I’m putting together 2min 30sec of motion graphics for an opening title sequence for How Do You Write A Joe Schermann Song.

It’s been a couple months working just with the Mac interface and it’s finally become too unwieldy. There are just too many shots, and I’m spending too much time thinking about naming conventions and copying files around every time I set up a new shot.

So I spent the last few days writing Python code to give me a faster way to do things. It’s not set up for multiple users, since it’s just me. But it wouldn’t be too hard to fix that if the need arises.

Currently I’ve got my files split between 2 drives. The work files, like the AE projects, live in my home directory under a Projects folder. Images, movies, and other media live on an external 2TB drive.

My pipeline scripts help manage naming conventions and provide short cuts for things I do a lot.

So now I can do stuff like do stuff like this from the command-line:

#switch working environment to a particular project
setshow jss

# make a new shot
mkshot <seq> <shot>
mkshot ovrt 1


# navigate to a shot's working directory giving a sequence name and shot number
nav --shot <seq> <shot>

# navigate to a shot's movie directory
nav --media <seq> <shot>

# of course aliases are helpful for these
ns
nm

# render an after effects project in batch
render_ae  <filename>


I’m starting to use git to manage revisions of my After Effects project files. It’s actually using less space than maintaining copies via naming convention. Plus this way I can experiment with alternate ideas and use git branches to manage them. For now I’m going to use raw git, since I know how to use it. But I can see writing some wrappers that would be helpful.

It’s all a bit hard coded for now so that I can get back to making pictures. I feel like it wouldn’t take too much more work to clean it up so that I can use this code as a base for future projects.

I had been using Scrivener to outline and keep notes. The process never got comfortable, and even with the index card mode, there wasn’t an intuitive way for me to see the Big Picture.

My personal stumbling block with any word processor is that there is a feeling of finality to typing that makes me want to fix things immediately after I write them. Then I get into the death spiral of self-editing that hinders me from making progress on the story as a whole.

I tried outlining on paper, but that didn’t let me change things easily enough. Mind mapping, whether on paper or the computer, was useful for brainstorming, but was difficult to apply to story structure.

Today I started using Google Docs and its new Drawing feature to create a virtual whiteboard for myself. Much better! I’ve got color-coded index cards and my structure laid out. The process feels a lot more natural and I can easily see how the pieces of my story relate.

Google Docs also has a collaborative editing feature and built-in chat, so it’s really convenient to work real-time with my brother when we need to.

I’m going to keep plugging away and see if the tool holds up for me as the story gets refined.

For today, I’m happy because I think I’ve finally found a way to approach my writing in a visual way with the computer. I feel like I can “sketch” a story now, just like I do when I’m painting.

Emma from Glee, my current favorite show on TV.
Done freehand, but with reference and measuring lines added in Photoshop to help achieve the right proportions.

This was an exercise in how to capture a likeness. I think I must have scrapped about 6 prior attempts. Once I got the likeness close, the painting went pretty quickly.

The colors are still a little wacky. But I think it’s time to move on to the next piece.

Photoshop CS4. 12 hours.

Some fan art of Kaylee from Serenity. Photoshop CS4.
I lost count of the hours trying to get the likeness right. Maybe 8? Finally had to give up. It’s just not quite there. I wish I were a better artist so I could see how to fix it more easily.

Finished it off with a quick hack coloring job of only an hour or so.

I was a bit rusty after not painting for at least a month it feels like. It was hard to get back into the groove.