Recent Conversation.

Namowal: Ever seen "One Froggy Evening?" The one where the frog sings and dances except when his owner shows him off to others, and then the frog just sits there? It's a Chuck Jones cartoo-

Someone Else : No it isn't!! It's a Warner Brothers cartoon!

Wow!

I didn't win an Oscar, but I worked on a project that did! Whoo Hoo!
In the same sense that one might boast they "worked on the Great Wall of China" when in fact they put down a few bricks (my case, at least).
Still, the mastermind behind the project was kind enough to let some of us mug for the camera with his prize.

Canary, Take One

Here I'm playing around with what animators call (or used to call) the cartoon "take," where a character reacts wildly. I tried to focus on making the canary seem truly startled.
That being said, I think the most successful element in this thing is when the box creature pops his head up.

Sneak Preview

It's Saturday morning and I'm at work. (I came in early so I could post this off the clock.)
I've managed to squeeze in some animation time before work and during lunch, but I haven't finished my latest 'toon yet.
I feel a bit guilty about falling behind, so here's a cropped still from said cartoon...

The Old Man of the Mountain

Another treasure from the Fleischer Studios. Not as trippy as Snow White or Minnie the Moocher, but it has some wonderful moments. Rabbits turn into roller skates (which gallop when necessary), a man bounces away from his crutches (which, in turn, walk away on their own) etc.. I like the owl who sings the title song too.
I think it runs out of steam when towards the end. The singing and dancing are great, but it lacks the imagination of Snow White and Minnie- no weird creatures, no shape shifting, no wacky backgrounds. I wonder if the story men and/or animators had a harsh deadline and couldn't cut loose?
Still, it's better than anything I've done.
Still working on my stuff. Mostly before work and during my lunch hour. It would have been ready but some of my nested symbols aren't swapping, so I need to figure out what went wrong.

When I'm Sixty Four ( from Yellow Submarine)

Overtime at work has snatched the hours I normally devote to making Flash cartoons,*, but it's been awhile since I posted. When I can't post my own stuff, I post stuff that inspired me.
Here's an old clip from Yellow Submarine that I've liked since I was a kid. I remember watching it and thinking Wow, I want to make cartoons when I grow up!
My favorite part comes in the middle of the song, where whimsical numbers count to sixty four, to the beat of the music.

*I'm still making them, of course!

Skip Cycle

Here's a skip cycle, based on the one by Preston Blair.
I was hoping to do a more exciting "Mystery Cave" style background, but suddenly I'm working 10 hour days, six day weeks again.
I still plan to animate in what spare time I have, and to figure out how I can weasel my way into a flash animation gig...

Please Stand By....

I've been crazy busy, but I did find time to finish a new animation. I would have posted it early this morning but the wireless connection on my laptop stopped working...

Run Goro, Run!

I borrowed Goro (one of my Martians) for the run cycle test. It's based on the Preston Blair example. I'm not sure who (or what) he's running from, but I know it was provoked.

Strut Walk Cycle

I wanted to play with this more before publishing, but it's been too long between posts so here he is. The strut is based on the example in the Preston Blair book.

The Flash Frog Fling.

I tried to learn the Highland Fling once. I learned some steps, but I have the coordination of a tranquilized moose and couldn't do it.
It's easier to make flash characters dance. I used the same timing I used in the jump post. Before I tried this I'd always thought of dances as steps ("point,behind,front, behind etc..), when in fact the whole body is active.
The resulting dance is way too oversimplified to be a Highland Fling (the timing is different too), thus the new name.

Jumping

This started as a jumping exercise. My first step at animating the jumper came close- yet something was off. I checked my animation books to see what was wrong. The problem? I wasn't scrunching the character at the high point of the jump. I added the scrunch and the jumper was ready for action.

Wave In

This began as an exercise based on page 233 of The Animator's Survival Kit, where it showed how to get a fluid look when animating jointed objects. The trick is something like cracking the joints like a whip, where the base (here, the upper arm) moves first, followed by its secondary parts. I suspect dancers use a similar trick to achieve fluid movement.
I gave the guy one "whip" arm and one stiff arm to highlight the difference.
Of course I had to get a little silly.

10000 Ways Not to Make a Bird Walk

I've animated birdlike characters before, but none walked with birdlike legs. Okay, real birds don't wear glitter shoes.
It drove me nuts trying to get it to cooperate. I closed dozens of botched jobs. It was ridiculous.
Thomas Edison kept me going. Supposedly, when asked about failure he boasted ,"Why, I haven't failed, I've discovered 10000 ways not to make a lightbulb!".
So each twitching, flopping or stroby bird that got deleted was one step closer to getting one that worked.

"I'm not big beaked..."

"...it is you who are beak deficient"

Press the button in the upper left corner to play.

Silly Walks

The animation books insist that walk cycles are important, so I've been practicing. Mostly learning what not to do. I gave the first two characters strange walks on purpose. I was trying to see how goofy I could make them.

"I'm Tropical"

Here's my first attempt at talking. I started with something short and simple.
I lifted the voice from here (Lawrence, raised to a cartoony pitch.)
p.s. Thanks, Sally!

Cat Walk Test

Here's another forward walk. I think it's better than the penguin.

Crude Penguin Test

My first stab at a forward facing walk cycle. I used a different technique* (and a different reference for the walk cycle) and it only came out so-so. With a sideways walk cycle it's easier to see what's in the air and where the weight is falling. Next time I do a forward job I'll do a sideways version first, to get see what falls where.

*The technique, for those interested, was to use less body parts and more drawings, the latter being distorted for maximum use. This ended up mangling edges, dislocating joints, and making it hard to fine tune. Lesson learned: either break it up in pieces or draw the darn thing frame by frame.

Dolphin Walk

The shtick here was

1. A dolphin walking on his tail = funny,
2. Something so weird would be a good challenge.

I'd planned this to be more complex- more characters, and a better background, but I was running out of time. Maybe I'll recycle him in a future 'toon.