More Tales & more Ink Boob: 2011 stays strong

by Aaron Mystery

As 2011 started, I had very ambitious goals. These goals were to be aimed for even when they seemed out of sight. Case in point: A cartoon a day. Have I achieved it? No. Am I still trying? Yes.

My last blog briefly recapped the three new Tales Quickies from earlier in the year. Since then, I have finished Ink Boob "Revelations" & two new Tales from an Alternate B.E. Universe - "Magic Ring" & "To Catch a Cheater." Since I should have created about six or seven cartoons in that time frame, let's find out what went "wrong."

First off, "Revelations" - which didn't even have B.E. - took three-and-a-half days, in part because I spent an entire day re-doing work. At sixteen lines of dialog, it just isn't possible to create a cartoon like this in a day, so - glitches aside - this was going to slip regardless. Glad it's finally done.

Uploaded at the same time was "Magic Ring," a Tales Quickie created with little trouble, though the post-production had me up into the wee hours of the morning. Still, "Magic Ring" was about as quick as I can turn around a cartoon (less than 16 hours).

"To Catch a Cheater" - admittedly a very simple cartoon - was actually a huge pain in the ass. Everything that could go wrong did, at every possible turn. This cartoon should have taken a day; it took two, plus a day redoing it after I published it (I of course then re-published it).

It's easy for me to see where I blew my schedule - each cartoon is to take a day to create, that's it. Yet Ink Boob "Revelations" & Tales... "To Catch a Cheater" each took three days of total production, including a day of re-dos. All I can do is take what I've learned here and try not to make any huge mistakes this week. (To be honest, rushing things has actually cost me time.)

So, what am I doing now? I'm working on a new Ink Boob episode that offers a little more payoff to my fans, while sticking to the story that I want to tell. I hope everyone enjoys it.

As far as lessons learned, well... I had to re-do a three-and-a-half hour animation right out of the gate yesterday, so I guess I'm still learning. Three-hundred cartoons in. Sheesh.