Testosterone makes a return!

Here it is! The long awaited Testosterone sequel!

This was heaps of fun to film. I brought in my good friend Nick to join Winston (Lewis) and I. He's the king of deadpan humor, I swear. He made a good addition to the team, with us yelling  like morons and him in a state of confusion and fear. We both kept ruining takes, with me glancing at the camera like I was on a sugar rush and him putting up a weak effort to not smirk as we yelled at him.

Filming was both disastrous and successful. Let's forget that I was sick the first day and had to continue into the next day, and the sudden change of clothes halfway, we messed up some takes that we really we only had one shot at. Namely, tossing a bat far out into a lake and having to go swimming in July to fetch it. Thanks again, Winnie. 

I should probably also thank Winnie's parents. They did cause a bit of background noise, but we got to throw and burn shit in their property. It's the same place we did the last video, so thanks for that too. Not that they would be reading this; I sure as hell don't want my parents to see this.

We were also planning to do a picnic, but we didn't have the time or supplies to fit it in. It's exactly what happened to painting, which was planned to be in the first  one. Oh well.

Anyway, enjoy. It took a lot of work and preparation <:D

By the way, we didn't do that graffiti on the park bench. We just found it and rolled with it.

CALL UP GOOGLE THEY KNOW EVERYTHING

Gee, that didn't take forever. I have no idea why I insisted on using the brush tool instead of the pencil tool the whole time.

In case you didn't know, Game Grumps is a show on Youtube where two comedians play games and argue. It's kind of a trend at the moment to animate some of their scenes and conversations. So, I animated this part where they were playing Castlevania  and they paused to check whether or not they had unlimited continues on google. You can look at the source video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7Q4U4Rtl-k

Sorry it took so long, I've really only had these holidays to work on it. 2 weeks ain't bad.The drawings are kinda shit because the line smoothing with the brush tool is ugly as hell (NEVER AGAIN), but I think I the movement and mannerisms are decent . I'm especially proud of when Jon drops the phone :D

When I have a more polished version I'll convert it for Youtube. 
But for now, enjoy "Call up Google"
Note: Why is this flash showing up so small? I don't even. Here's an external link if it's too annoying: External Link

EDIT: It's been converted and uploaded to Youtube, probably the way to go:

New software, Game Grumps, Comics

Hi, me again. It's been a busy first term of grade 12 but these Easter holidays have given me a little extra time, although there's still work for me to do on holidays (How twisted is that :\) I do have a few things planned, plus I've been exploring new ways of drawing, as well as looking at some drawing techniques.

Where to begin?
Okay well, first thing I looked at was a program called Paint Tool SAI. I'm pretty sure it's what the Asians use to draw their manga with, so I figured it had to be pretty goddamn good. And it is. It's sort of like a simplified Photoshop that's easier to use and more orientated to drawing rather than photo editing. It's got some good tools and it seems to be designed with drawing tablets in mind. How convenient, I HAVE ONE OF THOSE! :DDDD It's got heaps of options for pressure and blending and all that lovely crap. I already managed to do some good drawing on it, including a birthday present and a Hotline Miami fan art:

It's still rough around the edges but it works.  Hotline Miami is a fantastic game btw. I've been harassing my friends about it for weeks. The fill tool doesn't seem to fill in spaces cleanly, leaving little white specks, but generally this program is very good.

The other drawing program I got was Art Studio for iPad. You get more than you expect for a $5.50 app. I wasn't really sure if I would enjoy drawing with my fingers, as they aren't very accurate and cover the drawing as I draw it. But, my favourite thing about this app is that you can zoom in just by pinching/spreading your fingers. Once you're zoomed in it's quite comfortable to draw with your fingers. Plus I really like being able to do this wherever I take the iPad. Although using my hands is fine, I couldn't resist buying an iPad stylus the other day. I got a Targus one for $15.  It's fairly responsive, and it really does make that little bit easier. So for 20 bucks I've turned my iPad into a small, moderate quality interactive pen display. Not quite a Cintiq, but it's good enough for me.

So as far as projects at the moment, there's two main ones. Firstly, I've gotten into Game Grumps. Two comedians play games and talk and argue etc. Not very original but they have so many golden moments. There's already a lot of animations for Game Grumps, but I'd like to have a crack at it. I've already picked out a clip and started animating it, and I plan on finishing it. It'll be an animatic (keyframes only, no inbetweens), like most of the G.G. animations.  

http://www.youtube.com/user/GameGrumps

The other thing, which I'm not so sure about, is a comic series. First and foremost, I want this to comic to look GOOD. Full bodies for the characters, in colour, in a visually interesting environment. Right now it's just an idea with a few characters drawn out, but I would really like for this to go somewhere. It's about two teenagers, (I'm thinking of adding a third) who build their own ship and sail out with no particular destination in mind. They get stranded on a desert island alongside a bunch of cannibalistic volcano-praising tribesmen. They decide to make the most of it. I've named them Chase and Tori for now.

I usually like to work alone on these projects, but I'm considering hearing ideas and seeing sketches from others. I have a few ideas for what can happen in this comic, but If you think you have ideas on how it should play out, or what the island looks like, or what kind of characters should be involved, come talk to me. I don't even know what the tribesmen look like at the moment. If this comic becomes a joint effort, that's fine by me. It's always heaps of fun.

Also, I upgraded my video editor to Sony Vegas 11. The rendering quality is a lot better. The black backgrounds actually look black now, instead of that fuzzy dark grey in my old videos. I did a short recording of me playing SCP: Containment breach. Hopefully this makes up for me not doing that SCP flash I promised before. The game kept updating and the jokes didn't make any sense anymore :( Plus it looked terrible.

This is actually a bit scary so don't watch it if your testicles haven't dropped yet.

 Apparently some of my friends got into this game after watching this. Best of luck guys!


I think that's just about everything. Sorry for the delay. It's probably a good idea to subscribe by email if you wanna stay updated.
 

Science has done it again

Just a short one because I haven't released anything a while. I've been meaning to do this one for ages and I finally got around to re-voicing and animating it. Sorry there's no backgrounds or shading/colour, but it's hand drawn and finished. Took a few hours, enjoy.

Testosterone Madness

Did a new video with some friends of us mucking around and yelling. Holidays are the best...

The Budgy Book

Been too busy for flash lately, too busy doing other interesting stuff like this children's book called Budgy the Budgeting Bird. Basically it's about this budgie named Budgy who's so good at budgeting he wrecks the local economy and suffers the consequences. Credit goes to my good friend Michael Manci for coming up with the story; I had so much fun illustrating it.

Possible morals behind the story:
-Always support your local economy
-Listen to you mother, especially when she's being a bitch
-Penguins are ideal for government employment

Back in Production. Scary, Scary Production

So what have I been up to? Well, mostly pimping, selling drugs, building nuclear devices and other mundane activities, but I've also been playing this free survival horror game called SCP: Containment Breach. It's based on fictional documents from The SCP Foundation, and basically its an area 51ish facility filled with different monsters and ghoulies and what not. Some of you will already be very familiar with this game as I've been pushing some of my friends to play it. I, personally, find it very unnerving and fun to play. You can download it for free here.

 I'll be doing a flash parody on the game. It's already recorded; it uses audio taken from the game and my voice acting and is exactly three minutes long :D Of course, it won't be very scary. More...goofy. It's pretty much my experience of the game.

It's a solo project I have to do in between school work so I have no idea how long it will take. Also, if I have time I'll release another one of my weird videos on Youtube.

Puppetry

I'm sure you're all wondering how my "detective" flash is coming along.
...Not as well as I hoped.

So far I've got a few small scenes written, and even some recordings done which are mildly amusing. The story I have right now, however, has no ending, is filled with gaps and barely incorporates the side characters. It's just Lance and Skittles running around town getting into trouble. I don't feel it's worth animating as it is, and It's taking me forever to come up with a full story. To make matters worse I still don't have a decent voice actor for the Chief and I don't think I can really pull it off myself. So at least for now, this project is on hold until I finish the story or abandon it altogether.

Of course, I haven't been doing NOTHING. About 2 weeks ago I animated a small scene that I found pretty funny, which was to be shown early in the flash. Lance heads into town to look for a new recruit for the department and arrives at the city park where he finds a puppet stall with, you guessed it, John Skittles inside. I wanted Skittles to formerly have a profession that would in no way qualify him for the job. And so, puppets. :D

Only the puppet show itself is animated, everything else is static. Hopefully it'll be enough.



 

Detectives Update

So yes, this little series will in fact be going ahead, and I'm already underway in writing the script, recording, and doing backgrounds and symbols for the flash.

I've been talking to some people about this project and some things occurred to me. My impression of Alice the receptionist isn't very feminine. I don't think this is really a problem though, I think it just makes it funnier. If you look at Bob's Burgers, which I personally love, you'll find that two of the three female members of the family are voiced by men. (I'd also like to mention that show is made with Flash :D) As for the Chief, I'm not sure I can voice him properly. I'll be voicing Skittles and Lance myself, as they're the main duo of this show, and they'll have the most lines. They already sound alike. If I try to voice everyone it'll all sound the same and that's gonna make it a little repetitive.

As for the animation side of it, I'm trying my best to keep it simple, because this isn't exactly short. I'm using stickmen for the majority of the characters, and I'm skipping shading. It will, of course, be in colour. Yay!
I don't know of those around me also have an interest in Flash, so at the moment I'll be taking this on myself, which I'm okay with, but it will take a while to complete it and make it look smooth.

So if you know me personally and you'd like to try voicing a character, contact me however. I would also like to know who knows their way around flash and animating. It's a lot of fun doing these projects, I promise.

Also, my wacom drawing tablet arrived a few days ago. It's absolutely fantastic. I got the Bamboo Fun Pen and Touch in a medium size, which is about A4. It's very smooth and reliable, and the pen doesn't need batteries. It'll help in making backgrounds and doing more complicated sketches.

Crime Time

I've decided on my next major flash project, GET EXCITED.

I will be doing a flash, or maybe a series of flashes on a detective named Skittles. I've planned out a few characters on this little slideshow I've prepared. Basically, some idiot gets a job as a detective and gets sent on his first case all within a day. Hooray for impulsive actions, right? I haven't got an entire plot line yet, but basically Skittles investigates a guy who was killed by thugs because he ripped off a dealer, and he ends up taking down an entire drug manufacturing and export operation. Or something like that.

I've been mulling over whether I should use stick figures or regular character bodies. I figured, "Why not both?"

There's still a lot of planning to be done before I can begin work on this. I've done a couple of test recordings which turned out pretty good, but I may have to bring in some new voices for variety's sake. The plot is still incomplete, but who cares. There's a good chance I'll break it up into parts, and you can all experience the infuriating magic of cliffhangers.

In other news, I'm considering buying a Wacom Bamboo tablet, probably a medium sized one. I'll be ordering one off eBay, because NOBODY sells them locally. Ugh! Drawing things like hands with a mouse is incredibly hard and time consuming, so this would really help.

I think I'm going to enjoy this one.

Okay, now what?

I'm proud of my latest flash, don't get me wrong, but let's be honest. Despite our efforts, the voice acting was pretty mediocre between Lewis and I, and the movement looked pretty shoddy.So, I'm setting a few goals to help improve on my voice acting and animation. 

Firstly, I want to do simpler characters (probably stick figures) in my next flash so I can focus less on their appearance and more on what they're actually doing. More objects, backgrounds and movement would be good, so something action filled is the target for the next animation. On top of that, I'd like to mess around with sound effects, so I'm going to start building up a library of those.


As for the voice acting, I think dubbing something would really be good practice. If you're not sure what I mean by dubbing, check out some of my favourites on YouTube:

It'd be good to try out some of my other voice styles; I especially want the opportunity to speak with my fake lisp. *giggl* I might even bring in some new people to voice act for me, who knows.


And finally, down the line I'd like to make an interactive flash, or even a flash game. Nothing fancy, maybe a quiz game or a choose-your-own-adventure kind of thing. Should be fun. 

If you have any ideas or suggestions, please leave them in the comments, or any other way you can contact me.

Student Strangled, Mission Accomplished

Okay, I bit off more than I could chew, but I sat there like a disgruntled child with its vegetables and chewed through the night. 

It may look like a rough copy, but this is as far as I'll go with it. The lip syncing and non-stick figure characters was exhausting, especially with erratic movement here and there. I'm aware that I sound nothing like Mr Symonds. He's one of a kind after all, and about 4 or 5 times my age. This is the second "real" flash I've ever made and the longest one too. Please enjoy this horrifying little tale I share with my friends. Keep in mind there's no preloader, so give it a little time before playing.
 

Steady as She Goes, Cap'n

Well I've been slack with these blog posts, haven't I? Bad me. Bad.

Actually I've been pretty busy with schoolwork and my time and energy for flash has dwindled.

BUT I AM WORKING ON IT, SO CHILL, OKAY?!

I'm only about half done, but I've been working on the more complicated bits. I'm trying to make this as dynamic as possible, and trying new angles and movements, etc. It's a total bitch, so to say.

Hopefully more time will go my way and I'll get it done sooner or later.

Progress, Character Design

Well, the Ken Symonds flash is coming along steadily. For this flash I've skipped stick men and gone to slightly more realistic looking characters, which is probably better for the mood I'm going for (which is kinda creepy). The problem with doing full bodied characters with no planning is it becomes harder to do movement. So in some parts I've started doing little "guides" so see where everything needs to be when someone actually moves. 

I won't be wasting too much time on this one, and as a result they've been drawn quickly, which looks fine to me.

Lip Syncing is still going well for me; I think I pretty much have the hang of it. There's only a few basic shapes you need to remember and you can put extra shapes in between for added effect.

Everything else is handled: recordings, background music, play buttons...should be swell.

I will now be animating...au francais

When it comes to good plot ideas, I find the best come from personal experience.

In particular, grade nine French with Mr Symonds. At heart, a wonderful teacher who's eager to share his knowledge. Sometimes however, he can get angry with his students. My good friend Winston the Bear fell victim to the wrath of Ken Symonds when he forgot to hand in his homework. It was by far one of the most horrifying experiences in his life. 

Winston has kindly assisted me in voice acting, and a short script has been done. I will get this thing animated ASAP; some sketches have already been done.

 Hats off to you if you were in that class.

And yes, I did drop french the following year.

Storm of Brains

I've been mulling over idea on what to do next over the past few days. I've got some silly little ideas up my sleeve, but some of them are inside jokes no one would get, so deciding what to put the time and effort into for the next project is tough. I'm also collecting sound effects and looking into voice effects to get more unique voices. I guess I'll figure something out soon.

If you have a frickin' incredible idea/plot/script, comment or message me.

Unless you're Purto.

Put your Thinking Caps on

GEEZ LOUISE,
I've never had so much trouble with a video. This is the first time I've had a video removed under my own intentions. To be frank, most of the stuff I use is pirated/torrented because that's what the internet's all about. All of my videos have something taken in them, but this one was sniffed out quick smart. I probably left too much footage intact. Even now I'm not sure if mirroring it has worked, so I've just uploaded straight to this blog. Well, anyway, here it is at long last.


He is the Smartest Man Alive.

Link to Video on Youtube (Possibly Blocked)

Billy Freakin' Madison

New video should be out within a day or two. I'll be using footage from the classic, Billy Madison. Will involve demonic bus drivers, inappropriate spelling bees and LEARNING. SO MUCH LEARNING.

"STOP LOOKING AT ME SWAN!"

Oh, right...videos.

It's probably worth mentioning I also do silly little videos and edits on vegas pro.

Well first off, here's my Youtube channel. I go by Freelancer1001.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Freelancer1001/videos

And here's a video you won't find on my channel because it was done for a friend. Jason Bellikoff is a real talent that everyone should know about. This is a "Best Of" with all his best moments...

...Kapeesh.

Now I can annoy you verbally too.

This next one is a tad more wholesome. NOT ONLY does it have a play button, NOT ONLY does it have *sound*, NOT ONLY does it have cupcakes, it has voice acting by yours truly. A big step for me and my new microphone.