Khoolsville

Ryan Woodward

2012-01-25T23:42:00.002+08:00

Just awesome and inspiring works!!!

Panique Au Village

2012-01-25T02:54:00.003+08:00

My all time favorite stop-mo trio with a really cool in-depth look at the behind the scene clips of how this awesome animation project is being produced. Love it!
Check out their pics in the official Panique Au Village Flickr site! WOO!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paniquelefilm/

New Year Updates

2012-01-14T20:59:00.018+08:00

What a year it has been so far! So many activities, a lot of creative juice flowing... I'm pumped! I did realise however that I've been really failing in updating my blog as regularly and current as I'd like and have to work on that note. So without further ado, here's a quick glance at some of the major events that took place from last month up to this point.
First off was a little Christmas do both I and thanks a great heap to my mum for putting together,managed to conjure up a swell spread from pasta,meat accompaniments and so forth. Thanks to everyone for doing their bit in chipping in the swell and beautiful dishes as well. From Ksusha's awesome eggplant rolls and seafood wraps,to Twinnie's unexpected whole roast Chicken to the guy's Tiramisu ice cream dessert. It was all totally wonderful and what a blast. This year's party goes out to all my orphaned buds who're a lil too far away from home to be celebratin' Christmas so here's a little warm treat and gift for them to enjoy.

And am so grateful that it all went so smoothly and everyone had a grand time on Christmas. And yes,we did round up the evening with a game all artists should have a go at...Pictionary!
Wanna see how well it went? Just take a look at what my friends came up with...
This is truly a game for the non-artistically inclined. My comp tech savvy and game producing friends fared better in my opinion than my animation buds. :P Guess which one got the most guesses?
Next up,before you knew it, NY came down upon us like a heavy rain cloud. Honestly we weren't planning to celebrate anything special for the special day. Just the thought of enjoying a bit of rest before the start of a New Year with endless opportunities and possibilities is enough to make me want to just shut down and kick up my feet. But fate had other plans and before I knew it, both me and mum were invited to join in on a Russian style NY celebration with my Siberian pals at their place.

Man, it was just great soaking up great Russian cuisine and going over the traditional aspects of their celebration and historical significance was just hitting me on all the right notes. And boy,did we feel like kids again with the fireworks blasting in the night's sky with little sparklers my friends insisted on.
My favorite eggplant rolls with olives were present (I'm soooo tummy rumbling happy) along with some real smoked mackerel from Moscow with fresh lemon slice on buttered baguette for appetizers, creamed beetroot slaw ,...oh man I could go on, up to beef with pork dumplings with tomato cream sauce. These people really know how to rock out good comfort food!
One of the best things about visiting my pals is that I get to hang out with the lil 'un whom I first saw in a dingy old cage quite a while back in an animal shelter me and my pals visited last year. She was the smallest kitten amongst the many other kittens,felines,pups and canines at the shelter. And boy,was fortune smiling down upon her. She easily won over my pals hearts and mine included and was quickly picked up and taken back to her new found home here. Aptly named Kiki, had never have to see a day of worry since she was parceled off to the shelter by her unwanted previous owners and it was on that very same day did we decided to drop by to visit at the shelter.
Now she's looking all sleep,beautiful and properous and I couldn't be happier for her. Good ol' Kiki. She still remembers her adopted aunty.
Another surprise gift that came along was a double dvd set of 2 of my most favourite Ghibli features to date! WOOHOO!!! I'm in heaven. Thanks to both my childhood friends,Bolly & Daniel for sending over the surprised sweet treat. I couldn't help but play them over and over again during the course of my drawing stints at home.

The goodies didn't stop there!!! More goodies came by in the mail since Christmas and the latest one is a copy of my friends,Erin & Chrissie Humiston's BAND comic with which I was extremely honored to've contributed an art splash page for their comic. I had so much fun working on it even though it did take me many months before I could find the time to draft and put them to final inks in the process. Thankfully it all came out well and I was able to send it in time before my pals took it to publishing. Here's a sneak peek of the WIP.

MAN! I am so stoked the final page ended up being placed next to the equally awesome Dirk Erik Schulz aka Themrock. An artist I've had the pleasure of meeting in DA site a while back and up to this point,I am still amazed at the range of design skills he's capable of. My hats off to Erin & Chrissie for putting together this awesome series to print and am so very happy and thankful to have them as my best friends for so long since we've met. I love you both!

Cool cool cool! My criminal details finally out in print in a bona fide circulated print just above my bro,Eric's,details along with the ever so talented Mario Gonzalez! Words cannot describe my feelings right now. I'm over the moon. Mario,Erin,Chrissie,bro....if you're reading this, I sure hope I get to hang out with you guys again one fine day if I ever get my butt to the States again.
A bonus that came along with the comic is an amazing home-made Christmas card my pal,Erin, put together for the holiday season. Man it is looking tight!!! That's going on my wall!

Something else I came across recently when going through some old photos in my shelf. That's a series of old worn out and crumpled designs and images of a freelance gig I've worked on for a family friend who had dearly wanted for their son's bedroom furniture to be painting in an African theme with wildlife in it. Assigned to the task,this is one of the many odd jobs I've worked on during my early years as a fresh grad. Here's a look at the process I went through.
After drafting out the concepts and finally satisfied with a look I am comfortable with and without much room to trash up the job, I proceeded with final watercolor renders before photocopying the designs which will then be projected onto the furniture themselves to begin their paint job.
Bear with me,this is me as a freshie so proper illustrations were still far beyond my grasp. But I did the best that could be done at the time and with the help of my mum,aunt,twin and a friend,Daniel,I hired to help out...we did manage to complete the job within a space of 3 weeks I believe? or within the month. And it felt really good to finally get the job done without making a mess of things.

Here's a peek at the painting progress. I certainly had fun with it.

And in the end, these where the final results. I don't know if the furniture themselves are still in existence as it was def a good 9-10 years ago when I've completed the job and have never had the opportunity of visiting the home again after that. If anything,I am sure young Master Day would've done a thorough redesign of his bedroom to suit his growing adolescent age. Oh well, c'est la vie.

I'd like to end this post with another clip that got me inspired and hankering to get my own comics/graphic novels kicked to high gear. I seem to always want to share animation/art clips in here. :) I just can't get enough of watching jaw droppingly good clips that I happily come across online. Nice to add a little variety too,wouldn't you agree?

Anyways, enough of my long winded banter. Hope everyone is having a good year so far and though there's still a ton more to share about what I've been up to...*wink wink* I shall save them for another update.

Cheers and have a grand upcoming CNY holiday ahead,folks!!!

Art Trade and the impending Migration

2012-01-08T23:33:00.004+08:00

Great! Henry Jaepelt 's Art Trade came through in the mail today! Here's a peek at his lovely design style! Love it because it looks like a springboard from Moebius/Jean Giraud's style. :D Thank you,Henry! I've as yet to draw him something just as neat and eye candy.

And been thinking,it won't be long before the biggest annual event of human migration which will be taking place very soon this coming Chinese New Year. It brings to mind this eye opening movie which focuses about the life and struggles of a typical Chinese couple working in the city but leaving their kids behind in the rural communities usually to be taken care of by their relatives or grandparents because jobs are scarce in the rural villages.
I caught this documentary a long time back about the plight of Chinese kids left behind by their parents who took off in search to earn a better living to sustain the family and can only come back to visit their kids every Lunar New Year holiday. I, like every other young kid that age would've been devastated should that situation be put onto me. Hope every kid this year gets to be reunited with their parents happily.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!!!

2011-12-31T19:45:00.004+08:00

Another year has gone by, and hafta confess,this has really been a trying year for me. But looking at the end of it all, it did come out really good in the end and am definitely more happy and grateful for my life and what it's been blessed with. I wish for the best to all of my family,friends,loved ones and everyone out there whom I'm thankful for and have the honor of sharing life's adventures with. Hope everyone will have a grand time celebratin' the New Year and be safe and well out there. I will definitely be posting more images and goodies in here once things have calmed down,parties over,last bite of food digested and recovered from excessive laughter and cheer. :D

Here are a series of clips to bring out more fun and laughter for everyone,and hope it will carry forth into the new year. I can't get enough of it. Kudos to the team who gave us 'Just for laughs'. Hehehe,guess it goes to show that cartoons doesn't necessarily have to come from painted cels ,drawn out papers and digital graphics. ;)

Have a Happy New Year 2012,Everyone!
Lots of Love and thanks for all the kindness and support all through the years.

Cheers! *NY kiss*

Out of Sight

2011-12-26T16:07:00.001+08:00

out of sight from kynight on Vimeo.

Something absolutely charming for the day. :D Although I've already seen this several times,I just can't get tired of it.
Insert from the vimeo page :
'This is a graduation Production made by three students graduated from the National Taiwan University of Arts.

The main character of little girl in the story confronts a robbery and strays from the road she is familiar with. After passing a hedge, she enters an unknown world and unfolds a magical adventure depending on senses other than vision and her imagination. With soft and cute colors as the main key, we used simple designs to depict the little girls' imaginary world.'

Merry Christmas 2011 from Claude & Chunkie!

2011-12-25T01:47:00.003+08:00

Merry Christmas 2011 by ~Sandora on deviantART

A Claude & Chunkie Christmas 2011 Greeting to all! :D
Hope you all will have a very warm and cheerful Christmas this year and a Happy New Year.
Rushed art on my part with a lot of touch ups still needed. But thanks to the awesome and talented Zeke Chan for pulling it all together and getting it through.
Cheers and happy holiday,folks!
hugs

Its Christmas Eve!

2011-12-24T03:39:00.003+08:00

Time for some good ol' Christmas toon tuning!

With some more Christmassie tunes....this time with Ricky!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!!

Pluggin' into Bento

2011-12-22T13:49:00.003+08:00

My apologies to the folks who bought our book but could not truly appreciate the art in all it's glory due to the BnW publication. So will slowly post some of the art in here for everyone.
Cheers and hope this makes you all feel like a Bento for your chow time.
:D

MNU Art Book 2011

2011-12-21T17:00:00.004+08:00

Hi all,

Here's a preview of this year's MNU art book anthology for Comic Fiesta 2011 at KLCC last weekend. If any of you folks are keen for a copy,do let us know here by dropping a message.

It's only Ringgit Malaysia 10 (which would be about USD3++) for a copy excluding postal charge.
Inclusive of our main art team,we have about a dozen new guest artists contributing their art into this year's book.

Hope you will like it and thank you so much to all for your kind support during the con and all this while. *hugs*

Insert : Ed, I'm still gonna bug you for that yamchar for failing to include my name in the editorial section. Rrrrrrr....

Cheers and Merry Christmas folks!

Random Sketches

2011-12-20T14:42:00.000+08:00

Comic Fiesta 2011

2011-12-19T17:08:00.005+08:00

It's a wrap!!! What a blast it's been for this year's comic con at KLCC. Total mayhem and chaos and waaayyy too many visitors than we'd ever anticipate. Felt sorry for the folks that couldn't join in on the fun due to sold out tickets and over crowding in the hall. But everyone has put in a lot of effort and overall it was worth it and the event ended on a high note. More pics can be viewed in my FB page for now till I can find time to upload the stuff into my Flickr account.
Cheers folks and whoever wants to pick up a copy of our new MNU book can place their order here. It's only RM 10 for a copy of the grahic anthology from the team as well as a dozen new guest artists featuring their works inside. It's print in BnW btw but still packed full of punch including my new Claude & Chunkie strips and new development art for a personal comic project.

And for all you Bill Watterson fans out there,enjoy these clips! And thanks to my friend Luc for this awesome link of an interview into some of the details into the elusive life of Bill!
link : http://jawboneradio.blogspot.com/2005/11/jawbone-81-in-search-of-bill-watterson.html

Enjoy!

RIP Jerry Robinson and this Christmas Season

2011-12-10T12:20:00.007+08:00

Jerry Robinson & The Joker by R. Sykoryak

First off, a respectful acknowledgement and honor to the late Mr. Jerry Robinson who gave us all the world's most famous and loveable villain of all time, The Joker. He will always be remembered for his profound contribution to the comic industry and his spirit endeared whenever we each hear that familiar laugh and see that familiar big wide grin we've all come to know so very well.
Comic Books Resource has written an article about Jerry and his contribution to the industry here in the link below. Please take a look :

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=35811

Some embarrassingly old stuff with new stuff.
Thank you, Mr. Robinson.

Moving on, some shameless plug-in to my very talented online pal,Ood Sereira just had her interview posted online by my best friend, Bob! Do check it out. It will be a series of interviews on comic artists around the world!
http://www.comicbloc.com/read/2011/12/comics-around-the-world-part-3/
http://ood-serriere.blogspot.com/
And here's another equally talented artist from our shores and am proud to say,my friend too,Ms. Hanie Mohd.
http://www.comicbloc.com/read/2011/11/comics-around-the-world-part-2/
http://haniemohd.blogspot.com/
Here works are just amazing,cute and heart warming! Please take a look if you can. :)

Finally, am kick starting this holiday season with a lot of Christmas'y themed songs and what better way to usher it all in than with a lot of Frankie and Bing. :D

And a Christmas treat from Dreamworks! Watch it if you get the chance. Just a short,heart warming clip for this holiday season and the best part is,all of the characters in here are just more endearing and I mean especially/specifically Astrid.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

2011-12-05T22:32:00.003+08:00

The Sword in the Stone will always epitomize the sheer fun and excitement in good ol' fashion 2D animation than any other film for me.

And something else I've discovered...apparently created in anime studio pro 5? Amazing job! I like the final rendered quality a lot!

Insane Photoshop Skills

2011-11-30T07:42:00.002+08:00

Insane Photoshop Skills - Watch MoreFunny Videos

Claude & Chunkie colors

2011-11-29T13:41:00.002+08:00

Here's a quickie sample of one of the panel fully colored and finalized. As you can see,I've done 2 colored versions : One retaining the rough pencil lines, the other cleaned up for the characters. Then I went further to check the B&W quality of each version to see how they'd fare as our artbook will be published without colors this time 'round. Hope you like it ,folks!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

2011-11-25T07:12:00.003+08:00

What's Thanksgiving without some of the good ol' classics??? :D Here are some of my favorites from The Peanut Gang,Garfield and of course, Tom & Jerry.

To all of my friends celebrating Thanksgiving.

Cheers folks! :D

For MnU

2011-11-21T12:34:00.002+08:00

One of the many art pieces I've worked on for my art group's new upcoming book. Hopefully it'll come to fruition. I'm calling him Foxy for now.

Cheers and hope you like it folks! :D

It's DONE!!!

2011-11-18T05:33:00.001+08:00

The new sets for my Claude and Chunkie installation has been complete! Here's a sneak preview of the roughs with inks for you.

Cheers folks!

Happy Belated Birthday Cal

2011-11-04T02:31:00.005+08:00

Have been so caught up with work that I have to hustle myself to really make up for the many belated birthday art gifts I've as yet to complete. Here's the first of many. This one is specially dedicated to my best friend's youngest son,Calvin Francis. Hope he can forgive my terrible terrible tardiness. Being a big Spongebob fan ourselves,that's why we warm up and got along so well. :D Happy Belated Birthday,Cal!!!!

An now,something really exciting that's I've only just discovered recently thanks to friend's head's up in FB. It's a short clip called 'The Emperor's New Clothes' by director Steffen Schaeffler from Pascal Blais Studio. Am resolved and inspired that this should be the technique to aim for in any of my future animation projects. *big grins*

And many new animated features to look forward to coming soon ...
A Monster in Paris/Un Monstre a Paris

Image extracts from : http://megabluelove.livejournal.com/9225.html

I love Dr. Seuss! So looking forward to the same team at Illumination Animation and Universal that did such a fine job rendering his heart warming imagination and literature to the big screens including 'Despicable Me'. No doubt, their new trailer really got me all excited for it's release next year.
For those who can remember this wonderful animated classic take by the likes of Friz Freleng, Maurice Noble, Hawley Pratt,Ted Geisel and more, here's a quickie trip down memory lane 'The Lorax'.

And finally...'Brave' from Disney/Pixar. I can hardly wait!

New Claude & Chunkie and 850 Meters

2011-10-27T05:31:00.005+08:00

Something I've been putting off for the longest time ever,since Febuary last year in fact. It always takes a purpose and a deadline for me to start hauling arse to get these new panels up and running. Here's a quickie teaser of what's in store for the new adventures of our fatefully paired duo. Hope you folks will like it. *fingerscrossed*

And now,something gobsmackingly funny by Thuristar & Lunanime called 850 Meters. A teaser first introduced to me by my bro quite some time back. Can't believe I haven't shared it yet! Well here it is folks! Enjoy!

Excerpts info taken from their YouTube link :

"850 METERS is an "after hours" project, a 10-minute animated comedy short currently in production, produced by THURISTAR and Lunanime, with the support of the VAF.

The film tells the QUEST of a FAME-AND-FORTUNE-hungry, wannabe hero, in a not-so-fairy tale!

850 METERS will be completed in 2011. As we move forward with the production of the short, THURISTAR is also producing a 'making-of' of the film. The idea is to follow the work of our small team 'behind the scenes', through monthly 2-minute episodes, each of them featuring a different production step.
Mostly Belgian, but also French, American, Norwegian and from Luxemburg, the 850 METERS team is working between London, Paris, Valence, Albuquerque, Kortrijk and Ghent, for a few months of 'after hours' production."
A THURISTAR -- LUNANIME short film
Created and directed by Joeri Christiaen
Music by Frederik Segers
Written by Joeri Christiaen and Perrine Gauthier
Developed with Karim Rhellam
Creative Producer: Perrine Gauthier
Executive Producer: Annemie Degryse
With the participation of PMG Worldwide (messiahStudio), Grid vfx and Temple of Tune
With the support of the Flemish Audiovisual Fund (VAF)

With the AMAZING work of:
Vegard Myklebust, Technical Director
Michael Mahy, Character Animator
Olivier Thill, Modeler and Z-brush artist
Maud Chalmel, Graphic Artist

Making-of by Antoine Kerninon & Perrine Gauthier

Munchkinland

2011-10-24T22:51:00.003+08:00

Sorry have been out on the loop,folks. Been having a lot of comp issues starting with my system getting infected in-between renewing my antivirus and then later on having to take it to the shop to manually install the antivirus....and then the tedious task of re-installing all of my softwares and then checking out all of the bugs and updates affected by my comp hardwares,updating each of them and adjusting/tweaking them for my use. Gggrrrrrr....
What did help were my best friends being there for me during my stressful episodes and one even hooked me up on a new series by one of my favorite British personalities,Stephen Fry. It's called Planet Word. Excellent show overall as expected and even got me hooked back on prior comedies and eps from other documentaries I didn't get to catch in BBC.

This next one, The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive kinda rang true to me somehow and got me pondering a lot.

And this entry wouldn't be complete without my sharing another little gem I stumbled upon recently : I love all of the creative little 'Must Drink More Milk' segments.

And I so want a copy of this book to add to my library :(

Congratulations and more updates

2011-10-19T01:03:00.002+08:00

First off! Congratulations to Dice Tsutsumi and Gerald Guerlais for the most awesome achievement during the wrap up auction of SketchTravel recently.
One red sketchbook passing from one artist's hand to another spanning through 12 countries over 4 and half years. All in aid of 'Room to Read'. Check it out here and I am so aching to get a copy for myself!

Sketchtravel trailer ENGLISH from Sketchtravel.tv on Vimeo.

http://www.sketchtravel.com/
http://sketchtravel.blogspot.com/

Sketchtravel en 30 secondes from Sketchtravel.tv on Vimeo.

GAaaa!!!! *drooling*

Thank you to Harald for the heads up on this new TinTin trailer. I can hardly wait!

And to Ben for the heads up on 'Ninokuni' ,a game colab between Level 5 and Studio Ghibli.

And to Isabella Mazzanti for this charming animation cut out link called Les Trois Inventeurs by Michel Ocelot in 1980.

One Inspiration after another.

2011-10-12T00:34:00.002+08:00

I heart Juanjo Guarnido's Blacksad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzvdhEz9tkI

One Word : Valve.

And the Giants.

And day of inspirations.
Cheers Folks!

Day & Night

2011-10-10T19:51:00.000+08:00

Love the clever mix of 2D and 3D animation in this charming lil short.

Word of the Day : Constantinople

2011-10-09T22:18:00.002+08:00

I started a trend with an art bud,drawing a rough concept/sketch out of a word or phrase of the day which we'd take it in turns to come up with. The word this time was 'Constantinople' which at the the I thought was too huge and glorious an undertaking to achieve in just one sketch so dilly dallied,not wanting to face the obstacle on my sketch journal. Eventually,I got to it and this was what I can up with,drawing from memory what's best I can come up with which links me to it,without having to go through arduous referencing,totally undermining the purpose of the everyday sketch exercise. So this is what I came up with. Thoughts of Emperor Constantine,the Byzantium era...Hagia Sofia in Istanbul....

So there you have it. My take on Constantinople.

They Might Be Giants - Istanbul (Not Constantinople) from They Might Be Giants on Vimeo.

Also,thanks to my DA pal, Avancna from US for sharing this link with me on it. Really cool!

Cheers folks!

1955 - 2011

2011-10-06T15:42:00.003+08:00

Rest in Peace,Steve : Oct 5th 2011.

He was one of those who inspired me to get back on my feet.

Not the greatest art piece in the world,but it's what I will keep in my sketch journal to remind myself what he went through and how he got through it.

"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

"Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."

- Steve Jobs

Cheers Folks

Saladin Nominated for the International Emmys

2011-10-05T00:24:00.004+08:00

WWAAAA!!! Just received the good news from the team!
Our Saladin the Animated series has been nominated for the International Emmy Awards under Children & Young People category.
I'm so chuffed I'm still trying to settle down after hearing about it.

Here's the news!!! :

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/10/03/international-emmy-nominees.html

Congratulations to everyone in the team for all their passion,dedication and hard work in seeing this project through!
Win or lose...its still the best thing ever and I'm so very very thankful and happy.

And Here's today's word of the day..."Resplendent" It was Luc's turn to come up with the word.

Cheers everyone!!!!

The Cat's Pyjamas

2011-10-03T16:39:00.004+08:00

Here's today's word/phrase of the day...'The Cat's Pyjamas'. A quick check in Wikitionary says that it was " a slang phrase coined by Thomas A. Dorgan. The phrase became popular in the U.S. in the 1920s,^[1] along with the bee's knees, the cat's whiskers (possibly from the use of these in radio crystal sets). In the 1920s the word cat was used as a term to describe the unconventional flappers from the jazz era. This was combined with the word pyjamas (a relatively new fashion in the 1920s) to form a phrase used to describe something that is the best at what it does, thus making it highly sought and desirable.^[2]

A report in the New York Times^[3] of a publicity stunt by an unknown woman in 1922, in which she paraded along 5th Avenue clad in yellow silk pajamas and accompanied by four cats similarly dressed, may indicate the phrase was already current by that date, as the "cat's meow" certainly was.^[4]

Good to know and I certainly took the phrase literally ..so here's my take on Cat's Pyjamas.

The phrase brought back fond memories of a certain little Tom Kitten, who had overgrown his best suit while forced to get ready for proper company by his mother. Just look at his expression! BP has certainly nailed his look to a tee. Goes to show how far love and passion goes when one adds it into one's work. Priceless!

And thought this was a sweet soundtrack and music video to share.
Cheers folks!

Creative Escape to Borneo

2011-10-01T22:24:00.008+08:00

Hi everyone, I've been away recently to host my friend,Luc, who was on a short visit from HK for a creative holiday escape to Borneo. Actually didn't think we'd make the trip at all due to some unfortunate incidences that caused delays and what nots,almost canceling the trip altogether.
Anyhoo, we got to go after all and here are a few quicky pics of the trip I took along the way.

A sneak peek of my travel journal in the works. We stayed and traveled around Kota Kinabalu this time 'round.
We planned our trip around to hit the jungles and beach scene to get away from staring too much in front of the computer and just to get more fresh air in the lungs and see some greenery for a change. It was marvellous! The air up in the mountain range is so clean,crisp and cold. Loved the market and dense vegetation all around us.
A glimpse of Mount Kinabalu,the tallest peak in Malaysia.
And a rare treat, the Rafflesia,one of the rarest plants in the world. Although in fact,it is a parasite. It's lifespan after blossoming is only a mere 1 week before it starts it's decaying process.

We paid a visit to the tree tops,trekking up the hills and did a canopy walk in the hot springs and parks.
A visit to Borneo wouldn't be complete without a bit of island hopping excursions. We only did 2 islands but it was more than enough for a one day trip. Good to see some clear turquoise water with corals and fishes. Thankfully for the duration of our visits and tours,the rain clouds stayed away and we have had good cool cloudy and sunny skies all day.

Some painting on the beach.

Some lovely natural rock formations and designs nearby our spot.

My journal page.
Luc was testing out his new brushes and water color palette. He did a grand job for his journal as well.
Our last night out was a necessary visit to the Philippine Night Market in the heart of town.

Vibrant colors,noise and the pungent aroma of food wafting through the air.
A bit too humid and smoky to sketch as we've unwisely pitched ourselves amidst chaos amongst the nearby open air food stalls. But we eventually got some good art out.

Even found some time to sketch some more while killing time at the airport.

Arriving back safely to KL, a quick dinner with some pals in the heart of town and had to introduce Luc to our most recognizable landmark before bidding adieu and an early flight back to HK the next morning.

All photos of the trip can be viewed in my Flickr page here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/81755819@N00/?saved=1

Coffee fix in HK

2011-09-29T18:07:00.001+08:00

This is a quicky gift for my pals Barb and Luc as they head out now as we speak to brave the typhoon for their coffee fixes and dinner chow in Hong Kong. Hope they won't have much trouble getting around there.

Digittal girl sketch

2011-09-07T08:23:00.001+08:00

Just wanted to try out my Corel Draw after a very very long spell. Haven't been practicing at all but I think training should re-commence once again. Cheers folks!

2011-08-27T18:03:00.005+08:00

Have been meaning to share some of my girl sketch studies for a long time now. Well, here are some of them now. Hope you all like' em, folks. Have blown up Marilyn,Liza and Bridget cos they got the best results and I'm quite please with them.

Cheers! :D

Out with the Old,On with the New

2011-08-11T03:44:00.003+08:00

Hi all,

Finally! Some time to myself to get some personal sketching done. This one started in Feb but only managed to finish it tonight. Hope y'all dig. Certainly grand to have fun with drawing again.

Reason being is cos am finally working from home which I will update in here hopefully some time soon. In the mean time,hope to be able to update all of my sites more often.

Cheers Folks! :)

Social War Art

2011-06-06T18:39:00.003+08:00

Some battle card designs done for the game. The 2 below never got to completion and it really bothered me a lot. These were the rough designs I was brewing over for inspiration.

The original animal art proved too complex for the game so a re-design and look was called for as shown on the design roughs above.

Chunk!

2011-04-22T10:18:00.001+08:00

Who doesn't like Chunk? Certainly not me. Real good to see him then and now.

War of the Worlds : Goliath

2011-03-03T15:36:00.001+08:00

Finally! After many years of waiting on one of the projects I had the opportunity to contribute to is finally nearing completion. Thank you so much to my clients as Tripod Entertainment for giving me the chance to work on it eventho' it didn't work out to the final vision that they wanted. I totally agree to their decision as it all does work out and come together really nicely for the overall package and it was such a treat to learn that I had the grand opportunity to work alongside so many notable talents. Among them one of my favorite artists out there, the very talented,Jose Lopez (http://www.desoluz.blogspot.com/)

Do check out the movie currently in production at Heavy Metal's website :
1)http://www.heavymetal.com/wotw/
2)http://www.heavymetal.com/wotw/productionblog_w19.html
3)http://www.wotw-goliath.com/

All art is owned and copyrighted by Tripod Entertainment Sdn. Bhd.

On the side : "dang! the drawings could def be better and the anatomy leaves much to be desired. Thank God they're just rough concept sketches."

Cheers folks!

2011-03-02T22:22:00.002+08:00

Hi everyone! It's been a great start to the year. Work has never been more productive and am pleased to announce the launch of the first few games online which I've been involved in for the designs. You can check them out here at 2D Play (http://www.2dplay.com/). Among the latest games I've worked on is Social War, Nightmare on Pink Street and The Three Thieves. And seeing as work has been ever more than we can cope with at the studio, I'm very pleased to say that my boss is looking to hire a few potential and talented artists and 2D/flash animators on board to fill in our soon to be launched Creative Division at the studio. Although we're looking to hire full-time to fill up the studio capacity, we do hire out a lot of freelance gigs to talented individuals who might be available for the work but won't be able to commute to the office or is living overseas. So do drop us a line at Big Wig Media (http://bigwigmedia.com/) or contact me directly if any one of you are interested in a lucrative career in the 2D gaming industry.
Here's one of my recent rough pencils for all interested applicants to try their hand at inking it as a quick test.
Hope to hear from you all real soon and hopefully I'll get to work with any one of you out there in the near future producing games of our very own.

Cheers folks!

Oh yea, if you folks have some spare time,do catch up on our latest news of Saladin with the recent interview of our talented Director and Writer,Mr. Choong Chi-Ren here @ http://www.axapac.com/news/malaysia/interview-saladin-writer-and-co-director-chi-ren-choong

Stay cool,folks!

Social War - Wolf

2011-02-24T00:36:00.003+08:00

Thanks to my friend,Gregg, for sharing this link :
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/12/12/magazine/14actors.html#2

Social War Game Art

2011-02-17T23:52:00.002+08:00

Finally after many many years of working in the industry, I get permission from my current boss to start sharing all the art I've worked on for the games that have already been launched.

Ah yes, I am now currently employed at BigWig Media in KL working on 2D flash online games. WOO! It's definitely a breath of fresh air after working many years in the animation industry. And yes,I do intend to get back into animation in this particular industry seeing as I've been sidelined many times and got stuck in pre-production majority of the time in the animation industry.

I will definitely be committing more traffic and more updates here now that the greenlight has been given.

Apologies folks for the lack of new stuff in the past. My hands have been tied with projects,working for clients so I don't have the right to update anything without their go ahead. Even for my own personal art,I couldn't share much till any of it has been launched officially.

So for this particular series of art, it's all done for a game called Social War which you can now play at 2D Play.com.

http://www.2dplay.com/index.htm

Link to game : http://www.2dplay.com/social-war/social-war-play.htm

It's officially my first game ever I've completed art for so hope you folks will like it enough to have fun with it. Confession : some of the art in there could still do with more work but my hands have been tied with tight deadlines per gaming project.

More art to come,and an official update in my journal for more news on the job to come.

THE STEP BY STEP PROCESS :

1) When I was assigned to work on the set of avatars, I've suggested to my producer about working on a set of animal art for the players to choose from to do battle with.

So this is what came out.

2) I did a color test to it before cropping it down to the specific avatar/icon size required.

3) I've talked to my producer about the art test and we both agree it doesn't come out clear enough with all the details going on in there.

4) So back to the drawing board and I came up with a new look and design for the entire set of animals that will definitely match better with the Social War characters.

5) Plunk in some color with cropping and resizing and we have the final art!

Cheers and hope you folks dig it. *hugs*

Panique Au Village - Le Gateau

2011-01-05T13:25:00.000+08:00

My all-time favorite trio is back! And just found out with a movie to boot! I must get my hands on all of their titles!
You can catch it in Youtube before its taken down for good!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dgm7aQ3B7c&feature=related

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

2010-12-31T10:31:00.001+08:00

Merry Christmax Everyone!

2010-12-24T19:39:00.000+08:00

2010-12-11T19:56:00.005+08:00

Was watching one of my fave movies recently,'A Perfect World' while drawing and noticed a lil flaw on one of the scenes. When mama was serving breakfast on the table,she had already had the scar on her right side forehead which she got from struggling with the escaped convict later on in the story. Next scene,her scar is absent all the way up till she got hurt bad. But good call for wanting to film the additional scene to edit into the story of her serving breakfast at the table. Better flow and timing to me anyhow.

Babies all grown up!

2010-11-25T00:29:00.003+08:00

Thanks to Aida Khalid for wanting to snap a photo of me with my babies,all grown up and making their way out there.
More shameless pluggin' and info about the project :
http://www.lowyat.net/v2/malaysian-produced-saladin-animated-series-hits-international-audience-2.html
copyright of MDEC & JCC.

The many promotional posters prior to it's official launch in the Middle East.
copyright of MDEC & JCC.
I didn't take these pics. I grabbed it from the 'Meet Saladin' site in FB.
Just too awesome to finally see your characters come to life and also in the form of cos-players.

Love the pic of Darwish duking it with Duncan,only a vague view of his blonde fringe in the photo.

My sleeping arrangements

2010-11-20T20:23:00.003+08:00

....with my fatty kitty,Kameko. Mmeeoowwrr! She tore up the head rest to my work chair too but I don't mind so much cos that's where she perches herself to rest while keeping an eye on me and my work.

Saladin Launched with a brand new life & career

2010-11-20T12:03:00.003+08:00

Yes! The animated tv series I've been working on for the past couple o' years,well I've been attached to since college and investing a good deal of my career into it...is finally here and will see its first launch locally on our local tv broadcast station RTM tonight at 7.30pm. Heard it will be screened twice a week for both Saturday night (7:30pm) and Sunday morning (re-run 9:30am) respectively.

Officially,it's already been launched earlier during Sept throughout the Middle East via Al-Jazeera Children's Channel and heard it's made a grand impact on the audiences there.

Am so relieved and happy that it's finally making its way to our local audiences here starting with the local tv station broadcast and hopefully will branch out more internationally, but I won't jinx things by counting the chickens before they're hatched. Hopefully,Saladin will make its way to your tv screens or even via online come next year.

For now while that's in the works, everyone can finally enjoy all the special previews and tit-bits here at our official website :

http://www.saladin.tv/

While my babies are finally making their way into the world on their own thanks to the huge support from everyone involved...I am now settling into a new career as Games Designer for 2D Flash casual games online and I'm loving every moment of it so far. Love the new challenges and learning experiences it brings each day. A huge change from being an Animation Character Designer but I'm all for learning new things and looking forward to it. Its been a breath of fresh air and a nice beginning step into to world of gaming.

I won't be forsaking my own baby pet projects for comics and animation like Claude & Chunkie,Flight Captain Hurricane and so forth, just that with these new challenges and more hard work required each day, I will have less and less time to work on them. Ugh,can also easily feel my age catching up to me cos am not able to work through nights and spring back ready for the day's work anymore. Now I feel I need my proper sleep hours in order to be able to perform work the next day. Gonna need to schedule and pace myself properly again with discipline. :P

Something I've been sorely lacking.

Finally, a BIG shout out to anyone who is interested,the company I now work for at BigWig Media (http://bigwigmedia.com/) is seriously on the lookout to hire more 2D Flash animators. So if anyone out there would like a crack at it,pls do forward your resume' and portfolio to my producer, Mr. Faraz Ansari at faraz@bigwigmedia.com.

And thanks to Luka Kuncevic,our composer and sound designer on the project for uploading this for everyone in YouTube :)

Snapshots thanks to my good friend,Chan Ghee, who came along with me to attend the Saladin Appreciation Screening on the 12th this month. With Cholpon Abilova (JCC line producer), our talented scriptwriter,voice actor AND director, Choong Chi-Ren and my twinnie,Debs, who thankfully,managed to make it on time for the mingling session after the screening in spite of the last minute updates.
Thanks to our generous hosts from MDeC and JCC for arranging the momentous ocassion where all the talents involved in the project,get to savor the first screening of our hard work on screen at the theater. We very nearly packed the entire cinema had everyone managed to attend that day. And it was so great to finally see all of the voice talents up on stage introducing themselves and pairing up with the mo-cap actors, all whom we very rarely get to meet as production is all done at various different locations at the same time.

Imma ghost in the background and am toying with the idea of tinkering with this image. We'll see if I have the time to do so. :P

Thank you all so much for your kindness and great friendship and support all this time here and sorry I've hardly been posting anymore new artworks seeing as I'm earning a living working for studios and clients which am not at liberty to share the artworks as freely as I'd like due to P&C till their release.

Cheers folks and all the best in everything you do!

Happy Belated Birthday Cal!!!

2010-09-12T02:21:00.005+08:00

This one is for my comic writer's son,Calvin. Took a while to get this piece done because the lil critic did not like the original take of Link at all. Prob because he did not appreciate me doing a caricature of him dressed as Link for the earlier version. So I had to re-do it as it was his gift and I wanted him to really like it. Here's the Before and After attempt.

SHOCK3D is now Hiring

2010-09-02T00:08:00.005+08:00

Hi All,

We at SHOCK3D! Sdn. Bhd. are currently working on an animated feature film!!
And we'd like you to be on-board.


Where are we?
KUALA LUMPUR, in tropical sunny MALAYSIA! 
(DOWNLOAD S3D MAP.jpg to find out where we are exactly)


What are we doing?
ALAMAYA.  An AMAZING EPIC animated feature film!!!
FOR WORLD WIDE RELEASE DUDES!!!!

Who are we looking for?

1) Animators

2)Modeling & Texture Artists

3)Simulation Specialists

4)Compositors

5)Illustrators (Storyboard & Matte Painting)

6)Lighting and Render Artists

7)HR & Admin Executive

8)In-House Graphic Designer




ALSO, we are constantly looking for STUDENT INTERNS who are seeking for an
amazing job experience to be a junior production member or work as a studio
assistant. We need all the good help we can get.


*Do forward to as many people you think might be interested in being part of
a team working on an extremely exciting, and needless to say, FUN project!!!

Hope to hear from you guys soon.
THANK YOU!

SHOCK3D! SDN BHD

A2-2-5 SOLARIS DUTAMAS
NO. 1 JALAN DUTAMAS 1
50480 KUALA LUMPUR

recruitment@shock3d.com.my
TEL: 03-6207 9235
FAX: 03-6207 9237

Young Jump Studio is now Hiring!

2010-08-30T19:37:00.003+08:00

YOUNG JUMP ANIMATION IS LOOKING FOR YOU!

Young Jump Animation is a Malaysian animation studio specialising in motion capture and CGI for television, games and multimedia.

We are perhaps best known as the studio that is currently producing “Saladin: The Animated Series” (www.saladin.tv) -- an international co-production between Malaysia and Qatar. We have done work for both local and international clients, including a number of high profile international games developers.

Besides Saladin, we have a host of other exciting projects coming up, and we are looking for talented & motivated individuals to join our team!

We have openings available for:

- Modelers & Riggers

- Digital Artists

- Animators

- Lighting & Effects Specialists

- Compositors.

Candidates should have a diploma in Digital Animation or the equivalent, with a background in one of the 3D animation softwares.

A solid foundation in traditional art skills (sketching, illustration, painting), acting ability and an understanding of timing and humour are all great advantages. Fresh graduates are encouraged to apply. No experience necessary... Just a passion for great animation!

Interested candidates should send their CVs and a link to their showreels to steven@young-jump.com

******************************

The posting is aimed primarily at Malaysian animators. We're open to applications from non-residents, but they should have an idea of what the living standards and pay scales in KL are like, so that they apply with realistic expectations.

Best regards,

Steven Lim
Project Manager
Young Jump Animation Sdn Bhd

12A, Jalan 5/91A,
Taman Shamelin Perkasa,
Cheras, 56100 Kuala Lumpur,
MALAYSIA

Tel: +603 9283 3562
Fax: +603 9283 1562
H/P: +6012 6988 642

Visit us at www.young-jump.com

http://www.young-jump.com/index.html

Simon Tofield is back!

2010-08-20T16:12:00.002+08:00

....and with more goodies in store for every cat lover out there. :)

Then and now....

2010-07-19T03:02:00.004+08:00

A fairly quickie sketch before its time for me to churn out more drawings.
Left panel : (L to R) Syed Hassan,Steve Bristow & ChiRen Choong.
Right Panel : Bob Francis

Oh yea......am also officially 30 today. Getting old. *ooofff*

See you all in SDCC soon!

It's a WRAP and Gearing up for SDCC !

2010-07-01T16:01:00.004+08:00

Heyas all!

I've finally wrapped up my stint for season 2 for Saladin and am now gearing up for a long needed break to the States for the upcoming SDCC.

We may have 2 or 3 space available at our rented home for SDCC from 21st-26th in Old Town, to whoever is interested to bunk in with me,Eric & Brooke. Give us a holler before 15th July,pls? Just a heads-up, it only has one bathroom. But it's fully equipped with a pool,bbq,nearby transportation and not far from the beach.

Finally a chance to meet up and keep promises with friends and acquaintances to come and see them. Interested in meeting up? Lets make a date then.
Cheers and see y'all there!

*huggles*

It's almost a wrap!

2010-06-29T15:45:00.000+08:00

Can't believe I survived the entire 2 days (if not weeks) of non-stop activity feverishly wrapping up more artworks. Thanks to Barb for nourishing me with a wonderful braised lamb stew in claypot dinner and for helping me with the groceries,thanks to JinFen's unwavering professionalism on the job, thanks to ChiRen & Naz for allowing me to disrupt their lives with a mound of paperwork and most of all,thanks to Pops for staking out with me throughout the long hours of the day n night full of support & encouragement. *huggles*

Chummy & Champ Kid's Show

2010-06-27T01:31:00.001+08:00

Am one proud momma right now. WOO!
Go Az! Go Brian! Go Gav! Go Crew!

Cute Annies from Russia

2010-06-19T23:29:00.002+08:00

More links available in YouTube, or you can check out http://www.tvigle.ru/ or http://www.youtube.com/user/Tvigle

Good ol' WIPS

2010-05-26T00:47:00.001+08:00

The finished product...

The best of the best!

2010-05-21T01:37:00.001+08:00

My all time favorite animated feature hands down!
Created and produced by talents who are truly passionate for the medium, both comic fandom and animation junkies alike. Evidently, this is the result of hard work and dedication lovingly put together into one show.

Joker Sketch

2010-05-18T07:45:00.001+08:00

Just having some fun doodling one of my favorite characters to draw.

R.I.P. Frank Frazetta

2010-05-11T15:32:00.003+08:00

:( You've been one of my biggest inspirations in my work and will continue to be the driving force for all of us who walked underneath your shadow. We will all miss you.

Street Dancers & stuff

2010-04-30T04:55:00.003+08:00

Old clip, but still makes for some cool and amazing movement observations.

Long-Tailed Macaque

2010-04-29T01:25:00.001+08:00

Wildlife Concept pt 2

2010-04-27T23:52:00.003+08:00

Another one from the old project that never saw the light of day.
Still good learning experience and will help to foster more grounding for upcoming future projects. Gambatte!

With some nice accompaniment during another wonderful crunch fest on Saladin.

Wildlife Concept

2010-04-26T21:03:00.004+08:00

Something old I've worked on for an animation project that didn't venture any further than the Concept & Development stage.

One of my all time favorites. It never fails to amaze me how such an amazing package can be churned out by only a small handful of top notch artists and can all be summed up within that short frame of time within the intro.
Story : Warren Foster
Animation : Virgil Ross, Gerry Chinoquy & Art Davis
Layouts : Hawley Pratt
B...ackgrounds : Boris Gerelick
Film Editor : Treg Brown
Voice Characterization by the Ever So Talented Mel Blanc
Unmatched and wonderful music by Carl Stalling & Milt Franklyn
Directed by Friz Freleng

I've always been amazed when I read through all the names and talents involved in each production... that they do actually give full credit and acknowledgments to the artists at the beginning stage of the cartoon and wrapping up with an acknowledgment to the director. It brings back to mind Disney's old feature classics who used to do the same for Snow White, Pinocchio etc. So glad that tradition is still carried on up till now and makes me appreciate all the time and effort each talent puts in to making us all happier in life.

R.I.P. Bill Dubay

2010-04-17T02:27:00.001+08:00

............................................rest in peace, Will.

..................................................................
..................................................................
..................................................................

Dutch Claude & Chunkie pt. 2

2010-04-13T02:43:00.003+08:00

Heard from my editor pal,Wallie, that pt.3 will be out in May. WOOWOO!

26th Worldwide Sketch Crawl this Saturday

2010-02-25T02:12:00.001+08:00

Hi everyone!

Just a gentle reminder that this Saturday is Sketch Crawl day and we will be meeting at the Promenade area where the water fountains are @ KLCC Park between 10.30am-11am. For those who have confirmed their attendance, thank you and looking forward to seeing you there. For those who've attended the previous Sketch Crawls but is unaware/or didn't catch the update posts about this Saturday, hope you'd like to participate in the fun again and join us at KLCC Park.
So get your journals & stationary ready for serious drawing time!

Cheers! And thanks to the Brew for this heads up! Looking forward to anything Sylvain Chomet churns out!

New Sketch in decades

2010-02-17T02:12:00.003+08:00

Ok, ignore the rest. I just uploaded it for Spock and ManBat. Finally get to finish this sketch page after such a long pause. Did it last year 17th July...now only got to finish it this hols 17th exactly.
Happy hols and hope ya likes, comrades.
Cheers!

Sketch Crawl 26th

2010-02-02T16:25:00.001+08:00

Am gonna organise a group for Sketch Crawl KL Feb 27th starting from KLCC park. Any takers?

http://www.sketchcrawl.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=49&start=0&sid=7fbf76da2ba29bb3c031009724f0b578

Local & International Studio in Japan looking to hire

2010-01-30T02:32:00.008+08:00

1) The exact ad from HR

"You Can Draw,You Can Animate"-(motto from 2d animation software)

Interested to be an animator?
Now we are open to after SPM girls (ahem, SPM graduates)
No matter what u are Malay,Chinese,Indian and others
we a 1 Malaysia! (all candidates interested....)

pls contact 03-80233472
or e-mail to:andy@creatmotion.com

Address:CREATMOTION SDN.BHD.
No.4-9,Jalan USJ Sentral 3,
47610 Subang Jaya,Selangor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2) Polygon Pictures Recruiting Road Trip in Singapore Proposal

Objectives

Polygon Pictures is preparing for the start of new high-profile TV series which will require up to 60 additional CG artists throughout all positions in the production pipeline. While recruiting vigorously in domestic market, Polygon needs to recruit internationally to fill the seats in given short period of time. The objective of the road trip to Singapore is to promote Polygon Pictures’ recruiting status to increase future job application and identify/hire at least 5 experienced artists from Singapore and surrounding CG communities.

Desired Outcome

1)Identify and hire at least 5 experienced CG artists from this trip.

2)Promote Polygon Pictures’ presence to increase future application from Asian CG communities.

Schedule/Recruiting Process

Timeline	Milestones
Jan 20	Complete Draft Schedule
- Jan 22	Exchange ideas w/ 3dsense
Jan 25	Finalize plan / Internal green light at PPI
Jan 26 -	Send out e-mail advertisement Accepts resumes / demo-reels online
Feb 24 – 28 @ Singapore
Feb 24 (Tue)	Flight from Tokyo to Singapore
Feb 25 (Wed)	Pre Meeting
Feb 26(Fri), 27(Sat)	Corporate presentation / Interviews Venue: 3dsense Facility Time: TBD
Feb 28 (Sun)	Interviews / Redeye flight back to Tokyo
Mar 1 (Mon)	Returns to Tokyo
Mar 3 – 5	2^nd Round Interviews
- Mar 12	Send out offers from PPI

Responsibilities

l Create high quality 3D character modeling, rigging, animation or light/composite

l Commit to meet project deadlines without compromising artistic integrity

l Work in a team-oriented and cross-cultural environment and use organizational and interpersonal skills on a daily basis

l Demonstrate a critical eye and a strong passion for creating and evaluating animation

Recruiting Positions

Position	Skill Requirement	Software Requirement
Modeling/Texture Artists	l Ability to model high-polygon organic characters is required l Must possess deep knowledge in rigging to be able to deliver high quality models for rig/animation	Maya, ZBrush,
Riggers	l Must be fluent in MEL and Python script l Must possess ability to rig for complicated character motion and sophisticated facial expression	Maya
Layout Artists	l Demonstrable ability to translate storyboards / animatics into layout sequences	Maya
Character Animators	l Must possess ability to animate strong physical motions, as well as subtle personality acting, showing command of weight, timing and posing through key-framing	Maya
Lighting　/　Rendering　/ Compositing Artists	l Must be fluent in Maya and Adobe After Effects (having knowledge in Fusion is a plus) l Must possess deep knowledge and skills BOTH in lighting AND compositing l Having knowledge in VFX is a plus	Maya, After Effects, Fusion
Shading Artists	l Must be fluent in Mental Ray shaders	Maya, Mental Ray
VFX Artists	l Must be fluent in all indicated software	Maya, After Effects, Real Flow, Houdini
Programmer	l The candidate should have interest in programming related to CG content production and a track record of technical achievement.	Python

Terms of Contract

Location: Tokyo, Japan

Type of Contract: Freelance Contract

Length of Contract: One year +

Starting: Modelers/Riggers=March, L/O Artist=May, Animators=June

Lighters/Compositors/VFX=August, Programmers=ASAP

Wage: Will commensurate with experience and ability

Wage Reference Table (USD = approximately JPY90)

Level	Avg. Professional Experience	Average Wage
Entry Level	1 to 3 yrs	JPY180,000/mo. - JPY250,000/mo.
Associate Level	4 to 6 yrs	JPY 260,000/mo. - JPY300,000/mo.
Lead Level	7 to 10 yrs	JPY320,000 /mo. - JPY500,000/mo.
Supervisor / Technical Director Level	10 yrs +	JPY500,000/mo - JPY600,000/mo.

Merry Christmax folks!

2009-12-23T00:31:00.004+08:00

Am so looking forward to the Christmax hols! Hope everyone will have a grand time celebrating.

Cheers folks!

Saladin Launch at the ATF last week in Singapore

2009-12-07T22:51:00.007+08:00

THE Malaysian/MDEC booth with all participating studios involved.

Anisa greeting the crowd.
On board.
Me at the Taiwan exhibitors booth.

Andrew & Goh having a blast.

Dual-screen provided for curious viewers to check out clips of the series.
The Al-Jazeera Children's Channel area next to Saladin.
Kamal flanked by the boys from Young Jump studio.
A familiar scene. Eugene from Shock3D is forever busy working at his projects even during conventions.
Steve checking out scenes from the eps.
The official Saladin launch later that evening at Suntec Singapore Convention Center.
Hasnul and Mike chillin'.
Kamal handing out these goodie bags to all guests at the launch.
Fooling around at the Saladin display.
Mike having fun simulating Mustafa's character.

Debut Screening of Secret of Kells tomorrow at Kre8tif!!!

2009-12-07T21:50:00.005+08:00

Here's whats been happening so far during the Kre8tif event!
John Stevenson from Dreamworks enlightening the audience on the production process of Kung Fu Panda with some rare clips and images.

With the Secret of Kells trailer playing outside the foyer for curious onlookers lounging on the soft bean chairs provided.
The crowd dispersing for a coffee and networking break.

The foyer with exhibition booths prepared for studios to display and recruit.

Sadly,I didn't sit in for the Rhythm & Hues Workshop on The Golden Compass earlier as I was frantically dashing to deliver the Secret of Kells film in time for the event.

This was not announced in the program earlier as I was anxious and fear 'what if' it did not arrive on time for the event. But now that it has finally touched down in KL, I can safely declare that its going to be one spectacular premier and can hardly wait to see it! Hope everyone attending will enjoy the film. Cheers to Tomm Moore and the staff that have worked hard in assisting us to get the film here on time!

Cheers folks!

Dante's Inferno

2009-11-18T23:25:00.002+08:00

Another clip was introduced to me 2 nights ago by Min who did contribute to some of the animation scenes. He's really hankering for some comments in his blog about it,folks, so it you'd be so kind...do drop by and give him your 2 cents worth.
http://www.parkmin.pe.kr/

Cheers!

From Darkness

2009-11-18T17:44:00.001+08:00

I remember well watching this years ago. One of my alltime favorite shorts of all time. Unbelievably executed by the very own team thats giving us Secret of Kells this year....Cartoon Saloon.
Enjoy folks!

Claude & Chunkie Dutch debut in P@per

2009-11-10T02:27:00.002+08:00

This really made my day. My Holland based contact from P@per just sent me an updated pdf of their upcoming mag edition this end of the month. I'm so proud I could burst!!! And its surreal to see the dialogue translated into Dutch as well. Thank you so much,Wallie!!!

New Kre8tif Conference happening in KL Dec 09

2009-11-06T16:00:00.000+08:00

Heyas Everyone,

If you aren't aware yet, there will be a creative conference happening here in KL during the first week of December relating to digital media,animation,videogames and perhaps,even comics. So if you're interested, here are the details below :-

Date : 7th -9th December 2009
Venue : The Royal Chulan KL
a) Keynote addresses by Thought-Leaders & Industry Experts.
b) Networking Sessions
c) Business & Technical Tracks
d) Recruitment Drive for Graduating Students
e) Company Portfolio Showcases & Exhibitions
f) Screening of Professional Works
g) MSC Malaysia Creative Industry Awards Night

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Among the guest speakers/talents making their way to the event are :-
1) Alexander L. Fernandez - Streamline Studios’ Chief Executive Officer and is one of the founding members of the company. Serving as the company’s first sales director, Alexander transferred his knowledge of the IT industry to the gaming industry and watched his ideas flourish into a creative environment that employs over fifty people. His role quickly evolved into transforming Streamline Studios into one of the world’s foremost leading co-production and production management studios for interactive entertainment. Alexander has been a key component in Streamline’s success and has several franchises and titles under his belt, including Gears of War, Saints Row, Ghost Recon 2, and James Bond 007: Nightfire. He has an unrivaled enthusiasm when it comes to knowledge sharing about the benefits of external content creation and developing original content.

2) Guillaume de Fondaumière - Co-CEO of Quantic Dream which produced FAHRENHEIT, which was one of 2005’s most critically acclaimed games on multiple platforms is now also the executive producer of HEAVY RAIN, an exclusive PLAYSTATION 3 title developed with Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios which aims at breaking new grounds in the fields of interactive narration and emotion in games.
Guillaume has been president of France’s video game trade body SNJV between 2005 and 2009, and has been recently appointed Chairman of the EGDF (European Games Developer Federation).
He was recently knighted in France’s National Order of Merit in recognition for his contribution to his country’s digital economy.

3)David Abramovitz - Veteran producer and writer of television and movies, including "21 Jump Street", "V", "Macgyver" "Cagney and Lacey" "Murder She Wrote". He was the creative force behind the Highlander TV series where he served as its Showrunner and is now consulting on the coming Highlander videogame and Summit Features remake of the original Highlander movie.
David's feature film "The No Game" will be in production in New York City and Jerusalem during the fall of 2009. He is the writer/producer of “War of the Worlds: Goliath”, and will continue to be a strategic partner for Tripod Entertainment.
David has previously lectured on the craft writing and storytelling for the screen at the Sorbonne in Paris and has decades of experience shaping IP and creating compelling characters and plots.
4) Anand Gurnani - Co Founder, CEO & Managing Editor, AnimationXpress.com
5) Antti Haikala - Co-Founder at Anima Vitae Studios (Helsinki)
6) John Stevenson - “Kung Fu Panda” Director
7) Eric Rollman - President of Marvel Animation
8) Fred Hasson - CEO Redbedlam Ltd & Chairman of the Online Games Special Interest Group, European Games Developer Federation
9) Henry LaBounta - Chief Visual Officer, EA Sports
10) Dream Tube Entertainment
11) Larry Bafia - VP, Faculty & Business Development,
Vancouver Institute of Media Art
12) Ramin Zahed - Editor-In-Chief,
Animation Magazine
13) Si-Bum Kim - Founder and CEO at Characterline Korea (Seoul)
14) Sue Erokan - Supervisor, Character Animation, Dreamworks (San Francisco)
15) Suresh Seetharaman - Founder and President, Virgin Comics and Virgin Animation (Bangalore, New York)
16) Tony Sealy - Managing Director,Intense Animation

Among many others.....

Site : www.mscmalaysia.my/kre8tif
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/kre8tif
Twitter : twitter.com/i_am_kre8tif

Please do check out the link below for more details with regards to the event.
Media Coverage about the event : http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2009/11/2/technology/20091102101305&sec=technology
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* For those who wish to attend the conference, please note that there will be an entrance fee of RM300 each or RM100 each for students.*
Note from the article :
"The conference organiser, the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), hopes that by encouraging these acclaimed international experts to mingle with their local counterparts who have raw talent, the country’s digital content industry will go up a notch."

Cheers and have a great day,folks!

80s stuff

2009-11-04T22:58:00.004+08:00

Me and Bob (writer) have been chatting about 80s cartoons, Rankin & Bass in particular...and we both agree that the best tv series that still holds grounds today is def hands down, Thundercats. They did a lot of fantastic design and animation for the project and many others back then, many of which has influenced me to draw where I am now.

We also agree (along with many other pals) that their opening sequence is the strongest by far throughout the 80s onslaught of tv cartoons. My twin mentioned something about looking forward to the Thundercats trailer,if the project ever comes through, which prompted me to surf up its progress. I then came upon the Thundercats Lair site for fan and this article....
http://www.thundercatslair.org/forums/showthread.php?p=24809#post24809
From what I can make out of it, Stephen Perry, a contributing writer for many of the Thundercats episodes is in dire need and is askig for help. The help appears genuine enough so if anyone would like to help or look into this further, do check out the article link there. A lot of artist do feel the brunt of the uncertainties these days takes us and many are rallying together to help many see through the lean times. Hope this works out too for Mr. Perry.

Also came across this unique and fun blog on He-Man. Didn't peruse it thoroughly but the chap seems to know his stuff plus its fun to read. http://bustatoons.blogspot.com/

Cheers to 80s cartoons!

Long Overdue

2009-11-03T00:45:00.001+08:00

I promised this for a friend of mine a long,long time ago....in a galaxy far,far away. :(

Cheers,folks!

Animation teachers WANTED

2009-11-02T14:40:00.002+08:00

Heyas all,

Have a friend looking to fill up 3 openings for animation teaching positions in Kota Kinabalu,Sabah for a 2 year tenure. Accommodations are provided so if you're interested,please call Jeffrey @ 012-3983691. Mmmm, you'll have to make the effort to call him with regards to the monthly payment fee. Though I know it, I won't say it here. But from what he has told me,it sounds very good indeed. So, think fast ppl! Cheers and have a great week!

Stop Mos

2009-09-04T00:33:00.000+08:00

Thanks for the links,Ben!

The ever fabulous Herge!

2009-08-21T14:57:00.000+08:00

Google's Concept

2009-08-21T12:35:00.002+08:00

They got the right idea. That's how I'd like to run my Animation House if it ever comes to pass.

Gabriel's Oboe by Ennio Morricone

2009-08-04T03:18:00.002+08:00

Something I like listening to whilst working or feel better when I'm down.

YAY! Another Simon Tofield clip! Thanks for the scoop,Brew!

2009-07-29T03:38:00.001+08:00

29 today

2009-07-19T22:15:00.002+08:00

...but I don't feel a year wiser. Wise-ass maybe...:P

Just got back from a lovely dinner with palsies and am gonna digest with some more inking jobs,maybe a game on the side with Snoopy on this time. Nostalgia time. Grew up with the brilliant works of Bill Melendez and Lee Mendelson who did such a good job translating Charles Schultz's works into animation paired beautifully with the music by the Sherman Bros.
Among the many I grew up with...
1) Snoopy Come Home

2) Race for Your Life Charlie Brown

3) Bon Voyage Charlie Brown

Cheers,folks!

Quick girl sketch

2009-07-17T03:48:00.004+08:00

All of these clips are food for my study refs. Thank God for Youtube as there are literally tons of such references available there. All very beautiful,articulate, demands attention to detail and keen observation.
Cheers folks!

Old Sketches

2009-07-16T01:57:00.000+08:00

Slowly killing myself

2009-07-13T06:56:00.002+08:00

Hi Everyone,

I'm typing this on auto-pilot right now. I'm not dead yet but I am slowly working my way to it at the rate I've been going this year. My lack of updates both here and in my other sites and blog attests to the very tight schedules I've been keeping lately.
Have been taking on more additional side jobs than I anticipated (several animation and comic projs) along with my new commitment to the new Animation Society here in Malaysia and between keeping in touch with my ex-students,continuing to help nurture their future into the industry and between screenings and sporadic lecture series...I've been putting my health on the line.
But thankfully I am enjoying the ride as I go along and taking things as they come and it also helps that it keeps me focus and acts as a platform for me to better myself as an artist and try to work at it as professionally as I can. Even though many a times it is taxing on me both mentally and physically, and definitely on an emotional level at some point. But I am learning and it's all good.
And also am very very thankful all of my clients have been a brick and more than understanding and supportive to me and my work. They've been very very patient and generous with me even though majority of the time my submissions fall short of the deadline requirements and I owe them a ton for not yelling and threatening me as I'd expected under any other circumstance as you'd expected bosses to react. Some even taking the initiative to wait or adjusting their schedules to work around mine. How many times can you say that about any client? For that I owe them. It's been remarkable and short of miraculous that none of them have plugged me yet.
My only regret is am not giving enough time and 200% of myself as I'd like to in fine tuning all of the works to the level as I'd like for it to be. And due to this, I suspect and know that perhaps I've let some of my clients down who did expect much more from me and my deliveries. My personal studies have been lax but the extra allowances did help to pay for new softwares and equipment in upgrading me home studio so am happy about that.Hope to be able to start on my own personal animation soon if and when I have completed my freelance projects. Zeke,if you're reading this, I haven't forgotten about our game colab. You too,Ian. Grant,I have the sketch I owe you ready. Just need one free day to clean up and color it.

Shoot! A bit of typing and it's morning already and almost time to get ready for work. I've a ton of material to update still.
Thanks for all the wonderful comments and support,folks.Think best bet is to check up on my status updates in Facebook as it's quicker for me to just add in a very quick status update rather than a droning journal entry anywhere else in my sites.
(FYI : this is a cut out entry from my DA journal. Sad pup indeed).

Cheers and hope everyone's been doing good and take cares,folks!
Thanks for dropping by and checking in on me from time to time. Appreciate all of your time and energy in even dropping me a line along the way.

Luv yas!

FIN!

2009-04-03T16:01:00.003+08:00

YAY! Babies are on the plane and they're on their way!!! I am so excited!

Final Drive

2009-03-27T03:28:00.003+08:00

I've quite forgotten about this project I've worked on due to the fact that it was only a very brief stint requiring me to brush up on each of the main characters already pre-design by its creator, Hamadi Hamdan,who approached my twin to help to get me on board this project. I remember it being called Sarjan Hassan (Was it?) during its earlier satges of production. Well, do check out Hamadi's site here for the scoop on this project....http://blog.max-ady.com/detail/6-month-in-the-making.htm

Cheers,folks!

Awesome Belgium & Japanese animation clips.

2009-03-25T00:18:00.006+08:00

Hands down,the most favorite animation clip I've seen thus far this year. Every time I watch it, it brings a big smile to my face. And among the few that actually got me giggling with laughter which is kinda a rarity for me. Hope you folks like it.
And I just can't stop saying it in my head..."Cowboy...Indian....". Lovable characters with lovable voice overs fantastically melded together to make the entire show work! in spite of the fact that they're just toy miniatures with limited animation treatment. I don't care the limitations. Awesome story with awesome plots & characters & voice cast. You're in for a treat!
Le Grand Sommeil

Dir. Pic Pic André / Belgium / 2003
Curious events befall Cowboy, Indian, and Horse as they repeatedly fall into deep sleep.
http://www.paniqueauvillage...
http://www.atowncalledpanic.tv

Cat Shit One Movie Trailer - The Animated Series
And something insanely good introduced by my scriptwriter friend,Chi Ren. The Japs have taken furry kawaii violence to a whole new different level altogether. WOW! I've a feeling we'll be seeing more innovative maneuvers coming from the far east in the near future. Gambatte!

Production: Studio Anima

Director: Kazuya Sasahara
Original Manga (released in the USA as Apocalypse Meow): Motofumi Kobayashi
Format: 23 min. 12 episodes
Target Viewers: Survival game fans and military fans

Anticipated Customers: Clients who are looking to invest in imaging contents that are on a par with those by PIXAR

Chummy & Champ Project

2009-03-19T02:28:00.018+08:00

It's finally becoming a reality.

Something I've been working on last year. WIP images of a Kid's tv series aimed at nurturing kids and adults alike towards environmental awareness and to do their bit for nature utilizing local wildlife in Malaysia as character hosts for the program.

Right now, voice auditions are under way. Anyone interested in participating and submitting their voice for any of these babies?

Note from our director/producer Azlan Pa'Wan :
Voice Casting:
Start 17th Mar till 6th April.
"Submit MP3 or WAV to chummyandchamp@gmail.com. Deadline 6 April. So, what are you waiting folks, bring out the kid in you and start practising! :D"
Folks, we have a script that can guide you. If you are interested, please send your details to chummyandchamp@gmail.com. You can send your own voice sample or opt for the script to read.
Have fun playing with the recorder! And don't forget to spread this message around. The more the merrier eh!
Till then, hug a tree and reduce carbon emission.
Everyday is Earth Day. Do Your Bit for Our Future Generations."
warmest regards
azlan

-Shortlisted candidates will be called for physical voice audition at a place to be determined later.
Chummy & Champ is the first truppet (true puppet) aimed at propagating awareness on the environment and instill love and care for the floras and faunas. It combines elements of CGI and interactivity to provide maximum learning and edutainment experience. Please send your voice sample to chummyandchamp@gmail.com.

22nd World Wide Sketch Crawl - KL 11th April 2009

2009-03-19T01:42:00.004+08:00

Hi Folks! I'll be organizing this year's KL group in participation for the 22nd World Wide Sketch Crawl headed by Enrico Casarosa who'll kick start the event with his group in LA.
For this up-coming event, the venue will be held at the KLCC Aquaria whereby all interested participants will meet at the Aquarium entrance at 11am sharp. No fee is required to join in the event though all participants are required to bring along their travel and food allowances, including their entrance fee,sketchbook/journals, stationaries and digicam should they feel they'd like to do some photography as well. Oh and do feel free to bring along your friends as well if they're interested in joining in the fun. The event will begin at 11 a.m. and end at 7 p.m. Probablility of the group venturing out to other locations will base upon the situation as we go along through the day.

The admission fees to the Aquaria is :
1) Adult (13 years and above) (MyKad holder) - RM 28
2) Child (3-12 years) (MyKid holder) - RM 22
3) Adult (13 years and above) (Normal) - RM 38
4) Child (3-12 years) (Normal) - RM 26
5) Senior citizens (60 years and above) - RM 18
6) Infants (under the age of 3) - FREE

Group Package of 20 pax and above :
1) Adult Package @ RM 24 each
2) Children Package @ RM 18 each

KLCC Aquaria info : http://www.klaquaria.com/klaquaria/index_test.asp

To learn more about the event, do feel free to drop by the event's head honcho's Sketch Crawl blog @ http://www.sketchcrawl.com/blog/
or visit the Sketch Crawl forum for info with regards to the event...http://www.sketchcrawl.com/forum/

All those interested can note me either here, or in my DA account or even email me at sksk270@yahoo.com.
Cheers for now and hope to see you all there!

:)
Cheers for now

Don Bluth

2009-03-18T16:54:00.004+08:00

I remembering growing up loving this. Also helps that I like some of the songs in this movie starring Gene Kelly and Olivia Newton John. Just wish the sound could've been better in the clip though.

Anyone with any information with regards to Don Bluth's version of Repunzel?

And who can forget Dirk from Dragon's Lair?

Here's to remembering the 80s,folks! :)

Tripod's New Ink & Paint Dept is now Hiring!

2009-03-01T21:20:00.004+08:00

Heyas Folks! A special word from our pals at Tripod Studio :

TRIPOD ENTERTAINMENT is looking for local fresh graduates (Malaysian citizenship) to join its new Ink & Paint team for 2D (digital) traditional animation.

We are kicking off in mid-April, and this Ink & Paint team will be participate in the production of our DVD movie “War of the Worlds: Goliath”.

The team will be trained & supervised by Sun Min Image Pictures, the Korean studio responsible for animating the “Ben 10” series.

Please find attached the notice, as well as a sample of Ink & Paint “before/after” results from Sun Min, to get a better idea of the work at hand.

The Ink & Paint team will be stationed at Studio Climb, a pre-production/design studio involved in “War of the Worlds: Goliath”. Studio Climb is located at Phileo Damansara II, next to Eastin Hotel in Petaling Jaya.

Those interested can send in an email cc’d to all the people below:

Leon Tan (Tripod producer): leon@tripod-ent.com
Mike Bloemendal (Tripod producer): mike@tripod-ent.com
Spencer Ooi (head of Studio Climb): spencer@studioclimb.com

A sample of the Ink & Paint process.

"If all goes well we will schedule an interview. Good luck!"

Gambatte, Tripod!

Rex Steele - Nazi Smasher

2009-02-26T23:57:00.003+08:00

Story by Bill Presing
Film by Alex Woo

Bill P's blog : http://billpresing.blogspot.com/
Alex W's blog : http://woohoopictures.blogspot.com/

The Making :

Gary

2009-02-23T04:22:00.002+08:00

Gary from Gary on Vimeo.
Directed by Clément Soulmagnon, Yann Benedi, Sébastien Eballard & Quentin Chaillet - Copyright Supinfocom 2008 - Gary-lefilm.com/

A big thanks to Lucas Griego (http://pencilwhipped.blogspot.com/ and http://www.alivenotdead.com/lucasgriego) for sharing giving me a heads up on this beautifully rendered masterpiece. I love it!

Tony White's Hokusai Animated Sketchbook & Tod Polson's Heads Up

2009-02-13T00:02:00.005+08:00

Tony White :
"This was my first ever... and still my favorite... short animated film! I created it in my spare time while I was still a director/animator at the Richard Williams Studio in London during the late 1970's. I actually started the film after we had completed 'A Christmas Carol', when I was Richard Williams' own personal assistant at the time. 'Carol' went on to win the first of Dick's three Oscars. When my own 'Hokusai' film won a British Academy Award I moved on to set-up the 'Animus Productions' animation studio... a creative entity I led for a further 20 award-winning years. The film itself was inspired by the wonderful sketchbooks of Hokusai. When I saw them I realized that this artist was indeed a true animator at heart... he just didn't have the knowledge or the technology to be one in his lifetime. I therefore sought to bring his drawings to life for him, as homage to his genius"

Genius by a genius.

Also received a heads up on what been going on in Tod's life lately when he kindly gave some of his spare time between his busy schedule about a week ago to chat with me.

Tod's busy between film lectures in Denmark and working on his animation projects in Thailand. I totally admire him for his ability to adapt, explore and broaden his horizons wherever the adventure takes him.

Here's some links thanks to Tod :

Brendan and the Secret of the Kells trailers : http://hefenfelth.wordpress.com/2009/01/25/brendan-and-the-secret-of-kells-trailers/

Tod's Blog : http://www.rungingerrun.blogspot.com/

The Book of Kells blog : http://theblogofkells.blogspot.com/

I for one have been anticipating The Book of Kells release for quite some time now and can hardly compose myself. A beautiful and masterful work of art! Congratulations to Tod and the Kells team for all their hard work and perseverance for this top quality animation. Am also looking forward to the Gingerbread man once it's completed.

Cheers folks!

December and January Updates

2009-01-27T01:11:00.011+08:00

Whew! Been a while since my last update. Let's get started!
Between deadlines, I was able to take off to attend my cousin Justin's wedding dinner in Penang early last month. Had a grand time chilling with old friends and relatives and gorging myself to slow obesity. The only downside to all of it was my loss of my latest sketchjournal which only had a few more pages to complete before I add it to my collection of completed journals. Thankfully I did backup the info and scanned some of my favorite pages inside before that happened so the pain wasn't as bad. It still stinks though not having the original copies with me now. Am still hopeful that some day,someone will return it, that is,if they haven't thrown it in the rubbish bin already. It did look like a crudgy bounded old book anyways.

Am just thankful to have good friends who were there for me during that ordeal. One being Hoos who even took the time and trouble to go out searching for my missing sketch journal a couple of times. I owe you one,Hoos!

Our New Year countdown proved successful , celebrating with the MnU team and some friends from Brighton at Ayon and Ed's new hood in Subang Jaya. Yes, we played Pictionary after the count down was over.

On another more positive note, some friends have contributed some lovely new sketches to my new journals last month and beginning of this year.
Min Park's awesome sketch of a guy falling...and more from him,sensei Junning and the fabulous Mel. Thanks guys!
Also attended last month's Comic Fiesta held at a much nicer venue at Sunway Puramid's Convention Hall. Hope they'll be able to hook up that place for future following conventions. Didn't stay long,but enough to get the feel for the atmosphere, contribute a few sketches to the table and meet some familiar faces.
What our convention is sorely lacking are these guys...

In other news....

Jayne Carverhill from a PR agency that is currently representing the RSPCA contacted me last year regarding Simon Tofield's (creator of the Simon's Cat clips I've been updating in here) other project. Here's what she wrote :

"I noticed that you have blogged about Simon’s Cat in the past, so I thought you would be really interested to hear that Simon Tofield, the maker of Simon’s cat, has finally released a new animation. The video, featuring Simon’s sister’s dog has been made especially for the RSPCA, and can be watched at www.giveanimalsavoice.org.uk. There is an embeddable link if you wish to place it on your site.

The video was launched yesterday and it has been viewed over 40000 times already, which is amazing! But we really want to make sure that the underlying message is not lost. Pet obesity is a massive problem; one in three pets are overweight. It is all too easy to give your pet many treats, especially at Christmas time, but how much is too much?

If this is an issue that is close to your heart, I can provide more information and images. I hope you enjoy the video!!

All the best,

and images. I hope you enjoy the video!!

All the best,

Jayne Carverhill

immediate future Ltd

T: 0845 408 2031

M: 0770 279 5073

jayne.carverhill@immediatefuture.co.uk

http://www.immediatefuture.co.uk/

Social Media Marketers, Online and Offline PR Consultants.

Thank you so very much for the heads up,Jayne! I really appreciate all the updates I can get!

I received an invite to try out this new application called Moodbox by Roman Vorushin,CEO of the project.( http://moodbox.com/ )

Here's what he has to say about it :

"Moodbox is made especially for people who love drawing! MoodBox is a tool for collective drawing based communication and fun by which you can draw and share your
message with everybody in a contact list or publish it on the web.
Here http://moodbox.com/moodstrip/130 is an example of the drawing
based conversation."

I love it and find it another useful and very fun communication tool to play around with. I appreciate that when I click to use their pencil tool, the rendered result does actually turn out like a kiddie's pencil sketch line. Kawaii! The application is fast and not complicated to use. Another plus for Moodbox. I sincerely hope to see more artists using this in the near future. How about making 2009 the start of this new trend of communication? Sure yahoo has that option,but I kinda the results here better.Plus a whole lot of other neat gadgets like their air brush tool and art brush tool...even cute clip arts to add into your chat art. Yahoo chat only allows for the paint tool rendered format.
Always nice to have another option to chat with,methinks. Especially if my msn and yahoo chat box starts acting up in me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And I'd like to end with some Garfield Thanksgiving clips. We don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in Malaysia though. But what I like about this is that it's one of the better animated Garfield series I've seen so far. More fluid in movement in my opinion. Enjoy! Brings back childhood memories