Friday, August 28, 2009

WTD?: Extinguishable

The word that came out of the random word generator this week for What the Doodle? was EXTINGUISHABLE. Here's what the FableVision crew came up with.


John Lechner


Adam Ziskie


Bob Flynn


Katelyn Walsh


Allie Biondi


Tami Wicinas


Renee Kurilla

Thanks, everyone!
Check back in a couple weeks for the next word!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Happiness in 3:23



I wanted to share TMBG's latest video- it's for their song Electric Car, from their new cd that's coming out September 1st.
I don't think I need to elaborate on how much I love this... it is a dream to make videos like this. I want to make the music, and bring visual life to the song.
Someday FVers, it'll happen :)

Electric Car!


—Thanks, Allie! I embedded the video. -Bob

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

How James Sugrue makes cartoons in Flash

via Cartoon Brew



A couple things to note. James starts with 7 drawings (his boards, essentially). His animation builds upon those drawings with more drawings (James likes drawing). And he uses a good mix of reuse and redraw. Just because its Flash, doesn't mean it has to tween.

Thanks, James!

Furry Puppet Studio

I recently discovered the funnest furry fellows around! Furry Puppet Studio is based out of NYC. The company's new website features some interesting animations and entertaining gallery photos! I personally enjoy their tweets about starting up the sewing machine everyday. Another fun company to add to the list...not above FableVision, of course. ;) I mean..come on!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

The Great Flu.com


I haven't had a chance to play it because I think the site's servers are dealing with an epidemic of their own, but here's a game that teaches through simulation and play. Pretty great design, too.

via Kotaku

"While it might not actually be Swine Flu: The Video Game, a flash game created by Dutch researches aims to raise the awareness of similar outbreaks by having the player control the deadly Gamers Flu.

The Great Flu casts the player as the head of the fictional World Pandemic Control. Pick a strain of flu based on difficulty level, and use your budget to help stop the spread of a potentially deadly disease. Should you distribute masks to the public, or broadcast public service announcements warning of the potential update? Should you start manufacturing vaccines, improve research facilities, or bring in a group of specialists? Even at the lowest difficulty the game delivers a sense of just how difficult it is to handle and contain the spread of a dangerous virus."

Play here --> The Great Flu.com

also, a write-up on Fast Company.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Boom Boom Pow in an Apple Store



This is one way to shoot a video. Gotta give him credit! Use the tools you have available—even better when they're free.

via Boing Boing

"YouTube user nicholifavs is using the Apple Store as his own, personal A/V studio and audition space. So far, the little dude's shot dozens of lip sync videos including this one of the Black Eyed Peas' 'Boom Boom Pow.'"

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Negative Space in Balloon Shapes


Matt Bernier of Comic Tools lays out a great tutorial on the dos and don'ts of lettering in comics. A lot of it applies the common sense rules of typography and positive/negative space to word balloons. These are all really good ideas to keep in mind whether you're lettering by hand or using a font.

Read here --> This week: Balloon Shape.


He points out that while some examples of poor negative space are the result of the ease of computer lettering, even comics greats like Bill Watterson and Winsor McCay had bad lettering habits.

Also, in the comments, a brief discussion comes up about using hyphenation to break up words, which I've always considered a big no-no. But I love how Matt puts it:

"...breaking up a word with a hyphen to make it fit is like breaking your kid's feet to get him into smaller shoes. He'll fit, but he ain't gonna run too good any more."

It's a long thorough read, but a good one—with lots of doodles and samples to go along with it. HIGHLY recommended.

Friday, August 14, 2009

WTD?: Stubble

The word that came out of the random word generator this week for What the Doodle? is STUBBLE. Here's what the FableVision crew came up with.


Adam Ziskie


Didi Mitova


Bob Flynn


Keith Zulawnik


Renee Kurilla


Katelyn Walsh


Allie Biondi


Brian Grossman


Nick Sherman


Watch animation in full resolution.
Hannah O'Neal


John Lechner

Check back in a couple weeks for the next word!

Monday, August 10, 2009

Tami Wicinas: Wooden Rose

We thought we'd try something new on Creative Juices—a Q&A format.

Fablevisionary, Tami Wicinas, has been working for the better part of this year on her webcomic Wooden Rose. Here's what she had to say about it:

What inspired you to begin writing a web comic?

I have always enjoyed telling narratives through my illustrations. I had been toying with the idea of drawing a comic for a while, but my friend Martzi planted the idea for Wooden Rose. While wandering around San Francisco we joked about writing a Jane Austen style webcomic together and the idea stuck with me. The Victorian era is a visually beautiful and romantic historical period. I love it for its lavish dress and gothic settings, the repressed emotions and the manners and courtesy with which people addressed each other. I wondered why there were not more Victorian style comics out there and I thought it would be fun to make one myself. After that the story started coming to me. I began it in January and wrote in a kind of frenzy, thinking of little else for two months. Martzi was a huge help to me – serving as my advisor and editor and cheering me on along the way. Once I had the story mapped out the visuals came naturally.

Who are your influences (writers and artists)?

The only other Victorian webcomic I knew about was The Phoenix Requiem by Sarah Ellerton. It is so well done I could not help being influenced by it. I attempted to write my story in the style of a 19th century romance novel. Wooden Rose has a lot in common with Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, which I admit I used as a starting point, but I added some of my own fantastical plots twists. I also drew elements from old Irish folk and fairy tales, and probably some other stories that have become ingrained in my subconscious.

As for the artwork, I am largely influenced by art nouveau, specifically Alfonse Mucha. I think Japanese anime also plays a big role in my style – the flat outlined figures against the painterly backgrounds is a style contrast I borrowed from animation.

Describe your process. Are you writing as you go along, or do you already have the story mapped out?

The story is already completed. The first half of the script is polished and ready to be drawn, but the latter half is still very rough and needs more work. As I slowly work my way through new ideas come to me for the second half that I can add to it.


What tools are you using? Do you work on paper at all, or is everything digital?

Though my story is completed, I do not have it all storyboarded because I know that I will be making changes to the second half of the script. I plan out about three pages at a time. I sketch them out roughly by pencil to figure out the layout, composition and pacing of each page. Sketching by hand for me is faster and more natural than sketching on a computer. I then scan the sketches into photoshop to trace the outline and color.

Could you describe your approach to color? It seems to play a large role in setting the atmosphere and mood of the story.

I pick a dominant color for each scene and work my palette around that color. I try to keep the range of colors to a minimum, sometimes using a complimentary color and light and dark for contrast. I try to capture the dark moody atmosphere I like from the time period – the dark deep colors of the walls and wood of the old houses, lots of candle and firelight for the interiors and filtered forest light for the outdoor scenes.

How many chapters can we expect?

I do not know yet since the second half is not finalized and I do not have it all storyboarded. It completely depends on how much I add to the ending and how I decide to pace the scenes. My rough estimate is about 8 to 10 chapters total.

* * * * * *

You can read more about Tami's work on her blog.
And she's also on Twitter @tamiwicinas.

Elevator redesign

The addition of the movie poster boxes has really taken our hallway to the next level. Kudos to everyone involved in recognizing the opportunity there. Now onto our next challenge - figuring out how to get the museum to allow us to redecorate the elevator boxes with our artwork as this company from Antwerp has:





Original photos taken from here .