#1
That system has worked well for 6 years, but it can get frustrating. I have so many ideas that just aren't feasible for a comic. I mean, maybe I could do them, but they'd take forever and then less people would read them. With comics, less is more! 3 snappy single-page comics will always do better than one 3-page one. So when Ross from Pencilmation emailed asking if I'd ever thought of making a show, I couldn't believe my luck!
We worked on a script for a long time, packing it full of jokes and making it the best it could be, but it wasn't until it was done that things really started to get real! The search was on for an experienced director who could translate my characters into animated form, while staying true to the comic. When I saw Brien Hart's tryout drawings I knew we'd found our guy!! I mean, wow! He nailed it!
#2
#3
With the core team assembled, we wanted to check if we could actually make animated Litterbox work, so Brien drew up storyboards from the script for a short piece of test animation. The storyboards were then sent to Marty Daniels to animate and oh my goodness! I can't quite describe the feeling of seeing Fran moving for the first time! The cleaned-up animation was then done by Anna Navarro and the colors by Shofi Akifah Rochima Putri.
#4
#5
Hand-drawn animation is as beautiful as it is expensive, so we couldn't go any further without a lot of money! I'd never done a Kickstarter before, but I've enjoyed watching friends do them and loved the spectacle of it all. We didn't just want to fund the show, we wanted to make funding it AN EVENT! So we got to work cooking up some mad rewards! The craziest has to be the Designer Toy! Normally you'd do a Kickstarter FOR a designer toy, but we just went right on ahead and made it an exclusive reward for backing the pilot!
After months of planning, Kickstarter launch day approached. Honestly, the closest thing I can compare the feeling of anticipation to is being 9 months pregnant. Standing on the precipice of an amazing, life-changing thing, but unable to shake the creeping fear that something could go wrong! The plan was to drop the kids off at school and press that launch button, but they had other ideas! That morning, my youngest had a fever and my oldest was in agony with an ear infection! Not ideal, but the show must go on!
#6
#7
The day was a flurry of posts, messaging and doctor's appointments, but 8 hours later we'd hit our goal of $60,000!! Absolutely incredible! It all happened so quickly it honestly didn't really register. We're actually doing it! There's going to be an animated episode of Litterbox!! Even typing this, I still don't think it's really sunk in!
So what now? Well, as of writing, the Kickstarter is still rolling! Our original goal was the absolute minimum we thought we could make the show for, but a higher budget will directly translate into better quality animation, so we're going to be doing everything we can to grow that number over the next month!
In the meantime! How about some more comics?!
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