me to make this project, I simply thought up an idea on my own and fell in love with it. I remember feeling extremely hyperactive that day, as I had wanted to start the animatic immediately but it was unfortunate timing, as this was one day before my college exams. That did not stop me from typing out every detail I could think of, as a hope my future self would attend to it. I had come up with every part of the story but by the time I could actually work on it, I had already moved on to other projects.
What I did not realize at the time was I was trapping myself in a box for my future self. I left myself little room for coming up with new ideas along the way because everything was already planned out. I knew exactly how everything went. Initially, I was extremely proud of my precise and well-documented ideas but over time, it had bogged me down. There weren't a lot of chances for self-discovery or the thrill of coming up with something new. My only job was to make what someone else handed to me, and so it felt like a chore instead.
It was very obvious I would never retrieve the same excitement and motivation I had when I first conceived Main Sequence Star because it is impossible for me to be the same person I was a year ago. I was left feeling bitter, because I had disappointed my past self.
This experience had left me wondering about if this had future implications with my creative career. I’ve had similar experiences in the past, but not any quite like this. I’m aware my body cannot keep up with the many exciting ideas I feel like this will be a recurring thing. Is this just part of growing up? Should I only work on projects that I feel passionate about in the moment? I don’t know the answer.
