Anyone with an iPhone will know that the 3.0 software recently came out. I think what it made most obvious was that Apple had got so wrapped up in making their magic phone that supposedly does everything, and forgot some incredibly basic features.
Also, coupled with that recent launch by NASA I got to wondering what would happen if Apple branched out into the space shuttle industry?

Anyway booyah for having mms now.

So I entered the Australian Doritos 'You make it, we play it' competition which basically requires you to make an ad for Doritos and the winner gets theirs on TV. (See my entry here).

I did it with a friend and given our other commitments we were sort of forced to do the whole thing in the weekend leading up to the competition closed (not including the prior weeks of writing, storyboaring etc), but that being said I think it turned out pretty damn good. A lot of people who watched it said we had a chance of making the top 10 but to be honest I never thought this was the case, not because I thought our entry was crap just because we had some tough competition. And friends tend to be polite about this sort of thing.

But I get an email yesterday from Doritos saying "your creation didn't make the Top 50". This was a massive blow to me. Anyone who has seen the other entries (*instructions on how to do this are at the bottom of the post) will know that you would be hard pressed to find fifty entries that aren't just some wanky kids playing with their handycam.

I really don't care that much about not being in the top ten, and if it were just that I would let it be and move on to another project, but being put below this sort of half-assed crap is just insulting.

Due to work and university commitments I rarely get the opportunity to animate these days, so when I do I put a lot of soul into it. But this has been a clear indicator to me that what I perceive as quality work, and the way I view my own work, is contrary to everybody else's opinion. It seems as though I would get better results if I took a cheap video camera and filmed my brother acting like a dickhead.

Because of this, I'm stopping doing any sort of recreational animating. All the projects I am working on are indefinitely postponed, and the only time I will use Flash is for work, which mainly consists of making graphs and never anything creative.

I'm not being melodramatic (or trying not to be) but this whole incident has been a massive blow to my confidence, and I really don't feel like putting effort into anything like this for at least a few months.

I'm sure most of you won't care and to a lot of people this will just sound like someone having a bitch because they lost a competition. But I think I explained myself pretty well.

*How to view the other entries:
1- go to the Doritos Australia site
2- click "vote now"
3- click "all entries"

PS: The reason my entry isn't posted on NG is because there are a lot of filters which make it lag as an swf. Otherwise I wouldn't make people go to youTube.

There is something about tutorials on how to draw/animate/flash that really annoys me. I'm of the belief that animation, even in flash, is a form of art. And in art there is no right or wrong way to do things. So when someone has a tutorial, or a help book, or anything else, that 'teaches' them how to animate or draw, its really just teaching them how to copy someone else's work.

As a person who has never used a tutorial in my life, and never hopes to, the amount of stuff like this out there and the amount of people using it really cuts me deep. How can someone be expected to produce something original or entertaining if everyone is essentially following the same set of instructions.

Just like when we all learned to write, we strived to get our letters looking like the letters at the top of the page. Similarly a person doing a tutorial will strive to get his or her work looking like that in the example. Now I'm not saying that every person who has learned to draw/animate/flash produces the same work as everyone else who has. Just as everybody has different handwriting despite the fact that we all write the same letters.

But can you imagine the variation and creativity of people's handwriting if they had been told to work it out for themselves, with no examples to go from? The limits are endless.

The same thing applies to artistic things. When you follow a guide book on things such as these, you aren't developing your style, you are taking someone else's.

So I beg all of you, please, learn by doing. Try things out. Mess things up. Submit a thousand flashes that people hate and then finally get that one that people love, that is truly your own. You will be better for it.

Note: I know some smart ass is going to point out the fact that making up a new alphabet for every person would be an inefficient writing system, but that is not the point, and you know it.

So apparently today was the hottest temperature ever recorded in my city. It got up over 46 degrees apparently. (That's about 115 in farenheight for all you people still stuck with the imperial system). And with this recent hot weather I've been pining to get back down to the surf. (Going back for a week on Monday, woooo!). Anyway this lack of quality beach time made me start doodling in flash, and eventually i came up with this 6 second frame by frame of a guy riding a wave. With a little bit of tweaking I made it fit the specs for the In my arms Collab which I recently joined, and now they're going to include it.

Anyway there's a screenshot attached and you can watch it here. I know it looks basic but keep in mind I did it in about a day. And the whole thing is done from scratch, no rotoscoping for me thankyou.

Other than that I've been working a fair bit, so haven't had much time for recreational animating. But keep watching this space, you never know what might happen.

EDIT:
As a result of the recent weather, my state has witnessed the worst bushfire season on record. My thoughts go out to all who have lost their homes and to the friends and families of the deceased.

Time for another screenshot. Unfortunately this part looks a lot better when its moving, having taken about 3 days to make on it when it only goes for about 2 seconds, but you'll have to wait and see. Looks like some red mixed in with all the black and white though... hmmm.

Anyway since I'm giving you guys a screenshot I'll let you in on some more movie news. The movie is kind of a music video. It's set to one song with no other talking or sound, but it doesn't strictly follow the song, as the song doesnt strictly have a storyline. The movie however does. So don't worry it won't just be one of those annoying music video flashes with a guy animated playing guitar and what not.

Check back from time to time and you might find out more news, maybe even what song it is.... maybe even a swf preview.

So I recently got a bit sidetracked with my flash projects, I'm now a part of the In My Arms Collab. It's a bit different from most of the other parts i've seen because it's all done with tweens, given the specifications they're mostly frame-by-framed. I was thinking of doing something that way but thought i'd try something different instead. Anyway, CUE SCREENSHOT!

Well I figured I'd start posting some screenshots from the movie I'm making to give you viewers a taste of what's to come. Depending how fast I work on this game, I might even release one per day. Also if you're lucky I might provide clues as to what the movie is about. But for now, here is the first screen shot.

So as you can see I finally got around to spicing up my user page with a new image... I also made a banner thing and I'm pretty sure I uploaded it, but I can't find it! Also you may or may not notice that the picture and banner contain images that aren't from any movies I've released. Could they be from a project I'm working on now?...

(I'll give you a hint, they are!)

So look forward to that coming in January maybe, also there might be a flash game coming out soon that I did all the artwork for, if I can get around to finishing it. So look out for that too.

Other than that keep your eyes out for other releases by me, I've got a list of 5 projects and a few more floating around in my head, so I promise something by the end of this summer.

And remember, don't cross the streams!

EDIT: Okay so the banner should be up above this thing. Wooot!