Getting Animated

I'm trying to use the old method of drawing distorted images to achieve motion without having to draw a crap-ton of frames. This is a 'meh' example of high distortion, but it works pretty well in full motion. Trouble is, it goes by so fast, you barely see it; so here it is...in STILLFRAME.


Oh Tundra; what have you gotten yourself into THIS time?

Here goes nothing...

I'm goin' for the gusto. I just made the decision to do all backgrounds for episode II in Photoshop. Here is my first attempt.

I imported it into my Flash storyboard, and it actually looked alright.

One small step to upping the game, people! One small step at a time!

-Matt G

Many Things

First things first; if you haven't seen Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog, you totally need to. It's a web series made by Joss Whedon, who happens to be the man.

As usual, I'm still going a little nuts because of schoolwork, but there are more silver linings to these dark, ominous clouds than there is actual ...dark cloud. Hmm... What I mean to say is that things are working out in spite of themselves.

For instance, my digital portfolio class (the product of which shall become the big brother of this trusty blog) is basically causing me to reinvent the entire image of ArtWeapon.com, but like a sword being tempered in the hottest of infernos, my creativity merely gets stronger and sharper with trial and experience.

The storyboards for PJ Ep II are done and divided into their proper scenes, and only now do I realize I forgot to record several lines of crucial yelps and screams. It's always the little stuff that slips by.


Work all day and ya work all night
Work ma fingers to tha bone and whuddya git?

Boney fingers...

-Matt G

Sinners

I just watched this.

Lord have mercy.

...sweet divine mercy.

-Matt G

Painting is Hard

Behold Tundra the terrible.


This is gonna be the first image of the second episode of Pizza Jockeys. For the intro, I'm going to have an 'ethereal' recap of the previous episode made up of echoing screams of "integral" plot points accompanied by an array of paintings.

I just watched Punk'd for the first time ever. Take THAT celebrities.

-Matt G

Breaking it all down

When I started this semester, I had this goal of animating

1) Pizza Jockeys Episode 2
2) The trailer for my new project called Garden
3) and Chicken Wings.

Two out of three ain't bad, I'd say.

I've actually finished the boards for PJ2, but that's also when I realized that it would be a huge undertaking, especially including the rewrite I made at the last minute. I've convinced myself it'll be completely worth it, though if it's not I'll just blame my dog.

The initial recording phase went...less than desirably, thanks in no small part to my sudden bouts of nerve-induced insomnia. I don't think I've ever tried harder to sleep than last week Wednesday, except maybe that one time in 6th grade when I had a Mountain Dew in the middle of the afternoon only to come to the startling conclusion that I'd never had caffeine before.

The worst is over though, I think. It's probably just stress from school, which happens to everyone who's a senior in college and human, combined with my whack-attack 2nd shift job. I can't complain: I get paid to watch movies and do homework. No, we don't have any openings.

If you've ever not been able to sleep, you know that your body just won't shut down, you can't focus, you definitely are NOT inspired and your only hope is that you've prayed hard enough for a nice long infomercial about Time Life's latest oldies collection to lull you to sleep. I ended up making an omelet, running around my back yard and punching the grass in futility. I'm okay now, really.

Anyways, I've started writing a song for my Audio Seminar II class and am pleased to say that Kanye West better watch his rear views for Commander Keen of Honeybees Join the Bomb Squad fame. It's funny how all the knowledge about different programs and music theory and uh...art theory come full circle right when you need them most. No, I'm no pro at the whole 'hit-maker' thing, but I'm just now starting to grasp what it is that tricks the ear into being interested in a certain songs for about 3 to 4 minutes. Miles High was finally posted at Newgrounds after about 2 1/2 weeks. Freakin' A. Better late than never, I s'pose.

The website is coming along, slow but sure. I literally had to go back to the drawing board and re-teach myself for scratch how to digitally paint in Photoshop. I simply have an animator's mindset: get results quick. That does NOT work with painting. Hell, it doesn't work with animating either; it just feels faster I guess.

End of horribly long, late-night post.

-Matt G

More Chicken Wings and...a Song!

So I submitted Chicken Wings to Newgrounds and Break after I re-adjusted the pre-loader and all that rot.

Also, I have a Myspace page for the tunes I make in my free time and for all the music you'll find in my animations and movies. You can find it here. If you're on Digg, be sure to digg it...not bury it.

-Matt G