As the year began, there was no real plan for me going forward, I had been working on prints, namely a Twechar map and had a few other pieces planned. In retrospect, its quite funny how tight for time I felt then, as now by comparison, I believe I had it easy.
2024 started with the horrible news that my friend & collaborator Mallorca had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. He died only a matter of weeks after his announcement. After about seven years of collaboration on The Hashtag Show, I felt a bit unsettled and unsure of what the future had in store for me.
A month later, I was contacted by a film studio in Glasgow that I had previously worked with. I was presented the opportunity to create an animation with a runtime of 3-4 minutes and would be carrying out the majority of the work on the production - story sketches, storyboards, pre-production, animation, character design and backgrounds. The only major aspect of the piece that isn't being done by me is the sound, which the studio will take charge on.
This animation has now been ongoing for around ten months, albeit the post-production didn't end until late June and a different graphics project took priority for two weeks in September, followed by my two-week holiday to the US. The character design was signed off around May and the storyboards approved in late June so animation has basically been ongoing for 5 months now, minus the aforementioned gaps.
I currently estimate the animation to be around 75% finished, and I am hoping to be completely finished by late January. This has been a brilliant project to work on - I will probably do a much deeper and more detailed breakdown of the production in a few months, once it has been revealed publicly.
This project has been a huge undertaking for me and had a number of challenges. I have worked on similar productions in the past, but never by myself, I've practically done a whole team worth of work while also doing a lot of other work day-to-day. I keep reminding myself of this fact as I gradually reduce the amount of work still required. Every time I have hit another milestone in the production, I have encouraged myself along using three simple words (one word really) "Chip Chip, Chip" which basically means I'm gradually finishing the piece bit-by-bit, like a sculptor chipping away at marble.
I also recently completed other pieces of digital art - one of Ibrox stadium, a piece that I was often asked about doing upon completing the Celtic Park and another inside Celtic Park as a Christmas gift to a customer's father - which has now been printed, framed and collected.
Going forward, my road map has me finishing the animation by (hopefully) the end of January. Once this has been completed, I will be taking a much needed break (might be a long break) and only doing some occasional print work and I plan on spending some much needed time with my sons.
A month later, I was contacted by a film studio in Glasgow that I had previously worked with. I was presented the opportunity to create an animation with a runtime of 3-4 minutes and would be carrying out the majority of the work on the production - story sketches, storyboards, pre-production, animation, character design and backgrounds. The only major aspect of the piece that isn't being done by me is the sound, which the studio will take charge on.
This animation has now been ongoing for around ten months, albeit the post-production didn't end until late June and a different graphics project took priority for two weeks in September, followed by my two-week holiday to the US. The character design was signed off around May and the storyboards approved in late June so animation has basically been ongoing for 5 months now, minus the aforementioned gaps.
I currently estimate the animation to be around 75% finished, and I am hoping to be completely finished by late January. This has been a brilliant project to work on - I will probably do a much deeper and more detailed breakdown of the production in a few months, once it has been revealed publicly.
This project has been a huge undertaking for me and had a number of challenges. I have worked on similar productions in the past, but never by myself, I've practically done a whole team worth of work while also doing a lot of other work day-to-day. I keep reminding myself of this fact as I gradually reduce the amount of work still required. Every time I have hit another milestone in the production, I have encouraged myself along using three simple words (one word really) "Chip Chip, Chip" which basically means I'm gradually finishing the piece bit-by-bit, like a sculptor chipping away at marble.
I also recently completed other pieces of digital art - one of Ibrox stadium, a piece that I was often asked about doing upon completing the Celtic Park and another inside Celtic Park as a Christmas gift to a customer's father - which has now been printed, framed and collected.
Going forward, my road map has me finishing the animation by (hopefully) the end of January. Once this has been completed, I will be taking a much needed break (might be a long break) and only doing some occasional print work and I plan on spending some much needed time with my sons.
