Squirt Gun Bandits: Bar Background

Last but not least in our series of Squirt Gun Bandits game backgrounds, we've reached the final stage: the big bad boss!

This level runs along the same influences as last week's, with old west saloons as the inspiration. This background was more straightforward, as everybody is familiar with the scene of the cowboy at the bar. Since the villain only pops up from behind the bar, we only needed to separate the bar and everything in front of it from the background image. We also tried to keep things colorful and kid friendly. The bottles in the back are soda as opposed to the whiskey held in most. I like how at first glance, they look like the real thing until you try and read the labels. Most players don't pay attention to such detail though, as they have a boss to defeat! It takes some quick squirt gun shootin', but I feel this baddie is going to end up all soggy.





Copyright © Sifaka Productions, LLC

Critter Concept: Monster Dino

I know he looks cute, but trust me, get too close and he’ll bite your hand off!

This adorably fierce little dinosaur is the first in a series of critters that Sarah and I designed last year. Sarah started the designs with her Sketchbook Pro roughs, then I swooped in with my Flash versions, where I added some monstrous “bling” like spikes and claws, etc., and finished it off with color.

I don’t know about you, but I think this little guy would make a great pet.

Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

MMMs: "W" is for Walruses

Walruses are so hot right now!

This week's Monday Morning Motivator's theme was chosen by Jay Sabo over on our Facebook page! Thanks a bunch Jay!

Next week's theme is anything that starts with the letter "X," so anyone interested in making a suggestion can drop us a line here or on our Facebook page. Become a fan, suggest a theme, and if we dig it we’ll draw it.

For those that don’t know… MMMs is our weekly exercise where we pick a theme and spend the first hour of each week sketching. The sketches can be loose or tight, but the point is to work out the weekend stiffness and draw something new.

Now without further ado, we present... "W" is for Walruses!






Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

The Ruby Brooch

THE RUBY BROOCH : A short story that I wrote "Once upon a time" :)

Fun Art Fridays: Beach Girl

Summer is here! And what better way to celebrate than by donning a bathing suit and going for a swim? Since I'm not a big beach goer myself, it's much more fun for me to draw those who prefer to soak up the sun and sand.

Enter this sketch, which was a doodle that turned out better than I had expected. This impossibly long-haired beach girl is making sure her suit is in top form. Her style is loosely based on the style of Leiji Matsumoto, a favorite artist of mine.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the summer!

Copyright © Sarah Gencarelli

Intel Software Network Article

I've been asked to write a series of "how to" articles for the Intel Software Network about Flash animation techniques. The articles range from beginner to advanced subjects and my first article, "Integrating 3D Image Sequences into Flash" just went live.

The Intel Software Network is a website that connects people with developers and Intel engineers. By joining, you can get expert advice from the developer community, join discussions, find out about software development products, and share your own specialty with your peers. It's a doorway to the broad range of programs, products, resources, and content available to the software community from Intel.

Click here to read my first article!

Copyright © Two Animators! LLP & Intel® Corporation

Squirt Gun Bandits: Saloon Background

Last week we showed the Street Background to the Squirt Gun Bandits game. We used a very customizable approach to the Street, because that's where players spend most of their time. Once they've progressed past the various Street levels they get to the Saloon interior, where we went with a more traditional approach to creating the background.

A Saloon seemed like the best place for the game's baddies to hide out in, so I went about researching saloons of the old west. Photos from that era are all in black and white, but it's easy to imagine the colors of that time. Places like saloons were able to afford things like wallpaper, so I tried to use that to add variation to the woodwork.




Even though we designed this background to be less customizable -- as it was only needed for one level -- we still made sure to build it out in layers. This way the programmers would have an easier time hiding those pesky villains behind objects. Below is an example of how we broke up the layers.



Once players defeat all of the baddies in this level, they move onto the final boss who hides further inside, behind the bar. Stay tuned for a peek at that background next week...

Copyright © Sifaka Productions, LLC

Character Designs: Even More Fairies

Following up on my last few posts -- Fairy Dude and More Fairies -- here are even more fairies!

I really started to like where things were headed at this point. The characters started to become less humanoid and more fantasy, which is pretty cool. I was starting to use the vegetation as part of their bodies, rather than having them just wear leaves and flowers as clothes. My favorite is the dude on the far right... his face is based off of a goat's. "Bleet, bleet!"

Copyright © Two Animators! LLP

Fun Art Fridays: Cheeseburger & Fries!

Move over Cholesterol. Stand aside Trans Fats. Here comes Frankie French Fry and Charlie Cheeseburger in the next Fast Food sensation... Artery-Clogging Action Time!

These guys are the result of another fun exercise I did for the Design-A-Character group over on Deviant Art. The idea of this challenge was to design a character based off of a food item -- in this case I chose my favorite "bad-for-you" meal, a cheeseburger and fries! Mmmmmmmmmm…

The above image is a shot of my dynamic duo racing into action! Below are my WIPs of both Charlie Cheeseburger and Frankie French Fry's initial designs. I created Charlie first, then decided to design Frankie -- because what’s a burger without the fries, right? Anyway, hope you like these dudes. ;)




Is anyone else getting hungry all of a sudden? =P

Copyright © Joe Costantini

Animated Short: Mr. & Mrs. Oasis!

2A! serves up a toast to Mr. & Mrs. Oasis on their wedding day!

Here's a cute Web short we created a while back, with our friends at Lucid Marketing, to promote the (then new) Oasis Washer and Dryer combination. The short pokes a little fun at the idea of "the perfect couple" by depicting a wedding ceremony for the two appliances.

2A! animated the Flash short using images of the actual products cut from Photoshop, along with new Flash art. We also supplied the audio. Enjoy! ;)



Copyright © Kenmore