Studio Update & General What's New (Patreon)

Hi everyone, I have lots of good news to share and am open to answering questions about any of this in the comments! Please let me know if you'd like me to elaborate on anything in particular. 

I started a full time job in animation here in Los Angeles! I am now officially a character designer on a new show for Bento Box Entertainment, all work from home, of course. I can't share much more than that, unfortunately, but I can't wait to talk about it more. I'm learning so much and it's refreshing to have one solid job rather than 10 different ones. So far my contract is through next summer so I'm on this baby for the long run! This show has made life during the pandemic much less stressful, not only because it takes my mind off the stress of becoming sick, but also because I know I have a safety net of income coming in every two weeks. Plus I'm earning hours in the Animation Guild Union so I can get much better health care soon. I never thought I would take another full time job, my first full time experience was at American Greetings in OH and I found it just wasn't for me. I liked doing too many different projects and because of my ADHD I 'd had a hard time working at the studio for set hours. Working from home full time because of the pandemic might be the only reason why I felt comfortable taking this full time position. I'm also older, with a lot more understanding about what I need during the work day now and what type of breaks I should take that will help me be most productive. It helps, though, that I started working on this project with a new team remotely and was able to figure out the show with them in a safe place from home. In work spaces I have horrendous anxiety about what I should and should not be doing or if I'm perceived as working hard enough. From home I can just get my work done in a timely manner and stay updated/give updates through Slack during appropriate hours (then I work until 2am). I'm slowly training myself to work from 10-7, though, especially because my partner Andy also works those hours. If we have to go into the office later I would feel comfortable and confident with this team and the timeline I'm turning work in. I don't think I would feel the same anxiety about working in the office than I might on a brand new job. The only anxiety I'll feel is if they ask me to come in while there's still no vaccine! 

I bought a Risograph machine! It's an EZ 590 which is a single drum machine that only prints one color at a time. This might change my process significantly, since I'm used to working on a two drum machine, but of course I'm not sure yet because I haven't been able to test it out! The ink has been taking munch longer than the machine itself but I understand that everything is taking longer these days because of the pandemic. I bought this machine from Risomonger on Instagram, who has been very supportive and professional! So far so good, I also bought 7 drums from him, of which I currently have 6. He buys his Riso supplies from other suppliers, makes sure they work, cleans them up and then sends them out to me. This is my first time owning a machine and buying Riso supplies so I've been very thankful to have someone who will make sure I'm getting quality, working supplies. Apparently it's common for Riso suppliers to send out faulty equipment, which is really scary to me! 

I'm also currently working on a children's book called You Are Powerful, which was written by Sarah Grace Tuttle. It's about teaching young children how to get involved with their communities and seek change where they see the need for it. It's mostly a book about learning how to stand up for justice as a young person and find ways to answer questions about the world! It was announced last fall so I'm only just now starting on interior color (pretty much only on the weekends now that I'm full time at Bento Box). There was a lot of back and forth during the sketch phase. I felt like every page I sent in had significant changes needed, but now that we're finally in final interiors I'm very excited to interpret each sketch into a big luscious color piece. I'm extremely intimidated about the coloring of this book, though, as well as making sure my textures and layouts are interesting and fresh to children. I really believe in this book's message and want to do the best I possibly can on it! Really excited to share this book with the world.

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, my first graphic novel, is coming out in September or possible October and has already been ordered for translations from French, Spanish and Italian publishers! That seems really promising that it'll have a good reception but, like everything, I'm very nervous about it. I'm planning to share more pages and sketches from it closer to the release date so people aren't so fatigued by it. I already have people asking me if it's getting a second printing when it hasn't even come out!!! They think it came out last fall because I shared too much about it!! This is good food for thought for the children's book and the advertising I'd like to do around that. Advertising mostly falls on the authors/illustrators so I'd like to make sure I can strategize this the best way that I can for the best outcome so I can receive more than my advance. Hopefully if I advertise this right and it does well in bookstores (or well, online, if there's still a pandemic when this comes out), then I can ask for a significant amount more for my next book advance! If it ever happens-if they give me another!! lol.

Speaking of another, I'm currently also working on a pitch for a new graphic novel- or maybe a children's book if the publisher (whoever may take it) thinks one format is appropriate over the other. I'm trying to make character sheets, a few environment shots, a layout of the story, a map and some scripts from short scenes. Making a whole pitch bible feels like a full time job in itself so it usually gets put on the back burner. I just have to keep working on it every night, even if it's just for 20 minutes. Hopefully soon I'll have a whole world to show you. For now I think I need to keep it secret, just in case. I've been listening to Gina Gagliano's Graphic Novel TK podcast which has been really eye opening to the world of publishing. 100% recommended listening! 

That's about it for now! Hope some of this is enlightening about the industry. Again, let me know if you have any questions!

Cheers,
Nat