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Battosai810
I'm Camtoons. I make cartoons. That's not confusing or anything.

Campbell McLaughlin @Battosai810

Age 34, Male

Animator

Boston, MA

Joined on 9/8/05

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SRM updates, new tablet, and I'm a lazy ass

Posted by Battosai810 - October 27th, 2009


Well, first things first - I got a tablet! Goodbye mouse drawing! For years my characters have all been built in pretty much the same way. I'd make an outline with the line tool, turn the thickness to 5 or so, bend the lines to get some nice curves, and use the same process to make the shading. The problem was this all looked really static and lifeless. As Oney said of my "Fallout 3 Flash: "The drawing style was so lifeless I almost cried :(" Maybe not the most constructive remark, but it applies well enough. I really needed to do something to liven up my art style, and make my characters MOVE. Just watching stuff by Yotam Perel and Egoraptor really makes me frustrated at the static characters I've been using for years. So, to remedy this, I finally broke down and got a tablet. Goddamn I namedrop a lot in that paragraph.

I'm still just learning to use my tablet, since I've only had it a few days. So far it's great fun though - I've done some fun doodles with it that you can see on my deviantART page. There's an SRM walking loop down there if you want to check it out. It kinda sucks, but hey, I'm learning here.

SRM TRANSFORMERS 5. Yeah, I started working on it. I've had it written for a while, and I animated the first 60 seconds or so of it. I have the story planned out to SRM Transformers 6, where the series would end. The thing is, I'm really dissatisfied with the SRM Transformers 5 script. It's way too wordy. Watching a few robots stand around in the desert talking back and forth for over a minute just isn't interesting. Every moment doesn't have to be a fight scene or anything, it's just way too much dialogue and exposition. For this reason I might either scrap SRMTF5 as it is, or combine it with the plans for SRMTF6 and get the whole thing out of the way all at once. My enthusiasm for SRM Transformers has waned a bit, I don't lie. Thanks for canceling Transformers: Animated, Cartoon Network >:(

As for regular SRM toons: I've wanted to make SRM Goes to College for a really long time. I might make it into my final for my writing for animation class. That means you fine folks could see it by Christmas, as long as I finish it. I also have a holiday short written for Qwanzaamas, Christmas, or whatever other winter-time holiday I want.

I also wrote and storyboarded an awesome animation involving a baby with a tommygun and a doctor's office. You can see some of the character art in that thing from DeviantART I posted a few paragraphs up. That might happen somewhere down the road - It's probably too complicated for me to make at the moment. Maybe as my final for one of the animation classes down the road or something. On that note, school is taking up a hell of a lot of time. The rest of my time is me being lazy and hanging out on Somethingawful. I also wrote a sequel for Milk and OJ but decided against it. It wasn't that great, and I really don't need to make a sequel to it. Tells a good enough story on it's own.

PS: 3D can suck it. I loathe it with a burning passion. If my school didn't require me to work in it, I'd never touch it again. I'm not even extra terrible at it. I just really, really don't enjoy working in it. Too dee fo' lyfe y'all.

Now watch that SRM walk cycle of poor quality until your eyes bleed. Shouldn't take very long.

SRM updates, new tablet, and I'm a lazy ass


Comments

To be honest, I always found some original charm in your animation style. Made you different from other animators, plus, your strong side has always been writing.

Well, glad you liked my old animation style, but it's getting a bit old for me. I've gotten to the point where I couldn't evolve my symbol characters anymore, as they're all shaded and highlighted. I need to spread my animating wings, man.

As for the writing - that's not going anywhere. That's not gonna change too much, although I'm always looking to refine it a bit.

Cool! Kinda, in my mind, looks a bit more vibrant, but, it may be a risk using it for SRM Transformers 5. Ya know... a new art style and everything.

I'm not sure if I'll use it for SRM Transformers 5. I don't know if I'll use the minute of existing animation and keep going, or scrap it and start over. I think SRM Transformers will be the end of that style though. I don't really want to change the style for that series too much, since it'll be too inconsistent.

From what I've seen you're a pretty good writer. It's nice to see you break from your comfort zone to try a new style.

Happy to break out of it really. Gotta spread these animating wings and get out of my permanent left-right viewpoint.

Sorry, but I couldn't stare at it long enough for my eyes to bleed. My eyes started watering somewhere along the line though. Is that good enough? Tablet r teh awesum btw

Tablets are grand. Too bad it took me until halfway through college to get one though.

lol I don't wanna read all this.

Clearly you don't.

I actually like this new style of yours, and come to think about it - SRM's drawing style is lifeless. I guess I never noticed since I was deeply into the storyline and character devlopment during each episoded.

You see, I never really liked the line tool so much, it just made your work seem so static and, as Oney said; lifeless. I really think you should go back to using the brush/pen tool.

Nice work on the animation above, your style always seems to be different from others. I like the angle SRM is facing, and the walking really isn't that bad, since before, it was just the character's legs moving back and forth. It's a nice and simple walk cycle, but now I find myself keep scrolling up to look at it as I type this!

Make the eyes slightly smaller, because SRM doesn't seem as 'cute' when they're big.

Whatever, I hope you animate all of your future toons like this, ESPECIALLY SRM goes to college.

Maybe you could make the eyes slightly smaller

Thanks for the big comment here - it's nice to hear someone give a more detailed critique.

The line tool really helped for me. Using a mouse to draw is really wonky and comes off with mostly poor results. There are some excellent mousedrawers, but they're one in a million. The line tool was erally essential to getting a good look for me. I liked the thick outlines and the slick look that my characters developed. I needed to move on and get some more lively work though, so I finally got a tablet. I've always prided myself on having a distinctive style though. It's nice to not just be another Egoraptor knockoff, as much as I like his work.

You want smaller eyes? I always thought that SRM looked a lot cuter with the big eyes. It's a classic cartoon convention for big eyes to be cute. I'll see how he looks with smaller eyes though. He started with tiny eyes when I first sketched him years ago.

I do plan on doing future Flashes like this. It's a lot of fun, and should have some solid results. Thanks for writing!

you tablet SRM looks like somthing I'd draw
I love it :D

Thanks!

To be honest, that loop couldn't make my eyes bleed even if you made me watch it while using Windows 7!
Moving on, in regards to SRM goes to college, are you basing it on your own experience, or are you basing it on some of the college comedy movies, like Back to School or Van Wilder, or just something that came to being.
Now, Would You Kindly go and draw SRM in a taco suit?
(Pay no attention to the Bioshock reference...)

SRM in a taco suit? Maybe.

SRM Goes to College is based more on the madcap comedies like Animal House. It is absolutely nothing like my school or my school experience. Being in college and having a terrible roommate inspired it though.

Hmm? You Used To Write From A Mouse? Lol I Tried It, most of my drawings were So Bad.... Any ways, My Eyes Are Bleeding As I write This. but now your animation looks clear... smooth... Etc., But Thats The Magic of the tablet u use. I is Jealous of dat because you write some Awesome Flashes when i can't even find a tablet.... =(

I love my tablet, and I now realize how handicapped I was by using a mouse all this time. You can get them on Amazon.com for a decent price - I got mine for about $140, and while that's a good deal of money, it's a lot for the price.

Your SRM walk cycle couldn't make my eyes bleed -- even for hours!

Good to know. Working on a new SRM toon right now; testing out a pure fbf approach.

BTW, more updates please :D

I'll update once I've got something worth showing - it's been a really rough semester.