The Velawesomeraptor Production Blog

Cross country plane flights are the bestest thing in the world for getting stuff done.  I got several sketches done for different characters, and also got over the hump that had been slowing me down on Episode 3.

I can't draw for crap

The current game plan is to start pulling stuff together in preparation for a presentation for Kickstarter.  That means Budget for puppet construction, rough timeline, some sample renders, and an intro video with Stanley.  I’m hunting for someone to serve as “line producer” to help put some of the numbers stuff together.  Hopefully someone will actually be interested in doing it.

No, honestly, I’m still alive and kicking, as is the project.

I found that I hit a wall in terms of writing, and I couldn’t get past the mid-point of the third episode.  It was the first scene without George in it, and I just COULD. NOT. WRITE. IT.  Starting a new job didn’t help matters, as I spent most of January and February completely exhausted.  By the time March rolled around, I started realizing I’d adapted to the new schedule, but when I looked up, there was that wall again.

So I started procrastinating in every way possible.  Even to the point of re-skinning the production bible wiki so it looked cooler.  That’s how bad it was.

So then, I got the bright idea to start a time line.  To see how the different sketchy back stories I’d fleshed out fit together.  And that’s when I started seeing BIG GAPING HOLES and inconsistencies.  So project “re-write everybody’s history” happened.

A snippet in time...

This may have been the smartest thing I’ve ever done and will ever do.  It fleshed out SO much in terms of character, and who knew whom and who COULD HAVE known whom.  It was like back story came flowing out of an excel spreadsheet.

So I knocked out as much of it as I could, then sat down with Linda and tore the thing apart and put it back together again.  And here we are.  I completely scrapped episode 3 and started again.

We’ve started planning for puppet construction.

Blender 2.5 is almost ready for use.

Movin’ right along. Dugga dug dugga dug.

The outline for the first story arc is done. It’s more introduction to characters than anything, but it should work okay.

It’s also an interesting excercise in finding five separate beats in a story that keep the story moving and interesting. Most tv shows are a teaser and 3 acts (I think — although more and more seem to be breaking that rule these days). I’m sure the episodes themselves will require many drafts…