Still Untitled

Who do you think makes professional quality fanart and fanfic? People who've been practicing it for ten, fifteen, twenty years!

Or even people who've been practicing it for thirty, forty or fifty!!!!!

example: Diane Duane. Currently in her seventies. Star Trek fangirl since the original run. Goddess-level Ascended Fan who has created official tie-in works in more forms of media than pretty much anyone else alive, possibly even Rodenberry himself because they didn't have audiobooks or video games when he was with us. Writer of Spock's World, The Wounded Sky, Doctor's Orders in TOS. Co-writer of TNG script Where no one has gone before, and writer of the tie-in novel Dark Mirror among others. Writer of a half-dozen Star Trek Comics. She has adapted her own work for audio, has written for the Star Trek manga series, has written short Trek fiction for anthologies, and plotted and wrote the video game Star Trek: the Kobayashi Alternative.

In other fandoms, she was a personal friend of Terry Pratchett himself. As a scriptwriter, she's also worked in fandoms like Scooby-Doo, Transformers, My Little Pony, Gargoyles, Batman: The Animated Series, Spiderman: Unlimited (and a trilogy of tie-in novels still in print) and Barbie: Fairytopia. ...And that's just cherry-picking her imdb page.

While she can't give out specific details due to Obvious Reasons, she's still active in the Sherlock BBC fandom - and there's a specific subset of her fans who love guessing which of the legendary fanfics might be her work (I am not one of them, BTW, as it is None Of My Business. I'm old-school that way).

Fandom is not for teenagers. Fandom is for everyone of good heart and enthusiasm for a good (or even bad! No judgement!) story.

Also take note of how once the wind starts, that detailed tree foliage is kept out of sight. They knew they wanted the extra motion of cloth and hair in the wind, instead of what could have been entirely static composted drawings. But they also put a limit on how much extra motion would be there.

They have taken *care* to make it look good and not be static or obviously looped, but that's not entirely the same as not having cut any corners. The trick here is knowing where they can cut corners to spend the animator's time. This is the talent showing in knowing where to squeeze the most motion into, and where you can use tricks that will be overlooked, and all the prior preparation in setting that up by the animation director.

What I’m talking about is how the little details add up where it counts. The way every part of the clothing and hair shifts in the wind, the little adjustment Agott does with her shoes, the shift of both her hand on the trunk and her mouth, the care taken for the cloud shadows to shift over the shape of the house —

Please understand that I’m still in pain from the Uzumaki adaptation, where the drop in quality from episode 1 to 2 was so dramatic that it felt like I was watching someone’s first Blender project being drawn over by someone on their first day in the studio every time there was a walking animation. By the time we got to episode 4 it might as well have been a slideshow. That is what I’m talking about.

The cloud shadows in that animation cut appear to me not to have been animated. They have been layered on top of the parallax composite of the background drawings. The shadows don't deform over shapes, they're matted out to the 2D shapes of the parallax layers. It's a short cut that looks so good in the final product that you thought it was animation, not an after-efects filter.

(Also, yes, I indicated 'frame count' being used for different motion as *not* being a shortcut when I was talking about appreciating good use of "on the ones" and "on the threes".)

Also take note of how once the wind starts, that detailed tree foliage is kept out of sight. They knew they wanted the extra motion of cloth and hair in the wind, instead of what could have been entirely static composted drawings. But they also put a limit on how much extra motion would be there.

They have taken *care* to make it look good and not be static or obviously looped, but that's not entirely the same as not having cut any corners. The trick here is knowing where they can cut corners to spend the animator's time. This is the talent showing in knowing where to squeeze the most motion into, and where you can use tricks that will be overlooked, and all the prior preparation in setting that up by the animation director.

Every now and then a difficult period like this comes along: so it's time to request some assistance.

I've kind of been neglecting my vision for the past year or so, aware that I needed new glasses (and to go have a consult for possible eye-related surgery), but putting it off... and now the situation has, as it were, come home to roost.

The other day, when I was typing something and then (to check it before posting) had to pick up the Mac and hold it up to my nose to see what I'd typed... I realized that if this went on much longer, even with dictation (because after you dictate, you still have to edit...), I wouldn't be able to write.

That would be bad.

I need to go see my Eye Lady, get examined, and get both sets of glasses re-fitted with new prescriptions. This—as usual, each time it needs to be done every year and a half or two years, due to Weird Eyes—is going to run into a low-four-figure-ish kind of money. And due to other recent unexpected medical expenses, right now there's not enough dosh around (or spondoolicks or whatever term you prefer...) to get things sorted.

Therefore: can I get people interested in keeping a writer, you know, writing (as I've got three novels working at once at the moment...), to consider doing one of these things?

(a) Go over to Ebooks Direct and buy a book. (Or a bundle. Or a gift card for somebody else who might like my work.) And if you do: thanks so much!

(b) Stop by my Ko-Fi and drop a little something in the pot. It'll be most appreciated.

And if you can't do either of the above:

(c) Reblog this and let other people see it?

This is mainly based on this exact press-release article from 'Harry King Television' being published last year as well. And their website is still very aspirational, and lacking of any details of any distribution or broadcast partners.

We're getting there little by little, sure. But it's a road.

The Sir David Attenborough That Lives In My Brain: Being smaller-than-average presents an added challenge to foraging ... but necessity is the mother of invention. A little creativity turns a baguette into a tool, and voilà--

(paper towel roll falls on my face)

TL:DR I do not want to cancel the show, I don't want it to cancel me.

So I have been forced, basically, to make this statement as I am being asked about this character or 'introduced' to it (and the incoming new show) against my desires. I have deleted all previous posts about my encounters with this problem long ago for personal reasons that will be apparent, but people don't know about my situation and do deserve an explanation. I will keep this post short for my own mental health. This is the first time I have disclosed any of this information to the public, and it is hopefully the last. My silence has been a part of my uncomfortable situation, but it's clear the world won't let me try to just ignore it any longer, so it's full disclosure time.

1, Yes. I know about Mr Puzzles and his uncanny resemblance to RGB, my character from the on going comic The Property of Hate, who pre-exists Mr Puzzles by approximately ten years.

I did not, as a consequence, base RGB off Mr Puzzles...

2, I have received very violent and manipulative hate mail from fans of that character over the past few years due to this similarity, many threatening to slander me via cancel culture to discredit my own creations. The worst of these messages almost caused me to commit suicide which close friends can attest to (this period coincided with the death of my father which they used against me to full effect).

Since then the hatemail has been less frequent, but continues, and I am afraid it will pick up again with the advent of this new show.

3, I have contacted the smg4 management about these issues, to no avail. My first email was a request to tell their followers to cease sending me hatemail, which they did not attempt in any way. They have never responded to the large overlaps in terms of RGB's design, and when I finally sent them an email via a lawyer as a last resort (which cost me £4000) they did not respond. Please note that I did not ask for a cease and desist, I only wanted the hatemail to stop, and perhaps for them to alter Mr Puzzle's design very slightly to be a little less like RGB's. I even made this simple suggestion as an example:

Despite going out of my way (against the lawyer's wishes) to phrase the letter in a none-hostile manner, and offer them an alternative, they did not reply to this email at all.

I am a disabled indie cartoonist; I do not have the money to take further legal action, and in any case I do not want to. I hate conflict, and the emotional toll of sending that email alone was enough to make me miserable and exhausted for months. All I want is to be left alone, and for people to know that RGB was invented first. I cannot afford to do anything to protect myself or make anyone listen legally; this post is the most I can do, and it is the only post I intend to make about it.

that's it. that's the whole situation. please do not message me about the show, or the character, as both are very distressing to me: if you do I will either delete the message, or block you, depending on the angle. I have blocked all related tags, and I will unfollow if I see posts, so I am doing everything I can to take care of myself in a non-aggressive fashion. I have only made this statement so that people understand.

a small example of some of the hatemail (which was preserved only to be sent to the makers as evidence which, again, they did not respond to) below the readmore. read at your own discretion, it is unpleasant.

thank you for taking the time to read this.

💼TONIGHT! The TV series premiere of Don't Hug Me I'm Scared launches on @dropoutdottv at 7PM ET / 4PM PT!