Some years ago, you mentioned on your website you had "teamed up with King Features and Mental Canvas to create an interactive 2D/3D comic story in 12 parts," to be released in 2021. As far as I know, nothing more was ever mentioned about that. Are you at liberty to reveal anything about that project, like what it would have been about or what it would have looked like? It sounded interesting!
Hi, Jeffery, thanks for asking about this. I wish I could tell you the whole shebango but I’m not at liberty to flap my mouth about it. Yes, that project was a pretty exciting one, and it was just as you describe it— a 2D/3D interactive comic story in 12 parts, to be released in 2021. Well, the project was completed, and I was compensated for it, however it was never released because of office politics, and other non-creative workings of executives in charge. That’s me talking with a sock in my mouth. The project was centered around a vintage character owned by King Features— it was fun to work on, but it really saddens me to know that no one will ever see it (it was work for hire, so I don’t own the rights— which means legally, I can’t even show you bits of it). But thank you for asking about it — it gives me the idea to maybe write something about it in the newsletter— something about how executives and producers are often the grim reapers of awesome fun projects. I wish it happened differently, but there you have it. Thanks again for asking about it!
Thank you, I appreciate this response! I had always wondered about it after you announced it and figured this post was a good opportunity to finally ask about it. It's interesting to know it was a vintage King character. Would love to hear more about the idea of executive grim reapers in a future newsletter if you do decide to write about that.
Hi RIna, Thanks for reminding me about what Mental Canvas can do. For the umpteenth time, I'll poke at it and hopefully post something worth looking at!
That’s lovely. It reminds me of Flash when it was owned by Macromedia and it was much simpler. I used to have a lot of fun with the animation side of it and with some of the interactivity. Unfortunately, it was bought by Adobe and the process of enshitification began. Also, Adobe and Apple got into fisticuffs which meant that flash stopped playing on websites properly and that was the beginning of the end. I’m sure mental canvas and others like it are much better, but I do miss flash as a drawing tool and as a way to animate simply. I guess now you can just get AI to do all that for you!
Yes, there’s AI but I don’t think AI can do Mental Canvas (yet)… plus, it’s much more fun making stuff on your own than getting an AI to do it!
Some years ago, you mentioned on your website you had "teamed up with King Features and Mental Canvas to create an interactive 2D/3D comic story in 12 parts," to be released in 2021. As far as I know, nothing more was ever mentioned about that. Are you at liberty to reveal anything about that project, like what it would have been about or what it would have looked like? It sounded interesting!
Hi, Jeffery, thanks for asking about this. I wish I could tell you the whole shebango but I’m not at liberty to flap my mouth about it. Yes, that project was a pretty exciting one, and it was just as you describe it— a 2D/3D interactive comic story in 12 parts, to be released in 2021. Well, the project was completed, and I was compensated for it, however it was never released because of office politics, and other non-creative workings of executives in charge. That’s me talking with a sock in my mouth. The project was centered around a vintage character owned by King Features— it was fun to work on, but it really saddens me to know that no one will ever see it (it was work for hire, so I don’t own the rights— which means legally, I can’t even show you bits of it). But thank you for asking about it — it gives me the idea to maybe write something about it in the newsletter— something about how executives and producers are often the grim reapers of awesome fun projects. I wish it happened differently, but there you have it. Thanks again for asking about it!
Thank you, I appreciate this response! I had always wondered about it after you announced it and figured this post was a good opportunity to finally ask about it. It's interesting to know it was a vintage King character. Would love to hear more about the idea of executive grim reapers in a future newsletter if you do decide to write about that.
Hi RIna, Thanks for reminding me about what Mental Canvas can do. For the umpteenth time, I'll poke at it and hopefully post something worth looking at!
No pressure! It is fun, though!
That’s lovely. It reminds me of Flash when it was owned by Macromedia and it was much simpler. I used to have a lot of fun with the animation side of it and with some of the interactivity. Unfortunately, it was bought by Adobe and the process of enshitification began. Also, Adobe and Apple got into fisticuffs which meant that flash stopped playing on websites properly and that was the beginning of the end. I’m sure mental canvas and others like it are much better, but I do miss flash as a drawing tool and as a way to animate simply. I guess now you can just get AI to do all that for you!
Yes, there’s AI but I don’t think AI can do Mental Canvas (yet)… plus, it’s much more fun making stuff on your own than getting an AI to do it!