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!

Update 05/18/2014: If you still were paying attention to this and hoping for more, I don't think you should expect any updates. I have never really been very good at comics and am focusing my sights on animation nowadays. Sorry if there's any disappointment in that.

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

This Needed a Title

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

I finished the first episode's script and am waiting to receive 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 some background concepts I've prepared for this show!

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):

Edit 05/18/2014: The Weeklings characters are referred to as the Wolfpack nowadays!

MY COPY OF THE MOVIE IS GONE FOREVER :D

2008-08-16T21:31:00.000-04:00

Wow, my luck SUCKED this week. The day after I posted that suspense/hope-building post, my computer DIED. Don't worry, though. DTTAH movie, DTTAH script, and other important stuff are safely tucked away elsewhere on the Internet or on my friends' computers. While I'm stuck here using my mom's crappy laptop (craptop?), I hoped to at least scan stuff, since I'm not allowed to animate on this, and this computer DOES connect to my scanner. BUT I CAN'T FIND THE PLUG, SO THERE GOES THAT PLAN.

Here's a drawing Erica and I did together during our four days of bliss:

I drew (from top to bottom) the Pen/Phynn on the right, the Flapjack on the right, the short-sleeved Vin, the bottom half of that OOPSIES Thurop (below his arms), the unfinished Philip J. Fry, the Mung on the left (started off as a Shnitzel, just to explain why his neck's so straight), Douger, and Thurop On The Phone.

SO I HEARD YOU LIKE SCREENSHOTS

2008-02-19T21:36:00.000-05:00

I've been animating more of DTTAH. HOORAY!

Jake's Mom:

Sal:

Bus scene:

Rock Monster Been Very Very Good to Me

2008-01-27T21:05:00.000-05:00

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/75773822/

To sum it all up, Rock Monster exploded with popularity and was linked to on the creator's blog, all in less than an hour. GO TEAM!

BUT ENOUGH FUN. I need to get back to work on DTTAH. NEED TO GET IT DONE. And yeah, I'll probably make that demo reel.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T23:08:00.000-05:00

Don't think Santa'd forget y'all in Near Midnight, Texas! I would've liked to have more for you 5 people who check the blog, like the map I drew of Near Midnight (it's hand-drawn, though, so I'm working on drawing it on the computer, and hopefully making it fairly interactive in Flash as well), but let's see what I have for you... Ah, my official reference backgrounds! I wish I had more of them done, but my work schedule fills up fast.

I refuse to ever have a "real" Santa in DTTAH. It just isn't realistic and I don't like that.

A DTTAH Life

2007-11-24T01:39:00.000-05:00

For my own reference and yours, here's a basic understanding of what order the DTTAH toons took place in, in the characters' lives.
In-series Chronological Order:
Gatorade Ad - this takes place before the others; just a normal day [though I think this should be considered non-canon, this was before the "Smit can't leave the house unless thought to be in-costume rule" was invented]
Don't Try This On Halloween - takes place 3 months before the main event, Don't Try This at Home; note that the basketball court from Gatorade Ad is scene in the opening shot
Don't Try This At Home - The climax; Jake and Smit save the world, Henchman moves in with them, Madman is arrested, and the award money is mostly used on getting a new house in a better neighborhood. The whole world now knows and accepts Smit, so Smit no longer has to be in hiding. Also, Jake basically becomes the supreme overlord of his classmates.
A DTTAH Cartoon About Easter - Madman, being on the lam, has resorted to genetically altering animals to produce food for him. Henchman is basically a maid for Jake and Smit, trying to prove his role as a good guy. Jake is eager for a new adventure. Madman gains $1000 dollars through selling his chicken-bunny creature, and the money is used to fund the robotic Mothman in DTTAH 2.
Don't Try This At Home 2: Mothman - 4 months after DTTAH, Madman is back in his house, creating evil schemes from his basement, trying to get more and more money to regain control; Jake and Smit, having accomplished saving the world and living in their new house, are bored and now search for ways to have more adventures and get even more money, to benefit only themselves.
It's The Great Puritan, Jake and Smit - Jake and Smit's new house's exterior makes its first appearance. Jake's attention span has caused him to care less about scaring his classmates, though he still gets overly aggressive on them when he feels they need to remember who saved them. Jake and Smit are admired but feared, with the classmates easily switching between the two emotions. It should also be noted that Henchman is back, he just didn't appear.
Miracle on Jake's Street (not yet made) - Madman is now truly nice (though it's probably not permanent) and Jake's becoming something of a conspirator. Nothing else continuity-changing really comes up.

It's the Great Puritan, Jake and Smit

2007-11-22T15:08:00.000-05:00

http://animated.deviantart.com/art/It-s-The-Great-Puritan-J-n-S-70405154
The Puritan's been released from its cage!

Merry Puritanmas, everyone!

So Why Are You Dressed as a Leprechaun?

2007-11-17T00:37:00.000-05:00

Welp, the non-musical part of the Puritanmas special has been completed! I wanted to post a preview here, but that didn't work out. But... you should watch this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aEgCcaWnP4

YAY, ITALIAN RAP SONG!

EDIT: Also, have some concept art for the musical part! Ironically, Puritans weren't allowed to dance.
EDIT 05/18/2014: AND I never made the musical part, lol. Skye wrote it and everything, awww.

Puritanmas Isn't Cancelled This Year

2007-11-12T21:15:00.000-05:00

I'm nearly done animating the end of the non-musical part of the cartoon, and Skye is busy producing the music for the musical portion. I believe that this will be the most awesome cartoon ever made on the subject of Thanksgiving. Because of the few there are to choose from, this is probably the only one that doesn't involve stopping people from eating a turkey. The only setback there could possibly be would be not having the musical portion done on time, in which case I'll release it on Christmas so I don't have to feel bad not having a lot of Christmas art up this year.

I thought you may want something to wet your whistle.... So here's a screenshot from the beginning of the climax!

Jake's School

2007-10-03T22:45:00.000-04:00

Jake goes to a Catholic school. Because I want to spread the truth about what it's like in one. Not that I'm gonna expose or critique anything, just want to show it in a more casual light out of interest. NO, NUNS ARE NOT THE TEACHERS AND NO, THEY DON'T RUN AROUND WHAPPING PEOPLE WITH RULERS. It'd be more detailed, but this is just a quick background I made for the beginning of the Puritanmas cartoon.

Jake Avatar

2007-09-23T22:34:00.000-04:00

I finished animating this Jake run cycle for the movie today, and I decided to make it an avatar in case anyone wants to accessorize with DTTAH on the webz. And because I wanted people to see it since it goes by pretty quick in the actual movie. As for updates on what's to come, tomorrow during study hall I'll start designing Jake's classmates' Puritan costumes and I'll request that Kevin come over on Saturday. ONCE THAT IS DONE, THE PURITANMAS SPECIAL SHALL BEGIN PRODUCTION!

OMG! BOYS IN DTTA--Oh wait

2007-09-22T21:48:00.000-04:00

I couldn't fit it in the picture but here's a list of the students:

Top row, left to right: Mike, Brendan, Hank, Sal, and Greg.

Middle row, left to right: John, Chris, Tim, Jake, and Vin.

Bottom row, left to right: Sam, Francis, Rastis, and Kevin.

Teacher: Coach (unintentionally similar to Madman and Henchman, he's never referred to by a name more creative than his role in the show).

As for cartoon updates, next week I'll most likely be inviting Kevin C. over so we can record Puritanmas and possibly some of the movie.

Anesthesia Really Takes It Outta Ya....

2007-09-05T23:25:00.000-04:00

The endoscopy went fine, though I was quite loopy afterwards. But today, I had a colonoscopy. So yesterday, until 2 PM, all I was allowed to eat was broth, Jell-O, and Gatorade. At 4, I had to take this terrible tasting liquid-medicine to, uh... clean me out. I threw it back up twice and it burned my tongue. So today I was woken up to find out my colonoscopy appointment had been moved up! YIPPEE SKIPPY. D: In the waiting room, I watched The Price is Right (for the first time, because I watch almost nothing but cartoons) on their TV. The guy next to me looked like some old guy trying to be gangsta. He kept twitching and cursing and he was covered in tattoos. Oddly enough, it was actually the calm guy next to him who was getting worked on. Anyway, they had me put on a hospital gown and they put the IV (Ivy?) in my arm. They explained some stuff, asked me to turn on my side, put the anesthesia in the IV and the world became blurry.

SO YEAH, I have an inflamed large intestine! So now I'll be taking 9 pills a day to treat it. AWESOME.

Wish I had a better on topic update than this, but here's the first shot of Jake's kitchen drawn by me (just an example for Lars to improve on):

Girls in DTTAH? WTF?

2007-08-31T01:25:00.000-04:00

Girls DO exist in the DTTAHverse! I designed these girls from Jake's class back in January, or even before then, but never drew them in Flash until yesterday. I also designed the teacher on the spot yesterday, so she's bound to be redesigned. Not so creative with these, maybe someday I'll get back to designing more interesting female characters.

Concept Art part 3

2007-08-24T23:58:00.000-04:00

I think this is it for DTTAH concept art.

Here we have a basic floor plan for Madman's lab. The computer's name is The Criterion

Jake and Madman fight in the lab. Madman has gone.. mad, Jake's hair is steaming because of prolonged exposure to electricity and... WOO.

Dramatic scene in which Madman refuses to accept defeat like a normal cartoon villain. This was done before the color guides. Almost a year ago, actually. I want to put this on a shirt.

Drew this while thinking about how to pull off Madman's origin. He's watching the freshly mutated Jake from the court building's roof.

Another shirt design. I got the idea from this video Kevin C. made with his little cousins and one of them got angry because they had apparently been denied their turn at being a ninja.

I'll let you guess this one by yourself. You don't need me to feed you everything.

Rapper designs for a Smit Raps music video that was recorded but not animated. I solely blame the Batty Rap from 'Fern Gully', sorry.

The Hanson family.

Concept Art part 2

2007-08-23T22:27:00.000-04:00

Here we have Jake watching Henchman's origin. Clearly, this part of the movie will make it the feel good film of the year

tablet test drawing that did not go well

This is the first attempt at a tablet drawing with Jake.

These are from, like, a year ago now. You can tell from the even more obvious lack of proportions, Jake's thinning hair in the bottom right picture, and me having not yet decided to stick with the retractable arms as a result of mutation. Also, I believe this was when I first decided on Jake's last name. The expressions are cute, though!

This is me messing around with Jake's vanishing point neck. His body and background have already been sucked in. OH NOES.

I drew this while listening to The Eels' "Fresh Feeling" after downloading some Scrubs Soundtrack songs

More vanishing point neck shenanigans. It's a black hole!

Jake's life-long dream is to have a saxaphone duet with Bill Clinton.

Concept Art part 1

2007-08-22T19:38:00.000-04:00

Zoidberg in DTTAH style, as I'll probably sneak him in amongst the mutants.

Jake, Smit and Henchman run from Madman's barrage of attacks. Mostly a lighting test.

Experimental DTTAH poster. Another lighting test, and a stolen picture of an explosion.

Concept art for a possible DTTAH musical short, bridging the gap between DTTAH and DTTAH 2.

The DTTAH logo which will probably be used sparingly.

DTTAH-style version of Jinx, who'll probably also make a cameo amongst mutants. http://nosleepjinx.deviantart.com/

Background Tiem!

2007-08-21T13:05:00.000-04:00

DTTAH movie is starting to look more and more like a professional movie! We no longer have to worry about my lackluster backgrounds demoting the glory of the vastly improved animation! Y'know why? Sugarpolyp (Lars) from dA is now on board the project and will be painting backgrounds for me!

Color Guides

2007-08-20T15:44:00.000-04:00

Sorry about missing a day, there was a load of stuff to do yesterday. BUT HERE WE HAVE IT! The color guides for the other three main characters! ..Which I made in the last 3 days

Some of these colors schemes might not get used (for example, I don't think Madman or Henchman will ever be in close enough contact with the big gene splicer for their colors to be affected), but it's nice to have them just in case.

Screenshots and Opening Sequence

2007-08-18T16:10:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow I think I'll show the color guides.

The wall-pictures include: Younger Smit holding baby, Jake, Mr. and Mrs. Hanson... looking at each other, Jake the previous year, Rachel a few years ago, Rachel now, and Smit smiling.

Not a lot is animated, so I should probably stop for a while before I give out every frame. BY THE WAY, THAT LAST ONE HAS A FAKE 3D BACKGROUND.

And here's the opening sequence: http://media.putfile.com/Dont-Try-This-At-Home-Opening-Sequence

Good News, Poor People!

2007-08-17T21:00:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, whilst fearing that I'd painstakingly animate this movie and only 3 people would buy the DVD, I came across an amazing revelation!

This guy made his own Indie movie and, in addition to having a DVD available, posted the whole thing on Youtube. This is a good idea why, you ask? The person advertised the website Spout.com, whom he had made a deal with, so that every person who joined through him (and the joining is free) would earn him one dollar! The people gain a movie and a Spout account, and he gets a dollar for each person!

And now for why it's not stupid to put the movie on Youtube AND release the DVD. The DVD is planned to have a lot of special features and hopefully the other DTTAH toons as well (except for the music video, due to copyrights), so it has some other stuff you may want to see, and the movie in better quality. But if you're like me and reluctant to buy things over the Internet, I can still get paid through Spout. EVERYBODY WINS. Also, if that doesn't work out, I believe I've found a better way to make DVDs than I was originally planning, so I might be able to make it a multi-disc set.

So, basically, do me a favor and not join Spout.com until the movie is done and I have some kind of deal with them, plz? XP

STYLE

2007-08-16T16:52:00.000-04:00

I'll try to limit my blog posts to one a day, so forgive me for these first few days being rehash from the forum. This is just in case anyone comes into this late and hasn't heard of the forum.

Onto the topic:

Originally I wanted to do all shadows, but I've recently come to the conclusion that... that's too hard for me to animate with. There'll still be lots of shading and lighting in the backgrounds and stuff, but... YEAH, slight downgrade.

Example of the original shading concept:

Current Example:

To further clarify, there will still be color schemes (the "Current Example" screenshot uses the "Jake-Dark" color scheme), just not actual intricate shading unless the moment really calls for it.