It was a buh-last playing for all those nice folks on Friday! The evening was a success. I’d like to that the Showboys and the Fills for playing before us and captivating the audience. Also I’d like to that Orange for having us. I’d like to thank the neighbors for not calling the cops even though we left the door open; it was a tiny room, boy, was it a hot night–in Dresden terms. And most of all, I want to thank all the cool folks who came, cheered, danced, patronized our illegal bar, got sexy, and simply made the whole affair worthwhile.

For y’all who missed it, and for those who’d like to reminisce, here’s the whole DDC set uncut (runs approx. 2:05).

Look behind you!

But Lamebook is great.

Lamebook – Funny Facebook Statuses, Fails, LOLs and More – The Original » A Little Help…

We got a nice write-up in the SAX for our next gig. Click to enlarge, sucka.
 

Last night’s show at Rosi’s to a sold-out over-capacity crowd of about 200 of almost 300 ravenous Cash fans.

A few weeks ago, a nice fellow interviewed me for a project in one of his animation classes.  I thought I would publish my answers here, too.

How did
you get involved with animation?

In fourth
grade a few friends and I started making flip books.  Usually involving stick figures, guns,
defecation and the occasional rocketship. 
Years later, in college, I made some animated gifs.  That was before Flash came out.  After university, I got my hands on Flash 5,
and soon realized I couldn’t live without it.

Now, I
should point out that I didn’t study animation or art (although I wish I
had).  I have a degree in music.  So I was doing some teaching and gigging on
the side when I started learning Flash. 
I started taking on freelance animation and illustration jobs after
that.  That went on for maybe 5 or 7
years.  It’s really only been in the last
two years or so that I’ve made a concerted effort to earn a living solely with
animation.  I can’t say  that I’ve “arrived” yet, but my perseverance
has certainly paid off.

How did
you get your first job in animation and what it was like?

I
convinced my boss to pay me to make a cartoony website for the school.  It won some kind of local website award, and
so he was willing to hire me again to make some animated Ecards and banner ads
etc.

Do you
have any advice or tips for university graduates on how to get involved and be
successful in the animation industry?

As trite
as it sounds: stick with it.

Would you
recommend working freelance rather than directly in a company?

I’ve
always worked freelance.  It’s probably
pretty nice to work for a company if you can find one who will hire you.

Which
computer programmes do you use most often?

Flash,
Photoshop, Cubase,  various sound editing
software, Illustrator

What
equipment and materials for characters and sets are used most often in your
animations?

Paper,
pencil, and Wacom

Could you
tell me roughly how expensive equipment, materials and programmes for graduates
who wish to be freelance animators will cost?

I don’t
have a light table.  I wish I did.  But I have a tablet.  A graphire 2, and recently I bought a bamboo,
which was less expensive but just as good if not better.  I’ve worked on the larger intuos tablets and
I don’t find the larger drawing space to be advantageous.  So I’d say go with the bamboo for 50 EUR
roughly. 

Flash is
something like 200 or 300 bucks, I can’t remember exactly.  Some programs come with hardware — I got an
LT version of photoshop which came with my graphire, also music software came
with my midi keyboard.

Do you
have any advice for finding work and meeting deadlines?

You’ll
need a demo reel, and a webpage.  Even
one of those free blog pages will suffice to show off your work.  Even when you are starting out, never take on
any work that doesn’t compensate you fairly. 
If they try to persuade you with promises of  “exposure” or the like, politely run for your
life.

I think
that good planning is the key to meeting deadlines.    And metaphorically speaking, start with the
brush possible.

What was
the hardest job you have taken and what do you find as animator is generally
the hardest part of any job you undertake?

The job
I’m working on at the time is always the hardest, for some reason.  

And I’d
say the hardest part is good planning.  
Sometimes, I’ll have panels in the storyboard which are really vague and
I tell myself, “ah, I’ll deal with it when I get to it in Flash”.  It always comes back to bite me in the ass.

What do
you enjoy most about your work and animations you create?

Working
in Flash, most of my animations rely on “cutout” type animating.  Occasionally I find an excuse to do some
traditional animating; I get a real kick out of the times when it  turns out good.

As corny
as it sounds, the most rewarding thing is the rare occasion when my work  causes 
a genuine emotional response from the viewer. 

Who the hell would let their children have an unsupervised party at a graveyard? Gahan Wilson’s animated adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s “It Was a Dark and Silly Night”

It’s Toph’s birthday today, so
Happy Birthday Christopher

Here’s a great segment from Disney’s 1946 “Make Mine Music”: All the Cats Join in.  It’s fabulous.

The background is very minimal.  It’s drawn in place as the characters need it.  This piece is very much about how the characters convey the excitement of the music, some hot Benny Goodman jazz.  The enthusiasm of these kids is positively contagious, as they rear back and fling themselves from point A and go skidding and scrambling while overshooting point b every time.  And great non-rotoscoped dancing.  I dig it.

Today marks the Epiphany, the 12th night, which commemorates when the infant Jesus was visited by Zoroastrian astronomers.

In France, it is celebrated by eating La Galette des rois, or frangipane.  It is a diddly-licious almondy cake.

The ritual goes as follows: one person, usually the youngest at the table (though last year it was me, the oldest) assigns each piece to each person.
Here’s the kicker: hidden in the cake is one small ceramic angel figurine!  Whoever gets it in his or her piece is named King or Queen.  The responsibilities of office are marginal, and pretty much the only priviledge is wearing the coveted Burger-King-like crown, which you can do for the rest of the party.  After a few bowles of cidre, you might feel tempted to wear it on the way home on the metro, but you listen to your girlfriend’s better judgement instead.