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.