Another quick preview. Not sure why people on Blender forums like BlenderArtists' Blender Forums bad-mouth the recent versions of Eevee, this particular test render in Eevee + Ray Tracing on turned out great, you probably would have confused it with a a Cycles render--and this is just a test render with the default "de-noising" values, just wait until the final, clean render without the noise and "fireflies"--unless you actually prefer the somewhat-noisy shadows and ambient occlusion here, in which case maybe I'll just keep it like this!
You may have to wait a bit longer, though, because while I have made SUBSTANTIAL progress on the animation over the summer (1+ minutes in about 2 months, that's gotta be a record for me), I am putting this project on hold for a month or two because I agreed to work on a scene for a collab (not gonna tell what the collab actually is until after I'm done and get permission from the producer to share), and once I finish the rigging, animation is going to be pretty fast and straightforward since my scene is a little less than 10 seconds long. Meanwhile, this is going to be longest Punk n' Gunk episode yet (and it's only the second "official" episode, not counting the "Keister Bunny" one or short, experimental animations featuring Punk and/or Gunk), so while I've made unprecedented amounts of progress, I still have AT LEAST 3 minutes of animation to go. Might as well get the short animation I'm making for other people in a collab out of the way if you're going to have to wait months longer on my latest Punk n' Gunk episode either way.
Such is the nature of casual "personal" projects, unfortunately--I have to be willing to drop the project for a little while in favor of higher-stakes projects where I'm either contributing to a cool collab or, ideally, actually making money in exchange for the extra hard work of working on animations on weekends while still somehow having the energy to work full-time at a "pay the bills" day job. Sadly, like most American animators, either amateur or 20+ year Hollywood veterans, I haven't enjoyed the latter (an actual paid animation job) in years, but collabs are the next best thing since at least I'm not doing everything all by myself--like I said, my scene will only be just short of ten seconds as part of the much larger collab video and the nice thing about 3D animation is that, once the modeling, UV mapping, texturing and rigging are over and done with, the actual act of animation is super fast and straightforward due to the software auto-tweening between key frames.
In the meantime, because I've been so productive this past summer (honestly likely due to the typical lack of new video game releases that interest me AND run on my handheld Steam Deck, allowing me to play them when I'm out on vacation), I ALSO have been quietly chipping away at a comic idea that has been swirling around in my head since I was 15. I call it "Cult Classic," about a "Cat of Pain" that has the worst day ever and decides to join a creepy cult in an attempt to find a happier way of life, only to become embroiled in the cult's grand conspiracy! Expect lots of intentionally-ugly drawings inspired by '90's Nickelodeon, barely-disguised fetishes and, most importantly, a lot of heart!
Specifically, I will upload the first Act (the first four chapters) in the Newgrounds Art Portal the next few Saturdays in September to get a gauge on whether this is an idea worth seeing until the end, possibly also sharing on WebToonz's indie "Canvas" section as well for a bit more mainstream reach. As you can see in the panel above, just because I MIGHT want to share this on bigger comic sites than Newgrounds' Art Portal doesn't mean I'm going to compromise on my vision (purely traditional and flawed pencil-drawn art on my sketchbook, jokes and drawings intended to weird out the mainstream, particularly homely-looking main character, basically nothing about this is "marketable" in the traditional risk-averse "Marvel" or "Hollywood" sense), I just thought I'd take advantage of the no-risk nature of just drawing in my sketchbook and then scanning it digitally with my phone's camera to see if anyone besides me would be interested in a bizarre story like this.
...And yes, I'll probably chip away on future chapters and acts of "Cult Classic" regardless, but I'm likely to slow down as we head into the fall and winter for the sake of work/life balance, also hopefully to improve the quality and "solid-ness" of the drawings after the first four chapters by taking it much, much slower. It is nonetheless extremely freeing, though, taking a "nihilist" approach to creating "Cult Classic," thinking "Well, the American industry and economy as a whole is headed down the poop-chute right now, and there is ESPECIALLY no hope of me turning comic-making into a career unless I'm a mangaka born and living in Japan, so I might as well do whatever the heck I want in my comic passion project, regardless whether it's 'marketable' or even appeals to anyone besides myself!" On a more positive note, I've been drawing some form of comics since I was six years old, so it's nice to return to my roots and find it overall less stressful and technical than my current specialty of 3D art/animation, plus how it's more feasible to get ambitious with comics (longer stories, more backgrounds, more characters, more gravity-defying cartoon poses) without burning yourself out, and still get stuff done in a reasonable amount of time all by yourself!
Anyway, I've been a busy boy lately and I hope you're excited as I am for what I have to offer for the rest of 2025!
I'll end with a question as a sort of ice-breaker in the comments--do you actually like the "noisy shadows" in the Punk n Gunk preview images I've been showing, feeling it adds a bit of rugged texture to an otherwise-clean render, or would you rather have a conventional, clean, polished Eevee render that looks more professional?
Iro-Ukiyoe
if you need any VA work done let me know, I am always looking for opportunities
jthrash
I'm not doing any recording right now, but for future reference--how good is your Homer Simpson impression? Weirdly I can do Marge's voice, but I can't sound even a little bit like Homer. At best, I sound like that hilarious and infantile "Homer" voice Chris O'Neill does on OneyPlays.
Disney's Goofy is another popular male voice I can't seem to do with my own voice. My "Goofy" always ends up sounding more like Patrick Star. I can do Patrick's voice almost perfectly and like to practice that voice just for fun every day ("Is this the Krusty Krab? NO!! THIS IS PATRICK!!"), so if the official American voice actor for Patrick Star needs an understudy...