Animation and Video Life

GoAnimate's Product Manager, Nicolas , created a series of Isometrix custom characters and props which I wanted to try out but really didn't have anything in mind in terms of a story line. Not to be deterred I decided to start putting together a scene with the available props in the hope that something would come to mind as I worked. The result was Blink which you can watch in the player below. Blink by etourist Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com . It's free and fun! This animation is probably a classic example of an idea that just evolved as I worked to find inspiration. As mentioned I started to piece together a background using the available Isometrix props. Nicolas had designed an orange picture frame for the theme which I decided to use on the wall of my background set. Trouble was I needed something to go inside it. Trying to feature as much of the Isometrix theme as possible I decided to use some head props inside the two photo frames I'd placed each sid...

Unlike my other previous Domo Animate animations, Tashanna and the City is not a short comedy sketch. Started way back at the end of May 2009 I always intended this to tell a more complete Tashanna story but with my usual light humored approach. I had the basic idea early. Tashanna is interested in fashion and style (what female 'tween' Weasel isn't?) and longs to be glamorous like her TV idol of all things stylish, Katie Teen. One day, after watching Katie's show, Tashanna hits upon the idea to go to the city to ask Katie how she can become glamorous? The scene was set. It sounded like a great idea so I started to animate. I never thought I'd need six months to get this story completed! Tashanna and the City by etourist Like it? Create your own at DomoNation.com . It's free and fun! The title came about early and is inspired by the TV show Sex and the City which I used to watch. Had I not watched that show I would've probably come up with something diff...

It's been several months since episode 3 of my Men In Black series staring Barack Obama and AKON but finally the two MIB Agents are back and hot on the trail of wanna be Evil Genius, Rashy (the sock monkey) - or are they? If you haven't seen the previous episodes then I strongly urge you to take the time to watch them otherwise the current episode may not make a lot of sense. You can either click the links in the GoAnimate player below to view each episode on GoAnimate or, if you'd like to read my background notes, then click the following links, Episode 1 , Episode 2 and Episode 3 to take you to each animations corresponding blog post. MIB - Part 4 by etourist Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com . It's free and fun! As with previous episodes, when I started I had no idea where the story would end up. Episode 3 ended with Rashy about to set his special robot agent onto Bush and Cheney with Barack and AKON heading out to track Rashy down. I did know that I wante...

People seem to like Happy Bunny so much as GoAnimate's Complaints Desk Operator that he was the obvious choice for this years Christmas animation from yours truly. This outing I wanted to get back to a more universal humor and move away from some of the GoAnimate member centric humor of the previous episode, hence no members were parodied, sent up or poked fun of in the making of this animation. Except perhaps for myself. My goal was to try and use as much of GoAnimate's Christmas theme as possible whilst still trying to maintain the idea that this is a Complaints Desk and therefore people should be complaining. It was obvious to me that Happy Bunny would naturally be cynical about the whole Christmas Holiday season and not really appreciate any attempt to decorate his space with 'holiday cheer'. However he would also get a certain satisfaction out of undermining the Christmas spirit by spreading the cheer with 'False Hope'. This time around Street Fig...

Street Fighter's M. Bison is a mysterious boss and head of the crime syndicate and military organization Shadaloo. He is responsible for the murder of Chun Li's father and Guile's friend Charlie. Making him the ideal choice to train wanna-be evil geniuses from the GoAnimate cast of characters. Of course, having spent 400 GoBucks (US$4.00) just to obtain Bison for my latest GoAnimate Complaints Department installment, was also a factor in making sure I got my monies worth from the character. Evil Genius Training Camp by etourist Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com . It's free and fun! It was GoAnimate member Coady who planted the seed for this concept in an unrelated GoAnimate forum discussion called Great Tactics for getting fans although I suspect his comment "TET, do I feel an evil genius video coming back?" was referring to my original Evil Genius series for getting views. I remember a few years back reading a list of things an Evil Overlord sho...

Pencil is a 2D bitmap and vector based, free animation tool for MACs, Windows and Linux that I'd like to say is the perfect introduction to 2D, computer assisted animation but can't. It is a great tool. Clearly set out, easy enough to learn, versatile. In fact you can create an entire animation within Pencil, including audio tracks, and then export it all to a single movie file that you can upload anywhere. It will also export files as Flash/Shockwave movies (which is my interest in using it). However, the Windows version of Pencil is extremely buggy making it frustrating to use and sometimes down right impossible (forced software closures, lost work etc.). I suspect as a tool for creating animations, using bitmap images, Pencil is ideal. There's much less to go wrong. On top of that you could choose to edit all your frames in any bitmap editing software you choose then just import them into Pencil, add some sounds, export to a movie file and you're done. If that's...

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-...

TET's Animator Dominator Competition has ended. It was well supported but perhaps didn't get quite as many entries as I hoped. However promoting the contest was a lot of fun in the GoAnimate forum on this thread that ultimately became the inspiration for the winning entry. The forum banter that went on between various people, who are featured in the winning animation, as well as others, gives some good insight into the various characters. The same thread also inspired the story line for my official announcement animation below. So without further a do - watch the video to see who won then keep scrolling to watch the winning video. TAD Winner Announcement by etourist Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com . It's free and fun! After the view collecting portion of the competition ended it looked all set for an easy win by the front runner but a decision by entrants in the voting forum to up the voting points from 20 to 50 points per vote changed things considerably. In ...

As it turns out when I entered the last Unofficial, Official Animator Dominator Contest on GoAnimate I meant to let you know the results but didn't. Quite remiss of me considering I won and was crowned the new Animator Dominator. If you're not familiar with this competition then here's some background. Originally the competition was inspired by an animation by skits called Ryco vs Ro (two high profile GoAnimate members) where viewers could vote for who they thought would win. A debate then ensued. Ludvig II then made a joke comment that the only way to settle it was to have an 'Animate-Off' with Ryco and Ro actually competing to determine who would win. Ludvig came up with some pretty crazy and humorous rules. His original comment was as follows: The comments on the animation show that Ryco was inspired by Ludvig's rules to actually attempt an animation based upon them. From there Ro soon followed and the informal competition was on. The winner was deter...

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 Re-Animation of Khan may only be four minutes and fifty three seconds long but it took just over four months to get the script out of my head and into a completed animation. It truly was the script that was the stumbling point as this animation features only one custom prop that was specifically made for it (the GoAnimate screen shot). Everything else is 'straight off the shelf'. Before I go into to detail of what went on behind the scenes please watch the final animation below. The Re-Animation of Khan by etourist Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com . It's free and fun! The Re-Animation of Khan originally began as the third installment of my original series, How to Get Views - The Evil Genius Way . Khan was the ideal 'Evil Genius' since his back story from the nineteen sixties TV show placed his origin firmly in twenty and twenty first centuries - hence he just may of heard of GoAnimate (well, you never know... could happen!). So sure was I that this wou...

Dudeman32 is a GoAnimate member whom I felt created an interesting animated character coincidently called, Dudeman32. This beer drinking, head transplanted, war hero with the unusual looking head seemed to have a lot of potential for some serious animated action adventure. At least that's what I thought after watching Dudeman's Story below. It's a bit of an epic but you really only need to watch the first five minutes as the second half is just listening to music. Dudeman's Story by Dudeman32 Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com . It's free and fun! Dudeman32 himself (the GA member not the cartoon character) asked if I'd be interested in participating in his Dudeman32 story challenge . I said maybe but, after seeing the rules of what to include, I had an idea just snap into my head. Hence I decided to put something together. The animation had to include Barack Obama, Sara Palin, Tom (the blue body used for the Dudeman Character with Dudeman's head) wi...

Whilst GoAnimate's studio is one of the best, free online animation tools around it's not the only free tool out there. Hence I thought I'd start an occasional series looking at what other animation tools are availble, the first being Smash Mash.TV . Smash Mash.tv is a combination of a free online animation and slide show application teamed with a downloadable 'Pro' version with more features that you can trial for 30 days then opt to purchase. What makes Smash Mash interesting is that it specializes in one particular style of animation - the mash up. It allows you to take any bitmap image(i.e. photos etc.) and simply, by defining areas you want to apply movement to, make an image come alive. Each area can have up to two preset movement effects applied to it as well as one flash (or colour) effect. All the effects can be adjusted using sliders to vary how much of the effect you want to apply. You can also add text and speech balloons to your images as well as draw...

A recurring theme through my GoAnimate Complaints Department animation series was Street Fighter's Ken complaining about the need to pay 400 GoBucks in order to fight the Street Fighter Character, Bison. This complaint is actually a common one from GoAnimate members (particularly younger ones who are unable to spend real money online) who feel you shouldn't have to pay for anything on the site. Well at least not the characters they really want. I've been wanting to do a real 'fight' animation for quite a while but the Street Fighter theme has never really inspired me. There are just too many Street Fighter, fight animations on GoAnimate. It's hard to come up with something original. As Ken's complaints became more persistent through the course of the Complaints series it was clear I'd found an angle for something new in the fight genre for GoAnimate. Happy Bunny Versus Ken! It sounds silly. A cute bunny rabbit up against a martial arts extraordinaire - ...

GoAnimate's Full Energy theme is intriguing. I can conceive many ideas for it however the individual characters have such limited movement that it would take some dedication to realize what I had in mind. My animation, Full Energy Fishing , below, is a case in point. Fishing - Full Energy by etourist Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com . It's free and fun! I won't go too much into explaining the joke. You either understand the absurdity of what Dave is doing and his attempt to rationalize it by pointing out that Boss is doing something even sillier or you don't. The point of this article being that when I started this particular animation I had a much bigger and potentially funnier story in mind but didn't want to get into the technicalities of making it happen. I needed actions like Dave being able to use a fishing rod and to fire a shot gun. Two actions that you might expect these trailer park dwellers to perform but unfortunately they can't. To make t...