Undershadowed

And for the first time ever, I'm participating!

If you'd like to check out my designs in full or follow me, you can find me at Undershadowed over there. I look through all my follows for designs that interest me, so if you have something you think will catch my eye I would LOVE to see it.

I'm very excited to try out Art Fight, and I hope to see you all there!

(By the way, if you want to watch the promotional short I made for it, you can follow the link below)

I'm not SAYING I called the Dappled Forest being added to Minecraft HOWEVER I am saying that this is what I've been up to on a Minecraft server with some friends.

As my gift to you, enjoy a couple of doodles and an update regarding the next video.

I don't have a firm release date, but the next Undershadowed upload is most of the way through the scripting process, so I'm hoping to have it out around end of January/early February. I also have a couple of shorts scripted that might come out in the time before then, we'll just have to see.

Alright, as promised, I'm going to go through a few of my favourite behind the scenes things from the making of the new video! This isn't the first YouTube video that I've ever made, but it is the first on this channel and, arguably, the first of this style. As such, I had to do a lot of basic legwork that I might break down in a later post. For now, this one is just going to be dedicated to the video itself.

RESEARCH (May 2024 - Early September 2025): I had some trouble settling on a topic, as I was split between Immortality (broader but more discussed) and what I'll covering in the next video (narrower but more unique), but once I did it wasn't long before I was reading as much as I can on the topic. The internet is, of course, a wonderful resource for such things (Google Scholar pdfs my beloved 💜), but I did also consult quite a few books from my local libraries. The sources I mentioned in the description of the video are only a curated, relevant selection of a much larger whole, which I decided to leave out to avoid clutter. All of my notes were meticulously stored in a couple of different notebooks, with one example being pictured ABOVE.

SCRIPTING (April 2025 - Late September 2025): The script for the video took a lot longer than it should have because the scope of the project had to be changed several times. Originally, the video was intended to be a full exploration of unending life from every angle, specifically looking at the ways that people could escape death. Immortality was only about half of it, as the other half was taken up by discussions of katabasis (journeys into and out of the underworld). Ultimately, I decided that the two concepts felt separate enough that I could split them into different videos, and I began to look at ways to make that divide. The first attempt was to split it into a video about myth & religion, a video about science & philosophy, and some kind of conclusion, but that didn't really go anywhere. I liked the myth & religion angle (which is why it will probably get its own video down the line) and spent quite a lot of time developing it, but I felt like I was having to explain a lot of basic concepts. That's ultimately how, in maybe August, I settled on the first foray being a broad introduction to the concept. I didn't love it, because it felt very derivative of Swedene's work, but I ultimately decided that it was an essential part of the experience that I had to get out of the way. As you can see ABOVE, the script was written in a screenplay format so that I could pair visuals (which I was working on simultaneously) to the material being discussed.

SKETCHES & BOARDING (June 2025 - Early October 2025): Really, the sketching goes a lot further back, but that's a topic for the more general post. As far as things related to this video go, that's about when they started. I've always been bad about storyboarding (it's a talent I really should work on), so a lot of my sketches and concepts are either etched onto sticky notes and then stuck to my walls or lost somewhere in my sketchbooks. Either way, this is where I finalised designs, got an aesthetic "mood" down, and really turned the ideas in the script into physical manifestations.

RECORDING (Early October 2025): An essential, but kind of boring, part of the process. The recording was a little rough, since it was hard to get the exact reads I was looking for on a few lines, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The only real note I can think of is to have the mic a little further away next time - the dry mouth noises were a bit strong (and before you wonder, yes, I was drinking tea the whole time).

FINAL VISUALS (Early - Mid October 2025): I was a bit worried about the visuals but, honestly, I'm mostly happy with how they turned out. There are a few awkward drawings, but in general I really like the Resurrectionist (even if I wish I could have given them a bit more movement - thus is the cost of time) and couldn't be more happy with the background. It is exactly the vibe I was hoping for and manages to make good use of a limited palette. Trying to get all of them done was definitely a mad dash (I pulled long days over the weekend getting the poses done and an all-nighter to edit) but it was worth it, even if the result looks a little "cheaper" than I intended. I also really liked the chalkboard drawings, I think it was a good way to include b-roll to keep attention while still sticking with the aesthetics of the project overall. They weren't quite as nice looking as I'd hoped but, again, they had to be done quick enough to fit into a neat speedpaint.

EDITING (Mid October 2025): I told myself I would finally learn DaVinci Resolve for this and get away from OpenShot but, alas, I didn't have time for that. Regardless, it was just a matter of syncing up images with audio, making sure that the speedpaints would last for the right amount of time, and adding forest ambience or Lofi Music, as needed, to get the editing done. The music is, of course, from PandaBeats' Trick or Treat album, which has some great slightly spooky Lofi, and the two ambience tracks were free from Pixabay.

The first video on the new channel is going up this afternoon (17:30; 5:30 PM EST) and I'm very excited for you to see it. If you have any interest in digital art or philosophy, this might be a fun one to watch. After the show, I'll be back here with some "making of" content and insights into the full process. There are some things I'd change or clean up but, for what it is, I think I'm pretty happy with the end result.

Either way, here are a few quick sneak peeks to get you excited for the video!

Happy first night of fall, everyone. Stay tuned.