024 Knitting Know-It-All

I had heard somewhere that prophets weave the tapestry of the future, or something like that. So I made this strip based off of that concept. Kind of stupid, right? Well, I think my mom will like it!

At the beginning of the strip the Cat is curious to what the Mouse is doing. Because he likes to think he can figure things out on his own, he hops off the wall for a closer inspection. The Cat has a bit of trouble getting back on the wall, because he is very unfit. I know it doesn't really register, but you have to admit, it is pretty amusing to watch him struggle! Also it eats up some time, so the strip fills out the minute nicely.

I hope everyone is enjoying their Monday off! See you next week!

023 Math Homework

This strip was written by the young and talented Josh Lieberman. He's a pretty big fan of the show and a good friend of mine. I met up with Josh a few months back and he had brought me a storyboard he had drawn up for an episode of Prophet Buddy. The board was very detailed, well-drawn, and very funny, therefore I couldn't use it as an episode. Prophet Buddy episodes are not suppose to be detailed, well drawn, and funny, it's part of the series's charm. Josh had also pitched me the math homework story which he had not boarded or thoughtout all the way through, which was perfect. I instantly visualized it in my head as something that could be told under a minute with my mediocre drawings. So go to the Prophet Buddy site now and watch it in all of its glory! Thanks Josh, I hope you and everyone else likes it, if not... YOU'RE FIRED!

Here's Josh's storyboard:

022 Don't Look Down

Hey everybody! Here it is, Prophet Buddy season 2! In the next several months you will be seeing the Cat and Mouse in 13 brand new forseeing funnies. Hopefully you will notice a slight increase in quality, the powers-that-be have extended my schedule and have allowed me to spend two days extra for each strip! To commemorate the coming of the 2nd season, I've busted out my brushes and painted a little something for the iTunes album art.

For the first strip of the 2nd season, I allowed Bob Harper to write again due to the success of the Hairballs episode. "Don't Look Down" is the result. Unfortunately the length of the episode went over the allotted airtime the series is allowed, so I had to cut over 13 seconds from the strip (which is a lot for a 1 minute cartoon). However, I had saved some of the omitted animation for you loyal readers to enjoy...

I think the strip is actually funnier without this extra bit, though it was very painful for me to cut.

021 You Called It

I don't know why the Mouse didn't predict this prank. The Cat sure got him good! I hope everyone has a terrible April Fools Day... APRIL FOOLS!!!! Have a good one!

No more episodes until May... I'm serious about that.

020 Prophet Bunny

I was going to post this one on Monday, but it's my birthday, so here's my bday gift to you!

I tried extra hard on making the backgrounds look nice in this strip, I don't know why, I have issues, I suppose. Here's some of the backgrounds:

Reference: A Boy Named Charlie Brown

Reference: The Flintstones

Reference: Yogi Bear Show

This one I stole directly from "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown" In the board I drew Woodstock inside the nest when the Mouse rises up with the egg. I omitted him because I got scared, so instead I made the nest Woodstock's nest and gave the easter egg in this scene a Charlie Brown stripe.

Reference: None. MUSTARD FREE INSIDE!!!

While making this episode I was experimenting with "cheating" the cuts between scenes. Here's one I'm still questioning whether it worked or not...

This shot and the shot below, together make a 'jump cut,' which is often avoided when planning shots. I didn't want to animate the Mouse actually grabbing the egg while lifting the rock, to do that I would have to make some sense out of super long mouse arms. So instead I decided to make this jump cut, and threw in a 'THUD' sound effect to hide it. Did it work??

I enjoy this scene in the new strip. When I boarded it I had drawn a tooth next to the egg, but it wasn't until I was animating the scene that I thought of having the Cat missing a tooth in his take. I was very proud of myself at the time, I was also buzzing off Red Bulls.

The return of the Harpies at the end was Matt's idea when we were recording the strip. I don't know what else I can add to this statement. I thought it was a funny idea.

019 A Valentine's Treat

Don't you hate it when you pick the one that tastes like caca? Happy Valentine's Day everyone! This episode was made very very last minute, I actually wasn't sure if I was going to make it or not. For the past month I've been trying to get Bauza and Danner together to record the voices for the next season, but Bauza's computer has been giving him problems when recording. So finally, last week, Bauza got his computer working, except I got sick where I couldn't leave my bed. So Saturday when I was feeling a little better, we got together and recorded the voices. Then again, Bauza's computer gave him trouble and he wasn't able to get me the tracks until Tuesday night. So basically, I animated the entire Valentine's strip last night. Once I finished, I uploaded it to the internet. Hot off the press! I hope you guys like it. I love you.

Season 2 is underway, half of the strips are written and recorded. The 2nd season will be premiering in May.

018 Season Finale and a Rant

This is it, the last strip of the season. The total running time of all 18 strips comes out to about 20 minutes. I'm very happy with how Season 1 turned out. I began Prophet Buddy in June with the concept, the animation production began in July and I finished the last strip the first week of December, so it took me about 6 months to complete. I would like to thank everyone for watching! Also I would like to thank Jasminsaurus for her stories and myspace management (also for putting up with my sleep-deprived tirades), Aaron and CHF for all of the posts and making the online store, Logan and Born Upon the Tide for the shirt hook ups, Greg Araya for making the screen, Shawn for putting together the site, Chris Staples, Bob Harper, and Leo Riley for their strips, Jeaux and ChannelFrederator, the myspace buddies, and most importantly Matt Danner and Eric Bauza for giving up their free nights to make the characters real.

I have more plans for Prophet Buddy. I'm going to begin production on Season 2 within the month. My month-long hiatus was nice, but my nights have become a bit boring without the buddies.

In this strip I wanted to make it anti-climatic since it was the Season Finale, which most television series' season finales have become... anti-climatic. This was my moment to put a little commentary in the strip expressing that there IS nothing good on TV anymore. In my opinion, TV is in a really bad state, I can't even watch it anymore. Mostly I watch dvds, and internet content because I can't stand the regurgitated reality shows, horrible sit-coms, and neverending marathons of poop. This is what prompted me to start Prophet Buddy in the first place.

Working at a major animation studio/network, it is really disheartning watching my talented collegues, with amazing television show ideas, pitch only to get shot down one after the other. Nobody knows what they want, so they'll tell you that they love your idea. A few months later, they'll say that even though they love it, they have to develop it into something completely different to compete with Spongebob or whatever. So you rework it for a few years till you get it to what they think they want. By that time Spongebob isn't popular anymore, so they'll scrap your show or they will make you rework it again (this usually will take another year). Then if you are lucky you will get to make a pilot. After the pilot is complete, with numerous revisions, they will start testing the pilot with audiences. They will tell you that it tested better than anything they've ever tested before, so you think the series is a go. A few months later your friend will send you an instant message telling you that he is sorry to hear that your show isn't going to be picked up. You are usually the last to hear the bad news. 2-4 years has been wasted, your property is shelved and you return to your cubicle with your tail between your legs. And during all this time you are dealing with a lawyer or an agent trying to get a somewhat decent paycheck out of the deal. In the end, they'll pick up a show about some popular band from 20 years ago, like Duran Duran. And the public never sees your pilot.

So yeah... I thought I'd be better off going ahead and making Prophet Buddy without a studio's involvement, and what takes a studio development department 4 years to do, I did in 6 months with no hassels. Though, Prophet Buddy really wouldn't work for TV and isn't developed at all, someone is still watching it, and that's all I want. If we have the ability to make something and get it out there for everyone to see, what's the point of going through a network?

That's all for my rant, sorry about that. Thanks everyone for watching, now it's your turn to give me something to watch!