It looks like I last time did one of these recaps was way back in 2022... Time for a fresh one!

Graduating from College

I'm now a college graduate! For the past four years I studied at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. I received my BFA in 2D animation this past spring! I feel so very fortunate to have gone to such a good school and to have studied alongside such talented folks. Here's to all that will come in the days ahead!

Rat-Racing Against the Clock - My Senior Film

When my senior year winter break ended in January, I was behind schedule on Rat Race. However, seeing that spring deadline on the horizon sobered me up. It was literally time to lock-in and get this done nowww.

I certainly owe it to this site and its community for moving me to be in a good spot by time I began work on Rat Race. In the preceding years by uploading my own work I managed to learn the in's-and-out's of making complete (though not always good) animations. When that time finally came to work on Rat Race, I felt more confident that it was a task that I was capable of undertaking. Things worked out in the end and the film got finished two weeks ahead of schedule.

After Rat Race was completed it was time to shop it around! Ottawa told me to pound sand, but Rat Race was able to find it's audience at some wonderful festivals. The Jersey Short Film Festival was one of them, which I really enjoyed going to while being joined by some of the friends who helped out with the film @gorbogobmin and @killah-d0lphin .

*I had not attended the awards ceremony for the JSFF as I was not expecting to win anything, only to have it revealed to me that I was awarded the best in my submitted category, and best rising star director! Needless to say I kicked myself that night for playing hooky

There was the Open World Animation Festival in Pennsylvania in which @chimpshrimpin and I attended, which took place at the Roxy Theater, an awesome art-deco era venue. For the last of them, there was the Portand Comedy Film Festival. I flew all the way to Oregon, a first for me, and had a great time and a lot of laughs there, and met some cool people too! I also got a Mountain Dew Baja Blast at the venue which was bangin'.

Meetups

In late 2023 I attended my first NG meetup, which was organized in my home state of New Jersey. I wasn't left hoping for another one for too long as another Jersey meetup was being organized. This time things got serious, this meetup was for Pico Day-- Newgrounds' own holiday (patent pending).

You can read more about my time at the Pico Day meetup in it's own newspoast here.

Sonic Shorts and Collaborations

When I heard Sonic Shorts by @thesonicparadoxteam were coming back I nearly flipped in my seat. I grew up on this stuff, lived on it, referenced it on the playground with friends. It irreversibly rotted my brain and sense of humor sure, but I don't freaking care those old volumes were gold! I applied to join the crew and got accepted. My short was about Sonic Rush and all the sounds Sonic would make doing those trick-moves. I also made Tails do the "Vegeta thumb pose" which is my favorite part.

Here's the link to the collab in full:

This year I also took part in a couple of other events! Tankmas Adventure returned, an interactive advent calendar. I have fond memories of taking part in 2021, and I was excited to have the opportunity to once again participate. My art was included on the Christmas Day present-drop, releasing alongside other talented artists! Here's the art I made, the alien hominids crash a feast of the seven fishes!

I also participated in the annual secret santa event! This is the gift I made for harutoch of her OC Haru Aoki:

I've been trying to have more patience in making standalone drawings, which includes this secret santa piece. Conveniently, this leads me to the next section:

Pushing for Detail

It's rare for me to upload standalone illustrations (My mind trends towards planning/working/thinking on animations instead I've noticed). An illustration lends itself to detail, moreso than an art style tuned to limited animation. I wanted to challenge myself this year with pushing myself in that regard. I made some of my most favorite drawings of my characters that I've ever done this year:

I still use the same roster of 6 or so OC's but hey one has to choose their battles hehe... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Coming Attractions...

I've also begun animation for my next online short, the next episode of my web series Hyper-Breakers! Aaron the cat and Todd the dog must find the final part to repair the gaming PC of Todd's little cousin. Have a looksie here:

*The Mac Mini pictured is not the gaming PC in question lmao

In Conclusion

Sometimes I feel as though I haven't done enough in a year's time, or that I've begun to stagnate. But, after writing what I've managed to do so far down on paper (or screen, in this case) that sense of tunnel vision is removed. This is to say that I consider this year a job well done! My new year's resolution more or less stays the same each year, which is to keep trying to improve myself as a person bit by bit. I think I've grown some this year and I'm thankful. I'm looking forward as to what's next. Thanks for tuning in all, Happy New Year!

Hey all! My senior film Rat Race is up now on the portal, check it out!

The journey since the beginning's been long, but it's neat to know 300 are interested in my antics. Keep on the look out for more stuff on the way, and as always thanks for tuning in!

The Pico Day meetup was freakin' awesome.

Helmed by @brandybuizel @coby and @tamag0 ... me and my friend Nick / @gorbogobmin made the trek all the way up to Rutherford, NJ to be a part of this historic public meetup, a first for a Pico Day. As we were dropped off and searched for the entrance to the event center, we just kinda saw Tom Fulp.

Nick and I were so caught off guard that we saw the VIP before we even stepped foot into the venue that we kinda just looked like deer in headlights:

Err... sorry about that Tom.

Throughout the event I floated around the tables set up there, peeking at the sketchbooks and post-it's scattered across. I got a haul of four posters from the event, which are now hung up in my room!

I got the opportunity to catch up with some really cool people from the previous Yestercades meetup! Off the top of my head, I saw @Wegra @Armadill0h @Girziggler @yendorng and @blakenator9872 . It was awesome to see all you guys again!

I was also able to say hi to @SrPelo , who's gotta be one of the most chill people I've met there. I'm crossing my fingers that you start streaming again, man!

My personal highlight was being able to see my senior film Rat Race on the big screen at this event alongside so many great animations by others. I just graduated from Pratt Institute for 2D animation, and it was surreal to be able to share this project back with the community where I got my start.

My folks picked us up afterwards as things started to wind down, and they had with them a couple of ripper hot dogs from Rutt's Hut. A tasty way to end the night!

I'd like to end off this newspost with regards to what @tomfulp had spoken at the end of the showing that day, that he hopes people share more original creative work on the site. The series, animations, games, and everything that people have put on this site sparked a drive within myself to make my own work; I want to give my word to this community that I will try my best and keep working at my own projects, with time permitting as I enter this next post-grad chapter of my life.

That's all for right now, I'll see you all next time!

To those who are attending the Pico Day meetup in New Jersey this May, I'm very happy to announce that my senior film will be screened there! Many thanks to @brandybuizel for including my film in the event's lineup, I definitely feel very fortunate for this opportunity!

Rat Race is my 2D animated senior film for Pratt Institute, it's about the habitually late Reese the rat who scrambles out of his way to get himself to work on time. With the help of some pals like @gorbogobmin , @chimpshrimpin , @killah_d0lphin(Instagram) , and with a great score made by @sleepfacingwest , it's a project that I can surely say I'm most proud of.

The film even has some traces to my own Newgrounds experience from throughout the years (And some special thanks to the website during the end credits). One of the supporting cast is a character from a flash game I submitted to Newgrounds' first ever Flash Forward Jam back in 2021.

I'm so hyped for Pico Day 2024. I'm looking forward to catching up with the folks I met at the previous Yestercades meetup, and also meeting some new faces too. I'll see you all there!

Yo! Long time no news-poast! A few weeks ago I uploaded Hyper-Breakers: Caffeinated Chaos Pt. 2, the last to a three-part story I've chipped away at.

It's probably my most ambitious animation yet, and I'm very happy I was able to get it done! It was nothing short of a miracle that I was able to wrap this whole thing up during the summer, with days before my senior year at school began. Thanks so much to everyone who gave this one a watch!

Reflections

I get the impression that many people on Newgrounds want to make their own web-animated series. I see tons of "Episode 1's", "2's", and "3's" on the portal whenever I go to check it. Whether that would be someone wanting to build up their idea into a ultra-polished network-ready pilot, or if one wants to capture that same down-to-earth magic Eddsworld achieved. Whichever, I hope my few notes on how I made these shorts it is of some help to those people looking to make something, whether my work and mindset is taken as something "to do" or "not to do", haha!

Part 1 (and early ideation)

Part 1's where I first got my feet wet with making a full animation with voice acting and such. I started thinking about making my own series of animations when I saw some of the stuff people were uploading around 2017. And of course even before that time I was watching the Eddsworld cartoons for years. The main characters, Aaron the cat and Todd the dog, really are my first OC's. I just exited my drawing-sonic arc (thankfully), and still had that look floating in my head. I doodled two characters, a cat and a dog, and made them the focus of whatever story I was gonna make.

(My very first sketches of the characters of Caffeinated Chaos, my drawing skills were uh... pretty rough...)

For the plot, I tried to draw from what I was familiar with. I'm from New Jersey, and one of my favorite stores to visit is Wawa, so I based the plotline around a late-night visit to a convenience store. I started to flesh out the story from beginning to end, how I would introduce the characters, what would happen in the end, and all that stuff. Now during that time, my high school would always host a film fest at the end of the year, and I wanted to finish this in time for that. I began animating animating from all points throughout the story, making backgrounds, thinking I could handle the work.

I had all these moving parts but I failed to seriously consider one thing. I had no experience doing something of this scale at all. I've made flipnotes, walk cycles, animation tests, but I've never made a complete short-- let alone a 3-part series-- up to this point. As expected, I burnt out and fell flat on my face. I wasn't happy with how it was coming out.

So I started over.

The deadline for that film-fest passed, and my pet cat passed away a month before. I took a break for a little bit. After, I made the decision that I was gonna tackle each section of this animation one at a time. Oddly, the first section I decided to animate was the middle of my story. My plan was to show the conflict of the story, and if I was up to it by the end, move forward and complete the story by animating the characters' introduction and resolution afterwards. So, throughout my virtual freshman year of college I chipped away at this in the background. I cut scenes, and even recorded dialogue up to the very end.

In the end, this part got completed. I had to ask myself: "Do I want to finish this?"

My stubborn ass decided I was gonna see this damn animation to the end.

Part 0 (and Getting Frontpaged)

So continuing with my backwards production, the next part I tackled was the introductory beginning. I had a lot of ideas for this part storyboarded, and some early animation too, within my unfinished attempt at the series. I punched up the dialogue, redid the storyboards, and began animating from there. By this point it's a few months after Part 1 was uploaded in June, and I'm a sophomore now. I prioritized my schoolwork, so the greatest bursts of work would be done on vacations like winter and Thanksgiving breaks. Once the summer vacation began again, is when I made my dash towards the finish line.

Almost exactly one year later from Part 1, Hyper-Breakers: Caffeinated Chaos Part 0, was uploaded to the portal in early June 2022. And to my surprise... I received my first-ever frontpage award! It felt awesome to see something I made get featured!

I think what makes this entry stand out against the other two is that I really focused on comedy. In my mind I was gonna save the action for the finale, so I tried to jam-pack this entry with visual gags. Gags like a boom-mic falling into frame, a character getting swooped-up by a giant bird, and a guy crashing his new ̶D̶o̶d̶g̶e̶ ̶C̶h̶a̶r̶g̶e̶r̶ Chodge Darger.

Compared with Part One, I was able to improve the artwork more, included painted backgrounds, and have a much snappier-pacing. More generally, I think I've improved the greatest with this entry.

The Finale/Part Two

(Link at top of post)

The finale, Part 2, is the longest and most advanced of the entries I've made. I was always intimidated by all the work I would have to do when I got up to this point. However, this was helped immensely with turning my organization up to eleven. I did various things like:

   •   Have an organized folder structure for the animation on my drive

   •   Write up an outline document to outline full story before scriptwriting

   •   Separate scenes into separate files, opposed to condensing all the work into one project file.

   •   Keep an excel sheet to track my own progress on roughs, ink and paint, etc.

One thing that this taught me is that taking time and having steps to organize things, paradoxically leads to less time overall working on a project.

On the whole I'm most happy with part 2 out of all the entries. I learned a whole lot about organization, and my own skills in animation. I was quite scared about doing a whole fight scene in this animation, as I had never animated one before, and it wasn't really something I could be more relaxed and limited on, like the opening act. But in the end I think ended up doing some pretty smooth work for my first go! Looks like all that time spent watching Sakuga MAD's was worth it.

The Takeaway: Having Something Completed

In the end, I have three animations I could call a complete work. Though I'm sure the series can come off awkward, rough around the edges, and downright "what the fuck is going on in here", I consider this a personal success! I had a creative idea and I took the damn thing all the way to completion! So I guess my advice isn't really on what are good things to have in a series, but more so that it's gonna be a project that one should prepare to be in for the long haul.

Each part of this series had around a one-year turnover from the point of starting animation. What I hope people gain from doing this work as I did, is becoming more efficient and familiar with each routine. For me, every Hyper-Breakers cartoon was either longer or more detailed than the previous. But in spite of that, I was able to do a greater amount of work for each successive animation, and still have it on schedule.

Even better... this is all the more prep and exercises to get me ready for my senior project. My senior animated project has to be 4 minutes, and is a mostly solo production (besides voice work and music, in which other people are helping). So with the work I've done up to this point, I think I'm in a good spot!

So, even though this might come off as cheesy...

Thanks to @ozone, @tacopug, and @ntilcheff for being class acts on the Animation Forum

Thanks to @gorbogobmin, @chimpshrimpin, and Paperwoodchuck for standing by my side and lending a hand with this project

Thanks to everyone who watched my silly movies

And thanks to Newgrounds for being the best art site ever!

And uh... at the end of these newsposts I always put a link to my WIP thread in the forum or uh... something like that... Here ya go...

https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1469915

Damn, 7 years already? I've always kicked myself for forgetting my past anniversaries on this site but I've made sure to set a reminder this time around!

How I first came to know Newgrounds is a bit fuzzy to me, but I've absolutely been familiar with the name since I started using YouTube around 2006. I was always watching flash animations that had the NG logo at the beginning or had the cool preloaders. Around 2013 I was mostly on the site using Skincraft making Minecraft skins, but soon I really started to get interested with the site's history and significance. I made an account as a spot where I could put stuff if I ever got around to making things and the rest is history! It's crazy to think that I've been on this site since the end of the more quiet era that started around 2012, through the Tumblr influx, and through the FNF craze. I'm really happy to see how this site has bounced back since that time I first joined!

Being able to take part in this site's community has been loads of fun and more than worthwhile, and I still got tons more I want to share. Here's to seven more years!

Edit: I got up this morning and saw I got picked as user of the day! LETS GOOOOOOOO!

Well it's that time of the year again, where Christmas celebrations pass and make way for the New Year parties that are starting up. It's also time for me to write a year-in-review post!

Starting the Year - The Animation Forum

The first few months were pretty quiet upload-wise. Most of the time, I was putzing around in the Animation forum responding to poasts and uploading WIP bits. (pssst! My WIP thread in the animation forum is here!)

I actually encourage a lot of the animators here to create similar threads in the animation forum. It's able to get your work out in some fashion, and it's a great way to talk with others for feedback and the art of the animation process in general! I even extend this to people just interested in animation, the animation forum can sometimes hold some interesting discussions... when it's not threads of people asking what software to use.

Daily Award and a Couple of Shorts

Around May I was able to upload two shorts which I had worked on throughout my just-finished sophomore year at Pratt. For sophomore-year work, they're pretty rough, and I let my flash animator sensibilities leak out haha!

After I uploaded Soda Cup Blues, I was able to snag Daily 4th place, my first of any kind of movie reward! That was a great feeling knowing some people got a kick out of something I made.

(P.S. The original name for Soda Cup Blues was actually Soda Shenanigans, I changed it because I thought too many of my works used alliteration!)

Getting Frontpaged!

Bar none, the biggest and most exciting accomplishment this year was getting frontpaged!

The animation is part of my series Hyper-Breakers, a kind of loveletter to this site and my upbringing on internet flash cartoons like Eddsworld and others. To see it get frontpaged was nothing short of amazing, and I'm so very thankful.

I even made a celebratory drawing of all the characters having a cook-out!

I'm using this winter break to churn out some more work on the finale to the Caffeinated Chaos story, here's a couple of panels from the storyboard:

I've always been a bit embarrassed by how long it's taking me to finish this one story. However, perhaps it's just discipline and confidence. My dad tells me for most folks it comes with age, but it's always something one can work on in the present. And, for someone just starting my twenties, it looks like I have a long way to go. But things certainly aren't bad now! In fact, I consider myself very fortunate!

Thanks a ton, guys.

Collabs

I took part in a few of the site's events this year, the Faces of 2022 Collab, Sketch Collab 2022, and the annual Secret Santa.

For the Faces collab I drew Foneycone's Spusky Gus, from the Dogs without Leashes series.

(This was also my first proper upload using an experimental fx-filter I made in Opentoonz to give an analog animation-cel appearance. The effect was lost in the game version, but I think is more prominent in this hi-res version!)

The sketch collab I had a lot of fun with. I animated a quick back-and-forth scuffle between my characters from my Flash Forward Jam game. My part starts at 2:34.

And to round it off, for the Secret Santa event I drew Crayonjackie's character Janet.

Forward to 2023!

I'm definitely looking forward to the new year! As for resolutions I guess I just wanna put out more stuff and get more organized, lol.

What's up! I wanted to say thank you to the guys at Newgrounds and all of you for my animation, Caffeinated Chaos Part 0, which got frontpaged!

The morning after I put it up on the portal, I checked my phone and literally shot out of bed 'cause I was so surprised when I saw that badge on the movie! Thanks a ton to Tom and the staff, and to those who gave it a watch. It means very much and I hope I can entertain you guys in the future.

Originally, this newspoast was to be put up a couple months ago-- Caffeinated Chaos Part 0 was uploaded back in June-- but I wanted to make sure I got a drawing done for this occasion. In the words of Squidward: "Well, here ya go"

You can check out the full-res version on the art portal here:

I have no ETA for the finale of Caffeinated Chaos as of now, unfortunately. The idea of a good nap this summer was too much, and I got a bit distracted from this ha ha. I'm also back in the groove with my studies. Right now, I'm punching up a final draft of the script. (P.S. - The student pricing of the Final Draft screenwriting software is a steal)

I do have some storyboard panels from an ancient prototype of the finale I'd like to share, they're my favorite. They're done by my pal @Gorbogobmin, the voice of the pink dude Flex, among others. I don't think there's too much spoiling here...

In Other News...

100 Followers

After I uploaded Caffeinated Chaos something else happened... I passed 100 followers! By a bit now it seems, so this post is overdue in that regard ha ha. Thanks to everyone for helping me reach this milestone, it means a lot :)

Birthday

Oh shit I'm 20 now. I went out and celebrated with the boys, cool stuff. I still have one more year until I can have a drink but hey, a new decade of my life begins. Things are looking bright and I would not trade what I've got and been able to accomplish, thanks to God.

That's all for now, thanks for tuning in!

Yo! just checking in for the month.

Apologies for the lack of stuff uploaded. I hope to get into a productive habit soon though, and I do try to log in on my page often.

In the mean time,

please accept this hastily-drawn notecard doodle: