As promised yesterday, here are some more of our When Santa Got Sick storybook illustrations! First up, Mrs. Claus and the Elves are trying to solve the problem of how to deliver gifts without Santa.
Below, a few Elves step up with solutions, but they aren't very good ones.
Finally, one little Elf comes up with a solution that even Santa likes!
Head over to the iTunes store to download the app and get the full story!
We were recently asked to create some fun illustrations for a new iPad app called, When Santa Got Sick! The app, which is currently available at the iTunes store, is an interactive storybook written by Greg Perkins, that tells the tale of what happened when Santa was too sick to deliver presents one Christmas Eve.
2A! designed the characters and penciled the illustrations, while the final pages were painted by the gang at Burton Design Group (who also produced the app). Check out some of our work below, then head over to iTunes to download the app for yourselves!
Here is the approved line-up of our designs for Santa and his elves.
Below is one of our favorite pages, including both the rough layout and tightened character pencils.
We'll try to follow-up with some more of our favorite images tomorrow. =)
Thought I’d share our human designs for College Humor’s Bears are Bears animated short.
These kids were fun to work on... They were all drawn with the line tool in Flash. If you look closely, you’ll see how all the guys share the exact same bodies. That’s right, with the exception of their heads, all the male body parts are the same symbols, just colored differently and resized.
Unfortunately, these kids end up as lunch for a group of ravenous cartoon bears. At least they give us a few good laughs before they go!
I've been feeling nostalgic for simpler times lately, so I decided to draw one of my favorite characters from one of my favorite NES games... Mega Man! I spent way too many hours of my youth playing the first 3 games. =)
I've also included my WIP sketches below... Hope you like!
The animation, which recently premiered on CollegeHumor.com, takes a look at what happens when an ordinary college guy browses the internet while under the influence. As you can imagine, this one ain't for the kiddies! :P
2A! animated this short in Flash, with Snark Rocket producing. Check out some screen shots below, then watch the movie above.
We worked with our friends at JMH Education to create this online game which helps spread awareness about the Asian Long Horned Beetle, or ALB for short. The ALB is an invasive pest that destroys trees and threatens our industries and wildlife habitats.
In the game, players use their magnifying glass to identify the ALBs and then freeze and collect them. See how many points you can earn by collecting as many ALBs as you can spot, and help stop them from spreading. Don’t forget to answer the bonus questions between levels to earn extra points!
Check out more screen shots below, then head over to www.beetlebusters.info and play the game! Good hunting!
Last month I posted that I was writing some "how to" articles about Flash animation techniques for Intel Software Network. You can read my first article here. The articles range from beginner to advanced subjects and my latest, "Image Sequences or Vector Art in the Development of Flash* Games and Virtual Worlds?" just went live.
The Intel Software Network is a website that connects people with developers and Intel engineers. By joining, you can get expert advice from the developer community, join discussions, find out about software development products, and share your own specialty with your peers. It's a doorway to the broad range of programs, products, resources, and content available to the software community from Intel.
So here’s the last design in our series of cute, yet vicious little critters. Again, this little guy started with Sarah’s Sketchbook version (top) and then I did my version in Flash (bottom). First this dude blinds you with his obnoxious coloring, then he slimes you to keep you from getting away, then he eats your brains! Munch, munch, munch!
We did it! We achieved our goal of making it through the entire alphabet -- that means a Monday Morning Motivators exercise for every letter! I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling pretty good about this achievement. It’s the little things that keep us happy!
Another big THANK YOU to everyone who suggested a theme over on our Facebook page! We really appreciate your support!
With that, we’ll be taking a break from our Monday Morning Motivators for a little while, but you can always check out our previous exercises if you get bored. Hey, why not give one a try yourself? If you do, feel free to post it over on our Facebook page for us to check out! We’d love to see what you come up with. ;)
Anyway, here is the final alphabet letter theme… “Z” is for ZOMBIES!!!
Here’s the third design in our series of cute, yet vicious little critters. This little dude was really fun to draw! Sarah nailed his look pretty much on her first sketch (top), then I had my fun with the blue lines and color mock in Flash (bottom). I wouldn’t mind having this little guy hanging out in my garden -- of course, I guess I’d need to start a garden first, but anyway… ;)
Mark brought up a good point today... Did you ever notice how Yorkshire Terriers kind of look like Ewoks? Well, they do! I didn’t realize it before, but after sketching them today I found it easy to end up with something resembling an Ewok. Anyway, this week’s Monday Morning Motivator’s theme was chosen by Nataliya Platonava over on our Facebook page. Thanks again for the adorable suggestion!
It looks like we’re coming to the end of our alphabet exercise with next week’s theme... anything starting with the letter “Z." So anyone who hasn’t made a suggestion yet should drop us a line here or on our Facebook page. Become a fan, suggest a theme, and if we dig it we’ll draw it.
For those that don’t know… MMMs is our weekly exercise where we pick a theme and spend the first hour of each week sketching. The sketches can be loose or tight, but the point is to work out the weekend stiffness and draw something new.
Now without further ado, we present... "Y" is for Yorkies!
This character is the result of yet another fun exercise I did for the Design-A-Character group over on Deviant Art. The idea behind this challenge was to design a character based off of a provided name –- in this case, the name is Galin Modric.
So many things came to mind when I heard the name... a dark-ages wizard, a soul-stealing grim reaper, or a sci-fi bounty hunter (just to name a few). I chose to go with the latter. So, here you have it... Galin Modric, sci-fi bounty hunter extreme! Enjoy!
Is it a blast from from the past or a visit to the future? Either way, a little over a year ago we posted about our work on the Tier Drop! animated teaser. I was put in charge of painting the backgrounds for this production, so I thought I'd share some of my work.
First up, is the "Future Alleyway!" Seeing as our main character really only travels "two days" into the future, I just needed to reference some current alleys. ;) So I went with your standard dirty alley, which I found to be humorous since we expect the future, even if only two days into it, to be better, brighter and more wonderful.
Next up are my layout lines, which I drew in Flash and filled with blocks of flat color. We sometimes do this to choose our colors, then we'll take this into Photoshop and paint the shadows and highlights, etc.
Last but not least, here is Mark's original animatic sketch. As you can see, he laid out the very basic shot and I had to actually define and embellish all the background details.
Here is the second design in our series of cute, yet vicious little critters. Again, this guy was started by Sarah in Sketchbook Pro (top) then tweaked by me in Flash (bottom). All of the designs in this series were concepts for a game where little critters like this would be attacking you!
Xenopus may not be a highly-skilled warrior princess, but it is a highly-aquatic frog native to Sub-Saharan Africa. This week’s Monday Morning Motivator's theme was once again suggested by Michelle Costantini over on our Facebook page! Thanks again Michelle!
Next week's theme is anything that starts with the letter "Y," so anyone interested in making a suggestion can drop us a line here or on our Facebook page. Become a fan, suggest a theme, and if we dig it we’ll draw it.
For those that don’t know… MMMs is our weekly exercise where we pick a theme and spend the first hour of each week sketching. The sketches can be loose or tight, but the point is to work out the weekend stiffness and draw something new.
Now without further ado, we present... "X" is for Xenopus! Ribbit!
This dude started as a doodle in my sketchbook one night... then I just kept adding lines here and there while at lunch or on the phone, etc. Sometimes it's just relaxing for me to draw without any sort of end plan for an image. Plus, I always love the chance to sketch on paper again!
I added some quick grays for a background in Photoshop. I may end up coloring him in the future, time permitting of course. We'll see...
Today’s post is a look back at a fun Web short we animated for TikiMon Island called, “Cuckoo for Coconuts!” We’ve mentioned it a few times here on the 2A! blog, but never actually got the chance to post it. So here it is!
The animation features an adventure with Monsoon and Ungowa, two TikiMon characters based off of the line of toys from Mezco Toyz. The figures were already in production when we created this short, so their cartoon designs were based off of the existing toys.
We had a blast working on this project, which included designing and animating this short, as well as a series of Flash games and the Tikimon Island website. Enjoy!
We all need shelter; it's a rule of nature. We human's have homes, animals have habitats, and in Sifaka World you can get the best of both with user homes for your animal avatars!
Our user homes started with the idea of a basic hut, with a wood floor and straw roof, that players could customize to their own liking with various furniture items. Below is my initial sketch of the empty hut.
As you can see, the inside of the user home got enlarged from the initial sketch to the color mock (below). We needed to make sure these huts had ample space inside for players to decorate and move their avatar around.
Below is the final base hut built in Flash. Now we’re ready to start decorating…
Players can earn points to buy furniture and other fun objects for their homes by playing the various games on the site. Another exciting option of these homes is you can even invite your friends over. Just think how jealous they'll be when they see your big screen TV! Below are a few screen shots of how we decorated our user home. In the second image you can even see the grid we had to adhere to when designing the user home and furniture items for game play.
Decorating and furniture buying is a fun thing to do -- at least until you see the price tag! I'm still saving up to get a hot tube in my own user home. ;)
Two Animators! LLP (2A!) is a full-service animation production and development studio.
Founded in 2001 by brothers Tom and Joe Costantini, 2A! creates content for animated series, shorts, music and explainer videos, commercial spots, games, apps and more. We’ve had the opportunity to work on a wide variety of projects during our 14+ years in business, from full-blown television series to online virtual worlds (MMOs) and mobile apps. Our team works in many different styles and can adapt to your specific production needs, and of course we’re always excited to design a unique look for a brand new property. We love creating new characters, worlds and storylines, and can help transform your ideas into fully developed IPs (Intellectual Properties) ready for pitching, producing or selling.
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