Sorry (he said again) for the long absence. We’re in pedal-to-the-metal mode, trying to wrap up the book and make some serious headway on the film. After all, we’re supposed to premiere the film in late May. I believe we’ll get it done, but YOWZA, we’ve got a lot to do between now and then.
The book is (we think) in its final form. Now we have to upload it to the printer and have a printed copy sent back to us.
Meanwhile, we’ve been spending a lot of time doing this.
The fancy voice-over booth in the pictures is a closet in my office. When I was recording my narration, I had to hire a junior audio engineer to operate the controls in Adobe Audition.
I’ve got pretty much the whole family doing voices. We drove to Illinois over the recent three-day weekend so I could record The Older Brother’s Younger Sons as three of the main characters – again, in a closet. I even got The Older Brother to step in and do a few lines for other characters.
Chareva drew around 200 cartoons for the book. After a breather lasting approximately 15 minutes, she had to get drawing again for the film. In a book, you can pick and choose which bits of text to support with an illustration. In a film, there’s no picking and choosing. You can’t just toss up a title that says WE CHOSE NOT TO ILLUSTRATE THIS SECTION. Something has to be on screen every second.
So while I’ve been pounding through Adobe After Effects tutorials and learning to animate, Chareva’s been busy drawing cartoons that aren’t in the book. She’s also been redrawing her book characters in the style required for animation. Each character has to be drawn as body parts that can be linked at the joints and rotated. Characters who talk need seven mouth shapes. Characters who do things with their hands need several different hand shapes.
That’s Marty Metabolism, one of the main characters, on Chareva’s screen below. She has to draw him from five different angles, with different head positions in some of those angles.
And here’s Marty again at his control panel. The control panel had to be drawn — from three different angles — with parts that can be moved in the animation software.
It’s a ton of work, but I hope it will all be worth it.
I’ll post when I can.
If you enjoy my posts, please consider a small donation to the Fat Head Kids GoFundMe campaign.
I can’t wait to see the finished products…
This is a bit off topic, but I have to say that both of your daughters are growing up to be beautiful young ladies!
I agree totally, but I’m biased.
Your daughters have grown a LOT since I last saw them…
They’re hitting that grow-like-a-weed phase of life. We just donated a half-ton of shoes they can no longer wear. You’ll see them on the cruise in May.
Wow – what alot of work! But I truly look forward to it, and wish you the full energy needed to get it all done!
I figure we have a three-month sprint in front of us. After that, I intend to relax and enjoy my summer.
Judging by your last post on the farm report…I’m kind of doubting that. 🙂
Well, I kind of enjoy the farm work … most of the time, anyway.
I can’t wait to see the finished products…
This is a bit off topic, but I have to say that both of your daughters are growing up to be beautiful young ladies!
I agree totally, but I’m biased.
Your daughters have grown a LOT since I last saw them…
They’re hitting that grow-like-a-weed phase of life. We just donated a half-ton of shoes they can no longer wear. You’ll see them on the cruise in May.
Yikes, I had no idea how much work went into a project like this! Appreciate your checking in (at least we know that you haven’t fallen down a well or some such thing), but we won’t be expecting to hear much from you for a while. Reckon I can amuse myself by re-watching Butter Bob’s videos and reading through Dr. Jason Fung’s archived posts. (I’ve already read through all of yours.)
Blessings on you and your beautiful family. And oh, my, your girls look more like their lovely mama all the time.
Thank you. I also think my daughters are lovely, but I’m their father and may not be objective on the matter.
That’s a LOT of work… I can’t wait for the final product!
Same goes for us.
Wow – what alot of work! But I truly look forward to it, and wish you the full energy needed to get it all done!
I figure we have a three-month sprint in front of us. After that, I intend to relax and enjoy my summer.
Judging by your last post on the farm report…I’m kind of doubting that. 🙂
Well, I kind of enjoy the farm work … most of the time, anyway.
Somehow I don’t think farm work in the middle of August is one of those times. 😉
“Enjoy” might not be the right word on those days. But I do find it dog-tired satisfying at times.
Yikes, I had no idea how much work went into a project like this! Appreciate your checking in (at least we know that you haven’t fallen down a well or some such thing), but we won’t be expecting to hear much from you for a while. Reckon I can amuse myself by re-watching Butter Bob’s videos and reading through Dr. Jason Fung’s archived posts. (I’ve already read through all of yours.)
Blessings on you and your beautiful family. And oh, my, your girls look more like their lovely mama all the time.
Thank you. I also think my daughters are lovely, but I’m their father and may not be objective on the matter.
That’s a LOT of work… I can’t wait for the final product!
Same goes for us.
They say the best way to learn something is to do it. What a great education you and your family are getting!
I can’t wait to see the finished product. Will be buying and sending to family and friends. Your films make this info so accessible and understandable.
My daughters have heard me say it many times: nobody is born knowing anything, so experts are just people who decided to learn. Chareva had to learn rather a lot about publishing this year, and I’ve had to learn (still learning, in fact) about animating. But that’s part of the fun.
They say the best way to learn something is to do it. What a great education you and your family are getting!
I can’t wait to see the finished product. Will be buying and sending to family and friends. Your films make this info so accessible and understandable.
My daughters have heard me say it many times: nobody is born knowing anything, so experts are just people who decided to learn. Chareva had to learn rather a lot about publishing this year, and I’ve had to learn (still learning, in fact) about animating. But that’s part of the fun.
Shouldn’t it be “our” book?
Yes, but it’s my report.
I know the reasons and I do appreciate them. On the Gripping Hand, I’m having withdrawal symptoms.
Looks fun!
So after this book how about a Fat Head part 2?
The film version of the book is our Fat Head part 2.