James Lee Animation
patreon
Planet Nox #05: Early Nox
🕑 Added 2023-01-31 12:07:43 +0000 UTC
So it’s the first Planet Nox of 2023. Happy new year everyone. In case ya missed it, I did a lil comic which you can check out here.
I’m working on something else for next month. I know many of you are here to support releases on the main channel. Thanks for sticking around during this slow period. Moving has been complicated, and I’m dying to get back to it as soon as the new studio is set up. I’m feelin’ just about ready to pull the trigger on some more expansive Nox stuff that’s been in the works for a long time. A little longer guys, please sit tight.
I think I'll be shaking things up in here pretty soon. I’ve got some ideas floating around for Patreon content this year. More micro-content style posts. Stay tuned.
Above: Oh yeah I got sick again
How did you come up with Nox?
It’s a long story, but one particular inspiration was when I saw a video on the Making of ‘Gutter Oil’. I watched a woman shoveling raw sewage out of a drain, then reduce and refine it down into useable cooking oil. The cheap, carcinogenic product was sold on the black market in parts of Asia, used by street vendors looking to save a buck.
So I was watching this disgusting video, but I couldn’t look away. There's something compelling about the aesthetic of disgust, combined with these little windows into people’s base self interest. People being selfish or just surviving, doing horrendous shit. I'd just watched Breaking Bad again, and that was still swirling in my mind.
I imagined social media as these little back alley gutter oil operations. Taking memes, cultural relics and internet garbage, and distilling it down into a noxious consumable product. For context, this was around the time of the Logan Paul suicide forest video.
I hadn’t fleshed the character, but I thought he should embody this particular sinister and grotesque vibe. I wanted him to straddle the line of being both terrible and likeable, and create a depraved and intoxicating atmosphere.
I lost subs on the first Nox video. A lot of people didn’t get it. But it was my last shot to do something on youtube before I was gonna give up. My channel was basically dead at that point, so I thought I’d go full ham, and be willing to go down in a blaze of glory.
That’s all I’ll say for now.
Here's some screengrabs of my earliest Nox tests.
Do you have any art tips for beginning artist or someone who wants to learn?
https://drawabox.com
IMO, this has the most underrated and condensed fundamental drawing instructions I’ve ever come across. I improved very quickly doing these. Just repeat the exercises and be consistent.
How long have you been animating/drawing
I think somewhere around third to fifth grade when when I really started taking an interest in drawing. I was 13 when I started messing around with animation.
Do you have any advice for young artists?
I’ve answered a similar question here. But to give a more esoteric answer:
I think the beginning of a career tends to be about skill, technique and dreaming about the creative life in front of you. But as you get older, the psychological aspect comes into sharper focus. Why you do art in the first place. How you feel when you succeed or fail. How you think you measure up. Your self worth in context to your art, and who you might be without it.
Conversations with other artists start to focus around these little mental battles: Why progress feels blocked, or why the meaning isn’t there. Or finding the mindset to move forward with an answer you already know.
If you’re a creative person, there’s probably strong reasons why you’re drawn to art in the first place. And the sooner you start figuring that part out, the more you’ll get out of your work, with less frustration and conflict down the road.
Gotta question you’d like to ask? Hit me up, maybe I can answer.
A couple roughs from the comic this month.
Doing:
- Lookin for a rental
Listening To:
- Lorn - Acid Rain
- Lorn - Sega Sunset
- Chinese Man - I’ve got that Tune
- Meas Samoun - Dondung Goan Gay
- Dengue Fever - Ethanopium
Watching:
- House of the Dragon
#02: A Little More Behind the Scenes #01: The Patreon Launch
Comments
Joe Bowers
Nox is the demon we need right now.
Jack_Wolfe
Found something new, and weird you might like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpGRWoybG3Q
Jack_Wolfe
Those GIF's are amazing. so using those lol
Jack_Wolfe
You seen the ENA Dream:BBQ update trailer? :) The music is amazing. https://soundcloud.com/oliver-buckland/anemoia?in=oliver-buckland/sets/best-works Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLurAhsqXWc
Jack_Wolfe
Love you, stop getting sick! Maybe its time for a sanitizer station when you get in from being outside in crowds. and a place to hang your mask. Masks suck balls in this HEAT, the new varients for 23 are already circulating, i need to get my dam boosters TT n TT
Dr. Nuclear Prototype
Fuck Covid. Ain’t nobody got time for that! A personal favorite binge show: Peaky Blinders.
SevenSeizeNG
I'm super excited for you getting a new studio!
Shayeeda Mccollum
acid rain is a really good song
Splinters
I don't mind waiting. Good quality takes time and life is unpredictable. Hang in there :) If you enjoyed Lorn check out Sombre Lux and 0 0 0 I try to rip off Sega Sunset for years now but I can't do it tastefully enough *yet*
SkeleTrain
Those eyes on the new character creep me out a little, I love it!
James Lee Animation
The studio is going to end up the same or better. Studio tour is the plan :)
ThatDovahkiin
Has the move allowed you to improve the studio? Forced you to downsize? Or will it remain mostly the same? Also, would it be possible to get a tour of your studio when you've finished the move and studio set up?
