Animation and Video Life

O ne of the biggest lies in skateboarding is saying you'll give a trick attempt 'one more try.' Inevitably it never is just 'one more try' and thus the Halloween skateboarders curse was born... this spooky story tells why you should never skateboard on Halloween! Obviously this animated short was created for Halloween, based on an original script by me, and once again featuring the characters, props, and backgrounds from many Reallusion Developers in the Reallusion Marketplace. Watch the full animated short below, then read on to see how it all came together. 'One More Try...' A Spooky Halloween Skateboard Curse | Animated Ghost Story for Skateboarders Behind the Animation Inspiration and Characters Halloween (October 31st) was the starting point. I initially bought Garry Pye's new Wibble Skateboarder to test a kickflip. Then I saw DexArt's Goop Mummy , which reminded me I already owned his Josh and Tara Skateboarders. I switched immediately to ...

I've been in something of a creative funk in terms of creating GoAnimations of late. I had quite a few unfinished projects in my account holding me back from starting anything new. Wanting to finish things that I had started but lost a lot of enthusiasm for was really getting to me because I don't like to quit on ideas once they've started to take shape. Finally I decided that enough was enough and it was time to cut these ideas loose. However looking through them, I thought there were some ideas that had potential and it would be a shame to just delete them. I also noticed I still had my partially finished and unused third Bat Storm trailer. Since I did spend some time working on these ideas I thought it might be interesting to show them off in a kind of 'deleted scenes' style animation. To that end I've put together 'Unused and Unfinished'. A collection of scenes from all my unfinished works that I've decided to discontinue. Unused and Unfi...

Harry Chalk 3 - Matt Fights Back continues on from Harry Chalk 2 - Bill's Revenge . Bill's supernatural powers have enabled him to free himself from the confines of the black board world. Now he's continuing his pursuit of Matt who broke every stick in Bill's body in Harry Chalk 1 - Secret Agent . Harry Chalk 3 - Matt fights back by etourist Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com . It's free and fun! I was reading my previous post on Harry Chalk 2 and was reminded that the whole reason I started this series was to do a really cool stick figure fight - which I've yet to do in the series. Ahem... well, I guess I failed miserably with this episode on that goal. However I hope I still delivered with a cool story. Previously I've voiced every character myself in this series but with Sally White having so many lines my really poor female voice (that you can hear in Harry Chalk 2) just wasn't up to the task. Thankfully GoAnimator,  Rocque , answer...

At the beginning of December 2010 I was inspired by another discussion to issue a challenge to any GoAnimator that wished to participate. The challenge was called ' You Can't Do That on GoAnimate ' which I posted in GoAnimate's Forum. Several newer members had been complaining that they found GoAnimate limiting because many character actions that people would like just weren't available. For me part of the fun of GoAnimate is working out how to overcome those limitations and make the characters do things beyond what their pre-animated actions allow. Hence I issued the challenge in two parts as follows: Part 1: [ for everyone ] Suggest an action scene or sequence that you think isn't possible to achieve on GoAnimate in the studio. Suggest as many things as you want. e.g. a fight sequence using only comedy world characters. (short sequences/scenes only please) Part 2: [ for super awesome animators ] see a suggestion that you think you can animate? Go ahead...

In Undead and Unemployed Mr Tom Mortis applies for a job hoping to achieve his dream of being employed. This animation was inspired by a comment made by Matheiu Leader, A.K.A Cartoon King , in response to a forum topic that I think I may have started on GoAnimate's forum. I'm unable to find the post or the quote but Matt posted to a topic about Zombies and used the term 'Undead and Unemployed'. I responded by saying that would make a great title for an animation, which inspired Matt to write a script. He asked me if I'd be interested in animating it. I said yes and that's how this collaboration came about. Undead and Unemployed by Cartoon King and TET by etourist Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com . It's free and fun! Here's Matt's comment from the animations page on GoAnimate talking about where he got his inspiration from: The idea for Undead and Unemployed. It came from a short story idea that I was going to write: It was abou...

Demon Biker is technically my second GoAnimate Flash character after Kung Fu Cat since I started work on him before I started work on Hoot . However with Demon Biker being much more complex, Hoot was released first. Designed by GoAnimator, Charles Zippel , I offered to turn his bitmap, GoAnimate prop 'stop motion' style character into a a true Flash animated character because I saw it as a natural progression from Kung Fu Cat. Charles' character was slightly more detailed but not by too much. There was also the challenge of creating and animating the characters motorbike as well. Charles' original animation demonstrating his character is embeded below. Biker Demon (New Character) (new tag) by CharlesZippel Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com . It's free and fun! Just like Kung Fu Cat I used Koolmoves to create my Flash animated version of Demon Biker. Although the character took longer than Kung Fu Cat I did find him easier going as I had learned ...

Ben 10, Alien Force fans have been able to create their own Ben 10 cartoons via Cartoon Network Asia's GoAnimate powered Toon Creator for some time now. (Note that if you're a fan of the cartoon Chowder you can also make Chowder cartoons too). I'm not a particular fan of Ben 10 Alien Force. In fact the show used to annoy me as I always seemed to catch the end of it when I was regularly watching Batman, The Brave and the Bold on Saturday mornings. However I do like the way the characters are drawn in that more mature, some-what Anime influenced, style. I had heard that Toon Creator was only accessable to people in Asia so, being in Australia, I wasn't sure if I could even open a free account in order to use the site. Thankfully I could. I'm not sure if it's still limited to certain geographic regions? The best way to find out is to simply try and sign up. If you've used GoAnimate's Studio (or even DomoAnimate's Studio) then you'll be right at...

It appears you can't keep a good (or even a bad) rabbit down. Not even death has stopped the return of GoAnimate's favorite complaints desk monitor, Happy Bunny. This time around the rise and rise of GoA member, Coady , is one of the main themes. Coady is so nice and so popular that other members just can't help but devote entire forum topics to We Love Coady !! Coady recently passed me on GoAnimate for most views of all time so this video is therapy whilst I try to recover (LOL). Of course the Complaints Department wouldn't be the same without Street Fighter's, Ken, complaining about having to pay real money for Bison. I've extended that theme with a special guest appearance by me complaining about all the money and go-points I had to spend just to make the video. Then there's the usual random references to things on the GoAnimate site like the regular complaints about no Sonic the Hedge Hog or Mario themes and more. Oh, and if you've never heard of T-...

Ever since I made Domo Cooking (Internally) I've wanted to try another cooking episode because the first wasn't really what I had in mind. The story just kind of followed a path of it's own. I was also unhappy that Domo wasn't in a proper kitchen. Finally I've completed Domo Cooking Again (see animation embeded below), which I started quite some time ago and kind of got side tracked. This time Domo has a full kitchen and is aided by his capable assistant, Tashanna. Domo Cooking Again by etourist Like it? Create your own at DomoNation.com . It's free and fun! Once again the storyline kind of went off on a tangent that wasn't there when I started. However these things happen once you start feeling the pinch of the limitation of movement the pre-made Domo Animate characters have. I was originally hoping I'd be able to have Domo do some actual cooking this time around but I still haven't come up with a satisfactory way of getting him to pick up and pu...

GoAnimate launched its Spooktacular Halloween Contest this week and although I missed the first deadline I've just managed to get this in before the October 25th (2009) deadline for tallying up total views during the contest period. So, if you happen to be reading this and it's October 25 or before please watch the animation below ASAP so I can get the view recorded in my tally. Deer Hunter's Creek by etourist Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com . It's free and fun! The ten animations with the most views will go on to be judged for the major prizes (which are only exciting to GoAnimate members - so don't think I'll be inviting you as a guest on my prize of an ocean cruise or anything). Anyhow all the animations are themed around Halloween and in particular Ghost stories. If you've already watched my animation you'll know it features GoAnimate's Full Energy Cast of characters as well as a couple of cameo appearances from characters in their Cl...

The more I create Domo Animations the more I'm learning that fart humor has universal appeal... I'll get onto that later. The Domo Animate site is quite a challenge simply because you cannot upload any custom props, sounds, backgrounds... well anything at all really. So when I came up with the concept for Hungry Bear Goes Fishing I knew I was really going to have to get creative. Hungry Bear Goes Fishing by etourist Like it? Create your own at DomoNation.com . It's free and fun! There's nothing within the Domo props section to simulate splashing water so that white wash you see in the animation is actually a group of clouds. Also if you're wondering about the sound effects then, again, I've chosen what I felt were the most appropriate sounds from what was available. Hungry bear goes fishing is probably my favorite of my Domo animations to date. Shortly after creating Hungry Bear Goes Fishing I noticed that the Domo Theme includes a rocket ship and a take off p...

I haven't heard of Domo before but apparently this cute little monster (he's the one with the big, red gaping mouth and sharp teeth) is big in Japan. My research reveals he started out as station mascot for a popular Japanese TV network and has kind of spring boarded into other things from there including ads for the shopping variety store, Target. Domo has his own web site called Domonation where you can learn more about him and his friends , Mr Usaji (Grey Rabbit), Maya and her son Mario (the two bats), Tassanna (yellow 17 year old female weasel) and others. The Domonation site has partnered with GoAnimate to create a section where you can create your own animations, using the GoAnimate Application, called Domo Animate . It's completely separate from GoAnimate's main site but works exactly the same (except that you can't upload your own custom props, backgrounds or sounds). I was recently invited by GoAnimate staff to join the site and contribute to some already ...

In a previous post I mentioned that GoAnimate's AKON character would make a great stand in for Will Smith in any Will Smith movie parody. The AKON animated character is dressed in a black pinstripe suit so the obvious movie parody has to be Men In Black (MIB). With all the conspiracy theories (alleged) linked to George W. Bush and his administration one would imagine there's a lot of classified information that the new President, Barack Obama, needs to know - hence his appearance here. This is the start of yet another series and simply sets the scene for the story ahead. MIB - staring Barack and AKON Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com . It's free and fun!

Popular GoAnimate animator, Cartoon King , invited people to continue his original story of the War of Kings . See his animation below. War Of Kings Trailer - by Cartoon King Like it? It's free and fun! Create your own at GoAnimate.com Cartoon King has his own unique style that is more about getting his ideas down quickly and less about creating really polished and professional looking cartoons. It works great for him and I'm sure it means he's always working on something fresh. However I'm kind of the opposite of that so, when I took up the challenge I thought Cartoon King's original story line could use some editing to make things a little easier to follow. To my mind the original tells the story in reverse so in my version I switched things around into a more sequential chain of events. The New King of Cartoons - by TET Like it? It's free and fun! Create your own at GoAnimate.com Cartoon King had his 'King' character in a kind of 'alternate re...

Batman is a guilty pleasure for me. He's a character I love (but not in an icky kind of way). Which is why Batman is a recurring theme in many of my animations. A Batty Halloween Accident is a good example. The scene is set with Frankie and his bride going out to celebrate Halloween with a night on the town. Unfortunately their driver is distracted by Frankie's beautiful bride and before you know it they've accidentally run over Batman... A Batty Halloween Accident Like it? It's free and fun! Create your own at GoAnimate.com Obviously this animation was created during the 2008, USA Presidential elections. The idea of John McCain as Batman just seemed funny to me since on some of his platforms they were trying to bill him as a hero. At the same time anyone who wasn't a Republican supporter was concerned about the idea of Sarah Palin being one step removed from running the USA. Most didn't think she had the brains or the credibility to even stand in for John in ...

Have you ever watched a movie on DVD with the directors commentary? If that's the kind of thing you enjoy then Making General Hospital is for you. There's no sound except for my narration describing how the animation was created. The narration idea came about because, as I explain in the animation, I was having a lot of problems with GoAnimate's Audio time line in their studio editor. Two days later I was still having problems so I just threw my hands up in the air, recorded the voice track and left it at that. As a result you get some nice insights into how I develop my animations, proving once and for all that I don't use story boards. I really do make things up as I go along. The actual storyline of Making General Hospital features some nice ideas that I wished I could have developed further. In particular combining GoAnimate's Monster theme backgrounds and characters with its Doctors and Hospital backgrounds and characters. There's a lot of untapped comedy ...