REVISION AFTER REVISION
How a young Furry wasn’t gonna let hardship stop him from achieving his dreams.
A Review of Labirhin’s “Revision after Revision” 3D-Animated Blender Shortfilm, as well as the story behind it. Written by TraaaashPanda.
Before we begin this piece, I’d like you to think about one common thing many people that play video games might have hear come up as a topic: Back in the day when game developers couldn’t update the games after they got shipped to players on disks and cartridges, they knew that what was going out HAD to be as close to perfect as it can be. The results were, in most usual cases, much higher quality of games. Not just from a business perspective, but also on an artistic aspect.
Game developers are artists. Games as a medium is a combination of pretty much any form of art that exists. And artists generally would like the pieces they present the world to reflect their best. They WILL make it happen. And many of the games people tout as masterpieces come from this era.
Today, artists of all kinds face various barriers to both entry and persistence. From ‘the suits’, economic disparity robbing time from artist endeavours, passions being turned to minimum viable products, to independent works being repressed by algorithms while replicated by machines. Success, while occasionally still possible, is often pure luck.
Many artists get crushed under this weight.
But LABIRHIN was not one of them. He wasn’t gonna let the situation he was stuck in as a (now 17 year old) teenager keep him from his aspirations as a 3D animator, musician and digital artist.
Living in Indonesia with his parents and his cat paycheck-to-paycheck with barely $2.500 a year in total salary.
His drive to achieve his dreams was so great that he kept fighting. At 2 years he started dabbling in drawing, and start 3D Art at 14 when first being enrolled in art school at that age.
Wrestling his 10-generations-behind computer and barely affordable tools until he was sure what he was gonna render for sometimes days did not have issues that’d demand a revision or else he’ll run out of time for his art school projects.
Take your time if you haven’t seen it yet! <3
So, shortly after Labirhin released the original Indonesian version his short on YouTube, I was made aware of it through a retweet by a friend.
Seeing the film, reading his profile and after checking his other works out I immediately reached out to him to offer help through our label. I was stunned at the sheer will and artistry he displays, and knew it deserved all the support it could get.
After getting to know each other and signing him on, we first worked on getting all his older pieces translated and posted across our socials, and have it be the first time for him have his music be on streaming services at all. We also funded him a whole new current-gen PC to improve his technical side of things.
Together we had the idea of remastering the audio, animation, translating it to English and having it be voiced by professional VA Sean Chiplock (Legend of Zelda, Starfield, Amazing Digital Circus, …) to truly make it special.
Two of our label’s artists also filled some side roles!
To the day of writing, his film gained a combined ~25.000+ Views on YouTube.
The Film
(Spoiler: This will be showcasing the entirety of the short!)
‘Revision after Revision’ is how Labirhin decided to visualize his struggles getting through Art School.
Sorbitol, a wolf and animator working in a fictional studio called “Jaya Studios” placed within Labirhin’s own comic universe, is currently stuck in the production cycle of his new TV-Series for Jaya’s streaming service. Working with the bare minimum equipment, loathing visually and audibly his old dusty production setup and trying to laugh it off.
But despite the efforts and sleepless nights thrown at it, countless changes made to accommodate the publisher to seemingly no end, because Mr. Producer always calls for a revision.
Years go by like this.
“Every time I get home, I am grateful to still be alive.”
Years fearing if all this work will actually amount to something. If he’ll even be able to see the fruits of his labour. Will people even care?
“I've spent so much time on revisions to the point that I've been scared I'll die before I finish this. That nobody gets to see it. That nobody will know and nobody gets to remember me.”
Eventually, the show was completed. He was the only person in the studio to stay there overnight to see the rendering process go by frame by frame. But as he stood there, he noticed something was off. He wasn’t filled with the euphoria he expected after presenting his work to the world. Confused about what it is that seemed missing.
“I should be ... HAPPY right now.”
On the day of release, Sorbitol sits alone on a bench, somewhere outside in a grey, smoggy cement wasteland. A feeling of emptiness.
Suddenly, Konny appears. A colleague from the animation team we could see earlier when she was poking through the door signing him a bit of confidence. Konny congratulates him on the release of his show and offers him a drink before sitting down with him and just enjoying the other’s presence.
And it was at that moment that he know what he was missing up to this point.
“... And I bought soy milk! hihi”
“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there’s someone who cared, more than anyone else in the world?” reads a text, just before the credits start rolling.
A wonderful sentence to roll into the review with.
OPINION & Interpretation
It should be clear how much of a personal piece this is, and that Sorbitol acts as a representation of Labirhin himself.
Just like Sorbitol, Labirhin worked his damnest off with the bare minimum of what he could afford to work with, to produce something that matters to him, and hopefully the world.
Drawing parallels from the constraints of his hardware making everything a long and gruesome process to get right, all while being walled into a concrete jungle with barely anyone to share or spend time with outside of his work.
As I tried to get across with the intro about game devs, Labirhin by his situation was forced into giving it his all, sacrificing everything he had, to either make it or essentially die trying.
For many, especially in wealthier parts of the world, it’s close to unimaginable just how hard it is to pursue your dreams or a comfortable life in an environment that is set out against you in a country where 10% of people live in poverty, and the vast majority very close to it. The unbearable pain when there’s a mistake in rendering, stealing days of your life because the hardware you’re forced to work with is almost as old as you. That crushing dread of worrying if it’s all even going to be worth it.
This movie is one of the purest displays of passion I’ve personally ever seen, perfectly encapsulating the struggle he and his peers encounter daily. Even despite his age and hardships he was able to produce a heartfelt film with a purely original score leaving a lasting impression. Well-crafted camera positions, relatable writing and a powerful beautifully bleak scenery create a sunshine in the dark.
All I can say is, it was absolutely worth it. It’s inspiring and impressive just how much Labirhin crushed it, and all by himself managed to draw the attention of the foreign world with the little English he knew. Nearly 30.000 people have now seen his short, with almost universal appraise.
Now with the help of community, and a found family of fellow artists and fans, he’s able to let his art lift him up. I am excited for what he will come up with in the future. Like fulfilling his dream of creating a full animated mini-series of his webcomic.
We believe, as Furries, we have to help each other out. Furry as a community is built on artistry and a mutual understanding of supporting everyone to be their best selves, especially those less fortunate than us. And I hope this piece acts a reminder of what we should strive to promote.
Labirhin’s “Revision after Revision” is nominated for the 2023 Ursa Major Awards for Best Anthropomorphic Dramatic Short Work.
Starting on March 1st of 2024, you can help him with your vote!
This article is written by TraaaashPanda, Founder of Aural Alliance.
All opinions expressed are my own, and stem purely from my admiration of Labirhin’s hard work that I wanted to specifically point out. He is the living embodiment of dedication, and I’m honoured to work with someone like him and support his craft.
I hope you enjoyed his work as much as me!
