:: screams from space ::

:: movers ::

2010-07-07T21:17:00.005-04:00

ATTENTION EVERYONE!!!

I'M TOTALLY POSTING OVER HERE:

http://smomotion.com

have you been wondering where i've been hiding?

well see i moved over to my website at http://smomotion.com last year. get it smomotion? see my name's smo, and i animate and make fake movement on paper...so...see it's a little play on words there...i'm so witty!

so yes, i've belted myself in over there, and though i still don't post often, i post there when i do, and rest assured it's always awesome.

no go forth and update your links! i'll be watching you!!!

if i post here it will be but lowly scribbles and random roughs! all the good stuff is at http://smomotion.com for reals! thanks dudes and dudettes!

photos by the infinitely awesome chloe rice from halloween!!!

:: night terrors ::

2009-10-12T01:46:00.005-04:00

i'm not sure if i should use this blog anymore, but i'm thinking my new blog might be for more finished work and this for more process.

last night after killing 3 mosquitos in my loft bed and attempting to fall asleep unfettered by their extra buzzing in my ears [on top of what i normally deal with] i kept waking with a start. from nightmares. art nightmares.

all i was seeing was images; floods, torrents of images of projects that i've conceptualized in my head, but never committed to paper. i was plagued by these unborn ghosts until got up and drew feverishly until early into the morning while listening to megadeth.

i need to pick a project. i might need your help. i'll do a roundup in another post but the two major contenders are the mephiskapheles music video and the cassettes music video.

[the duck from the mephiskapheles video]

other things that come to mind are a short with floyd fox i said i'd be working on last year...a comic about how much this summer sucked and a short comic about people riding the wrong way in bike lanes. not to mention my musical endeavors.

i've been a thinker long enough time to do.

:: reel ::

2009-08-30T17:21:00.003-04:00

my new site is in full swing but i figured i'd put my demo reel over here now that i finished it up:

smo demo reel 2009 from smo on Vimeo.

gimmie work!

:: update ::

2009-08-07T17:22:00.005-04:00

i'm in transition. i made my first drawing/ranty post over at http://smomotion.com i'll be posting over there while i get the site looking right. but all the links are straight up http://smomotion.com now this blog might start sitting. so start scopin that one out IF YOU DARE!

again...that's http://smomotion.com

also someone please hire me or take me on as an apprentice if you do traditional stuff. thanks!

psst hey, this is what it looks like over there:

:: sea change ::

2009-07-26T23:17:00.001-04:00

http://smomotion.com/blog is functional...still sans content though! i'll give you the heads up when it'll be worth changing links. i'm still not sure if i'm going to have it be smomotion.com/blog or just smomotion.com so it might mess crap up.

either way...

almost there.

i was going to do all this fancy design crap but decided i don't really care so for now we'll leave it at this and i'll change things as i go...

:: draw what you feel ::

2009-06-14T03:16:00.002-04:00

chart THIS sucka!

Transform and...key out? from smo on Vimeo.

ok i probably will.

tired of computers. 6B and paper. just some keys gonna think it out some.

i have a bunch of stuff to post but have been waiting till i have time to get my new site up. consider this a teaser. all my animation from here on in will cause you pain to watch. eff pathos. we're going for agony!

ok maybe just this one.

:: smomotion ::

2009-05-20T22:41:00.003-04:00

so i decided i'm going to bite the bullet and buy real webspace and make a new website/portfolio/blog/thing

eventually it'll be at smomotion.com not sure what it's going to look like or be. but i'll let you know when it happens! whoop!

:: claim to shame ::

2009-05-18T16:06:00.003-04:00

i think it's time for me to reclaim this blog. thus far i've tried to keep my posts mostly animation related but as i've been drifting away from animation [drifting back no worries] and endeavoring myself in other areas; this might be a solid place to rant and rave about whatever...since, as you know, that's my forte.

i called this blog screams from space because i didn't really expect anyone to read it and of course; "in space, no one can hear you..."...get it?

So for the sake of anyone who might actually read this i'm going to try and keep up with my labels. anything related to travel, meanderings, whatever non animation related will have the label "smomotion" attached to it. kapice? or if that's retarded and you don't want your blog reader cluttered with my brain leaks let me know and i'll keep this one strictly business, and move that junk somewhere else!

speak now or forever hold your cheese!

:: it's my birthday and i'll try if i want to ::

2009-03-22T16:37:00.003-04:00

OK!

I'm not getting any younger, but I'm getting more pissed off that I'm so effing lazy and wasting too much time doing trivial BS.

so on this blog I've pledged a lot of "i'll get this done in such and such" sort of things and haven't done jack. Or I've attempted overly ambitious learning things like "the megabrain" that fell apart.

I have a new idea. But this time I'm going to need help getting it together.

It's a little looser and not as totally stringent as far as education goes and it works in a few steps.

This was the goal of "The Megabrain" but i never made it far enough, and I kept it a secret. Now I don't freaking care so I'm putting it out there.

Thanks to a lot of animation gurus out there we have tons of animation resources. one of my favorite blogs out there is Kevin Langley's Model Sheet Blog. This is an insane resource of magical goodness! And a while back Kevin was awesome enough to send me some extra Avery model sheets.

Here's what I think we should do if we want to learn [because I'm totally burnt out with doing clunky flash animation and not learning anything about how things should ideally be done...i've spent more time lately figuring out how to repair a gramophone than trying to find work...]

I'm going to look into a meeting space for this to happen. And we can come up with a schedule that won't screw with work and real life outside of cartoons too much.

Step 1) Get people together who are sick of this $#&% we are doing all day for work and want to get better at real animation. [I've got quite a library of people from all the other times i've said this, so i'll get on getting in touch!]

Step 2) Find model sheets [preferably more than one] of an awesome well constructed, preferably avery character or 2, using resources like kevin's site: Model Sheet Blog

Step 3) Learn those damn model sheets without injecting your "personal style" into them. Compare notes and get super aggro crit from your peers. but super posi reinforcement too!

Step 4) Animate a walk or 8 with that character you now know how to draw "on model". crit again you slob* [* talking in the third person here]!

Step 5) Settle on a general setting, bookend story and framing/field with the crew. [the actual animation of the bookend can come later/last]

Step 6) Come up with ideas for blackout gags. Scribble and loosely board. Compare notes with your totally brutal cohorts. Make sure there's no crossover, make them funnier. Just make sure that they're staged similarly and that they are in the setting allowed by the bookend.

Step 7) Settle on a general tempo for all the blackout gags. That's right i went there TEMPO. If you change tempo within your chunk then change it back by the end. I'll go though this when we get there.

Step 8) Layout ya jerk!

Step 9) CHART THAT $#!% OUT! I don't care if it's 2009, use charts and stop whining* [again third person]. "but i can just go into flash and set keys why do i need an exposure sheet?" first of all...are you really going to make your director go into every flash file and set keys? are you that lonely? you need his personal touch? Put it on an X-sheet, you've got the tempo, so you know it will sync with the music track if one is added. use that as a guide for your major actions, feel free to deviate but listen to a metronome and see how it flows. impacts that fall off the musical beat will be more surprising than those that fall on. it'll help create a subconscious flow. once it's charted, you can get someone to help you inbetween, or at least have a handy reference guide in case flash explodes [or preferably the paper you're working on spontaneously combusts]

Step 10) 9 and 10 go together, but key it up!

Step 11) now that you've actually planned you can get inbetween help...you know what...go do that! buddy system! let's trade amongst ourselves and inbetween other people's scenes. don't leave more than 3 drawings for the inbetweener. Karma is a bitch.

Step 12) Let's put these suckers together!

Step 13) Let's figure out a way to bookend our retarded gags. Setup ASAP then gag it up! Then resolve in the most absurd way possible. Iris out.

Step 14) Apply the same things we've learned in making our blackout gags in a larger scale. The setup will probably have more character and more going on, let's work together to board it, time it out, key it, inbetween it, etc.

Step 15) We know our animation will fit with the tempo we picked, none of that matching up to a waveform bs, let's make music [we can actually have this happen simultaneously if we board to our timing and STICK TO IT which is one of the points of this exercise.]

Step 16) Clean it up if we gotta! I suck at cleanup which probably means we should!

Step 17) watch our film because we just made one and it's totally hilarious!

There it is, my...apparently 17 step plan to make a short film about nothing in particular with my friends. it's an exercise that's meant to keep each other going, have fun, make something that's animated well and actually funny. This is mostly a rant because I'm mad about getting older, but I want to do this. I think we can, possibly on paper, God forbid.

I think every few months I make an angry post, hopefully they get less general as time goes on. This one is pretty specific.

I just want to make a Blackout gag cartoon. If you don't know what that is. get out of my house.

:: snow time ::

2009-03-11T21:05:00.007-04:00

so recently the latest project i was working on at flickerlab wrapped and now i'm kind of floating around on the homefront. i've been working through some favors i need to make good on [show ya soon!] and just trying to brush up and work on being motivated in general...

SO! inspired by the amazing blog: Uncle John's Crazytown i decided i should drop some coin and but Jerry Beck's Van Beuren research DVD collection...and let me tell you i have NOT been disappointed!

for anyone interested: http://www.cartoonresearch.com/garagesale.html

in any event i just got done watching a cartoon from 1930 entitled "Snow Time." Lots of iceskating hijinks. but one scene stuck out to me in particular...

there's a hotdog vendor at this ice rink. i guess they've got those at hockey games and the like now...but it still seems like an odd plce for hotdogs for some reason...there's an earlier van beuren with an ice skating rink with farmer al falfa buying hot dogs that don't want to be eaten...this particular scene strikes a similar chord; this poor dog has skated himself starving and he just wants to eat some hotdogs! he pays good money and what does he get? and unruly all beef frank that rips out his teeth and totally absconds with them! that a jerk!

so the solution? OBVIOUS! the vendor wants to sell the dogs, the patron wants to eat but can't chew...MEATGRINDER!!!

ohh and it's one of the most amazing cycles i've ever seen. so of course it needed to be put in animated gif form.

:: go go popitos ::

2009-01-12T02:49:00.003-05:00

i got asked to do a show flyer for some bands in Barcelona. I've been working out this image of a dinosaur punk kid in school daydreaming about the show. i've got the toughest bit done...but they'd wanted it for monday. i'm thinking i'm going to have to call it a night soon though and hopefully i can give it to them monday night.

anyway here's what i've got so far:

it came out looking a bit like a teenage savage dragon, but salright i spose.

my capacity to do work for free is dwindling. i had a really hard time scheduling this in and ended up only getting the character done and handing it off to them to turn into a real poster. i don't know if they even used it in the end.

it takes so long for me to get a drawing done these days. kinda lame. i've been pretty scattered but i'm going to try to focus more energy on drawing.

i always feel like i have some "free freelance" or favor hanging over my head. working on cleaning house so i can do my own things again and not feel guilty.

:: diamond shark ::

2009-01-05T23:52:00.003-05:00

oh hey! i DID do something recently! the weekend before newyears i helped dan forgione out with a commercial! i did the character design!

i think this is the first time i've designed characters that someone else has animated. pretty neat! he did a great job too!

:: faux-st ::

2009-01-05T09:00:00.003-05:00

so the only drawing i've done lately has been some boards and freelance over the break for work and freelance, but there's more pictures up of girls in spain wearing my t shirt so i figured i'd post THOSE! haha!

i'll be doing a show flyer soon for a few bands...in barcelona. that's right, i get asked to do more illustration work by people in other countries than in nyc. go figure.

new stuff coming soon! fully moved back in to brooklyn/greenpoint and getting back in the swing of things.

also i have a new phone number [which means i need to draw a new trading card!] so if you need it please email: tomsmo@gmail.com

:: in spain my name has umulats ::

2008-12-07T18:48:00.009-05:00

BUY STUFF I MADE! http://bunnysux.bigcartel.com/

my friend deedee just posted pictures of the finished shirts i designed for her barcelona based project "Factory". They made bags with my design too! here's more pictures of pretty girls wearing something i drew!

they made a bag of it too! i'm glad they like the design!

if you'd like to scope out the rest of the shirts and bags [there's other colors and designs by other people as well] check out:

http://bunnysux.bigcartel.com/

this is the first time anything i've made has been worth anything in euros!

:: tags ::

2008-11-18T11:25:00.002-05:00

rehashed some old images for a t-shirt tag. not sure which works...probably the skull? also! is it confusing that i use threeprong and rockitpack? should i go with one? which do you prefer?

:: the office ::

2008-11-14T18:25:00.003-05:00

moderately unflattering office caricatures!

will the intern!

and zee!!! he did the coloring! he's a madman with the photoshop!

:: foodswings ::

2008-11-10T18:06:00.005-05:00

i finished something!!!

free milkshakes for meeeee!!!!

that bush caricature tripped me up and it took me a long time to get it done [that and it was basically spec with no deadline *cough*]...and in the end i didn't make the background as fancy as i wanted to, but i thought i should get it to freedom so he could start these new menus before foodswings changes ownership, yipes!

go there and buy things!

:: mustache ::

2008-11-07T16:48:00.004-05:00

i have a mustache!

:: bush meal deals ::

2008-11-06T20:29:00.002-05:00

:: nothing can kill the grimace ::

2008-10-25T07:35:00.008-04:00

The Grimace is an inherently evil being that feeds off the milkshakes of the innocent...

menu for foodswings in the works!

scale adjustment:

the grimace was recently seen accidentally shooting the hamburgler in the face while hunting friguys in mcdonaldland.

[been working on this for about 12 hours from concepts to this point. not sure if i like the layout, i might simplify it a lot the background was a quicky but i think i could make it work. just want to get this done now!]

:: i hear he's big in spain ::

2008-10-14T00:11:00.005-04:00

i got asked to do some shirt designs for a friend who runs a clothing company in spain. this one's for a band [who i haven't gotten to hear yet]. she was going for an early 90's monstery skate aesthetic but i think i ended up more UPA than anyhing...

here's my first attempt! i might change it still though!

not sure if the "rays" of text should be the outline color or the same color as the other blocks.

:: countach ::

2008-09-29T13:11:00.006-04:00

yet another project that i'll announce and possibly never complete! a music video for the title track from the new cassettes album due out next month!

countach!!! give it a listen!

here's some sketches i did working out one of the antagonists in the video. A CORPORATE REPTILIAN!

[corporate reptilian neocons take cabs!]

you might want to read up on your David Icke...whee hee hee!

:: anarchomation ::

2008-09-14T11:29:00.007-04:00

now that i got that out of my system...

you guys might remember "the megabrain"? the little online animation studygroup i tried to get going last year? well it was too much for me to keep going when pale force kicked in again and kind of dissipated, but i'd reallly like to get something like that going again.

except this time, it's personal!

i propose a regular [frequency to be determined] animator meetup in NYC where we essentially run our own class/studygroup. have regular "lessons," draw from cartoons, do figure, whatever we need. screw paying for college again!

i've got a lot to learn. if anyone wants to join me let me know. let's bust some heads.

:: preston blair loves the ladies ::

2008-09-13T10:00:00.002-04:00

Click here for a bigger one!

and yes preston blair, you're still the man.

trying my best to figure out a way to do this exercise from the original preston blair book in flash. the brush tool can be a mite unforgiving, but it's serving it's purpose. maybe when i get it done i can do a nice cleanup of it...even though i HATE cleanups...

here's a link to the original blair book!

ASIFA hosted 1940's Preston Blair.

Anyone know how i can add a play button to this stuff so it doesn't bog the page down so much? [i want to be able to upload the one with the reference images in it too!]

*edit* - Thanks to Al Pardo for helping me with this play button business!

:: the longest walk ::

2008-09-10T14:33:00.008-04:00

still working on this! the head might have some back and forth and the nose will move...and eyes won't be static. the tail isn't done being colored in either. i think i might just keep adding on to this and make him do different things and go into different walks too...which will hopefully not take me forever...it's the cleanup i swear!

though I'VE BEEN WATCHING PEOPLE, and the head doesn't seem to rotate during a walk, it stays relatively fixed, based on whatever they're looking at...BUT barely anyone looks straight ahead for a super long time, they look down, they look over their shoulder, they check out stuff going on around them...the rest of the body can maintain the same gate but the head tends to follow the eyes. i think the head rotation would only really happen if someone is dancing a bit like in a 30's double bounce walk, otherwise it's a little disorienting, it's like you're looking back and forth constantly.

here's another process to show how it's come along:

:: walks ::

2008-08-31T23:58:00.005-04:00

the past few days i've been animating a lot of walks. here's a headless walk for ya...

:: sexy screenprinting ::

2008-08-21T21:25:00.005-04:00

I have a box of shirts left over from comic con, and I need to sell em! And what sells t-shirts better than ladies in underpants?!

I have guy's large and extra large

girl's small and medium

20 for white with red pentagram, 25 for silver with gold pentagram

if you're interested just leave a comment with your email!

:: duck walk ::

2008-08-06T02:26:00.004-04:00

ruff stuff!

does this look like crap?! i'm experimenting with drawing part and using flash elements for parts too. nothing will be static on the cleanup, but the head will stay a symbol and the arms too...but drawing sneaky arms was getting me a little confused...

:: reel ::

2008-07-31T19:18:00.003-04:00

Slightly updated demo reel...with a deceiving 2007 slate!

awful compression:

or downloadable: http://www.threeprong.net/reel/smo_reel_073008_web.mov

:: octo-squoosh ::

2008-07-21T12:25:00.005-04:00

i got this guy done a while back, but i never showed him off!

headed to new york citaaay right now...then comic con...then LA...then tour unless i find a sweet job in one of the aforementioned places...

:: painting pentagrams ::

2008-07-18T23:15:00.004-04:00

i printed a lot of shirts!!!

30 shirts! 26 printed thus far!

that's 26 hand painted pentagrams!

i didn't wash them first...i hope they don't shrink and mess up the print! oops...

the metallic ink went wackjob on me and totally cloggered up my screenage but i'm going to try again tomorrow since i had some special request shirts in gold.

:: doorman ::

2008-07-14T16:24:00.005-04:00

here's a concept for the doorguy for my mephiskapheles video if i ever make it...

when i was stranded in colorado for a week i started planning out the first minute or so, the story has 3 scenes in a sense so i might just start on the first one to see if i can pull it off!

:: goat test ::

2008-07-13T14:53:00.004-04:00

i did my first silkscreening tests yesterday, i'm going to try and put in an order of shirts and hopefully i can find an ink that has better coverage...since the ink i used my dad and i found in our basement and might be older than i am!

seems like it came out alright though! i'm not really sure what sizes to buy, i guess comic con has a lot of LARGE attendees? hmm...

:: dentist ::

2008-07-12T11:21:00.005-04:00

yesterday i went to the dentist for the first time in 5 years woo! the hygenist passive aggressively scolded me a lot about going every six months, it got kind of obnoxious...

but in the end i didn't have any cavities or anything wrong or anything like that.

but i do apparently have this weird thing [it'd not a disease or anything it just happens to some people] called GEOGRAPHIC TONGUE:

maybe i'm more worldly than i thought! huzzah!

:: goats freak me out ::

2008-07-04T02:16:00.003-04:00

soon to be a t-shirt...

cleanup!

i drew this before playing a show at a christian skate park outside minneapolis...

and this is from the day before:

i'm working up something for comic con...let's see if i can pull it off...

did i mention i made it to alaska and am now back in new york state...because i totally did!!!

:: werebeast ::

2008-07-03T14:50:00.001-04:00

here's the process of a new lil guy i'm making:

:: octopod ::

2008-07-01T14:37:00.003-04:00

i made this on the road:

i want to cast it but i think it's a mite too complex for my first attempt!

:: van halentine ::

2008-03-26T00:43:00.005-04:00

it's about time this made it's way to the internet! a special...80 of you got the real deal in the mail with a personalized dirty van halen lyric! but here's a rockin digital for the world!

also...

:: psychobilly ::

2008-03-18T03:06:00.004-04:00

sorry i've been dark! i'm on tour with the band mose giganticus playing guitar. i drew this lady on the tourbus today on our way to savannah. whoop!

:: drinking and drawing ::

2008-02-04T10:49:00.001-05:00

brett and i at the frederator drinking and drawing!

huzzah!

and a life update:

my crazy adventure hath begun. i'll be starting a new blog to chronicle my 7 month tour mascarading as a guitarist with band mose giganticus at the end of the month. i just moved all my belongings to philadelphia, and am currently just outside of washington dc where i hope to be purchasing a guitar amp today.

things are moving so fast and for the past couple weeks i've felt like i'm just part of a lucid dream. but i may be back in NYC this month for some freelance before i head out. we shall see!

take care all! if you'd like to receive an anti-valentine from me, drop me an email! tomsmo@gmail.com

:: positive role model ::

2007-12-16T03:52:00.000-05:00

no time means no new content! here's something from my freshman year in college. it's one scene of 3 of similar length and structure of my short "positive role model." i did it with crayons and a flatbed scanner. light tables and crayons aren't friends.

i apparently hadn't learned what framing is yet.

i got a B.

music by bursting mosquitos [ie. me, bob, jon, doug and ryan.]

:: "in lieu of recent events" or "i am the day of current taste" ::

2007-11-21T20:56:00.000-05:00

at the IFC theater here in new york i recently saw "the future is unwritten," a documentary on clash frontman joe sturmmer. it was fantastic, i highly recommend!

then this past weekend i needed to take a break form pale force for a bit so i did some sketching and watched a documentary called "tales of the rat fink," about ed "big daddy" roth [the creator of ratfink, the printed t-shirt, and had a huge influence on design and art in general, in awesome ways...]

also i now own a scooter!

so this is me combining all these elements. that's not my scooter though, that's totally a lambretta, i have a vespa! haha!

i have this theory that the whole driving feeling of the motorheads and their hotrods could totally be applied to scooters. lots of scooters are old and need a lotta work and maintenance [like mine...yowza!], it'd be sweet to soup em up. and it's not all mods vs. rockers anymore. i feel like scooters and the rockabilly world can totally get along.

so this is my rudefink, my contribution to said cause.

maybe i should paint this, it'd be kinda fun.

i have another animationy project in the works too right now, i'll post that soon.

:: wha? ::

2007-11-21T05:11:00.001-05:00

haha wow what a string of lame posts! no worries awesome stuff on it's way!

:: halloween cat ::

2007-10-31T02:32:00.000-04:00

here's a little nugget bob made 2 years ago and i just made a beautiful soundtrack for...that lovely song in the middle is from a cd bob [http://tehfuzzbomb.blogspot.com/] got by sending in the back of a frankenberry box...

vote for it on newgrounds!!!

:: plugs ::

2007-10-19T03:34:00.000-04:00

no posts lately...been busy with lifestuff and pale force [some news on that front very soon!]

but this one goes out to all the inquiring/dirty minds who read my blog! phil, will, simon, i'm looking at you!

and incase ya don't know this is angela ryan; hostess/model [and yes i obviously and ridiculously in love with her and you should be too!]:

:: gmc lost footage ::

2007-10-06T17:36:00.000-04:00

i was going through my old pencil tests from my thesis and looking at all the mistakes i made...animating at 10fps? what? i guess it's essentially on 3's since i edited in after effects. to me it was less drawings. whatever. kinda worked...i didn't know about symbols yet then either. lots of stuff that would have made the whole process easier. this is why i'm jaded about scool. basic stuff.

here's some cycle tests for "scene 13" the segment that was meant to go after opening the fridge and before that trn to the tv. after the eggs are put on the counter the open themselves and walk across to the frying pan rip off their shells and jump in. one of the things i was most excited about and i had to cut it for the sake of "story" RETARDED!!!

it's interesting/nice to see how my timing and drawing have improved since then.

the bread toasts itself as well.

i don't really like the egg's double bounce walk. i didn't have it quite right, but the bread makes me chuckle. [granted this isn't the scene just the cycles]

this scene would have been at about; 1:10 on this youtbe:

:: i'm sketchy ::

2007-09-29T21:00:00.000-04:00

ahh another lovely day at dr. sketchy's anti art school, "the universes best burlesque figure drawing session." i really have to stop making a habit of falling in love with the models. hm.

today was prom themed! i went stag, because i'm a loner dotty...a rebel.

these might not be awesome but they're what i did, so WHATEVER! the models were amelia danger and apathy. and THEY'RE totally awesome!

ok better explain...this next one we were supposed to draw something from the movie "carrie" i figured i'd go for the mom...but apparently no one remembered that part...just the pigs blood...

:: pale force ::

2007-09-25T12:32:00.000-04:00

RAD!!!

embedable player this year! now you all can keep tabs on why i'm making really quick crappy blog drawings and have no time to hang out with you! pale force isn't just a gig, it's a way of life DUDES!

in this "3rd ep" segment i animated the first half up through the intro of the clones. 1st half of the 2nd ep as well through mtv, and in the first one i just popped conan on the gurney and adjusted the intro.

:: dio ::

2007-09-20T22:26:00.000-04:00

i saw heaven and hell last night. it was awesome. i'll make some better drawngs soon this was all i had time for.

:: big bear ::

2007-09-10T15:53:00.000-04:00

Friday, September 14h. Big Bear at Death By Audio. Be there and be annihilated by rock.

:: who's yehudi? ::

2007-09-05T02:34:00.000-04:00

greetings gates! let's operate!

so yes, i've done far too many posts as of late. but hey! when it rains it pours. and let me tell you it's no fun catching a terrier in the eye!

today i got to thinking of one of my favorite radio personalities....

[flashback]

when i got the last golden collection, i was watching the tash disk and in the plane daffy cartoon daffy turns around and all the sudden has bug eyes and says "ahh! something new has been added!" in a crazy voice:

Plane Daffy 1
Uploaded by thadk

then later looks into the fridge and makes another crazy comment. sometimes you'll see a guy talk with that voice with an incredible mustache. it's obviously a caricature. so of course my first thought was...

WHO THE HECK IS THIS GUY!!!!

well...it's JERRY COLONNA!

[my drawing signified end of flashback]

and he's hilarious.

early on he was in a string of b movies playing in a nightclub band and a general character [he was called the professor], then met up with bob hope and basically operated as his sidekick on his radio show 'till about '48 when he was replaced by doris day to apparently keep the show "fresh". although he was still on every USO tour with hope...

and..

oddly enough, there's a lot of references to colonna in that plane daffy cartoon and tashlin went on to direct the bob hope features...and guess who popped up in em from time to time?

he was also the voice of the march hare in alice and wonderland!

this website can give you the rundown far better than i, and i'd rather not step on their toes:

ol' bug eyes

plus you can hear one of his albums "music for SCREAMNIG!" because yes...he also played trombone. amazing. and you know in cartoons when characters hold the first note of a song seemingly forever before they start? yup that's his deal too!

a lot of the jokes in looney tunes came from radio. we think a lot of the humor today is "fast paced" but a lot of the humor of the thirties and 40's was based around fast talking and general confusion...i mean ever see groucho marx in action?!

for kicks here's another good show [also including colonna] that might enlighten you to a couple other jabs the warners took at pop icons:

the bob hope show: april 8th 1947

i just subscribed to this podcast [the link will open itunes and subscribe you]:

old time radio comedy podcast

it's all comedy radio shows from the 30's and 40's including the bob hope show [with colonna], you bet your life [groucho], red skelton, and abbot and costello.

i grew up on the movies these guys made and i still think it's far funnier than anything else out there! check it out, and listen for colonna! he's totally awesome!

it's funny to me how the pop culture of a bygone era was able to become characterized in cartoons so vividly. and today the best we have to work with is referencing things. back then there were so many strong character actors that they made amazing caricatures, if not in likeness in action! the only ones i can really think of more recently are personalities like "pee wee herman," "mr. t,"or "mr. bean." television doesn't have strong characters as far as i can tell and sketch comedy is incredibly weak right now. know of any other good characters that might be worth caricaturing today?

someone strong enough that their bits or mannerisms could be understood without simply the likeness, like daffy using colonna's voice saying "something new has been added." it's tough!

:: greenpernt ::

2007-09-02T22:48:00.001-04:00

i get frustrated with living in new york. i feel like i don't know this place and i don't get to see my friends unless some big event is going on. this is a problem to be tackled soon. but i still have a certain amount of pride when i see something like this:

i live in "greenpernt" haha! not "the forest primeval...FLATBUSH!"

[thanks kevin!]

Art Davis
Uploaded by klangley

also...some of you may remember my grand vision: the mega brain.

it kind of dissipated when i got another studio job. and by kind of i mean totally.

i definitely want to start it back up. kevin langley was nice enough to send me a bunch of model sheets. now that i'm working from home again i'm going to possibly get a new domain [threeprong is kind of tired these days...i might just buy the domain for the megabrain] and start it back up. i'll send a mass email out because it's been 6 months since we did anything with it and i'm sure everyone forgot about it! yeeps!

:: ice creamed ::

2007-08-24T23:17:00.001-04:00

CU from a really really old sketch. wanna go back to these guys

(c) FOREVER Thomas Sebastian Smolenski

:: were-sketch ::

2007-08-23T12:59:00.000-04:00

another quick sketch because i don't put time into anything! wink wink!

:: faves ::

2007-08-17T18:01:00.000-04:00

lately i've been animating on pale force and have little of my own to show, so i figured i'd share some of my favorite animation with you guys...thanks internets!

bimbo's initiation - fleischers 1931

Betty Boop - Bimbo's Initiation
Uploaded by baje22

methinks animation professor lorelei pepi first introduced me to this cartoon, her or stephanie maxwell. either way it's my all time favorite! i love the story structure of the cartoons from this era...because it's barely there! pure entertainment!!!

[sorry about the paramount title...LAME...this had the best synch though, there's one with the real titles on youtbe.]

waffles and don:
'Gypped in Egypt' - (1930) Van Beuren Aesop's Fables

my friend pedro delgado showed me this one. totally amazing! van buren's aesop's fables series one of the earliest animation companies yet seldom discussed, this is definitely an awesome cartoon! i'm really glad ub iwerks got everyone so jazzed about dancing skeletons!

horton hatches the egg - 1942 WB [clampett/suess]

1942-Dr. Seuss - Horton Hatches the Egg
Uploaded by iToons

this is a cartoon i saw when i was a youngin. my friend simon ampel pointed me to this posted online recently at flickerlab. this is one of my favorite looney tunes by far, if not my favorite. clampett's first color cartoon. how the grinch stole christmas drove me nuts when i was growing up because it didn't look like this. i understood the looney tunes connection but didn't understand the directors element. now it all makes sense. perhaps my two biggest influences working in total harmony! makes sense to me!!!

also...BLUE SKY I HATE YOU AND YOU HAVE NO TASTE!!!!

Harpya - 1979 Raoul Servais

this is the reason i had my mustache! i love this it's so bizarre! good buddy and plae force vet. brett hall and i saw an ASIFA surrealist animation fest [that kicked off with bimbo] and included this! we had walked in partway through and had to sneak back in to watch the whole thing and see it a second time! totally weird and awesome! Servais is a fantastic filmmaker and a lot of his work is on youtube, if you dig this check out the rest of his stuff! it's not all pixelation there's a lot of very illustrative animation as well!

that's all for now kiddos!

:: smo ::

:: narhippo ::

2007-08-14T16:06:00.001-04:00

hey i made this guy! like 2 years ago! figured he deserved posting. i called him gorbachev in secret. he was a gift.

:: fresh ink ::

2007-08-07T12:50:00.000-04:00

at comic con chris sanders, pete and i all got some sick new ink! then we totally beat up that 40 year old dude dressed like a wolf who was trying to pick up wonder woman...

witness the incredible art of chris sanders!!!

:: smoreel summer 07 ::

2007-07-22T11:55:00.001-04:00

:: business ::

2007-07-19T07:47:00.000-04:00

ORDERED!!!

bill robinson stand up guy that he is, just saved me about fifty bucks by pointing me to this website:

http://www.overnightprints.com

now lets just hope that these puppies get shipped to my classy hotel in san diego, i'll have to ask the concierge when i get in, but i called ahead so i should be fine!*

*to be read: the front desk at the motel 6...

:: heraldry ::

2007-07-19T04:16:00.000-04:00

from:

polish roots.com

[smolenski]

Arms: Azure, a horseshoe, Argent heels to base, pierced of a sword in pale point to chief. For a crest, an eagle's wing debruised of an arrow in fess, all proper.

There should be a horseshoe with the tips downward; through its top a saber passes, point upward and hilt downward, facing the right side of the shield, so that the hilt is to be seen in the center of the horseshoe. The helmet with crown has an eagle's wing, through which an arrow passes.

There were two brothers, whether of Jastrzebiec clan or Pobóg, who carried on a long-standing feud between them, and would not let it be settled, neither by the intervention of friends or the persuasion of relatives. It went so far that the younger brother, seeking vengeance for his injury, did not restrain his temper until he was guilty of the blood and death of his older brother. On account of this crime, in eternal memory of his punishment, his descendants' arms were transformed into the shape you see here and called Zagroba or Zagloba, i.e., za glowe [for his head].

--

[tornatore]

i know not much of this side of the family, and the sicilians didn't operate in a clan system as the poles therefore arms weren't used in battle or for identification. yet one thing i do know about my grandfather [whom i never was able to meet] is that he had a freaking kickass tattoo of a skull with a knife through it when he came over to america in the early 1900s.

--

[thomas sebastian smolenski]

say hello to my new backpatch:

:: roo ::

2007-07-19T00:47:00.000-04:00

this girl [that this kinda sorta looks like]:

draws awesome people:

and she has a blog!

http://roodevon.blogspot.com

keep an eye on it and prepare for awesome!

:: anijam ::

2007-07-17T07:16:00.000-04:00

working on the back now, i'll clean this up once i get the card done! thanks for all the input! i went with the background, added some spiderwebs, tonight i'll add some manner of monster on the stalactites.

the back is going to be tricky. i'm sure there will be progress posts before i clean the post up!

layout/color help needed!!! what sort of colors hsould i go with? should i draw a bg should i use gradient?

*EDIT*

SWEET! i'll be animating at the ASIFA HOLLYWOOD booth 5434 for the anijam on saturday during comic con 4:30-7! haha chris daly eat yer heart out! anijam!!!

http://asifa-hollywood.org/blog/con2007/table.html

--

not sure if it's too late but i just emailed asifa hollywood about joining the anijam at comic con. we'll see what happens! i'm working up a "business" card right now, i'll post sketches. i'm trying to figure out if i want it to look:

metal

epic

silly

fun

or

...professional

probably not professional.

it's going to be a trading card. let me know if i should be a "bad guy" or a "good guy" input appreciated! as i said sketches soon!

here's a version in my normal clothes:

:: monsters ::

2007-07-15T15:55:00.001-04:00

drew these after watching dragon's lair clips. and afterward realized i gave them both the same line of action.

where have we seen that dinosaur before...but..younger?

:: powerhouse ::

2007-06-25T08:21:00.000-04:00

i was recently featured on the raymond scott blog with a quote from me about how bad my thesis is! check it out!

http://raymondscott.blogspot.com/

it's pretty exciting! i love raymond scott's music, and i'm sure you do too! even if you don't realize it!

also this last drawing seems to have turned into my "moses"...i'm going to get back on the bandwagon soon! i've actually been excited about work lately so most of my energies have been focused there!

i'll start doodling soon i promise!

:: yarr ::

2007-05-16T23:51:00.001-04:00

lately i've felt like this:

we all have our days...

:: shifting gears ::

2007-05-16T22:57:00.000-04:00

in order to not clutter this blog with too much talk of air guitar i started a new blog to chronicle my ride to glory:

gettingair.blogspot.com

:: ulfhedair ::

2007-05-14T19:22:00.000-04:00

can you discern whats going on in these scribbles? i can't!

planning out air guitar business!

ulfhedair? cerbairus [umulats on the U]?

:: power chord ::

2007-04-30T13:54:00.001-04:00

here's the "landing" position of my rock out sketch. i suppose a second key? we shall see! i also have my palm mute "angry/suspicious inspect the audience for dissenters face" sketch to do. now that i figured out what a truss rod is, and adjusted it, and my guitar can actually make noises again, you can bet there's going to be a lot more of this to come!

when this is done i should pop it into kabuki and make it work with a song...

*edit* - i don't like this one.

:: frenchies ::

2007-04-30T12:07:00.000-04:00

i did these sketches for a bit in a michael moore film. an american and french family sitting on top of a graph that will compare where tax money goes...americans OBVIOUSLY get totally hosed. but the image is not getting used now. i like it though so i'm posting it. it might be © flickerlab...? who friggin knows, i drew it, don't say you did sucka. BAM!

:: rock ::

2007-04-24T01:01:00.000-04:00

i recently saw air guitar nation and it reminded me of how important it is for me to rock out on a regular basis. i decided this warrants a series of drawings or perhaps a short little animation. but in any event here's a cleaned up sketch [yes my guitar looks like that]!

i've been working at flickerlab as of late and have been pretty busy. i've felt guilty about my letting the megabrain fall by the wayside, i got sort of overwhelmed...i'll get back at that SOON!

also if you like to rock, or would like to learn to shred [i'd like to!]...

check out http://www.guitarshredshow.com my friend greg showed me this site and it's one of my favorites! one of the best flash sites ever around!

:: foodswings ::

2007-03-13T00:46:00.000-04:00

i promised i'd make a flyer for the foodswings third anniversary party...but getting sick put me way behind schedule! i've got things started though. i decided to turn nutty merlin into a vegan necromancer! here's some progress:

progress: 3/14/07

progress: 3/15/07

flash crash yesterday and i lost a day's worth of work. been savin a lot today, and got it back to where it was. it's always hard for me to get back to something when i know i'm just doing repeat work! is this working?

also my forum is goin! but my getting sick really set me back. it's got me pretty frustrated. i should probably start looking for work too. lame.

:: building a bitter blogger ::

2007-02-24T00:52:00.000-05:00

i really appreciate the sudden surge of disgruntled animators. although it's making me far more idealistic than i was two years ago even. but i know my goals now. i don't want to JUST work in animation.

i want to be a skilled cartoon animator.

that sounds stupid. "i'm serious about making funny cartoons." i feel i could make something now, with what i know now. or i could challenge, push myself to learn more AND make something. college didn't push me to learn. it asked me to work within my knowledge base. i got poor grades when i challenged myself, but i was happier and i learned more.

who else out there [i've talked to a few of you] wants to improve yourself? who wants to make "art for art's sake?" who wants to make real cartoon animation?

there's a lot of great resources out there, but if there's one thing i know we need as animators, that's organization, discipline and a schedule. i'm willing to suck it up and make one if people out there are willing to try. leave a comment *and email me* if you'd be interested in a team learning/progress/lesson blog.

*IMPORTANT! - to get into this please email me here: tomsmo@gmail.com, some blogger profiles are disabled and i can't get in touch with you!

:: rude penguin ::

2007-02-21T22:49:00.000-05:00

here's my penguin sketches.

:: doin' time at ac ::

2007-02-19T13:40:00.000-05:00

i'm eternally grateful to ac for giving me my first job in the city. but that's about as far as it goes. the work was work, nothing too stimulating. at least not in the vein of things i'd like to be working with. when i moved to ellen's i was given a pad to take notes. i'd do at least a page of sketches throughout the day while i was waiting for things to load and whatnot. these are some of them. you can tell what my hair/facial hair looked like any given day by my "self portraits." and at the end i was getting frustrated and really wanted to rock out, those are my faves.

also, i have a collection of post-it notes of the flash logo doing something dangerous, that i drew every time the program crashed. i gave up after a while because it crashed so much. i'll try and find those...i like em...

:: mephiskapheles duck ::

2007-02-18T09:19:00.000-05:00

i think i figured out the duck i was messing with before. i might go ahead with the mephiskapheles video because i can apparently get in touch with the band and get the rights. here's a really rough drawing of the duck:

pete and i just were going over some color options, and i thought i'd open it up. thoughts? anything here look good to you? should i have something else?

hey a new option:

here's the first batch before petes suggestions

after a conversation with sean [his blog's to the right] at apples in stereo, i decided to make him more like us, a half breed skapunk, instead of super genre oriented. a "skunk". it's tough because it's busy looking, but so are[/were] we. that way i think it might make it feel less like a genre war sort of thing, and more like this guy's just trying to have fun but the penguin is "too cool."

i'll post the penguin and cleanups soon. just wanted this on file.

here's the song i'm going to be using: "eskamoes" - property of mephiskapheles, and moon ska you might have to right click it.

oh! and here's the other character, i have to figure out a good way to get his blacks to work, but i have his design set.

:: smoreel 02/07 ::

2007-02-17T19:56:00.000-05:00

Dailymotion blogged video
:: smoreel feb 07 ::
Video sent by tomsmo

hey! here's my demo reel!

i decided not to bog you down, so i uploaded it to that dailymotion thing people seem to be posting lots of classic clips on. now everyone on the internet can find my phone number...dang! i listed it under "extreme"

the colliding music in the beginning with Vlad bugs me, but I can't fix anything else on it till wednesday when paleforce is in the can. comments appreciated!

to download it, click here!

:: upa ::

2007-02-14T13:55:00.000-05:00

sorry for all the non drawing posts lately, i've been doing more reading than drawing.

united productions of america, was a studio and a reactionary animation movement at the same time. there's so much artwork out there people are calling upa inspired today, but it doesn't move! so without further adieu, here's some upa so you can see what i mean!

Hubley:

this is a john hubley cartoon, whose name has come up a lot recently. hubley was really big on design, and full animation. he has the most designerly of the upa cartoons, rooty toot toot above being his pinnacle, and last short. the characters are very graphic yet they stretch, morph, and change color based on emotion and personality. they express by the way they move and contort. and screen depth becomes very important. Hubley worked to go against his background of Disney cartoons, and worked away from cute design and story.

Cannon:

bobe cannon, was the other primary figure at UPA, he directed gerald mc boing boing above. egos [apparently mostly Hubley's] and sensibilities caused the two to split into two units, with animators and designers jumping between the two. Cannon came from Warners [and did work at disney and mgm for a stint]. An animator for Clampett early on [think porky in wacky land "hello bobo!"] and later Jones. Cannon's directorial style was reactionary as well. Working against stories of violence and over the top gags, which was his background at WB. he directed in a similar fashion to Jones, giving his animators drawings to work from, although they were more actual animation drawings than layouts. his designs also tend to be strong, and he used mis en scen and the backgrounds to direct attention to the characters. he definitely has leanings more in a cute direction, which is definitely less warners. in boing boing [a story by ted giesel...dr. suess!] you can really see cannon's directorial style solidify. more muted action, emotion not delivered by expression or movement, but by setting, graphic but pliable character design. he wanted to make known that the cartoon was made up of drawings that were animated, not just characters that were.

today i think people confuse upa with flat design heavy cartoons. yet neither of these cartoons are still. in the credits of both you'll see very impressive names! art babbit, grim natwick, bill melendez; all sorts of competent animators' names appear in UPA cartoons. they're anything BUT flat and motionless.

designerly cartoons can be beautiful! but take away animation and they quickly lose their appeal. even cannon's more muted cute cartoons move fluidly when they do move, often in ways that most today would consider "off model," by stretching arms without elbows and bending in unusual ways. and hubley's more stylistic designs become even less flat when they move all around the screen and show off their depth. nothing in these cartoons flips from one 3/4 view to another, everything rotates, everything animates.

upa was animation by and for artists who were tired of the norms established in the golden age that, all it's creators came from [therefore they were all rooted in classic animation principle before they experimented]. today we have this trickle down of skewed upa principles mixed with programs like flash to get a highly watered down version of graphic animation, that is flat and lifeless. a lot of that comes from people not having studied actual animation design and principle. some people out there get it though, like my bud dagan moriarty for one; check out his stuff and you'll see life in every drawing, and design principle that the likes of bobe cannon would definitely support! http://daganm.blogspot.com/. upa means design, but it definitely doesn't mean flat! don't let anyone try and convince you otherwise!

again sorry i'm so preachy lately! i'm going to try and start putting some of this theory into practice soon! ...promise!

:: listen jackson ::

2007-02-09T01:00:00.000-05:00

baby steps...i need to take baby steps.

so i was looking on the scribner project blog today and there were great screens from baby bottleneck of my favorite looney tunes incidental character. i figured i'd give it a shot sketching them and see how i measured up, and damn, i've got a way to go. i think i need to backtrack a bit and just do those blair exercises john k recommends before i get too ahead of myself. talk about humbling!

:: live action foray ::

2007-02-08T11:09:00.000-05:00

back in college we had to make a live action psa. i worked with my compadre Bob Rutan, who uploaded this. we came up with the story when ryan, our band's drummer started talking about selling cutco knives and we decided the spoon with a magnet on it might come in handy whilst quelling epileptic seizures...? to my knowledge i boarded this and lit it, bob and i wrote it and bob directed the actors and worked the camera. the dude in the dress is Jon Arliss. known to many as TorF [neither true nor false, here nor there, a being comprised solely of antimatter] the best bass player in central new york, and oddly enough the bassist for bursting mosquitos, the ska band the three of us had in highschool. the "kid" is Matt Gilfus; an exceptional guitarist and an exceptional mega man x player.

Bob uploaded a few of his early college projects [up through sophomore year] to youtube yesterday. go check them out on his blog! he's hilarious and awesome!

http://tehfuzzbomb.blogspot.com/

:: lichty ::

2007-02-05T15:41:00.000-05:00

more to come on this but:

I'm reading Michael Barrier's "Hollywood Cartoons," book, and although there's a lot of opinion injected that i disagree with, there a ton of useful tidbits too!

Apparently [according to Barrier via interviews with Clampett] Rod Scribner was pretty influenced by George Lichtenstein, above. Mainly his "Grin and Bear it," comics. He looked to stylistically duplicate the looseness of Lichty's comics in his animation in the 40's. After discussing this with Clampett, he'd get the go ahead to "Lichty it up," and do his really loose animtion. At times he'd use a brush, or ink, etc.

Scribner's a big influence for me so when I find out about where he pulled from I get excited.

:: idiotarod ::

2007-01-29T09:48:00.000-05:00

this is where i was this weekend:

:: crab dragoon ::

2007-01-25T03:47:00.000-05:00

i got an apartment in greenpoint where i can have a separate studio room! it's a railroad so it might suck for my roommate...OH WELL!

i celebrated by eating tortellini, accidentally taking a nap while watching pee wee's playhouse, and drawing this picture as mu330 came on when i was working on PF. good day!

:: big trucks ::

2007-01-25T02:00:00.000-05:00

this is from the summer of 2005 before i started werkin, but i wanted to post it so it's on file!

more FREE freelance. "hello, my name is pushover."

:: little building ::

2007-01-20T11:28:00.000-05:00

edit! - 1/22/07: final version!

this is my new "clean rough" for the little building play by nick jones of Jollyship the Whiz-Bang. I tried inking with a brush again, but i can't deal with anything past inking a character so I'm redoing it in flash. EEK! hooray for free freelance!

[here's the abandoned thing i was roughing out]:

:: pie-eater lazarski ::

2007-01-18T03:15:00.000-05:00

my friend pete is good at art. he doesn't know i'm aware of how much he likes pie. but i am.

butimawizard.blogspot is he. check out his stuff! wizard needs food badly!

[this is what happens when i just intend to draw a head but then slap on a body...?]

:: hey internet ::

2007-01-15T17:45:00.000-05:00

hey internet, pale force only has 4 more episodes left!...someone's going to need a job...go internet go!

:: freakin' duck ::

2007-01-13T00:44:00.000-05:00

yesterday i got this character in my head that i couldn't get on paper for the life of me! this is it, or at least close!!!

[and yes, there was pancake batter all over my scanner...]

:: calling all bars ::

2007-01-03T20:37:00.000-05:00

this started out as a doodle and it kept going. based only slightly on a friend who gives people free jager when they mention my name at the bar she works at in rochester. swank.

::eat it new year ::

2007-01-03T17:41:00.000-05:00

NEWSFLASH! flying disembodied girl head sketch eats wacom!

happy new year all!

this post doesn't really mean anything more than i'm working and back on the computer. but while home i shipped my scanner back to myself, along with pancake batter [in the same box], so if my scanner is in tact and isn't part waffle when it gets here i'll be able to upload a lot of stuff, including animation tests. i have tons of sketches and paper work i'd like to get online.

it's been a pain not having a scanner. it's just a flatbed but when i went crazy during my second animation attempt in college i dremmeled a side down to the glass and installed a pegbar so i could test animation. i'll prolly get a bulk scanner sometime too, and get back in touch with duane paylka and see what's up with scan fix

:: pale christmas ::

2006-12-20T14:21:00.000-05:00

it's finally done!!! merry christmas homies!!!

:: time for beany ::

2006-12-10T11:09:00.000-05:00

HOLY CRAP!!! i just dropped a decent coin on amazon to pick up the beany and cecil special edition dvd...but geez...it's friggin awesome! all the excerpts of clampett michael barrier uses on the golden collection dvds come from this beany and cecil dvd. it's insane. people like al pardo, mike carlo, and bob rutan better get in touch with me about checking it out!!!

also for those who haven't seen, check out this interesting article by milt gray [conductor of aforementioned interviews] on clampett and jones:

milt gray on clampett

[i'm gonna post some drawings soon too...]

:: what a TOOL ::

2006-12-05T10:57:00.000-05:00

hey i've been posting a lot! it makes me feel like i'm getting crap done! this morning i thumbnailed the first 2 scenes of my picture [i like sayin picture, it sounds less pretentious than film...and more old timey]. i'll clean up some panels and put em up!

and it's called paper al, i think the egyptians invented it recently? i can't remember. i got a newer tablet but i still feel like i can deal with paper better!

i'd been using this ticonderoga blue pencil you can get at staples for sketching, but when i got to the light table, the lead was way too hard and i couldn't see the drawings underneath [maybe i should buy real animation paper, but i won't be able to fit that in a bulk scanner for testing...] i switched back to col erase and now i'm working with a plain old graphite 2HB because i can draw faster with the softer lead it seems. is that something you guys find useful too? i found these bob camp animation notes on goober sleave's blog [kevin langley] and it looks like he uses a really soft lead in the sketches. it's a lot of the preston blair stuff condensed, with a couple other concepts. here's a link to kevin's post with the notes:

bob camp animation notes

i think team katbot had mentioned having some similar notes passed on to them from destefano? my envy for team katbot still knows no bounds!

:: srsly guys ::

2006-12-04T15:44:00.000-05:00

so you know i'm not lying:

i'm trying to nail character design and some decent poses then i'll start remembering how to animate again and go between the poses. these still may need work, but i'm getting started! i got in touch with an amazing band about helping me with sound and i'm betting i can send them my raymond scott music and they'd play it! CHOICE!

:: i solemnly swear ::

2006-12-01T22:49:00.000-05:00

i solemnly swear:

to make a film timed using bar sheets and a metronome, collaborative storyboarding as writing, to utilize exposure sheets, proper breakdown notation, to make something with not a convoluted dialog heavy story, but mostly comprised of things to make people laugh...and to do it on paper...

i thomas sebastian smolenski, on this day of december 1st 2006, solemnly swear to make a gag cartoon within the year.

:: mose ::

2006-11-09T05:14:00.000-05:00

so...i'm drawin some robots for my friend mose giganticus, and this is one of the ideas i came up with.

i've been playing earthbound [well mother 0 for nes] lately and they have a lot of the bulky robots, sort of similar to the 1950's comics designs, and i really liked how it looked, so i went a similar direction. i looked a little at old comics and 1940's stuff, but i mostly found that "metal men" sort of look and there's a lot of wicked boxy stuff too. i tried a lot of things on paper, but i think the big domed head kinda makes it look more menacing. things like no face and one "eye" make it spooky to me too. the more human looking something is the more we associate with it, but if something's humanoid but a little too off, like zombies or faceless robots it's eerie. oh and there's spikes, of course. i'll prolly be doin a few other versions...unless he likes this one right off which'll be pretty rad!

and it is 5 am and i drew this after working on pale force all day so i'm wicked rambly...but the robot's left claw is driving me nuts i'm going to have to fix the perspective on that tomorrow. i just threw it down without thinking. bad animator!

:: dreadful dynasty of vicious ::

2006-11-06T11:41:00.000-05:00

VAMPIRE DUCKS!

there's broccoli offscreen...

i love this shot:

:: were ::

2006-11-05T02:43:00.000-05:00

there's more to this drawing...but it's such a bad joke i didn't finish it...i have a lot more stuff on paper these days, but i'm going to try and start pulling a few again to make flashy since i have no scanner!

:: the incomplete unfinished works of... ::

2006-11-01T00:03:00.000-05:00

hey all! sorry for the lack of sketches, i've been busy with pale force! but for anyone who may be slightly curious, i just found dvds of all my college projects...nothing i'm proud of, all things i learned from...but that being said i'm going to be putting them all on a dvd soon, hopefully with some supplemental material of explainations of what was actually SUPPOSED to happen in all of em...since none were ever completed.

and since the soundtracks for all of them [except the most recent...were it done properly it would have been...i bought sheet music from the raymond scott archives] are performed by the bursting mosquitos...i'll be throwing in some of those old tracks as well...since that CD was lost in the studio, it seems only fitting to put it on a collection of incomplete works.

basically this is me getting all this stuff out of my system and wrapping up loose ends, so i can grow up and move on. if you want a copy you're probably crazy. but we'll work something out...since i am too.

if i get any manner of response here, i'll get crackin. otherwise i'll probably drag my feet...and never get it done...since i'm pretty embarassed by everything that will be on it...

+ more crap!

:: pale force ::

2006-10-12T23:17:00.000-04:00

watch 2 all new episodes of "pale force" tonight!!!

the first on tonight's conan o' brien, the second online at http://nbc.com/paleforce

pale force is totally made by jim gaffigan, paul and pat noth, brett hall and myself! which basically means minimal sleep for all of us! so i totally appreciate you checking it out! there's some really funny stuff in these! give em a look!

:: don't be a nerd ::

2006-09-27T02:36:00.001-04:00

when i stopped thinking like a poindexter and started thinking like an animator i figured this out! it's almost ready, just gotta get the ink squirtin in and adjust the "mouseover" at the top! then i can meddle with the other colored ones and THEN website content! only 3 options this time, so no more reviews like "it's all looks and no content - aaron cripps" haha!

clicking him totally works now!

okay i suppose i AM headed down the all looks and no content road again...but i plan on content i SWEAR!

*edit*

[later that day...]