#project city

[historyhermann]

The Promise of Rad Sechrist’s “Project City” [Part 1]

In November 2021, Rad Sechrist, creator of the well-regarded series, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, announced the creation of a platform known as Project City. Writer, comedian, and musician Ethan Becker, director and storyboarder Chase Conley, and character designer, storyboarder, and illustrator Coran Kizer Stone, joined on as co-creators of this platform.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs, my History Hermann WordPress blog on Jan. 23, 2023, and Wayback Machine. This was the tenth article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on February 6, 2022.

Project City was formerly named the Rad How to School, when it was only an animation school. Sechrist recently described the platform as “like several small creator owned studios banding together” to tell stories they wanted. In this article, I’ll examine Project City and projects on the platform. I’ll also discuss the project’s impact on the animation industry and indie animation space.

The official website of Project City describes it as a “project based platform for learning how to create animation.” It proposes a way for artists to fund their own projects by “splitting up the Intellectual Property into Fractional shares” that anyone can buy. This will allow fans to “fund the projects that they want to see happen and artists get to create their vision.” Future profits go to the IP holder. They are then “divided amongst investors and creators, according to their ownership percentages,” in a process known as fractional intellectual property or F-IP for short.

The site says it is trying to seek stories from creators providing “diverse perspectives that explore controversial subject matter” that larger studios wouldn’t touch, while trying to “teach students the ins and outs of animation…[and] allowing them to invest in animated projects.”

The website’s FAQ says that Project City lets people “learn how to make animation” by working on their own projects and offering classes about the “different stages of the production process.” [1] The same FAQ states that there is a Discord, notes that people can access classes they paid for until their account is inactive, and answers specific questions about projects and teachers. All in all, this platform, which reportedly has a small staff, shows promise beyond anything in the usual studio system.

Project City’s section for animation classes has courses taught by top professionals in the animation industry. These classes focus on voice acting, animation programs, storyboarding, artwork fundamentals, pitching a series, and concept art. Others talk about character design, life drawing, film making, writing for animation, and fundamentals of animation storyboarding.

One of the more interesting sections is about investing in your favorite projects. There are four projects ready to be funded as soon as the F-IP process begins. All four have begun pre-production: Wonna the Wanderer, Robot Hunter: Rossum, Delinquents, and The Brave War.

Conley, Sechrist, Becker, and Stone, with Prynoski on the screen in the background, in a January 28 video talking about their projects

The first of these series is by Coran Kizer Stone. Its story is simple: a young girl named Wonna wanders into a forest, meeting an old man who sends her on “the most dangerous missions to meet and destroy the most powerful beings” in this world. Currently, it has a script, storyboards, an animatic, and visual development.

The second series is by Chase Conley. In this series, artificial humans known as Primus Proxies have taken mankind prisoner. When a robot champion, Robot Hunter Rossum, appears to kill off the robot oppressors, the real champion, the real Rossum, watches, deciding whether it will aid or stop the impostor.

The third series is by Ethan Becker. It is about “kindness and having fun” with a series of short stories. It is set in the real world rather than a fantasy one. There are characters, such as Pat and Titi, who struggle over whether to kill people, Bo, who has a crush on Zoey, best friends Zoey and Su, and a boy named Max who misses his family.

The final series, The Brave War, is a unique one because Sechrist is one of the co-creators, with writer and director Andra Gunter and Daniel Rojas. This animated film focuses on a group of young graffiti artists “from Watts make a punk song that goes viral.” Before they fulfill their wishes, a “kaiju apocalypse happens, destroying the world and their plans.”

In keeping with Sechrist’s desire for more young adult animation, this is a young adult “2d animated movie with all original music,” featuring Nya Durango, a painter and clothing designer who is 16 years old, an avid drawer C.J., also known as Caleb James, who is 12, and wants to prove himself to Nya and her friends. There’s a crew leader known for his incomplete ideas, Knowledge Croswell, and his little sibling, Essence, who has a “quiet dry sense of humor.”

The series has already been promoted on the Kipo subreddit, where it is described as the “next project after Kipo.” [2] Andra and Rojas previously both worked on Kipo. Specifically, Andra wrote some songs for Kipo, while Rojas composed music for the series.

On the Kipo subreddit, Sechrist said that music for The Brave War will be composed by Rojas. He described it as separate from Kipo and stated that The Brave War may turn into a bigger series in the future. He argued that The Brave War, in terms of its content, is “somewhere between Guardians of the Galaxy, Walking Dead, and Attack on Titan. Sechrist noted that one of the film’s character, Essence, is non-binary. He further explained that in the film, creatures/monsters are affected by people’s energy, whether they are good or bad. He also argued that the film will have the highest quality animation possible. The show was promoted on other subreddits as well. Sechrist is also working with Gunter on Kin, an animated music series about a demon girl named Kin who falls in love with an angel, and after the angel’s death, goes on a “revenge mission to kill God.”

The platform also has a number of other projects in different stages of completion. This includes stories about miners (Amythias), anime battles (Sideman vs. Beta Squad), a girl who tries to survive in a dangerous, dark cave (Nina), a student who has to face off against a robotic food service who tries to put local food trucks “out of business” (Soul Food), two sisters with magical powers (Hanh and Minh), a young Chupacabra taking chances in an annual band battle (Monstar), and an inter-dimensional wrestling championship (Battle Dimension). There are others about houseless people (Hobos), a mythical shapeshifting monster (Lagahoo Girl), supernatural high school sophomores (Revamped), supernatural gangs (Spirit Fist), a teen girl who accidentally time travels (Time Trip), or a series taking place inside of a video game (Digital Hijinks).

There are various projects consisting of creators sharing fan art, fan comics, webzines, short films, graphic novels, or trying out their storyboarding and drawing. Some projects focus on topics such as masked wrestling (Los Torneos), a gangster trying to leave his brothers (Old Dog), superhuman spies (Titan Effect), a space fighter pilot and his team (Ganymede), and friends who beat up angels (The Pact).

Others share ideas for magic, mystery, thriller, horror, neo-noir, sci-fi fantasy, adventure, humor, action, sports, supernatural, detective, and slice-of-life animated series. [3] The same site hosts various webcomics, including a sci-fi comic with nudity titled For Those Who Wonder, an adventure story titled Boundless!, and a comedic, fantasy action titled Taverns and Tentacles. [4] While there is a lot there, I wish the site was better organized with more subcategories.

Before looking into Project City, I was only familiar with The Figments, The Garden Age, and Indigo. The head writer and project manager of The Figments, Jennifer Rust, who I have mentioned in past articles, is the creator of The Journey for Our Lives, Planet Magi, and Little Wolf, all on Project City. The Figments is created by Kip, creator of the webtoon Welcome To Sleepy Hollow. In an interesting aside, before it became an animated series, Kipo was a webcomic which ran for 32 issues on a website run by Sechrist. Some of the webcomics on Project City may follow the same path.

On January 7, Sechrist said they were going to do a “very small test run of FIP shares to fund just one shot of Brave War to start,” and asked if there are some cool anime-style animators and background artists he should know about. This led artists and animators to promote themselves in the comments.

On January 28, Ethan Becker posted a video on his channel entitled “I quit my NETFLIX job for this.” In the video, Becker said that they are trying to produce shows that major studios are too afraid to touch, explained what F-IP is, and described a few projects they are working on.

This includes a show by Titmouse Chris Prynoski, who produced shows like The Legend of Vox Machina, The Midnight Gospel, Metalocalypse, and Megas XLR. He described his series in development, Leafland, which has no plot, no characters, just feelings, and experience getting high.

Becker talked about his show, Delinquents, with all the “good” characters killed off. Instead it focuses on the bad kids who live in an abusive household. He said that he would be incorporating many of his personal experiences into the show. He hoped that the show would be something that a lot of kids could relate to.

Gunter, who is working on The Brave War with Sechrist and Rojas, talked about how the film deals with a sense of abandonment. Sechrist described the film as going “against the grain.” Gunter also argued that with animation there is more of a range to make things “real,” with the film placing Black characters in “stressful situations.” He later noted that the show’s title comes from his name in German.

Conley, the creator of Robot Hunter: Rossum, said that none of the projects he had worked on for the last ten years truly represented him. He described how certain aspects of Saturday morning cartoons resonated with him, keeping him going, and giving him inspiration.

Stone, creator of Wonna the Wanderer, described how his characters exist as “emotional beings” in a world. Instead of being heroes or villains, they would be characters who exist. Wonna, the series protagonist, has to battle entities from an artificially created universe, all while she doesn’t realize she is in a simulated world.

Sechrist, Becker, Gunter, and Conley shared the names of actors or actresses they’d like to work with, if they could, and continued to pass around a mic literally attached to a butcher’s knife. It will be interesting to see all four of them (Becker, Gunter, Sechrist, and Conley) come together and talk about their projects every week.

Project City has the potential to expand the indie animation space beyond the scattered, often crowdfunded series on YouTube, some of which are in development and a few which are currently airing like Ollie & Scoops and Helluva Boss. Whether the platform is pioneering or not, it allows for more independence for creators in the series, movies, music, or shows they create. It is also really cool, with its fun and slick design. More significantly, it provides people with a platform to fund and create their own projects outside of using crowdfunding sites like GoFundMe, Kickstarter, and Patreon, meaning that it could be a game changer of sorts. [5] It is, as aspiring screenwriter Wade McGrath described it, “a kickstarter for animation…that also functions as a platform for people to hire other creatives.”

From the chatter on Twitter and responses on YouTube, it seems to be a place that creatives, allowing any possible intellectual property, including a Craig of the Creek storyboarder and it has the “potential to collaborate” with others, allowing “cool projects” to flourish. There are over 3,000 members on the Discord for the platform. Hopefully, Project City will be a boon for indie animation and push the animation industry in a direction that favors creators.

© 2022-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[hotimaginator]

Official banner for Two Islands.

[1tcaro]

ideas for character design class @ project city !

[thatsleepymermaid]

I haven't heard people talking about this much, but I feel like it's important for people to know. Especially since SB 63 essentially bans bail funds by not allowing organizations, charities, individuals, or groups to bail out more than three people per year and requiring them to register as bonding agencies.

This is a direct response to all the protests happening here in Atlanta. So far, spreading the word can help as well as donating to The Atlanta Solidarity Fund .

In the meantime, here's some phone numbers of politicians you can go bug.

Randy Robertson (Guy who's sponsoring the bill): +1-404-656-0045

Brian Kemp (Governor of Georgia): +1-404-656-1776

[citroncynique]

It's Mothers' Day in France, today. Or perhaps it was yesterday, I don't know.

[minhtblue]

you're not alone!

[deep-space-lines]

I MADE MYSELF AN EARTHMOVER

The idea that earthmover plushie was something i could realistically maybe make was beamed into my brain on friday may 10th at exactly 11:23 PM and then proceeded to consume my entire weekend. i did not know if this would work but i did it. i made him. my weird lopsided dog Benjamin

(I'd be happy to write up the pattern/instructions if people are interested- I think it'd be pretty simple to recreate since he's like 90% rectangles- but be warned that I have never tried to draft a plushie pattern from scratch before and it's kinda janky as hell the way the legs are attached feels like one of those illegal lego techniques so you have to promise not to make fun of me ok)

[lusilver001]

Councilor Sophie ✨

[historyhermann]

An Alternative to the Studio System?: Indie Animation Forges Ahead [Part 3]

continued from part 2. Split because Tumblr claimed there was an error in the post.

Just as exciting are the shows by Black creators. I've mentioned a few in this post already, including Creative Theory, Brandon Wright, Wisdom Nunn, Lucha Vandross, Nya, and Pia. For one, there's a 2D animated series named Jumbie, produced by a small studio in Trinidad and Tobago, GemGfx Animation Studios. Originally scheduled for release in February of this year, the Jumbie pilot was delayed to February 2023, because the studio was working on a music video for "A Better Tomorrow", a song by Mark Loquan, featuring Terri Lyons, which came out in April. With that, Jumbie is going forward.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs, my History Hermann blog, and Wayback Machine. This was the eleventh article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on July 15, 2022.

In addition, there is an animated hiphop musical entitled Battu, which is scheduled to become an animated series on Cartoon Network. The latter has also picked up a show drawing from Nigerian culture entitled Iyanu: Child of Wonder to be overseen by a Black-owned animation studio, Lion Forge Animation. Before Disney Branded Television was headed by Ayo Davis, a Black woman, it agreed to pick up Iwájú. The latter is an Africanfuturist series set in Lagos, Nigeria. Disney is co-producing it with Kugali Media, a Pan-African entertainment company.

There are many other Black indie creators. There's Vampire Nwt's suspense mystery show entitled Blackwater Creek. It has queer Afro-Latine leads named after magic, monsters, and fruits! Even more exciting is Captain Zero. It is an action drama about a social media-obsessed superhero named Captain Zero who "must find the cause of his depression-fueled blackouts in order to save his city and himself." The series is created by a Black non-binary illustrator, filmmaker, and writer, Lamard Cher-Aimé. It is produced by a Black-owned animation company, Cutting Edge Animation.

This animated series tackles "mental health in the Black community, identity," according to Cher-Aimé. Currently, five seasons, 4 specials, and a feature film for Captain Zero are planned. The show's GoFundMe states that with enough money it can turn the show into a reality. The show, and another produced by Cutting Edge Animation, Space Friends, are often promoted by Cher-Aimé. They often ask their followers to name show characters, and showcase series art and related merchandise. Interviews, Q&As, and more further pull in potential viewers on the show's YouTube channel.

Recently, a short five-minute film entitled "Captain Zero: Into The Abyss", funded in part by Chromatic Black's Ida B. Wells fund, aired. It stars the Black trans actress Angelica Ross, who is the film's executive producer. The film focuses on a therapy session of Xerxes Hughes, aka Captain Zero, with Dr. Niobe (voiced by Ross). It was posted on the show's YouTube channel. It is within a video that is about 1 hour, 50 minute video, complete with mental health professionals, Ross, Cher-Aimé, and others talked about the film, Black representation in animation and comics, mental health, and many other topics.

These series prove what Ashley Nichols said: that "anyone can tell an amazing story." It also seems to prove that people with vision and passion can make "god tier animation". Amazing animation doesn't always need a "studio behind it with a million dollars." There is no clear answer for making indie animation viable. After all, people can still steal content of an indie animation and profit off it.

Even so, some have supported waiting longer for series to come to fruition, giving those producing it more time to rest, polish their ideas, and make the shows better. Furthermore, there is no doubt that corporate media fails to represent many aspects of society, with indie animation making cooler content despite the need for funds. There are the continual challenges of people not taking animation seriously.

Unsurprisingly, there have been calls for a website for indie animated series which works like Webtoon. The Animation for Adults site proposed an awards show just for indie animation. Creator Nation promoted a Discord server for indie creators, indie animated shows, and indie comics. Some noted news of Netflix's war with its animation department by letting go many of its animation employees. Many creators responded sharing their series or pilots in the process. It has led more toward indie animation.

Creators have seen indie animation as the way to go. Some said that creators should do promos for other indie animations or said that now is the most important time to support, and follow, indie projects. This is coupled with the realization (and recognition) that those in the animation industry don't have stable jobs.

Then, there's Project City, created by Rad Sechrist, well-known as the showrunner of Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts. In February, I argued that Project City has "the potential to expand the indie animation space beyond...often crowdfunded series on YouTube". I stated that it allows for "more independence for creators in the series, movies, music, or shows they create." While it is amazing that Sechrist is funding, and creating, his next film (The Brave War), co-created with Andra Gunter and Daniel Rojas, independently, progress on the platform is somewhat slow.

There was lukewarm reception to his idea that people who buy shares in a project "have the right to make and sell merch" but have to "drop profits back into our system that distributes to all IP owners". Some about the potential use of NFTs, which Sechrist realized was a good point. He is strongly against NFTs and for good reason. Others called it "iffy", said the execution could be tricky, or worried it could set a bad precedent. On the other hand, there were those more receptive to Sechrist's idea.

Project City now emphasizes its role as an animation school, including 15-minute lectures on various topics, and is now defined as a "project based platform for learning how to create animation." Back in March, Sechrist said they are continuing with F-IP (fractional IP), where people could buy shares of an IP, but are not using Blockchain or NFT, and stated they would be launching it within the next month. That did not happen. The idea continues to be developed. A tweet from the project's account used the #FIP hashtag on June 24. But, there haven't been many more updates beyond that, as Sechrist last mentioned it in a tweet on January 7.

On the other hand, on June 18, Sechrist said that they have been wanting to take steps toward making Project City "a streaming platform of creators learning and sharing their process/knowledge." He added that Project City takes "no ownership of IP people post". Anyone can post and delete any video they have posted. In addition, he said they were considering allowing people to post 1 minute clips on the site. Ultimately, Project City may be part of what Avara describes, giving people a platform who wouldn't have it "in the traditional studio setting". More fundamentally, it is part of allowing creators to share stories on their own terms.

© 2022-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[hotimaginator]

Storyboard practice!

[socksandbuttons]

anyway kc returns theory am i right???

Spoopy man go brrrr

[keymintt]

some public art illustrations for a change! these were printed on vinyl for the sides and top of a traffic cabinet !!

[katabay]

original thief series basso & garrett :)

ngl, it's about quality over quantity for me. an npc can have a total of three minutes of screen time, but if they have a cool name, they can live rent free in my head and I'll spend several hours trying to decipher drawable features from a blurry screenshot of pixels

there is a vague hint of a story here, and that's because every time I try to play thi4f, I get incredibly frustrated with how Not Fun the game play is. like, is the story good? well. but it has a PLAGUE. that should've given it instant 'I'll replay this once a year' status in my heart, but the game play sucks so bad that I've never finished it. I can't believe Not Fun gameplay beat out my obsession with narrative plagues.

anyway, the idea is basically if the original era had a game with a plague centric narrative and some other stuff I liked out of thi4f thrown into a narrative blender, with a heavy dash of horror thrown in because some parts of the thief games were scarier to me than entire dedicated horror genre games.

⭐ places I’m at! bsky / pixiv / pillowfort /cohost / cara.app

[project-sekai-facts]

Multiple early events had their names changed on the EN server despite already being in English, such as Color of Myself! -> My Color! and Period of NOCTURNE -> Nocturne Interlude. The first events with English titles in the original game that were not changed for EN were Secret Distance and STRAY BAD DOG, releasing in the same month. When this was posted to Twitter, many fans celebrated the names staying the same, with the official account responding to one user joking that STRAY BAD DOG will “still be Lost Happy Dogs” in their hearts, mocking their own localisations.

[exo-dus404]

My Transformers AU: Project Silver City.

Character designs and concept arts.

It has a very unique aesthetic to it and I love it very much: Mainly religious horror and liminalcore.

Drawing transformers is so much easier than iterators💀

[sir20]

School, Toulouse by sir20