Critter Concept: Monster Blob

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!

Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

MMMs: "Z" is for Zombies

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!!!





Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

Critter Concept: Monster Worm

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… ;)

Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

MMMs: "Y" is for Yorkies

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!






Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

Fun Art Fridays: Galin Modric

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!



Copyright © Joe Costantini

Background Design: Future Alleyway

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.



Copyright © Supplier-Works

Critter Concept: Monster Snake

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!

Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

MMMs: "X" is for Xenopus

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!






Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

Fun Art Fridays: Robo Alien Insect Dude!

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...

Copyright © Joe Costantini

TikiToon: Cuckoo for Coconuts

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!





Copyright © Mezco Toyz, LLC

Background Design: Sifaka User Homes

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. ;)

Copyright © Sifaka Productions, LLC

The Mad (Republican) Tea Party!

2A! travels to a political wonderland by animating The Mad (Republican) Tea Party!

Here’s a cool short we animated for our friends at Snark Rocket Studios (formerly Camp Chaos), which recently premiered on CollegeHumor.com. The animation is a political spoof that, with the help of the iconic characters from Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, pokes fun at today’s political climate… more specifically the controversial Tea Party movement.

2A! worked on the character animation in Flash, for Snark Rocket! Check out some screen shots below, then watch the movie above. Enjoy!





Copyright © Connected Ventures, LLC

Fun Art Fridays: GPK Family Portrait

I thought I'd share a recently finished GPK style portrait I created. It was based off of a Garbage Pail Kid from the original series, Jolly Roger. Below you'll see the initial pencil sketch, color rough done in photoshop, and final oil painting on canvas. I wanted to make it fairly large, so it ended up being around 24 x 30. I'm really happy with how it came out. Enjoy!





Illustrations © Mark Pingitore