all together now

With a few inbetweens, I connected the 4 walk cycles. All 4 cycles have a different amount of frames. The quick walk is only an 8 frame cycle. The sad walk is a 16 frame cycle. The skipping cycle is 12 frames. The run cycle with his arms stretched out in front of him is a 24 frame cycle, it's the longest one only because he floats when he is at his high point for several frames. Plus it's all on 2's, so the 8 frame cycle is only 4 drawings, the 24 frame cycle is 12 drawings, the 16 frame cycle is 8 drawings, and the 12 frame cycle is 6 drawings. When I clean these up the one thing I will do is really slow down the sad walk. I will double the frames from 16 to 32, to make it a very slow sad walk, like he's really dragging his feet.

HARMONY

I just came back from a trip to Toronto where I got a Toon Boom Harmony lesson from my brother. This time I took notes and actually drew a rough character and animated him a bit with the program. I learned how to draw in Toon Boom and create a character with the "draw" mode and "X Sheet" modes. I also learned the animation basics in the "time line" and "frame" modes.
Now that I am back at my place; I have Studio 4, not Harmony, so it will be interesting to see if this knowledge helps me in Toon Boom Studio 4.
The character is just a rough scribble. I did not use the Cintiq, since I wasn't planning on doing anything that looks good. I quickly drew this guy with the Wacom tablet, just to learn the interface and the tools.

The Good Guys

With a colored outline, and a nice size relation. The tall adult, the really short pip squeak, and the 2 mid range kids.

Kayami's new eyes....updated

Just another color scheme. We still have not made a decision on the kind of line to use. I am going to knock out some lines, make some lines colored, and experiment a lot more with the line.
I think the white dots on her eyes are crucial. I can't find any other way to give her eye direction without the white dots. I am still messing around with her colors.
I know these are not the ideal eyes to get expressions out of, but there is very good reason for designing them this way. Her eyes were more expressive in an older version but they were too similar to the main character. He is supposed to be the only "human" character, even though he is a Slinky. All other characters are not human, thus the tail on Kayami here. So I gave her these eyes to make her look more like a designer toy.

exploring Kayami

This is the last character that needs to be completely rethought. After a bunch of scribbles I settled on this shape for her. There is still much more exploration to be done, her eyes are definitely going to change.

SLAM DUNK!

There is a lot of art work, writing, sketches and ideas that are not going to make it into the bible package when we pitch this show. But all that extra art really brings the characters to life in my mind. And since I am not a fan of wasting art, I'll find a way to sneak it into the show when it goes into production.

more BANGO expressions

disgruntled

This expression makes me laugh.

in action

Just a pose to show this character's personality and his affinity for mechanics and gizmos. I changed his nose from the last time I tweaked his design.

logo design

I have been promising my girlfriend a logo for her business, BONGO KNOT, for a couple years now. This is the logo that will go on her knitted items made from sheep wool. I have other logos to do for her; an alpaca, a cotton plant, an angora bunny, and whatever other types of yarn fibers she uses.

the "TAKE!"

I love the cartoon "TAKE". Sponge Bob Square Pants uses the "take", as did Ren & Stimpy, and currently I have been watching a lot of The Mighty Bee and I see them do a lot of takes in that show too. What I love about the "take" is craziness. Anything goes in a "take" and you can practically throw the model sheet out the window...as long the character pops back in model. Some of the best "takes" I have seen were on Ren & Stimpy, the characters heads would literally split in two, the exageration and expressions were out of this world.

more extreme...updated

Played with a very quick color job.

I am pushing his expressions further, exaggerating and making them more extreme...more animated.

Bango tired

Had a meeting today to discuss this "Slinky" project. It went amazingly well. The bible, character descriptions, season story arcs, and episode synopsis are looking very likely to be approved by mid week. The character pictured here is all but approved, except for a few color corrections. I am very excited at the prospect of this series going into production. The characters have really grown on me.

Run Bango Run

He is definitely fun to pose.

colored

Just a quick clean an color job for presentation purposes.

expressions...updated

Updated clean image above.
The top 3 expressions are my favorites, perhaps because they are the more wacky of the bunch. He's got good range.

more drawings of this guy...updated

Updated pic above.

He looks like a normal boy...until he uses his SLINKY powers. Animating a walk cycle, falling down stairs and using his Slinky powers is going to be a real challenge. I am going to need to do a lot of study on how a Slinky moves, and then create a 2D flat interpretation of it, and then figure out how it works with the character's anatomy and movement. But I am looking forward to animating him.

growing on me

The more I pose this guy, the more I like his design. I can really picture him animated and acting.

never ending design...updated

Updated pic above.
This is the most challenging character I have ever had to design. I can't even count the number of sketches and versions I have done of this guy. Thus far, I like this direction best.

jack wild

Just a sketch loosely based on Jack Wild.

hat

I would really like this character to have this hat.

options to ponder

With ears, or without ears? And a few color options to ponder.

Line options

No line? Black outline? Colored outline? I like the colored outline. I don't even know yet if this design is the one we are going with.

sketchy options

More sketches of the main character. I like the one on the far left, I will pursue more options along those lines.

still haven't nailed this character

This is the main character in this production. We know he should probably have similar proportions to these, lanky, long legged, and a large head. It gives him an active look, which fits the character description. But we are nowhere near a decision on his final design. So I will keep on sketching until I get a drawing that makes me go "Eureka!"...or as Stan Lee would say, "Excelsior!"

villain expression sketches

This guy is going to be a great character, a really likable villain.

back to the drawing board

After a few weeks of mostly just writing...I am back to drawing!!
The shorter guy on the left is the old version. The rough and the middle clean versions is how he looks after the tweeks. I will still play with outlines; no outlines, a black outline, colored outlines, rough or clean lines, thick or thin lines, it is all up in the air right now. Once I get a Cintiq, I can really figure out what works best once he is animated.

no tweeking necessary

This character is good to go. He is simply designed and easy to stick in different postures and expressions. I may end up tweeking him a bit here and there, but for the most part he is approved. I added a gag, he uses one of his horns as an asthma inhaler.

rethinking a character

Just a quick sketch of a character I need to redesign. It's hard to wipe the first design from my mind and start with a completely new character.

Eduardo sketch

Just a sketch of Eduardo I did while watching Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends.

African animation

This is the intro I animated with After Effects. I have some postcards, framed on my wall, from Africa, which I used to make the BG.

drawing even more badly

When I did this first sketch, I thought it looked pretty badly drawn. I can see a Beavis and Butthead influence here. But they wanted it drawn even more badly than this! I was threatening to draw with my left hand on the next attempt. I am not left handed.

relying on the past

Another screen shot from a couple years ago. When I have nothing new to post, I can always dig up something from past productions. Looking back on all my "Pete and Bob" posts, I am surprised I did not post a lot more from this project. This is a shot from the intro of the show, one of the few times we get to see Karzinki the driver, and Pete and Bob on the back of the garbage truck, all in the same shot.

drawing ugly on purpose

These screen shots are from a project a couple of years ago. Click on the "Pete and Bob" label to see the other posts. It was stressed upon me to make it look "drawn really badly." It is actually more difficult to draw ugly than it is to draw a good design. It is not easy to unlearn everything you know.