Monday Morning Motivators: Skulls!

The basic idea of Monday Morning Motivators is to pick a theme -- preferably something we normally wouldn't draw -- and spend the first hour of each week sketching. The sketches can be very loose or super tight, but the point is to work out the weekend stiffness and draw something new.

This week's theme is... Skulls!






Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

Fun Art Fridays: 100th 2A! Blog Post

Today's Fun Art Fridays drawing marks our 100th post!

That's right, the 2A! blog has officially hit the triple digits. We're pretty excited about reaching 100 posts, so Sarah suggested it might be fun to celebrate the occasion with a new drawing of our company mascots. So here you have it! For those who don't know… Sarah is the cat, I'm the pirate bunny, Tom is the duck, and Mark is the shark!

I don’t get to draw these characters as much as I’d like, so I always have a blast when I get the opportunity to do so. Hope you like them too! ;)

Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

KidzChores.com: Girl Avatar Design

When 2A! started production on the recently launched KidzChores.com, the first thing we wanted to nail down right away was the design for the avatars. These avatars needed to be easily customizable, iconic, and very friendly looking. We wanted the children who'd be visiting the website to feel connected to the image on the screen, with a style that they felt comfortable representing themselves with.

Below are some sketches I worked on to try and figure out what would work well for the “Little Girl” avatar.



You can see how we picked bits and pieces from each design for the final. The one in the top right closely resembled where we took the final design.



Be sure to visit KidzChores.com to make your own custom avatar. The Beta is running now, so if you register now you get a free 15 day trial. Enjoy!

Copyright © Kidz Chores, Inc.

Princess Bride DVD: Prop Designs

When 2A! worked on The Princess Bride DVD we didn't just play with several character designs and backgrounds, but prop designs too. Below are some of my favorite props that we designed. It was fun to research the movie and try to create authentic looking props in Flash, making sure we kept the items iconic and recognizable. I feel we were pretty successful in out efforts!






Copyright © Two Animators! LLP.

Disney's "Cory in the House" Flash Game!

2A! visits Cory in the White House!

Last year our friends at Lucid Marketing asked us to help them create an interactive Flash game to help promote the release of Disney Channel’s Cory in the House on DVD. The trivia game, which asks a collection of historical questions about the White House and includes fun images of the characters from the show, was used as part of an e-mail campaign.

2A! designed and programmed the game, designed the game's landing page, and even provided the music and sound effects. Check out some more screen shots below, then test your White House knowledge and play the game here!




Copyright © Disney

Monday Morning Motivators!

2A! recently had the opportunity to work on a project that really made us flex our design muscles. We had to get very conceptual and play with designs for all sorts of characters, buildings, environmental assets, etc. We really got to play with the core foundation of basic design, which is shape and form of an element. In this case we needed to push the designs further into a fantasy-styled world. This challenged us in many ways and allowed us to draw things we might otherwise never draw. Having said that, we enjoyed the exercise so much that we've decided to keep the momentum going with our own weekly post titled, Monday Morning Motivators!

The basic idea of Monday Morning Motivators is to pick a theme -- preferably something we normally wouldn't draw -- and spend the first hour of each week sketching. The sketches can be very loose or super tight, but the point is to work out the weekend stiffness and draw something new.

This week's theme... Axes!






Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

Fun Art Fridays: Sarah's Summer Adventures!

As of last year, I've started using those strange, little pumpkin-headed-self-portraits of mine in desktop artwork. It all began with a fall themed piece that was a gift to my boyfriend for his computer. Since then it has become a habit creating a new desktop for each season. They have a silly, whimsical quality to them that I like very much. The desktop here is for this summer, when it's best to partake in one of my favorite pastimes... climbing trees!



Here's my rough sketch too. Enjoy!

Copyright © Sarah Gencarelli

KidzChores.com Launches!

2A! helps teach kids about responsibility with the launch of KidzChores.com!



Kidz Chores is a brand new avatar game dedicated to teaching kids as young as 6 the importance of being responsible. Parents register their children for an account where they can play games, read stories, and set up "virtual chores" for them to perform. When the children perform a chore they earn coins for their piggy bank and can use those coins to purchase virtual goods, or they can print out a check and have their parents cash it in for real money! The Beta version of the site has officially launched, so go register for a FREE 15-day trial and start teaching your kids how to be responsible too!

2A! handled design and animation of all the front-end graphics as well as providing music and sound effects, while our partners at Say Design tackled the back-end programming.

Also, be sure to check out this cool story which ran on WPSD Channel 6 News!




Copyright © Kidz Chores, Inc.

Background Design: Sifaka World Inca Ruins

When 2A! started designing the second Sifaka World area, South America, we had lots of fun ideas to play with. One that the client loved was the ancient Inca ruins.

The layout had to be designed so the player could easily interact with the ruins, but have it not be too intimidating or dangerous looking. I wanted the structure to be mysterious and inviting, so I decided that a large staircase in the center would interest players to come and explore. Also, I drew heavily on references of real Inca ruins to make sure I pulled the correct inspiration for this background.



Color work for this was a challenge, as ruins and rainforests can easily get too dark and scary with all their lush, dark colors. I tried keeping the old and flourishing feelings of the structure and plants by adding blue tones to the overall piece, as you can see in the color mock-up below.



Here is the final Flash build where all the elements come into play. I think we struck a nice balance of color and form, with the ruins keeping their mystery while feeling like a fun place to play.



Do visit www.sifakaworld.com and let us know if you find any treasures inside!

Copyright © Sifaka Productions, LLC.

Lockheed Martin: Star Character Concept

2A! created some character animation for Lockheed Martin earlier this year. The animation was for a Flash tutorial aimed at helping explain the company’s health plan to it's employees. So the first step for us was to come up with a design for the tutorial’s “star” tour guide, Marty.

The client described Marty as being like an army general. Above are some poses from one of the concepts we came up with. I designed him to be kind of a tough drill sergeant who might lose his temper once in a while when trying to get his point across. Although the client chose one of our other designs as the final, this one is still one of my favorites.

Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

Auxilium Animated Spots!

2A! helps motivate the Auxilium sales team with some fun, animated spots!

We were recently asked to design and create a series of Flash animations inspired by the old UPA cartoons of the 1950's. The shorts were commissioned by our friends at Sylar Media, and were used as internal sales tools aimed at motivating the Auxilium sales force and ultimately boosting the company’s sales.

2A! handled character design, background design, animation, music and sound effects for the series. Be sure to check out some more screenshots below!





Copyright © Auxilium

Fun Art Fridays: The Thundercats' Panthro

Welcome the Thundercats' nunchakus-twirling-bad-ass, Panthro!

Panthro may very well have been the coolest cat on the show. Aside from being tough as nails and wielding the coolest weapons, he was also one of the smartest of the cast members. I mean come on, he designed and built the Thundertank and Cat's Lair! What's cooler than that? Nothing I tell you, nothing!

Again, Panthro is part of a larger Thundercats team drawing I'm doing for fun. You can check out the full sketch as well as my take on Lion-O HERE.

Until next time... "Thundercats HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Illustration © Joe Costantini

Beobi and the Magic Coloring Book!

2A! takes a trip into the world of Beobi and the Magic Coloring Book!

When Beobi and his friends find a magical coloring book, they are transported inside and discover a wonderful world where they get to live and learn about each page’s adventure. This fun and educational line of children’s books was created by author Tricia Cohn, who asked 2A! to help bring them to life in a series of animated CD-ROMS back in 2005. Children get to use their mouse to color each page of the book, then watch as the scenes come to animated life!

2A! handled all the programming, UI design, and animation production for this fun CD-ROM series.

You can learn more about the book series and purchase the interactive CD-ROMS for your kids at: www.beobi.com

Copyright © B.O.B. Productions, Inc.

Character Desgins: Do-Re-Me & You!

Way back in 2006 (although it seems like only yesterday) 2A! had the pleasure of working on an animated DVD for Do-Re-Me & You! The DVD featured Rupert the Wrong-Word Pirate, along with a cast of other characters, as they showcased the large variety of children’s products Do-Re-Me & You! had to offer. So of course, before we started any animation we had to design some characters.

For the human families, the client wanted a style reminiscent of Clifford the Big Red Dog. Below are my sketches...



The client had a few changes from the initial sketches, but overall the characters remained the same through the design process. The coloring remained simple like the line art, with no shadows or highlights on the characters. I was very pleased with the results, but I admit, it was hard to override my instinct to add shadow to everything!



I’ll probably share some of the backgrounds and animation in future posts, so be sure to check back.

Copyright © Do-Re-Me & You!

Character Design: Woodland Muse

When 2A! was asked to animate the Woodland Muse logo as an intro for the company’s iPhone apps, we first had to design their mascot character. The client provided a rough concept of a fairy-type girl who magically creates, then sits on the “e” in the word muse. So with that, we got cracking on some designs.

Below is my initial pass on the character done in Sketchbook Pro.



Next up, is Sarah’s pass on the character. Sarah definitely brought her into the fairy world with the addition of the wings and pointy ears.



Lastly, we have the final character design below. While the look of the character was important, we also had to do some work to get the correct seated pose for her, which Sarah captured with her sketch (to the left) and I cleaned up with the final design (to the right).



The final clean-up was a bit of a challenge to figure out, because there are no real outlines used. The character is mostly color fills with some darker shadows in areas to help body parts pop. It was definitely a fun change from my usual black-inked line work though. ;)

Be sure to check out the final animation to see this character in action!

Copyright © Woodland Muse

AIM 6.5 Animated Demo

2A! helps introduce users to AIM 6.5!

We teamed up with Lucid Marketing last year to animate a Flash demo aimed at helping AOL get the word out about the new features included in their AIM 6.5 update. The demo included both the popular WeeMee and Meez brand characters.

2A! handled the design, programming, and animation -- including original WeeMee character animations -- for this fun and informative demo.

Copyright © AOL LLC.

Fun Art Fridays: The Thundercats' Lion-O

Welcome Lion-O, the sword-wielding-fearless-leader of the Thundercats!

I absolutely loved the Thundercats growing up! I still remember when I first saw it on TV… I was immediately hooked. I had to watch every episode and have every toy. My love of this show persists to this day. Every time I watch an episode, read a comic book or just see another artist’s rendition of the characters (loved Ed McGuinness’s comic book versions) I get excited. I’m always scouring sites like eBay in an attempt to recreate my lost childhood toy collection. Plus, it had one of the coolest animated openings for a cartoon ever! Great stuff!

Anyway, Lion-O is part of a larger Thundercats team drawing I'm doing for fun. Figured I’d post each character as I finish, then the whole image once it's done. Below you can get a peek at the rough sketch layout for the full image.




"Thundercats HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Illustration © Joe Costantini

Logo Animation: Woodland Muse

2A! gets inspired by a Woodland Muse!

Here’s a pretty sweet animation we recently created for a company called Woodland Muse. They are involved in creating and developing original Mac and iPhone applications and this animation will play at the start of each one. Pretty cool stuff! We also designed the muse character -- which we will post more about in the near future -- as well as helping out with re-working their overall logo design.

The video includes our initial animatic, rough character animation, and the final logo animation done in Flash.

Hope you like it!

Copyright © Woodland Muse

Character Designs: More Princess Bride Sketches

Inspired by Joe and Mark's posts with their designs on The Princess Bride 20th Anniversary DVD, I wanted to share the designs I came up with for that project.



Caricatures are always a challenge for me, so it was fun to try my hand at it again. My style tends to be more realistic and Disney-like, which balances the more cartoony versions that Joe and Mark submitted. I like the romantic and suave essence these designs have.



Like the others we've shown, these weren't selected as the finals, but I still feel artistically they hold their own.

Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

Princess Bride DVD: Flash Background Designs!

Above are some backgrounds 2A! designed for a game which was released on the 20th anniversary DVD for The Princess Bride. I was really happy with the way these turned out, especailly the cut-paper look of the waves in the second image. We love working on projects where we can play with developing different styles.

These backgrounds were designed and created entirely in Flash!

Copyright © Two Animators! LLP.

Character Design: Elf Mascot

Here's another blast from our design past...

I created this little guy as the mascot for a client's website back in 2004 (at least I think it was '04 ;). Although it rarely happens, I pretty much nailed the character's look with my very first sketch. Then I tightened things up with ink & paints in Flash.

While his intended website is no longer around, our Elf can still be seen at www.williepop.com, alongside a few of our other character designs. Enjoy!

Copyright © Two Animators! LLP