elasid
patreon
Huge Update with a Tough Decision
🕑 Added 2024-04-26 21:27:30 +0000 UTCIn my previous post, I mentioned that animation isn't going as scheduled.
This post details my current workload, how I'm feeling, and what the plan is...
My Workload
With the overwhelming success of this Patreon, and the insane support I've been getting from all of you, I really wanted to produce content at a level that conveys my genuine appreciation.
It's coming to a point where that is no longer possible.
Since November, I've been spending day in and day out working on these animations.
I tried balancing my workload, by only pushing animations with newly developed assets every other month, and pushing animations with established assets in-between.
To put it simply... This is not working.
To produce five minutes of unique animation, complete with audio, every month, is not realistic. From January to April, I've spent almost every single day working. As the year moves forward, and life-events develop, I'm finding it more and more difficult to spend time away from my PC.
The Problem
My problem with the monthly schedule, is how much work I have to do in such a short time.
Every animation has been getting closer and closer to overshooting the deadline. With the most recent work "Like Mother, Like Daughter", only just being finished mere hours before release.
If I miss even one day of work, either due to personal reasons, or sickness, I fall behind even further.
People have said that I should take a break and push back the release of the next animation, but doing that would then push back every other future animation and break the schedule. I have no time to catch up without massively sacrificing the quality of my work.
And I have no idea what I would do, once it reaches the holiday season and my family and I go away... There's absolutely no room for me to miss out on a week of work with this schedule.
With falling behind, comes a great deal of stress. I've set unrealistic goals, and self-discipline is taking a toll on me. I'm spending all my time thinking of how much work I should have gotten done yesterday, even though I used Blender for ten hours straight. And then panicking when I realise the work I still have ahead of me.
I didn't think it would happen this quick, but earlier this week, it hit me like a brick wall...
I'm burnt out. I'm not enjoying this as much as I did a few months ago, and I need to slow down, before I hate doing this.
The Decision
Releases will no longer be scheduled.
I will upload work as it is complete.
New animations will be released hopefully every other month, or at least whenever it's done.
I will still hold new releases as a timed exclusive for 14 days. And public versions will be cut down to around half the length.
Honestly, the fact that I've been producing as much content as I have is insane. Far more than other creators on Patreon, and at this quality. In a very optimistic and foolish mind, I believed I could push one animation every month.
As I said, I'm just too thankful for the support and wanted to match that, but ended up overworking myself.
Animation... is hard. Animating snakes, tentacles, and tails... is really hard.
I suppose there is some good news to come from this.
From now on, I will host polls for the next animation as one is finished. Polls will have candidates with new characters all the time. So fluff fans could still be seeing Tamamo very soon.
Thank you for understanding, and of course...
Thank you all for supporting me 💖
Comments
SpartanB572
Your work is awesome! Glad you're focusing on quality over quantity, as well as your personal life. Life is short, don't let work bring you down.
Elasid
Thank you for the comment. As for the "14 days" confusion - I post my full animations on Patreon. 14 days after, I'll post a shorter version publicly. I will always post my animations here. I just post shorter and lower resolution/FPS versions for free to the rest of the internet after 2 weeks of timed exclusivity on Patreon.
Lucky Cat gaming
No matter what you do... whenever it's something you like or enjoy...eventually you'll get sick of it because you overdo it and what you enjoyed suddenly brings you stress, discomfort, and just thinking about it makes you sick...here in my country we have saying what goes "Lots of everything harms" With that being said you indeed took much bigger bite than you can chew. Don't rush your work, take your time like other artists do. Like I am waiting for about year and half for Vicineko's release of Slime x Fishl...it's not shame to fall behind or something, shame is give up. You have very high quality of your work so it would actually compensate for delay...also what was that with 14 days new releases? I got confused, could you explain bit more? You won't be permanently leaving your work on patreon?
Yasin Işık
When you put too much pressure on yourself, you start to wear down. If you do this job as long as you desire, you enjoy it.
WarMetalGreyMon
You know mate, when we said "take you time" we really meant it.. I actually didn't even know these were monthly releases.. Which is even more impressive now that I think about it.. So yeah I'm totally okay with it being released when it's done, rather than having a time limit.. As always I rather you'd be proud of your work then have a rush job.. Which sounds like what you've been doing on a timer though. So I'm glad you made this decision, it's the right one... And sorry if we weren't clear on you taking breaks and pacing yourself.. Your animations are so good and your work is amazing, So don't worry about the time, and have fun mate! Just relax when you want to relax, play when you want to play, eat, sleep, and work when you want man. We will still be here for you. (a little progress update wouldn't hurt every now and then.) But honestly you made the correct decision here. ^_^
Alcrin
You have my support Elasid. I enjoy your animations not because I have one every month, but because each one is original, unique and so damn good. Take the time you need for each one, and most of all take care of yourself.
