kChan
HabitualGypsy
Posts: 87
So, here's a project I've been messing around with on and off for over 7 years. I'm very optimistic with it's current incarnation so I thought I'd share it with the DAZ community as it starts to materialize.
A little background is in order - the idea was originally spawned as artwork to go along with several songs as music videos in a sense. It didn't take long before it was something more than that but still not enough to stand on its own. Currently, the songs remain written but unrecorded - I'm still searching for a format (stylistically) to bring them to life where I'm satisfied. As it stands now, the graphic concepts are still linked to the music in a sense but are growing more independent by the day. If I was to let my creative ambition off the leash, I guess I'd like to see it develop into a full blown anime series... but let's take it one step at a time.
Anyway, the setting is basically semi-near future scifi - pretty much cyberpunk. The bulk of the story takes place in Angel City. It's your typical dystopian megalopolis - pretty much a stew of Night City from Cyberpunk, The Seattle Sprawl from Shadowrun, L.A. from Bladerunner, Mega-City One from Judge Dredd and Neo-Tokyo from, well, pick an anime. It's not set in any specific country and its population is intentionally very international.
Our protagonist is an anti-hero named kChan (pronounced kay-chawn). I've got the outline of her story in my head (lots of twists and turns, of course) and even some details; but don't worry it'll all be fleshed out eventually. I'll post some of the various characters as well as scenes. Eventually, I'd like for it to be animated, but for now (until I get my animation skills up to snuff) I'll be posting "stills" in more of a storyboard format.
The artistic style is cel-shaded (see below for details) and heavily influenced by Anime/Manga. The animation will (hopefully) be very simple and reminiscent of Japanese Sci-fi. And yes, I'm well aware that many of the specific ideas I'll be detailing are pretty much ripped off from various other stories/themes. But I like to think that I "stole" enough ideas from enough different sources that the final product ends up being somewhat unique; even if it does feel familiar.
So, without further ado, our heroine:
Name: real name unknown; alias kChan, prisoner 12311970
Ethnicity: Asian/Caucasian, specifics unknown
Height: 1.68 m
Weight: 54 kg
Hair: Red
Eyes: Green
Cybernetics: Neural Interface Implants, Augmented Right Arm
Background: Initially, kChan is a mystery - even to herself. The oldest distinct memory she has is of training in an underground facility. She doesn't even know her real name. She does, however, have vague recollections of being a prisoner in Angel City's high-security detention center.
Her training consisted of all manner of military skills as well as other techniques of persuasion. This all took place under the supervision of a man known only as Mr. Geist whom she has curiously never met in person. Geist claimed that he arranged her escape from prison and that he was giving her a new life with a chance for retribution on those who had her incarcerated.
At the beginning of our story she is an assassin, spy and terrorist - basically an all-around subversive in opposition to Angel City's corporate controlled Civic Government as well as various criminal elements. She receives her assignments from Geist via the Æther (VR - basically like the Net from CP or the Matrix from SR).
She received her cybernetic arm after a particularly close call involving Civic Security (the "cops"). After assassinating Benjamin al Tineen the (former) CCO (Chief Civic Officer) of Angel City on Geist's orders, she was lucky to escape with a severe bullet wound. In fact, if she hadn't received unexpected assistance, her story would have already ended...
As the tale unfolds, kChan will slowly but surely find pieces of her past that will (hopefully, for her) led her to her true identity as well as possibly who or what Geist represents. And with any luck we'll get some fun and artistic situations along the way...
I want to also give you the rundown of 3D products I used to create this image of her. Everything was done in DAZ Studio 4.5 Pro with just a tiny bit of postwork in Photoshop (minor contrast, brightness, vibrance and saturation adjustments).
Base Character:
V3 (DAZ 3D)
Character Morph:
Rayne (Capsces Digital Ink)
Body Morph:
Yaara (Aery Soul)
Pose:
!DAZ's Victoria 3 (DAZ 3D)
Hair:
A3 Ponytail (DAZ 3D)
Arm:
Cyber-Arm for V3 (XYZpoint)
Top:
Young Soul Fragola (Aery Soul)
Pants & Shoes:
Young Soul Vanilla (Aery Soul)
Shaders (for everything):
Visual Style Shaders (BishounenTaurus, DraagonStorm)
Light:
Manga Style Freebie Pack 1 (BishounenTaurus)
There you go. Enjoy! Feel free to ask questions...
-Damon
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Comments
For the sake of argument, I should I also point out that I used V3 Morph Magnet Fits Complete by Lyrra Madril on the Vanilla Pants. Curiously, even though this was an Aery Soul product (as is the Yaara body shape morph), only the Kielo (and not even v2 at that) morph was included in the original .cr2.
At this point, I'm sure some people might be thinking, 'why not just go the Genesis/Auto-Fit route for all that?' My answer to that is fairly simple. Working with Gen 3 via Genesis content would require me to purchase more products and convert things anyway. And to be honest, I'm not entirely sure if the Yaara body morph would even be supported - I just don't know enough about using Genesis with legacy content. Also, I don't plan on having a ton of different outfits for her. I've already converted ArtemisX (the original) and several of the others I've got in mind are from Aery Soul with native support for Yaara.
Ultimately, though, I have content that I like and want to keep using (regardless of how 'obsolete' it is) that works just fine for my purposes. I'd say that looking at the portrait of kChan from the previous post, it wouldn't have looked any better (stylistically) using a newer generation figure. Of course, I'm sure it wouldn't look any worse either. But "one in the hand" and all...
Anyway, I'll try to be as detailed as possible when posting because I think it's useful to people who may see something I've done and want to try it out for themselves. If they know exactly what I did it makes it easier to duplicate the results which in turn makes it easier to modify to their liking. Also, someone may see the way I've done something and go 'hey, that might be easier if you did it this way'. To me, that exchange of information, techniques and ideas is the whole point of a forum.
-Damon
OK, so here's another main character from the story: D-NIHIL (pronounced 'denial'). I don't want to give too much away about him yet, 'cos I don't wanna spoil all the fun of his place in the story by laying it all out up front.
Name : Daniel Uzekamanzi, alias D-NIHIL
Ethnicity: African
Height: 1.78 m
Weight: 77 kg
Hair: Brown
Eyes: n/a
Cybernetics: Augmented Optical
Background: Daniel was originally a "wheel-man" for a small-time syndicate in a city from another region. Unfortunately, one of his jobs went bad and the rest of his team was taken-out. The sole-survivor of a heist-gone-wrong, he knew that he was now wanted by his employers as well as the authorities. This impending threat, as well as a bit of introspection, led him to the decision that he should 'start-over' in a new location.
He arrived in Angel City nearly flat-broke and has, with a great deal of hard-work, managed to sustain his new-found poverty. He takes odd-jobs and contract work (mostly driver-related, naturally) where he can get it. His most valued possession at this point is a beat-up old Sting-Ray (a painful step-down from the low-key hot-rods of his former trade).
D-NIHIL first encounters kChan when she nearly drives her Skybike through his Sting-Ray at an intersection on her way to blow up a storage facility. Intrigued, he clandestinely follows her, eventually tracking down her place of residence - something Civic Security has been unable to do. Naturally, kChan is somewhat displeased to find an intruder at her 'base of operations' and emphatically ejects D-NIHIL from the premises; but there may come a time when she may be glad to have an 'admirer'...
Again, the render was done in D|S 4.5 Pro and has received only minor post-work in PS. So here's the nuts-n-bolts of Daniel Uzekamanzi, alias D-NIHIL:
Base Character:
M3 (DAZ 3D)
Character Morph:
Brom (Capsces Digital Ink)
Body Morph:
M3 Body Morphs - Skinny (DAZ3D)
Pose:
DK Esquire I (DAZ 3D, DangerKitty)
Hair:
Universal Skull Caps (3Dream)
Outfit (Kickers, Gunbelt, Jacket, Pants & Top):
The Privateer (DAZ 3D, ElorOnceDark, Anna Benjamin)
Shades:
Eyewear pack 1 - Blade (Torinouta)
Shaders (for everything):
Visual Style Shaders (BishounenTaurus, DraagonStorm)
Light:
Manga Style Freebie Pack 1 (BishounenTaurus)
There you go. Enjoy! Again, feel free to ask questions…
-Damon
So the next 'character' I'm posting isn't a unique (individual) character at all. But since Civic Security Troopers are a ubiquitous presence on the streets of Angel City (not to mention an ongoing nemesis for kChan), I wanted to go ahead and post a portrait.
While technically not a police state, Angel City is a semi-totalitarian Corporatocracy. Civic Security is charged with maintaining the interests of the Civic Board of Directors (made up of representatives from the most prominent corporations) and the Troopers are its omnipresent physical manifestation. While they are anonymous and even somewhat mysterious, they are definitely human.
And, yes, I'm well aware of the similarities to Storm Troopers. But if you're going to be inspired by something, be inspired by the classics, I say. And honestly, it's just a coincidence; if you check Xurge's website, the armor in its default appearance doesn't really give off a Star Wars vibe. In fact, the color scheme was inspired by motif's MORE Textures & Styles for Space Marine (by Xurge).
Since I've embraced using the cel-shaders for everything, I've found that I don't have symbols (unless modeled into the mesh) and writing as part of the texture of anything. This has forced me to emphasize a stylistic choice I'd been employing (to a lesser degree) for awhile. I refer to it as broad iconography. I'm sure there's another established term for the idea (as it's not particularly revolutionary) but basically the idea is that color schemes need to be simple, bold and, within reason, consistent. Viewers need to be able to immediately recognize and identify characters and features in the absence of conventional context clues such as writing or detailed textures.
The evolution of this design philosophy (for me) also illustrates an ongoing theme I've discovered with this project - certainly in this iteration: using perceived limitations as inspiration. In the above example, the shaders I'm using don't allow for texture maps in the conventional sense, at least not while retaining the level cel-shaded appearance I'm after. But it also forces me to re-evaluate style/design choices and focus more on how to tell a story from a more universal perspective.
Anyway, enough rambling; here's the breakdown of a Civic Security Trooper - rendered in D|S 4.5 Pro, minor postwork in PS, blah, blah, blah:
Base Character [hidden]:
V3 BLANK (DAZ 3D)
Character Morph:
n/a
Body Morph:
n/a
Pose [slightly modified]:
Kyouran: The Fury for V3 (ElorOnceDark)
Hair:
n/a
Armor:
AHEV Suit for V3 (Xurge3D)
Rifle:
Kyouran: The Fury for V3 (ElorOnceDark)
Shaders [for everything]:
Visual Style Shaders (BishounenTaurus, DraagonStorm)
Light:
Manga Style Freebie Pack 1 (BishounenTaurus)
Enjoy! As always, comments & questions are encouraged…
-Damon
Alright, now that I've posted some characters, let's see some stuff in context. Here's a scene where we see kChan in her environment dealing with the kind of consequences a person like her might incur. This is the aforementioned incident just after the assassination of CCO al Tineen where she takes a bit (OK... a lot) of shrapnel [see earlier post describing kChan's background]. Basically, she's just ditched her Longbow sniper rifle (not much good versus an armed to the teeth Centurion Troop Carrier) and is beatin' feet toward an elevator so she can get back to her Skybike and get the heck outta Dodge.
OK, so let's take a look at a few things from a technical perspective. First, let me explain how animation in this scene is supposed to go - this image is supposed to be a panel from a storyboard, remember? It's not important to get into a great deal of info about the song that this is supposed to be a scene 'synchronized' to, but some info is helpful. The song is 120 bpm which means that each beat is 500 ms. Looking at it another way, each measure (4 beats in 4/4 time) is 2000 ms or 2 seconds. Scenes will mostly be one measure in length with a few being two measures (4 seconds). This scene will be one of the long ones (2 measures, 8 beats, 4 seconds) which is good, because there's a couple of distinct things I want to happen and I don't want to rush them.
kChan will remain in the center of the screen and she'll be in a run cycle for all 4 seconds. The catwalk will be animated to move from camera left to right at a rate that matches the tempo of her strides. The skyscraper layer will be pulled the same way but at a much slower speed while the background/skyline layer will remain fixed. The independent rate of movement of these layers combined with escalating levels (FG to BG) of de-focus via Gaussian Blur will enhance the forced-perspective/pseudo-DOF effect common in Anime.
While this is going on, the Centurion Troop Carrier will rise from the bottom of the screen, roughly center to center-right. This motion will take 4 beats (the first half of the scene). During its rise, the Centurion will be noticeably out of focus (but not to the extent of the background layers). However, at the mid-way point (3rd second or 5th beat), the Centurion will snap into focus and kChan & the catwalk will de-focus to the previous amount of the Centurion. The canons on the vehicle will now rotate into position (aimed at kChan) and begin to fire. During it's entire movement, the Centurion will be very slowly drifting camera right, again subtly emphasizing the DOF.
Now, let's take a look at the image itself. Not to make excuses, but if this was supposed to stand on it's own as a still image (not from a storyboard), I'd make some pretty significant changes to the composition. As is, I'm just trying to show everything on the screen in a general position (at the end of the scene).
More importantly, I'd like to solicit some feedback concerning the lighting/setting. One of the problems I'm having is that my initial desire is for the scene to take place at night. Of course, I have a couple problems with accomplishing this. The first is that with the cel-shaders, having the windows of the Dystopia City Blocks lit up is, AFAIK, nearly impossible. Also, even though the light source is coming from below (as it would at high elevation at night), it's still too bright; and I've not had good luck with retaining image detail at lower intensity settings.
Of course, there are two other alternatives that might set an acceptable mood: overcast and generally gray or orange-ish burning skies. Both have their merits and would be easier, IMO, to execute, but they both have tonal drawbacks for me as well. The gray sky, gloomy, rainy, Seattle thing is fine (I live in the area) but it might be harder to capture the mood with cel-shading. And the fiery, post apocalyptic sky might be too out there for the tone I'm generally going for. But then, either of those is more acceptable than unsatisfactory results with lighting night-time scenes. Of course, clear blue skies are NOT even a consideration... :P
Also, this brings up the brightness/lightness levels of the the background layers. I'm aware that they should be reversed in a daytime setting - i.e. objects farther away should be lighter, less detailed, and more out of focus. However, since my initial attempt was for a night-time scene, I thought, possibly erroneously (I don't have any formal art training), that the layers farther away should be darker .
Anyway, those are my thoughts on this image so far but I'm really interested in objective outside opinions.
And finally, here's the rundown on the scene (D|S 4.5 Pro; postwork in Photoshop, notably Gaussian Blur applied to non-FG):
kChan's Base Character, Character Morph, Body Morph, Hair:
see earlier post introducing kChan
kChan's Pose:
custom
kChan's Outfit:
ArtemisX (DAZ 3D, ElorOnceDark)
kChan's Sword [inc. scabbard and crab]:
Kyouran: The Fury for V3 (ElorOnceDark)
Catwalk:
The Core (DAZ 3D, Stonemason)
Vehicle [inc. poses]:
Centurion Troop Carrier (DAZ 3D, Serrge)
Pilots:
see earlier post introducing Civic Security Trooper
Background Buildings:
Dystopia City Blocks [various sets] (Ajax, billy home, Moebius87)
Shaders (for everything):
Visual Style Shaders (BishounenTaurus, DraagonStorm)
Light:
Manga Style Freebie Pack 1 (BishounenTaurus)
Thoughts? Comments? Questions? I'd love to hear it!
-Damon
I am not a fan of cel-shading - just doesn't have that Bladerunner ( love the movie ) feel to it .
I would like to see say 5 sec. of animation with your music - then I would have a better idea of
you are trying to do .
Interesting idea .
All the best .
Yeah, I know cel-shading isn't everyone's cup of tea. And, honestly, it's fairly tricky to get a 'dark' mood while retaining decent graphics. Personally, I think Akira is about as close to that balance as I've seen. But with this project (at least currently), I'm going for more of an anime/manga vibe than truly 'dark' - from a visual standpoint, specifically.
Right now, I don't really have any animation done in the current style. I've found that pre-production is pretty significant and that when I decide to focus on a specific idea, I find myself mired in the foundation work, so to speak. I do hope to have something by the end of the week... we'll see.
In the meantime, I can direct you to a video I uploaded to YouTube in '07. I'd say it's probably PG-13 (for suggestive almost nudity). Visually, the tone here is fairly dark, certainly much darker than I foresee it being in the future. But then, thematically it's just as dark now as it was then. You can also see the evolution of the character(s)/story ideas.
A quick note about the music - this was intended to be an introduction to the "EP" GO (as well as the character of kChan). I may have other versions where the mix is slightly different but for the most part it is the final version (as opposed to other songs which are in total flux).
And one last thing... one of the main reasons I've migrated over to a cel-shaded style is that I felt that keeping the "realistic" 3D look of Poser/D|S renders is a bit of a dead-end. That's not meant to be a criticism of the medium; it's just not suited, IMO, for quality animation. I guess, that applies more to the figures than the software. Specifically, pretty much all figures for that format, while easy to use/pose, rarely look very natural when animated. And I've found that the more realistic the actual renders are, the more it highlights this when animated. That said, I think they can look fantastic in still images - even without any postwork.
Anyway, here's the YouTube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAfcYMB4NFg
Feedback - questions, comments, whatever - is encouraged! Let me know what you guys think!
-Damon
Yeah, I know cel-shading isn't everyone's cup of tea. And, honestly, it's fairly tricky to get a 'dark' mood while retaining decent graphics. Personally, I think Akira is about as close to that balance as I've seen. But with this project (at least currently), I'm going for more of an anime/manga vibe than truly 'dark' - from a visual standpoint, specifically.
Right now, I don't really have any animation done in the current style. I've found that pre-production is pretty significant and that when I decide to focus on a specific idea, I find myself mired in the foundation work, so to speak. I do hope to have something by the end of the week... we'll see.
In the meantime, I can direct you to a video I uploaded to YouTube in '07. I'd say it's probably PG-13 (for suggestive almost nudity). Visually, the tone here is fairly dark, certainly much darker than I foresee it being in the future. But then, thematically it's just as dark now as it was then. You can also see the evolution of the character(s)/story ideas.
A quick note about the music - this was intended to be an introduction to the "EP" GO (as well as the character of kChan). I may have other versions where the mix is slightly different but for the most part it is the final version (as opposed to other songs which are in total flux).
And one last thing... one of the main reasons I've migrated over to a cel-shaded style is that I felt that keeping the "realistic" 3D look of Poser/D|S renders is a bit of a dead-end. That's not meant to be a criticism of the medium; it's just not suited, IMO, for quality animation. I guess, that applies more to the figures than the software. Specifically, pretty much all figures for that format, while easy to use/pose, rarely look very natural when animated. And I've found that the more realistic the actual renders are, the more it highlights this when animated. That said, I think they can look fantastic in still images - even without any postwork.
Anyway, here's the YouTube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAfcYMB4NFg
Feedback - questions, comments, whatever - is encouraged! Let me know what you guys think!
-Damon
like the video - good stills ( for me its better then what you are doing now )
Thanks! I hadn't really looked at any of the older stuff in at least six months - I forgot how much I liked it. But again, the problem is that I don't really feel there's anywhere to go with it. I feel like the ultimate potential of that format is just animated-camera storyboards.
Also, there's the logistical problems; for one thing, rendering takes FOREVER and that's not accounting for issues such as lighting (tweaking ad-infinitum to get that perfect subtle look). With the cel-shaders, once I tweaked some properties they render like lightning. Rendering standard textures at a quality resolution just takes way too long for my taste.
Honestly, if it was feasible for me to use the full blown 3D 'realistic' look and accomplish as much, that'd be great. But I just don't see it happening with the resources available to me.
Anyway, thanks for the feedback. It's nice to hear other perspectives.
-Damon
OK, so in the process of sifting through old projects/renders/videos I came across some HD stuff that visually I really liked. Of course, this complicates the whole issue of what I'm trying to accomplish, but I thought it was worth taking a look at. I just uploaded another video to YouTube (new channel 'cos I can't access my old one - go figure).
This one is circa late 2010 and shows a hybrid style. The renders are 'photo-realistic' (more or less) but there is not true 3D The different layers were rendered separately and then composited in Vegas. They were then blurred and panned to create a pseudo-3D effect (like I've been doing with the cel-shaded stuff).
The song is DEVOTION, the one I've been focusing on lately (see earlier posts). It's the first 'real' track on the GO 'ep'. The vocals were done with an early version of Vocaloid (Lola?) and are pretty much at a scratch-demo level (as is the music itself). You get an idea of the song/lyrics at least. It's only a snippet of the first verse but I think it gives you a feel for generally what I'm doing here.
http://youtu.be/HmnhNpg-K1Q
Anyway, this might be a decent way to approach things but I still feel this limits the potential of the project. I mean, where do I go from here?
Again, feedback is encouraged! I'd love to hear what you guys think of what I'm doing and maybe how I should/could proceed from here.
-Damon
Looks interesting. i like the concept and i like the way the cel shaded renders are looking. Kinda reminds me of one of my favorite old PlayStation games 'Fear effect'.
editing to add youtube video of the game so anyone can see what i was talking about if you have never heard of it.
Fear effect video
kind of like the other - so you lean more toward stills ( nothing wrong with it ) then add effects .
like the music .
how long does it take to render a still ( if its over 10 min. I go nuts - did one for 3hours once ) ?
At 1.43 meters, K-Chan is tiny, well under 5 feet tall; specifically, 4ft 8 19⁄64 in. Was that intentional? I ask because he image of your character has the proportions of someone quite a bit taller.
LOL- no, it was not intentional. Looks like I typed 56" instead of 66" into the conversion box. I guess that's one of the joys of living in pretty much the last country to not adopt the metric system. I prefer it for its logic (1/10/100/100 instead of 1/12/26/63360) but after several decades of 'standard' measurement, much of it is still a bit foreign to me.
Yeah, I guess 1.43m (4'8") would've been an interesting choice but then if her weight was still 54kg (119 lbs), she certainly would NOT look so lean. I see her as having an athletic physique - which I think the above image fits - but the only athlete I could imagine at 4'8"/119 lbs. would be a power lifter or sumo wrestler...
Anyway, her height should, in fact, be 1.68m (5'6"); I've already edited the original post. Thanks for the pointing that out - I'm sure it was a bit of a head scratcher for the metric folks out there.
-Damon
LOL- no, it was not intentional. Looks like I typed 56" instead of 66" into the conversion box. I guess that's one of the joys of living in pretty much the last country to not adopt the metric system. I prefer it for its logic (1/10/100/100 instead of 1/12/26/63360) but after several decades of 'standard' measurement, much of it is still a bit foreign to me.
Yeah, I guess 1.43m (4'8") would've been an interesting choice but then if her weight was still 54kg (119 lbs), she certainly would NOT look so lean. I see her as having an athletic physique - which I think the above image fits - but the only athlete I could imagine at 4'8"/119 lbs. would be a power lifter or sumo wrestler...
Anyway, her height should, in fact, be 1.68m (5'6"); I've already edited the original post. Thanks for the pointing that out - I'm sure it was a bit of a head scratcher for the metric folks out there.
-Damon
Yeah, 1.68m definitely sounds more logical based upon the picture and her weight.
Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, I vaguely remember Fear Effect coming out, but I didn't really play a lot of video games so I wasn't really familiar with it. It looks pretty good for 13 year old 3D - especially for a game environment . It seems to have a very cool cyberpunk feel; I can definitely see the similarities in style/tone to what I'm trying to do.
-Damon
kind of like the other - so you lean more toward stills ( nothing wrong with it ) then add effects .
like the music .
how long does it take to render a still ( if its over 10 min. I go nuts - did one for 3hours once ) ?
Right now, I'm exploring the idea of a web-comic in some format. It might be a more feasible goal than animation (at least for me working solo). Of course, there's still some challenges I'll have to assess from that perspective but I think it might be the best of both worlds in a sense.
As far as the music goes, I'll try to post the whole song somewhere so anyone can listen if they want. Let me know if you guys have any preferences on how to access it - it's a 3mb mp3. Again, keep in mind that it's just a very rough demo. For instance, as you'll be able to hear, that version of Vocaloid has some pretty severe limitations. Regardless, I think it's as decent a representation of the song as you can expect from a 'demo'.
Rendering times seem to be all over the place for me. Part of the problem is that, over the course of this project to date, I've been using different software, computers, artistic techniques, etc. The HD 'realistic'-style images were done using Poser 7 on a decent machine but I don't remember exactly how long the renders took. I can't imagine they took more than 30 minutes (per layer) but to be honest, I'm guessing it was probably closer to ten minutes. Of course, the lighting schemes on those were pretty intricate and I seem to recall rendering and re-rendering a lot to get what I was after.
Ultimately, that's one of the toughest hurdles for me to overcome when working on animation. When I have to wait anywhere from an hour to 8 hours for a 1-2 second clip at a decent resolution to render, making adjustments becomes mind-numbingly tedious. So hopefully, transitioning into a web-comic format can allow me to transcend just the 'music video' paradigm and tell more of the story. Of course that doesn't me I'm ditching the music video - the two approaches are symbiotic and I need both (whatever the second may be) to keep inspired. So even though I need to be aware of what I plan to do in the big picture, the 'music-video' will be what I'm spending most of my time on right now.
Anyway, thanks for the input - it really helps me focus in on what I realistically can/want to accomplish.
Thanks!
-Damon