Gildedguy & the Dragon of Mar is Out in the Wild!

Now that the animation has been out for a few weeks, it is time for me to have some closing thoughts on this project. If you are curious about what goes into making a pilot-length animation, this post might be of interest to you.

If you haven’t seen it already, you can right here!

Longest Production Yet!

For a 30-minute long animation, the project needed to be split into separate chapters, each taking between 1-6 months each to finish. The most taxing chapters (4 & 6) contained extensive fight choreography and 3D-modelling, so they each took about half a year to finish.

July 2022 – Released Gildedguy & the RHG
September 2022 – Started Production
October 2022 – Finished Chapter 1 (of 7)
November 2022 – Finished Chapter 2
January 2023 – Finished Chapter 3
– Begin Chapter 4 (Battle 1)
— 6 months pass + Animated Proposal Side Project —
July 2023 – Finished Chapter 4 (Battle 1)
– Released Teaser Trailer
September 2023 – Finished Chapter 5
October 2023 – Begin Chapter 6 (Battle 2)
January 2024 – Released Official Trailer
— Production Crunch —
April 2024 – Finished Chapter 6 (Battle 2) & 7
May 2024 – Polished & Final Release!

Important Note for those Estimating for their own projects: I am an experienced animator who is able to sustain full-time work on this personal project thanks to Patronage. My budget allows for part-time freelancers to support my efforts. In terms of pure work hours, we all equated to ~2 full-time artists.

A few weeks ago I wrote a long “post-mortem”, which is a self-reflective report on what went right and wrong with a project. It poses important questions like:

• What were the initial goals and objectives of the project?
• Was the project completed on time? If not, what caused the delays?
• What feedback did you receive throughout the project?
• What areas of the project were weak or could be improved?

One of the last questions the post-mortem posed was this, and, for me, it’s the most important takeaway:

Q. What did you learn from this project about animation, project management, or working with others?

A. I learned about the raw man-power requirements that a full quality 30-minute animation needs. It is literally too much for one full-time animator to handle alone. I learned that team-members are often in vastly different seasons of their lives (getting married, just a student, open/ready for work, just got laid off), and that it greatly impacts how much they can contribute. I learned that at the end of a large project like this, that even if all you want to do is rest and put the project behind you, it’s still important to properly credit and honor your team members and celebrate together.

Essentially, it’s NOT a solo-endeavor, and strong leadership skills are essential if the finish line is to be reached. 30-minutes of animation should not be done alone. Not if you want it to be good!

I embraced this idea fairly late into the project, which resulted in rapid recruiting during crunch time. And even after doubling the team’s size, I wished I had delegated more!

My Favorite Scene

The scene where Gildedguy’s robot forcibly bridges his hull with the dragon’s chest was inspired by the battle’s musical track “The Space Between”. As I was listening to the breakdown of the song, the instrumentals have a distinct “crunchy” guitar sound that felt like grinding metal to me. I knew I wanted to synchronize the animation to this unique sound, and I also needed our two combatants to engage in close quarters swordplay. The music just lent itself to a hype moment, and a careful balance of anticipation needed to be written.

The type of feeling I wanted viewers to have was “Ah mecha vs dragon, that’s cool, I guess the bigger one will win….OH WAIT! THEY’RE ABOUT TO TRADE FISTS!”

Something about pilots, pirates, and drivers ejecting themselves from their crafts to get up close and personal is just so cool. I think it’s because it displays the warrior’s spirit – that even though these fighters are expertly trained with their steeds, they are able and willing to put their own bodies on the line at a moment’s notice.

The scene’s choreography was done by DonnieBoots, and then later refined by myself and the rest of the team. I wanted there to be a variety of attacks that showcased each of the character’s weapons (Gildedguy’s stretchy slashes and Mar’s fiery swings).

Wonderful Feedback

Firstly, I want to say I’ve been fervently consuming all the reactions and discussion about the animation ever since it came out, and I’m pleased with its general reception. One of the primary goals of animation is to, at the very least, entertain. So I’m glad we were able to do that with a lengthier story.

Many questions have been raised about the characters, their history, and the meaning behind the ending. Just as many answers & explanations have also been offered by viewers, with many of them “getting it“.

I am noticing a fair bit of story confusion (“why did he/she do this/that”) that could only be remedied by repliers giving explanations. I’ll have to try better next time to make character actions more clear.

Other, deeper forms of feedback have also been brought to my attention regarding the parallels Story #8 draws to real life. It can be said that you can’t “truly” understand and experience the story unless you are privy to the IRL-context, which is a fair point. I say that the story is designed to be watched both ways – as a fantastical allegory and also (but optionally) an inspired account of something I experienced.

Because of this, a handful of people are disgusted with how they think I depicted characters, to the point of refusing to watch the film, and telling me that they didn’t watch it.

However, at the same time, another handful of people have absolutely enjoyed the way characters were depicted, to the point of re-watching the film, and telling me that they loved it. People can really be wonderful.

Now What?

This was the most challenging project I’ve worked on because of it’s near 2-year duration. I even proposed & got married during its production. It really tested me and my team’s patience and diligence, but now we’re free!

Now that my (literal & figurative) honeymoon period is over, I’m ready to take on a new project. I am well satisfied with “Gildedguy & the Dragon of Mar” and I hope it brought enjoyment and insight to my viewers.

I feel well-equipped to employ 2D + 3D techniques and work with a team to make a smaller-scale, yet more fun and relaxed project. And I want it to be more fun for viewers too (so more behind-the-scenes livestreams & definitely a GildedGala). Think Gildedguy vs Jade & Basement Busk vibes with the polish of Story #8. This was originally a passion project from my wife (Rebekah/Rebonkulous/Violet) featuring production team member Voroxzii’s character, Dummy.

And now, Gilded Animation LLC. has successfully acquired the rights to produce it 😈

We’ll be focusing on two newer characters, whose journeys may cross paths with Gildedguy’s later on.

Violet, the willful marionette, enters Cirque Du Dummy