Just some random stuff here..

I was checking out Braid, the 2nd of the XBOX SUMMER OF GAMES or whatever exciting marketing lingo Microsoft is calling it. (Castle Crashers is 5th in line)

Anyways, it's got a pretty nice painterly style, and you can't tell from screenshots but there's several moving layers which make it seem very alive and vibrant. I was contemplating how they went about making it and came across THIS ARTICLE.

As you can see from reading it, the programmers gave the artist bare bones screenshots with the functional but fairly lifeless platform and puzzle elements - and then several examples of the artist renderings of the same level.

I bring this up since I've had roughly two failed, half hearted attempts at it..

One was a Territory War like stage afroninja mapped out below and the other was a stage from Project Inthri 3...and you can see my art swap HERE.

I find this type of thing fun to do, I just wish I could actually follow through on a project one of these days.

Anyways check out Braid it's NEAT.

I was short on time, but here's what I came up with for this years Comicon NG banner. It will be 3 feet x 9 feet and it'll be hoisted 8 feet up in the air, next to the equally big Behemoth banner that Dan had just finished as well.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL NON-CROPPED DELICIOUSNESS

Anyways, though guilt ridden, I had to draw the line somewhere and stopped jamming in characters at 33. Sorry if I excluded anybody, but this poster contains way more than last years, and maybe next year it will be even more ridiculous.

...

Slightly on and off topic, but of all the issues I've had with Flash over the years, one of the most staggeringly incompetent problems has been exporting hi-res images from it.

This poster ended up being around 8000x27000 pixels so it was reasonably sharp at 9 feet high, and I literally had to export over 20 sections and paste them back together into a master photoshop document for printing. WHAT A BURDEN.

WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST USE AN ILLUSTRATOR FILE?
Because I have a few photoshop effects, such as desaturation and color overlays that flash *can* do it but not well...but that is another topic for another day.

I hope you poindexters at adobe can fix this so I don't have to deal with this shit ever again.

ANYWAYS, if you're going to Comicon, feel free stop by the booth and say hi. And a word to the wise, don't loiter in front of the booth for 5 hours at a time all sweaty and nervous I WON'T NAME ANY NAMES but there was one guy in a black t-shirt and he looked like he was about to stab Tom and eat the flesh off his face - everybody else was totally cool.

That's all, have a good time.

update, here's a link to the article.

I cut and pasted the intro in just to illustrate how ridiculous it really is that I'm in this.

______________________________

If you see an issue of Animation Magazine anywhere, there's an interview with yours truly in it.

I was grouped in with all these other animators and directors, from Aardman Animation, Sony Pictures Animation, Tippett Studios, an animator who worked on Kung Fu Panda, among other in "Rising Stars of Animation and VFX: Class of 2008. Haha, and there I am "JohnnyUtah aka Jeff Bandelin, Newgrounds.com.

It's a mildly surreal feeling to see me grouped in with all these people.

Anyways, I'll see if I can eventually scan this bad boy and upload it.

ALSO

I'll apologize again for everybody here, The metal gear collab is coming...we're having some real issues with flash holding all these movies at once and not crashing and shit..but we're gonna figure it out ONE WAY OR ANOTHER REALLY REALLY SOON.

click for bigger version.

The METAL GEAR COLLAB should be out sometime early next month...closer to the metal gear solid 4's release. Be patient, it's coming...and it's gonna be damn good.

Also:

RageGummy made it. Lot's of head bobbing but I like it.

Also:

I'm going to have Tim throw up all the tankmen episodes onto the "ng featured movies podcast" sometime this week. A few people asked for some crisp video copies so I shall oblige.

UPDATE WHAT: we now have 200 or so submissions - its gonna take us some time to go through em all WE APPRECIATE YOUR PATIENCE

OFFICIAL RULES

Alright you handsome little bastards, we've been getting in some really nice submissions recently and this thing just might have a chance at being GREAT.

As you may be aware, we set the official deadline for the 20th BUT...

ok look, we really want to get this assembled in a timely manner but if you need an extra day or three we can deal with it. Also, we got over a hundred entries so obviously we can't use all of em so if yours isn't picked please no hard feelings, just take it like a man and say to yourself "I'm going to do even better next time!" and high five yourself, and trust me you'll feel better. We do appreciate all of you submitting.

OFFICIAL RULES

You got about a month left on the METAL GEAR COLLAB.

I dunno, based on the submissions it seems like you all know "Snake" and his penchant for sneaking around like a pervert, but there's also a ton of potential for non-snake based submissions that isn't really being tapped. So far I've seen maybe THREE submissions (out of SEVENTY) based on mgs2 and 3. I mean thats just fucking ridiculous...and so far maybe one based on part 4.

Let me help you guys out here alittle. You have to work with:

A LITERALLY GAY UNDEAD VAMPIRE

CYBORG NINJAS

A FAT ROLLER SKATING EXPLOSIVES EXPERT

A CROSSBOW WIELDING SPIDERY OLD MAN THAT USES FEAR TO CONTROL HIS ENEMIES

AN INSANE RUSSIAN COSMONAUT THAT LOVES FIRE (AND IS PRETTY PISSED ALL THE FUCKING TIME)

SNAKES ARCH ENEMY THAT HAS HIS DEAD BROTHERS ZOMBIE HAND GRAFTED ONTO HIS ARM THAT SOMETIMES TAKES CONTROL OF HIS MIND AND EVEN MAKES HIM SOUND LIKE HIS DEAD BROTHER - WHAT

A DUDE THAT LOVES BEING STUNG BY HORNETS

A RUSSIAN MIND READER THAT KNOWS WHEN YOU LIKE PLAYING CASTLEVANIA

SNAKES THIRD CLONED BROTHER WHO WAS ACTUALLY AGED AND MADE THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (AND WHEN NOT RULING THE COUNTRY WEARS A BADASS EXOSKELETON THAT COULD RIP APART DOCTOR OCTOPUS)

A DEAD GUY THAT CRIES BLOOD AND MAKES IT RAIN

AN OLD FART WHO WAS THE BEST SNIPER TO EVER LIVE AND HAS A PET PARROT AND GOOGLY EYES

A DUDE THAT HAS BOWEL PROBLEMS IN EVERY SINGLE METAL GEAR GAME

CRAZY BITCH WITH AN INSANE RAILGUN THAT CAN'T BE HIT BY BULLETS

YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD BLACK WEAPONS EXPERT

NOT TO MENTION -

THE SHAGOHOD (THE FIRST METAL GEAR)

METAL GEAR REX

METAL GEAR RAY

You have a ton of material to work with here. If you want info on even more mgs characters and events, check em out HERE.

oh and p.s. all these characters got videos on youtube. just type in "metal gear solid" and their name into the search.

UPDATE TWO

OFFICIAL RULES

We have 45 or so submissions, and a few real good ones have come in.

A few suggestions based on what we're recieving -

Newgrounds specific jokes - not a grand idea. Try your best to make them metal gear specific jokes. Even if the joke introduces some outside elements it should still be based on metal gear.

So far, we've gotten very few movies that don't involve solid snake and or dicks and cardboard boxes. A few of those are very good but still. MGS2 is still completely ignored along with only one or two submissions based on part 3.

Here's a good reference for all things metal gear if you're looking for ideas:

THE METAL GEAR WIKI

p.s. if you're still a little confused about what we want check out the BLAMFORMERS collab again.

p.p.s. if you wanna spread the word around so this is the best collab ever I'll tip my hat to you and throw you a few shillings.

STILL ALSO

kagomehigurashi who voiced meryl in the metal gear awesome series (and does an amazing job) volunteered to do some female voices if you need em. BUT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD dont send her utter shit. PLEASE. if you're gonna bust your ass on something and need a female voice so you don't gotta tuck your balls between your legs and do the voice yourself - then by all means politely ask her.

Two contests have popped up that I'm going to try and join in on -

Opie & Anthony Animation Contest (scroll to bottom, ignore chick with huge rack)

There's no set deadline yet, but they're saying there will be a venue set up in NY with seating for a few thousand and they'll be screening all the best animations with cash prizes. It's apparently sometime in May so I'm assuming you better get done by late april. Hit the link above for rules.

Udon Street Fighter Art "Tribute" Contest

Hey if you like playing Street Fighter or just admire the character designs check this one out. There's no cash prize, but you'll get your art printed in a large Tribute Art Book that will be first appearing at Comicon this July. Deadline is March 31, check out all the Rules and Regulations at the link above.

Both of these could be a big opportunity for anybody looking to get their work seen.

....and yeah I KNOW we need to post a new contest here in NG...SORRY. We'll get on that.

Has anybody else checked out this movie yet?

I ON DEMAND'ED it (for 4.99 RIP OFF) and I'm on the fence about it. Sure a warner bros. cartoon that opens with an artist blowing his brains out can't be that bad right?

It's based on an alternate take on how the JUSTICE LEAGUE orignally formed back in the 60s. Apparently, there's a lifeform that's named itself "the center" that's been here on earth for a millenia and is supremely irritated with the recent evolution of human beings.

Anyways, I hear the graphic novel was highly praised but this entire movie seems rushed just to fit in every character and make sure they get in their sweet little speech about humans working together and not fighting anymore.

Notable mentions:

The "villain" looks like Jurassic Park with tentacles. Don't make me elaborate - that's a perfect description already.
Superman is still a huge niave pussy
Batman looked ridiculous in the 1960s
The Flash is the fasted dickhole on the planet, but has major self confidence issues.
Martian Manhunter's "human form" looks even more ridiculous than batman.
Aquaman has terrible taste in undersea vehicles
Green Lantern is a womanizing jock with a really close male buddy - they're winking at each other the entire god damn movie.
Wonder Woman is a HUGE "C"

I did a search for "tankmen" and "tank men" on deviantart..having no idea what to expect.

Low and behold I was met with feelings of morbid curiosity and terror. I'd say the best one was THIS.

and I know some of you have drawn tankmen fighting dick monsters and all that jazz (and believe me you make me proud), but for SOME REASON a tankman on a horse..WITH A SWORD, acting all chivalrous and valiant just freaks me out more.

I DONT KNOW WHY.

(not to mention the creepy pursed lips on that horse)