Wednesday, November 26, 2008

241

Check it out, I got TWO pieces of news.

As I mentioned before, Matt and I were guests on the Otaku Generation podcast. Episode #181 is now up, so go listen to our incoherent ramblings. Big thanks to Alan, Bryce and Jefferson for having us on.

Ok, and second piece news, we animated a little mini RDCCDX episode to tie everyone over until Episode 2 of "Ronin Dojo Community College DX: The Digital Pirates of Dark Water Saga" comes out. Take a look:




Turkey Rights & Robot Rights

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Here are some rough character designs I drew on the train.


Matt and I are still working hard on Episode 2 of Ronin Dojo Community College DX: The Digital Pirates of Dark Water Saga, but nothing new to show yet. However if you're looking for a For Tax Reasons fix, we'll be guesting on the Otaku Generation podcast this coming Monday. I believe the episodes go up every Wednesday, so be on the look out for it on the 26th. We'll also be posting a mini RDCCDX short as well.



Hold Tight & Robot Rights

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

And I could write you the perfect song, and you could sing along...

The final Ergs! shows were this weekend and I trekked out to Asbury Park, New Jersey to see them. Both shows were amazing and sad and awesome and full hilarious pop/punk culture references. What other band would quote both the Simpsons and two different live NOFX records? NO OTHER BAND, that's who.

I'm going to miss them and their sweet, sweet melodies. They were definitely one of the best punk bands of today.


Everything falls apart (and robot rights)

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Lost In Space

I just roughed out head rotation for Agent Wilkins, a new character in the RDCCDX universe, voiced by Emily Tarver. Usually, I wouldn't make a full set of heads for a secondary character, but she's featured in the next two episodes of Ronin Dojo Community College DX: The Digital Pirates of Dark Water Saga, so she's getting the full treatment. We spare no expense here at the For Tax Reasons Spa, Resort & Drawatorium.



For those of you who don't often read my blog, I'll be pairing these with sets of mouths and eyes to be used for whenever she's on screen, yapping away.
And as if I didn't spend enough quality sedentary time at a scribbling around with pencils, I've started working on a music video for the awesome pop punk outfit Teenage Bottlerocket. I'm pretty psyched about it, I've been a fan of TBR since I saw them in Mrs. Jones' basement back in Silver Spring, MD. If you like solid catchy pop punk tune-age, check them out. By the way, that flyer above is old so don't go to the Cake Shop in 8 months and expect that line up.

She's a Dove, She's A Fucking- Robot Rights

Monday, November 10, 2008

It has begun

Production has begun on episode two of "Ronin Dojo Community College DX: The Digital Pirates of Dark Water Saga", and if you can decipher this shitty chicken scratch of storyboard frame, you already know it's going to be ape-shit crazy.

We boarded everything out yesterday and made the animatic like every good little animator should before they run head first into the mind numbing tedium of making a cartoon. However this time around I've been trying something new with the way I set up each shot. I've been drawing the ceiling.

Even though Matt and I were pleased with how the first episode of RDCCXD:TDPODWS came out,
I didn't feel like I got a good sense of the space that existed outside of each shot. At first I reasoned that I had made the whole thing, so it was hard for me to step back and take it all in as an audience member. However the real reason was our failure to include solid establishing shots, shots that included high or low angles, and set ups that explored the space.

If you look at the short you'll notice that up until the Seth and Mark confrontation, pretty much everything is set up as if the camera was facing the store front, and most of the shots were just close ups or push ins of that basic set up. This was mostly done to save time.

But during the argument between Mark and Jerry we could have included shots where we saw the sidewalk and stores that were behind Jerry instead of the flat windows that he was standing next to. This might have given a better sense of where the store was and how the strip mall was laid out.

We also could have included slight high and low angles to our shots. Showing off the architecture behind the characters helps give a sense that they are near a three dimensional structure, or in a cubed room- not up against a flat wall.

This is what I've been trying to do with the set ups of episode 2. I've been drawing in the ceiling, and the angles of the room. My hope is this will give the audience a better sense of the space while still allowing me to use the library of heads that aren't drawn from low angles or high angles, which would include more of the bottom of the chin or top of the head respectively.

I'm still learning a lot about setting up shots and all of this crap, but from watching how other animators do their thang, I think this whole ceiling concept is something I should look into. I hate drawing backgrounds, they're really hard, and the less of them I have to do the better. But if I can make changes that would make our characters look like they're actually somewhere and not on a two dimensional stage that would be good.


Stalactites & Robot Rights

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

DO IT BARACKAPELLA!

After Barack's speech, I went home and started working on this to celebrate.


We had to finish the trilogy. More on all this later.


Monday, November 3, 2008

VOTE!!!

VOTE FOR BARACK OBAMA TOMORROW!!!