This is the long story of the previous blogentry. If TL, scroll for pitturz...
About Extra Credits
Tvtropes.com calls Extra Credits:
"(the show) that takes a deeper look at videogames: how they are made, what they mean, and how we can make them better. "
Since their very first episode I have been a big fan. I love the depth and the good research, I love the entertainment, the great visualisations of complicated topics and the many different solutions Dan, James and Allison offer for discussed problems. They usually have a very positive and motivating approach and its a great pleasure to watch them and discuss their input with friends and everybody who does not run away in time.
The episode
Gamifying Education (link will be updated as soon as this esisode is back in the internet) blew my mind. As the Credits where rolling, i started talking and talking because I really wanted to discuss the topic, but my boyfriend made me stop to see the credits... and there we were... him asking me for my hand in marriage. So... you know how much i love that show. So much, that my boyfriend made the efford to ask the amazing people for this favor. I cried for 2 hours out of happiness : )
Oh Noes!
Some weeks later I learnt as many other viewers, that the artist of the show - Allison Theus - got really sick and could not afford the operation necessary for her to continue drawing. Extra Credits started a
rockethub project to collect donations. Within hours they exceeded the goal. I do not seem to be the only one really loving these guys. Extra Credits would not be Extra Credits if they took the money and ran off with it to Mars. Read about the project they have planned on the rockethub-page!
But - alas! - I am about to finish university and could not give as much money as i liked, so I offered my drawing-skill0rz! I had in mind to help out coloring or cutting thumbnails or whatever needed to be done, but suddenly there came the mail: Yay! Do a whole episode!
Issues and Artist Angst
I was very hesitant at first. First: I never worked in Flash before. Second: Extra Credits has a lot of fans and they are used to Allison's visualisations. Allison Theus draws amazing creature designs and _could_ draw elaborate shows as well, but there is a reason for the show to look like it looks. I was afraid that the fans of the show would hate a different approach or even feel, that i was disrespectfull to the language Allison, Dan and James created.
In the end James and Dan reassured me, that they really liked different styles and the chance to have guest artist's on bord for exactly that reason.
The Process
Along with other artists (every one of them blew my mind!) I was allowed to chose a topic. Allison usually does one episode in one week. We got 2! And, oh boy, did I need this time. I had 1 1/2 Weeks to plan, think and draw the episode (the other days went into cursing codecs and acknowledging my utter n00bnes with moving pictures). I am so lucky to have a short episode and 2 weeks. Such an interesting topic and a great scale of emotions on the narrator Dan's voice. It was a blast! I thank everybody who helped me with their input.
Dan and Allison finally turned the flash into a video, because I could not slay the beast that is convert to .mov!
Thank You.
I hope, that the fans of the show see, how much i love Allison's visualisations and that i tried to keep close to her colors and many elements. But i did not want to copy her. Even though in the end the lovable stick figures are faster to draw, it would have taken me way longer to learn how to create these persons and make them look "original".
These are some of the drawings from the episode. My sincere apologies go to Bill Waterson, Terry Pratchett, and Cthullhu.
