Life after Cegep.

You were a Visual Art student at the Cegep Lionel-Groulx. After practicing on your own for a while, you decided to follow your heart and become an animator. Since you don't want to study more, you have two choice in front of you. First, you can try to join a team in an animation studio and start from there, it could also help you learn the ropes. Second, you can try to work by yourself and submit your animation to a competition to be able to open your own studio.

Choice 1 : Join an animation studio.

Choice 2 : Start working on your own.

Join an animation studio.

During many weeks you try to join a few animation studios, without much positive feedback. Finally, a cosy morning, you receive a call from a small company. They invite you to join them during the next week and, if everything works well, to sign a contract with them. Since they are small, they don't have a lot of impact and it will probably be hard to get noticed by bigger studio, you hesitate. Should you accept the offer or work harder to find another place?

Choice 1 : Accept the proposition.

Choice 2 : Try to find another studio.

Start working on your own.

You start a project by yourself to submit to a contest, in the hope of getting noticed and also winning so you could get the price money and create a team to work on an animation you have been thinking about for a while. In order to make it, you work day and night, moving from your laptop to your graphic tablet to your bed. One night, you are finalizing a background and you feel your head is getting heavier, as sleep is trying to get you. Should you slap yourself gently and go get a cup of coffee or let go and sleep there?

Choice 1 : Keep working on your project.

Choice 2 : Wake yourself up.

Accept the proposition.

Yesterday you accepted the deal, and now you are getting ready to visit the art studio, and maybe your new workplace, as a test drive! Once you arrive and walk in you can feel the warm atmosphere of this place. Everyone looks really nice and you start relaxing a little bit.Your future boss comes to great you and bring you along so you can visit the studio. They look really nice, like the kind of person who would listen to your ideas and wouldn't undermine your feelings when you have problem. You meet everybody and feel so welcomed and appreciate, that you know it's the right place for you. They aren't really known in the industry but you will definitely be happy and have fun here so you accept the proposition. Your new boss invite you in their office to sign the papers and here you are, walking towards your dream!

Choice 1 : Two years later.

Try to find another studio.

You refuse the proposition and start looking for a studio or a project again. Sadly, nobody seems to be looking for someone, it's a dead end. You give up and do small animation for yourself while working in a coffee shop. You discover a new passion and end up opening your own coffee shop, where people can watch your animations on a small TV installed between some cosy sofas. You're happy, making a life you love, out of the negativity you went trough, is one of your assets.

Choice 1 : END.

You want to discover your full potential.

You accept, a part of you still believe in this dream that you kept in your heart all this time. The project took 3 years to finish, but it was worth it. It's now one of the most popular animated series of the moment and you can't believe you helped in the direction. What was supposed to be a small project was now extremely popular and your team was asked to work on the second season. You were on your way to become one of the most popular directors of the moment. It was like a dream.

Choice 1 : END.

You are happy with the life you have right now.

You decline the proposition but still work on the project as a storyboard, project who took around 3 years to bring to term. Right now, you are at an event to talk about the future of this show that got popular really quickly. You are happy and you know you are where you are supposed to be. Whatever life bring you in the future, you are on the path you were supposed to be and even threats wouldn't change your good mood.

Choice 1 : END.

Keep working on your project.

You try to concentrate on the grass you are drawing but it's getting harder, you feel sleepier every minute. Finally your body win over your brain and you fall asleep, head directly on your graphic tablet. Your pen fell off your hand as you fall asleep tightly.

Choice 1 : What a weird dream!

Wake yourself up.

You decide to move to stop yourself from falling asleep on your desk. You go get yourself a cup of coffee, but there's none left, so you just decide to go to sleep. The next day you woke up and the cycle start again. You keep it like that for a month, the only time you are not doing that is when you are working at your part-time job. You keep living like that for a while and before you realize it is time to send your project.

Choice 1 : It's time for the results.

Quick nap.

"I didn't sleep long", it's what you think to yourself when you open your eyes again. To your surprise, what you met when you touch the surface under you isn't your desk but soft grass. That's when you notice that you were sleeping in a nice place in the middle of the woods. You stand up and hesitate, what would be the appropriate thing to do right now, screaming or looking around to understand what happened and where you were?

Choice 1 : Start panicking.

Choice 2 : Decide to walk around.

It's time for the results.

As the result come by, you notice that yours did great but it was not enough. The judges tell you that it feels like it missed something. However, you got noticed by a studio who wants you to work on their new project as a storyboard. You accept and start a new adventure!

Choice 1 : END.

Start panicking.

You start screaming and running around. Suddenly, you froze and close your eyes as a try to calm down. You breath deeply, keeping your eyes closed. When you open them again, you are back in front of your computer and your graphic tablet, your crayon is at your feet. "What a strange dream", you think to yourself before choosing to go back to sleep, but in your bed this time.

Choice 1 : END.

Decide to walk around.

While you're walking around, you wonder if it's a dream. Everything look so real. You start noticing that you know this place, it reminds you of something. That's when you realize that you are in the background you were drawing earlier! You get really exited and confuse about the situation. How did you end up in that? Why are you here? You don't notice what is in front of you and bump on something. Should you quickly apologize or run away?

Choice 1 : Quickly apologize.

Choice 2 : Run away.

Quickly apologize.

The thing you bumped in turn around and you can notice it's a person, looking more attentively, you realize it's a character from the animation you are doing! What is going on? They accept your apologies for the misconduct and invite you to a tea inside their house, having nothing else to do, you accept. You end up talking with them all night, they explain to you all the problems they have to experiment in your world and all the things they wish for. You start feeling a little sleepy and your vision start to be blurry. Everything goes black and when you start to be able to see again, you met eyes with your crayon laying on the floor. Your head is full of idea but you are so tired, should you just go back to sleep in your bed or write everything down?

Choice 1 : Write it down.

Choice 2 : Go to sleep thinking about that.

Run away.

While you are running away, you look behind you to see if the thing is following you and fall in a whole. The world becomes darker as you go down, everything around you is now dark, you close your eyes hoping for this to end. When you open them again, you are back in front of your drawing. That was weird. You decide to finally go to sleep to forget about today.

Choice 1 : END.

Write it down.

You write about what happened until you see the sun rising, who know when it can come in handy. You proceed to go to sleep for a couple of hours and then go back to working on your project. You draw day and night, finishing the frames to do your animation, then you spend days working on the montage and editing, you add music, but don't have the budget to add voices. Two months later, everything is done and you send the final project to the contest, all you can do about it now is wait. To change your mind, you start working on your next animation, including this character that helped you here and there.

Choice 1 : Contest results.

Go to sleep thinking about that.

All of this feels like a dream. You go to bed and sleep like a brick. When you wake up, all you have left is some unclear memories and a really happy feeling. You go on with your day, remembering your character comments but it's unclear so you try including them the best you can. Even though you have bad time management, you manage to finish the project on time and you send it and hope for the best, but you have a good feeling about this contest. This is the start of your dream!

Choice 1 : END.

Two years later.

For two years, you work on small projects and live a happy life. You made great friends and forgot about your dream of becoming a popular animator, your life is so simple and full of love now that you wonder is this doesn't equal all the dreams in the world. However, destiny have other plans for you. You were just talking with some coworker at the coffee table, when your boss walk in looking exited. They inform everyone that a new project came and it's the adaptation of a book! They then turn to look at you and ask you if you want to co-direct the project. You hesitate... Do you want to see what you are capable of or are you happy enough with your life?

Choice 1 : You want to discover your full potential.

Choice 2 : You are happy with the life you have right now.

END.

Whatever path you chose, you become happy because, in the end, that's the most important thing! /// END /// P.S: You will notice that some story lines interlace with each others, since I wasn't sure if it was okay (and because it would have been a little confusing to correct) I decided to not attach them together. I just think that sometimes, some things are destined to happen even if you chose different things. I also hope you enjoyed my story!

Choice 1 : Life after Cegep.

Contest results.

Two weeks later, you receive a mail from the contest. You start reading, your heart is pounding in your head. Suddenly you stop and take a deep breath, you won. You won! The judges said that they loved it, it was really complete but not too deep for a small animation of 10 minutes. You start screaming and running everywhere in your apartment. You can't believe you won. All the stress from the last weeks that you withhold is finally getting out and you can't help smiling. In the year that follows, you start planning you project, a project that is going to take you two years to complete.

Choice 1 : Two years later.

Five years later.

Your life feels like a dream now, who would have thought you would have been able to reach your goal and even more? After winning the contest and working on your own animated movie with a team, you managed to get noticed by Netflix who want to put the show on their platform. You accepted and, right after the show aired, they proposed you to be the director of a new Netflix series. This post had the best pay of your career, premium wage, budget, it was the dream. They left you without any specific things to respect so you were free of doing what you wanted, as long as you respected the budget. You didn't know what to do, all your old ideas seemed too boring, too plain, too complicated... it's maddening so you putted them aside. You didn't know what do to. That's when you remembered this character to who you always gave a nice place and a happy life, somewhere in the world of your past projects. It was time for them to be showed to the world and have their happy ever after. Today is now the day when you are airing your series. You are stressing, what if the world doesn't like it? Well, it's too late to ask this question. The last question for now is, should you retreat after this project if it's doing great or should you keep going? You have been in this industry for around 7 years now, most people would retreat soon. What will you do?

Choice 1 : END.