Next Mashed Cartoon Has Started Production + A Somewhat Important Personal Update

Here is the first storyboard from what I've been writing for Mashed lately. I can share a LITTLE bit of info about it.

This is one I've been trying to get off the ground for a few months now. Things were apparently really busy over at Mashed, so there wasn't a ton of momentum for a while, but now I've finally drafted the script. It seems like they really enjoy this concept, but that also means there's a lot of pressure on me to actually make it meet their expectations.

So, what is this idea? I think I can reveal that much. It's the next step in the saga that began with Sonic's Last Life. This time, it's called Sonic's First Life.

I started developing this concept around when the second part of Last Life released. The first part had already done well, and the Mashed guys were expecting a similar response for the second, so I think doing more with the whole storyline was always on everyone's minds.

One of the first things I did very diligently was overthink every aspect of those first couple vids. I took a look at all that we had established, intentionally or incidentally, and tried to poke as many holes as I could in the plot. There were a lot of vague elements to it, either because I wanted to leave it open to speculation or because we only had so much time to work with, and thus, plenty of room for people to point at details that seemed contradictory or didn't amount to much. I wanted to make sure I was aware of a lot of those bases so that I didn't start pursuing a story that made no sense with the context of what came before.

Here is a heavily cropped, out-of-focus screencap of my sketchbook that I was writing in while brainstorming:

Not every hole I poked is going to be addressed in this "First Life" story. Namely, anything involving the ominous Tails ending just didn't have any room here. Hopefully, this next installment does well enough to justify continuing that thread! It was definitely the biggest question mark I saw viewers left with at the end of Last Life, and I have some pretty INTERESTING directions I wanna go with it.

I hope this update on things was meaty-juicy sufficient enough for you to bite into for now.

On a more personal note, I do want to apologize for the dramatically slowed activity you may have noticed here. On Paintreon, and of course on my own YouTube channel, and I guess basically all my online platforms, I've been posting much less than I'd normally like to.

Recently, I have definitely been struggling to motivate myself. I can't help feeling guilty about it, since I'm used to dipping into different random projects and having cool things to show for it, and it wasn't ever my intention to stop that. It still isn't my intention to stop that.

I want to thank everyone who still chooses to support me financially through this time. Seriously, it's one of the most virtuous things you can do for an independent creator. Admittedly, I feel like I've fallen short of giving back to you all for doing so. I think I want to develop more ways to make your money worthwhile beyond a gesture of kindness. That's probably a discussion for another time, though you're free to lend your own ideas based on what you see other creators do!

I'd love to put more attention towards those stretch goals I drafted a year ago, though I have realized now that promising dedicating my focus to an entire animation was a bit too ambitious as the first goal. I still want to get that done in some form, because I think keeping my word is important when people are giving me their money! For now, I've made the rough animatic available to the public.

OK, that's all! Goodbye! I'm going to try to post at least a couple more times this month. I need to regain my momentum. I used to be posting twice a week!