Needed a new news post, so why not have something about animation plans for the new year, said I.

Currently my animation and filmmaking talents are dedicated to the projects being developed by Toonwerks. Mainly the Wonders of the Universe series. We're having a lot of fun creatively developing characters, story, and a fictional universe for it. It's been good practice for understanding story structure and other techniques for making a cohesive episode.

In terms of solo works, while I have ideas and some unfinished toons, there's nothing currently planned. I'd like to try and participate in this year's Newgrounds competitions and holiday flash dumps, so I'm going to make an effort to make some shorts for those. I want to put what I learned in my film studies to good use.

-th1rt3en

Thanks to everyone who enjoyed "Legends of the Black Book (Part I)" and to those who left us some good feedback so we can improve the next part. Our next projects are in the planning phases; we don't want to jump right into things.

But my next solo project is a space (or rocket) themed movie set to a piece I found in the Audio Portal. I wanted to do a Clockday movie this year, but after "Gonna Be Friends" I couldn't come up with anything I felt like sticking to. I had an idea and started an animatic for one, but shelved it pretty quickly. You can see some of it here.

But for this new project, I'm using a lot of NASA footage (many that were featured in "For All Mankind") as inspiration and a basis. Also trying for more simplified graphics, which will be beneficial because art is my weak point. I'm aiming for this to be done by the end of next month.

Legends of the Black Book (Part I)

New animation out! It's over 8 minutes in length (excluding the credits), and has been in the works since November. This is a collaborative project between myself, Xiphon, and LegendaryFrog; each of us tackling our artistic strengths. I was the animator and director of the Flash.

This is a remake of an old toon by Xiphon, which he didn't continue after losing the original part 2 after a computer crash. We, however, will continue with a part 2 and 3 (and maybe more!).

The original "Shadows of Azeroth" (WoW based)

Was starting a clockday movie and just decided to work right through it and finish up. Music video for the song "We're Going to be Friends" by The White Stripes: Gonna Be Friends

I've started on a new Flash entitled Ecopoiesis. It's a short, space-themed animation set to some instrumental music. I finished an animatic a few weeks ago and began production on the short on Saturday. It's currently just under half done.

The flash is partially inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey (as you can tell from the astronaut's helmet below) and employs some realism--that is, no artificial gravity in space. It's a bit artsy, and it will require me to draw some scenery of a dead planet, but I'm up for the challenge. So far the art is coming out really well for my drawing skills.

I estimate that the short will be done within two weeks.

You can see more images from the project here.

Pursuit of the Falcon on Newgrounds

A flash that I've had around in one version or another for over 4 years!

Give it a watch and leave me some feedback.

My Star Wars flash is nearly finished! (Here's a preview page for it.) All that's left is getting a voicer for Leia and to animate her eight-or-so lines. The last of the character art is finally finished and everything else is pretty much animate, except for some minor tweaking.

I actually started on a version of this project over 4 years ago, but kept shelving it since I wasn't skillful enough to make it how I wanted. Don't expect some amazing four-years-of-work quality animation and art, most of that time the project was just shelved. It's still done well, just not 4-years-non-stop well. :)

Now I need to start deciding on which Star Wars scene I should animate next. I'm thinking either the battle of Hoth or the assault on Death Star II, or maybe something original.

I've also got one or two other projects that should be released soon.

-th1rt3en

My Pursuit of the Falcon flash is coming along nicely. I'd say it's about 90-95% done. I've made most of the character models (my weak point, so I thought it would take me a lot longer) and they've come out pretty well. I've filled in a lot of the character animated spots already, and about 99% of the background/ship animations are done.

I expect this project to be finished in a few weeks if all goes well. I start my new job on the 6th and that'll eat up my time.

But now that I've gained enough experience to make my own characters I'll be doing a lot more animations. That's always been one thing that's held me back, being too ambitious for my skill level, but not anymore.

So whats on my animation plate today? It's a new year, so one of my New Year's Resolutions is to animate.

Animate what exactly? Now that's the million dollar question.

I need to start making things on a regular basis. So I'm going to try to make a variety of short animations, in addition to any big ones, and release them closer together.

I took a break for a while on my Star Wars flash to work on an idea for a short series, a sci-fi western. It won't be a comedy, me and the person who wants to help out wanna try something serious...ish, for once. A draft for the whole thing has been written, and a more detailed draft should be next.

But as for my Star Wars flash, I got back to work on it today. A few more backgrounds and I can get all of the non-character animation out of the way. So far the two big exterior flight sequences have been finished, next up is the smaller animations, then the character work.

And I leave you with a picture of the Falcon heading for the "big one".

I've started up work on my old Star Wars flash! I'm animating a flash recreation of Empire's asteroid chase sequence, something I've wanted to do since I first started animating. I started this several years ago in an attempt to make a full comedy/action flash of Empire, but it had fallen through. This however is being based directly off the sequence. (In fact, I played the actual scene side-by-side with what I've animated and it matches up rather well.) I'm using Flash's inner shadowing feature to keep lighting consistent, however this forces me to use smooth-looking asteroids (less a crater or two).

In other happenings, I took a film class last semester, in which I learned enough to ruing movies for me (but I still love them!). In any case, I've been wanting to incorporate what I've learned into my Flashes. I've also been passing the information on to my buddy Xiphon, and he seems to be getting it. So hopefully that'll help the both of us out.

And here's a screenshot of Pursuit of the Falcon. I have an old Alpha in the MG Mag somewhere, in case you want to see a bit more info about it.