October Progress Report

October is over, and the Patreon is back up and running! And that means it's time for a !!!!BIG PROGRESS REPORT!!!!

WHAT'S NEW ON THE PATREON?

• NEW VIDEO - A Jaunty Quest

• A concert with Louie Zong and Worthikids (and a pre-sale link!)

• NEW VIDEO - Silent Love - BLIB (Louie Zong, Worthikids, BDG)

HOW WAS THE HIATUS?

It was good! I had a chance to relax, take a little vacation, and not think too much about making videos.

It helped me come to terms with my creative process, and the fact that I simply can't keep up with Younger Brian's pace of video production. There was a time when giving myself deadlines—like one video a week (good lord how did I think that would last?)—was productive for me, because my main goal at the time was to learn more about editing and video production.

Took me a good chunk of the past few months to realize that my goals have shifted! The time has come for me to hone the skills I've developed. Right now, I have ideas for:

• a crafty video

• two tiny animations

• two horror shorts

• a visual concept album based around a specific synthesizer that I have been thinking about purchasing for two years but haven't had a good enough reason to call a business expense until now

... and each of these ideas will probably take longer than one or two months to make. They're also not all "classic BDG" videos. Pre-Hiatus Brian would probably try to come up with shorter videos/silly songs to fill the gaps, but Now Brian thinks it's more important to focus on the exciting things.

I recently got to watch AJ Goes to the Dog Park by my friend Toby Jones. It's the indie-est of indie movies, made for nearly zero budget in Toby's hometown of Fargo. Given that all of the cast and crew had day jobs, the movie was filmed almost exclusively on evenings and weekends.

It is also one of the funniest movies I've seen in years.

I was hooting and hollering in that theater, and it reminded me that things that are made by yourself on less-than-billion-dollar-budgets can still be extremely impactful. I left thinking, "I want to do that!" So that's what I'm gonna do!

SO WHAT'S THE PLAN FROM HERE ON OUT?

The Patreon perks will remain the same, but I won't be aiming for a monthly video. Going forward, I'll focus hard on the projects that are exciting me at that moment. Things that make me want to spend my evenings and weekends on them—not to hit a deadline, but because I'm enjoying the process so much.

As such, I'll be doing sporadic updates on different videos! I'll post whenever I hit a major milestone in any of the projects (a finished script, a new character design, a new step in the craft video, etc.). Maybe I'll give each video a codename so it's easier to follow specific projects. And also because I think codenames are neat.

I'll still do monthly progress reports, so if the process hits a snag, I can still keep you up to date. This will make it easier for me to pursue what's working for me at the moment, and doesn't keep me tied to a sinking ship if I'm not able to make any meaningful progress on something.

WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO?

Speaking of little snags in video stuff, it seems like the animated "Don't Say Séance" might be on hold for now! The animators are quite busy, so we're going to shelve it and hope to return to it in a few months!

After finishing up A Jaunty Quest, I hopped right into the BLIB song. That took up the workspace for Talking Small, so that one will show up in coming month! (I do have a deadline for that one because it's another Louie collab, and we'll be playing it at the BLIB concert.)

Once Talking Small is done, it's time for something completely new! I think I'm going to prioritize my crafty video and one horror short that I'm really excited about. Let's start the codenames now:

Crafty video is now GACHA
Horror short is now CORNERS

I hope to have something to share about one/both this month! At the very least, I can't wait to get started on something new.

WHAT'S NEW ELSEWHERE?

I went to my first ever MagicCon this past weekend! Ify and I did a live Um, Actually there! It was a ton of fun, and I refuse to tell you how much money I spent on custom tokens and playmats. I'm pretty sure the video of the panel will go up online somewhere, and I'll let you know when it does.

Ink Inside, a video game with my voice in it, is coming out soon! You can play the first three hours for free right now!

Karen and I have been finishing up one writing job and continuing on another one, and they are both very fun! As always, excited to tell you about them when I can.

Oh, and Louie Zong, Worthikids, and I are doing a concert in December, if you haven't seen the other posts! Unfortunately, the shows are all sold out at the moment, but we're already thinking about when we can do it again. It might not be for a while, but we'd love to do more (who would have thought that working out the schedules of three independent creatives, one of whom lives on the other side of the country, would take time?)!

FINAL THOUGHTS?

I'm happy to be back! That's the truth, and I think it's a sign that the hiatus worked pretty well! I can't wait to make more things with you all, and I'm grateful that you stuck with me during this time.