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Full Sketchbook: "A More Ancient Spring"

This is the third chunk of my "Dinosauria Series" sketchbook which includes all the pages correlating to "A More Ancient Spring".

For the other chunks of this sketchbook, click these links!

Old Buck: https://www.patreon.com/posts/56006085

Our Frozen Past: https://www.patreon.com/posts/57314479

A More Ancient Spring: 2021-12-07 15:10:51 +0000 UTC View Post

Making of | "A More Ancient Spring"

"A More Ancient Spring" was a tough film to make. It went through a lot of different changes and took nearly a year to finish. This video covers that creative process!

I'm particularly proud of this behind-the-scenes video. Going back and evaluating the process of creating this film was a very humbling and interesting experience for me.

Hope you all enjoy it as well! ^_^

"A More Ancient Spring" | Public Youtube Release

And here we have the final Youtube release with the expected minuscule changes that nobody notices but me! :D

...did you guys notice that my "Early Patreon Version" Gorgosaurus didn't have ears? Because I didn't until two days ago and made sure to remedy that in this version! XD

This was a much harder film to make than the previous two films in this series, but I think the extra effort really paid off. This is easily the prettiest film I've ever made and I'm really proud of the colour-use and overall visuals on display...

"Dinosauria" Update #27: Lambeosaurus joins the Family!

With "A More Ancient Spring" mostly finished I have now been hard at work on the subsequent "making of" video.

For the film I decided to sculpt a lambeosaurus father looking over his nest and I'm particularly happy with this one! I think the colours from the animated short film have translated particularly well into sculpture form and the piece has a very serene feel. I still probably prefer the styracosaurus over the other two but my lambeosaurus gets pretty close!

Creating this family of sculptures has been one of my...

"A More Ancient Spring" | Early Patreon Version.

Here we finally have the third film of Dinosauria Animated Series! :D

This was a really tough film to make but I'm really happy with how it turned out. I'm particularly proud of the atmosphere and visuals on display, and I think it might just be the prettiest film I've ever made! The backdrops are certainly the most detailed I've ever produced for a short film and I don't think I've ever been this ambitious with my colour-use before either.

This film paints a serene and gorgeous but bittersweet world that I'm really, really proud...

"A More Ancient Spring" | Teaser Trailer

This film has EASILY been the toughest and most ambitious film of the Dinosauria Series so far. The colourful and complicated visuals and variety of species were a real challenge but I'm super proud of the final result!

Hope you all like this little teaser! ^_^

"A More Ancient Spring" in just a few days! ^_^

The next film in my "Dinosauria Series" is almost finished. I've just got some sound effects work and a few minor animation tweaks left to do and that's it.

The Youtube teaser and early Patreon version for "A More Ancient Spring" will likely be uploaded within the next few days! ^_^

"Dinosauria" Update #26: A Troubled Production.

Work on "A More Ancient Spring" has been much tougher than the rest of the films in this series, but it's finally starting to wrap up now and should be out for Early Patreon Supporters in the next few weeks.

I have been working on this film for almost as long as "Old Buck". I started work on both of them in January 2021 about two weeks apart from one another. The film has gone through numerous art-style changes (tests of more minimal and abstract styles above), a ton of different rewrites and was even cancelled for two month...

Hannah has seen Old Buck!

This is "Hannah" or "UALVP55900". It is the asymmetrical styracosaurus specimen that inspired me to make "Old Buck", which kicked off the whole "Dinosauria Series". I talked a bit about the fossil in my "Making of | Old Buck" video and the fossil even makes a cameo in the short film.

Super special thanks to the lovely folks at the University of Alberta for doing this. As a dino-crazed madman, this was an utterly wonderful gift! :D

The short has apparently been making the rounds at the university and a bunch of people who worked o...

"Dinosauria" Update #25: The sweeter side of dinosaurs.

When I started brainstorming ideas for the "Dinosauria Series" I planned on experimenting with a different tone and genre per episode, each idea being very different from the next. One idea being almost like a western showdown, another being a straight-up horror film, and another being a surrealist love story, etc. But as the series progressed; all five of the final films have started to conform to a certain tonal norm across the whole series. 

I mention this because "A More Ancient Spring" is the only film in the series that I fe...

"Dinosauria" Update #24: An Ancient Spring!

The next episode of the Dinosauria Series will be a hadrosaur-focussed film called "A More Ancient Spring". Above is a screenshot from the film that I animated/drew up just last night.

This episode has been one of the more demanding films of this series and has easily had the most troubled production. I've been working on this short film for almost as long as "Old Buck". There's even test animation for this film in my "Making of | Immortal Machine" video from early this year.

The film has a large collection of species,...

Making Of | "Our Frozen Past"

"Our Frozen Past" behind-the-scenes video is now out!

These Dinosauria behind-the-scenes videos are easily some of my best, most varied, and comprehensive making-of videos I've done. I'm spending a lot more time researching, writing, editing, and recording them and I'm really, really proud of the result! :D

Hope you are all enjoying them as well.

"Our Frozen Past" | Public Youtube Release.

And here we finally have the second film in my Dinosauria series! This one is probably my favourite of the series and I really hope you all enjoy it as well! :D

The making of video will be released some time in the next few days.

"Our Frozen Past" | Teaser Trailer

Teaser Trailer for "Our Frozen Past", the second film in my "Dinosauria Animated Series" is out. This one might be my favourite film of the whole series. Hope you all enjoy! ^_^

Making of | "Old Buck"

I had an absolute blast making this video. I ended up putting a lot more time into it than most of my other behind-the-scenes videos because I was just enjoying it that much. Turns out talking about dinosaurs is something I enjoy! XD Who knew?

"Old Buck" | Public Youtube Release.

And here; we finally have the public "Old Buck" Youtube release! :D The behind-the-scenes video will be coming tomorrow.

"Old Buck" | Animated Teaser

Teaser Trailer for "Old Buck", the first film in my "Dinosauria" animated series is out. It feels really good to finally start rolling these films out after working on them for so long! :D

Hope you guys like it.

The "Dinosauria" Series | Official Trailer

Well, it's been many months but the train is finally starting up! :D I hope you all like what you see.

Episode 1 shouldn't be too far behind.

Her name was Scarlet. (I'm taking another break)

Scarlet was my cat. You've all probably seen her once or twice as she's appeared in a lot of my "making of" videos.

I got Scarlet when I was 5 years old, and she lived for 20 years. I cannot remember a time in my life when she wasn't around. I was a very lonely home-schooled child and I'm still a pretty introverted, antisocial adult which has been hard at times, but this beautiful animal helped me through all of that.

Scarlet has been deteriorating for a couple of years but the past two weeks, in particular, have been ...

"AUTODALE IS BEING COPYRIGHT CLAIMED!"

I have received a copyright claim over "No Monsters" from "[Merlin] DINASTIA MARKET INC SAS" on behalf of "Bad Blood Music" or "Fame 13" over the song used in the film.

I did a LOT of research last night to get to the bottom of this and it has pretty terrifying implications...

"Fame 13"/"Bad Blood Music" did not make the music used in the film, Ross Bugden did. Ross Bugden is a musician who created a huge library of royalty-free tracks for content creators to use and his music appears in approximately half of my short films.

Creative Process | Autodale's "Matriarch"

And we finally have part three of three! Today, I'm covering Autodale's "Matriarch"! :D

This character has existed for longer than the Autodale series has. She's had the longest, most complicated, and messiest creative process of any character I've ever created. This doesn't mean it was bad though; the creative process is often messy and constantly evolving and I rather enjoyed covering a character that has gone through so many changes for so many years! ^_^

It was pretty fascinating for me to look back and reanalyse it all. Plea...

Creative Process | Autodale's "Mayor"

And here's part two of three! Today, I'm covering Autodale's "Mayor"! :D

Even though the production of "Immortal Machine" was a stressful nightmare, I can definitely say that writing this character's backstory, coming up with his design, making the clay sculpture, and finally bringing the Mayor to life through animation was the absolute highlight of the whole ordeal!

I enjoyed making this Creative Process video more than I expected. I totally forgot how much fun the early stages of this project were. ^_^

"Immortal Machine" Making-Of is out!

Well, it's FINALLY done! :D Part 2 and 3 will be out soon.

I'm going to be taking a break from Autodale after the next two making-of videos are finished. It will return eventually but my next film will NOT be an Autodale project and it will be much smaller in scale. I hope you all understand.

My next film will almost definitely be about dinosaurs. Because I love them to bits and should be some great therapy after the production hell that was this project. :P

"Immortal Machine" OST is released!

Just writing to let you guys know that my composers have just made the soundtracks of both "Friendly Shadow" and "Immortal Machine" available on Amazon, Apple Music, and Spotify!

They also said they'll provide me with free download links for both soundtracks for my Patreon Supporters very soon as well! ^_^

"Immortal Machine" | Final Youtube Release!

And here's the final version. It's almost exactly the same as the Early Patreon Version as that version was already in a pretty polished state. Again; thank you all here on Patreon. Without you guys, there's no way projects of this scale would exist! :D

"Immortal Machine" Teaser is OUT!

Teaser for the next AUTODALE installment is finally out! Be prepared, because this is a weird one! XD

Creative Process | Autodale's "HIVE"

And it's finally here! :D "Friendly Shadow" Making of Part 3 of 3.

This is a video I've wanted to make since 2017. I've wanted to cover the "Hive" character for years. She first appeared in "No Monsters" and this video covers exactly what Autodale's "Exceptional Girl" has become.

I'm sorry this video was a day late. The editing process took one more day than expected on this one.

Creative Process | "Friendly Shadow"

"Friendly Shadow" Making-Of PART 2 is here! :D

This video is focused on the Friendly Shadow himself. His backstory, his design, everything.

I know I said I'd cover "Hive" before I covered the "Friendly Shadow" but while writing the two videos, I got a little carried away with this one and it kind of took creative priority. It turns out I had a lot more to say about this character than I thought I did. Please enjoy! :D

NEXT WEEK will be Hive! XD

Making of | "Friendly Shadow"

It's finally here and it's 33 minutes long. As you can imagine, there was A LOT to cover! This is only part 1 as well. There will be two more parts coming out in the next two weeks.

I'm sorry this took a little while longer than I promised. Youtube's removal of the animated short set my workflow back a few days.

New schedule:

Part 2, "Creative Process | "HIVE" July 11th

Part 3, "Creative Process | "FRIENDLY SHADOW" July 18th.

"Friendly Shadow" is BACK!

After a super stressful two days, the animated short film is finally back up! Youtube didn't tell me exactly why they deleted it, they just called it a "mistaken removal" but it's back now! :D

I have a suspicion that the fan outcry really sped up their response, getting the film back online. I literally got hundreds of messages from you guys and I can't thank you all enough for the support! :D