September 4, 2023 - Progress Report [Viewer Input Requested!] (Patreon)

Hello, everyone!

So I know I said there wasn't going to be a Progress Report this week. What can I say? I'm a liar.

Right up top, I have a new WIP for the Chloe/Max Minivid to share with you all! You can click here to watch it! 

After many delays, immeasurable stress, and several near-breakdowns from all parties involved, all of the audio for the project has finally come in and been processed! The voice talents for Chloe and Max both did absolutely fantastic jobs, as you all can hear from this small preview.

I had a hard time figuring what all to show as a teaser, because the whole thing flows so smoothly and I just want to show the whole damn thing off.

The animation is still very work-in-progress as you can tell. I just finished the dub lip-syncing, as well as lip-syncing a few last-second camera-angle changes, and am in the process of adding the empathic head motion to the dialogue. The body motion is still largely unanimated, as that is much less dependent on the dialogue and is done in a later detailing pass.

I've got some more major motions to clean up still, but it's getting close to the point where I can detail-animate everything and get the final motion built. Then I have to do some last-minute model adjustments (such as Max's bra clipping through her shoulder) before I move on to doing the camera-motion pass and the final render.

My sound designer is currently working on the audio side of things. If all things go smoothly, this project may just be ready for its final render and release before next Progress Report. We'll see how things fall out.

Beyond this minivid, I have also put together a 6-minute storyboard for the first episode of my Life is Strange SFW project. It came together remarkably quickly, I am supremely happy with it, and I'd like to start production on it soon. Click here to check it out! 

Which imminently raises the question of what to do with projects like this, and the Linkin Park music video, and other SFW projects. This is what I would like your thoughts on.

The long and short of it is, I'm torn on what the best way to approach the SFW content is.

On the one hand, I can keep both the SFW and NSFW content under the LordAardvark name. Right now, when people see the name "LordAardvark", they (hopefully) go in expecting a steamy lewd romp with some story tying everything together and propelling things along. I could extend the "LordAardvark" expectation to be "porn with story, but also sometimes just story without porn", widen the net so to speak.

Or, I can separate out the SFW and NSFW content. Keep the NSFW content that people already expect under LordAardvark, while the "story without porn" SFW stuff would be under a new name, call it BaronAnteater for now. So for people who are looking for porn with story, they go to the LordAardvark name; and when they are looking for story without porn, they go to the BaronAnteater name. You see one or the other, you know what to expect, there's no guessing which it will be.

Both of these approaches have their benefits. Both of them have their drawbacks.

The benefit to keeping everything under the LordAardvark name is that, for people who are interested in me as an artist (as opposed to those interested in the specific works I make), it's easy for them to keep track of what I do. For the people who don't care what the project is, just that I make it, this is a much better solution.

The drawback to keeping everything under the LordAardvark name is that it muddies the water, it dilutes the brand. Where before people could see a LordAardvark project and immediately know that it will predominantly be porn with story holding it all together, now people will see the LordAardvark project and won't know if it's porn-with-story, or if it's a purely non-pornographic project. For those who only care about the individual works and don't care about me as an artist holistically, this can be frustrating - "Oh fuck yeah a new LordAardvark piece! Aww, it's just some boring SFW thing!"

The benefit to keeping things separated is that, for the people who are only interested in one or the other, they don't have to worry about the content streams getting cross-contaminated. For those who don't care about the SFW stuff, they can just follow LordAardvark and never have to worry about it. For those who have no interest in the NSFW stuff, they can just follow BaronAnteater and rest assured they'll never see a rogue titty. It keeps things clean, and allows those who are hesitant to openly follow my NSFW work to follow my SFW work without consequence, because that SFW account is squeaky clean and safe to openly follow - plausible deniability is a powerful tool.

The drawback to keeping things separated is one of exposure. It took me ten years to build the following I have now, and it was predominantly due to a combination of just keeping my nose down and working hard, and the fact that I got into a fresh scene early before it got crowded. The SFW scene is much older and much harder to break into, meaning that my SFW content will be contending with a lot of developed audiences to find its own.

Most conflicting of all is the question of audience bleed. Namely, the fact it could go either way: if I split the content, it could drive viewers away because they find it too much effort to follow two accounts and would rather follow none. And if I keep all the content under one name, it could drive viewers away because they find it too much effort to filter through the content they don't care about and would rather just not even bother going through it at all.

So there's no real clear-cut solution. I don't know which way is better. And that's why I am asking you all. I've put together a poll for you to share your thoughts, but I would love to hear your nuanced opinions in the comment below:

Would you rather I keep the NSFW and SFW content in separate accounts, or would you rather I post both the NSFW and SFW content under the LordAardvark name? 

That's all for now. Hopefully we'll be damn near ready for the Chloe/Max minivid to be released by the time of next week's Progress Report! Until then, everyone!