Started off the semester with a stubbornly overloaded schedule of:

-3D Animation I
-Digital Imaging (Photoshop class)
-History of Animation
-3D Rendering with Maya II
-Flash

Before the mid-terms, I dropped both 3D classes, because they were royally kicking my ass. (Hell, 3D Rendering I last semester was kicking my ass.)

The other three classes were incredibly informative. Learned all kinds of neat tricks in Photoshop, picked up an incredibly valuable book about animation, absolutely chock full of knowledge (Richard William's Animator's Survival Kit) as well as learned WHY King Kong was so badass, and Ub Iwerks, Winsor McCay...I could go on and on....

Learned a little bit of programming in flash, mask effects, how to manipulate gradients, and if these different examples aren't any indication that I'm getting more comfortable with frame-by-frame animation...well...here's what I got pending.

-That Caveman preview will soon become the real-deal. My first original animation project.
-Then, Hogabeast and I are finishing up our Starfox parody.
-Finally, I'm going to try to live up to what I intended to do for what would've been my contribution to the Lady Noir collab as a Lady Noir solo project. I'm digging the hell out of Sapphire's voice, so I may get her to reprise her role.

And that's only the beginning! I have another storyboard project from last semester...or I should say two semesters ago, that I've wanted to animate from the beginning. A brief parody here and there, quick joke, something comically informative about myself, and should the fans demand it, possibly a Dickneck sequel.

Like I said, this is only the beginning, with a busy summer ahead of me; I've only signed up for one Adobe Illustrator class that meets up twice a week, but in my free time I'm knockin' out submissions for NG.

Film at Eleven!

-G-

-Misunderstanding deadlines, I rushed to complete this character animation project in a little under 3 hours. The professor loved it! I finished it a week early, so he wants me to go back and add color and backgrounds...and I may add a "thud" noise to the end of it as well.

-Little by little, stress is melting off as the semester comes to a close. I finally dropped out of RedHarvest's Lady Noir collab, and I'm looking forward to seeing the thing which I almost became involved in. It's kind of a crappy feeling, invited by Red at the beginning, being involved with it, pumped about it, and then just dropping it.

Btw, if you don't want to read me rant about collabs, scroll down to the bold, underlined letters.

Hell, I was the one that suggested the theme of it being around a femme-fatale. I had an intense story lined-up for what would be my short (which in hindsight, is about as long as most standalone flashes) and even had all the voices recorded for it, but it got pushed back, and pushed back...I dropped out of the collab, and was going to do the credits sequence for them, and never found the time to do that, so now someone else is doing it.

I'm alright with it, it's no big problem. Especially since the entire reason was school kicking my ass, I had to prioritize...but from the get-go, I don't think I'm going to do collaborations of this sort with users anymore.

I'm not talking about collabs like Dick Neck was; that's what a collab should be. Everyone working together to make one final product better...not this disproportionate A.D.D.esque clusterfuck of different skits. You know what I'm talking about, the collabs that the NG staff have inspired users with hits like MGS and Street Fighter...but the NG staff makes it work because they're picking the best of the best out of hundreds of submitted animations.

So the users, thinking they can pull off something similar do things like The Disney Collab, or The Superhero Collab, or any of the numerous music video collabs, but instead of having hundreds of flashes to choose from, they have maybe twenty or ten. Since it's actually pretty difficult to pump out ONE short that looks good with good content, most of the decent shorts are buried by the not-so-good shorts.

I had a pretty good experience with the Warhammer 40,000 collab, but the utter lack of communication irks me. I don't know how Red can knock out collab after collab after collab like that, but it implies he's a glutton for punishment. lol

Call me a hypocrite when I say I can't wait to participate in the next staff-organized collab, because they know what they're doing. (And it's pretty decent exposure. I first heard of FleckoGold from the hilarious finale of MGS 2) But never again with the user-organized "Clusterfuck Collage-type collaborations." ...there's not enough communication, exposure, or money involved for the work required to be put into it. Maybe I'll change my mind in the future, but for now it's just not my thing.

-THE CAVEMAN CHARACTER ANIMATION!!! I got a week 1/2 to knock this bitch out, and I'm nervous because it's becoming one of the most important animations I've done. Not only is it the best looking thing I've animated, but this thing, once finished, could wind up on my demo reel. I'll keep you guys posted on it's progress, because it's likely I'll be completing and submitting it to NG before I tackle the Starfox parody hogabeast and I have been working on since last summer or fall.

-Meanwhile, I've been thinking a lot about the continuation of the Dick Neck saga. When Origins was frontpaged, and got mostly positive criticism, I began elaborating on a sequel...an epic two-parter cinematic event detailing DrForeman's relationship with his mother, the hunt for the Dick Neck, and Lord Turnip's metamorphosis into the bionic killing machine, Prime Turnip...and his imminent battle to the death with Dick Neck. There would be romance, bromance, gratuitous violence and action, and laughs throughout.

Thing is, I don't go onto the BBS at all anymore. I don't know if it's something worth doing. More-over, what I have in mind is vastly superior to Origins in every way, that I fear I'll be cast forever, known as "That Dick Neck guy." Classmates I've never seen in my life have seen the flash without knowing who I am, and my brother's boss recognized "Galt" when he saw it and laughed his ass off...as much as I hate to admit it, but I hear more about the people who love Dick Neck than the one's who despise it.

Still, I wanna know what you guys think on the matter.

Anyway, I'm going to knock out this Caveman animation, and then it's onto Photoshop assignments...oh joy. Film at Eleven!

-G-

Catching up on Photoshop homework so I can tackle my major upcoming projects from History of Animation and Flash class with less stress.

The sooner I get these knocked out, the sooner I'll submit something to NG.

At the moment, though, looking at the stockpile of homework to do...well...this about sums up my feelings.

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Film at Eleven.

-G-

-Currently hauling ass acquiring Flash CS4 from classmates so I don't have to make the drive and be at the mercy of the computer labs at Quad C's campus. I have limited time to complete my Caveman character animation, and that project has been prioritized over all others.
-I got an "A" for my lightning animation exercise for History of Animation! :D
-...however, while major projects have been dealt with swiftly and efficiently, all of the other assignments for my Digital Imaging I and History of Animation class have been piling up, and very soon I'll need to catch up on them. If anything, that'll mean more art portal submissions like this homework assignment for Digital Imaging I.
-After the important stuff is knocked out, I feel kind of obligated to do my part for RedHarvest's Lady Noir collab, and get this damn credit sequence out of the way. Sad part is I still don't have all the information necessary to complete it...*groan*...This experience is making me incredibly hesitant to participate in similarly structured collaborations in the future.
-No new progress on the Starfox flash, standby and I'll decide which needs to be submitted first; the Starfox parody, or the original Caveman short. Either way, one of those two is next, followed by the other.
-I'm also debating doing a sequel to my experiment in Stop-motion, only this time done entirely in flash so I can properly execute the ending I wanted for the original. Either way, I desperately need to expand my portfolio, one way or another. The only way I can possibly get better at animating is doing it more often.

Anyone else excited for Starcraft II? Thomas, Adam and I have been having some pretty epic matches in the beta version, and I can't wait for the full thing to come out...Terran's ftw.

Saving up money, riding around the motorcycle, drinkin' beer, and studying my ass off. This is Geoff, signing off. Film at Eleven!

-G-

I was the drunken bald guy off to the side. This was shot a year and a half ago...and I was hammered.

Y'see, the cameraman (Thomas Gardner) and I were playing a drinking game to Armored Core For Answer, in where we built our own incredibly lightweight, super-fast cores, who are only armed with lightsabers; or what we liked to call "Blade Matches" ...the poison was a bottle of Captain Morgan's Tattoo, and after each match we take a swig, loser drinks a little more than the winner. It was even at first, but eventually I started losing more and more and more.....i.e. hammered. Then Adam comes in and see's us plastered, and thought, "Well, I better catch up." and the 7 shots was the first of several volleys. 'Twas a good night.

The man doing the shots is here on NG, the sick mind behind Rorschach's End and co-writer/voice talent in the upcoming Starfox animation.

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You can check out my last news post to see how I'm keeping up with school at the moment, but now my focus is on the stop-motion animation project for History of Animation.

We got one week. (SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIIIIT!)

Due Wednesday evening, I gotta get a short stop-motion animation underway. I'm going to take an unorthodox approach to it; most people are going to be using claymation or action figures...even just moving inanimate objects to create the illusion of animation.

...But I'm not most people. What I want to do is to physically draw the character/characters onto paper, frame-by-frame, and do something sort-of Don Hertzfeldt-y, by incorporating folds, crumples, rips, and wrinkles onto the paper surface for the sake of animation.

The shitty part? I have yet to write any of the story on paper. (SHIIIIIT!!!!!!) I'm storyboarding the whole thing today, and hopefully getting my Photography buddy to help me shoot it tomorrow, the day after, and/or Sunday. I'm nervous as hell...and this shall truly be a test in how I manage my time.

I intend to compile every shot into flash, adjust the frame-rate appropriately, and sync up the sounds to play with flash, in hopes to submit it to NG when it's completed. If that deadline is that quick, you may be seeing a new submission from me sooner than you think! :D

Film at Eleven!

Some soothing listening music for you to jam to while you read...

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Before, I was taking 15 credit hours, so I dropped the class I was doing the worst in to free up some of my time, and save some gas (that being 3D Modeling & Rendering II; I was a whole project behind.) So that freed up a little tension, and I'm back on track.

3D Animation class is going to prove challenging with our upcoming project. Not having the program to mess around with at home, I'm finding it slightly difficult to retain the wealth of information necessary to perform even basic tasks. I'll find a way to make it work, but it makes me nervous. Practice makes perfect, right?

My Digital Imaging class is provoking some profound thoughts in their lectures...this is more attributed to the professor of the class, Jay Schuh, than it is in our photoshop assignments of course, but it's really healthy for me. My notes are crowded with wisdom, and my homework is stacking up like crazy (in fact, I should PROBABLY start knocking out one of the numerous assignments for that class when I get done here.)

I got Schuh for History of Animation class as well, and I have yet to solidify what exactly my stop motion animation short will be about; it's all been vague ideas, and I need to decide on something and put it on paper. Luckily, I have time...but I won't for much longer.

But my flash class...hoho. I'm three weeks ahead of schedule, and the Nike ad from my last news blog received an A+. While my classmates are conceptualizing and storyboarding what their character animation is going to look like, I'm thirteen seconds into animating mine. I intend to visit the lab as often as possible to knock this thing out; the sooner I get it done, the sooner I can submit it to the portal.

The goal is for my caveman animation to rake in my first Daily 1st solo submission...I would laugh out loud if some NG big-shot submits something incredible on the same day I submit. Ten bucks says it would be something fifteen seconds long from Cyanide & Happiness.

I got some buffer time from the looks of things in the Lady Noir collaboration, so I can focus on Photoshop homework and getting to work on this stop-motion animation project. I'm kind-of liking the new level icon, so I care less about voting daily now.

Film at Eleven!

-G-

(This was knocked out as a quick homework assignment. The assignment was to draw a robot in photoshop utilizing the shape method; starting with basic shapes, and fleshing them out. Do you think it's Art Portal worthy, or just a decent experiment?)

I passed the assignment in flash class with the Nike Ad I finished a week ago! I'm totally stoked for the next assignment, because as you guys know I haven't submitted a flash to the portal all year.

Well here's the deal;

-My Monday class is 3D Animation I. Our assignment is to complete a basic 3D animation, and I got something pretty clever concocted involving an incompetent Junebug.

-My Wednesday class is History of Animation. Our big project we're focusing on is completing a stop-motion short, which I have the intention to compile within flash.

-and My Saturday class is Flash I. The assignment she has us working on is completing a character animation, and the skies the limit. Never being short on ideas, I'm thinking about doing a ridiculous Warhammer 40K Space Marine skit, or if I REALLY wanted to go above and beyond the call, animating a Caveman storyboard I did for my Storyboard mid-term last semester. (This caveman's trying to go after this hot amazon, and fucks EVERYTHING up.)

If you've been counting, that's 3 possible submissions before summer hits us...and I'm just getting warmed up!

-Still got the credits sequence pending for the Lady Noir collaboration.
-STILL gotta finish the Starfox flash my buddy Hogabeast and I have been working on.
-STILL want to animate Doom: Repercussions of Evil.
-STILL gotta finish my Lady Noir short.
-and I still got love for the streets. It's the Pho-bo-tech.

(that was lame. I apologize)

Next semester I'm going to be taking a slightly lighter load, so I can have time to work on building a portfolio, here on NG, that I can show my potential for animation studios when I get outta school.

Gotta knock 'em out. That's the name of the game!

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Film at Eleven.

-G-

I feel rather accomplished. The professor in my flash class is pleased with the Nike Advertisement flash I made for homework.

http://spamtheweb.com/ul/upload/060210 /50743_Nike.php

I finally learned how to keep a flash from looping...and if you noticed, the entire ad was a clickable link to Nike's website. With each day I work on something flash related, I become more comfortable with the program. I hope to submit a solo submission sometime very soon.

Meanwhile, I still gotta knock out those credits for the Lady Noir collab, but then again, I also need...y'know...CREDITS...lol. The deadline RedHarvest set up for the collaborators is tomorrow, and he wants it submitted by Valentines Day. I'll try to knock them out in a day or two after the SuperBowl.

I also figured out something I can easily do, CHEAPLY, for the stop-motion animation homework for "History of Animation." inspired by Don Hertzfeldt, it'll be hand drawn on white paper, as the characters interact with each other through hand-made ripples/folds/tears in the paper. Maybe even interacting with each other with live props on top of the paper. Additionally inspired by JohnnyUtah's experiment with stop-motion, I can do this with a camera on a tripod looking at an angled mirror so objects on the paper can be flat. I have a friend who's taking photography at the same community college I'm going for animation, and he has the camera, tripod, even lighting equipment.

I'm excited to get to work on it! Moreover, I can import each frame into flash where I can lay a soundtrack over it, and submit it to the portal as a flash animation, so you guys can enjoy it too! I gotta jet now; just getting out of flash class, and I'll see you guys later. Tonight and tomorrow? Drinks to celebrate!

Film at Eleven!

Holy shit.

In my History of Animation class, my homework assignment is to make a 30 second long stop motion animation. I've never done anything like it in my life, and I'm a wee-bit nervous.

I grew up with Nightmare Before Christmas....and hell, one of my favorite series that was so hot on NG when I first signed up were some of Knox's Klaymations, so it's not like I'm unfamiliar with the genre, I'm just entirely uncertain about my ability to do it.

I COULD do something similar to what Knox does, in constructing crude humanoid-resembling blobs and carry out absurd situations, or I could get a bit artsier with it like one of Tool's many stop motion music videos.

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One of the criteras for our short is it has to contain an intense, emotional feeling to carry the story on. I suppose that could be rage, sorrow, bright happiness, love...any of that.

As I type this, I have no idea what I'm going to do. What props I'm going to use, characters, plot, set...I got nothin'...not even a camera. Luckily the homework for next week are 10 prototype frames of our attempt at a stop-motion, so we've got extended time to deal with the full thing.

...STILL nervous....plus, I'm getting anxious to release something into the Flash Portal, but I just haven't had the time lately. Hell, I'm still involved with RedHarvest's collab doing the credits sequence...I'm busy, busy, busy.

Film at Eleven.