Skip to main content

GoAnimate Staff Pick Submissions

Ever since the closure of The GoAnimate Complaints Department due to Happy Bunny's license expiring there's been something of a gap in social satire of GoAnimate Staff and member relationships.

I honestly don't think any of GoAnimate's existing characters could replace Jim Benton's Happy Bunny on the Complaints Desk. Rather than try to do that, I thought, why not look at another area of the site that could use a little help.

There's always been areas of customer service where GoAnimate staff could use a little help - usually because they're too busy making the site even more awesome behind the scenes.

At the time Staff picks and how to get one was a big talking point on the GoAnimate Forums (Staff picks are always a talking point). The biggest issue being how to get staff to actually view your animations. Thus I created the Staff Pick Submissions Department with Sid (Vicious?).

Staff Pick Submissions by etourist on GoAnimate

Animation Software - Powered by GoAnimate.

I can't believe I released this over a month ago and I'm just writing about it in this blog now. When I published it at the beginning of February it was very topical. The whole issue of how GoAnimate staff picks were made was again a major talking point in the GoAnimate Forums.

However you may be surprised to learn that I actually began work on this in October of 2012 - like I said, discussion of staff picks are always topical.

It didn't actually take four months to make. I made a start on the animation in October with Syd's list and my initial idea of a certain, familiar, staff pick record holder bringing cake then left it as I got busy completing commissioned animations for GoBiz clients.

Every so often I'd go back and tinker with it a bit more, until finally, in January, I made a concerted effort to gather more ideas and get it finished.

Initially it wasn't going to be all about cake. That was just one of joke that I thought up for the record holder. But then I thought, what if everybody known to have multiple staff picks came with cake, until finally I arrive with cake only to miss out due to cake overload.

Then I remembered a long running joke with fellow GoAnimator, gipsy, and his love of cake so I added that in too. With so many cake jokes it seemed natural to keep the theme going for most of the remaining jokes as well.

Technical Points of Note

This animation looks quite simple but there are a few things worth noting.

Firstly it contains two new camera angles never seen in the previous Complaints Series. One an over the shoulder view from behind the desk where you see Syd lift up and read the Check List (see image 1. on the right).

The second is a view directly above the desk where you see Syd stamp 'Approved' on the list (image 2).

There is a scene where GoAnimator, Smirks, carries a couple of drinks across the screen from left to right (image 3). Notable because Comedy World characters don't have the actions to carry anything like this. I had to set the character's body up in a 'fearful' pose to get his arms in position then 'slide' him across the screen, so you can't see his legs, because, in this position, they aren't actually moving (it's a stationary pose).

Finally you may have spotted that all the characters holding cakes have a prop arm - since Comedy World characters do not have this specific pose. The arms are made entirely from props (the hand is a prop too) using squares and circles to either construct a new arm or to mask out the characters original arm.

Oh, in case you're wondering about that ambiguous box of ammunition... me too. It just seemed appropriate.

I'm not too sure if Staff Pick Submissions will end up being a series like the Complaints Department but who knows... I never intended Complaints Department to be a series either. However, in the interim of my indecision you can probably get some tips from this guy...

Visit: gipsytips - bring cake.

Comments

  1. As usual, I really enjoyed the "behind the scenes". I think they are my favourite type of blog posts, since I always get new ideas, and make me focus on things otherwise I could have given for granted (like the look over the shoulder).

    Great blog entry, and may I confirm one important - critical point - of your post? Bring cake when vistiting gipsytips.weebly.com!!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

This blog is monitored by a real human. Generic or unrelated spam comments with links to sites of dubious relativity may be DELETED.

I welcome, read, and respond to genuine comments relating to each post. If your comment isn't that save me some time by not posting it.

Popular posts from this blog

Inochi2D - Free Open Source 2D VTuber Avatar Rigging and Puppeteering Software (Part 1)

Inochi2D Creator - Free Open Source VTuber Software. If you've been looking for a way to live perform as a 2D cartoon avatar on camera, whether it be for a live stream or for pre-recorded content like educational videos, then VTuber software is a low cost (or even no cost) option worth looking into. In my previous post, How to Become a VTuber - 2D and 3D Software for Creating and Controlling Your Avatar , I took a brief look at the relatively new but completely free and open source Inochi2D  which I thought showed great potential for my own needs of creating a live performance character rig for my own TET Avatar that I use for all my promotional materials. While it is possible to live perform my character using Cartoon Animator itself, Reallusion's MotionLive2D capture system isn't great - with lip sync in particular. More importantly though, I can't exactly teach people how to use Cartoon Animator if I'm using Cartoon Animator to control my Avatar. What is Inochi2D

Wonder Unit Storyboarder - Free Storyboarding Software for People Who Can (or Can't) Draw

Wonder Unit Storyboarder.  As an independent and solo animator I'm always tempted to try and skip storyboarding my animated shorts because they're usually only single scene sketch comedy type jokes. As a result I have many unfinished projects that kind of petered out due to having no clear finishing line. Storyboarding your productions, no matter how small, gives you a step by step guide of every shot that needs to be completed (no planning shots as you animate). It also allows you to create an animatic that gives you a rough preview of the finished production. In short, you shouldn't skip storyboards as they, generally, increase the chance of the project being completed. Disclaimer - I'm Not a Fan of Storyboarder Upfront, Wonder Unit's Storyboarder  is not my preferred storyboarding software. However it's completely free, has a number of very compelling featu

Zack in Time - Support an Independent 2D Animated Series that is Creating Opportunities for New Talent

Z ack in Time is an independent, 2D animated series about a biracial 13-year-old  teen, who has trouble fitting in at his new school, until he finds a time-traveling watch developed by a secret government agency.  Created by Christian Haynes, who I featured in December of 2021 , and produced by Imhapie , the production has now launched a Kickstarter  (which runs until October 25th, 2024) to fund the development of the series pilot episode, as well as a full series, which is ready to produce. Why You Should Support Zack in Time Zack In Time is more than just another 2D animated series hoping to be successful, and is worth your consideration on two levels. Not only does the series hope to tell a fun and authentic story, showcasing unique characters but also, behind the scenes, the producers hope it continues to be a launching pad for young artists' careers.  A Relatable Story that Promotes Diversity and Representation The story of Zack in Time reflects the struggle that we all feel a

Glif (Alpha) - Make Your Own Tiny AI Powered Niche Image Generator Apps

I  first heard about Glif through a YouTube video that mentioned you could get access to Flux Pro (the latest 'game changer AI' generative image model) through the site for free. While I had a vague notion from the video of what Glif was, I wasn't expecting it to be so easy to get started with, and so good with my very first results. Glif is an easy to use, low-code platform for creating tiny AI-powered generators called Glifs. While that may not sound inspiring, what Glifs allow you to do is create a tiny app that niches down to a specific type of AI generation that the user modifies with their own inputs. The best way to really understand is with an example.  My First Glif I've recently been using VivaGo's AI platform  (free and unlimited at the time of writing) to consistently generate full body characters in a front facing T-Pose that I can rig as front facing characters in Cartoon Animator. Unfortunately it can be a bit hit or miss maintaining the T-Pose part

Krita AI Diffusion - Generative Image AI For Krita is Seriously Useful, Powerful and Free (If You Can Install it Locally)

Generative AI sequence of a woman in a business suit. From sketch to refined image using Krita AI Diffusion - by TET G enerative image AI, where you describe an image with a text prompt to an Artificial Intelligence model and it produces a new image based on your prompt, is gaining a strong hold as a tool for many artists. Krita AI Diffusion brings generative AI image tools right into your favourite free and opensource, graphics editor, Krita. Not only that, if you have a computer with decent specs (and at least 10GB of hard drive space), Krita AI Diffusion is completely free. What If I Don't Have a Powerful Computer? If you're in my situation, with a computer that was around before anyone in the mainstream had even heard of generative AI, you can still access Krita AI Diffusion for free, using a cloud based AI server, Interstice  and 300 tokens, to get you started. Once your initial tokens run out, purchase 5000 more for 10€ (approx US$11.00). Tokens never expire. I would

The Ultimate Independent Animator's App and Resource List - Animation and Video Life

Image created with Cartoon Animator 4. Being an independent animator is not like a studio animation job. There's so much more to do that is indirectly related to the actual task of animating. Over the years I've sought out many apps, tools, and services that can help me achieve that one single task, expressing myself through animation. Below is my Ultimate Independent Animator's Resource List for 2024 (last updated Oct 2024). It started out as a list of free or low cost apps that could help you in every stage of producing either 2D or 3D animation, and then just kind of grew from there. You may not have been looking for a Time Management App as much as you needed something to get you started in 3D animation but when those commissioned projects start coming in you'll have a head start on maximizing your time. All the apps and services on this list had to meet two main criteria: They had to be useful and relevant to an Indy Animator/artist. The base app/se

Using Avatar Maker with Cartoon Animator - Free Vector Cartoon Avatar Creator with Four Art Styles

I'm always on the lookout for cartoon avatar makers of any kind, whether it be ones that 'cartoonify' your photo, or ones that let you build a cartoon likeness from a library of individual features.  Free Avatar Maker  falls into the latter category and can be used for making head and shoulder cartoon avatars. While it doesn't have an extensive library of character features (you may struggle to get a good likeness), uniquely it will make your avatar in four different art styles concurrently, allowing you to save the one you like most, or even all four.  I wasn't overly impressed how my TET avatar looked in the first two styles, but style three is quite possibly the coolest looking version of my avatar I've ever seen in a third party avatar creator. It's a very contemporary style. Style four, line art, is also not too bad. Avatar Maker's User Interface. Switch between the four different art styles shown across the top at any time. I particularly like the