Why not, right?

Had to shelf Racist Vampires because it was entirely too much for me right now. The same thing happened to me this time last year with a cartoon that I never finished because I got burnt out on it, and I ended up making that kind of lazy Heroes parody out of desperation to have at least one cartoon done a couple months after the Blockhead game.

So I thought I'd whip up a sequel to Mastermind. Rather than arguing with his Minions again, I figured I'd throw in a few new characters and see what happens. Below is a patsy lieutenant of the Mastermind. He hasn't got a name, and he isn't quite as evil as the Mastermind, but he'll do. FOR NOW.

UPDATE: My site is back up - Ani-Comic and RV Preview links work again!

And still I work. I keep having these 'simple' ideas that get drawn out way longer than they were supposed to. I wanted to make a short, 2-minute segment worth a couple of laughs...but try watching/listening to that same segment over and over for a month while you work on it. It goes stale pretty quickly, and saps your motivation. And by 'your', I mean 'my'.

I took a break over the holidays, so it's not fair to say that I've been working on Racist Vampires for all of December. Getting back to it now is tough though, because I see just how much I left for myself to do. There are around 8 camera angles in the same scene, with a lot of character motion during the dialogue. That's something I'm already used to with Blockhead, who lacks real eyes and thus has no other genuine way of physically expressing himself but to wave his arms around and dance about the scene. Now I'm animating full-body characters with a full range of demeanors beyond "excited" or "crazed".

I'm halfway tempted to shelf the cartoon for a few days and work on Mastermind 2.

Oh, and if you're bored, I made a Blockhead Ani-Comic in December. It's kind of like a short comic strip with sound attached. I dunno, it was an experiment.

Anyway, below is a shot of Nat and Percy. If you wanna see the first demo shot I put together of JJ expressing himself with his arms, click here. I SAID DO IT MAGGOT

Every now and then I make a new one of these weird things. And yea, I still intend to animate this cartoon some day in the near future.

I think this is one of those "figure it out yourself" strips.

Also, the RV icon looks like a metroid. SORRY

New cartoon, Mastermind. Go get your protection point <3

I don't care that it's different than my normal approach, so long as it keeps you entertained. I had this idea while putting the finishing touches on my first Racist Vampires demo script, which I pray to God I can complete this month.

Hope you guys had a swell Ghostmas. Today begins the maximum possible number of days I have to wait until I have to make another Blockhead Halloween cartoon, so I couldn't be happier :D

Below, the Mastermind delivers his sinister victory speech to his minions.

Blockhead will be celebrating Ghostmas tomorrow...WILL YOU?!

The cartoon runs about 3 minutes long, and yet I still managed to take three weeks to animate it. I can never figure out where exactly I am losing all this time, but I desperately miss the days when I could release 3 cartoons in a month. Granted, the quality of said cartoons was despicable. NEVERTHELESS, why does quality have to be my ultimate goal? What ever happened to just trying to entertain?

I think I really need to step up my goal of simplified character anatomy to include backgrounds and motion as well. It's the only way a one-man animation super squad like myself is ever gonna get back on track with frequent cartoon releases. What do YOU do to limit yourself, or to keep things simple but effective? Anyone got any tips for the Swain?

Oh, and does anyone recognize the background in the picture?

I read Jazza's userpost yesterday about creating a Deviant Art page, and it occured to me I've been so caught up with my animations and site that I haven't stopped just to draw in a while. I offer you now my latest rendering of The Cop, from my Time Squad series.

Full size image here.

Drawing this got me thinking, though. It took me four hours, start to finish, to plan and then complete this image, but once I was finished I didn't have to immediately draw the next frame of some animation. What would happen if I forewent the careful detail of the drawing for something easily reproduced? I don't think I could ever animate Time Squad again, but maybe as one of those Flash graphic novels...

And don't forget to prepare yourself for Ghostmas. THERE IS MUCH TO BE DONE, and Blockhead will have yet another cartoon to call his own.

Man, another Halloween already? That means I'm back to work on yet another Blockhead Ghostmas episode, even though it feels like I only just finished the last one. If you've checked out The Super Flash Bros' game "Detective Grimoire", you might recognize the Coils & Co. fairground in which this episode will be set. YOU JUST MIGHT.

Anyway, thought I'd get you guys prepped with a layout panel from the number one guy's latest episode. Where has that Weevil gotten off to, anyway? I guess we'll find out, so stay tuned.

Here is an additional screenshot of a cell in progress!

MERRY GHOSTMAS!

Blockhead: "Hello, have you seen my Weevil? Also, here is a picture I drew."

P.S. I hate Vista.

I thought I'd share my submission to the Staff Style Portrait topic in the BBS. Why don't you go on over there and have a look, maybe even contribute something, for christ's sake. Stop gawking and do something with your life (this is a great time and place to start). Tomorrows-Nobody, Krinkels, Poxpower and I have all contributed. WILL YOU BE NEXT?!

Anyway, below you will see me doing what I do best: anything involving beer. Full size and full framed version can be found here. That's my nice way of telling you to go look at it.

I was thinking about drawing another one of someone else here on NG. Any suggestions? (Note - I realize how gay it is that this same image appears on my profile three times at the moment, but oh well)

Here you are, because I want to be just like Stamper when I grow up. I took his idea and re-made my Punisher too.

I also felt bad about what I left in that sketchbook: drawing while standing without a table is tougher than it looks, whine whine whine. Take that, guilt.

(Note: His head is shaped around a skull just like the one on his shirt, HAH)

Hi Guys. I love you.

Ok, so I recently said to someone that it feels to me like I want the world. I want to get paid for doing what I do now with my free time. You know, animate.

Is that fair? I feel like a jackass for even assuming it.

I could easily get paid for doing work in Flash in general, which is, well, what I do now. But what I create isn't interesting to me. It's all web design stuff. It's not my own work, or at least, it won't be MINE when I'm finished with it. I mean, I animate for you suckas. I do it because I want to entertain others, so it's not THAT selfish of me to try to steer myself in that direction, right? Or should I stop whining to myself, to others, and to poor mama and papa Swain who are sick of my bellyaching, and just GET A JOB [hippie]? But then what happens when I can only animate a new cartoon once every five months?

Ugh, I miss the freedom of my scholastic days. Kids, if you're going to college now and have even the littlest time to animate, then USE IT. No, now. Don't make me come over there.

Hold on, out of beer, brb

(lol, BEER-rb)