I'm sure y'all have seen me post about Freiwerk a lot lately. I've mostly been aggressively advertising it after a couple of teases at the start of August, just trying to make sure that I get it out to the corners that I'm most active in. After all, it is the first proper project I've ever made and I did spend quite some time assembling it together. I couldn't just post it and leave it be like other works I've made. Now that I'm dying down with the reposting of the product, I feel like I should try to provide more information on Freiwerk itself, what I think of the end result and what will be of the itch.io that has now been made thanks to it.
INCEPTION
I say that Freiwerk started in third year of university but the impetus to get something like it going has been something that I thought to look into during first year. I've been wanting to get some larger project going, one which would take a little bit more time than my average creation. I figured that by having more time dedicated to something, it would provide something that would be much more substantial for me and anyone taking part in it. I set a goal that by end of my graduation year I had to get something out.
Around third year, I finally had the idea to make a collection of my work. Given the busy schedule I had, it figured that if I could just try to make a neatly made package of what I've done artistically, it would not only be reasonable but also serve as a good jumping board into doing other projects. I opted for a German title both to abide to artistic tradition of using a foreign language to heighten one's work and because I have a minor in it so why not include it somewhere. Though if I'm basing my creative decisions on minors, then I should have included a Poisson distribution to account for statistics.
The outline was made out and I knew it would be 10 sections with two serving more as bookends instead of showcasing my work (as I would have plenty of work to showcase). Later on I'd alter it so that it would become a way for people to get to know more about myself. It'd be like a personal portfolio. I included pictures I took, songs that I liked and some creative non-fiction I wrote about my experiences in life. To add to the project, I also decided that there would be some content that would be exclusively made for it - stories and artwork to be exact. That way, it would have a little more to offer than any old collection.
For the most part I kept it secret, not opting to be too explicit in this work in progress back when it was still just a few sections completed and barely half of the new content made specifically for it was made. Maybe I should have tried to make an earlier buzz about it but I didn't want to jinx the project by hyping it up too early and never getting it done. Once I was more secure that it would get completed, I went forth with providing more information. Shortly after that it came down to posting it.
EXECUTION
Having now released it, I believe it's lifted quite a load off my chest. I can finally say I got a project out there that I put a great deal of time into creating and which has a whole lot to offer. In doing so, I wanted to see what would become of it. While there has been some attention to it and I'm grateful for it, I believe the lack of such has allowed me to consider some problems in my approach.
For one, the build-up could have been much better to show what Freiwerk would include. Granted it's more akin to a book than a movie in the sense that teasing the content would be more difficult, but it still would have provided better insight into what it'd be about. I could have done a video for it as I have other works, but given that I've hardly touched my Youtube channel, there probably wouldn't have been much of a change. I could've mentioned that the some of the art meant for the project, would be psychedelic collages, caricatures, a businessman with an octahedron for a head and a colorful Rorschach test of sorts. Or that the stories I made for it range from a postcard story about a soldier trudging through the desert to a spy dealing with a period of inactivity and boredom to the longest story involving a man and a talking gargoyle. Perhaps that would have helped.
The other big issue could be the length, as over 250 pages of content is quite a lot for a single project, especially the first one that serves as a jumping board for further works. Though it does speak well to my willingness to offer content (after all it is free), it nonetheless could make it hard for people to engage with it.
As for the content, I'm sure there might be some imperfections given that it is my first go-around, but that's a lot more subjective than the promotion. I would be guessing a lot more as to what landed and what didn't and they would probably be a lot more off the mark than I would assume. Not to mention that I would rather highlight the monumental achievement that it was than pick it apart. I do think that what I've done has been quite experimental and insightful into who I am regardless of where those reactions may lean. However, I do appreciate any comments regarding it though. Any feedback helps.
CONTINUATION
So now that I've completed Freiwerk, I've got a perfectly good itch.io opened up, eager for more to be placed upon it. I have thought about what other things I hope to get there. There are some older works that I might consider revamping and posting on there by themselves. However, I am thinking to do something more Photoshop-intensive and original projects that would be similar to the Siet Eh? section of Freiwerk. It also wouldn't be a bad idea to try making a game or a funky little executable given the nature of itch.io. Hell, I noticed that some people have included videos in there too, so that might be something to think about too. Though perhaps the smartest thing to do is to make some comics given all the characters I've made. The site's my oyster, and hopefully I can get another project out before the start of a new year. But for now, there's just Freiwerk, and I'm fine with that.
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