Yes, i think its time to throw in the towel, im sure a large majority of people dont care, and the other majority are surprised i didn't give up earlier, so sorry to the handfull of people that were still interested in my work.
This wasn't a decision i came too lightly, and its been on my mind for several months now.
I could try to list all the reasons why im stopping, but in the end it all comes down to money. I cant "afford" the time it takes to make film and animation anymore. Life isn't as simple as it was when i was in school, back when i could sponge off my parents and make whatever the hell i wanted, as much as i wanted. Im living a life where i not only work full time but also run my own business on the side, and im not even making any actual money, im just making enough to cover living expenses and all my savings are going towards a move interstate at the end of the year. I've spent over a year working on Telescope, this would have once upon a time taken me around 3 weeks to complete, its not because im neglecting the project, its more that i just always have more important things i need to be doing.
I've also never been one of those people who could come up with an idea that everyone falls in love with and can than proceed to make a living, or at least have a little extra spending money thanks to things like flash ads and google ads on Youtube, and even if i did have the content that would attract that sort of traffic, i could never allow someone else's ads to be plastered all over my own content, its just something that has never appealed to me, especially after having spent over 4 years in the web advertising business. More power to the people that do, its just not for me.
So i guess thats the bad news and why im leaving the animation scene behind me (to an extent at least, i will continue to do corporate animation, logos and the like, which i actually really enjoy). And for those that are interested i will still be available for little collab parts.
So the good news then.
Since money is a good motivator im working on a number of graphic novels, which is only motivating because i have a publisher for them. Im already 33 pages into the storyboard for the first of a series of novels detailing Gerkinman's story, starting naturally with his origins. Im also in the process of reworking "The Telescope" into a Graphic Novel, which will be the first book i release, hopefully early next year or even late this year (I personally think it looks much better in stills then in motion anyway). The main attraction to Graphic Novels for me, i think, is scale isn't as much of an issue in print as it is in animation, its allot harder to animate something with massive scope then it is too illustrate the key areas (especially when you animate as badly as i do). So thats good news isn't it? Well i guess not for people who dont want to have to pay to see my work... ah well.
Other then that, im just trying to get a strong portfolio together so i can stand a chance of getting a job similar to my old job doing web design when i get to Melbourne. And if im lucky it might even pay enough for me to close down my business and get back to my own creative endeavors.
Thats about it...
FlashfireEX
I could have sworn you did this a long time ago. Am I mistaken?
Gerkinman
I think i did a number of years back, then had a massive year suddenly and put out tonnes of content.