Squirt Gun Bandits: Bar Background

Last but not least in our series of Squirt Gun Bandits game backgrounds, we've reached the final stage: the big bad boss!

This level runs along the same influences as last week's, with old west saloons as the inspiration. This background was more straightforward, as everybody is familiar with the scene of the cowboy at the bar. Since the villain only pops up from behind the bar, we only needed to separate the bar and everything in front of it from the background image. We also tried to keep things colorful and kid friendly. The bottles in the back are soda as opposed to the whiskey held in most. I like how at first glance, they look like the real thing until you try and read the labels. Most players don't pay attention to such detail though, as they have a boss to defeat! It takes some quick squirt gun shootin', but I feel this baddie is going to end up all soggy.





Copyright © Sifaka Productions, LLC

Critter Concept: Monster Dino

I know he looks cute, but trust me, get too close and he’ll bite your hand off!

This adorably fierce little dinosaur is the first in a series of critters that Sarah and I designed last year. Sarah started the designs with her Sketchbook Pro roughs, then I swooped in with my Flash versions, where I added some monstrous “bling” like spikes and claws, etc., and finished it off with color.

I don’t know about you, but I think this little guy would make a great pet.

Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

MMMs: "W" is for Walruses

Walruses are so hot right now!

This week's Monday Morning Motivator's theme was chosen by Jay Sabo over on our Facebook page! Thanks a bunch Jay!

Next week's theme is anything that starts with the letter "X," 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... "W" is for Walruses!






Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

Fun Art Fridays: Beach Girl

Summer is here! And what better way to celebrate than by donning a bathing suit and going for a swim? Since I'm not a big beach goer myself, it's much more fun for me to draw those who prefer to soak up the sun and sand.

Enter this sketch, which was a doodle that turned out better than I had expected. This impossibly long-haired beach girl is making sure her suit is in top form. Her style is loosely based on the style of Leiji Matsumoto, a favorite artist of mine.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the summer!

Copyright © Sarah Gencarelli

Intel Software Network Article

I've been asked to write a series of "how to" articles for the Intel Software Network about Flash animation techniques. The articles range from beginner to advanced subjects and my first article, "Integrating 3D Image Sequences into Flash" 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.

Click here to read my first article!

Copyright © Two Animators! LLP & Intel® Corporation

Squirt Gun Bandits: Saloon Background

Last week we showed the Street Background to the Squirt Gun Bandits game. We used a very customizable approach to the Street, because that's where players spend most of their time. Once they've progressed past the various Street levels they get to the Saloon interior, where we went with a more traditional approach to creating the background.

A Saloon seemed like the best place for the game's baddies to hide out in, so I went about researching saloons of the old west. Photos from that era are all in black and white, but it's easy to imagine the colors of that time. Places like saloons were able to afford things like wallpaper, so I tried to use that to add variation to the woodwork.




Even though we designed this background to be less customizable -- as it was only needed for one level -- we still made sure to build it out in layers. This way the programmers would have an easier time hiding those pesky villains behind objects. Below is an example of how we broke up the layers.



Once players defeat all of the baddies in this level, they move onto the final boss who hides further inside, behind the bar. Stay tuned for a peek at that background next week...

Copyright © Sifaka Productions, LLC

Character Designs: Even More Fairies

Following up on my last few posts -- Fairy Dude and More Fairies -- here are even more fairies!

I really started to like where things were headed at this point. The characters started to become less humanoid and more fantasy, which is pretty cool. I was starting to use the vegetation as part of their bodies, rather than having them just wear leaves and flowers as clothes. My favorite is the dude on the far right... his face is based off of a goat's. "Bleet, bleet!"

Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

MMMs: "V" is for Vultures

Don’t look now, but this week’s Monday Morning Motivators are circling above your heads! Move over happy Unicorns, today’s Vulture theme was chosen by our very own Mark P, who rarely chooses to draw cute and cuddly things. ;)

Next week's theme is anything that starts with the letter "W," 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... "V" is for Vultures!





Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

Fun Art Fridays: Cheeseburger & Fries!

Move over Cholesterol. Stand aside Trans Fats. Here comes Frankie French Fry and Charlie Cheeseburger in the next Fast Food sensation... Artery-Clogging Action Time!

These guys are the result of another fun exercise I did for the Design-A-Character group over on Deviant Art. The idea of this challenge was to design a character based off of a food item -- in this case I chose my favorite "bad-for-you" meal, a cheeseburger and fries! Mmmmmmmmmm…

The above image is a shot of my dynamic duo racing into action! Below are my WIPs of both Charlie Cheeseburger and Frankie French Fry's initial designs. I created Charlie first, then decided to design Frankie -- because what’s a burger without the fries, right? Anyway, hope you like these dudes. ;)




Is anyone else getting hungry all of a sudden? =P

Copyright © Joe Costantini

Animated Short: Mr. & Mrs. Oasis!

2A! serves up a toast to Mr. & Mrs. Oasis on their wedding day!

Here's a cute Web short we created a while back, with our friends at Lucid Marketing, to promote the (then new) Oasis Washer and Dryer combination. The short pokes a little fun at the idea of "the perfect couple" by depicting a wedding ceremony for the two appliances.

2A! animated the Flash short using images of the actual products cut from Photoshop, along with new Flash art. We also supplied the audio. Enjoy! ;)



Copyright © Kenmore

Squirt Gun Bandits: Street Background

The Wild West can be a dangerous place, so you better make sure that you can handle a squirt gun better than the outlaws can! Here is the first in a series of background designs 2A! created for the Squirt Gun Bandits game. This is the level one "Street" scene…



This background was designed to allow the villains to walk from side to side across the screen, along with multiple objects for them to hide behind and jump out from. All the architecture and landscape were drawn through, which means every element is complete. This allows the freestanding background elements to be arranged to add complexity to the game play for additional levels. Creating things this way allows for more variation while keeping the game's budget in check.

Check out the image below to see how we broke this background's pieces apart...


Copyright © Sifaka Productions, LLC

Character Designs: More Fairy Sketches

Following up on last week's Fairy Dude post, here are some more concept sketches that I drew. The first guy is a bit too human, but I like where I started heading as I worked my way towards the right of the page. The little dude in the middle still cracks me up. Anyway, more to come next week, so stay tuned... ;)

Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

MMMs: "U" is for Unicorns

Even though I really wanted to sketch the planet-consuming Unicron -- from 1986's Transformers The Movie animated feature -- we decided to take a break from drawing killer predators this week. With multiple votes over on our facebook page, we decided to go with a more peaceful, mythological animal... the Unicorn!

Next week's theme is anything that starts with the letter "V," 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... "U" is for Unicorns!






Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

Fun Art Fridays: GPK Flashback Concepts 2

Here's the second round of concepts from the Garbage Pail Kids Flashback "Where Are They Now" set I worked on. It was a lot of fun to revisit cards that I loved as a kid and update them. Again, I've included the original card next to my WATN concept.





Card images are courtesy of geepeekay.com!

Copyright © The Topps Company Inc.

Clothing Designs: Geisha Biggetts

Chickity check-it! Today I present some costume designs we created for Smallie Bigg’s lovely ladies, the Biggetts.

These sassy gals from The Smallie Biggs Show -- which 2A! worked on a few years back -- were Smallie’s right hand girls, always there to help him dish the latest entertainment gossip. One particular episode called for the girls to be dressed like Geisha, so of course, I was asked to do the honors. I dressed them both like Maiko, which are the youngest and most ornate of the Geisha. I must say, they look pretty hip in those colorful kimono. Biggity Bam!

Copyright © Sprint

Character Designs: Fairy Dude

I find it pretty shocking to go through my unused artwork and see just how many sketches I’ve drawn over the years. I’m a firm believer that every drawing makes you a stronger artist -- even the ones you aren't totally happy with. Anyway, this is the first in a series of Fairy designs I was working on last year. The idea was to have characters that lived in the forest and used their environment to fashion clothes, build homes, etc. This dude turned out pretty cute, but we decided to go in a different direction for the project, so he ended up in my unused pile. ;)

Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

MMMs: "T" is for T-rexes

STOMP! STOMP! STOMP!

If having to outswim killer sharks wasn’t hard enough, prepare to outrun an attack by today’s massive Monday Morning Motivators! Today's theme was suggested by David Jamieson over on our Facebook page. Thanks again David!

Next week's theme is anything that starts with the letter "U," 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... "T" is for T-rexes!






Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

Fun Art Fridays: Captain Canuck Contest

I was recently asked if I would try my hand at drawing Captain Canuck for a contest that TheAmbushBug is throwing over on Deviant Art. It looked like fun and I really dig what he’s trying to do -- supporting an artist and his original comic book creation -- so I had to give it a shot!

Anyway, here’s my entry... Above is the final colored image and below are my inks, drawn in Flash, and my original concept sketch scribbled on paper. Hope you like them!

To learn more about Captain Canuck, his creator Richard Comely, and the art contest -- which runs through August 15th 2010 -- head over to TheAmbushBug’s DA page. And don’t forget to try your hand at drawing Captain Canuck too! There are cash prizes! ;)




Illustration © Joe Costantini
Captain Canuck is Copyright © Richard Comely.

Animation: See You Tomorrow!

Believe it or not, we've come to the end of the SweetIM videos. With that said, we're working on another batch right now, so we'll definitely be back with more. For now I'll leave you with "See you tomorrow!" Well, not really tomorrow, but soon, I promise. ;)



Copyright © SweetIM Technologies Ltd.

Background Design: Tuffy's Interior

Following up on last week’s post showing the Tuffy’s Tavern Exterior background 2A! created for Sifaka World, this week I’ll share the tavern interior.

Tuffy is one lucky wolverine to operate such a place! Just look at this cool tavern brimming with barrels of his delicious root beer, seats to play cards with your friends, a piano on stage for some tunes, and a spacious upstairs in case you need to stay the night. We wanted to convey a much warmer, more welcoming Western-styled saloon for this background. I think it worked out well!

Head over to SifakaWorld.com for some refreshments and live entertainment!





Copyright © Sifaka Productions, LLC

Character Designs: Last of the Desert Dwellers!

We hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend! Monday Morning Motivators will return next week with the letter "T," so if you want to make a suggestion you can do so here or on our Facebook page!

In the meantime, here is my final sheet of Desert Dwellers as promised. I consider these guys to be more in the Star Wars realm... taller and less cartoony. The cool part about this project was that it allowed me to play with different ideas, so while some of the Desert Dwellers I came up with are cute or wacky looking, these dudes are a bit more serious looking. It's definitely fun to have the freedom to experiment. ;)

Copyright © Two Animators! LLP