I said the next update would be around June, but it’s a bit late this time around. I’ve had a lot to deal with the past few months and am feeling a bit burnt out.
3D Models
I started doing more of my book/game models in May, and have been spending a bit longer on them than previous ones to make them more detailed and lower in polygons, which will yield greater optimization in the future projects they will be used for.
Speaking of what project these will be used for; my initial game project idea was a tad too ambitious now that I look back on it, so I am going to put it on the back bench and try something a bit smaller, which will still use these models. It may take me some time to work out how to make it function the way I want it to, but if I can get it how I want then it’ll be a lot of fun implementing it into the site and all the books that connect to it.
I rarely share any of my work outside the site these days, due to time limitations and other factors depending on the project, so the rare bit ends up on social media. Here some pictures of a few models I have worked on in May and June.
Some models are also suitable for 3D printing, and I have made my first ever articulated print-in-place figure! It isn’t perfect, but it has been a great learning opportunity for me, and I hope to make better use of the knowledge for more ambitious model work.
I plan to sell 3D prints from now on at Comic-con events I attend with Dreamie in a Bottle, as well as the STL files online when I am happy with them. More on this will be available in a future blog entry.
Book/Writing Progress
As I have been busy helping out with Dreamie in a Bottle, and tackling other issues with my mental health, I have had some time to write but it has been painfully slow and challenging to do as of late.
Heart of the Feles is making progress but I am unsure if I will meet my deadline of finishing the first draft by the end of the year, and whilst it would be better to split the book in half I would feel better keeping it as a trio of books rather than a quartet, even if it remained a “trilogy”.
Some aspects of Heart of the Feles have me excited and thirsty to write it out, but right now I am at the transition stage of events leading to that point, and it is a very slow build. If it’s painful for me to write, it will be hellish for the reader, so of course, massive amounts of editing will need to be done to it, but first, it needs writing out. You can’t paint the cat’s whiskers without painting the cat first!
The other book I have in the pipeline, The Maxwell Report, has not been touched at all, and I have no intentions of doing so until Heart of the Feles is finished or at least the 1st draft is done.
Dreamie in a Bottle
Aside from helping make my sister’s products, and doing stocking/supplying/bookkeeping, I have been working on some designs for my own products connected to my books! It’s still early days for them, but when they are ready you’ll see some previews on the DreamieinaBottle Instagram for sure!
Final Thoughts
Super burnt out! You know how it is though, I keep plodding on, conjuring new ideas, getting so far into them, and then they wither and die, or at least most of them do. Specimen G-13 has been super fortunate that hasn’t happened to it, and I thank my dreams for that, constantly feeding me with new material to enrich what already exists. It’s easier for me to work on something when I have the groundwork in place, hence why the guidebooks/compendiums exist; without them, this series would never have extended beyond book one.
I have major plans for refreshing the site, and it starts with axing projects that have been gathering dust for too long, with Donisaur sadly being the number one culprit. It may return, but I doubt it. Subject 218 will continue when Heart of the Feles and The Maxwell Report are both done. I really want to add some interactivity to the site, and the Edris Compendium has given me a fantastic idea, which will also work as a great starting point for my game developer journey. More will come on that subject in the next update, which will be around the start of October.
For now, I thank you for your patience, and hope to see you at one of the comic-con events!
Thomas