Hi folks my name is EJ and ever since I was a little kid I've wanted to do animation. When I was little, a lot of 2d animation was still done the old fashioned way with ink and paint, and it's a style I was always depressed to see fall out of fashion. Thankfully I've been able to have a tech career that allows me some free time on weekends to practice animating more, so I've been doing that and teaching myself how to do ink and paint similarly to how it was done back then.

At the same time, as a queer person, I'm always thinking about how we never really got the chance to see ourselves in this form of animation. I also really like science fiction but it kind of still, even now, tends to suffer from a lack of fleshed out lead queer characters. So I'm coming to you today with a short film project that combines - to the best of my ability ;) - all the stuff I like! Queer characters, science fiction, and traditional ink and paint animation: Among the Worlds.

I started writing the story for this a couple years back, not sure if I'd make it a comic or something else, and in a burst of inspiration finished it last year when I realized it would actually be kinda cool as an animation :)

The story follows two men - Adam, an astronaut, and Yuri, a cosmonaut - as they embark on the first manned mission to Mars. This is of course a fictional scenario, but I also drew a lot on the knowledge of space flight and mission design I picked up during my study of aerospace engineering in college, and had fun speculating about the ways people might be able to get there quickly, and what the mission itself might entail.

As they approach and latent romantic feelings between them begin to surface, international tensions between their two countries cause collaboration to be thrust aside in favor of war, and they have to decide whether to follow orders to abort the mission, or prioritize the cause of science above imperialism.

I hope that sounds interesting to you :)

The good news about this project is it's almost done! I've got about 8 and a half minutes animated. And if you want, you can take a look at the images to see some stills from the film. (I will also likely update with a trailer you can watch) What I'm looking for right now is some help with finishing funds. In particular I am trying to hire voice talent (I have no acting ability whatsoever unfortunately to attempt voice acting myself). I'm also in need of some more transparent animation cels and related supplies to complete a few more shots that will pull this all together. I'm also looking into licensing excerpts of an orchestral recording of Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty for the soundtrack (or, if this doesn't end up being possible, acquiring a professional recording of some piano arrangements I'm working on).

It's my hope if this sounds interesting to you and you like old school style animation that you'll consider supporting me in this endeavor to polish things up a little bit. My goal is to submit it to so local festivals here in Colorado and maybe some indie animation festivals elsewhere. I intend to give anyone who donates a secret special link to the finished film when it's done too.

Thanks for reading! :)