HEY NEWGROUNDS!!

How are you all doing? Good, I hope!

I'm planning this year to do at least ONE monthly update, and I would like also to regularly upload art I've been working on. That will happen soon (the art part), but here is the update:

Life is Not Bad™ and I have been sorta chugging along the past year, setting some various plans in motion as much as I can when everything is a bit limited in many ways. It is what it is, fingers crossed this year will be dramatically easier and more freeing than last year.

Exciting (to me) developments:

•I have had PLENTY of time to make art in 2020, and I'm hoping that this set a precedence for this year, too, even if things change significantly. I've been bad at sharing my work but that is mainly due to my poor attention span. Maybe I should set reminders on my phone, eh?

•One of my jobs is working as a production assistant at a Public Access TV station, and with that has come many creative ventures in video work – with some animation sprinkled in. I've been starting to make my own video walk series, which I'll link here soon, and have delved even further into video-making and video editing. All of this is fun and dandy and I'm hoping it'll open new doors for content I make further down the line.

•In addition to my job realm is the potential for sound work – podcasts, voiceover work (less of that on my end, since I have no experience with it other than recording it) and music. I don't consider myself a musician by any means, but I do have equipment for making music and would really really love to dive deeper into that world this year. Sound design is important in my other work, so I think it'll be good for me.

...and that pretty much sums up what I can think of for now. I have some business ventures underway, which I'm planning to make a post about eventually, but I want to make it worthwhile. I'm also developing a website, but it isn't really remarkable at the moment and not worth sharing.

To wrap this up: I hope you are all finding yourself well in this New Year, and I hope to connect better with the Newgrounds community this year more than ever. Also, here is a squirrel:

Hey friends!

How are you all doing? I hope you've been well!

So far I've been pretty busy during quarantine. One job I'm not able to work at presently due to the pandemic, and the other job I am working online. But I've really been appreciating the spare time to work on projects and experiment more with freelancing, business ventures, and other creative work! Sometimes it's hard to maintain focus since my schedule is all over the place, but WHAT ARE YA GONNA DO ABOUT IT, RIGHT?!

More recently, I purchased a tablet that was on sale and a stylus so that I could more easily draw on the go. Best decision ever! I've been drawing nonstop, and have been getting a TON of practice in. It's really transformed my work efficiency. I hope to share more of what I've been making, even imperfect stuff (being a perfectionist nowadays seems really silly and counterintuitive), so I'm gonna be posting more of that and letting you all see how my art transforms over time. Hopefully I improve!

Here is a little piece I started last night and finished today: Deku Link, a la Majora's Mask. I've posted it in the Art Portal, too, but I'll elaborate more here below the image:

I finally bought Breath of the Wild in April, and have been absolutely in love with it since I first sat down with it. It's a beautiful game and does the Zelda series true justice. The open world is stunning, the freedom to move around and beat the game at your own pace and leisure is also a breath of fresh air (pun intended). It *might* be my favorite Zelda game now, though Majora's Mask still has a huge place in my heart, Ocarina taking a close second. And heck, Wind Waker rocked, too. I could go on and on about these games and how they affected my childhood!

Breath of the Wild makes me want to explore – literally makes me want to pack up and walk into the woods and go on adventures. It doesn't help that many of us already feel trapped and yearning for more freedom. Because of this, for me, the next best outlet is to draw. So that has been a really positive side effect of playing this game.

Majora's Mask ended up being my subject for this art piece in particular, because that game had a profound impact on me. As a kid, I was maybe 10 or 11 when it came out, The thick layer of melancholy and dread in the game permeated the experience so much that the way the game made me feel has really stuck with me all these years. The game really made you care about the characters, the situations they were in, and the impending doom that threatened the world. I thought it was really remarkable that a game could make you feel so much.

I think those same feelings of dread and helplessness have permeated society now, too, which is why my mind was likely drawn to that particular game. And games are such a great way for us to transport ourselves temporarily to a different world where we have more control over what is going on, and are NOT helpless. Thank god for technology, huh?

Anyway, I'd love to hear what you all are doing during this to pass the time. I'm going to keep drawing and posting, and hopefully get a lot of stuff done during this dang pandemic. Not that one has to. But it helps distract me.

I wish you all the best! Take care, stay cool and all that jazz.

-K

Hey everyone!

How is October treatin' ya? Anything cool going on?

Fall has been nuts for me. In addition to a bunch of work, I decided to participate in a local horror film fest for my fourth year in a row. Nuts!

This time I made a short non-animated film with friends, called "KILLBUCHA." Not much of a mystery there, huh? It was made quickly and was a fun project that we dove into two weeks before the festival closed, and we really enjoyed seeing it come to live on the big screen. This is the poster made for the festival, featuring the two stars: my friend Eeka, and KILLBUCHA him/herself!

But but but - more relevant to Newgrounds - I just uploaded an animated entry I submitted to the same film festival in October of last year! My 2018 entry, "Horace Hermer Security Solutions," was the first animated entry submitted to this particular film festival. It was cool to obtain that spot, but as far as animated creations go, I overshot it with the time I had to create it, and my finished product came short of my ideas for where it would head. I just didn't have enough time.

...But I'm pleased with it for what it is; and while I wanted to do more with it before uploading it to Newgrounds, that never happened. So in the spirit of Halloween and in the spirit of calling projects done, I've decided to upload it this year instead. Woohoo! Here is a screencap from the animation:

Anyway, go ahead and give it a watch and let me know what you think - even if you think it's terrible and deserves to be set on fire.

Happy Halloween!

Hey there buds,

It's been a heck of a long time since I've made a news post. But here I am, and here you are, you're reading it, you've got a coffee or a Monster Energy drink and your brain is experiencing dopamine overload and your grandma just called but you can't answer your phone right now, you're busy reading this.

Last I was really active much on Newgrounds was 2017, and that was me mostly browsing and participating in the meetup event in Ambler, PA. T'was fun; I made a ton of really great friends, all of whom are so deeply talented. Thankfully we've stayed connected here and on Twitter, and maybe even a few on Instagram.

Last fall I watched and 'hung out' with peeps on the very talented @FuShark 's art streams (Fu being one of the pals I met in PA), during which time I was working on an animation for a horror film fest. I didn't end up finishing it to the level I had intended - and never uploaded it here - but I may just for posterity and to kiss that sweet project goodbye, and to move on to other projects. I'm proud of it in certain ways, but disappointed my full vision for it never came to fruition. That's okay, though.

This year has been quite a different and challenging year in a lot of ways - I have felt mentally all over the place, and am experiencing worse-than-ever attention/focusing issues that I am trying to get addressed with my doc. On the other hand, this year has been exciting, as I am in the process of launching several big projects I've had brewing for quite some time now. More on that later. But for now, I am trying to get back into regular art-making and animation-making, and being more active with this online art community. So you'll be seeing more from me more regularly in the coming months!

(whether that is good or bad, I'll leave up to you...)

Anyway, hope you all have been having a flippin' good summer. Check out my weird Santa drawing I just uploaded! And shout out to @ShiroGaia for the portal invite! Now I can appear in the Art Portal and scout other artists. Huzzah!

Wow. What a year.

Creatively, 2017 was a year spent delving into the videography and film world.  I enjoyed all of this greatly, even with some stressful deadlines and trouble encountered with scheduling and editing.  But I learned a ton, and I had a bunch of fun along the way.

As for animation and my own career goals -- this year left a lot to be desired. I figured out what I wanted, but my personal life got in the way a lot more than I would have liked.  A lot of my free time was spent escaping; friends, trips, long drives, the film projects, non-profit projects....  This wasn't bad, and it helped me get to a better spot in my life.  I am thrilled with it all, honestly.

One of those 'long drives' led me to greater Philadelphia for a second time this year -- the first being during the solar eclipse -- and during this second trip in October I met a bunch of amazing people from the Newgrounds universe for the first time.  I was very timid at first and had no idea what could come of it all.  Would my car break down on the way?  Would something happen and I'd miss the event?  Would I mesh well with everyone?  Would I regret driving 8 hours down Thursday, then driving 8 hours back to Vermont on Friday?...

The theater screening in Ambler was awesome, and the people were even MORE awesome.  I am so glad I went, and that I had the opportunity to meet all of these incredible, talented, and thoroughly entertaining people.  I hope they will be friends for life, and that we will all see each other soon! Some of the NG crew I met were @moawling  @fushark @magniusgaia @mismash @evanimations @brandybuizel @dreaminerryday @ivanalmighty @oddboy18 @fantishow @ryanstorm @barnhousecollective @kamestudios @collinthomas09 and of course, screening organizer extraordinaire @phantomarcade and Newground's life-bringer @tomfulp (I hope I didn't forget anyone!).

So all in all, this year turned out to be a great one, especially once some emotional turmoil and tough decisions I needed to make for myself were out of the way.  I'm thankful for the year I had, but I am very excited and filled with excited trepidation about this next year to come.  


HAPPY NEW YEAR GUYS!!


Pictured:  The (First) Breakfast Club crew gathering on the day after the NG Theater Screening!  (I have a bunch more photos but this will have to do for now)

Hello Friends,

Don't wait for anyone. Don't wait for acceptance, don't wait for approval. Don't wait for someone to like you, to like your work, to think that you are worthy investing energy into for any reason.

This applies to you as animators, artists, voiceovers, game developers.  Patience can be a virtue, sure, but you can miss a plethora of important opportunities when you are too patient. I know we have all done this.
 

When you wait, you lose. 
 

Good luck on your travels -- and good riddance to anything or anyone who wastes our time and impedes our progress, unknowingly or with intent.

Getting ready to begin carting my ass down from Vermont in the next half hour or so.

Can't wait to meet whoever else is going!  It should be a great time. 

If love is the answer, you're home.


 

Please, don't.

Here are the links:


Twitter:  https://twitter.com/KFost3r

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/k_fost3r/


Nothing good will come from this.  I'm lame and unfunny, and you my friend, are far too cool.

Have a great day!

Hey guys,

Check out my hipster photos of winter up in the mountains so far. It's definitely a magical time of the year.

A lot of people complain about the snow and the cold, but it's honestly my favorite. I would be sad if these seasonal changes never rolled around.