Monday, July 28, 2008

033 Not Funny

This series and this particular strip is inspired by Stephan Pastis' comic Pearls Before Swine. In his comics, he often includes himself in the strips with his characters telling him how lame his jokes are. I think that's funny, so I copied him. You might also notice that the Prophet Mouse and Rat even look alike. In my defense, I had no intentions of copying the design of Rat, there aren't too many ways to draw a mouse; it's either gonna look like Mickey or Rat whichever way you draw it.

It is nice having a hobby where people can leave you a comment on how much they hate what you do in your free time. With its dumb yet somewhat "smart" approach to the comedic arts, I suppose Prophet Buddy isn't for everyone. I have a very strange sense of humor and I am very thankful to those who get and appreciate it and I am very sorry for those who don't. At the end of the day, I'm very proud of Prophet Buddy. It doesn't matter to me what anyone thinks about it, as long as I'm happy with it, which I am. To show this, I wear my Prophet Buddy supershirt everyday, you should too! You should probably also throw on some clean underwear while you're at it! The Buddies have expressed to me how much the viewers on the internets don't find the series funny and think it is stupid, so here is my attempt on making it funny and intelligent, enjoy!

NEXT WEEK IS THE SEASON FINALE!!!!!!!

Monday, July 21, 2008

032 Bon Voyage

This is another strip written by Chris Staples. Around the end of the first season, he stormed into my office and shouted "I got it! The mouse says 'Bon voyage' and then the Cat gets recruited into the British Navy!" I didn't ask any questions, I'm still not sure why it was the British Navy. I suppose there is something charming about the British Navy, or maybe Chris finds them comedic. One thing's for sure, their flag is easier to animate than the U.S. one. I kinda wish he pitched it as the Japanese Navy, their flag would have been really easy to make!
When I was referencing the old British Navy photos on the internets, I noticed that a lot of the sailors looked just like Popeye. I would post the pictures but I can't seem to find the exact ones I referenced.
Bauza seemed to have a good time recording this one, 100% of his lines are improv.
The second season only has two more strips, are you excited!?!

Monday, July 14, 2008

031 Birthday Boy

A year ago this week, I began animating the Prophet Buddy series. Happy Birthday boys, you guys are the best! Cats really do love yarn!

Monday, July 7, 2008

030 Prophet Test

Here's another strip written by my buddy, Matt Danner. It was an idea I had been tinkering with, with the Cat also wanting prophetic powers. I couldn't quite get a solid strip with this idea so Matt took a shot at it and here it is. In Matt's version of the story he included a duck, coincedentally there is a duck character who exists in the Prophet Buddy world, Mr. Duncan, so I included him in this strip. We will probably be seeing more of him later on.

In this strip, I set out a goal to animate all of the Cat's lipsync with all new unique mouth poses drawn to the dialogue track. I made it most of the way through, but I did give up at the end. I almost missed my deadline because of it. People ask me why I bother making Prophet Buddy, I don't really know why I do, it's not like I make any money from it. I guess it's all for practice. To keep my skills growing, I have to constantly work on them. I use Prophet Buddy to teach me new theories and techniques in animation I have not tried before and then I apply these new processes at my dayjob, since there is no time to test things out there. So I set different goals and try new things for each strip and I think progressively I get a bit better at what I do. You guys should try it, afterall practice makes perfect.