Since Part 2 of this adventure, I spent my entire Summer learning a tiny bit more about Source Filmmaker.
I began keeping a notepad for my random SFM ideas and super duper secret plot stuff for my Servers webcomic. There are plenty of new, exciting, and hilarious stuff I would like to make and I cannot wait to properly share it. I want to properly up my work flow without facing significant burnout like last year’s 8-months of slump, so I aimed to make something new at least once-a-week.
Unlike a majority of SFM content I’ve seen from creators who make simplistic character portraits or a huge artistic scene, I aimed for a middle-ground: I want to tell a story by just looking at the picture of a character in a scenebuilt backdrop.
There are a few new things I’ve learned through the program, such as readjusting sliders to extend the focal distance, and creating fog out of a single light source.
Through the focus on my Instagram, I also looked to how to construct a good looking picture for the viewercount. I experimented with “teaser” thumbnails, regular size 1:1 size, and the usual rectangular picture (seen above). I also aimed to put the main subject in the center of the picture, so the thumbnail can show what they’re doing. This is so those who search one of the many crapton of hashtags I used, they may discover my work and maybe give a like and a follow. Some ideas worked, and others didn’t. It is strange. See more thoughts about Instagram here.
What I’ve learned through using the likes of social media is that SFM is still actively thriving. However with the looming presence of Blender attracting some of the most skilled creators toward that platform and Source 2 Filmmaker still in its infancy, SFM will have some odd years left in its juice. Maybe within the decade, Source 2 Filmmaker will take over.
Since I want to use some of the artwork I made as a wallpaper for my tablet, I began to export all of my work in 4K resolution, starting with the Maxis picture. Through that, I also shared the 4K picture in full no-compression quality through a Google Drive I tend to share around Reddit and DeviantArt. Some people have let me know they used my artwork as a wallpaper when I introduced this new method, which is great!
Thanks to the improving quality of my work, it has finally entered the next stage of popularity: Getting reposted in other sites and on Youtube videos.
Much like what I tend to do with my comics, I also began to detail a bit about the behind the scenes and showing the progress of a picture. However, unlike my comics, where it tends to be an anecdotal “Author’s Notes” at the end of a comic or having a dedicated blog post, the behind the scenes are limited to a couple tweets.
To tell the truth, showcasing these “behind the scenes” information wasn’t really planned from the beginning, but more so that these “progresses” were needed whenever I asked other SFM creators for help on a picture. A “current” work-in-progress picture needed some fair criticism, tips, and second set of eyes, something I would never get when I make comics. Thanks to the r/SFM Discord’s help section, my pictures have improved ten-fold.
But like I said in the previous blog post, I don’t consider myself an expert yet, and that’s perfectly fine. Every major project I undertake will always end up being educational in many different ways.
Oh, and I’ve been picked up to do commissions for a Youtube channel. Commissions are a whole different can of worms altogether, but I think it is too early to give my impressions. At some point, there will be a blog post about commissions.
I have noticed that the common layman, such as Call of Duty fans, love SFM-made content. There is also a drought of proper CoD fanart, which is probably how and why I got picked up to do commissions for a Warzone clip channel.
Despite all these type of praises, SFM creators would be a bit mum about my work, preferring scenic artwork or those that push the envelope on lightning a scene. It is one that I hope to learn and undertake, depending if I can find the right artwork to make out of it.
I am not immune to making mistakes, as much like my comics, I would re-read or re-look at a completed and shared work, and judge it. A lot. Sometimes when I work on a project, I would be hyperfocused on a couple particular aspects, I would fail to notice a glaring error (or two) once I began to share it around the internet.
As an example, in the picture above, I shared a version where the middle character’s arm is clipping with the right character’s. It was terrible. I went back into SFM, fixed the clipping, and then I had to touch it up in PhotoPea all over again. Sometimes there are things you can easily problem-solve with simple Photoshop/PhotoPea, but most of the time, the proper way to do it is to go back into SFM and fix it. It was already too late to change the error in the Discord servers where I revealed it due to those fast-paced natures, but with DeviantArt, Instagram, and Twitter, it was a matter of deleting and reposting.
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