Howard's Way

Hello World,

Maybe it’s because I’m a dreamer or maybe it’s because I’ve never worked in a corporate environment before, but whenever I see bankers or big business men spouting nonsense on the television, I automatically assume they are secret fetish wearing deviants who take late night trips to playgrounds and ride seesaws together and maybe go down slides as well. Taking inspiration from this unsettling thought I decided to introduce a seedy undercurrent to the animation. Before long I’d redesigned my two main characters to be greedy bankers enjoying a good old late night seesaw session whilst wearing ladies underwear, happy in the knowledge that they are filthy rich.

The thought struck me in the middle of the night whilst I was thinking about bankers secretly wearing ladies undies that it might be nice to have an additional character involved in my animation. The new character (I’ve called him Howard) will also be a frilly knickers wearing banker/business man who is sat on the floor getting electrocuted in some sort of kinky sadomasochistic act. Why I hear you ask? I have no answer.

Anyway I think this probably says more about me than I’d like to admit in pleasant company so I’ll quickly move on by showing you my design for Howard.

And here’s a simple looping animation test I made of him being electrocuted.

Well I hope you all found that electrifying…sorry.

The end.

Neon This! And Neon That!

Hello world,

I’m back with another fabulous if slightly boring blog about my on-going e4 sting adventure. Today I started putting together images of dilapidated buildings for the background of my animation and whilst they were all very nice and dilapidated I felt they could use a little oomph! But what on earth could give my buildings the desired spark I required? One word - Neon! (I’ve just realised you probably guessed that from the title).

Below is a bunch of designs I made on an A4 sheet of paper of possible neon lights designs. Naturally I decided to go down the slightly sleazy route as it turns out there are no classy neon lights.

With a few designs picked I then somehow managed to force the paper into a Photoshop so I could make the image glow like a neon light. It can be seen below.

Finally I made a simple animation of the light in action.



Here's the final background plate with added chimney lights for no extra cost. 

And that’s the end of my neon light adventure - or is it? More words and pictures coming soon.

The end.

The Unusual Suspects

Hello world,

As another hot summers day drifts by here comes another ruddy blog post. Today it’s a quick character sheet I knocked out for the two business chaps that’ll be appearing in my e4 sting.

Will another blog post be coming soon?

The end.

Project Infidelity

Hello world,

It’s been far too long since I last plopped out some wonderful words into a blog and you’re all probably wondering what the hell has happened to the Beatles animation I promised you months ago? Well its well on its way (I promise), however I have to admit that I’ve recently been cheating with a newer, fresher more attractive and younger project that won’t get me sued Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono for using copyrighted music. 

TV channel e4 every so often do an e4 sting competition to advertise the e4 channel e4. The rules are simple. The sting has to be 10 seconds in length and must feature the e4 logo and use the e4 music that they supply. The content of the sting can be anything you want within reason (here’s a link if you wish to enter). Enticed with the whiff of fame and fortune (£5000 first prize) I thought I’d give my creative muscle a flex pump and throw my hat (metaphorical, I don’t own a hat) into the ring. I thought it would be nice if I got brewing a regular blog again detailing the journey of making an e4 sting for an e4 competition to design an e4 sting for the e4 channel (the first blog will be a little introduction about me entering the 2013 e4 sting competition).

A lot can happen in ten seconds; you could fall in love, shoot a pigeon, fall in love with a recently deceased dead pigeon (necrophilia and bestiality all rolled into one lovely perversion, I’m sure somebody must suffer from this (not me))  or you could slowly or quickly (depending on your speed) walk up a flight of stairs. My idea for the 10 second e4 sting is two business men going up and down on a seesaw for ten seconds (I’m not joking but seeing it written out like that I’m not sure it’s a good one). Whether I can make this stupid idea entertaining enough to win a shiny prize or get shown on a television that isn’t mine remains to be seen, but that’s the idea I’m going for.

Below are some quick visual representations of ideas that entered my brain whilst I was thinking about making an entry for the e4 sting competition. I’m not going to explain them.

 More to come soon.

The end.

We All Live Where?

Hello World,

I’ve been busy beavering away on my little Beatles animation and it’s finally starting to take shape. I’ve finally completed all the backgrounds and the animation itself is well on its way. So to reward you for your patience dear reader, I thought it would be nice to show a little screen shot.

Get it while its hot guys and females as this is beginning to look like it’ll sadly be the last animation I do for a while. I hope you like it.

The end.

David

Hello world,

I thought it was about time that I put my graduation film onto the internet for the world to see (well the two people that read my blog anyway). So here's David in all it's glory. I hope you like it.


David from Stephen Craner on Vimeo.

Into the Cavern

Hello World!

Well it’s all been very quiet and dusty on my little blog for…well the last five blooming months really, but let me assure my loyal army of one that I have been busy beavering away on a brand spanking new little project.

Inspired by the positive feedback of my little Beatles animation (as seen here); I’ve decided to devote all my spare time working on a slightly longer animation that hopefully will span the glorious history of the super group. I don’t want to give away too much of what I’m planning to do (mostly because it’s all in my head), but I thought it would be nice to update my progress every now and again with a brand new picture (you can already see a character sheet I’ve made here).

So without further ado here’s a background I’ve made for inside the Cavern Club which will soon be seen in my upcoming animation…coming soon…hopefully…

I hope it doesn’t look too bad.

The end.

All your need is some love!

Hello World!

I’ve been deathly quiet over recent months with various projects on the go and little time to post my usual nonsense. To squash the vicious rumour that I’d perished whilst out at sea I feel now is the time to make a brief reappearance and reward my patient army of a loyal follower with a new picture made by me. This time it’s a character sheet I’ve made for an upcoming Beatles animation that currently I’m working on currently. I hope it meets your approval.

***New picture of The Beatles at Budokan added***

 

The end.