I've been jamming with some dudes for many months recently. We just hooked up with a drummer and decided to make it official. We've resurrected the old name (since we've still got half the original members anyhow) and we've got our inaugural reformation show coming up on the 17th! If you live in the Metro-Detroit area and want to come see "the Beebo guy" kicking ass on stage with his posse, shoot me a message and I'll get you details. I uploaded some of our old recordings to the audio portal a while back if you want to check them out, but obviously with a host of new material and half the line-up changing, including our drummer and lead guitar, our sound is a lot different these days, I think for the better.

In Beebo news, part 11 is still coming along nicely. I have all of Harry's dialogue recorded and most of the characters and assets are all created.

Here's the update you've all been waiting so patiently for. Beebo part 11 is in the works! I know it's absurdly overdue. You know how it goes. Life, laziness and the pursuit of alcohol. I'm not going to give an estimated release date because I have a bad track record of, yknow, ignoring those dates entirely. But if you find yourself getting antsy hit me up with a PM and I'll shoot you a rough percentage of where we're at in terms of completion. I'd say 15% at the moment.

I also received this bad-ass piece of fan art from Don Hardcastle. You can find the high res version here, as well as all his other awesome stuff.

http://bigbabyretard.deviantart.com/#/
d2sxuxl

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I'm working with a small team of animators on a cereal commercial spoof. Below you'll find a copy of the storyboard. Since the resolution's probably gonna go to shit when I upload it I'll describe it in short.

A child is tucked into bed by his mother. Shortly after a teddy bear-like cereal mascot bursts through the window terrifying the kid as he goes rambling about how he needs his fix of wholesome marshmallows yada yada yada part of a complete breakfast. Finally the bear gets chased off into the distance by a shotgun wielding father.

What I could really use is some typical cereal commercial type music. If you think you might already have some or could whip something together soon let me know. If you don't know what cereal commercial type music is then check Youtube for some contemporary Lucky Charms commercials. Something on that order with some cheery layered instrumentation. No lyrics but vocals could be fun if it's "la la la"ing or something non-verbal.

I'd like to upload the finished piece here depending on how it renders out (there will be some After Effects and Maya stuff going on as well as Flash animation) but if it doesn't work as a .swf I'll definitely be throwing it on Youtube and you will be rewarded with whatever linkage and credits you desire.

The project will be complete in three or four weeks so time is a factor but there's still plenty of it.

I'm looking for decent quality work, no half-assed stuff plz.

I'm excited! Like a little high school girl in her prom dress! Oh lord that sounds inexcusably gay but the mental image makes me laugh so I'm leaving it. What? Oh, right. I'M LEARNIN' THE MAYA!

I've been avoiding the 3D skills on account of most 3D software looking like the cockpit of a fucking commercial aircraft but seeing as how I'm supposedly making a career out of the 3D animation someday I thought it might be a good idea to, yknow, use it. So I am! And I feel stupid again! So help!

Any links to sites with good tutorials and tips and such? Any helpful tidbits or words of wisdom? Does anyone on Newgrounds actually do this stuff?

I'm planning on checking out a buttload of Gnomon DVDs, and that's basically "the plan" in it's entirety. So far so good but yeah, just thought I'd see if anyone here had some input.

Oh yeah, and what's a Zbrush? Fuck you I know it's a program but what's it for specifically, like, does it replace other programs or just something to use in concert with? Any other software I should consider?

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I go to the store, I look at the games. They all look like flaming piles of shit. What's a good multi-player game for get-togethers and such? My friends and I typically play Worms Armageddon, Street Fighter II Turbo HD and Puzzle Fighter off of X Box Live. Mainly interested in good head-to-head style games preferably that don't require a split-screen. I've been thinking about Dragon Age Origins for myself, mainly because of all the hype that it's a throw back to Baldur's Gate, but mostly want something that's not exclusively single-player. 99% of the time I hate first-person shooters. I have a little expendable cash from the holidays. I own a Wii, a PSP and a 360. Sell me something amazing.

And am I the only person that still wants to play top down isometric RPGs? Fallout 3 was fun but nowhere near as interesting as the originals. I'm not interested in linear assed JRPGs either with the little command screen during battles that have been done a billion times so don't bother suggesting any. I haven't played a game in the last 10 years that I honestly felt a little lost in or that I couldn't beat, unless it means setting it to some absurd difficulty level, so I rarely bother playing or keeping up with games anymore. I just groan at the walls of unoriginal hackneyed garbage.

I feel a tangent coming on so I'll leave it there.

So I thought I'd be a helpful nice guy and offer up advice and answer questions to anyone curious about going to an art school. I'm currently an animation major, and I received a PHAT ASS schola-sheeip just for my PHAT ASS portfolio. So if you've got some art and you want to know if it's up to snuff from someone balls deep in college than you should do yourself a favor and ask me. Post links to your work and I guarantee I can tell you exactly what you need to do to improve. Any other college related questions are welcome.

First some general tips.

1. Take a good hard look at your finished work and/or sketchbook (you'd better have a fucking sketchbook)
2. Realize that you suck
3. Figure out why you suck (ie. compare your stuff to professional work)
4. Trade out bad drawing habits for good drawing habits
5. Repeat steps 1 through 4 until you suck considerably less

Seriously though, people tend to develop "style" before they develop technique and then they get married to their "style". Having a unique look is huge but it can stifle your growth early on if you refuse to break from it. If you don't believe me go look at deviantart.com, the worst stuff typically looks like the same shit (furries, anime) over and over again. So don't be a fucking anus about trying something different. If you see something you like that isn't something you'd typically do, take a crack at doing something similar to that. And don't huff and puff about originality, everything you do until you get a job is practice and experimentation. Your originality will multiply every time you learn a new technique.

Besides that, get used to planning stuff out. Don't just dive into something you're planning on spending 5 hours rendering in photoshop. Take a half hour to draw 5 small versions of what you want to do, or 10, or 20. Keep going til you really think you've got something you like, then make it big and clean it up.

This is by no means a comprehensive list of suggestions but if you're not already doing these things you need to. Again, I'm willing to answer any specific questions related to anybody's stuff, so ask away. Or if you're a hot shit artist and would like to add something feel free.

I start school up next week, and when that happens I can officially report that I, yet again, accomplished nothing this summer :D

But maybe I'll get to do some interesting stuff at school, and let y'all in on it. I was thinking about starting a series with Sarah Palin, but not about Sarah Palin, just using her head. But I think about a lot of things and I do far less. But just look at her, she has animation written all about her. And think of the publicity, I could make a cartoon of Sarah Palin taking a shit for 15 minutes and I bet it would be on the news.

I'm sick of looking at my last post and thinking about how I haven't done anything worth posting about in months so I'm going to feign productivity by writing a new post about how I've done nothing! Actually that's not entirely true, I've submitted some stuff to the art portal including a sketch book image I drew a couple years ago thanks to my trusty new scanner/printer. I plan on utilizing that bastard in the future too, I've been wanting one forever. Now the digital / analog art form barrier has been smashed in the balls.

I've also been toying with ideas for a new Beebo episode. SO DON'T ASK, god damn snot nosed fuckin' mother fuckers....

My final video for school. A blend of live action and animation.

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