New animation program, better than flash???

So i came across this new (at least to me) animation program called "Anime Studio" i think it used to be called "Moho" but recently changed names. it features a built in 3d camera, particle effects, boiling line option, motion blur and texture mapping, and "bones" for bending arms and such. It's fairly simple to use once you get a handle on how it works.. which didn't take me long, thanks to its informative tutorials. The only studio i've seen using this program so far is Greykid Pictures they have several examples of how they've used this interesting program. Some of which is quite impressive. You can really see the potential.. as long as the animator can avoid the "puppet" look. The system is essentially "flat Maya" so anyone with Maya 3d experience could easily switch. Flash animators may have more trouble getting used to it.. but it didn't take me very long to figure most of it out. Here is a quick little test i did to show a bit of it off.

i don't know what kind of bugs it has yet.. but the drawing tools are weird and i would recommend drawing in flash and import an .AI file. Watch out for the colours too as the porting may change them.. i was able to re-colour correctly but had to import a palette since there isn't really an eyedropper... nor any hotkeys for that matter.. and you can only select one layer at a time. In the timeline i had trouble with the graph editor a bit.. there are no handles for line points anywhere. All of these i was able to get around with a bit of different thinking.. but coming from flash i thought those issues were a step down. Perhaps the makers of this program will improve upon these things in a new version.. provided they are aware.
How much would you pay for a program such as this??????? well take a look at this comparison ....

Adobe Flash CS3------$699 US
Toon Boom Solo-------$2499 US
Anime Studio Pro-----$199 US (CHEAP!!!)

Pucca in french

found a bunch of recent posts of new Pucca episodes on Youtube....all in french. won't someone post more english episodes? i have all 78 episodes.. but if i post any i'll get SUED since they are the un-aired originals. I can't get Toon-disney or Jetix so i'm relying on others to post them on Youtube for us non-extra cable channel low-lifes... in the meantime.. enjoy these .. "en francis".

Chubbysics

Here's a little tribute to one of my favorite japanese rock bands POLYSICS. i actually like the negative one better, but the orange jumpsuit is just so iconic to Polysics style.

HARD LICKER

here's a design i whipped up for the T-SHOW, which i am happily participating in. Can't quite decide on the colour scheme though... i like them both. though i may lose the darker, candy shape in the background and go for a simpler look.. don't know...

SKOOKUM!!!

I FOUND AND PHOTOGRAPHED THE ELUSIVE SKOOKUM!
(actually i made him and posed him in a tree)

Doo Doo Doodies

i like soggy girls in sockses...... though i don't know about these

Doodies

some silly doodles today.. finally have some time to play around

YOU CUT ME OFF!

this is a big, angry, teenage FUCK YOU! to the lady in the blue Toyota who decided to jump into the HOV lane right in front of my wife and I... at 2 miles an hour... on a rainy day. You are SOOOOOOOO lucky i'm a good driver... i must have skidded about 50 feet just barely missing the back left side of your pretty little import. I hope you saw us fish-tailing in the ditch as you sped off. Thanks. Thank god i was able to right myself and carry on without the guy behind me ramming my ass.
I know you were sorry as i saw you gesturing to me in that sheepish way as you went back into your lane....alone in your car....as i gestured back in the usual way.
I kind of wish that i did hit you... would have made for a nice lawsuit.

Look Ma! I'm on TV!!

So Kevin Gamble (producer for George Of The Jungle) asked me to Join him on TECH TV with LEO LAPORTE. A show about, what else? Technology! so here we are talking about how we make flash animation for TV, i'm the one at the computer (which had several smutty pictures on it... It really helped me relax). It was a 6 minute segment and i was nervous as hell... but thankfully it wasn't live. That episode (21) will be set to air sometime in May... not sure when though. It was pretty fun, i'm glad i got to do it. I hope i didn't sound like an idiot. 6 minutes go by so fast...i don't know how much information was actually passed along... oh well no one's gonna learn animation from a TV show. we showed a clip from the show.. and i went through a couple flash files... i used one of Emmet hall's scenes as an example.

peanut toy

it's been a while since i've posted anything, thats true. I've been busy with other things.. but here we have something new! its a new peanut toy! i worked hard trying to perfect the pattern.. it still needs some tweeking but i think it turned out okay. i plan to make more soon... ish.

new Pucca episodes

now that Pucca has begun airing... already people have been recording and uploading episodes on to youtube. I can not believe how fast it happened. I guess thats a good sign. So check it out. a little sneak preview for the U.S. and Canada. the broadcast dates for Pucca in the states are as follows: "Toon Disney's Jetix programming block on weekdays will see the premiere of several new shows and marathon programming events next month. Pucca joins Jetix in its US premiere on Monday September 18, 7p, and then moves to its regular time period on Monday, September 25 at 8:30p."

this is our first episode, so we were still figuring out who the characters were and what they did. it's not our finest episode by any means, but it has it's merits.



this episode features a ninja-eating plant. it's got a "cat came back" vibe to the story, mixed with that old "little shop of horrors" chestnut. not the most original idea.... but YOU try to come up with 78 storylines!
my wife Jocelan storyboarded it, and i was in charge of the direction. i even got to animate some scenes! (the underwater sequence).
enjoy.

new plush guy!

here is a fire demon. his head is on fire and he is crying blood. but he is not in pain, thats just how it is. made from felt with faux fur "hair" . he has rice in his bum so he can sit up on his own.

my first plush creation

here's a little guy i just completed. born only minutes ago ! still don't have a name for him. anyone have any suggestions?

PUCCA ON THE AIR!

finally, Pucca the series is on the air...... in the U.K. and Netherlands. It is set to come out in the US sometime soon on Disney's "Jetix" block on ABC .. i think.. i hear they are changing one of the disney cartoon channels into a Jetix channel, where Pucca will find its US home.

If you are lucky enough to see it in Europe, you will be seeing it in it's full, unadultarated form. with few censorship edits. We had a lot of freedom on the show, which was great. but some of the stuff we did is biting us in the butt now, as the FCC rules in the states don't allow certain content from reaching our children's extremely fragile minds.


In the meantime, check out this promo material we created. which was highlighted in a recent issue of STASH magazine. there's also an article about it at COLD HARD FLASH
and don't forget to check out the official Pucca site at the JETIX website.

also here you can watch our interstitials below...

wilkins coffee with early muppets.

oh how i long for the good old days, when you could advertise your product with murder and torture. nowadays everyone is so god damn sensitive.

poopee present

hey, i'm just foolin around and decided to paint a doodle... i hate the way the girl came out.. but whatever, its just fun.

another t-shirt design!

hey another one of my designes has been approved for competition! check it out and vote for me!

dances with candy

threadless design

hey everyone, i got a design approved for competition on threadless.com so if you go there and vote for it.. it may get made into a t-shirt yaaay! so vote now, and vote often!

POLYSICS

some of my favorite videos from one of my favorite bands POLYSICS!!