The very green Land of Switzer, more precisely the town of Emmental, will be exposing Santa Claus's veiny thighs at the
Emmentaler Filmtage this October. Said month is turning out to be a pretty busy one for
"The Naughty List", with five fests and counting so far. It's certainly redeemed Emmental in my eyes, as frankly I have never been bowled over by the cheese which bears its name.
As it turns out, my bi-monthly self-googling revealed that two other festivals in Italy (a country whose cheese is beyond compare -
we get it, Ben, you're fat) snuck the film in earlier this year:
Video Festival Imperia in April and the
San Giò Verona Video Festival in July. It would've been nice to have been told before, but it kicks the festival count up to thirty-seven so far, which is pretty encouraging as the number I'm aiming for with this film is fifty by July next year.
My figure drawing attempts have been plodding along, improving in some areas and plateauing in others. I'm finding that shading really does cover up a world of hurt, so I'm far less enamoured of the quicker warm-up sketches. Also the class I attend seems to have a tendency to favour slimmer, younger models, which are a lot trickier to replicate on paper as they have less focal points.
I'd make a
great life model at the moment. My body is in this weird transitional phase where my limbs are toned while my torso is that of a middle-aged mother of ten. I'd get my kit off in a heartbeat for the cash but I don't trust that I'd be able to stay still for more than thirty seconds at a time. That and, y'know, li'l Ben can be unpredictable under pressure.
Here are some attempts with charcoal, to venture outside of my wheelhouse a bit:
And I've also been attempting some with my Cintiq. The issue, of course, being that I can't really bring it with me to a session, and my friends have all been selfishly unreceptive to coming over and getting naked for me in exchange for Asda deli pizza. So right now I'm working off freeze-frames of scenes from movies. Not ideal (and the ability to superimpose the stills over my drawings when I'm done and see just how horribly out of proportion they are is kinda depressing) but it's a start. Anyway, here's one. Guess the film and you win literally nothing:
Another festival checkpoint has been reached as of this morning, with "The Naughty List" clocking up its fortieth screening! That's four fifths of my long game for the film achieved (my plan is to retire it once it hits fifty), so cold turkey leftovers for everyone! 
Vilnius Film Shorts will take place in Lithuania from October 13th-16th, and knock wood I may be able to grab a long weekend and head on over there. The only Lithuanian I know is a barista who I'm pretty sure spits in my coffee every morning, so maybe if I immerse myself more in her culture she'll instantly love me. I really do make grounded, logical plans.
I may as well use this opportunity to make the somewhat overdue announcement that I have received a grant to part-fund my fourth film "Bullies", which is trundling along nicely. Assets are gradually being built, deadlines are in place and, most importantly, I'm making headway getting the animatic edited down before I start the animation proper. Right now it's down to eighteen minutes after its initial twenty-five. There's lots more whittlin' down to be done (ideally if I can get it down to ten then I'll be in much better shape) but all in all, things look good. I also figure that, as with "House Guest", the unused dialogue that doesn't necessarily work as a film could still be used as part of a graphic novel adaptation once it's done. Look at me with my planning ahead as opposed to my usual barreling blindly into calamity. It's like I'm becoming a grownup.
