The Poochinos: Lost Episode WIP!

One of 2A!'s most popular pieces is The Poochinos animated short. We're constantly getting requests and inquiries about more episodes. While the client sadly had to put the project on hold for economic reasons, we do have some never before seen Poochinos work that we hope can satisfy fans!

First up is the above video. Very much a "work in progress," the video is made up of a little bit animatic and a little bit rough animation. It would have been the opening segment of episode two, starring Tony, Vinny and Dom.

Next, we have the final background paints for the "under the bridge" establishing shot (below). The rough layout was done by Jimmy Nock, with final paints by Greg Kleid.


Below are Greg’s awesome renderings of both Vinny and Dom’s cars. I especially love the blood splatter on Vinny’s back window… just great!




Finally, here are two more rough pencil layouts by Jimmy Nock.




Hopefully we’ll get to revisit this episode at some point in the future. I can’t guarantee it will happen, but if it does the final product will be tight!

Copyright © Dog Mafia, Inc.

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

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

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

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

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...


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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

Background Design: Tuffy's Exterior

Here's another fun background design 2A! created for Sifaka World!

This background is the exterior shot of “Tuffy's Tavern,” a restaurant located in the North American region of Sifaka World. The tavern is a place where you and your avatar can kick back, listen to some tunes on the piano, and enjoy a frosty mug of root beer served by none other than Tuffy himself.

We wanted the town to have the adventurous feel of the “wild west” without looking too dangerous or run down. So I checked out reference for some old ghost towns like Bodie and others. I think the outside of Tuffy's turned out looking pretty cool, plus I still have the inside to show you. Also, if you look to the right you'll see a path to another Sifaka World background we created!

If you're thirsty, why not head over to SifakaWorld.com a pay Tuffy a visit? I hear his root beer is fabulous!





Copyright © Sifaka Productions, LLC

Background Design: The Poochinos' Pool Hall

Here’s a look at a background 2A! created for The Poochinos animated short… which also happens to be my favorite from this production. It’s one angle of the “pool hall” interior, which is used in the scene where Dominick has to pop a well-known television mobster.

First up, is the rough sketch that Joe drew while creating the Flash animatic.



Next up, we handed off Joe’s rough to Jimmy Nock who did a tighter pencil layout in Sketchbook Pro.



Last but not least, here is the final background painted in Photoshop by Jimmy Nock and Greg Kleid.



I’ll be sharing more of these in future posts, so be sure to check back. In the meantime, you can also check out more Poochinos artwork and videos here!

Copyright © Dog Mafia, Inc.

Background Design: Beauty Studio Game Play

Here’s another background 2A! created for the MyScene Beauty Studio game. First, we sketched a rough layout for the game screen, where your favorite MyScene girls sit to be made over. I felt a simple, straight forward background would create the perfect backdrop for the game play.



Final clean-up was easy for this background once the sketch was approved. We used the same colors that were already approved for the intro screen. I’m really happy with how the background turned out, and it really allows the girls to stay center of attention.



Head over to MyScene.com to play the game and see all our work in action!

Copyright © Mattel

Background Designs: Bride & Groom Planner

Last but not least, here are the backgrounds to the Bride & Groom Planner animation I mentioned last week. Our Chef and Florist needed backdrops to complete their world of wedding cakes and flowers, so we jumped right into creating the designs.

As you can see, the style of these backgrounds is a bit different than others we’ve done in the past. The client wanted a look that the characters would easily pop off of, while feeling simple and somewhat elegant at the same time. So we chose to go with a looser design, focusing on trying to capture more of a washed look to the colors… lots of whites, grays, and pastels. We played around with this to make sure the characters popped and the backgrounds weren’t too boring or bland.

Overall, I think these turned out great and definitely showcase a different style that we were able to achieve!





Copyright © Bride & Groom Planner

Harry Knowles' Evil Lair: Background Designs

Today’s post is a look at some of the background designs from one of our favorite Superficial Friends episodes titled, “The Superficial Friends vs. Harry Knowles!”



This episode was a ton of fun to work on (no pun intended)! We especially had a blast designing Harry’s evil lair. Below is a shot of the entrance, which is a giant Harry head carved into the side of a volcano. In order to get inside, the girls find themselves flying straight into Harry's mouth. :P



Next up, is a shot of the interior of Harry’s lair (sans overlaid characters), which is something from a fanboy’s wet dream. If you look closely, you’ll notice a bunch of cool collectables like a life-sized Optimus Prime, a Star-Wars Star Destroyer, Boba Fett’s helmet, a Hellboy bust, and more!



2A! animated 20 episodes of this action packed show about Hollywood’s shallowest super team! Episodes are currently available online at Heavy.com and on YouTube. The show also airs on Comcast On Demand.

Copyright © Heavy.com

Background Design: Beauty Studio Intro

Continuing with the MyScene posts I've been writing, I have a fun new background 2A! created for the Beauty Studio game. This game is similar to the Shopping Spree game we mentioned before, except here we get to play with hair and makeup for the MyScene girls.

First, I created a few different background sketches to present to the client. They chose to go with the second version below.




Next, a more detailed color mock-up was made. We tried to go for a very hip, Soho-styled salon feel.



From there the final Flash version was built and the MyScene girls were added to complete the look of this game intro screen.



I'm really happy with how this background turned out, as it was a more ornate style that really allowed me to play with details. Check it out over at MyScene.com along with the rest of the Beauty Studio game. It's a fun time!

Copyright © Mattel

MyScene "Shopping Spree" Game Art!

2A! recently worked on some updates for Mattel’s MyScene Shopping Spree game. In the game, you get to go shopping with Barbie and her friends, and choose all new outfits and accessories for the girls to wear. So, Mattel asked us to create some stylish new clothes and a new background area for the girls to strut their stuff in. This week I’ll talk about the background...

Below you can see my initial concept sketch. Mattel wanted a hip, SoHo-type art school, which has a wall filled with graffiti in front of it.



Next up is the color mock. I tried to use cooler, muted colors to fit the urban theme, while giving the area a more laid back feel. I think the overall effect is very welcoming… a place I'd want to hang out at.



Here's a look at the final background art, done in Flash by Greg Kleid. The final is pretty close to my color mock, but they did ask us to change the building from yellow to a purplish color so Barbie’s blonde hair would “pop” easily.



Along with the hip new background for the girls to chill in, we also created all new clothing (based on the toy line) for the game too! I'll post about those soon, so keep checking back. Now, why not head over to MyScene.com and try out the game for yourselves?

Copyright © Mattel

Background Design: Australian Outback

2A! recently had the opportunity to design the all new Australian continent for Sifaka World. The new continent is made up of a few different areas, the first of which is the Outback, probably the most well known area of the Australian wilderness. Much like the backgrounds we designed for South America and North America, we tried to stay true to the actual topography of the area, while also making a bright and colorful place for users to visit.

Below is my initial sketch of the Outback. When designing these areas we have to leave a good amount of space in the foreground for users to walk around, so I really wanted to accentuate the impressive monolith rock formations that the area is known for in the background. I also tried my best to split the horizon as close to the center of the screen as I could, so you can see the vast sky against the desert. I wanted to give the feeling of grandeur and sheer mass of the land.



Here is the first color mock up I created. I used bright colors on the ground and rocks to highlight the orange, clay soil of the Outback. I made the sky a bright blue, which everyone liked, but felt might compete too much with the oranges of the ground and rocks.



Here is the final background which incorporates some color changes, making the scene more of a sunset so that oranges and yellows help blend the colors in the sky. To my surprise, they actually balance out the bright oranges better than the blues did. I really love the feel of this new color scheme, and the client does too.



You can head down under too at www.sifakaworld.com. Just remember to send us a postcard!

Copyright © Sifaka Productions, LLC