British animation comedy

My brother and I are both professional animators, I am a 2D cartoon animator and illustrator, while my brother is a 3D animator. We both have work that has appeared on television.

We have been thinking for a while now about creating a short sample animation to pitch. At first we thought about doing a spoof cartoon based on the sort of animations millions of use to watch in the 1980's (Thundercats, Mask, Visionaries etc) but we also thought about doing something as an answer to all those popular U.S animations like Family Guy, American Dad, South Park etc. I wrote a book not too long along and it has proven quite popular and we feel we should use that as our first project. We're not sure if we should adapt the material, so that it is a sitcom with sketches wedged into it or stick to the source material and have it more like a animated Peep show.

Quote: Scott Evans @ December 15 2010, 11:25 PM GMT

At first we thought about doing a spoof cartoon based on the sort of animations millions of use to watch in the 1980's (Thundercats, Mask, Visionaries etc)

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This is a subject I'm thinking about using for an animation series... with a twist of course!

Unfortunately I read an interview with a Pixar guy who said you need to come up with 3 good ideas that you are equally passionate about before you decide on one. So I'm stuck trying to think of two more... Stooopid Pixar!!!

I didn't read the rest of your post sorry, waaaaaaaay too much information! Although I remember the premise as you've mentioned it before. Could work I spose.

Me and my design partner have picked one of the above and I've worked it into a script. I've cut out the fat, made it more concise and added in a few things that weren't originally in the scene we've decided to animate.

It'll probably take a few months to do as I'm so busy with my day work. It's going to be a mix of 3D and flash animation.

We had quite a few ideas, and the 80's one we worked out to fine detail but in the end we've decided to go with this one, it could be a cross between family guy and Peep show, as it will have the main character voice over feature

Oh, its scene 4 we've opted for

So first we'll get the vocals recorded, then I'll get each of the characters made and rigged. Shoepie what program do you use, After Effects? If you do use Flash, have you tried the bone tool yet? I'll admit I havent really tried it properly yet, still doing it trad with the symbols

Flash after effects are a good combo. Bones and symbols are a little naff keyframing mate is the way to go

You mean no tweening at all, just frame to frame animation

Excellent animations Gavin, how long did the Mark Macready one take you to produce?

Did you animate that one?

Quote: Scott Evans @ December 16 2010, 7:26 PM GMT

You mean no tweening at all, just frame to frame animation

Excellent animations Gavin, how long did the Mark Macready one take you to produce?

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Nope no tweening.

Macready took 3 months. Just me, and I had to learn after effects again for it.

...Or was it 4?? There were script/vocal issues that kept delaying the actual animation.

Well I use Flash and its a complete mix of tweens and good old fashion frame by frame. I reckon my mini scene will take a few months to create b'cos I've got my actual job to do as priority, otherwise I'd get in done in a week or 2

I never used After Effects, I learnt animation through doing animations for web sites, and flash is a vector based program, which is ideal for the internet as it creates small files. What format is your artwork in After effects, jpegs and pngs?

Quote: Scott Evans @ December 17 2010, 10:08 AM GMT

Well I use Flash and its a complete mix of tweens and good old fashion frame by frame. I reckon my mini scene will take a few months to create b'cos I've got my actual job to do as priority, otherwise I'd get in done in a week or 2

I never used After Effects, I learnt animation through doing animations for web sites, and flash is a vector based program, which is ideal for the internet as it creates small files. What format is your artwork in After effects, jpegs and pngs?

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Oh yeh I work full time that's not doing the animating all the timethat's just evenings. After Effects isn't really animation software it's for post production. I use alpha keyed .movs.

I do want to learn After effects properly, though luckily my design partner uses it. What I gotta do now is create all the characters first, rig them up, get the vocals recorded and scenery made and then I can start putting it together