And so now we’re in the thick of Cosmo production. Watching the scenes begin to come together is fantastic. It is a joy.

But I’d be a liar if I didn’t admit to the stress. Much of it is down to limited resources. I have a rule about working within my means. For me, a budget only really shows on-screen if a production reaches beyond its means and doesn’t quite pull it off. The cracks appear. Work within your means, on the other hand, and you can make it the absolute best it can be within those means. The only production on which I ever broke this rule was a pretty unenjoyable one.

So what about Cosmo? It’s an ambitious show with a small budget. Am I breaking my rule?

No.

But it requires being more inventive about utilising our means. Increasing our means. It means being hands-on with every single aspect and making sure that every ounce of energy makes it on to the screen (if energy can be measured in ounces, which it probably can’t). That’s how I’ve always liked to make shows and, on a show with as many elements as Cosmo, it makes for one very long to-do list. That list includes directing tasks, design tasks, production tasks, management tasks, even voicing a character. All at once. And that’s only what I’m doing – every member of the team is contributing.

Here’s the truth: it can be hard sometimes.

Okay so not ‘working in a mine’ hard but it’s certainly not all smiles. You see, clichéd as it may be, nothing worthwhile is ever easy. If it were, everyone would be doing it and, let’s face it, not everyone is. We’re doing something worthwhile here in the studio. In my (admittedly biased) view, with Cosmo, we’re doing something pretty great. So this isn’t about self-pity for those tough days and sometimes tougher decisions. This is simply an acceptance that production can be very busy and it can be hard.

That’s okay. Not okay just as a little thing we may admit to each other at those industry get-togethers. It’s okay generally. In fact, at times, it may be a very good sign. And accepting this leads me to two thoughts -

A) Problems should never be written into a system or accepted as part of the process. It’s hard enough when a production is going right. If the production horror stories don’t in any way lead to a better show on screen, well, that’s a real horror. What we do is about making a meaningful connection with children and giving them something positive. Anything else is just getting in the way.

B) We can be so fortunate to have fantastic teams working on our shows and we should always be thankful for that, for those people who really contribute. The level of support from everyone on our Cosmo team is amazing (Simon Crane and Adam Oliver pictured above). It inspires me and it keeps me going. Right from early development, people have given above and beyond not because they have been asked to but because they chose to. I am thankful for every single person giving to Cosmo right now and I’m already seeing the results of all our work in the scenes.

This is a true joy.

.

—

Sworcery A/V Jam

On a different topic, the makers of the excellent Sword & Sworcery game held an A/V Jam over the weekend, in which people could submit music, artwork and more all themed around Sworcery. I was really glad to be a part of it, submitting a cute little image of the Scythian and Dogfella. Some of the submissions are absolutely stunning so, if you have some time, head over and have a browse – http://sworcery.tumblr.com/

Feel free to skip down to my favourite – Artist Lesson #6, in which Alice takes you through her unique colour techniques.

Just a fun daddy/daughters activity that we all enjoyed!

Children are our audience, our clients. They’re in charge.

And you know what? I couldn’t ask for a better boss.

Dublin has a huge amount of protected buildings, mostly old Georgian houses. If you want to rebuild or improve, well, you may not be able to or, if you can, only within strict guidelines. Even new buildings must adhere with the feel of Dublin and can be rejected planning permission for things like being too high, thus ruining the low-rise skyline.

It’s all an effort to preserve things as they are. To prevent change.

Here’s the reality: you CAN’T prevent change.

Dublin is full of windows like the one above, rotten and falling to bits. The cost of a new window in Georgian style is prohibitive. A modern window, prohibited. And so they rot. Not just the windows. That low-rise skyline is filled with old decaying buildings.

Even if you could renovate each and every building true to its original style and changed nothing, you would still have a city that no longer meets the needs of modern citizens where it once did all those years ago. While fine for Georgian times, during Ireland’s boom, the infrastructure was decades behind the needs of the people.

So even in the act of preventing change, the city has changed.

Change happens. You can’t prevent it no matter how hard you try. In buildings, cities, work, life, anything. The only outcome of trying to prevent change is that you lose control of that change. It’s far better to embrace the change. Create the change, move with change. Control the change.

Anything else is decay.

38,400 decisions. That’s all it takes.

When written down like that, it seems like a lot but it’s really not. Compared with the fluid, less defined nature of a painting, for example, it’s a very small number of decisions. A painting might take a day or it could take years. That brings uncertainty. But with pixel art, there is a wonderful sense of security that comes with having a clear number of decisions. Just make 38,400 colour choices and you can walk away satisfied.

The surprises can come in the creativity, but the framework is reassuringly contained.

Writing, directing, setting up and managing productions is all about making decisions. Any leadership role is. Decision after decision almost every moment of every day. Each one with the potential to haunt us later. It could be overwhelming, and I have seen it defeat people.

Define those decisions in advance, however, and the job becomes so much more certain. Each decision becomes a very clear step towards the end goal and the only surprises come exactly where they should: in the creativity. That comes in planning – choosing your canvas, your amount of pixels – and it’s why I take control of my entire productions right from the start and don’t allow any loose ends. Then it’s just in making those decisions, not delaying (it’s rare we are hit with some magical piece of insight by just putting it off), and being clear to not entertain any decisions that aren’t within our canvas – those are time-wasters.

Work your way through your 38,400 decisions and you can walk away satisfied… or, like these touched-up pixel doodles, you can then see what extra you can bring. Everything from there is a beautiful bonus.