Press the screen to traverse through the artwork. The left side means previous, and the right means next. This is a mini art dump, and probably my last. Even though I still linger here, I think it's really time for me to be less distracted and move on from this site. 1. My Scratch bucket list has been fulfilled (in multiple accounts) I started Scratch in 2014, and I still use it to create and showcase my animations to the world - except, not really since my confidence is low despite being egotistical and "edgy" till 2023. However, I did have set up a few goals before I departed eventually, and I did: - Featured at least once (keep in mind that it's harder in the past than nowadays when it's more lenient) - Get around 1k followers (accumulated, but now I have 2K subs in YT) - Impact the community in some capacity. - Meet and befriend a lot of Scratchers, even if I have to burn some bridges throughout my journey. All that was left was to have fun in the community, except... 2. The community (to put it in a "not blunt" and "friendly" manner) doesn't feel the same. It has drastically changed, especially since the shift in mainstream interests. It went from showcasing your computational skills and creative storytelling and collaborations to literally an average day in American middle-high school for social status - a popularity contest: tater tots bashing each other for digital numbers and feeling above everyone else. It doesn't help that AYs, the one community in which I gravitated when I first joined Scratch, became monotonous and toxic. Yes, I am aware that it is reflected in other social media, but I don't even plan to be sociable outside of Scratch anyway. All I ever do is post my work and try not to partake in drama (ever again). It doesn't help that Scratch is vulnerable, and a lot of new Scratchers exploit this for fame or sabotage. I have been in Scratch for a decade, so witnessing this shift hurts me inside. 3. Animation in Scratch is tedious to animate. Broken record disc? It's more like a busted one because this is why I have been trying to move on from Scratch in a couple of attempts with that same simile. Scratch is NOT an animation software. It's a beginner's coding software. I have to CODE to make my frames move, and it is time-consuming. The only reason why I came back to it eventually is because I am a vector puppet animator, and Scratch is technically the only free software to have access to vector puppets (there's Synfig, but it looks atrocious to work with). Scratch gives me the liberty to easily add sounds, add effects and apply some effects without post-processing and external software. Also, with Turbowarp, animation has been made much easier. It's my comfort software, a slow painful one at that. However... 4. I cannot keep animating with solely Scratch forever. I graduated from university, and I am finding a job as of typing this. If I want to improve myself, I need to stop trying to break the limit in Scratch and improve my skills. Now, I'm getting comfortable with Krita and giving it a second chance on animation, and I might even give Blender another shot. What happened to Source Filmmaker, which was my original plan? It crashes whenever I delete an asset, and I can't find the bug fix. Thus, I have been trying to experiment and find my next main animation software for efficiency to execute more ambitious ideas, even though it's primarily fan work. I could even land a job depending on how much experience I gain. Oh yeah, also "Preparing With" exists, and I am now involved with their sister company, "Antonshorts". I will still be here to check by, but I'm probably done making Scratch content - If you are expecting something here, it won't be for a long while, even if it's miniscule. Thank you for the 10 years here. It has been a wild ride, but my potential is waiting in the bigger world. Scratch on. - WiLDZY If you want a peek at what my first outside animation is, I made a WIP available here:
