A young kid show idea of mine that was inspired by the designs of Wow Wow Wubbzy!

SL

Mary J. Hoffman presents us with a creepy, crawly modernized cautionary kid tale where she teaches us to NEVER use a Green Crayon… UNLESS it’s for vengeance.

1. How did you come up with the idea for this film?
Well, there’s the long version and the short version. . . and to anyone that knows me well, they know I tend to ramble.  So here’s the long version.
Before the powers that be finally let me into CalArts, I recieved my associates degree from a community college back home in Seattle.  A classmate in my art class and I were just randomly discussing that I wanted to be an animator, which led to the age old topic of “if you could make a film, what kind of film would you make”.  I told him that I wanted to make animated horror films, kind of along the lines of “Tales from the Crypt” tv series, or the old “Night Gallery” show.   Having heard that he told me that he had an idea if I ever wanted to use it (and all I had to do was say that he gave me the idea, so thanks Brett).  He then proceeded to tell me the basic groundwork of the film.  He said that when he was in the first grade, he was given that exact same assignment, based on the Sheb Wooley song, and did the very same thing, creating a green monster, instead of the purple one.  Unfortunately, being the good little boy he was, he just took the bad grade and lived with it, but deep in his heart, he always wished he could have gotten his teacher back somehow.
And that’s how it started I guess.
I happened to have a creative writing class that same semester and started to write the poem then and there.  I worked and reworked the poem for about 3 years before I finally got the courage to try to make it into a film.  By then it was my third year at Calarts and I’d felt it was “time” and that the story finally had an ending I was happy with.

2. Who are some of your influences?
Oh MAN!! My list would probably get me black listed. . . well, not really. 
I seriously am influenced by a lot of really lame things.  I LOVE old horror films, and the worse they are, the better.  Actually, I’m influenced by bad movies in general.  A few of my classmates used to make fun of me in college because of my addiction to bad movies.  I was embarassed for a long time, but realized that they make me who I am and have influenced my work a lot.  Same with old tv shows,  the cheese factor on an episode of the “A-Team”, “Wonder Woman”, or “I Dream of Jeannie” is enough to influence me for HOURS.
Artistically, I really love Charles Addams and Edward Gorey, but I also LOVE the photographer David LaChapelle and fashion magazines.  I taught myself to draw, like a lot of us have, by copying Disney drawings when I was little, so that’s seeped in, and I ADORE the drawings of Chris Sanders.  But quite honestly, I’m almost always influenced by my peers and co-workers, I wouldn’t have made it through college, work, or my films without them helping me out along the way and teaching me that I will always have a lot to learn.
I guess a lot of my influences have also recently become mainstream thanks to the dumb “emo” movement.  Oingo Boingo/Danny Elfman, Tim Burton, Henry Selick, Jim Henson. . . Invader Zim, Nightmare Before Christmas you name it.  Unfortunately, if they’re selling it over at Hot Profit, chances are I’ve been influenced by it at some point.

3. What do you do when you get stuck creatively?
Geeze Jeaux!!  Why don’t you give me a HARD question?
I seem to be having that problem a lot lately, actually.  I’ve tried all sorts of things and I can tell you what DOESN’T work. Looking at the blogs usually doesn’t help me specifically.
But I have found that watching any Pixar movie, or any animated Disney movie from the 1950’s, and of course, “Tales from the Crypt”. . . all I can say is, thank GOD they’ve finally released those on box set!
And the #1 thing I do when I’m stuck. . . have a pity party with my friends and have them bitch slap me and tell me to “knock that sh*t off”.

4. I didn’t figure you for a monster person Mary. (I Kid, I Kid! When, I first met Miss Hoffman, she was wearing a cool t-shirt of Vincent Price & Kermit both dressed up as Dracula) Who is your favorite Old Hollywood Black and White Movie Monster, and what do you think about the state of horror films today?
Awe, that’s easy.  The “Creature From the Black Lagoon”. Frankenstien’s Monster is pretty sweet too, but the “Creature” has always held the key to my heart.
As for horror films today. . . they personally piss me off.  I mean, slasher flicks, like the ones in the early 80’s and mid 90’s were fun for me. Freddy, Jason, Michael Meyers, they’re awesome. . . and the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, they’re all really cool, but why remake them?  I think it’s a total waste of time and money to recreate a bunch of horror film “classics”.  Now I know that they’re not just doing remakes, but come ON!!  How many more vampire/werewolf hunter movies do we REALLY need?  I mean, they don’t even TRY to make them look different!  And Zombies?  I realize it’s easy to follow a formula, and the people backing the projects are probably forcing a lot of stupid lame sh*t to happen, but it’s just getting retarded.

5. What are you working on currently?
Well, currently, when I’m not bustin’ my bootie over at Neopets, my boyfriend/partner and I have started customizing guitars.  It’s a ton of fun for the both of us and gives us something to do together.  Carlos is a musician and guitar tech, so he doesn’t always understand what I do and working on the guitars together kinda gives him a tiny glimpse into my world.  Then, when we’re not working on one of our guitars, I paint little, evil, food monsters.

Thanks Mary, your film was awesome! Hope to see more from you in the future!
-Jeaux Janovsky
Do you like Your Cartoons RAW? Check out Channel Frederator Raw Today!
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The “Meth Minute 39″ cartoon I am currently working on is about an all-girl rock band called “Ultra and the Lazerhearts”. It’s a loving tribute to 1987, when cartoons were just badly animated toy commercials and women who rocked were outrageous. (still true today)

I’m collaborating on the theme song with my go-to-guy for theme music, Micah Frank of Mek Music. Micah also made the music for my cartoons Kosher.com,Live Natty, and next month’s phenomenon “Internet People”.

Ultra, Spectra, and Shootingstara are heading your way soon. “The Meth Minute 39″ premiers in ONE week!

-Dan Meth

Have you ever wish you could watch Ace & Aqua in HD at 961 x 540? Thanks to the engineers over at Stephen Studios Tech, the same studio that brought you hours and hours of endless auto-commenting software, it’s possible! Click here for HD experience!.Then enjoy. Then buy A&A merchandise from the store!

Best!
SL

While searching for an animation resource for young, beginning animators, I found Cartoonster.

Cartoonster features several basic animation lessons, and does a great job of explaining the animation process for the very young and the very new to animation.

With beginning lessons like those found on Cartoonster, you’ll be well on your way to making cartoons in no time. Before long, you’ll be pressing “Control + S” like the Mukpuddy crew!

-Floyd Bishop

I’ve always been a sucker for any surface printed with contemporary pop art, and in the early 90s my obsession was calendars. So when the chance came as President of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons I started a tradition of cool calendars (continued at Cartoon Network Studios today). They were a great place to showcase the work we were up to as the “new” HB, and gave me the ability to indulge whatever images our creative staff was into at a particular moment in time.

I’ve started scanning and posting the ones printed during my tenure. Hope you like them too.

–Fred

Hello everyone! Been awhile since the last “My Step” post, and a couple people have been asking when the next step will be available. Well today’s that day!

So after I have the writing down the way I want it, I go into my rough storyboard phase. I draw sketches on little 2”x 3” sticky notes that you can get anywhere. The reason I do this stage is so that I can just put on paper what I imagine each part of the story to look like. I use Sticky notes because then I could easily mix and match different board frames, or remove and redo frames without having to erase the storyboard box. I think it’s very helpful and because you’re not as committed to each drawing, it’s easier to change little things without redoing an entire storyboard page.

After I look over my rough storyboards, I go into more detailed storyboards. The purpose of the second board is to get in more detail about how everything is going to look. The boards that i’ve decided are in the right order are put into regular storyboard paper. You will notice I only put 2 squares on each of my storyboard pages instead of 3. The reason?…No reason. I shouldn’t of wasted so much paper actually.

So now that I have my second pass at my boards, I turn it into an animatic. This will help me with the timing of my short, as well as to give me an idea of how long my short will be. It’s also helpful because if I don’t feel certain scenes flow very well in the story, I won’t animate it. It’s good to do this animatic and cut the animatics before animating. You could do the animating and then cut the film, but then you put in waisted time on animation you could of spent animating on scenes that will actually be in the film. Time is the biggest thing I needed to keep in mind when I created this film. I think strong deadlines really helped me get this film done.

You can watch the entire episode of A&A as the 1st animatic ( 2nd rough storyboards ) here!!! ( 44.2 MB quicktime. Please right-click and download to computer )

So after I make sure things look good to me, I cut the scenes. Remember, each time there is a camera change in the short, that’s a new scene. I divided each of my scenes into different FLA’s because I didn’t want flash slowing down. If I had every scene in my film in one fla, it would take hours to open, save and even function at all normally. Each scene as an FLA is a good thing to do! So I created many fla’s and over 100 to be exact.

After that I went into my “Animation-Animatic Rough”. This rough will be exactly what the animation will look like. I drew out all the keyframe positions will be. If you don’t know flash talk, keyframes in this case would be each position. For example, Ace’s hand being up then the next keyframe Ace’s hand would be down. I also timed it so that when I’m animating I already know how long actions should take. Again, this is a great step especially when you’re working in flash because knowing what each frames action is leading to, is smart. It’s not like you have no clue what the next action will be. I think working without blocking passes ( timed poses ) is not a smart way to work in flash.

You can watch the entire episode of A&A as the 2nd animatic ( Animation-Animatic Rough ) here!!! ( 25.9 MB quicktime. Please right-click and download to computer )

I actually created each of the Animation-Animatic Rough’s inside each scenes FLA. Then after I got it timed the way I’d like, I removed the first animatic layer. I will now be animating on top of the Animation-Animatic Rough. Animation…next step! Stay tooned!

My Step 1: Characters and idea.
My Step 2: Writing.

More soon… Stay tooned!
Best,
SL

PS. If these posts of mine are helpful, please tell me below. I don’t know if I’m just blogging stuff no one wants to hear…

In episode 95, we spread a little darkness in August. That’s right kiddies, we dig further, scratch more than the surface, and stick the knife in a little deeper.
And then we twist it.
We’re like that at Channel Frederator sometimes…

—Respire, Mon Ami, submitted by Chris Nabholz
I had imaginary friends when I was little. I used to play 4 Square with them. Don’t ask…
However, I’ve never had a decapitated head for a friend. YET, at least.
Chris Nabholz gives us a very well done short which walks a thin line between Quaint and Disturbing.

—The Flying Purple People Eater, submitted by Mary J. Hoffman
Mary J. Hoffman presents us with a creepy, crawly modernized cautionary kid tale where she teaches us to NEVER use a Green Crayon… UNLESS it’s for vengeance.

—The Well, submitted by James C. Rider II
James C. Rider’s The Well is an eerie, spooky short. It’s also animated in sand. Makes me wonder what sorts of demented sandcastles he and his team would whip up after a day at the beach.

Spread the Fred Fear,
-Jeaux Janovsky
Do you like Your Cartoons RAW? Check out Channel Frederator Raw Today!
http://raw.channelfrederator.com/

In honor of Back To School Week, here’s a school bus that I did for my friends over at Mud Coffee. As a kid, this time of year always filled me with dread. Then as a young adult it was kinda of a guilty pleasure not having to worry about school. Now, as a dad with a daughter going into the fifth grade, it’s back to dread.

via Animated News

Variety reports that Promenade Pictures has set the release date of its first project, a CG-animated version of The Ten Commandments, on October 26th. Promenade added that Commandments will be the first of a 12-part Epic Stories of the Bible series. The Ten Commandments, which has an $11 million budget, is directed by Bill Boyce and John Stronach from a screenplay by Ed Naha and features the voice talents of Ben Kingsley as the narrator, Elliott Gould as God, Christian Slater as Moses and Alfred Molina as Ramses.

You can visit the official site by clicking here.
-Floyd Bishop