thebackalleys

Hey thought it was about time to make a new art thread.

Anyway, here's some shit I made so far this year in Animation II.

Flour Sack:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39W93SrFQGU

Personality Walk or whatever, I did Lolita if you remember her.


Yeah the flour sack animation was such a pain to animate traditionally, I decided to just start doing my assignments in Flash and save myself $30 a ream.

More to come, or not

Really Cool! Awesome!

You've gotten much better buddy! Also i still have your ruckus sketch as my wallpaper!  

the walk is really cool, the skirt must have been a pain in the ass to animate

The sack is cute~!

I love Lolita's interpretive dance about the struggles of our times~

 Wait--I owe you lines, don't I

Thanks guys, yeah the dress was a little bit of a pain, but I roughed everything out first.

You don't owe me anything right now Hnilmik, I'm revising the pilot script anyway. I don't think I'll be ready to start anything with it until around January or February now.

Cool stuff

Wow that is some really great animation! All the expressions in the flour sack were pulled off very well and the timing was good too. There were a few parts that skipped in speed but only cuz it could have used a frame or 2 more (like when it's on the floor breathing). Weight shifts were excellent. The dancing girl (Lolita?) was really entertaining to watch haha. The motions were as crazy as I imagine a drugged out hippie would dance. You timed it all very well and the fabric was nice too. That first back kick looks a bit off but I can't quite pick up why...maybe it's the way the back leg came in short and then grew longer in length during the kick? Idk maybe I'm being too picky haha. Seriously it's a great crazy dance-walk and the line work is so crisp. Great work, want MORE!

pretty neat stuff man

neat stuff ixintro!
Im doing the "easy" flour sack excersises myself (im in animation 1). Your animation is very consistent and the weight aint half bad.

I did notice a few signs of your style in it. you used a few interesting angles, specially in the "proud" pose of the sack animation

Very neato stuff dude. I like it how with the walk, you didn't go for the standard "make this character walk from the left to the right" you can tell exactly who she is by her body movements.

More

That was pretty fun to watch. Great job!

the walk is really cool. definitely the best animation i've seen from you

i love how she trips at the end its so great

the floursack is lovely too very convincing emotions and what not

Hey everybody, might as well show all the stuff I've been doing this semester. I did everything in Flash cuz fuck spending $30 for 500 sheets of paper.

I had to do another flour sack and here it is


And here's some head turns for Derek and Rebecca I did



Walk cycle for Rebecca


Pantomime, you probably won't be able to tell what's going on til near the end


Finally, I did a lip-sync the other day and used the audition clip for Derek, I ran out of time at the end so things start to get a little cut-and-pastey


I even had to make clay maquettes of Derek and Rebecca, but I didn't get any photos of them and I used modeling clay instead of sculpey cuz I'm a dumbass. So they're dead and gone. Also I'm probably going to have Cheromanchequois done in the next 3 weeks because I'm finishing it for my final and the student film festival. So yeah

that new flour sack is awesome

your animation is much more lively than it used to be

Really nice a fluid stuff.

These are really great
Good to know you're still alive 8D

Yeah I've been working more on the characters for my cartoon, I changed the name to Summer Rec which seems way better.
(https://thebackalleys.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thebackalleys.com%2Fdump%2Ffiles%2F1059%2F106Lz7_Summer%2520Rec.jpg&hash=78a8ea34148a00b8fad7b85d5236d87c6b9ff852)
As of right now, Norm is the only one who isn't almost to final draft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cookie_cutter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cookie_cutter)

heh

Hey guys, it's finally fuckin finished and I'm showing you guys first.

i like it gold star

The backgrounds look good for your animation. Wasn't too bright or saturated and didn't look alienated. Your character movements and facial expressions have improved. The character Lorita comes off as a bit annoying but has more personality compared to some of earlier work of just being a hippie. Not really likeable so far but I'm sure eventually we can see reasons  that Lorita can be cool told through more of your animations.

lol i don't remember casting any of this but okay. Anyway that was really good! I loved the part where the realistic clouds came in to create a storm.

like i said on irc, the only part i didn't like were the video of the clouds, but i understand why you did it. other than that, it's a solid cartoon with a good atmosphere.

Yaaaayy~~!

@@; By the way, am I the only one seeing the white pixel lines to the left and top of the screen? Or am I going crazy?

I think the personalities and animation are very nicelly fleshed out and the atmosphere is beautiful. But something makes me feel like some of the limbs/stuff shrinked and grew back again, this happened in between shots but also in the same scene in diferent ways ... it is important that you try to keep an eye out for proportions. Still very fun stuff, nice atmosphere. I think your cartoons look a lot better than before and your aniamtion has imporved a lot. how did you make the lines in flash look so nice? i mean it looks like you used the standard brush tool

love it~  


hope to see more stuff like this in the future

Hey guys here's the NG link, if yer gay!
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/572303 (http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/572303)

Thanks guys
@Sapphire yeah it was like a year ago now
@Eman yeah the proportions in some scenes are really shitty, some of the scenes were shit scenes that I did to make class deadlines that ended up in the final. Also yeah its the regular brush tool, I use a big ol' tablet so it makes sweeping lines pretty easy if you have smoothness left at the default and pressure sensitivity on.
@Crabarms I hope to elaborate on her character more in the future

(https://thebackalleys.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thebackalleys.com%2Fdump%2Ffiles%2F1059%2F3017sQ_wha.PNG&hash=57e781e692d5920d05c5a65e0e15ee12acc0870d)

SCOOOOOOOOOOORE!!!

it lroomsk like len and stimpers

(https://thebackalleys.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thebackalleys.com%2Fdump%2Ffiles%2F1059%2F062v3A_Summer%2520Rec%2520Image.png&hash=acaf30593e8b138693f4178f07f8d090a1338860)

omg wil it happen

Yeah actually I was gonna talk to all you guys about it once I have the script written up next month. I wanna animate an 11-minute pilot in my animation class this year so if things go as planned, it'll be completed in May 2012.

whooooo!

yaaaaay can't wait!

daily 1st and weekly 5th

congrats!

also
(https://thebackalleys.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thebackalleys.com%2Fdump%2Ffiles%2F1091%2F834Ca4_ohmyfuckin.PNG&hash=1303a1db800507b9a000da5a1bb24bf13b72f899)

lmao

This cartoon reminds me on Rick Knickalophogus

Here's some sketches I did, I just posted them to to Tumblr, but fuck it I'll post them here too.
(https://thebackalleys.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thebackalleys.com%2Fdump%2Ffiles%2F1059%2F6182Zv_7-12%2520004.jpg&hash=a2aa507486a328b1549c745eb3f68dc9b45258b6)
(https://thebackalleys.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thebackalleys.com%2Fdump%2Ffiles%2F1059%2F0620Hm_7-12%2520003.jpg&hash=8097a76b2971001dadd4c689fea4132706a3e715)
I am very proud of the BURRP face and the out-of-place Granddad drawing.
(https://thebackalleys.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thebackalleys.com%2Fdump%2Ffiles%2F1059%2F651Pw6_7-12%2520002.jpg&hash=47891a3b8cff645b38c6e994ef22f9a16dfab3c1)
Hey look, Lolita titties.

Nice

(also your handwriting is so pretty omg)

i don't have tumblr so this is where i see your art! your sketches are pretty clean, but i guess that comes as no surprise considering how clean your animation is too

i like the poses and angles you drew your characters in. good stuff

Wow your sketches are super clean and finished for a sketchbook! :0 Do you get these down all on the first go? Or do you erase and clean them up?? Btw great poses and angles too haha I love the one of Lolita saying "my weed!" and the last colored one where that girl is like "uh whaa??"Great doodles :]

Also, I STILL need to review your cartoon...I still want to do that so it will come in time ;]

Quote from: SapphireNice

(also your handwriting is so pretty omg)

Thanks, I promise I will actually try to have a pilot script to send to you within the next month!

Quote from: rtili don't have tumblr so this is where i see your art! your sketches are pretty clean, but i guess that comes as no surprise considering how clean your animation is too

Good to know, I'll post more shit next time I get my lazy ass into a sketchpad. Thanks, I don't tend to rough a lot when I'm cartooin

Quote from: shurai like the poses and angles you drew your characters in. good stuff

Thank you, my friend Liz inspired a lot of them

Quote from: CVGWow your sketches are super clean and finished for a sketchbook! :0 Do you get these down all on the first go? Or do you erase and clean them up?? Btw great poses and angles too haha I love the one of Lolita saying "my weed!" and the last colored one where that girl is like "uh whaa??"Great doodles :]

Also, I STILL need to review your cartoon...I still want to do that so it will come in time ;]

Thanks CVG, I usually get it on the first go, or try to. The pencils I use aren't the most forgiving so I usually just try to commit. Though I should probably try to rough more since I think it would help me develop things faster than just trying to mimic and tweak myself everytime. No prob about the review if you don't get around to it but thanks if ya do

moooore

Hey I did some Rebecca drawings the other day. And I finally got around to writing a pilot script even though I need to revise it a shit-ton. Also yeah I dunno why I fucked up the green drawings shin so bad.
(https://thebackalleys.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thebackalleys.com%2Fdump%2Ffiles%2F1059%2F1174jK_Rebecca%25207-24%2520002.png&hash=78558fcfca5489329ee14b689e19846f316c2592)

she looks like she's tweaking

(https://thebackalleys.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thebackalleys.com%2Fdump%2Ffiles%2F1059%2F120Ol4_Derek%25207-30.jpg&hash=c7a1c0c0b84e57f68d6ac1cbb21b8f9536783ed4)
More Derek drawings

nice! i like the one where he is crying

sometimes i think you and i draw very similarly if you saw my sketchbook you would know what im talking about

I agree fully, 'cept I think you're better at pushing poses and expressions than I am.

i like how lolita just smokes topless on the beach like she dont even give a fuck

Rebecca got dat football head

(https://thebackalleys.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thebackalleys.com%2Fdump%2Ffiles%2F1059%2F299dD8_Norm%25208-13.png&hash=d7d5538811b7434f792292664ac1aa84f8bfd725)
Norm drawings

Also I wrote a new pilot script for Summer Rec if anybody wants to give it a critique. I kind of want to shorten it, so if anybody sees something worth cuttin, feel free to tell me.
http://www.thebackalleys.com/dump/player.php?f=6962 (http://www.thebackalleys.com/dump/player.php?f=6962)

he even looks smelly

Just had a quick read through the pilot. I liked the ending to the Rebecca/Lolita ending, and to be honest, I wasn't really warming up to the Derek/Jim plot. I get that it was sort of a juxtaposition between enthusiasm and apathy, but it felt like the D/J plot ended too early. You had the climax on the soccer field, but it never really wrapped itself up like the R/L plot did.

Thanks, that's a very good point. Derek and Jim were originally supposed to be the A-story but the Rebecca and Lolita one was more fun to write, so yeah I kind of neglected the Derek/Jim portion of it and didn't give it a proper ending. You also made me realize that neither one of their stories converge at any point, so maybe I can work them into the ending and tie up the loose ends.

Also did you like the juxtaposed storylines? I was kind of intending on having it be a recurring theme in some episodes, but I wasn't so sure if it would just seem repetitive within an episode to have 2 similar storylines happening simultaneously.

The juxtaposition is a clever way to get in opposing ideas, but it's difficult to say how long that would last, or if that theme would come at the cost of character development in some places.

Actually, the way the Derek/Jim plot plays out, I wonder if it would be more interesting to only have Derek and Jim's story happen in the background as something the viewer has to guess at what's happening. That way, you could cut down a bit on the script's size and have the two of them fit better into the Rebecca/Lolita plot.

Yeah, I was planning on using it sparingly, I also had another episode concept where Jim is dating Lolita for drugs and Rebecca is dating Norm purely for financial support.

You've got a good point though, it'd probably be more interesting to see the Derek/Jim plot as a background piece, instead of being played straight. I think what's dragging it down right now is that I haven't really fallen into a good groove for writing Derek and Jim yet. For some reason Rebecca and Lolita seem to be naturally easy to write for.

your lines are nice and stuff but i really don't like looking at these characters

maybe because they remind me of the assholes i have to deal with irl

i know what you mean, most of these characters are composites of shit i hated about past coworkers heh

It's a pretty funny cartoon script although it definitely seems long...I'm imagining this is like a 20 min cartoon? Otherwise it seems like all the stuff going on in this is going to be very very fast animation and VA reading that speeds by. Overall I didn't get the Jim/Derek parts at all...The whole page with Vietnam went right over my head and it was the only part of the script I starting zoning out of and scrolling down to skip. Also their personal dynamics/reactions seemed tacked on and no real character development went on like it did in the Lolita/Rebecca parts. Basically we saw "hurt feelings and compassion" grow in their scenes so I was more interested in them as characters. In contrast the bulk of Derek/Jim and their humor was drinking and slacking which just kind of made me shrug like "ehh okay and nothing important was lost/gained". The only part I liked was the soccer scene because I could imagine it growing into the chaos you wrote...maybe you should opt to make the Derek/Jim parts a 2nd episode in itself so that they get more time to breathe? Idk

Anyways it's a good pilot type of episode where we get an intro of all characters in the briefing part and then a sample of all four people doing these things. But going into the next episodes I'd hope to see more personal episodes where not all the characters have to get some screen time and maybe somewhere where the kids get some screen time or are actually important and not scapegoats to all the slapstick/victims....like the camp could be more significant to it all...it seems like only the backdrop for the main characters so far. But good luck and keep going!! :]

Thanks for the critique CVG, very thoughtful. I think you may have hit the nail on the head at why the Derek/Jim plot doesn't work. Their story doesn't really accomplish much, which is very true. I mainly kept with it cuz I liked the Soccer match portion, which is kind of a shitty excuse. I agree about the lack of character development involving their part, I've been trying to think of a response, but I realize I'm not really sure what to do with their plot which would give it more purpose. Their part didn't seem to write itself as easily as Rebecca and Lolita's part. I'd hate to save it for a different episode cuz I do like how it parallels Rebecca and Lolita.

As for the personal episodes thing, that's mainly the plan, I have a few other concepts that do involve all the characters. But I don't want to get into the habit of giving characters screen-time just so they can be there. Since it was the pilot though, I felt I had to give all the cast generally equal screen-time since I didn't want to mislead viewers into believing that Rebecca and Lolita are the main characters and the rest are the supporting cast. However, this specific concept might not have been the best choice for first, considering that.

Also yeah, I didn't really explain too much with the Vietnam part, it's more of a visual thing since it's supposed to be a Flashback but I didn't write any indication of that for some reason. But basically what it is with Burch's character is that he has a lot of those traditional Vietnam stories, except he treats his service as a recruitment officer like fighting in the shit. But yeah, if I have to explain it, shows it might not be workin.

I agree a lot about the Rec Center and the kids only seeming like a backdrop right now. I'm hoping to expand upon the usage of the kids, other than victims to the characters' shittiness. So far, I've only been trying to strengthen the main cast and haven't really thought as deeply about their surroundings or a supporting cast.

Goddamn, I spent like an hour trying to write this response! Hard as shit to be concise on this for some reason, so many possibilities.

Also, it'll probably be about 15 minutes. Seems like 45 seconds a page give or take.

For anybody who's interested, I did another revision on the script. It's a bit tighter and I tried tying the plots together a little more. Also still trying to salvage the Derek/Jim plot. http://www.thebackalleys.com/dump/player.php?f=7101 (http://www.thebackalleys.com/dump/player.php?f=7101)

solid work. the only mistake i found that stuck out was one page 10 during jim's last line where it says "How the hell is you
plopped yourself down on lifeguard bench, yellin' at about running, and waiting for kid to start drowning so you something to do the least fulfilling?"

unless jim is like Cajun or something and i didn't pick that up in his other lines :I

thanks, naw i'm just bad at proofreading

Holy shit I thought I didn't have anything to share with you guys but I haven't posted anything here in 4 fucking months!

Anyways I updated my demo reel:
2011 Demo Reel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0aXZHun1fs#)
I'm probably gonna go back and include the actual dialogue for all the lipsyncs.

Also, there's a looooot of stuff that's happened in the last several months concerning my projects n shit. I began the semester wanting to do my pilot script and my professor was like heh fuck that so I made an animatic for a condensed short involving Burch recording his memoirs and blah blah. A few weeks go by, semester goes sour, I drop all my non-animation courses. My professor is like hell yeah go make the long script and have it be a full-year project, and yeah that was like late October. So it's been about 2 months now and I have 7 minutes keyed out out of what'll be about 10 or 11 minutes. I also revised the script (http://www.thebackalleys.com/dump/player.php?f=8027 (http://www.thebackalleys.com/dump/player.php?f=8027)) a shitton more and removed 80% of the unfunny and boring.

So yeah it was supposed to be an animatic but I'm so anal about timing and character interaction I've just been keying every scene and taking a lot more time than I should.
But here it is so far. There's a few parts fully animated at the start. And yeah chunks of story missing.
[spoiler]http://www.thebackalleys.com/dump/files/1059/512j9P_SR-%20Seq.%20All%2012-27.swf[/spoiler]
So yeah, hopefully this'll be done around late April. Then I'll be submitting it to Ottawa and a bunch of other places. I just started submitting Cheromanchequois to places just a couple weeks ago for some reason.

the animation is looking good, really smooth and clean. i'd like to see what you do with the angry girl hehe

very excited to see this project!

also, did you still need kid voices? i am willing to help

yeah it's mostly good

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITEEEDDDDD~~

Sweet thanks Dilly, if I have any parts I can use you for I'll let you know

Quote from: Hnilmik on December 29, 2011 08:46 AM
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITEEEDDDDD~~

-pant pant- *rubs pants*

Dat fluidity.

Looking good so far! :D

Made a gerf
(https://thebackalleys.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thebackalleys.com%2Fdump%2Ffiles%2F1059%2F271Vq9_Derek%2520GYL.gif&hash=012fce24d6b3863a051bc0928b23cb22bdebfb76)

its not bad i just really hate the neck

i think it's pretty boring but the animation is smoother and higher quality than the majority of flashes i've seen made by one person

I have to agree with sev, even tho the animation thus far looks promising, the script needs revising, it's not interesting enough and feels awfully dry

yeah I agree, the plot is weak but you've got some damn good animation skills

Yeah the writing still is pretty meh, it's come a long way from what it was but it's still pretty meh. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to let me know.

make it a bit more over the top, cut things shorter and move faster, use more music (i know its in early stages, but the part where burch talks could have had the snares going) exaggerate the tension between characters more (i feel like it's not enough cartoony),

example: rebecca could do more over the top things, than just shouting at kids, and shoving them into the lake (I liked the salt on the wound one, you should stick to these ridiculous stuff)

Also her part is too long, cut some things out to make it more fluid.

I've also read your script, and think you should cut away after her making the "deal" with lolita. You could later cut back, skipping the part where lolita asks her about smiling, and just go right into her trying to compliment the kids painting, then making the "face" and lolita realizing how much more work they have.

Cutaway to two other dudes is good at here, but after that, you need something more.

You could add some musical training montage in here, with Rebecca constantly failing at becoming better, it's a cliche, yeah, but it would be of great use dramatically, and would empower the feel of the time spent teaching her. The episodes problem comes from her being unable act normally, and that should be not only greatly reinforced, but a bit drawn out. The problem shouldn't be solved too easily.

Add in the first half of the football scene here.

Which is followed by the picnic scene. After that, cut back to the football scene at the most adrenaline fueling scene and follow your script.


These are my two cents. You don't have to follow it, it's just an example.


+Edit: aw, yeah, I also forgot, you should know your target audience. I can't place this into any specific age group, "CHEESE & CRACKERS" and "FUUCK" don't really go well together. Either have the old guy swear like hell too, or use something other than fuck. (I'm guessing fuck will go, looking at the rest of the thing)

I really liked where it's going so far and I'm happy to see that parts of the script when I last read it were translated into funny visuals and timing that text usually doesn't convey untill you see it in action (like the smile face). But there are a few stops where they sit on the camera and look silent for too long. For example when it's on the fat guy and they just skip past him on his job duty, I think if we heard just a little "uhhh..." and then skip past him it would help less confusion about the silent skip. I mean I got the joke there but it was a bit too assuming that we knew he's a burden or troublesome...cuz I didn't really see anything wrong with the guy as he sat there with a bored face. I guess a little sound of disapproval helps to just know the head guy just didn't know what to do with him. I still think the strongest characters are the two ladies haha and the part where the hippie girl (forgive me as I don't recall the names just yet) when she was being looked at as a good example and then started eating the plants haha. Visually and animation-wise it's looking SO AMAZING :U I'd swear a team of animators or studio was making this haha that's how nice it looks. And the fact you only did this part in 2 months blows my mind (still working on 3 mins going on 1 year lmao I need to kick my ass and work harder). But yeah man this is great and I can't wait to see the finished version. Keep it up! :}  When I get some free time I want to re-read the new script and give some opinions on that too but this is what I got from the animatic thus far!

Also I agree with Logan about the audience aspect a little bit...I'm guessing this would be for adults more than kids based on the ages of the counselors, their personality relationships being the focus (like a sitcom), and the drinking and swearing too... but at the same time it's so clean and harmless and kind of has a lighter tone that's more suitable for kids networks like how teen drama island has characters all interacting and that's the core of the situational comedy. Not that I'm saying yours in like teen drama island btw, yours is LEAGUES funnier and better drawn then that crap but I'm using it as reference of where it fits in genera-wise (people comedy with talking and situations). So yeah it's a good thing to think about but don't let that stagnate your process if you are liking the cartoon and its satisfying to your own sensibilities. Draw what you know and enjoy :}

large gay dog

Hey sorry, was gonna respond them forgot :I Thanks for your suggestions guys

You've got a lot of good points, especially concerning how the story is just kind of puttering along. It could be a lot tighter in the timing. I'm also gonna address amping up some of the absurdity.

Logen, you made a really good point about breaking up the one Lolita and Rebecca scene where it's just talking for a minute. It never occurred to me to shuffle some of the scenes around. If I move the nxt Derek and Jim scene forward to the point you mentioned that sounds like it would work well, it could also let me just fire smash cut into the next Rebecca/Lolita sequence.
Also I was thinking of doing a montage for Lolita training Rebecca but I was a little worried about doing another montage since there was one earlier on. Mainly a fear cuz I've written stuff with like 8 montages in one script before :U

Also I see what you're saying about being confused about the target demographic. Mainly the reason why there are euphemisms occasionally is because of Burch trying to avoid swearing in front of kids.

I like your idea CVG of having a disapproving sound for when Burch is addressing Norm. The joke kind of formed out of D-Mac forgetting to do the part for Burch talking about Norm but the silence played pretty well when I was getting critiques in class. Having some sound on it would totally enhance it though.
And thanks CVG, I'm pretty happy with how it's looking visually, hopefully I can keep to my deadline.

Glad I could help.

That Burch thing makes sense, but we as the general audience never really get to know that information.

Also, don't worry about the montage thing. The first one is more like a series of flashbacks.

(https://thebackalleys.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thebackalleys.com%2Fdump%2Ffiles%2F1059%2F9010Xy_Sketch%25201-10%2520copy.png&hash=e623c9d6d6c646da4d6547d837d6c7a8b2644860)
Burch is super kawaii!
(https://thebackalleys.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thebackalleys.com%2Fdump%2Ffiles%2F1059%2F882o2O_super%2520sugoi.jpg&hash=2fc4d79db65f37a307159042d505a7853b3401e9)

Quote from: Casey Pixmintro on January  6, 2012 04:08 AM
I like your idea CVG of having a disapproving sound for when Burch is addressing Norm. The joke kind of formed out of D-Mac forgetting to do the part for Burch talking about Norm but the silence played pretty well when I was getting critiques in class. Having some sound on it would totally enhance it though.

Whoa, did you never catch my e-mail? I sent that line 6 days after the others, when I realized I'd skipped it.

for some reason i keep confusing ixintro with wac

Quote from: D-Mac on January 11, 2012 01:28 PM

Quote from: Casey Pixmintro on January  6, 2012 04:08 AM
I like your idea CVG of having a disapproving sound for when Burch is addressing Norm. The joke kind of formed out of D-Mac forgetting to do the part for Burch talking about Norm but the silence played pretty well when I was getting critiques in class. Having some sound on it would totally enhance it though.

Whoa, did you never catch my e-mail? I sent that line 6 days after the others, when I realized I'd skipped it.

Oh shit, I guess I didn't haha

Hey guys, not too much shit to report on with my pilot right now. I have a little 45-second preview I did the other day.
Summer Rec Preview (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3LK3_LfipE#ws)

Cool news though, I got a freelance job about a month ago to make an instructional film about a sprite texture packing program my client is making. I managed to get it through http://odesk.com (http://odesk.com) and it's been pretty legit. The pay system on that site is really interesting, where you have a little program you log your hours on which tracks the amount of mouse-clicks and shit you do, with a screencap every 10 minutes so there's transparency between the client and you. I'll probably post some clips soon cuz the project is surprisingly fun to animate. I even get to use the PixelTools Flash plug-in for it.

Also, my friends and I did this drawing at a party. We just passed it around and contributed to it, twas cool as tits.
(https://thebackalleys.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs3.amazonaws.com%2Fdata.tumblr.com%2Ftumblr_m1emk5rLHK1qihtkco1_1280.png&hash=5f81b05795416d66d354afa78c939cc100744f9c)

And made this yesterday cuz im a faggot. and cuz Clone High is a good show.
(https://thebackalleys.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F25.media.tumblr.com%2Ftumblr_m1mmlk7cn11qfhuwco1_250.gif&hash=b623bf39f851c6c47d595b7ff4ac22dcc2e59478)(https://thebackalleys.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F24.media.tumblr.com%2Ftumblr_m1mmlk7cn11qfhuwco2_250.gif&hash=c37f8e6f7ad397dfa0ebb48895ac3036ae19db00)

Oh also one of my friends who's a super good comedy writer helped me out with the script and he injected a lot of great gags and shit into it and the story is a lot stronger now yup yup

Hey, here's what I have done on Summer Rec so far
Summer Rec Animatic (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKy2S-gc6vY#ws)

Also, I'm doing a Kickstarter for it.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/765327036/summer-rec-pilot-episode (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/765327036/summer-rec-pilot-episode)

best part was the soccer game

edit: also good luck on reaching your kickstarter goal

nice to see you've fleshed out the whole episode. i actually laughed out loud at a few parts i think your comedic timing is pretty good.

the amount of money you've asked for is fair, especially considering you need a brand new computer as well. i will be contributing to this project in the next week or so.

i also read in your bio that you want to work for titmouse.. you have read some of the articles detailing their cheap labor (http://www.cartoonbrew.com/disney/a-tale-of-two-titmouses-a-cartoon-brew-investigation.html), right? they pay their entry level animators almost nothing .. i dont have any respect for an animation company that treats their talent like dirt. you deserve better than that.

the soccer scenes going to be fucking awesome

Quote from: rtil on May  9, 2012 07:42 PM

i also read in your bio that you want to work for titmouse.. you have read some of the articles detailing their cheap labor (http://www.cartoonbrew.com/disney/a-tale-of-two-titmouses-a-cartoon-brew-investigation.html), right? they pay their entry level animators almost nothing .. i dont have any respect for an animation company that treats their talent like dirt. you deserve better than that.

would you know where to start looking for good companies to work for? I have no job research skills :'[

i worked locally in the studio environment for a few years and gave up. now i freelance. never been happier. studios typically overwork you because you're on a fixed salary so they don't have to pay you overtime, so they purposely shorthand on artists. they pay can sometimes be great but imo not worth the being miserable and never having freetime + commute. i got sick of it, even if the work was fun.

Thank everyone. Yeah I've read that Cartoon Brew article. Not all of it is untrue, but some parts of it are a bit exaggerated. Their animators get paid fine, but the issue was the clean-up artists, specifically for the show Motorcity. They weren't getting paid $400, which is a bit of a stretch but the company admits they weren't getting paid as much as they should, based on union-standard because Disney had them under their thumb big time when the show started. Also, it was effected by an effort to keep the show 100% in-house with no outsourcing. The show's unionized now which solves a bunch of those problems which is good though. I dunno, besides the fact they produce amazing animation, I've been attracted to their crazy severe employee retention. They try to never let go of anyone, and it's apparently very easy to climb the ladder there. A lot of the people who were getting paid meh as clean-up artists got promoted to higher paying jobs within the first 3 months.

I understand your wariness, that article did raise some red flags (the parts of it that weren't embellished) but also it's more telling for the New York animation industry than just Titmouse. The industry there is still in a bit of a turbulent second infancy as companies are trying to make it in the city again after so many years of it being almost non-existent there. Although, I'm totally glad I didn't get to pursue my first choice of working at World Leaders Entertainment, that company apparently was a financial mess (before it closed down last year). Turns out they'd just use interns for fulltime work without pay, but at least with Titmouse, they'd prefer to hire you to a paid position right off the bat, or if not, advancement would be close behind to a paid position.

Also, freelance is pretty cool. Just casually working on mine is letting me raise enough money to move to New York in the next couple months.

Oh yeah Rtil, do you have any suggestions on how to drum up more for the Kickstarter? Thanks to everyone who've helped me out so far, hope this thing is a success.

i've never run a kickstarter before so no not really. however i have seen some extremely shitty kickstarters raise all their money by having a friend make a plea to a site like reddit for their buddy's "indie" project - albeit these are usually games and reddit shits their pants whenever they see the words "indie" and "game" in the same sentence.. i'm not sure if it would be the same anywhere on reddit for an animated cartoon. however it would be worth a shot as most redditors are easily impressed (by this i mean they like shitty games and animation and your animation is actually good so they'd be blown away) and is also the target audience of your pilot.

That's a good idea, hadn't thought of that. Thanks :)

 i just donated to your kickstarter. good luck

Thanks rtil! Oh also, as I was perusing the interweb, I found this from Animation Anomaly
http://animationanomaly.com/2012/05/15/a-kickstarter-campaign-too-far/ (http://animationanomaly.com/2012/05/15/a-kickstarter-campaign-too-far/)

to be honest, that's a lot of why I didn't donate. most of the kickstarter funds wouldn't actually go directly into the actual project, the only exception arguably being the computer which you could probably save up for on your own, and either way, that's still not the bulk of where the money is going. and that's a turn off to people when you're asking them for $7.5k. instead of asking people to donate to the cartoon getting finished, you're asking them to mostly donate to the marketing and success of the cartoon to better your chances of pitching it to tv networks, and when you think about it, why would they want to? you only gave them 46 seconds of animation with not really any humor. while the animation is good, there's really not much else in this that i can see making very many people want to help get this on television, or more directly, help get you (and whoever you're bringing) to animation festivals.

Quote from: Casey Pixmintro on May 21, 2012 06:18 PM
Thanks rtil! Oh also, as I was perusing the interweb, I found this from Animation Anomaly
http://animationanomaly.com/2012/05/15/a-kickstarter-campaign-too-far/ (http://animationanomaly.com/2012/05/15/a-kickstarter-campaign-too-far/)

well what do you have to say about his criticisms? not that really matters as it appears he's just some no name blogger.

im not the best person to give advice on this sort of thing, but based off what im seeing it just looks like you need to concretely tell where exactly every dollar is going. look up the exact price for your preferred computer, write who's a part of the project and how much money's being sent their way, and all of the travelling/post production costs. I dunno, can you even edit a kickstarter once its out? I imagine the pledgers wouldnt be thrilled about that.

I actually agree with a bunch of them. I wrote him an email the other day and we've been having some nice dialogue since then. In hindsight I wish I would have just done the Kickstarter to raise money for the cast, but live and learn. When I found the article, I was more interested in what he had to say about my pitch than the actual Kickstarter which I really did based on suggestion from one of my professors.

And no I can't edit the Kickstarter once it's out

well i still support you. i don't really care what you do with the money so long as it's involved with the animation or supporting yourself in order to be able to do the work

Thanks, also you get a cameo in the pilot yay! Where do you want it in the episode?

I might post the animatic on here too cuz why not

i thought you already did post it here

i'll have to look through the ep again

Quote from: Casey Pixmintro on May 21, 2012 10:09 PM
I actually agree with a bunch of them. I wrote him an email the other day and we've been having some nice dialogue since then. In hindsight I wish I would have just done the Kickstarter to raise money for the cast, but live and learn. When I found the article, I was more interested in what he had to say about my pitch than the actual Kickstarter which I really did based on suggestion from one of my professors.

And no I can't edit the Kickstarter once it's out

Not really sure how much money people would have pledged just to compensate the cast, but if the Kickstarter falls through, you could always try Indiegogo. You get to keep all of the money you earn with indiegogo, (unlike kickstarter, unless kickstarter's changed from its all or nothing setup) although it's not as popular i don't think

Yeah I saw that Indiegogo lets you keep all the money no matter what but it's way less popular than Kickstarter

And oh whoops I did put the animatic up heh oh jeez

sure I'll throw in

Hey guys, the first part of a freelance project I've been workin on is online now. It's an educational game development video for a Texture Packing program my client made.
SpriteSheets - The Movie Part 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crrFUYabm6E#ws)

That was pretty educational actually... and quite professionally executed.
Nice job

That was really good.
I liked it.
Good job

did you use pixel tools?

Thanks guys, yup I got to use Pixel Tools for it. It was pretty fun using it, but I kept fucking up things and accidentally offsetting the pixels.

haha yea that can be a bitch at times. but it's really fun once you get the hang of it

I really liked that! Even though I know little/almost nothing about sprites and stuff I understood a lot about the idea of compressing and using this "sprite sheet" to make it easier handle graphics memory...just based on the visuals and execution of the animation to guide it :) I also loved the little character bits you threw in like the way that weight reader was getting abused and beat up and then how relieved he was to get a light feathery sprite sheet haha. Also the tiny "love couple" was fun and just enough humor to entertain while I was still listening to the instructions and stuff. Very nice work and professional too, Great job!

Thanks CVG, it was cool cuz my client let me do what I pleased for the most part. Also he was really good with coming up with fun material for it. Also, it's the last time I'm going to get to use Pixel Tools for the project cuz the next part doesn't involve any new material with the pixel guy.

that was vey entertaining and informative
nice work!

I really dig that animation! Very educational~~

Hey guys, I was dickin around and did a digital painting for the first time in forever last night.
(https://thebackalleys.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thebackalleys.com%2Fdump%2Ffiles%2F1059%2F7451Xe_Lolita%2520Windowsill%2520600.png&hash=f353dd554923c4c52905ea889f2306a6cc5d8c49)
My animation professor from last semester saw it and his only comment was "Lolita's hot"

some pretty harsh grays and blacks in there, but i like the mood of it.

Wow, shit that looked a lot more vibrant on the screen I was using :I

Anyways...
(https://thebackalleys.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thebackalleys.com%2Fdump%2Ffiles%2F1059%2F449Jh0_Derek-kun%2520color.png&hash=1cb9659ed94b3b81262d582f5160e40488e940cf)
(https://thebackalleys.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thebackalleys.com%2Fdump%2Ffiles%2F1059%2F449Fj2_Burch-sempai%2520color.png&hash=e8d14a042370ffef1aeb14e2df6e54a562292a0d)

There's an episode down the line I want to do making general fun of bishi anime and peoples' fixation with shipping characters on tv shows. So I present Derek-kun and Burch-sempai.

if you were trying to make them terrifying you did a good job

Yyyyes!

I'm trying to start up a journal comic. It's called PLG cuz we moved to a neighborhood in Brooklyn called "Prospect Lefferts Gardens". Here's the first two pages I did and the logo thingy.

(https://thebackalleys.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thebackalleys.com%2Fdump%2Ffiles%2F1059%2F685G3p_PLG%2520Logo.png&hash=d6e03cc89ab83d603bcdfcef992c2b061a6e93e0)
(https://thebackalleys.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thebackalleys.com%2Fdump%2Ffiles%2F1059%2F8555cX_PLG%25201.png&hash=10b161e8518bfaa6ec4937ca86ee9010e590a582)
(https://thebackalleys.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thebackalleys.com%2Fdump%2Ffiles%2F1059%2F5654Je_PLG%25202.png&hash=9c304ad4d32b9b8b2205d6ab044a5f582e2dd098)

Hopefully I don't give up in a week. http://plg-comic.tumblr.com (http://plg-comic.tumblr.com)

are you idiots because you moved to brooklyn looking for animation work?

mainly cuz we dont have a lot of money and the going's already been pretty rough

oh haha. the way you laid out the comic made it seem like you were implying that

duuude you were in ohioooo? where at :<

also good to see you working again! ^-^

i lived in Boardman for 4 months  with my gf to save money for NY (very cheap living in Boardman). We were supposed to stay longer but living there was driving us up a wall. Also thanks, after doing nothing for a while, it feels good to do stuff again

Ah cool! I will bookmark this site now and yeah great to see more art from you, i always enjoy your humor  :]

...also, thats exactly what i imagine would happen if i ever got a cat heh

Thanks CVG :) I'm gonna try to keep it updated at least 2 or 3 times a week hopefully