Mammoth: Chasing the Rainbow: Chapter 8

This episode deals with comeuppance, liberation from oppression or shackles of any kind, be they physical or mental. Turning points. Boiling points and breaking points. Foremost it’s about karma and finding power from within. Okay. I should emphasize this was all done in what I would call my free time when I was not teaching or living my life with my girlfriend, family and friends. I began drawing the pages/scenes January 1st and I wrapped all 107 pages/scenes by March 24th. Each page/scene was broken up into editable layers, backgrounds, props, and characters. Characters were rigged in a hierarchal manner so they could be animated. Because some scenes have upwards of 6 characters being animated, it goes without saying overall the number of “layers” used in this project was exorbitant. I was frankly worried if my computer could handle it. But I’m relieved and eternally grateful that it could. The primary animation was completed in the following month completing around April 24th. Music, Sound Effects, and Editing all came in the weeks following. While I have been working on this episode for about 5 and 1/2 months, this is the culmination and the continuation of multiple intertwining storylines that have been running over the previous episodes from the past few years. At the same time, this fully animated episode I believe acts as a preview of what’s to come potentially in the future. Mammoth has been an evergreen, omnipotent character to develop and work with. It’s a pleasure to be able to work with him and let these characters make their own decisions and act, and react in their own ways. There have been times telling these stories where what I wanted to do wasn’t what the characters wanted to do, and I always try and respect that and let their unique personalities guide what’s going to happen next. I love creating these stories. I love scoring the animations with music. I love progressing and growing, because I know for a fact this has developed a lot more than where I had last left it. I’d like to do at least 1, maybe 2 of these a year. If I can make it happen and enjoy the ride. I do have ideas for the future, and because of this episode being accomplished I do believe I can make these other ideas happen too. I’m not going to rush myself on these next ones. This really took it all out of me for a while I think. I’m grateful I did this and excited for what may come, but phew…. It’s been a balancing act and a half getting through this and getting this done. I’ve burnt my candle at both ends a lot, but I’ve tried to be kind and healthy and logical along the way. My original thoughts all the while, while working on this was that; 1 of 3 things is going to happen. Hopefully 2/3, hell maybe 3/3 if I get lucky and hit the jackpot. 🍀 I am going to get a Scholarship for my Masters program because someone is going to see I created this passionately and through hours of dedicated labor, through a vast variety of tasks that it took to make this. I love what I love, but I would love to do ANY of these jobs/steps for a production. Which leads to… I am going to get a Job working on a production, be it a television show or a movie. Someone is going to see all the hours and all the steps that culminated to make this happen and say, “I want to work with that guy!” But at the very least: I get to have made the idea I had in my head, the way I wanted to do it, as best as I could at the time with the best tools I had. I really hope more than just this happens, but I do find solace in knowing little by little I’m getting better at making my dreams and visions come true. I want to collaborate with other artists and accomplish a great feat for our combined energies. Hopefully, even though I did create every aspect of this myself, this acts as a creative beacon that qualifies me for more collaboration in the future with the right people, whoever they may be, and wherever this adventure may lead me. I believe it’s worth mentioning I must have found over 100 four leaf clovers during the making of this episode the past 5 months. They’ve been growing regularly in my garden, and they’ve reminded me to be grateful and remember how lucky I am throughout this whole process. Lucky to have love in my life, lucky to be able to expressively create, lucky to be able to share with you all in this space. I appreciate you all being along with me for this ride. 🍀 “Great art is not finished, only abandoned”-Leonardo Da Vinci Refining, editing and iterating can be a lot like weeding and sculpting a garden into one’s vision. But I also try and recognize what is within, and what is beyond my control. I’m so privileged and lucky that sharing this story with you all is within my control!! If you are so inclined and you’d like to support me in my pursuit of making my visions reality, you can send any amount in tips for support to my Venmo @MattCheck I’m going to be working on developing a Patreon where you can support all my ventures and see behind the scenes productions and bonus art soon. Stay tuned! Peace and Love, Matt Check