Zedrin: https://zedrinbot.newgrounds.com/
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Introduction:
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(1) - How did you get interested in making art:
Zoids TV Series 2001–
Newgrounds animations
Miniclip animations
Oney's Toon Tutorials:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkdmg4Gq-lM&ab_channel=HardDriveArchive
“We banded together with a bunch of people;
to try and make a movie.
Which DO NOT try to make a movie for your first animation.
It is suicide!”
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(2) - Origins... DeviantArt. YouTube. SFS Animation:
Shantae (Series of platform games developed by WayForward)
MLP FANDOM:
Silly Filly Studios -- https://mlpfanart.fandom.com/wiki/Silly_Filly_Studios
https://mlpfanart.fandom.com/wiki/Zedrin
https://www.youtube.com/@SFS_Animation
“I'm not disappointed in the work at all,
I do kind of wish that we hadn't like devoted
so heavily towards the fandom at the start.
Because ultimately when we tried to move on,
and try to branch out to do other things.
Cuz we all kind of got collectively sick of like the fandom
and whatnot and MLP as a whole.”
“So as a result we eventually did wind up
shuttering the studio.
Which was kind of a shame, shutter that in 2015.
but it's like we're not going to make anything else;
on that channel.
Whatsoever.”
“When it comes to MLP:
I think really what I wanted was;
more of like a sense of community.
And things like that cuz,
like the show itself it's fine
it's not terrible or anything
it's not something that I would really enjoy in modern times,
But back then there really wasn't
a whole lot of competition.
When it comes down to it and it was really competently written.
Still. It was still enjoyable all things considered.”
-EDITOR'S NOTES-
Attaching yourself to popular franchises.
And providing value for that audience.
Is one of the best ways of getting an audience yourself.
-EDITOR'S NOTES: STOP-
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(3) - PV02... Pivot:
Cave Story:
https://cavestory.fandom.com/wiki/Curly_Brace
Ask Blog:
https://pv02.tumblr.com/page/74
“It was always hard when it came to like making the comic;
by the deadline and things like that and getting things ready.
Just because it's a lot of mechanical work.”
“Finding plot holes that I had written myself way back.
And came back to haunt me later on. And eventually got so bad.
That I just could not keep up with it anymore.”
-EDITOR'S NOTES: USEFUL RESOURCES-
Write the beginning, and write the end.
Fill in the middle.
Writing is Rewriting.
Create a Show Bible:
Examples: https://www.scriptreaderpro.com/tv-show-bible-examples/
George Carlin tells his own biography - Interview 2007:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm4YnDl5hOk&t=3s&ab_channel=RareInterviews
If you see or hear a good idea, write that down.
It might be subject to change.
Though it's important that you write it down.
The Habits of Effective Artists:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM39qhXle4g&t=162s
The Surprising Habits of Original Thinkers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxbCHn6gE3U
Writing:
https://www.youtube.com/@filmcourage
Business:
https://www.youtube.com/@thefutur
--
DRAWING PRACTICE THAT MAKES YOU WORSE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Trltj40RLaI&ab_channel=MarcBrunet
Deliberate practise.
1. Deliberate practise, the method is what should, if you're just putting in the hours at best
you'll make insignificant progress will only help to ruin your motivation or worse;
you'll develop bad habits. Bad habits take a lot of work to unlearn.
2. Copying is at the root of all, learning so you should most definitely. copying very wise words the third. Steal like an artist.
3. Don't set your targets too high it's normal to get more bold and try more advanced and technical drawings as you get better but I've noticed often the increase in difficulty
is faster than the increase in skills. Do something you can finish.
4. Don't be afraid to change or violently add or remove elements.
5. Always practise with a clear goal.
6. Always try to find an angle that's fun for you.
-EDITOR'S NOTES: STOP-
“Maybe I would have had a little bit better luck
if I kind of like studied few other webcomics.”
“I think really the biggest issue that I kind of had with original PV02.
Is just like I kind of would write things that
just happen for no reason.
It's like there's no real agency in the story.
And Pivot doesn't really feel all that active in what's going on to her.
She's reacting to situations, I wanted her to be more:
Proactive.”
“Start with a story; that is consistent with itself.”
“I can't decide if it was going to be;
cyberpunk or post-cyberpunk?
I didn't commit to anything, that was one of the issues.”
“One major change would be; instead of Pivot just suddenly
waking up, in this factory arbitrarily...
I would want her to essentially be investigating, actively.
And decided to go there because there's some reason, why?
She feels drawn to it. And that process;
she winds up screwing something up.”
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(4) - Advice would you give to aspiring artists:
1. PRACTICE RIGHT
“Make sure you're practicing right.
Cuz doing the same thing over and over again,
that you don't care about.
Or you're doing it wrong, is NOT going to be helpful.
Draw what you want.”
2. TELL A STORY
“Remember: art is NOT a matter of;
"Hey, I put in a bunch of work coins and,
now I get out progress."
You're only going to get progress; if
you actually CARE about what you making.”
“Really the entire purpose of art is...
it's not about a matter of technical skill.
What makes good art is; art that is trying to say;
something, or trying to tell a story.”
“Also, it's not trying to actually hurt people...”
3. CONVEYING THE IDEAS
“Art's purpose is basically; how well it conveys ideas.”
“This is the whole reason why:
sometimes you'll get like; "Oh hey I spent like 5 minutes on a sketch."
For some reason, this is getting a ton of notes.
Meanwhile...
"This thing that I spent 8 hours on is getting NOWHERE."
Well it could be that the sketch,
was way better at conveying the ideas.
Or that those ideas are just way more relatable.”
“Focus on how you tell a story with your work.
Even if it's not technically impressive,
if you know how to tell a story:
right.
And if you know how to make things feel impactful.
it'll feel more:
fulfilling.”
4.THE EFFECT OF SPECIALIZATION
“Likewise. When it comes down to it.
That is also the reason why NSFW;
tends to be more successful.
Than SFW.
It's not because NSFW is like an
easy mode or anything.
There are a lot of technical aspects that still go into it.
Its NSFW;
knows what it wants to be,
and knows what it wants to do.
It's "easier" in that respect,
that you don't have to think as much about what it's trying to do.
“Whereas like if you're trying to do a SFW piece.
You got to put MORE thought into it: making it interesting.
Sometimes I have had some friends who...
they are really funny,
they're really good at doing SFW pieces,
they get a ton of hits on their work.
But then when they try to go to do NSFW,
they have a hard time making it sexy
because they can "only" do funny.
As a result; they're NSFW do not
as well as they're SFW.
And they are confused as hell as to why that happens.”
“it's not black and white.”
5. FEEDBACK
“Really a lot of people have this misconception that like "Oh hey, you need to:
sandwich things." —Positive common, first. critique in the middle. Positive common, end—
"If you're being critical of somebody, that means that you're being truthful..."
That's BS!
The entire point of critique is understanding;
what the artist is trying to do, and express?
How they can accomplish that, either better
or what is holding them back from that?”
“You have to understand as a critic.
You have to try to figure out what the artist is trying to do,
before you can give advice.”
6. THE BIGGEST PITFALLS
1 - “Monetizing your hobbies really sucks.
It's very painful because the thing that you used to love doing.
Now becomes a source of work
and you don't really love doing it all that much anymore.”
“Work pieces, fun pieces, things that kind of count for both.”
—It's a blessing when people like you for your own work rather than fan art.—
2 - “Take breaks, you need to take some time for yourself.
This isn't just a matter of mental health.
This is also a matter of:
Your hands can only handle doing so many pieces of art per week.”
“If you are over-exerting yourself... I have done this a few times.
Your hand basically is shot for like 2 to 3 weeks:
You literally CANNOT pick up the pencil, that is incredibly painful... and it sucks.”
“If your hands are cramping up, STOP.”
“You have done enough.”
“Listen to your body.”
—When you age, it becomes more difficult to recover from physical pain.—
7. DO NOT RATE YOUR WORK IN HOURLY WAGES
“The better you get at it , the less time you have to work on it.”
“As you get better, your work will get more skilled.
You'll also get faster so you can render out something;
that is more valuable, in less amount of time.”
“DO NOT rate your work in hourly wages.”
“If you're getting a lot of commissions,
chances are you should raise your rates.”
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(5) - Money:
“Diversifying your sources of income.”
“When it comes to YouTube...”
—Uploading videos of vastly varying subject matter, can cause algorithmic problems—
—YouTube prefers specialization—
BE CAREFUL
“When it comes to things like Patreon and Subscribestar:
be very very cautious about doing PERSONALISED REWARDS,
I would not recommend including them in the tier itself.”
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(6) - Problems with online communities: DeviantART, Discord, Twitter
“DeviantART has managerial problems.”
“Newgrounds is a great alternative.”
“Newgrounds really has your back.”
—Discord is NOT a good way of building an online presence
because you can only access content by being on a server.
Discord is isolated—
—Twitter is really good for making reach,
it has to be combined with an art site Newgrounds... Pixiv... DeviantART.—
LEAST ONE OF US BOTH
“Each social media site;
falls into either a SOCIAL SITE or a GALLERY SITE.
As far as artists are concerned, you really want at least one of us BOTH.”
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(7) - Good experiences you've had with friends:
“You can make friends with other artists,
just by doing things like art trades,
you like their characters get invested in their characters.”
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(8) - What to do? When someone impersonates you:
“Confront the person if it's on the same platform,
I'll make a big statement on the platforms that I am on,
that; "Hey this person here is not me do not trust their work."
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(9) - Streaming advice. Twitch, Picarto:
“Generally the biggest piece of advice I can give:
you're going to stream try to do it;
regularly, and roughly the same time."
“If people kind of get into a rhythm of expecting you;
to be online at a certain time.
They will start showing up more and more regularly.”
“Far as Twitch goes;
you want to make sure that you're kind of paying attention to people
and you're interacting with others.”
“If you're going to be doing art,
try to find a few friends who don't mind being in a stream with you
and give them a Discord call and just chat with them as you're working.”
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(10) - People you had interactions with
RubberRoss:
If pro artists can make me laugh in gartic phone, they get $50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqVgGopRHGk&ab_channel=RubberRoss
-- 15:28 --
Tom Wayland -- Youmacon
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(11) - TTRPGs:
“Really overall when it comes to like how to run a good game in D&D.
I would say, is to make sure that your players have AGENCY.
make sure that you're not putting them in situations,
where they feel like they cannot win or can't decide what to do.”
“Try to work with your players and if
they have ideas on how to approach a situation.
Or come up with a solution...
Try to figure out what parts of that work.”
“Remember you're working with your players to tell a good story,
you ARE NOT the enemy, if are DM.”
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(12) - Advice on 3D, Blender:
--EDITOR'S NOTES-
—Use multiple monitors,
So you can look at the shortcuts do you use. Write down notes—
You can resize windows to fit multiple on-screen, so you can take notes
and look at shortcuts.
https://obsidian.md/ -- Could you also use multiple word pads
(Ctrl + f) - To write and organize chapters.
Organize all your notes and write down all information
and able to find it again, make it understandable
—Use steps:
1.
2.
3.
-EDITOR'S NOTES: STOP-
“Stick with it and watch those tutorials.”
https://www.youtube.com/@BlenderSecrets
https://www.youtube.com/@TheRoyalSkies
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(13) - Elements you like in art
“Art's purpose is to basically convey an idea.”
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(14) - Media that has affected you the most:
Studio Trigger
Hiroyuki Imaishi
Gainax
Panty & Stocking
Kill la Kill
Madoka Magica
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
Darling in the Franxx (Does not count as a Trigger anime)
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(15) - Advice on life:
“Try to make the world a bit better.”
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(16) - We need Newgrounds:
“It always puts its users first, more than anything.”
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(17) - How to schedule your day:
“I don't really schedule my day.
I kind of have like ONE KEY thing.
that I plan to do each day;
even if that thing, is just: Relaxed
or just play some games.”
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(18) - What you wish you knew earlier in life:
“The biggest thing that wished that;
I had known earlier in life was:
I actually wanted to go into;
what I am doing today.”
“I really wish that
I had known more; what I want to DO early on.”
“If I had pivoted to programming or computer science.
Then at least would have had some relation to what
I'm doing now and would have been more useful.
Than understanding building structural dynamics.”
“That's another thing that would also advise for life;
is always be willing to try and learn new things.”
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(19) - Useful art, animation. Resources you can recommend:
Oney's Toon Tutorials:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkdmg4Gq-lM&t=312s&ab_channel=HardDriveArchive
Zedrin's Tutorials and stuff:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC_PJu9qS8U&list=PLZSg-6jAiXc1eTG5xMDSVH6oHRsK9LWs0
“Ultimately you want to try and find a tutorial, that fits your style.
Because everybody's starting point can be different.”
Animation principles
The 12 Principles of Animation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDqjIdI4bF4
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(21) - How did you make: Hiro the Dense. And Hiro the Dense:
“The big thing with Hiro the Dense
is that I originally did it in a way that. I was trying to cut a lot of corners.
In cutting corners I end up making MORE WORK for myself.”
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(22) - What makes a good tutorial:
“The information has to be accurate
and it has to be concise.”
“Different tutorials will work for different people, overall.”
“Cut out as much fluff as it feels like it needs.”
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(23) - Curly Brace: HACKED (Series):
“Big animation projects especially like my NSFW ones
are kind of a headache to work with.”
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(24) - How did you get the bronze whistle on Newgrounds:
—Flaged flamers—
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(25) - How to interact with a fanbase
“So as far as interacting with a fanbase most people suggest that you don't,
I am not like most people however.”
“Overall generally, you should probably keep them at arm's length
just because you don't want to get into:
parasocial involvement, which isn't good.”
“Treat them like you would do anybody else.”
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(26) - How do you feel when you get fan art of your characters
—If you get fan art.
It is good that have it somewhere on one of your socials,
where you just kind of clarify what you're comfortable with and what you're not—
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
(27) - What would be the production plan for your PV02 show:
“A: Make a world a lot more concrete and specific and involved.”
“B: Make sure that things actually feel like they're happening for a reason.”
“C: Lean more heavily into the whole cyberpunk themes.”
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Conclusion:
1. CONCERNED ABOUT NUMBERS?
“If your art isn't getting numbers;
it might be because:
you're not saying anything interesting.”
—If you're concerned about numbers.
Think; how to RESONATE with an AUDIENCE—
“But as soon as you can identify the problem you can level up.”
2.NEW APPROACHES IS HOW YOU IMPROVE
“Always be trying to figure out NEW approaches.
Cuz you don't want to practice all the time,
and practice the same things and then wonder, why?
You're not improving.”
“Unless they can figure out a new approach.”
—DELIBERATE PRACTICE—
HealthyGamerGG
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks_zt9xzHy4&ab_channel=HealthyGamerGG
16:23 - Success in a video game
“It's usually just working smarter, not harder.”
3. ENJOY THE JOURNEY
“Try to always focus on doing THINGS that you ENJOY,
cuz if you're passionate about it.
Chances are, other people will be as well.”
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --