I originally tried writing everything into one post, but it was getting way too long, and I don’t think my brain can process that much information all at once anyway. So, I figured it would be easier to break everything up into parts and post them as I go.Here's Part 1

Choosing The Workflow

At the start, I wasn't sure where to begin, so I did what most people do — watched a lot of YouTube videos and borrowed workflows from other animators. There are countless different methods people use to achieve the same goal but after doing the process of elimination, I ended up with two main approaches.

Workflow A:Is a full-project, layer-by-layer method. You block out every scene first, make sure they all work and make sense together, then go back and refine each one pass by pass — locking in poses, establishing base loops for tempo and energy, and continuing to layer detail across every scene until the whole thing is done.

The upside is you see the full skeleton of your project early, and you stay flexible — scenes can be tweaked and improved at any point. Lighting and rendering also happen all at once at the end, which makes it easier to keep a unified style. The downside is it's a long grind. Motivation can take a hit when you're doing endless passes with no finished scenes to show for it, and rendering everything simultaneously can be stressful.

Workflow B:Takes a different approach: finish one scene completely before moving on. You still block everything out up front to get that same early overview, but then you dive into scene one and take it all the way — animation, lighting, rendering — before touching anything else.

The upside here is momentum. Scenes turn around faster, rendering is spread out over time rather than hitting all at once, and completed scenes are done — no risk of going back and corrupting something. The tradeoff is that flexibility. Once a scene is locked and rendered, it stays that way, and lighting decisions you made months ago on your first scene will set the tone for everything that follows.

Since this was my first project of this length, I went with Workflow A — the more flexible option. I was still figuring out my process as I went, so the last thing I wanted was to lock something in early and back myself into a corner. Looking back, it was the right call, and it's what I'll stick with going forward.

That said, the decision that can make or break Workflow A is the amount of passes. I ended up doing two or three animation passes per scene, which in hindsight cost me more time than it should have. Now that I have a bit more experience In what I'm doing, I'm confident I can get that down to two passes — which should make a meaningful dent in production time on the next project.On a side note, I think Workflow B might be the better choice for projects under a minute long but honestly, I won't know until I test it out.

Story Phase

Before anything else, I needed a story.

Why are these characters here?

Why are they engaging in said actions?

Without answers to those questions, it's almost impossible to build something that feels cohesive. Even for something as short as a 10-second loop, having a story behind it — even a simple one — makes a noticeable difference in how the final animation reads and feels. After doing some research on story building, I discovered a format that drastically helps in the process. All I had to do was create a story that aligns with the following timeline structure.Setup

Introduce the characters and establish the core information the audience needs to understand the story.

Example: We meet a hero who uses their powers for evil, only to have those powers taken away from them.

Confrontation

Build on the information established in the setup and use it to create the main conflict. This is where the characters are challenged and forced to work toward their goals.

Example: If the hero wants their powers back, they must undergo intense training and eventually face a powerful enemy.

Resolution

Allow the characters to accomplish their goals and use the outcome of the confrontation to bring the story to a satisfying end.

Example: After overcoming their challenges, the hero defeats the enemy and gets their powers back.

For Shower Power, the setup was Widowmaker and Pharah having a conversation in the locker room when they notice Zarya walking by. After spotting her, they sneak a peek at her in the bathroom, admiring her figure.

The confrontation was, quite literally, the sex scenes that followed.

Then the resolution was the cumshot at the end.

Going forward, I want to follow this structure more completely by adding an actual outro to properly wrap up the animation. But with this project, I already bit off more than I could chew, so I had to leave that part out.Before this project, I had little to no experience coming up with a storyline, so figuring out the idea took me a while. I spent almost two months trying to decide on the story. I even bought a small artist book so I could take notes and actually write down what I wanted.

Here's the original draft of the story if you're interested. A few things had to be cut, both to save time and to keep myself from going completely insane.

Looking back, though, I definitely spent WAY too much time figuring out the story. Instead of taking two months, this process should probably take me a week at most. Honestly, it doesn’t even need to take that long. The basic idea for a story really doesn’t have to be as complicated as I made it out to be. Something as simple as, “Pharah, Widowmaker, and Zarya have sex in the gym bathroom,” is enough to get you started.

The part that actually deserves the most thought is the Setup, Confrontation, and Resolution. That’s where your decisions really start to matter and where you can turn a simple idea into an actual story.

To Be Continued...