That's right, THIS thursday, you'll have a new episode of Siblings on your hands. I'd say about 97% of this is done, with just a few little things to fix up here and there in the interface and menus. And it's turning out 10 times better than I expected, so you're in for a treat... truely, my best work yet. Well, as far as programming and looks are concerned. Time will tell if it actually is received as well as Half Beard was or not.

I'll probably try releasing it sometime in the late afternoon or early evening. Most likely. I'm so psyched... wish me luck, guys!

EDIT: Sorry, guys, but I'm still working on it, so it'll be another day or so. BY THIS SATURDAY AT THE VERY LATEST, I swear.

Just an update for everyone who's anticipating a release from me.

I'm aiming to release Siblings episode 5 in April. Yes, this month. I don't know when, as I'm still working on it and have a considerable amount to finish up. I'm making good progress currently, so I'm hoping it'll be done before the end of the month. We can only hope, anyway.

"The Heart and the Hand p2" will be finished once I release Siblings episode 5, and hopefully won't take much longer. There's a lot more work that needs to be done with it, and since it requires such a high amount of effort on my part, it'll be a bit longer before it can see the light of day. Lets hope I can finish it before NEXT Valentines day, heh... that'd suck, huh?

There's also a third cartoon I haven't mentioned on here sort of in the works, but I've mentioned it on my news blog on my website... check it out if you're interested. I've also been releasing youtube videos, including a live action one with Spike in it. Check it out if you haven't yet.

But in summary, this month. New Siblings, hopefully. May at the latest!

It's a live action home movie video of Spike freaking out about a rock. Released it on my youtube account. If you like my Siblings cartoons (particularily episode 3, the one about Spike), then you might dig it. I dunno.

Deh bez clickins here dawg

I like it anyway. Figured I'd update you on it since I'm active on other accounts more these days than this one... I mean, shit, animation takes time, y'know? Months of time. Takes like a day to draw and upload a drawing or an hour to find an old video of mine and upload it... so it's understandable.

The picture below is something I drew digitally awhile ago. If you wanna see the full size version, go here. If not, don't.

More to come... eventually.

Ok, so I figured I'd go ahead and give you a heads-up on my current projects. Yes, another news post from me with LOTS of text. Get over it, I write.

The Heart and the Hand, p2: About 2 minutes of this are done, with about 4 still needing to be done. I also have to put the music in the right spots and get the dialogue for Annie done.

NSFFXII (Siblings Ep. 5): I finally got Johny to record his lines, so I've continued work on this. I've got about 2 or 3 minutes of this done already, with about 2 more to do.

I'm doing both projects at the same time. You know, working on one when I get bored with the other and going back and forth between the two until they're both done. That's how I multitask with my stuff, don't-you-know. I don't expect any of this to be done anytime soon, but I'll be sure to give you a heads up whenever one of the projects nears completion. And no, I don't know WHICH one will be completed first, as I work on them when I feel like it, so that's anybody's guess. Yay for no deadline! They will both be completed eventually, though.

If you want more (can't imagine why, I write more than I need to anyway), be sure to check the news blog on the site. I update that bitch with the quickness. That's how I roll... like a cube.

That's it!

Ok, so first, I've released part one of the Valentines day flash I did called 'The Heart and the Hand'. It's light hearted, musical, and totally safe for all ages, so if you're a fan of that sort of thing, you should check it out.
The Heart and the Hand - part 1

And for the fans of Siblings out there, I figured I'd go ahead and pre-release the first scene from episode 5 since I haven't worked on it during these past couple of months. It's very specific to FFXII (which is what the episode mocks), so unless you're familiar with that game, you probably won't get it. If you are familiar with the game, enjoy!
Siblings ep. 5 preview

Ok, so I feel like writing. If you feel like reading, then you're in luck.

So I've been working on that one cartoon, 'The Heart and the Hand' (the one I mentioned in the last news post) non-stop lately. I'm hoping like hell to get it done soon, but who knows if I'll make it by Valentines day. Probably not. But we'll see, won't we?

Yesterday I finally got around to drawing a new banner for this page that I'll hopefully keep for a long while. I've had a few lame ones in the past, but I actually like this one, it's cool. It features the main characters from some of my major animations, like Siblings, Robots are Stupid, and HOTM. I also threw Annie and Glenn in the middle from 'The Heart and the Hand' since that'll be done soon.

It was weird drawing the HOTM characters, since it's been a LONG time since I've drawn any of them. It's crazy how different that style is from anything else I've done before or since. Got me thinking about the HOTM trilogy and how I never got around to finishing it. Damn, I really wish I could get it done, but I just have no drive to complete it. Well, not without completely redoing the previous parts, and redoing all that would take a LONG LONG time, so I'll pass. I really need to end it, though, so I can just be done with it.

Of course, I'm way too busy with my current projects to give HOTM 3 part D any serious consideration. Once I finish 'The Heart and the Hand', I plan to continue work on episode 5 of Siblings. Once that's done, well, it'll probably be summer, and I'm not sure what I'll do then. Either work on episode 6 or something else entirely, you never can tell.

Also, I developed a bytesize submission. I tried sending it to Tom once, but I don't think it went through, so I'll try sending it again soon. It's short, but I like it, it's funny. I posted it on my deviantArt account, if you want to watch it, click the link below. It's only 10 seconds long and is under 100 kb, so yeah. I hope to eventually develop it into a full animation, but I haven't written a script for it yet, so until then, this is what you get.

I train monkeys

Later.

Well fine, I'll tell you what I'm doing! Because you care! Or maybe you don't, who knows. If you don't care, don't read. Simple as that.

First of all, progress on Siblings episode 5 is going... eh... rather slowly. Still haven't recorded Johny's dialogue and probably won't do so for awhile... I've been too busy with another project of mine to worry very much about that. Even with that being the case, I have about a minute of it animated, so yay for that. Once I get Johny's lines recorded and make a few script rewrites, I'll be able to continue working on it.

The main purpose of this post is to let you know of my current project. Around the beginning of November, I began work on a new project. It's an animation that's slated for release on Valentines day of next year. This will be a romantic comedy of sorts. There are many differences between this and past animations, not only in the presentation but in the comedic style of it... it's much more innocent, I guess. There will be no spoken dialogue, so it'll be very music-driven. I'm going to try to do the music myself, but we'll see how that goes. If I'm not able to do it, I'll probably search around the audio portal for the music. I'm sure I'll be able to do it, though.

I've roughly got about 2 minutes of it done, but I still have about 4 more to animate. Also, I have no audio recorded for it... like I said, there's no dialogue, but the characters will vocalize their feelings with the gestures and sounds they make (example: Bitey of Brackenwood). I plan on doing the voice of the boy, but I haven't tried looking for a voice actress to do the part of the girl yet. I'll probably post something about it on the VAC forums in early January and get someone there to do it. That's my current plan anyway. Plus, I still have yet to do the music.

Due to all that, I don't know if I'll be able to make the aforementioned deadline. I'll try my best to make it, of course. If I don't finish the main animation by the end of January, then I'll just make it a regular cartoon and release it whenever I get it done.

In other news, I've recently released a couple of songs here. Check them out if you want.

The image below is from the new project. It's not a final image, so expect some things to change. Think of it as a taste of things to come.

Oh, and merry whatever-you-celebrate-during-this-tim e-of-the-year. Have a good one.

Some of you may recall the animation I released last month entitled "Half Beard". If you haven't seen it, check it out. Anyway, I did a live action documentary on the final day of my real half beard entitled "Half Beard: the Shaving" and released it on Youtube. You can watch it here:
Half Beard: the Shaving
It's not great by any means, but it's got its moments. If you like rambling then you'll probably enjoy it.

As for episode 5, I've gotten the first 30 seconds animated, but I don't have dialogue recorded for Johny or his friend, so until I get that done, I can't do anything with it. I'm working on other things until that happens. Here's a work in progress shot of it. It's Vaan, in all his un-glory. Damnit I hate him.

Also, I might as well throw it out there, I'm planning on the title being 'Not-so-Final Fantasy XII'. Not too terribly original, but eh. I thought it was clever, but then I did a google search and the name's been used in a few things (the 'not so final fantasy' part), but I could still use it... maybe. What do you guys think? The other title I was considering was "FFXII: Enough parts to make a clock.". It's more original, but more obscure. Which should I go with? Lemme know.

As many of you know, I released episode 4 of Siblings, entitled "Half Beard", last week. Well, since then, it's been seen by over 60k people, which is fantastic for the first week. Hell, the first episode still has only been seen by about 45k (which is a lot of course, but that's after being online for almost a year). It received a daily feature and has been on the front page for about a week now. I've really been enjoying all the feedback, it's been awesome. It's even gone so far as to earn a spot on the top 50 (somewhere between 5th and 8th place, usually). That's always been one of those cool 'what if' scenarios for me, and it's HAPPENED. Insane... much like the cartoon.

I'm making this post because, well, I just wanted to say thanks. Thanks to Newgrounds and its staff, for making a place for flash artists to get crazy exposure like this, of course. Thanks to the fans, many of which are new to "Siblings" and assume Half Beard is a stand alone cartoon, even though it's actually the fourth episode. And thanks to everyone else in between.

Also, I figured I'd go ahead and mention I've started on episode 5. As stated in Half Beard's scrapbook, it'll focus on FFXII. Rob'll be the player, and he goes through and mocks it himself. Don't worry, Johny's still a part of it, but he more or less just listens to Rob's rants and offers questions to keep the rant going. And while I haven't recorded the dialogue for anyone besides myself just yet, Johny's friend will also make an appearance, as will baby Mason. Why? To throw jokes in there that don't revolve around FFXII. You know, to mix things up. So fans of the series won't be drowning in jokes fixated on one thing. That's why.

If you want to keep up to date on the things that I do, be it animation, art in general, or whatever, be sure to check the site. You could even add me on MySpace, on which I typically make blog posts and bulletins about cartoon releases. I won't post a link to it on here, it's on my site. If you want it, you gotta earn it. By looking. At the site. Ok? Ok.

And I'll leave on this note: A picture of half beard, which I'm currently sporting. If you're wondering about the quality, that's intentional. Wanted to do something different with it.
Thanks again everyone! Later!

I have finally finished "Half Beard", episode 4 of Siblings. Rob shaves off half of his beard and Johny tries to keep Rob from embarrassing him. Be sure to check out the extras (which includes a few blooper sounds and a 30 second long extra scene) and the scrapbook (which, as always, is full of behind the scenes info and pictures).

Man, I'm pooped. I've released so much stuff in the past month that I'm about ready for a break. Dunno when I'll start work on episode 5, but it won't be too long (probably a month). Might be getting a job soon though, so who knows.

But as always, I hope you enjoy! Later.

Half Beard