progress

Shits going down!

For the uninformed, I recently started the Weird Science collab, and things are going really really well! On day one of making the collab, all of the parts were taken! Like.... WHAT??

Not only that, but I got three parts finished on day one too!! And they aren't spam either, these parts were really well done! I'm still working on my part(s), and these guys can get out parts in a single day??? Fucking kings if you ask me.

I'm not going to share the parts so I can hold the surprise a bit longer, but they look super epic. Trust me.

Since it's my blog though, I might as well share my progress on the whole thing. I haven't started the outro yet, but I have started making the intro and the part I assigned myself. I might as well start with the intro... I'm pretty much done with the intro, I did a animation with my character singing the lyrics, then it cuts to the collab logo. Oh yeah, here is the collab logo, designed by me!

What do you think? Personally I really like how it turned out! I made it in Paint 3D in like half an hour, so I think it is pretty cool for what it is! :)

As for the actual part I am doing, I am not going to give away too much, but I plan to make some people from the Lock Legion play in a band where I am the lead singer, followed by me talking about "my creation" (makes more sense in context).

Here is a frame from the animation so far, ya stinky.

I really like this angle, especially since I'm messing around with shading. I haven't made the background yet, but I plan on doing so in a second. I find it funny how I was too lazy to actually add the guitar, so I slapped a transparent PNG and called it a day. Also, it is a reference to a Lock Legion movie where MP3 Lock has a music battle with Wine Lock. Only I would get that though!

And as for the outro, I plan on doing a transition to the credits... somehow. I don't know how yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something. The intro and outro I can't really finish yet though, because I need the names of the people doing the collab. And even though I know who is in the collab, I don't know if they have to give up their parts, so I'm waiting till all (or the majority) of people finish their parts.

And that's about it! I can't wait for the collab to finish, and for everyone's parts to finally come together! Thanks to anyone who has submitted a part (or is currently making one), and I love you guys!

-Jonah G.

(P.S: Have an interest in making cool ass animations? You can join the Lock Legion too! Here is the link:
https://locklegion.com

<3 Lock Legion)

idea for a short film

I GOT IDEAS, AND I WANT YOU TO HEAR THEM.

A couple days ago, I mentioned how I wanted to make a short film or something, but I didn't have any fleshed out ideas. BUT NOW I DO! I have an idea that's fun, wouldn't take very long to make or fully flesh out, and be cool maybe.

The short is called "The Dino with a dream", and it's about the last living Dinosaur named Stera, and she lives in a abandoned shed all by herself, hiding from everyone because they would endanger her if she exposed herself. But every day, she yearns for a friend, or to be accepted by humanity so she can roam and be herself.

I came up with the idea in animation class, when I was just messing around and animated a little dinosaur when I was bored.

This is Stera by the way. I honestly didn't know I could draw a dinosaur, but I'm really happy how she turned out! I need to get used to drawing her, I keep drawing her off model a lot. But her design is really simple, so it shouldn't be that much of a problem. Besides, she is very fun to draw!

I really want to test out a "Who framed Roger Rabbit" type of artstyle, where all of the backgrounds are real, but the characters are all animation. For my style though, it looks  more like the ending scene of It's Such A Beautiful Day. It has been such an appealing idea that I have never tried out before, yet I have wanted to so badly. I've tried to do this style a couple times, and I know exactly how to do it, but for various different reasons (whether it be deadlines, or just simply losing the IRL footage), I never get around to actually... doing it. Hopefully this is an excuse to try this new style out, because I really fucking want to.

The more I think about it, the more I want to get this project off the ground! I can't wait to get it started, and hopefully I can soon. I really hope school doesn't get in the way so I have the time to finish this sucker.

If I have any other ideas about this project (avoiding spoilers obviously), I'll be sure to share! Until then, see ya later!

-Jonah G.

some shit i'm working on

I guess I should talk about the stuff I'm working on.

To be honest, I didn't really have anything planned before a couple hours ago. I've just sorta been doing my own thing for a while, because... you know... I got a life. I'm getting back to animating now, I'm feeling really motivated and excited to work on stuff. But what stuff?

Well for starters, I'm starting a new collab in the Lock Legion! The Lock Legion used to make these really cool music video collabs, and it was super cool until DMCA ruined everything. Luckily though, I found a workaround that can possibly fix the DMCA issue; covers! I can use covers of songs instead of the actual songs themselves so that we won't get complaints about copyright!

And for our first music collab in 11 years, me and Molotov Lock decided to choose Oingo Boingo's "Weird Science". The guy covering it fucking rocked it! Here's his cover:

 

Pretty fucking sick, right?? I hope that with this collab, we can do more music collabs like this!

Oh yeah, check this shit out.

WOAH! I just found out I can do this in Flash, and it's so epic!! I never knew how or why I ignored the 3D rotation tool for so long, but no longer, because it is my new favorite thing. I know it's just a dinky test, but it's still really cool to me. I'm gonna see how I can incorporate this tool in future animations because it is so cool.

As for animation ideas, I'm planning to make a fan animation of Vargskelethor Joel soon, as well as some shit for my school. Oh yeah, I have animation classes at my school! So expect some cool shit to come out of that.

I mentioned in my "2021 Year in Review" post on my Newgrounds page that I wanted to make a show, and I still do, but I'm really wanting to make a MOVIE. Now that sounds outlandish, and it honestly is, but I just have a urge to make a animated movie or short film or SOMETHING. The thing is, I don't know what I want to do with the movie. Like I have a basic idea, but I don't know where to go with it. A guy can dream...

But whatever, I'm happy right now, making cartoons for my friends and family, and of course, you guys. Anyways, it's 3:00 in the god damn morning, so I'm going to bed. Night y'all, love you. Don't forget to brush your teeth.

-Jonah G.

it's such a beautiful day

Time to gush about a movie I love.

So because today was such a boring day to blog about, I wanted to make another blog covering something else, so I decided to review my favorite movie of all time; "It's Such A Beautiful Day" by Don Hertzfeldt. (I will try to avoid spoilers, because I really want you to watch this movie.)

I really love this movie. So much. It's about a man named Bill, and it goes through his life as we watch him slowly lose his memory through the course of the film.

What I admire about the movie is it's unique style, it 100% carries the movie. The movie only shows you what Bill can see/remember, and the narrator gives you the slightest information to let you know find out is going on. Because you can only see what Bill sees and is going through, you empathize with him when he's going through this awful shit

You also empathize for the narrator too, not only because he is the only voice that lets us know more about Bill (and provides a tongue in cheek narration for the majority of the movie), but it's almost like he views his life with the audience, and is simply describing it to us. This is most relevant towards the end of the movie when (KINDA SPOILERS) he breaks character and freaks out after he realizes what happens to Bill.

I love the art style too! It's simple, sure, but it carries across so much emotion and detail that I can't help but love it. For example, the majority of the film is in black and white, but (MORE SPOILERS) once Bill is given news that changes his life, he starts to see things in color, and fully appreciate life for what it is. It is beautifully done, and I love it so much.

The music choice is great too! It only plays when necessary, which I absolutely love. I hate the mentality that you need to have music going 24/7 in a movie... sometimes you just need to let the moment happen, take in what's happening without an obnoxious track playing in the background, and that is what this movie does so well. But when the music is needed, it hits HARD. Referring to earlier, when Bill realizes how much detail life has, "Prelude in C-Sharp Minor" plays, and it goes all the way with the moment. It is a beautiful scene, if not one of my favorite scenes of all time.

My one and only gripe with the film is finding a way to watch it... apparently it used to be on Netflix, but it got taken down. It's unavailable on Amazon Prime Video, too (if you don't have a VPN). It is available on Blu-Ray, as well as Vimeo On-Demand, but pretty much nobody uses those. 

Luckily there is a DVD release, but it isn't being sold anymore, and it's not a dedicated release of the film to my understanding (it's a collection of his other work, and It's Such A Beautiful Day is just thrown on there). It's really weird too, because Don released the first two parts on DVD, and they are still being sold, so I don't understand why It's Such A Beautiful Day didn't get the same treatment.

It's honestly just a nitpick though, and has nothing to do with the actual quality of the film itself. This is probably my favorite movie of all time, it is so creative and I just can't help but watch it over and over. I really didn't do it justice to avoid spoilers, so I highly recommend watching it. The first part of  the movie is uploaded on YouTube for everyone to see, so you can decide whether or not it's worth watching the whole thing (or at least peaks your interest a little bit).

I hope you liked my review, I might do more just so I have an excuse to gush over my favorite movies, this was really fun.

-Jonah G.

second day of school

 Second verse, same as the first.

Today was basically the same as yesterday, no joke. Wait for two hours, go to 3rd period, go to lunch, go to 4th period, end day. There was something weird that happened during 4th, but that can be summed up as "uh oh, my teachers fucked up my schedule". Very boring overall.

We did have an evacuation drill today, immediately followed up by an assembly. (Kinda like being saved from drowning, and then immediately having a pool party... very weird.) There was this one guy who brought an airhorn to school, and that was annoying as fuck. He blasted it twice in my ear, and it gave me an awful headache. What an asshole. I was so happy to get on the bus.

Also I brought my 3DS to school today, that was pretty much the highlight of my school day, because I got to play Pokemon for like 2 hours, it was sick.

Not much else to say, very lame day overall.

Uggggghhhhhhhh.

-Jonah G.

first day of school + record collection

Today was boring as fuck.

Legit, my first day was mostly just waiting for a couple of hours for my period to end. And it's not like it was optional to do so, my first and second classes are a separate branch from the school (it's complicated), and they weren't really ready yet, so I was just basically waiting for two hours. Honestly it wasn't that bad, cause it gave me an excuse to look at Twitter and call it "schoolwork".

Then I went to my Chemistry class, and we did some activities, and that was fun. We got in a debate about pizza, so that was pretty neat. Then I had lunch, then my fourth period, then we went home. That's it. Again, a very uneventful day. I assume tomorrow will go similarly, so I'll try to find a way to kill the time.

Because today was such a shit day in terms of eventfulness, let's talk about something completely different; my record collection! I believe that physically owning media is a symbol of how much you appreciate it, so that is why I am collecting my favorite albums! So far I have collected some of my favorites, like "Dark Side Of The Moon" and "Back In Black", but I'm still working towards getting some of my favorites of all time in my collection, including (but not limited to):

• "Time" - ELO
• "Demon Days" - Gorillaz
• "Animals" - Pink Floyd
  
• "Plastic Beach" - Gorillaz
• "The Wall" - Pink Floyd (my favorite album of all time)
• "Parachutes" - Coldplay
• "Random Access Memories" - Daft Punk
  
• "Viva La Vida and Death and All Of His Friends" - Coldplay
• "Discovery" - Daft Punk
• "INSIDE" - Bo Burnham
  
• Literally any OK Go album, all of them are bangers.

I am slowly working towards completing my list, including some that are hard to find (Shadow Academy had a LP release, but it sold out before I could buy it). I am very proud of my collection so far, and it is so satisfying to see all of my albums lined up together to see how far I've come from the beginning of this year. I really do love everything about records, from the detail in the covers and sleeves, to how the records even work! I know I'm probably very easily blown away, but I can't help it!

I'll try to update you guys more on my record collection daily, and hopefully something more exciting happens tomorrow. That's pretty much all I gotta say, so I'll leave you with a video I made when I was pissed off, because I don't have anywhere else to dump it, enjoy.

 

-Jonah G.