As I have been really, really searching my soul lately and asking God to iron out the many kinks and wrinkles in my life, I've been tested with a few challenges. This is not uncommon when asking for character improvement. Creating this video was one of these challenges. Some of my YouTube subscribers have been asking if I could shoot from an overhead position which I was not equipped to do. I fooled around with a few different setups, all of which involved putting my camera (and sometimes my head) in unsafe situations. I finally rigged something up involving a plastic multi-drawer shelf, a tripod, and a five pound workout weight. Once I was moderately certain it wouldn't all come crashing down, I shot about 7 hours of video during the coloring process of this Umbreon drawing.
Now so far, none of this was an out-of-the-ordinary struggle. My patience was tested when I moved on to the editing stage. I have been using Corel VideoStudio Pro X4 for a few years now and learned it pretty well. Unfortunately I had a fatal crash with my last computer just before Thanksgiving and had to replace it. The new computer operates on Windows 10 and being very limited in my understanding and abilities when it comes to computers (I've just never really cared much for tech) I couldn't transfer the editing software to the new computer. I contacted Corel who told me not only was Pro X4 obsolete, but even if they did have a link to download it, the software wouldn't work on Windows 10. Instead, they said I should purchase VideoStudio Pro 2018 for $79.99. I don't generate any income from my YouTube channel so that was not really an option. As a full time artist, I have to allocate funds where I can make them back. A quick Google search for "best free video editing software" sent me to TechRadar.com where I read about LightWorks. I downloaded the free version and got to work stumbling my way through trial and lots of error, as well as searching YouTube for tutorials on this alien program.
After a 5-6 hours day of learning the software enough to get this video edited, I exported the first draft only to have my still images and audio playable. It took another hour to figure out how to get the video to export with the other tracks. While watching the second exported draft I had audio issues. Somehow a minute of white noise had been added between the three different songs I had in the same audio track. My blood pressure was getting too high for the day so I called it quits and tried again in the morning. After some tedious manual clipping of each song to get the audio tracks to play seamlessly, I finally got a third draft that was ready to publish, but then found out that I can only export in 720p with the free version of LightWorks. If I want to export in high quality HD I need to pay $24.99 per month, $179.99 per year, or $437.99 outright. This after thinking $79.99 was out of budget!
Character does not improve without testing the spirit. Smooth seas don't make skilled sailors. I don't regret this experience. I finished the video, not because I wanted to, but because over 9,200 of you have subscribed to my YouTube channel and have been asking for more content. I truly am doing this for you. If you are one of the people who have been enjoying my video posts over the years, thank you! I would love to purchase the $79.99 version of Corel VideoStudio 2018 (the software I've been using the longest) so that I can give you the highest quality content with the most creative editing in the shortest amount of time. If you want this, please consider chipping in by clicking the PayPal Donate button below. You don't even need a PayPal account. Whatever you want to give is appreciated. All donations will go toward the purchase of Corel VideoStudio 2018. Any funds received over $79.99 will be held for future upgrade downloads or used for art studio materials.
Thank you again for your support.
Bryan
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