Don't Try This At Home

Tubes and Noodles

2011-01-31T16:07:00.005-05:00

Wanna see me make comics (and maybe animations) on a regular basis? Wanna help me pursue making a living off what I love to do without having to pay me anything?

Then step right up and visit my new comic blog Tubes and Noodles! 8D

Co-authors include Erica Riedy and Louise Fitzpatrick (Helgoth11 and Internetghostpig on deviantART), so if you hate me but love them, then there will still be something for you to enjoy!

Store

2011-01-21T18:18:00.001-05:00

I made a store. :D Also, this is my 90th post!

There's all sorts of products in it, hopefully someone will buy something someday.

http://www.zazzle.com/kevinlsaccount?rf=238209871171283669

Thinking about making a new blog with a different purpose... In the meantime, I might be messing around with this one to figure out what Blogspot's really capable of. I just found out how easy it is to put ads on the blog. I hope you don't mind, I know some people get offended by sites having ads...

Some unposted images, as part of me testing Blogspot. I guess I need to compose my blog through HTML if I want full control over how these images are posted, because they've always just gone to the top of the post instead of where I've left off.

Circa Nov 2009, a sketch of a scene in my EEnE fan movie.

A drawing of what Bro thought was happening in his Big Picture Show scene; beating up a baby and a 13-year-old girl while a crowd cheers him on.

A bunch of Boo Haw Haw-based drawings from my movie.

I'm proud of the girl characters in Hoop-a-Joop, since I tend to make boy's club cartoons (unintentionally; boy's are just easier to get voices out of, I guess, and I can put more of my own views into them), so I drew this.

Al and his 4-year-old brother Jim. I tend to draw this kind of scene with them. :]

OFF TO EXPLORE MORE BLOGSPOT POSSIBILITIES. Sorry that I didn't make 2010 more interesting here!

New HoopaJoop characters!

2010-11-24T22:36:00.001-05:00

Here's a bunch of Hoop-a-Joop peripheral characters. They're mostly from doodles throughout notebooks, and a few are designed/named after people who've hated me. :D (Nick Esposito is not anyone I know, I just liked that as a full name; I forgot the name of who I based his design on)

Some are enemies of the main cast, some are indifferent, some may even just be background characters. All of them are 11-12 year olds living in the rich part of town.

Two villains I created to give Hoop-a-Joop himself more importance, and to satisfy my love for Team Rocket-style villains. They're not exactly new ideas, because in the original version of Hoop/Deathy, he was constantly at risk of being found by two security guards from the aquarium he was stolen from. But those guys weren't actively searching for Hoop-a-Joop, whereas this new duo is.

They are currently unnamed. The girl always strikes me as a Ruby, but that seems a little cliche. I also kinda want to rethink their clothes; I liked Team Rocket's uniforms, so I think I could come up with something a little more comfortable.

There are also some teacher designs I've failed to draw on the computer.

UPDATE FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD!

2010-08-09T17:44:00.000-04:00

I've been shunning you. I've gotten and lost a job, done tons of animating, and have garnered more medical problems than you can shake a stick at, and you have no idea what's been going on.. Well, I mainly just don't post because Blogger doesn't remember my password so I have to sign in every time and I don't like that.

News: All the backgrounds are done for Bro Show episode 1, but I've been lazy thus far with making animation progress. One of my voice actors hasn't given me anything yet so I'll probably have to recast that character, but I really should've made progress with the rest of it. I'm very sorry, I guess I'm just reluctant to animate new characters. I'll get over that as soon as possible. Another reason I haven't finished it is because my computer's trying to do and I'm afraid to make progress that'll be lost.

But mostly I've been distracted by how much progress I've been making in my 2-hour EEnE tribute movie spectacular! 8D So far, I'm more than an hour into the animatic, an hour and 10 minutes into the backgrounds, and I've got 5 minutes of completed animation, as well as select little pieces here and there throughout the hour of animatic that needed to be animated right away. The parts I've actually animated look amazing, and I love many of the drawings in the animatic, and am proud to say I may manage to include every vehicle, animal and character (body part or more) that's ever appeared in the show, and even some from other Danny Antonucci/AKA-related things. Most of what I've got left to sneak in here is just strange things I've gotta figure out how to include, like Santa and Mr. Sun... I've been working on this for almost 2 years now, and am amazed that I stuck with it! I hope to see it done in the next year, possibly to tie in with the 2-year anniversary of Big Picture Show's US air date...

I've also finally figured out what the evil plot is in the town of Lancaster, in Hoop-A-Joop. BUT THAT'S A SECRET~

Here's some images in case my computer dies!

A map of Jake's town in Don't Try This At Home!

A tribute to the Eds' car chase in BPS!

Bro's walk cycle for Bro Show!

Hoopajoop art from May!

Hoopajoop art from earlier this week! THEY'RE GOIN' SWIMMIES!

This Needed a Title

2010-04-22T15:22:00.000-04:00

I finished the first episode's script and am waiting to recieve all the voices. You've probably seen the theme song at this point...

But as a special treat for the 2 people who still look at my blog, here's 3 super secret, super awesome backgrounds I've prepared for this show!

New Not Secret Project!

2010-03-23T00:21:00.000-04:00

I'm about 43 minutes into my secret EEnE movie's animatic! But I'm taking a break from that because I've gotten a HUGE commission to make a 10 minute pilot episode of my webshow idea about Eddy's brother's teen years! Right now I've got the first episode's premise fleshed out, I've started animating the theme song, and I've made a background for the new location where most of this episode is set.

I'd, uh, post screenshots of the background and stuff, but I guess the Add Image thing won't come up? Whatever, it all looks good. :P

Where You At?

2010-01-31T15:00:00.000-05:00

Sorry for not posting in forever, just haven't had much to say... I've made a lot of progress in my EEnE movie but I don't really have anything to share. I'm very lazy, I had another marvelous Erica visit for X-mas, and I'm putting off writing an essay right now. Also, I transferred to a new college (which is why I have the essay assignment).

You may be wondering why Miracle On Jake's Street isn't up. Weeeell, Skye's a very busy fellow and is still working on the music. He's been making progress, though, and I don't think I care about releasing MOJS around X-mas, though. I'll just let you guys see it when it's done. It'll lose a good amount of sentiment, but it sounds stupid to release something TWO YEARS after it was made just to keep up with the holidays. =P

Last but not least, I'm kinda considering making a Youtube animation channel with weekly animations (which I think I already considered a year ago, haha).. Cuz hopefully it'll get popular enough to get me much needed monies, since I can't expect many commissions to come in. XP

That Secret EEnE Project

2009-11-18T15:55:00.000-05:00

Soooo... YEAH, for the past year, I've been slowly putting together an EEnE Movie of my own. I'm only recently making much progress, though.

Before anyone gets too hyped up, I'm not WRITING my own movie. I'm going for the same charm as my animated music videos (particularly the mature ones) and using the ENTIRE AUDIO from a real movie. I don't know if I want to disclose what movie yet, though, because it may spoil some of the outcomes for you. Some fun things to note are that I've already worked in the junkyard van, jawbreakers, the cul-de-sac, the school, and the candy store, and I already have ways to work in every character, some extras, some new areas, the construction site, and the trailer park. I haven't yet found a role for the junkyard, but I think there may be enough room in the Jonny/Rolf/Ed subplot for them to go joyriding in the junkyard. I have 5 minutes fully animated, and another 5 minutes as an animatic with backgrounds in part one. In part 2, I've got about 3 minutes animaticized with backgrounds.

Here's a basic outline of the concept, just so you aren't confused about certain character changes when you see it (may contain BPS spoilers):

It's been 2 years since the end of the Big Picture Show. The Eds still hang out, but the kids' new openness to them has allowed Ed to branch out into more groups (he is sadly not with Edd and Eddy for most of the movie, but they do get some time together), while Edd and Eddy's drama in the movie has made them more closely knit (though their bickering may have gotten even worse). Jonny's cooled down since the whole "Gourd" thing and now hangs out with Edd and Eddy because they're the only ones who will (grudgingly) put up with him. Rolf's the same (though the character he plays in the movie is not foreign, I feel the role fits him otherwise; perhaps he's become more adjusted to the US?), Nazz is the same (but is more important to the story than usual!), Sarah's still nice in most respects, but she and Eddy just naturally can't stand each other. They've managed to tone it down to an "avoiding each other" tactic, though. Something's gone wrong with Kevin and he's back to hating the Eds, and the Kankers have kinda just mellowed out. Eddy's brother is still frightening, though he's quite possibly high and drunk at the same time so he's even less in his right mind than usual. The Eds are about to graduate from 8th grade and, among other storylines, are troubled because Edd is going to go to a different high school than [Ed and] Eddy. Also, to explain inaccuracies between the audio and this story I've set up, the kids are going through a fad where they call high school "college" and they've also watched a recent influx of high school movies and think they've gotta get laid immediately. And you can explain the different names however you like. Nicknames? Part of a fad? References to the movies they've been watching? YOU DECIDE.

THERE'SYOURINTRODUCTION.

Returning with a SEEEECREEEET

2009-10-11T01:16:00.000-04:00

Hey all! I've been kinda out for a while... I've had a few chances to update the blog, but between school pressure, being social, trying to get money, and oddly enough, ACTUALLY ANIMATING DESPITE ALL THIS, I haven't felt much like hitting pause and updating. 'Specially since there's hardly anyone reading this. :P

Well, first off, remember that EEnE fan movie I said I was making last October? I'M FINALLY BACK AT IT. =D I've decided that it was stupid of me to think I could animate the whole thing perfectly in one shot and that's what was holding me back, so now I'm doing the whole thing with just the main poses and backgrounds, so I can go back and just add in-betweens and some colors when I'm ready. I'll probably stop being secretive about this movie soon, I just feel I have more important news to share right now.

Second off, I'm taking commissions, so pleeeease ask about 'em if you can afford to!

FINALLY.... As I put the finishing touches on Miracle on Jake's Street for you guys (mostly just Skye finishing up the music, but once I get the music I'll probably see things I want to fix in the animation), Toby and I are planning to send MOJS to a TV station in Atlanta that's looking for original programming. Originally, this would just be fun to get me ad revenue and because CN's Georgia HQ is, like, the next street over so I could get some attention... But then Toby mentioned we could submit MOJS as a PILOT, and now I find my self getting excited over the prospect of getting my own little show! It would only be aired in Atlanta for the time being, but imagine it... I'm already quite a catch because I require no budget. And they'd probably force a budget on me, so I could hire other aspiring animators on deviantART! AND PAY MY ALREADY EXISTING CO-DTTAH-ERS! :D AH'M EXCITEDDD.

I like to think of a DTTAH show as a reversal of the common storyline of a loser who sees being popular as the goal at which they will find peace and rest. DTTAH is instead about Jake, who has ALREADY made his way to being the top dog in his school, and is instead striving to DESTROY all this piece now and bring some conflict back into his perfect lifeHere's the series premise I've written up for the pilot form:

"Don’t Try This At Home is the story of a little mutant boy who’s already lived the greatest adventure ever. Having saved the entire world at age 9, Jacob Nathaniel Hanson (or Jake) goes out of his way to make every day live up to excitement of that great day. Jake is joined by his best friend, Smit, who is a mutated talking frog, and Henchman, who Jake and Smit shifted to the good side during the day they saved the world. The trio is constantly and confusingly met by Madman, the man who tried to take over the world, and who they can never be entirely sure is going to be good or bad on any given day. With these four on the loose, there is bound to never be a normal day in the town of Near Midnight, Texas ever again."

Of course, nothing's official yet... but think! An episode all about Smit's fly addiction! 8D

More Thoughts on Voices and Such

2009-08-06T10:22:00.000-04:00

About a year ago, I began devising Hoop-a-Joop and was meeting Erica for the first time. And now I've had a second visit with her and I'm trying to imagine my characters with voices. TIME FLIES, HUH? :D

Back in December, Erica worked at a store that constantly played a show called 'Peep and the Big Wide World' and she told me about how an awesome duck on the show (I love ducks) sounded like Dana Snyder (voice of Master Shake, Gazpacho, etc.). ...Quack was not voiced by Dana Snyder, but it DID sound like his kind of character, and the line she described to me sounded like the kind of annoying lovableness I want from Al's best friend, James. So since then I've been trying to listen to more and more Dana Snyder but most of his characters sounded too clearly old to be a good 11-year-old voice. BUT THEN LAST WEEK, I HEARD HIM ON THE VENTURE BROS. AS THE ALCHEMIST. The Alchemist had this voice that was capable of being calm, flamboyant, high pitched, and squeaky, but all in perfect balance. And I decided that is the Dana Snyder voice I want James to have.

SO I MADE THIS: http://animated.deviantart.com/art/Al-and-James-Discuss-WoW-132277302

I took part of a clip of The Alchemist (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwLBOCm6eVM&feature=related) and part of a clip of Michael Cera as Evan in SuperBad (as you should remember, I decided Cera would be the perfect Al voice) and made it sound like they were both having a linear conversation. :D It's not the best thing I've animated, since it was made in the middle of production on a new DTTAH toon, but it's nice to see and hear my characters.

Also, I've been thinking of voices I love and been trying to find ways to get them into the series. Erica and I are thinking that H. Jon Benjamin and David Wain would both be teacher's at Al's school, and be a heavily-implied gay couple. IT'S A KID SHOW, so they can only be roommates, but you'll always know... And also, Emo Philips would be a guidance counselor/club moderator at the school. Not sure how far I want to go with Al's involvement in the newspaper club, but if it does become a big part of his life, then Emo's character would probably be his boss and quasi-role model.

DTTAH and Weeklings post!

2009-07-31T23:47:00.000-04:00

TEN MINUTES UNTIL THE END OF THE MONTH AND I MISS THIS MONTH'S UPDATE.

The original DTTAH drawings:

(circa March 2005; Madman was drawn by Kevin C.)

(circa May 2005)

JAKE IN NEW DTTAH CARTOON I'M MAKING:

First Weeklings drawing (Circa May 2005):

Recovering From Second Erica Visit

2009-06-25T01:53:00.000-04:00

It was an even better visit than last time, but there's always that period of depression after you're forced to separate. I'm doing better though. The pattern I'm noticing is that each visit from her makes me want to draw more Hoop-a-Joop stuff. The utterly incredible awesomeness that was Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show was inspiring as well!

On the second to last night of Erica's visit, we watched her favorite movie, Juno. Now I keep making comparisons between Al and Bleaker and Mel and Juno. Today, while embracing my enjoyment of Michael Cera's acting, I realized that I want him to voice Al. I don't think Al would be written entirely like a normal Cera character, but his voice just seems perfect for him. And maybe Ellen Page could be Mel. Not as sure about that, but y'know. Just throwing ideas around.

Now here's two characters I wouldn't blame you for forgetting. I love the relationship between them, but I never draw them in Flash so you hardly ever get to see them. These are Jim's best friends: 5-year-old Esteban and 1-year-old Heriberto. Erica took a LOT of interest in Heriberto on our last day together, so now I'm thinking about all the cool things I could do with these characters. Esteban's kind of a jerky older brother, but Heriberto is clueless and sees it with fun with his brother. It's kinda the same relationship as Mike and James, except in this case, Al is there to prevent the damage Esteban could cause to Jim or Heriberto. I like that there's a character Al truely doesn't like. Not hatred, I guess, but at least he's not fond of him.

SORRY SORRY SORRY

2009-05-28T17:39:00.000-04:00

I'm so sorry to have neglected you, blog-viewers. For what seems like the first time in my life, I've been going out and having fun with friends! I feel so alive and yet... so very needy now. XP After a while I'll get used to having friends and the shock of people enjoying my company and the feeling that I'm going to make them all hate me will wear off, I'm sure....

BUT, as I'm sure you know since you all watch my deviantART anyway, I've still been animating! Animating's been a real pain in the ass lately, though. My mouse is sooooo stupid. And I feel bad making fanimations now, so I'm trying not to put TOO much effort into them... I'm working on an Eddy video right now, actually! Without any color! Soon I'll be able to finish up my EEnE 10th Anniversary cartoon, but I don't know if it'll be on deviantART... It has some great animation, but I'm really nervous about how the subject matter will be responded to. It's kind of animated version of someone else's fanfic, so... it's not the kinda writing or subject I would normally do. But it is a 10-minute cartoon AND a 10th EEnEversary cartoon, and it could never hurt to have one of those...

Here's my Math animation on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y6LfCEK8bU
Here's my 'A Shocking Accident' animation on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw_mFMYPSjc

I would've liked to post some pictures, but I don't know if I've drawn anything new that you haven't seen. Still debating whether or not I should make a DTTAH cartoon, and whether or not it would be a weekly webseries or the next holiday special or what...

So Painfully Uneventful

2009-04-18T22:43:00.000-04:00

I don't do anything on vacations. I can't. I try to focus and then I just drift away into watching Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged. I went to Kevin's house and had a loooooot of fun, but unfortunately for you guys, we didn't record anything. Looks like he's colleging in Rhode Island, while I stay here in New York, soooo... we'd better record some DTTAH before it's too late. XP

Good news is... my dog's alive! Buuuuut apparently I get my Crohn's Disease from the pet side of the family, because she has colitis (sort of a lesser form of Crohn's). XP

I've been developing the secret government in Hoop-a-Joop. Shouldn't say anything, but here's one cool thing I've managed to draw on this vacation!

Let's look at some pretty pictures!

2009-04-12T17:21:00.000-04:00

So... I'm on Spring Break! It's really Easter Break for me; took me years to figure out that public school's spring break is about the same as my Catholic schools' Easter break. I don't know what to talk about, there's been a lot going on... My dog's in the hospital all weekend because they think she has a parasite. She's been diarrhea-ing and vomiting practically nonstop since Tuesday. I guess that's the most interesting personal story I have.

I had to write more than 20 pages of... writing for Creative Writing. I titled it "Hiding Behind Midgets," because of an in-joke between me, Kevin C., and a midget I hid behind in gym. This is the cover image I made:

I guess they're all heading to my brain or somethin'. Hope they were prepared for some climbing! Because it doesn't look like Smit was...

OH, so the point of me bringing up Spring Break is that this gives me a chance to go to Kevin C.'s house! Which means we can brainstorm and try to record Jake and Smit Show episodes. He probably doesn't have a recording program, but I'll help him get one. Speaking of which, I guess I'll just upload episodes of my webtoon everywhere (Revver, Blip, Youtube, maybe dA). I should finish uploading the DTTAH oldies... Sadly, DTTAH 2 refuses to export correctly so it's kinda killed my hopes for getting the rest of the oldies on there. I'll work on getting them on Youtube...

Here's some plot ideas:

Jake and Smit discuss what they would do if they were Gods.
Jake and Smit lament forgetting the Assyrian New Year and have to explain it to a guest.
Jake and Smit think it would be cool if they switched their voices (maybe redubbing an old short and reading each other's lines [but without much editing]).
Jake and Smit get a VCR and need a guest to help them set it up.
Maybe an episode of just answering fanmail. I think it may be a feature at the end of every episode, but maybe one episode will be alllllll fanmail.
Some episodes would just be Jake and Smit talking about things Kevin and I just did. TRUE STORIES ARE FUN.
Jake gets a letter from his younger cousin asking him to make a cartoon about her ideas (based on how my cousin wanted me to make a cartoon based on her drawings; she only gave me a few designs and no plot ideas, so I'll have to wing it).

Here's my cousin's ideas:

All she told me about this idea was that it was about a boy and his pig and that she wanted to voice the pig. I don't think she has a microphone, so I guess it'll just be me or sound effects. I want one of them to be named Louie.

Speaking of DTTAH, here's two of my favorite backgrounds from Miracle On Jake's Street. THAT'S ANOTHER PERSONAL STORY I WANTED TO TELL. Miracle won the 1st place animation trophy at the Long Island High School Film Festival, where it was loved by all! I'm very proud of it. Soooo, I love these two backgrounds because they've got a lot of effort and details in them. Hopefully Blogger will let you enlarge these and not be a jerk. XP

Jake's door is gone in this next background because it's animated. Also, why yes, you ARE welcome to leave Jake's house!

So what's stopping me from animating everything under the sun for you? My 10th EEnEversary special, which I'm proud to say is almost done! There's only one scene left, and that's because we need to figure out who our voices are so we know what character to write. If anyone wants to voice Nazz or Eddy or any of the characters, please let me know! This cartoon is even about the same length as a real episode of the series (approx. 10 minutes without theme and credits)!

I mentioned fanmail before, which means... I NEED HELP. FROM YOU. THE FANS. If you have any questions for Jake or Smit (or any other characters or me or... anyone in the planet?), please send an email here:

LosDosKevos@yahoo.com

Blip Blip

2009-03-20T21:13:00.000-04:00

My "B" key is sticking. It's very annoying.

So, I have about 400+ views on Revver and I've made... 19 cents. So clearly, their rates are terrible. Keep checking there if you want to, I guess things may improve, but there's a chance Blip.tv is better. So here's my Blip account: http://losdoskevos.blip.tv/#1902856

I may just end up trying to get a Youtube Partnership if I do this weekly webtoon thing. Why do I say "if"? Weeeeell, it's a secret. But if this secret pulls through, I'll be providing you entertainment in the bestest way possible! YAAAY!

Here's a new Hoop-a-Joop idea for St. Patty's Day:

Mel's super-into St. Patrick's Day and dons all her green stuff. Everyone else is normal and just wears one green accessory. I don't think the following would be the main plot, but I've got this idea in my head that the school takes the "pinch those who don't wear green on St. Patty's Day" concept to the next level, with the person wearing the most green becoming the king and/or queen (not sure if it should be a prize for only one person or if it should be like a Homecoming king and queen). This person gets to pinch whoever they want for the rest of the week, whether or not the victims wore green on St. Patrick's Day. Mel, in addition to just celebrating her heritage, is eager to have this kind of power. She'll face some kind of rival in it, and as the episode goes on, she'll keep having more and more green on her to win. By the end of the episode, Al and James-or-Amy will be in some kind of sticky situation in a green room, and Mel will get them out of there, because all her green camouflages her into the walls.

And just a few character relationship ideas, not necessarily plot ideas: James is an advanced student, so he has science and/or math with Al. Amy is in the rest of James' classes. Mel and Al are in the same gym class (there might be a running theme with them being placed on opposing teams).

Sooooo, what's coming up from me? An EEnE 10th Anniversary cartoon, maybe an animated music video to commemorate EEnE's Big Picture Show, and hopefully some weekly stuff (most likely starting with a cartoon I should make for my cousin).

Rev 'em up!

2009-03-02T19:15:00.000-05:00

I'm finally capable of making money off of my animations, and I can't do that if I hide in my shell!If it wouldn't be a bother, please check my Revver account and watch my animations: http://revver.com/u/KevinL/

Each view (I'm not sure if it counts to watch it on my userpage, please go to the actual videos' pages) and ad-click counts, so please help me out! It doesn't cost you a cent. You don't even have to watch the whole video if you don't want to, just watching a few seconds counts as a view. And please don't try refreshing it a million times or clicking ads a million times. Revver has ways to track fraudulent viewings/clickings and I'll get in trouble for it. XP

As a thanks for your viewership, I will be updating with a new cartoon every Sunday starting next month. This month, I'll most likely be uploading some old cartoons twice a week to get more attention and so new viewers get a feel for the characters. If there's a week where I'm too busy to make a new cartoon, I'll update with a commentary on one of my music videos (or both of my Flapjack videos) or an old/cancelled cartoon of mine.I think that covers it.

Once again, please help me out! I need to prove to my parents that I can make money off of my animations. Otherwise I won't be able to animate anything anymore! D: So thank you very very much for your possible patronage!

Here's the first cartoon so you can go right to viewing it: http://revver.com/video/1514210/dont-try-this-on-halloween/

Oh, and Revver's been having downtime problems lately, so don't let that scare you away. Thanks again!

And this isn't too important, I guess, but I'm submitting the first 5 minutes of Miracle on Jake's Street to a local film festival. And hopefully I'll get a new mouse soon, because this one doesn't know how to click for shi--SHOES. DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO CLICK FOR SHOES.

Girlfrien' Gonna Get Paaaaaaaaid

2009-02-20T23:41:00.000-05:00

DUUUUUUUUDE. YOU CAN GET PAID FOR UPLOADING THINGS TO REVVER!

I... am a MAN. And I need to prove to my parents that my animation is not a waste of time and can make me a living. So, I found out that Revver pays you for the views you get and for every time an ad on your page is clicked. And the best part? THEY HAVE A MUCH KINDER UNDERSTANDING OF FAIR USE THAN YOUTUBE! You can include snippits of songs and movies in your videos and NOT WORRY ABOUT REMOVAL!

Toby's helping me with the Paypal, and if you check the Links on the right, you'll see the new Los Dos Kevos site he's putting together. When I have the Revver all set up with videos (probably wait until March; they pay you each month and only if you make $20+ by the end of the month, and I think it's too late in February for me to rack up that much money, I don't know what the rates are for each view and ad-click), pleeeease do me a favor and give me a view and/or a click.

THE BIGGERER NEWS: To help call attention to my Revver, I'm thinking of making a new weekly series. I'm most interested in doing some DTTAH series, but that would be difficult since Kevin C. doesn't exactly live near me. XP Still, I'm VERY willing to try, because this would be the most fun and the most open to variety. Plus, my parents may respect me more if I start driving more. It may end up being a "whatever I feel like" weekly series, though, like Homestar Runner. The animation will most likely be like an animatic to save some time. And I think I'll have to call it quits on that secret EEnE project. Too much to work on, no gain. XP My OOOOTHER secret EEnE project will be finished and put up there, though. DTTAH Movie will most likely be cancelled as well, at least until the time comes. Like when I need to make a theatrical movie someday or want to make a DTTAH TV show and need a pilot.

My current ideas:

The Jake And Smit Show

Jake and Smit hang out in Jake's basement and discuss the "Topic of the Day." Sometimes it will have guests, sometimes it will be nothing but an improvised conversation, and sometimes it will be STORY TIME!!!

Happy Hour with Madman and the Criterion

Madman and his super computer, the Criterion (which will have an animated face), get drunk on Awesome Sauce and say embarrassing things, tell embarrassing stories, or make stuff up. Fun galore!

Mutants Against Tyranny

Jake and Smit, when bored of the talk show thing, pretend they're an elite force of secret agents and go about Near Midnight "helping" random pedestrians.

Weeklings

Thinking about revisiting this, but with their new Hoop-a-Joop related personalities, making them more like how I WISH the Eds acted. An obnoxious gang of outcasts who wedge their way into other people's business like a pack of wild but loveable dogs.

Aaaaand I think that's all for now.

Any In-betweeners Out There?

2009-02-13T21:17:00.000-05:00

This blog doesn't seem to be getting much attention lately, but this is worth a shot.... I'm not really feeling like animating EEnE lately, but I don't have a problem with drawing it. This poses a problem with the completion of my secret EEnE project. So... would anybody be willing to do the in-betweens? I'll make the backgrounds and draw the main poses and animate the harder stuff, but if somebody else could just do the in-betweens for the poses, that would be heavenly.

So, please? Look at this blog again and help a guy out?

Hoop-a-Joop Development

2009-01-31T00:08:00.000-05:00

A new promo image! Let's see if I can outline their character traits a little better....

Al's childhood was filled with traumatic experiences, and so he has never really gotten to be a child. He is permanently stuck in father mode, and seeks to protect everyone around him, but mainly his little brother Jim. He is capable of cooling down and just hanging out with his friends, but there's always a hint of him seeing it as playing with his children. Despite being the main character, Al is almost always the sidekick. He dutifully follows James' schemes, and his desire to help everyone is constantly being taken advantage of. Al is on good terms with Mel, but he doesn't really know her as much more than Amy's friend. Although Hoop-a-Joop wants to help Al, Al's reluctant nature towards passing his duties onto others causes him to find Hoop to be a burden. Al sees Sonny as a co-worker, and as one of his few ties to sanity. Basketball's hatred for everyone annoys Al, and he fears that Basketball will hurt Jim. Al is the second to notice something wrong with the missing parents, after Jacqueline.

Amy often acts as a "wife" for Al, but not in a romantic sense. She admires Al as a father figure, and tries to get his attention the same way a child would try to get their parents' attention, and as such she commonly copies Al's parental nature. She loves Jim to bits, but is otherwise very quiet. She'll spend her free time watching nostalgic movies and playing with her fluffy cat, Basketball. Mel is her best friend, and counterbalances Amy's shyness. She has an underlying crush on James, but is not really aware of it yet. She can't go near Sonny, because he smells Basketball on her. Hoop-a-Joop makes her nervous, but she generally likes him.

Mel is Amy's best friend. She is stubborn, lazy, rude, and numerous other negative things. Inside, she's struggling to figure out who she is and what she wants. She likes to speak out for her quiet friend, and likes Basketball, despite (or even BECAUSE OF) Basketball's territorialism. Mel is impressed with Al's strong will, but mostly takes advantage of him. She doesn't go to Al's house a lot, since they're more school friends than neighborhood friends, so she doesn't have a real opinion of Jim or Sonny, but she thinks having an "octopus butler" is hardcore and encourages Al to take advantage of the opportunity. Mel has a low tolerance for James. While not outright hating him, they're the kind of friends who never have anything nice to say about each other and interrupt each other with insults, which the insultee laughs off. She is particularly infuriated by his shorts and creepy legs.

James is Al's best friend. He's what you get when you mix Quack (from the fun-edu-tastic kids' show 'Peep and The Big Wide World') with a self-conscious friend. James is very self-centered and always has some sort of plot cooked up, but he doesn't let this distract him from how he treats Al. No matter what, he will never leave his friend in the dust, even if he alone could have a victory. This may be because of the subconcious knowledge that he is younger than Al. James and Al have been friends since the previous year, when they had an argument in the lunch line about whose demon animals could defeat the others', which somehow twisted into them becoming friends. They had met previously, but had not had any reason to become friends. Al and James, lacking any matching rings, have formed a different way of showing their friendship pride, in that Al always wears sweatpants and James always wears shorts, no matter the temperature. James' main purpose to the story, aside from his thirst for acceptance or perhaps stemming from this thirst, is his crush on Amy, which only Al knows about (though Jim is eventually told). James can't explain exactly what it is about her, but she's who he wants. James has a 19-year-old brother, meaning they have nearly the same age difference as Al and Jim. In contrast, James' relationship with his brother, Mike, is a lot rougher, and James tends to treat Jim in a manner more like this traditional brother relationship. James likes Mel more than she likes him, but still plays along in their insult games. James thinks Hoop-a-Joop is cool and he's the neighbor who is most willing to pay attention to Hoop. James hates Basketball for being another obstacle in his route to Amy's heart, and James has little relationship with Sonny.

Jim has taken after his brother and loves every animal. He does not understand that meat comes from animals, so his love of hotdogs stays strong. Jim's best friends are Esteban, Heriberto, and Tommy. Actually, Hoop-a-Joop is probably Jim's best friend. Jim admires Esteban for being older and having "big kid" adventures. Jim tries to be like Al with Heriberto, but the two are too close in age for this to do much. Heriberto would be Jim's best friend if Heriberto could speak. Tommy is Jim's hotdog supplier. Jim treats Tommy like a psychiatrist and trusts him to give him advice that he would be too ashamed to ask from Al. Jim kind of feels the same way towards everyone. Admiration, respect, love, and childish qualities like laughing at James for having a crush and throwing temper tantrums when Amy gives him kisses. It is Jim's mission in life to pet Basketball. Jim's full first name has been changed to Jiminy, to match with Alluicious and Jiminy's parents' weird naming ideas and to help differentiate him from James.

Sonny is just as worn out by the craziness of the world as Al is. Sonny feels replaced by Hoop-a-Joop, and spends a lot of his time just laying around, glaring. He does normal dog things; laying where you don't expect to find him, eating your crumbs, and wishing to kill Basketball. Al is Sonny's favorite, and tries to keep Hoop-a-Joop from stealing him. Sometimes he feels the need to take Hoop under his wing, however, being the pet with seniority in the house. Sonny doesn't care for James, but doesn't prevent James from petting him, and the same goes for Amy. Sonny doesn't know Mel.

Basketball hates everyone except Amy. While Amy gets the same benefit from Basketball that Al gets from Sonny, Basketball does not view Amy as an equel. Basketball feels that the house, and Amy, are his property, and it's not for anyone else to go near.

Hoop-a-Joop loves Jim and Al for saving him from the abusive aquarium. He is endlessly devoted to them, but do to previously stated reasons, the only service he manages to give is that of a playmate for Jim and as the house's protection. Hoop really wants to please everyone, but octopuses aren't generally well recieved amongst humans. He doesn't understand that he can't leave the house or he'll be reported and taken back to the aquarium. He only truly hates this Jerk Squid who would torture him at the aquarium, as well as the squid's two sidekick jellyfish.

First Blog Post of the Year Without an All-Caps Title

2009-01-29T21:47:00.001-05:00

Be on the look out for this drawing o' mine in the Flapjack Valentine's Day special! I put a lot of work into it, so I hope it makes it in. There's a high quality version on deviantART, but it's a little different. Punsie's hair is longer and I have a dumb looking signature on it.

And... uh... really haven't felt motivated to animate Hoop-a-Joop walk cycles. That sucks. XP I'll try to make a bunch of Hoop-a-Joop drawings this weekend, though! Just can't think of fun walk cycles.... Partially because I think of how there are cool looking run cycles that everyone should be able to do.

Edit:

Alright, just whipped this up so I wouldn't hate myself during my last midterm tomorrow (well, it should be, but a snow day Wednesday has screwed up my schedule). The previous promo image kinda shoved the Weeklings characters into the background, so here's a little more focus on them. I should save a file with the Hoop-a-Joop logo in it....

FINALLY A BREAK

2009-01-26T15:41:00.000-05:00

Now that Miracle is over (and Skye's working hard on the music, it sounds awesome so far) and my school projects are done, it's midterm week and I finally have some free time! I think I may use this time to try and animate some characteristic run cycles for Hoop-a-Joop. I'm having trouble fighting the idea of Al running like Edd. XP

So Erica's had me developing Mel and some new ideas have sprung up since then. The basic idea is that Al and Mel barely know each other. Al and Amy's friendship will serve as the kick in the pants for all those times we've been forcefed the idea that a boy and a girl can't be friends without "falling in love." Mel is more Amy's friend and only interacts with Al on rare occassions. Over time they would probably fall in love, but within the timeline of the series, they are too young to feel that way about each other.

I intend to do an episode where Al's fatherly love for everyone causes people to start spreading rumors that he and Mel are an item. I've decided not to give away every single detail, but it would culminate in Al being pushed into Mel and him setting everyone straight on the rumor.

I want to do a few journals detailing characters' relationships with other characters. I'm having lots of ideas.

IT'S A MIRACLE

2009-01-10T20:27:00.000-05:00

Miracle on Jake's Street is finally done! Now it just needs music and then it'll be on dA and thennn... it shall be the first DTTAH cartoon on Youtube! HUZZAH! I'd give you a musicless preview of it, but sadly, Putfile's a jerk these days.

Now I'm animating a 3-minute PSA for my Christian Reality class starring Heffer Wolfe from Rocko's Modern Life.

Scanlings Unleashed

2008-12-29T14:32:00.000-05:00

I'm about halfway through Miracle on Jake's Street. I'm going to try and churn it out by tomorrow night so that Skye can compose music for it before the end of X-mas break, because this is a really dramatic special with a lot of room for music. With both X-mas, exposition (often boring to animate) AND school out of the way, I should be able to finish this much faster.

Here's the rest of the scanlings Erica sent me, including the sketch of last year's DTTAH X-mas drawing! Unfortunately, she didn't scan my design for Jake's neighbor, so I'm gonna have to come up with that from scratch. He's fat and fat guys are always so annoying to animate. AAAGGHHH, I'M GOIN' BACK IN. *jumps into Flash*

It's Christmas!

2008-12-25T21:42:00.000-05:00

Haven't posted in a while because I'm working diligently on 'Miracle on Jake's Street'. IT'LL BE 13-MINUTES LONG, WOOO! Can't say much more, I can feel my vacation slowly rushing away from me. I need to get this done, personal things, and a bunch of school projects....

Here's a screenshot: