Summer

Summer is almost here. Tomorrow is the last full day of school, then two half days for testing. Then I will begin work on the 'Moon' animation, set for an August release at this point. I still need to start writing it...

The correct time to start the script hasn't quite presented itself yet. It will soon I think. Timing is everything. If I start a script when the idea isn't ripe enough in my head, it begins to spoil and then I don't feel like animating it anymore. Making animations is a very delicate process.

In the mean time I started working on a short 30 second ongoing animation that should be done soon...its a new Poppet animation featuring the "The End is Nigh" Poppet. It will have a meaningful message in it somewhere.

The Moon animation will utilize something I would never touch, normally. Techno music. I have been exploring the hideous world of hypnotic computerized songs and found one I like...but the animation will mostly consist of simple free downloadable loops edited together to avoid copyright claims. If only people would share their work, always. No matter. Thats about all for now...have a nice day. ^_^

New Direction.

I am taking this blog in a new direction. I will post more often. I will divide posts about official things and my own thoughts. The Poppet animation is done. I am very pleased with it. Lisa liked it, which was my main goal. The Poppets must be animated right or not animated at all! I got a surprise the other day, I asked author Neil Gaiman to watch, just to see what would happen. He saw it. He liked it. Made my day. Getting good response overall. If you havent already seen it, I posted a video with the link to a new channel I made for the Poppets, only. Enjoy.

Recent Developements.

SO. I am still in collaboration with Lisa Snellings, "Poppet Conducts and Orchestra" will be released soon. Animation is about...hmm. Sixty percent done? I have the music already edited, I have the sounds, I just need to record me whistling and finish animation and I am pretty done. THEN I am going to finish "It Don't Mean a Thing", the meaningful music video set to the song of the same name and takes place in the 30's/40's.
After that I may do light work with Alice in Wonderland, nothing special or guarenteed, but I will be most interested in the next real animation "The City Behind the Moon". Its about a boy who gets transported to the moon, and finds there is a CITY behind it. He meets a local city girl, who helps him try to find a way back home to Earth and they both run into the head of the Lunar Police Force, a robot, and he doesn't like them very much. So now it becomes a race against the clock to get the boy back to earth, or be jailed or worse by the corrupt robotic police officer who will stop at nothing to stop these law breakers. It's due to be released aroundthe anniversery of the real first steps on the moon in July.
After that it will APPEAR we are on hiatus but I will be getting started on the Halloween animations set for October releases. One will be a music video of the Haunted Mansions theme song "Grim Grinning Ghosts", animated to my interpretation of the Haunted Mansion attraction in Walt Disney World Resort.
The other Halloween animation is my next planned Poppet animation, " Poppet Sees a Ghost". But everything about it could change, its very up in the air at the moment. More updates will be released about it as they come along. Tomorrow I hope to release a poster for the current one "Poppet Conducts and Orchestra" so get ready! :-D
-J.W.B.

Music Videos, Poppets, The Moon, and other Things

Hello everyone. Here's the current animations and news!

1. I am currently in collaboration with Lisa Snellings, an artist and creator of the Poppets, interesting and mysterious creatures who have been here on Earth for a few years, but in the universe for many. You can purchase your very own Poppet here

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Strangestudios?page=1

2. Also, I have two animated music videos in production that are on hold until the poppet animation is complete. One is an oldies type music video called "It Don't Mean a Thing" and the other is an Alice in Wonderland music video, with music from the new movie. Its basically the book in five minutes time.

3. This summer I have an animation coming out called "The City Behind the Moon". I cant tell you more, but guess what it's about.

4. Once ALL of that is done, I will take a short break for a month or two, to have time to continue to learn how to use my new animation program. I do think I will continue to animate Poppets throughout that time though. I thoroughly enjoy animating and drawing them. It feels more like fun than work. :-D

THE AIR PIRATES: Nearing completion and coming soon!

Hi everyone. I present to you the first poster for : THE AIR PIRATES!!

I expect it to be out this weekend, or during the week at the latest. It is pretty rad so far. Here are some of the firsts for animations of mine in this one project:

FIRST walkcycle

FIRST free camera movements

FIRST 3-D plane panning

FIRST running cycle

FIRST rotoscoping shot

FIRST real multi soundtrack animation with dozens of sounds and voices

FIRST project with a plot to use score music that does NOT belong to Batman or Spider-man

AND MORE...!

So everyone, be on the lookout for this project. It's literally going to be my best and most original animation so far. THESE are the animations you can expect from J.W.B. in the future.

THE AIR PIRATES: Status Update

Hey everyone, My VERY FIRST animation using Toon Boom Studio 5 entitled "The Air Pirates" will be out in approximately one week. Yes everyone ONE WEEK. It will include more sound effects than any other animation I have done, more dynamics, better animation over all, my first walk cycle which isnt amazing but usable, LOTS of planes flying around and hopefully a good finale. The finale shots are really the last that need to be animated currently, MANY of the sound effects are in place and my lines are nearly done. So sit tight everyone, the Air Pirates is honing in on a release. Once this ones out animations will hopefully be shooting out much faster. I know theres been WAY too many long intervals between animations recently, and since the beginning of my account, Really. This is set to change, ESPECIALLY over the summer. Stay subbed, keep subbing, and be prepared for a totally new type of J.W.B. cartoon!

"REMODEL"

So J.W.B. Studios format is getting a MAJOR facelift. I now have an expensive and wondeful godly animation program called Toon Boom Studio 5, and a few new editing programs, and I am now awaiting the arrival of a drawing tablet to simulate paper drawing on the computer. From now on animations are going to come out MUCH faster and they are going to look much more original and better over all. There will be more music, some even original and non-soundtrack ripped, more sounds, and more ranges of voices and mine might even satisfy you audiance members because apparently people are saying its changed.

My new project is called "The Air Pirates" and features the darkly comical battle between an two old pirate captains, one human one robotic, and these pirate captains do not captain an ordincary crew. They captain a crew of helicopter riding bandits that rob the jewels and money of rich party goers in flying "blimp yachts". They fight, the "Air Police" gets involved and a chase ensues. Who will win in a fight that has no "hero"? We'll find out!

During that I will be working on my after christmas christmas animatio nthat is a sequel to "The Forgotten Ornament" featuring a big ornament named, you guessed it, Big Blue. Instead of being left in the box off the tree before christmas, he is tossed outside ON the tree AFTER christmas and Big Blue must battle the outside and other challanges to get back to the ornament box. A heartwarming tale, even if it does take place after christmas.

And After THAT I will FINALLY be animating my dream animation: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I have been waiting almost TWO YEARS to do this. I will be animating the book almost line by line and word for word, taking each chapter one at a time. The characters will all have new character and set designs of my own style, and the music of the hit Tim Burton Film of the same name based on the same book, :-). Remixed, of coarse.

Thats about all of the updates I have for now...excpect MUCH MORE animation updates to follow in the comic weeks.