hiatus

crossing the road

When I have time I'll make the old lady actually walk, very slowly; for now she just shakes on the spot.

making it up as I go

All the character designs were basically one drawing of each character in a 3/4 front pose. I only create full front, profile, and back views if/when it comes up in a storyboard. So in this episode a full front view of Champ needed to be designed. No back or profile view seems necessary...yet.

wrestling episode

Storyboards are not usually clean and colored like this. However I did some test animation and animated almost all the expressions I will ever use on the Toilet Puck character before I ever did the first board. So it is just a matter of copying and pasting the proper expression into the board. Also the BG's are mostly already cleaned and colored, so I copy and paste those too. I am more concerned about the pacing than anything else.

another freeze frame

Lots of short cuts and tricks here to make it look more involved than it actually was. One of the tricks used is the staggered shake cycle, almost all of the animation in this scene is just a cycle of staggered drawings, with 2 to 4 frames per cycle.

Eureka!

One thing I do not like about many flash shows is the "flip." When a character or head turns from left to right, I see many shows take the lazy way out and simply flip the symbol with an equally lazy stretch as some sort of lazy anticipation. Did I mention I thought it was lazy? The "flip" works fine on a show like South Park because it's flat and it's supposed to be cardboard cutouts. But it bugs me when a show is supposed to look good, with good character designs and they use a cheap flip. Anyway, here is Toilet Puck's head turn, now full body turn.

head turn

As much as I tried to resist doing this head turn, it turned out just fine. The animation in Toilet Puck is very limited. I did not want to ever have him turn his head, but inevitably there will be a scene where there is no way to avoid it. So here it is. This was the easier part; the tricky part will be when he is not imagining himself with a superhero body, when he is just Toilet Puck, because I will have to animate that clip he holds on to. Tricky, but I like a challenge.

freeze frame

Each of these vignette shots will have about half a second of animation before the freeze frame, kinda like this.

last of the vignettes for this sequence

Well that was crazy fun to do. This episode might include a musical number. If it does have a song sequence, then there will be a whole other set of vignettes that needs to be done.

from rough sketch to finished drawing

I'll work on the background tomorrow.

its a scene

Flash is not the best program for imported bitmap backgrounds, especially one that zooms in and rotates, so this will have to be done in some compositing software. This flash version is just for fun.

flying puck

Did a quick animation of Toilet Puck's cape flapping. If I tossed in a BG that slowly pulled back, it would practically be a finished scene.

excuse me

Add one more to the vignette. This time Toilet Puck saves a girl from the clutches of a bad guy.

vs.

These vignette shots are so much fun to do! The character, Toilet Puck, is like every kid out there that is into comic books. We all have dreams and fantasies about being a superhero ourselves.

montage or vignette?

This is another shot from a vignette of Toilet Puck imagining himself as a superhero. I was calling it a "montage" before, then I got a lesson in the difference between a montage and a "vignette" from my girlfriend...literary types, go figure.

This is how the picture progressed, from rough to clean and colored.

plodding ahead

Well, I finished boarding episode 02, more or less; there will be some changes that need to be made to it down the road. But for now it is as done as it could be. So I went ahead and started boarding episode 03. There are a lot of still shots like this one in episode 03. This is Toilet Puck imagining himself as a superhero again. This time fighting off Ninja Bank Robbers.

tell me it ain't so?!

What does this mean for Toilet Puck? Is this the end? What will happen to the super-hero washroom? The intrigue, the drama, the answers...in the next episode of "The Refreshing Adventures Of TOILET PUCK!"

close up

This is a panel from the storyboard. It's a close up of TP. Technically, his head would not fill the whole screen. But there are good reasons to do it this way; first, and most importantly, it's funnier looking. Second, it saves me from adding a BG, which would be mostly obscured anyway.
I wish I could take credit for coming up with this, but I saw an episode of Sponge Bob where they did this on a close up shot, and I thought it was pretty funny. So I am using it on a Toilet Puck close up.

animatic pan

Here's a short animatic for this one scene. There is still one element missing, it's a work in progress.

pan bg

How many times can this washroom get destroyed, exploded, trashed, and obliterated? More often than I thought. This is a panning bg of the washroom after an explosion. There was an explosion in the first (origin) episode, and here again in episode 02. There is another character in the scene; as soon as he is done I will add an update with him.

TP back view

reveal

So simple, yet effective.

Toilet Puck weird mouths

And the range of Toilet Puck's expressions keeps growing. The newest ones are at the top of the page, including the gaping mouths on the top right.
Yeah, these mouths will be pretty funny. I won't use this type of mouth often, but if it's thrown in every once in a while it could make an ordinary piece of dialog look funny.

gaping mouth

Just testing out the gaping mouth. I like it a lot, I will find a way to use it in the next episode.

no limit

I would like the character of Toilet Puck to have limitless expressions and lip syncs. In this case I did something completely different with his open mouth. It is inspired by a couple commercials I really like; the stop motion Wrigley's commercial spots done by Laika. The gum character has a mouth that opens on the side of his face like this. The other is the Cinnamon Toast Crunch "lick" commercial. I love that commercial!

low res rough test

strip

literally

A shot of a gag. Not sure yet if I will have Toilet Puck pull the menu out from behind his back, or if the shot will start on this pose when it cuts to Toilet Puck. The easier thing to do would be to cut to this shot and just animate a lip sync as TP talks. Animating the menu being pulled out from behind him could be tricky...but I like a challenge.

TOILET PUCK MAN

So I decided to stick this scene in episode 02. The idea that Toilet Puck dreams of being a Super Hero himself one day is an important theme, so the earlier I can establish his ambition the stronger his character is. And the earliest I can do that is the very next episode after his origin episode. I'll make sure TP expresses his desire to be a Super Hero several times throughout the series, maybe even reuse this shot a few times.

maybe one day

Whether the refreshing adventures of TOILET PUCK remains an internet cartoon or television broadcast, short 3 to 5 minutes or a half hour show, there is one long term story arc throughout the series; Toilet Puck's ambition to become a SuperHero himself one day. So this is a shot of Toilet Puck imagining himself as hero one day. I don't know which episode I will stick this in yet.

girl power

The blue female Superhero is not finished yet. I haven't decided who I want her to be yet. She will be in the same pose, but she will probably have more of a Superhero costume. Orgasma is done. And the green girl in the foreground is also done. I cheated with her design. I just used an older pic I did of a mermaid and changed her a bit. Since she is only in this one scene, and the only thing she will do is blink, I figured I would save a lot of time by reusing some old work.

peek a boo

I added a shot of the GIRL-SUPER-HERO-WASHROOM in this episode. A friend of mine told me, when he saw the intro to Toilet Puck, "Too many dicks, not enough chicks." So I'll fill this shot up with a few scantily clad female Super-Heroes to take care of that problem.

sperm logo

Here's a shot from episode 02. I know, I know, episode 11 was done before episode 02. However, if we went in chronological order this is the first episode with Super Stud, and this is the reveal of his Super-Hero-Chest-Crest.

mild mannered disguise

I have just begun working on the next episode, which is episode 2. The script is ready. I just needed one new design, Super Stud in his mild mannered guise. So here it is. Now I can get on with the storyboard.

last scene for this episode

I am working on the last scene of this episode. Originally the episode ended with a close up of Super Stud saying his dialog. But it felt like the episode ended really flat. Anthony Reece, the voice of Super Stud and Toilet Puck did some great ad-lib in this scene, it definitely does not end flat anymore. So I had to change the scene from the boring close up to something interesting to match the energy of the voice acting . The shot above is what I came up with. Super Stud picks up Toilet Puck and pokes him.

gross finger

Who knows where that's been?! This is a scene I added at the last minute. There is no animation in the scene, just this still shot. There are at least four still shots in this episode. I love when they do that in cartoons. Ren & Stimpy used it alot, Sponge Bob uses it, so does The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flap Jack. The painted still shot has many uses. Humor is the main reason. But also to achieve a gross look that flat colors can not effectively convey. I also find it's the best way to achieve a P.O.V. shot from another character's perspective.

dirty mirror

Another screenshot with a dirty looking background.

right back at it

BEFORE
AFTER

It's been one month since I finished the first episode of TOILET PUCK. I entered it into an Animation Festival, sent it to one network, one studio, and just put it on you-tube a couple days ago. Now it's time to get to the next episode. This is shot from episode 11. No, episodes 2 to 10 are not done yet. I'm jumping straight into episode 11. The more episodes I can get done, the easier it will be to pitch this project. Anyway, if you look at all the posts labeled "episode 11" you will see that I need to add textures and graffiti to the backgrounds. I started working on episode 11 before episode 01. It was during the making of the first episode that I came up with this look for the BG's. So now I need to go back and add graffiti and textures to all the BG's in episode 11.

EPISODE 01 is complete!!!

A PUCK IS BORN

I am very excited to have an episode complete and ready to show to the world. The web site is still an ongoing work-in-progress, but at least the video is up. Only this small version is up right now, I am hoping to have a large full screen, good quality version up by the end of summer.

As for episode 01; It turned out REALLY GOOD! I could not be happier. The pacing, the gags, the voices, the comedy, all turned out great. Now the real work begins, the pitching, the leg work, the rejection, the marketing, and the SHAMELESS promoting. I will put it on you tube in a few weeks, there is no better way to reach a mass audience than you tube.

MAGIC

This is a good example of one of those "magic" moments animation. These 2 characters, Major Pecs and the Unintelligible Hunk, worked so good together and played well off one another that I decided to write another episode featuring these two together. When something works, it is important to shift direction, rethink, and alter course. Originally, I only planned on using Hunk in 3 episodes, including this first episode, and he wasn't teamed up with Major Pecs in the other two. Now I am going to rewrite them together.
The screenshots above are from 2 close up scenes that were added after receiving the audio tracks, because I was inspired by how the characters interacted with each other.

END CREDITS...UPDATED

The pic above is the updated, final credit for the voice actors. They did an outstanding job. Big Llou Johnson as the Unintelligible Hunk steals the show. Anthony Reece, who voiced all the other characters, once again did great work. His Major Pecs is awesome.

This is my end credit.
This shot is still being worked on. I need to add the second voice actor, instead of having voicetoons.com twice. Anthony does amazing work, I really lucked out finding him.

My girlfriend has earned the associate producer credit. Not only did I run everything by her, animation and scripts, timing and ideas, but she also invested her dollars to get the first episode made.

I am very grateful to Haris for permitting me to use his song, it's the perfect theme.


The best source for sound effects on the web.

And finally, a little plug for the website.

And there you have the end credits. It's going to zip pan from one shot to the next.

THE INTRO IS COMPLETE!!!!!

OR

CLICK HERE! TO SEE THE INTRO

I am very happy with how the intro turned out. The idea behind the intro was to make it fast paced, with lots of quick cuts, and tons of action. Then when the show starts the pace is instantly ground to a halt. The show is slow paced, with no action at all. So the intro serves a couple of purposes; first, it gives us some contrast in pacing. Second, it shows the characters have a history and a life outside the washroom, making them more real. The show takes place entirely in a washroom, so the intro was a good place to escape that.
The theme song was written by my friend Haris Cehajic many years ago, when he was in a band from Brampton Ontario, called DILAN DOG. I loved the song from the moment I heard it, and right away thought it would make a great intro for a cartoon. Now, more than 10 years later, I finally got to use it.

bg revised

A couple reasons I had to change this bg; first, the whole graffiti and textured look came about AFTER this bg was originally made. Second, the shot didn't look right after I finished the scene before this. The two scenes are sequential. I didn't know what the scene before this was going to be when I did the original bg, I'm putting together the intro on the fly, making up scenes as I go along to put together into some kind of fake montage for the show. I say fake because these scenes are never actually going to be in the show. I used some of my old illustrations as posters again, and some of the graffiti drawings on the wall is from an old sketch by Errol Burke which was from another series concept we where throwing around years ago.

my neighborhood

This is a bg used in the intro. Once I decided to put the graffiti and textures on all the backgrounds, it has come to feel very much like my neighborhood. I always thought Montreal felt like Sesame Street, without the muppets...except some of the characters around here are practically muppets anyway. I used my art for the posters on the foreground pole and on on the building. It was a good way to make use of all those random illustrations.

Action Packed Entrance

This is a pose of Blaction Hero falling or jumping into the scene.

toiletpuck.com

The website is up...kinda. There's not much to look at just yet. The first episode is very close to being done, I would say only 3 weeks away. Then it'll be on the website for the world to see. The website is a work in progress. I plan on having many more features, especially if the series catches on, then we will have a message board feature, a shop, games, and downloads. So visit toiletpuck.com and check back by June 14 2009 for the first episode to "air". I know it's air for the television, but is it air for the world wide web too? I dunno.

rotation on the fly

I only had a three quarter view of this scientist before I started animating. I got to a point in the scene where I needed a front view, but did not have one. So I created his front view on the fly.