until we are, in turn, devoured by the cosmic owl

Long time since update. Long ol time.


Long.



Time long time.


So long in fact it has probably made at least 3 of you question "i wonder what happened to that guy who used to make cartoons and drone about his life. zekky or zookie or something. oh well"

THE ANSWER IS:

Work.


I have been very busy doing important things for people.

So many important things. Things I really have no right to be doing, but I did them anyway and to the best of my abilities.

Alright so for starters, as I may have mentioned a few posts ago the video game studio BIOWARE contacted me. Long story short, when the official mass effect 3 website rolls around, you may notice that other than the movie trailer, its almost entirely done in Flash. Guess who did that! Go on guess! I did! They seemed to like what I did which makes me proud. Nothing feels as bad as disappointing people. It will probably be up soon and I will probably devote a whole dang post to it because its by far the coolest and most unlikely thing I ever thought would happen!


Secondly, I did a new episode of Weebl's series Catface.
The latest episode is about Catface tidying up for spring.


Thirdly I've been hired to animate a 90-second music video for Moshi Monsters.

Fourthly, I made a HUD for Wonder Knight Radish, the pc game me and my friend Billy Monks are making. Here's the latest screenshot of it. Still early in development. He has a few videos up of it but they are all private and he doesnt want anyone to see it moving yet.


Fifthly I did something unique and interesting with my Minecraft texture pack known as Zekocraft. I have done something that no other pack has done in their native resolutions. I have included parallax map support. What is parallax mapping? I honestly couldn't explain it well.
Look at this picture from STALKER:

Okay now notice how the lighting on the tiles makes them seem all shiny and covered in detail? Well that's bump mapping.

On the other hand, see how theres a hole in the wall left where some tiles are missing on the left wall? See how you can see the edges of the remaining tiles? Okay that hole isn't actually there. Neither are those tile edges. It's an effect to create fake "depth" on a 2d plane.

If that doesn't explain it here's a cool video about it:

Isn't that neat? If you've played any fancy videogames in the last 4 years or so you have seen this effect used on something. Something as simple as a brick wall or a bullet hole.

Anyway, Minecraft can actually do this with a dash of modding.
However its usually done on realistic HD texture packs. I decided I wanted to do it on my simple cartoony texture pack.
And I must say the effect is wonderful.
Here it is with some cel shading. Notice how all the rocks in this dimly lit cave that are in the shadows still glint when light hits them?

Notice how the grass on the ground is illuminated where the sun hits it. Notice how the little squares on the grass seem to have different depths?

Notice how some of the stones in the wall stick out more than the others? And how their edges illuminate in the dull light of the torch I'm carrying?


It took absolutely forever to get it working right but it was so worth it.
It looks good in motion too.
My friends found a way to make lightning come out of tools, so I of course had to record the chaos of them smashing everything with lightning.


Also a new friend of mine named Lost Kingpin is working on a mod for minecraft that ad's unfriendly carnivorous fish to the game. I did texture work for it.
Here's how I imagined it would look if Notch himself drew it:


And then here is my super-colorful version for my texture pack.





Also a few weeks ago in the span of roughly 10 minutes I recorded the crappiest horror film ever seen by the eyes of mankind.
DEATH OF A PARROT
starring a sock and two kinder surprise eggs



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My friend Matt recently had two pieces of my art framed. And he sent me pictures of how they look!




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And besides all that I just got an email maybe a day ago from an important person from an important television channel wanting to commission me for art pieces.


I rarely use smilies but this seems like as good a time as any for this particular one:

O_o


It's been a very chaotic and strange couple of months. I have not been this popular online in like....five or six years.
And the thing is, I'm not even really trying. I stopped trying like last year. I gave up trying to network long ago. I don't know anyone at any studios and nobody from most studios want anything to do with me. I don't advertise. I don't even try doing film festivals anymore. It's all too much for me, as I'm rather slow and easily frustrated and my talents are "moderate" at best when it comes to graphic design and animation.

So it's been very strange to have all these opportunities suddenly land right in my face. I'd like to pretend its Karma, but deep down I'm a terrible human being! So, instead I shall chalk it all up to good luck! I knew I kept that lucky golden turtle for a reason. I will polish it's shell tonight. And yes America, you can quote that line out of context all you like!

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Not long ago I ranted about an awful AWFUL film I saw called LEECHES which was basically about a bunch of half-naked muscular young men fighting off the shittiest god damn monster puppets I ever did see.

However when Mike purchased this film from the bargain bin at some retail outlet, we forgot that it came with another movie.

A movie called THE COLD EQUATIONS.

And wow.

It is a fucking travesty that a movie as good as the Cold Equations is on the same DVD as Leeches.

The Cold Equations stars a few actors that you are familiar with. Some who have faded away, like the guy who starred in the Rocketeer, and others who have grown to become very popular on hit TV shows.

The film is about a disposable transport ship with just enough fuel to carry one person, in this case a military pilot who is bringing medicine to some miners working on a frozen planet.
He realizes soon after takeoff that he has a stowaway. A redhead young woman who grew up in the slums of the space colonies and got on the ship so she could travel and see her brother on the ice planet.

The trouble is theres only enough fuel for the ship to carry ONE person. So what quickly becomes a confrontation as these two try to murder each other and throw the other one into space, quickly becomes a terrifying race against time as they try to calculate how much crap they can throw off the ship so it can land safely with both of them inside.

The story is good, the acting is good. The only thing that isn't is the CGI. This movie apparently came out in 1996. And apparently it was a made-for-tv movie from USA networks.

Yes I know theres been a million short films and a Twilight Zone episode based on the short story this movie is based on.

You will find next to nothing about this film online. Not even clips of it exist on Youtube. It is a film that time forgot apparently.

Which is a shame for how well done it is.

If you see this film in a bargain bin at your local Costco, Walmart, Target, or gas station, pick it up. Take it home. Watch it.

Thank me later.

Also you should see the film MOON if you haven't seen it. It's also an excellent low-budget science fiction film with a heartbreaking story.

Also also you should see THOR. It was actually really damn well put together. Of all Marvel Superhero characters I never thought would ever translate well to film, Thor and Kraven were at the top of the list.
But God DAMN did they do Thor well. Also HAWKEYE was in the film. And he was cool as hell even though he was only in it for like 10 seconds.

Anyway I need to rest a bit.