Drawing Ned Zombie from Punch Card Zombies

I had some time tonight to play around with Toon Boom Animate some more, I've learned quite a bit about the program, but I'm still far from an expert. After I grew tired of failing at new software, I wanted to test out Camtasia Recording Studio a little more. I first got the demo disk at Flash Camp Philly last year and I used it for a presentation I gave at work, but never opened it after that.

I recorded how I drew Ned Zombie in Adobe Flash. Pretty much I just do a rough sketch then trace over that with basic shapes. I was in debate if I wanted to the cartoon to always look sketched out or if I wanted it to be more refined. Eventually I decided to do the more traditional method and have smooth lines.

PunchCardZombies.com

Punch Card Zombies is my new upcoming web series. It's about Ned Zombie, a white collar zombie who works for Zombeet Inc., and his co-workers who also happen to be the living dead. Ned is in charge of advertising, where he tries to win over zombie customers into the realm of vegetarianism with his catch phrase "Beets are like Brains, but Better!" Unfortunately, most of the zombie population doesn't want to give up their carnivorous lifestyle, but Ned and his co-workers are determined to change the world. Check out www.PunchCardZombies.com for new updates and news about how far the series is progressing.

Reed Elsevier & MC Strategies Partner with Earthwatch

MC Strategies (owned by Reed Elsevier), who I do Flash development work for, has partnered with Earthwatch to raise awareness about the destruction of rain forests. Employees are encouraged to create movies 30 seconds or less showing support for the cause.

Here is my submission of support.

http://www.GPAnimations.com/rainforest.html

GP Animations Goes Green

The webspace company I use to host http://www.gpanimations.com/ has converted to 100% Wind energy to power their offices and servers. By doing this they have prevented the release of 2,660 metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year. That figure is equivalent to planting approximately 2,390 acres of trees, not driving 6.1 million miles or removing 510 cars from the road. Not a small feat by any means.

If you would also like to use a web hosting company who is environmentally conscience, visit http://www.dot5hosting.com/dot5hosting/hosting.bml and sign up today.

Photo Hunter Game

Things started getting busy again so the cartoon has been put on hold, which I figured it would eventually. I did have some free time to goof around with my camera and Flash though so I started making a photo hunt style game. The interface still needs to be revamped and more photos added, but it's something to goof around with.

http://www.gpanimations.com/photohunter.html

New Cartoon Finally in Progress

Well, it's been over 2 years since I completed Life, my last animated short, so I figured it's time to get back into again. I recently read Crafting a Cartoon by Joe Murray, creator of Rocko's Modern Life and Camp Lazlo and it's really inspired me to get back into cartooning. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about cartoons, voice acting, TV networks or anyone who's just a fan of the shows.

I'm thinking this time if I'm going to invest my free time into making another cartoon I would like to do it right. Full backgrounds with texture, NTSC color pallete for future DVD transfer, special effects in After Effects and all done in thousands of keyframes. Might take me a couple years to complete, but that's fine I'm not doing this to make money or enter film festivals, it's purely a labor of love.

Right now the title I have the files saved under is "Vacation" but that's more than likely going to change especially since there's a famous and hilarious movie by the same title. Here's the first rough sketch I've done so far of the main character, who will probably change as well:



I'll keep posting updates on here as things progress.

Wacom Cintiq 12wx

Today I'm going to review the Wacom Cintiq 12wx graphic tablet I use to do photo editing and Flash illustrations. This tablet is my third Wacom tablet I've owned. I started my Wacom adventures with the Graphire, which is now called the Bamboo that I had purchased in 2005. Being a left-handed designer, drawing with a tablet instead of a mouse was a dramatic advantage, but the Graphire was too small and the drawing surface was too slick. This was the tablet I used to create After College: Episode 1. Then I upgraded to the Wacom Intuos 6x11, which I bought off of eBay. The drawing surface is much more natural and the size increase was a huge help. This was the tablet I used to create cartoons just as America 2027 and Life. In early 2008, I saw an ad for the Wacom 12wx and quickly ordered one because I always wanted a Cintiq, but couldn't afford the larger models that were only availabe at the time.

Drawing directly on the screen of the Cintiq is probably the second most natural feeling besides drawing on a piece of paper. The response is instantaneous, pen is comfortable and the on-screen colors are vibrant. And with just about all Wacom tablets, there are programmable buttons on the tablet itself and on the pen, which allow unlimited customization for each piece of software that you use. Pressure sensitivity is most helpful in photo-editing software such as Photoshop, but Adobe/Macromedia Flash actually has a special brush tool option that appears just for Wacom tablets, which utilizes the pressure sensitive options. The only drawback to the Cinitiq 12wx is the price tag, while although cheaper ($1000 USD) than its bigger brother ($2000 USD), is still a lot for the average enthusiast to shell out.

Overall, I would say if you're serious about graphic design, computer animation, 3D modeling, or photo editing and aren't ready to shell out $2000 for the 21" Cintiq 12UX, I would defintely recommend giving the 12wx a try. You'll be happy you did.


Created with the 12wx:

Sweaty Bagels Coming Soon to GP Animations

Hey guys, I recently acquired the domain www.SweatyBagels.com. It's going to be a new Flash-animated series I want to start working on within the next few months, so keep an eye out for updates on here as well on the website.