:: screams from space ::

:: draw what you feel ::

2009-06-14T03:16:00.002-04:00

chart THIS sucka!

Transform and...key out? from smo on Vimeo.

ok i probably will.

tired of computers. 6B and paper. just some keys gonna think it out some.

i have a bunch of stuff to post but have been waiting till i have time to get my new site up. consider this a teaser. all my animation from here on in will cause you pain to watch. eff pathos. we're going for agony!

ok maybe just this one.

:: smomotion ::

2009-05-20T22:41:00.003-04:00

so i decided i'm going to bite the bullet and buy real webspace and make a new website/portfolio/blog/thing

eventually it'll be at smomotion.com not sure what it's going to look like or be. but i'll let you know when it happens! whoop!

:: claim to shame ::

2009-05-18T16:06:00.003-04:00

i think it's time for me to reclaim this blog. thus far i've tried to keep my posts mostly animation related but as i've been drifting away from animation [drifting back no worries] and endeavoring myself in other areas; this might be a solid place to rant and rave about whatever...since, as you know, that's my forte.

i called this blog screams from space because i didn't really expect anyone to read it and of course; "in space, no one can hear you..."...get it?

So for the sake of anyone who might actually read this i'm going to try and keep up with my labels. anything related to travel, meanderings, whatever non animation related will have the label "smomotion" attached to it. kapice? or if that's retarded and you don't want your blog reader cluttered with my brain leaks let me know and i'll keep this one strictly business, and move that junk somewhere else!

speak now or forever hold your cheese!

:: it's my birthday and i'll try if i want to ::

2009-03-22T16:37:00.003-04:00

OK!

I'm not getting any younger, but I'm getting more pissed off that I'm so effing lazy and wasting too much time doing trivial BS.

so on this blog I've pledged a lot of "i'll get this done in such and such" sort of things and haven't done jack. Or I've attempted overly ambitious learning things like "the megabrain" that fell apart.

I have a new idea. But this time I'm going to need help getting it together.

It's a little looser and not as totally stringent as far as education goes and it works in a few steps.

This was the goal of "The Megabrain" but i never made it far enough, and I kept it a secret. Now I don't freaking care so I'm putting it out there.

Thanks to a lot of animation gurus out there we have tons of animation resources. one of my favorite blogs out there is Kevin Langley's Model Sheet Blog. This is an insane resource of magical goodness! And a while back Kevin was awesome enough to send me some extra Avery model sheets.

Here's what I think we should do if we want to learn [because I'm totally burnt out with doing clunky flash animation and not learning anything about how things should ideally be done...i've spent more time lately figuring out how to repair a gramophone than trying to find work...]

I'm going to look into a meeting space for this to happen. And we can come up with a schedule that won't screw with work and real life outside of cartoons too much.

Step 1) Get people together who are sick of this $#&% we are doing all day for work and want to get better at real animation. [I've got quite a library of people from all the other times i've said this, so i'll get on getting in touch!]

Step 2) Find model sheets [preferably more than one] of an awesome well constructed, preferably avery character or 2, using resources like kevin's site: Model Sheet Blog

Step 3) Learn those damn model sheets without injecting your "personal style" into them. Compare notes and get super aggro crit from your peers. but super posi reinforcement too!

Step 4) Animate a walk or 8 with that character you now know how to draw "on model". crit again you slob* [* talking in the third person here]!

Step 5) Settle on a general setting, bookend story and framing/field with the crew. [the actual animation of the bookend can come later/last]

Step 6) Come up with ideas for blackout gags. Scribble and loosely board. Compare notes with your totally brutal cohorts. Make sure there's no crossover, make them funnier. Just make sure that they're staged similarly and that they are in the setting allowed by the bookend.

Step 7) Settle on a general tempo for all the blackout gags. That's right i went there TEMPO. If you change tempo within your chunk then change it back by the end. I'll go though this when we get there.

Step 8) Layout ya jerk!

Step 9) CHART THAT $#!% OUT! I don't care if it's 2009, use charts and stop whining* [again third person]. "but i can just go into flash and set keys why do i need an exposure sheet?" first of all...are you really going to make your director go into every flash file and set keys? are you that lonely? you need his personal touch? Put it on an X-sheet, you've got the tempo, so you know it will sync with the music track if one is added. use that as a guide for your major actions, feel free to deviate but listen to a metronome and see how it flows. impacts that fall off the musical beat will be more surprising than those that fall on. it'll help create a subconscious flow. once it's charted, you can get someone to help you inbetween, or at least have a handy reference guide in case flash explodes [or preferably the paper you're working on spontaneously combusts]

Step 10) 9 and 10 go together, but key it up!

Step 11) now that you've actually planned you can get inbetween help...you know what...go do that! buddy system! let's trade amongst ourselves and inbetween other people's scenes. don't leave more than 3 drawings for the inbetweener. Karma is a bitch.

Step 12) Let's put these suckers together!

Step 13) Let's figure out a way to bookend our retarded gags. Setup ASAP then gag it up! Then resolve in the most absurd way possible. Iris out.

Step 14) Apply the same things we've learned in making our blackout gags in a larger scale. The setup will probably have more character and more going on, let's work together to board it, time it out, key it, inbetween it, etc.

Step 15) We know our animation will fit with the tempo we picked, none of that matching up to a waveform bs, let's make music [we can actually have this happen simultaneously if we board to our timing and STICK TO IT which is one of the points of this exercise.]

Step 16) Clean it up if we gotta! I suck at cleanup which probably means we should!

Step 17) watch our film because we just made one and it's totally hilarious!

There it is, my...apparently 17 step plan to make a short film about nothing in particular with my friends. it's an exercise that's meant to keep each other going, have fun, make something that's animated well and actually funny. This is mostly a rant because I'm mad about getting older, but I want to do this. I think we can, possibly on paper, God forbid.

I think every few months I make an angry post, hopefully they get less general as time goes on. This one is pretty specific.

I just want to make a Blackout gag cartoon. If you don't know what that is. get out of my house.

:: snow time ::

2009-03-11T21:05:00.007-04:00

so recently the latest project i was working on at flickerlab wrapped and now i'm kind of floating around on the homefront. i've been working through some favors i need to make good on [show ya soon!] and just trying to brush up and work on being motivated in general...

SO! inspired by the amazing blog: Uncle John's Crazytown i decided i should drop some coin and but Jerry Beck's Van Beuren research DVD collection...and let me tell you i have NOT been disappointed!

for anyone interested: http://www.cartoonresearch.com/garagesale.html

in any event i just got done watching a cartoon from 1930 entitled "Snow Time." Lots of iceskating hijinks. but one scene stuck out to me in particular...

there's a hotdog vendor at this ice rink. i guess they've got those at hockey games and the like now...but it still seems like an odd plce for hotdogs for some reason...there's an earlier van beuren with an ice skating rink with farmer al falfa buying hot dogs that don't want to be eaten...this particular scene strikes a similar chord; this poor dog has skated himself starving and he just wants to eat some hotdogs! he pays good money and what does he get? and unruly all beef frank that rips out his teeth and totally absconds with them! that a jerk!

so the solution? OBVIOUS! the vendor wants to sell the dogs, the patron wants to eat but can't chew...MEATGRINDER!!!

ohh and it's one of the most amazing cycles i've ever seen. so of course it needed to be put in animated gif form.

:: go go popitos ::

2009-01-12T02:49:00.003-05:00

i got asked to do a show flyer for some bands in Barcelona. I've been working out this image of a dinosaur punk kid in school daydreaming about the show. i've got the toughest bit done...but they'd wanted it for monday. i'm thinking i'm going to have to call it a night soon though and hopefully i can give it to them monday night.

anyway here's what i've got so far:

it came out looking a bit like a teenage savage dragon, but salright i spose.

my capacity to do work for free is dwindling. i had a really hard time scheduling this in and ended up only getting the character done and handing it off to them to turn into a real poster. i don't know if they even used it in the end.

it takes so long for me to get a drawing done these days. kinda lame. i've been pretty scattered but i'm going to try to focus more energy on drawing.

i always feel like i have some "free freelance" or favor hanging over my head. working on cleaning house so i can do my own things again and not feel guilty.

:: diamond shark ::

2009-01-05T23:52:00.003-05:00

oh hey! i DID do something recently! the weekend before newyears i helped dan forgione out with a commercial! i did the character design!

i think this is the first time i've designed characters that someone else has animated. pretty neat! he did a great job too!

:: faux-st ::

2009-01-05T09:00:00.003-05:00

so the only drawing i've done lately has been some boards and freelance over the break for work and freelance, but there's more pictures up of girls in spain wearing my t shirt so i figured i'd post THOSE! haha!

i'll be doing a show flyer soon for a few bands...in barcelona. that's right, i get asked to do more illustration work by people in other countries than in nyc. go figure.

new stuff coming soon! fully moved back in to brooklyn/greenpoint and getting back in the swing of things.

also i have a new phone number [which means i need to draw a new trading card!] so if you need it please email: tomsmo@gmail.com

:: in spain my name has umulats ::

2008-12-07T18:48:00.009-05:00

BUY STUFF I MADE! http://bunnysux.bigcartel.com/

my friend deedee just posted pictures of the finished shirts i designed for her barcelona based project "Factory". They made bags with my design too! here's more pictures of pretty girls wearing something i drew!

they made a bag of it too! i'm glad they like the design!

if you'd like to scope out the rest of the shirts and bags [there's other colors and designs by other people as well] check out:

http://bunnysux.bigcartel.com/

this is the first time anything i've made has been worth anything in euros!

:: tags ::

2008-11-18T11:25:00.002-05:00

rehashed some old images for a t-shirt tag. not sure which works...probably the skull? also! is it confusing that i use threeprong and rockitpack? should i go with one? which do you prefer?

:: the office ::

2008-11-14T18:25:00.003-05:00

moderately unflattering office caricatures!

will the intern!

and zee!!! he did the coloring! he's a madman with the photoshop!

:: foodswings ::

2008-11-10T18:06:00.005-05:00

i finished something!!!

free milkshakes for meeeee!!!!

that bush caricature tripped me up and it took me a long time to get it done [that and it was basically spec with no deadline *cough*]...and in the end i didn't make the background as fancy as i wanted to, but i thought i should get it to freedom so he could start these new menus before foodswings changes ownership, yipes!

go there and buy things!

:: mustache ::

2008-11-07T16:48:00.004-05:00

i have a mustache!

:: bush meal deals ::

2008-11-06T20:29:00.002-05:00

:: nothing can kill the grimace ::

2008-10-25T07:35:00.008-04:00

The Grimace is an inherently evil being that feeds off the milkshakes of the innocent...

menu for foodswings in the works!

scale adjustment:

the grimace was recently seen accidentally shooting the hamburgler in the face while hunting friguys in mcdonaldland.

[been working on this for about 12 hours from concepts to this point. not sure if i like the layout, i might simplify it a lot the background was a quicky but i think i could make it work. just want to get this done now!]

:: i hear he's big in spain ::

2008-10-14T00:11:00.005-04:00

i got asked to do some shirt designs for a friend who runs a clothing company in spain. this one's for a band [who i haven't gotten to hear yet]. she was going for an early 90's monstery skate aesthetic but i think i ended up more UPA than anyhing...

here's my first attempt! i might change it still though!

not sure if the "rays" of text should be the outline color or the same color as the other blocks.

:: countach ::

2008-09-29T13:11:00.006-04:00

yet another project that i'll announce and possibly never complete! a music video for the title track from the new cassettes album due out next month!

countach!!! give it a listen!

here's some sketches i did working out one of the antagonists in the video. A CORPORATE REPTILIAN!

[corporate reptilian neocons take cabs!]

you might want to read up on your David Icke...whee hee hee!

:: anarchomation ::

2008-09-14T11:29:00.007-04:00

now that i got that out of my system...

you guys might remember "the megabrain"? the little online animation studygroup i tried to get going last year? well it was too much for me to keep going when pale force kicked in again and kind of dissipated, but i'd reallly like to get something like that going again.

except this time, it's personal!

i propose a regular [frequency to be determined] animator meetup in NYC where we essentially run our own class/studygroup. have regular "lessons," draw from cartoons, do figure, whatever we need. screw paying for college again!

i've got a lot to learn. if anyone wants to join me let me know. let's bust some heads.

:: preston blair loves the ladies ::

2008-09-13T10:00:00.002-04:00

Click here for a bigger one!

and yes preston blair, you're still the man.

trying my best to figure out a way to do this exercise from the original preston blair book in flash. the brush tool can be a mite unforgiving, but it's serving it's purpose. maybe when i get it done i can do a nice cleanup of it...even though i HATE cleanups...

here's a link to the original blair book!

ASIFA hosted 1940's Preston Blair.

Anyone know how i can add a play button to this stuff so it doesn't bog the page down so much? [i want to be able to upload the one with the reference images in it too!]

*edit* - Thanks to Al Pardo for helping me with this play button business!

:: the longest walk ::

2008-09-10T14:33:00.008-04:00

still working on this! the head might have some back and forth and the nose will move...and eyes won't be static. the tail isn't done being colored in either. i think i might just keep adding on to this and make him do different things and go into different walks too...which will hopefully not take me forever...it's the cleanup i swear!

though I'VE BEEN WATCHING PEOPLE, and the head doesn't seem to rotate during a walk, it stays relatively fixed, based on whatever they're looking at...BUT barely anyone looks straight ahead for a super long time, they look down, they look over their shoulder, they check out stuff going on around them...the rest of the body can maintain the same gate but the head tends to follow the eyes. i think the head rotation would only really happen if someone is dancing a bit like in a 30's double bounce walk, otherwise it's a little disorienting, it's like you're looking back and forth constantly.

here's another process to show how it's come along:

:: walks ::

2008-08-31T23:58:00.005-04:00

the past few days i've been animating a lot of walks. here's a headless walk for ya...

:: sexy screenprinting ::

2008-08-21T21:25:00.005-04:00

I have a box of shirts left over from comic con, and I need to sell em! And what sells t-shirts better than ladies in underpants?!

I have guy's large and extra large

girl's small and medium

20 for white with red pentagram, 25 for silver with gold pentagram

if you're interested just leave a comment with your email!

:: duck walk ::

2008-08-06T02:26:00.004-04:00

ruff stuff!

does this look like crap?! i'm experimenting with drawing part and using flash elements for parts too. nothing will be static on the cleanup, but the head will stay a symbol and the arms too...but drawing sneaky arms was getting me a little confused...

:: reel ::

2008-07-31T19:18:00.003-04:00

Slightly updated demo reel...with a deceiving 2007 slate!

awful compression:

or downloadable: http://www.threeprong.net/reel/smo_reel_073008_web.mov

:: octo-squoosh ::

2008-07-21T12:25:00.005-04:00

i got this guy done a while back, but i never showed him off!

headed to new york citaaay right now...then comic con...then LA...then tour unless i find a sweet job in one of the aforementioned places...