About — [ terry creamer ]

The Evolution of Allister's Hood

Hi! I'm Terry Creamer of The Terry Creamer Company! Today, I’ll be sharing the history of my original character Allister. You will get to see how I transformed my idea into the intellectual property of The Terry Creamer Company. You will get the inside scoop of my thought process while working with freelancers. When you're done reading this blog, you will have drawn your own conclusions on communicating ideas as a leader.

This image [right] is the first ever drawing of Allister from The Terry Creamer Company’s original story Allister’s Hood - formerly known as “The Library”. Before I became a business owner, I commissioned this drawing from a friend of mine named Joanie Heise in 2017.

At the time, I was indecisive as to what I wanted her to look like. Initially I wanted Allister to be very strong and very smart but I didn’t know how to communicate that to my freelancer.

I was afraid to assert my ideas and felt a desire to let my freelance artist make creative decisions. When I received this commission, I remember absolutely hating it. The Allister in my head looked tougher and the overall style that Joanie delivered felt off. Maybe it was her thick eyebrows. Maybe it was the unbalanced pile of books in her hand.

I made a decision to be more assertive when working with freelancers. I later reached out to another freelancer named Mikel Canizares on Fiverr. I remember describing Allister as a female Cloud Strife. I stressed the importance of her strength. I still had not learned the importance of providing my freelancers with precise details.

Mikel was wise to ask questions when something about my order was unclear. Mikel asked me what visible details he needed to include to portray her strength because I had made it clear that I didn’t want her to be muscular. Mikel told me an effective way to make a character look strong is to show them effortlessly holding something heavy or show them wearing visibly heavy apparel like boots or armor. Additionally, Mikel asked me how Allister should be posed. I never considered how important this was. I decided to find an interesting pose that would portray her as a mysterious and powerful magic user.

I provided Mikel with a reference image of Sora from the Kingdom Hearts franchise [left, top] and Allister’s design developed further. As excited as I was to see Mikel’s depiction of Allister [left, bottom], something about her still didn’t feel right.
The beauty of having two different iterations of the same character is that you can compare the differences and discover the strengths and weaknesses of each iteration.
One important thing Joanie’s drawing captured that Mikel’s drawing lacked was a visibly defined personality. When you see Joanie’s drawing you see that Allister is sweet and you get a sense of her kindness. Both freelance artists helped me realize that personality (or lack thereof) can make or break a character more than their physical attributes.

Due to a lack of funds I decided to spend more time planning Allister’s story and less time hiring freelance artists. I wanted to see more drawings of Allister but I had no idea what to do with the drawings.

I asked myself, “Terry if you had a million dollars to spend on Allister’s Hood, how would you spend that money?” This question stuck with me. I dived headfirst down the entrepreneurial rabbit hole. I learned about ghostwriters and wondered if I should publish and monetize a small novel that could support the production of Allister’s Hood. I found myself afraid to commit to a story. I was held back by my own uncertainty. As much as I wanted to make my story an animated series, it felt unfeasible. I contemplated developing mobile games that featured Allister only to find myself spinning in circles. Now, let’s fast-forward to 2020 where I was an Entertainment Business student at Full Sail University.

I felt inspired to officially start The Terry Creamer Company. After a couple months of hiring freelancers to make interesting logos and promotional content, I came to realize that The Terry Creamer Company had no product or service. I needed my business to be my passion. I never lost my passion for Allister’s Hood. I decided to make her story the heart of my business.

August, 2020 rolls around and I hire Steven Pratt, a screenwriter on Upwork, to write the script for the first episode of Allister’s Hood. I wrote and provided him with a detailed beat sheet. The beat sheet broke down what needed to happen during the episode from beginning to end. Steven expanded upon those beats and Allister’s Hood became more. than an idea. It became a tangible script. Allister’s Hood became the intellectual property of The Terry Creamer Company.

While working with Steven, I hired Kathryn Grogan to create assets for what was to become Allister’s Hood: The Animated Series. The initial idea was to have Kathryn create a library of body parts in dynamic positions that could be mixed and matched to create different characters and convey different emotions. While we waited for Steven to finish the script for the first episode, Kathryn created fan-art based on Allister and the two secondary characters Pilot and Harken. Kathryn would draw the fan-art in different styles, drawing inspiration from preexisting cartoons and anime.

When I saw her Gravity Falls inspired version of Harken, Pilot, and Allister [right] I was tempted to rebrand the entire show. The art style had a polished look and creating assets would be faster and cheaper. However, I wanted this show to target young adults (18 - 24) who were still trying to figure out how to be an adult. I didn’t want to change the target demographic simply because producing it would be easier.

Although this character sheet by Kathryn [below] is simplistic, it proved to be a helpful resource when contacting other freelancers and requesting very specific, stylistic drawings.

The story doesn't end there! Before the end of 2020, I discovered two talented digital artists who would become my Story Director and Illustrator, but that's a story for another day. Stay connected and keep a watchful eye out for more updates of everything Allister's Hood.

Follow us on Instagram! @terrysusername

Terry Creamer, CEO

The Terry Creamer Company, LLC