This looks really great. Pencil is an open source, 2D animation program, allowing users to create hand drawn animation in either bitmap or vector format. While it’s not a replacement for Flash, it does allow you to manage your animated frames with a timeline and some simple tools.

Have a look at their gallery section to see what’s possible.

-Floyd Bishop

Many Thanks goes out to Fred for posting up the SXSW Poster I was lucky enough to design. It was a very fun project, and I’m very thankful it was so well received with that “hipster” crowd.
I’d like to point you all to the SXSW Tumblr page that was specifically designed for the Event, which also includes a few of my Early Conceptual, Punk Rock, Post It Note, Poster Designs.
That was a mouthful.
Enjoy!
-Jeaux Janovsky

Everyone who keeps up Channel Frederator knows how hip Jeaux Janovsky is, and the sharper eyed among you know how great an artist he is (just check out the cool CFA illos he’s been doing for the blog or his Drinking & Drawing poster). Jeaux’s not one to brag so it’s down to me that we haven’t posted this great poster he did for and Chan. Fred’s parent Next New Networks’ party (with our friends at Tumblr) at South by Southwest in March. His inspired modern take on the classic Filmore Auditorium psychedelic posters from the 60s quickly became the most collectible item at the SXSW conference.

–Fred

For a full resolution file to print yourself click here or on the poster above.

My name suggestion of Wubbzy and the Pippettes didn’t fly.

– Eric

Name: Ultra

Age: 24

Place of Birth: unknown

Current Residence: St. Louis, MO (when not on tour)

Leader of: The LazerHearts

Dating: Her backup dancer Bogo (it’s complicated)

Powers and Skills: Besides having an 8-octave vocal range and a sexxxy figure, Ultra was born with freakish electrical powers. She can willingly emit lazers, lightning, sparks, and zappbombs from her body. Unfortunately this also happens unwillingly, which causes embarrassing and deadly results.

Best Selling Single: “Shocking You All The Way” (3 weeks in the top 10)

Kinda: Arrogant

Loves: Rock music, partying, her girlfriends, Tuna, and riding a pegasus.

Hates: Fruit Bats

This is my latest show idea (along with a revamped Tiffany) that I just know will make me as rich as Eric Homan! I’ve got a few weeks off from Ni Hao Kailan and hope I can finish all the art so I can hit the beaches and pitch, pitch, pitch!Good luck to all you other pitchers out there!

Welcome stranger!
I reckon you just stumbled into the Channel Frederator Awards Nominee and Category Corral.

This here’s the rootin, tootinest spot to view them little critters runnin around and brandin em with yer vote!
We’re gonna be a bloggin it up with a blogpost a day fer each Category!!! Yee-HAW!

Our second Category is Best CGI Film.

A Great Big Robot From Outer Space Ate My Homework Submitted by Mark Shirra
If the dog didn’t do it, who did? Bertie is late with his homework … again!
He better have a good excuse, because Miss Spleen, his embittered teacher from the depths of Hades, is waiting impatiently in the shadows.

Cocotte Minute submitted by Sylvain Marc at Gobelins.
In a restaurant kitchen, a chicken dreams of escape and freedom while trying to survive a poultry race organized by the team of cooks.

Kiwi Submitted by Dony Permedi
Dony Permedi shows us that no matter how out of reach your dreams may seem, that there is nothing stopping you from achieving them. In this case, a small kiwi longs to fly.
Very inspirational film.

Don’t forget to go to our voting page and vote as fast as you can say giddy-up!
-Jeaux Janovsky

Welcome stranger!
I reckon you just stumbled into the Channel Frederator Awards Nominee and Category Corral.

This here’s the rootin, tootinest spot to view them little critters runnin around and brandin em with yer vote!
We’re gonna be a bloggin it up with a blogpost a day fer each Category!!! Yee-HAW!

Our second Category is Best CGI Film.

A Great Big Robot From Outer Space Ate My Homework Submitted by Mark Shirra
If the dog didn’t do it, who did? Bertie is late with his homework … again!
He better have a good excuse, because Miss Spleen, his embittered teacher from the depths of Hades, is waiting impatiently in the shadows.

Cocotte Minute submitted by Sylvain Marc at Gobelins.
In a restaurant kitchen, a chicken dreams of escape and freedom while trying to survive a poultry race organized by the team of cooks.

Kiwi Submitted by Dony Permedi
Dony Permedi shows us that no matter how out of reach your dreams may seem, that there is nothing stopping you from achieving them. In this case, a small kiwi longs to fly.
Very inspirational film.

Don’t forget to go to our voting page and vote as fast as you can say giddy-up!
-Jeaux Janovsky

I know I yammer a lot about opening your figures. It’s just something I’m pretty adament about. I mean, it’s toys after all! BUT, action figure packaging has become quite cool over the past years. They’ve gone from being just standard rectangular cards or boxes to being oblong, specialized shapes, etc.

The Star Wars figure packaging is pretty cool looking. The cut out of the shape definitely feels like it fits with the style of the movies. Plus, now they put twistie-ties and rubber bands on everything to hold them in place and make it harder for shoplifters to swipe them. So, it is kind of an effort to get the figures out of their packaging. But…..

See how much happier our little medical droid is here - all out of that confining plastic. He looks much happier now than the Padme figure. Even in her crazy dominatrix outfit, she looks quite depressed to be locked in her plastic tomb, unable to reach her clear plastic accessory - a cup? a flashlight? Uh, not too sure!

And now, 2-1B’s free to make use of all his joints! Articulation is amazing in toys nowadays. The old figures had about 5 points of articulation, figures today seem to have about 9-10 at least! (and they’re usually full range joints!)

Now, I know people use the argument that the figures are “worth” more if they’re in the package. Well, that certainly is true in the case of the original Star Wars figures. Man, if you had them mint in package today, you’d be sitting on a small fortune. But I think the days of saving figures for a huge investment are kind of gone. Not many people thought too much about saving their figures back then, so they’re fairly rare to find them now in good shape, etc. So, there’s a greater numbr of people collecting toys today and storing them away - hoping to one day cash in on them. But if so many people have them available, then their price really isn’t going to go up that much. But there are plenty of exclusive figures out there - those have a limited production run, so if you get some of those and keep them mint in box, then you stand to make a good price on them down the road.

Ultimately, it depends on why you are collecting these crazy hunks of plastic. Is it in the hopes of making money, or is it just for pure enjoyment? I know there are people that hope to make a buck on them so they buy multiples of them - one to open, others to save! If you’ve got the space and money to do it then have at it! As for me, I still collect them for the burst of childlike adrenaline I get from still enjoying them. Transformers are my favorites and half of their appeal is the fact that they transform! To leave them in package would pretty much ruin half their appeal! But, just like everything in life, we get free-choice - so keep them in package or open them. But they sure are a heck of a lot more fun out of the package!

Now, if you will excuse me, I’ve got a random short alien Jedi to get out of his package!

-Matt

via Creative Juices

Bob Flynn posted this exercise on his blog, and I thought is was worth a post here.

Here is what Bob had to say:

I have a fun game for everyone to play that could also be educational. If you click on the above image, you’ll find silhouettes of 34 different cartoon characters. Even at the small size all of them should be recognizable (which in itself is an amazing feat—for the characters, and your BRAIN!). I’ve talked a little about character design on this blog. I wanted to test the theory that a memorable character, one that is entirely unique and original, will have some semblance of strong design. Which boils down to having contrasting shapes and forms, which in turn should reduce to a distinctive silhouette. This isn’t perfectly scientific, because pop culture presence, humor, voice, and writing all play a role in constructing the perfect character. But I’m speaking purely visually.

I’m going to guess that you’ll be able to identify most of them (if not all of them—depending on your familiarity with the characters). You should notice right off the bat which one’s pop out the most to you. Some are recognizable, but have much more complicated shapes. Notice the variety! Especially in the somewhat limited cartoon genre.

Notice the pairs of characters I’ve included. If you’re designing a duo—design them together. See how the negative space around the pose is crucial to making them look active and dynamic—how each character fits into the other.

Here’s the take away. When you’re designing a character, pay attention to the form…think about positive and negative space, and how it would translate to a silhouette. The language of cartooning lends itself to this so well, which is why so many characters become icons. It might be fun to do a quick line-up of some of our FableVision characters, to see how they stand up to the silhouette test.

I think this is a very cool exercise!

-Floyd Bishop