Hello everyone! It’s finally time to put another team member into the spotlight. Say hello to Pony Tim, our field artist extraordinaire. Check out his thoughts about My Little Investigations after the break!

Dear My Little Investigations Fans,

If I’m honest, I never expected to be a member of My Little Investigations. When you’re looking at a project of such obvious quality, that little part in the mind of tells you that someone better would come along, so why even bother? Artists are seemingly notorious for criticizing their own work, but I felt in my case I felt I had nothing special to offer

For the longest time in my life I focused on traditional art, my favorite medium being charcoal. I did dabble in 3D and digital art as well. However, after graduating school I fell away from practicing art and improving my artistic ability. It started off slowly. After all, it’s ever so easy to tell yourself “what does one day matter.” But then one day becomes two, two days becomes a week, a week becomes a month, and soon you find yourself almost never picking up the sketchpad. It would be accurate to say I was a better artist before I left school than I was a year ago.

And then one day, when reading Equestria Daily, I saw what would prove to be my artistic salvation. My Little Investigations was looking for a Character Field Animator for Flash.

Truthfully, it was a long shot. I had never even touched Flash before. I had done some work as a traditional animator while in school, but that was several years ago. I’m not even sure why I thought I’d even have a chance, but I felt like going for it. I did it on a bit of a lark, telling myself “why not?” After all, the worst and most likely scenario was nothing would happen. So, with no knowledge of what I was doing aside from what I knew about the 12 basic principles of animation, I forged forward and began work on the required test animation.

It took upwards of 6 hours of work to complete this single, simple animation. It was nothing but an animation of a simple ball bouncing around and interacting with a square. I made good use of Google that day, continually looking up how to use Flash to do this or that.

When the test animation was finally sent in, I felt a load come off my chest. There is just something about completing something you were not sure you’d be able to accomplish that just makes one feel good. There was no way the job would go to me, someone who had some actual Flash experience would get the role after all, but it was good to do some art after an extended absence. Then, the unexpected happened, something that I hadn’t counted on.

I got the position. If I recall right, my use of the principles of animation, such as squash and stretch and slow in and slow out, won me the day.

And so began my journey as a member of My Little Investigations. It hasn’t always been smooth sailings, which I’ll go into below, but I wouldn’t trade my time with this team, who I’ve come to regard as my friends, for anything.

Lesson #1: Learn everything you can from your mentors

I didn’t have much more than the most basic of clues about the use of Flash before I took on the job of animation for MLI. When I first saw the files WarpOut, my lead, had been working on, I felt totally lost.

But I wasn’t alone. WarpOut was there for me.

I cannot express my undying gratitude to him for taking the time to give me a crash course in Flash and show me the ropes. He could have spent his time doing something else instead of helping a newbie like myself.

When someone is willing to take the time and effort to show you how to do something, don’t waste that opportunity. If someone is willing to work with you, to help you, then you owe it to them and yourself to not waste that time. If you do in fact waste their time, it is nothing short an insult to the mentor. It tells them that you do not value their time. Nothing is more precious than time, and once gone it’s gone.

Take the time and really try to learn everything you can, you’ll be better for it.

Lesson #2: Don’t be afraid to ask questions

If there is something you don’t know, don’t be afraid to ask questions in search for the answers. While there is much a mentor can teach you, there is no substitute for trying things out yourself. When you take to the field you’ll run into situations and issues that you and your mentor didn’t go over. When you’ve run into a problem, ask how to resolve it. If I had simply come to WarpOut the other artists with my questions or even attempted looking them up on the internet sooner rather than sometimes trying to power through and figure everything out by myself, I would have been saved time and frustration. Sometimes I could figure it out, but when you have resources and references available to you, it is foolish not to utilize them to their fullest potential.

Lesson #3: Own up to your mistakes

I did alright in the beginning and felt like I was doing well. I was working on the field character sprites and getting a good handle on Flash.

But then, the old habits came back. I let a few days go without working in Flash. Soon I would go a week without even opening up the program. And it only got worse from there.

When I did open Flash, I saw how behind I was. Instead of opening up and talking to the team, I tried hiding. I started dreading going on Skype, because I knew I would be asked how I was doing. It felt easier to just avoid the situation.

The problem with hiding is you can’t ask for help when you need it. By avoiding the issue, I cut myself off from my mentor and the people I could use as resources to ask questions. It only exasperates the situation, and it resolves nothing.

In the end I was finally confronted by ZeusAssassin about the lack of progress, and I had to come clean. It was like pulling a tooth, a painful empty feeling. I had let everyone down. When others depend on you, there are few things if anything worse than that.

In all honestly, my work with MLI could have ended there. But then we have Lesson #4.

Lesson #4: If you get a second chance, don’t blow it

I was given another chance. ZeusAssassin would have been within his right to let me go right then and there, but he gave me one more try.

There were conditions for my continued presence on the team. It would have been foolhardy not to after all. But I wasn’t fired that day.

Don’t underestimate people’s capacity to forgive and to work with you. But by that very same token, don’t come to rely on third or fourth chances. If you get that second chance and you blow it again, there isn’t any good reason for you to get any more chances. After all, all you have shown is your capacity to break them.

So if you do mess up (which I would recommend you try and avoid) and you are given the opportunity to make amends, don’t mess up again.

Lesson #5: Learn how to implement your skill set to better assist your team

While I was working for My Little Investigations, I was also working for the Media team for the Everfree Northwest convention. Due to certain circumstances in the second year of the convention I was made the second in command of the Media team; further circumstance lead to me taking over as the Director of Media on an interim basis.

In the end I was made Co-Director during the convention and I am pleased to say that for Everfree Northwest 2014, I have been named the Director of Media. While the 2013 convention did have its moments behind the scenes, overall I would say it went most wonderfully. But I also had something else.

I now had fan Media contacts, and I knew how to work with them.

Now I had a new function I could offer the MLI team. I could act as coordinator between several members of the team and various fan media outlets and set up interviews to increase exposure of the game. I did set up several interviews, some of which you might have had the pleasure of listening to, and our interviewees such as ZeusAssassin and GabuEx did a wonderful job representing the project.

If you are brought on to a project for one job, but find out you can help out in another way, than if you can take on the extra burden see if you can make it work. The more you can do to assist your team, the more valuable of an asset you are. And if you want to see your team succeed, you owe it to them and yourself to go that extra mile if you can.

Lesson #6: Don’t stop trying

When I stopped making art, I had fallen before my feelings of inferiority and my insecurities took over. Thinking you’re not good enough eats at you, making you wonder if your efforts are even worth it. After all, others could produce better art and make it faster. I’ve always been sensitive about how much longer it took me to craft work than it does for others. It made it easier to retreat into things that would take my mind off my perceived failures.

But by taking on a role with My Little Investigations, I have found a renewed drive.

In the end, the only one who can truly stop you is yourself. There is no doubt some people have an easier time than others, due to innate talent, upbringing, finances, and any number of circumstances. But there are also stories of people, many in a worst situation than you and me, overcoming the odds and pursuing their goals and dreams successfully.

Does that mean everything will happen quite as you plan? No. There are no guarantees in this life. But instead of trying to have fate dictate what happens to you, you owe it to yourself to keep trying. After all, if you never take that first step you’ll never complete the journey. Never give up my friends, and don’t be afraid to try.

After all, if I had never tried a long-shot on a lark, I wouldn’t be here letting you all know what I have learned.

Your faithful animator,
Pony Tim