Animation, cartoons… where would I be without them today? Something about the whole concept of being able to bend reality, stretch solid objects, and put someone’s body thru tortuous contorting, yet he still bounces back within five frames resonates with my soul. Tex Avery is my hero. His was the turning point in animation history as he ushered in the ridiculousness of jaws dropping to the floor, tongue rolling out of the mouth about four feet, eyes literally jumping off the face. In one scene there is a chase between 2 characters, one makes a sharp turn, the other tries to change direction and but slides completely off of the screen movie reel. Such theories may not sound impressive these days, but everything before that was the Disney-esque ultra realitic mimic of everyday life, no bending the space-time continuum or the off the wall craziness that we have come to love and expect. So why the hell am I mentioning all of this? Cartoons have taught me timing, exaggeration, special effects. the list goes on and on. Thank God that Flash and interactive offer creative outlets that employ people like myself. The only reason I know that animations and transitions look aesthetically correct is because of teachers like Avery. Thank Tex.

LAUNCH PROJECT

Another project, another crazy deadline. Hopefully the end result of this project brings a smile to everyone who encounters it, adults and children alike. Build a virtual Ice Cream Sundae and print out your creation! Fun for the whole family! Go to your local Friendly’s and tell Joe Friendly his old buddy Charlie sent ya. Lots of hard work went into this. Let me know what you guys think.

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I built these snickers banners a little while back. I was excited to build them because it involved one of my child hood heroes Mr. T. Although the banners themselves didnt use Mr.T, the website did. I was fortunate enough once again to convince the client to do these banners in Flash 8 because of BitmapData. The banners required a shattering effect which was done using the draw method of the BitmapData class. If these would have been done in an earlier version of Flash, there would have been significant chugging of the processor when the image shatters. Check it out, let me know what you think.

I came across this today and was very impressed. Although the drawings are simple, the animations are incredible. I’ve always considered myself a connoisseur of 2D animation. I couldn’t believe how responsive the character is to the keyboard controls. Let me know what you think.