So...
I know I said I would try to finish Gun episode 2 by May 4th. I also said that it would be extremely difficult, or damn near impossible. I wasn't kidding. Not only is the work onerous, but it's been significantly held up because I started a new research job, and I'm sorry but those responsibilities are paramount, boys and girls. I'm trying as hard as I can to find the time in between the work and waking up at 5AM to take long journeys to different areas to do my job. I'm really used to working long, late hours when it comes to Gun, and lately it's been rare that I'm awake past midnight. So the Sunday deadline isn't happening. Sorry kids.
Yes, I am working at it though. Just not as quickly as I'd like to be able to. Sigh. Such are the tribulations of a lone animator and his humongous animated feature.
If I could send you all something really cool as a thank you for waiting so long and putting up with my constant delays and push-backs, Lord knows I would. But I can't. So you'll have to settle for my sincere thanks and apologies.
Also, no one got that damn image correct from ten days ago, so I'm ending that. All I got was "it's Casey Jones." and I realized that it does really look like his mask as well. Fact is, that isn't a terribly original design, but my decision to use it wasn't at all inspired by Casey Jones of TMNT fame. No, it was a semi-obscure but well-reviewed animated feature from around the early 1990s that did it. I am speaking of "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm", and the title character in particular, who was really cool and badass. I loved that movie as a kid, and still do, so that was my nod of homage. In case you don't know what the Phantasm looked like, here ya go:
So that's that. Like I said, similar yes, but there's some obvious differences. I won't go into detailing them because well, that's pointless. You'll see it when you see episode 2. SOMEDAY!
Til' then, take care and don't crucify me for my turtle's pace. I am but a mere man with but one computer and one program. If I had a team of animators, this shit would be off the chain!
Oh well. I can dream. Bye folks, I got some Gun work to do.
Hey! Hey! Yeah You! Comm'ere... I got some candy for ya.
OK if you took the candy, you're parents didn't raise you right. You never take candy from strangers, despite the fact that strangers do in fact always have the best candy. But this candy is of the digital and visual variety.
This time around I've got yet another new screenshot from Gun episode 2 for you. It's one of the new characters that appears in this episode. The character's name is Odin. I was pretty blasé about the shot itself, since it isn't a terribly important one. It isn't terribly impressive either, truth be told... but it is probably the best clean look at the character's face that you will get. So here it is.
Click the image to see a larger version.
OK now here's the deal... to make it more interesting for whoever is reading this... I decided to come up with a little teaser kind of thing. So here's the deal...
You might find yourself looking at this character and saying to yourself, "I think I've seen this somewhere before." Well you're kind of right. Truth is, it's not an entirely original design. So before I get a whole slew of idiots sending me hate mail (again!), blasting me for ripping off the idea for this character, I am telling you this now - The mask design and general aura for this character was not only heavily influenced by another character from a different work, it is an intentional nod of homage to that character. Why? Well, this is a character that I always found so badass and mysterious when I was younger. So in coming up with a design concept for this character, I was thinking "Damn, Odin reminds me alot of 'you know who'. It'd be cool if Odin had that same kind of badassery and a similar mask like the one in that movie." I originally conceived Odin with a mask and a mysterious persona. So, since I needed a mask and it was just such a good fit, and I was such a big fan of this character, I said fuck it, and kind of reincarnated that character's haunting look in my own character. So there you have it.
Now here's where YOU come in - You may have noticed that I totally neglected to specifically mention what character I keep referring to. This is because I want you to figure that out. If you are a longtime cartoon and animation fan, this will probably be easier for you. I won't drop any hints here, because frankly I already dropped a couple in the previous paragraph. Now if you think you know the character that Odin's mask design is paying homage to, you can shoot me the answer. You only get one guess so make it count!
If you're right, I might hook you up with a really super sweet prize, like perhaps... maybe, say, a secret link to an advance screening of the first part of the upcoming episode 2 of Gun... maybe. perhaps. ^__^
Hit me with the answer by sending a message with the subject line "Odin's Mask" through one of two ways...
1. I would prefer that you send the answer to the Official Gun MySpace page inbox.
2. If you don't have a MySpace account, you can email it to me, but I don't check the inbox very often! haha. OK, I'll keep my eyes more open in coming days. I promise.
If you're a hot chick, feel free to send that guess along with a hi-res photo of you and your boobies. It would be appreciated. Thanks. Haha.
I made such a big fuss about a new update and this is all there is to it. Ha! Sorry to disappoint you. Truth is, I got tired of seeing that angry/depressed last post being the first one on the blog. I'm over that whole thing now. Well sort of. Anyways, this is the new update, and it's nowhere near as exciting as I made it sound in my promotions! Hahaha.
But hey, if you play along and don't be a lazy shit, you might get something good. Like an advance screening to a crappy overrated cartoon that's soon to come out... It's called "A Plate of Butter". Haha sorry Ramon, I had to do it. By the way, Ramon is NOT allowed to guess, because I'm almost certain that he will know the answer to this guessing game. No unfair advantages allowed.
Everyone else, have at it! Peace.
- Fred
Hi again.
I set to the task of writing this update and only just realized that I have nothing of substance to spit up this time around. I wanted to work on Gun over the past couple of days, and do some other things, but that just hasn't happened unfortunately.
This past weekend was... well it was shitty. It sucked. hard. I basically pinballed from one "Murphy's Law" situation to the next, and overstressed myself to an emotional and psychological breaking point (yet again), which all just came to an explosive head on Saturday night. I'm now realizing that it's not such a good idea for me to get thoroughly hammered when I have so much shit on my mind. Definitely not a fun experience. I had a bit of an eye-opening experience with regard to some scenarios in my life right now and the people that are around me, and I'm really starting to see certain shit differently now. Not to mention I accomplished a bunch of nothing. What a waste of time and effort. Fuck.
I would have been better off following my own gut instinct and just going off on my own for awhile without telling anyone a thing. Stupid Me, tried to appease people instead, as I always tend to do, and I paid for it in triplicate. I've actually decided not to write any new poetry based on these recent events. I somehow don't have the urge to make myself regurgitate this shit on paper any further. I do however, have some potentially major new developments in the works, but frankly I don't care one way or another if they come to fruition. But if they do... oh man, will it be big. HUGE.
The preceding days and the weekend itself completely ruined any drive I had to work on Gun over the past few days. Not to mention I've been feeling like shit since Sunday, and I'm still experiencing some stomach issues here and haven't eaten a thing since Saturday.
But the good news is I did resume working on Gun again today. This week is probably my last week to really go at it full-throttle because next Monday I'm starting a new research job in New York elementary schools, which lasts through the end of the academic year. It's gonna be pretty intense, but hopefully rewarding work. I won't bore you with the details.
Oh, and among this whole shit show of the past several days, I did find the time to finally put updates of some kind at least on the official Gun MySpace page. New images are up there now, so hit it up and if you're on myspace, go ahead and add the series to your friends list.
Until next time, I'm rockin' more Tortoise on the headphones and taking it easy... and crafting the final scenes of episode 2. Thanks for your patience.
Auf Wiedersehen.
Hey folkses.
I was working at a rough sketch of a character that appears in episode 2. I had some last minute changes to the character's look and I needed to mock it up before I committed it to flash. I basically drew the body pose, then the wardrobe on top of it. Here's a sample of the rough digital sketch (and I do mean ROUGH).
click the image to see it full size.
Yes, I realize that the pose sucks donkey dick and it's generally a terrible drawing. Shut up! I did it in 5 minutes and it was just so I could visualize the changes. Keep talking shit and I'll never share anything with you again...
No... don't touch me, you pissed me off. Now you have to wait at least 24 hours before we have that mandatory make-up sex.
Bye.
P.S. - I am LOLing right now because the tags for this post came out in alphabetical order and it says "rough sex"... LOL.
Sorry... nothing new to report. I'm just being self-indulgent here.
It's my birthday. I love it. It's also my cat Jynx's birthday too. He's ancient, turning 17 years old today! 
Now hand me one of them chocolate bunnies and some iced pound cake, dude. I'm gonna eat it bitches! YUMYUMYUMYUM!!
Ok... I'm done loving myself. Back to Gun!
Hey lovely little people...
wow that was really gay. Sorry about that.
Anyway, this is a quick update. I just threw up some lucky charms on heretik studios.. if you visit the site now, you should notice a shiny little badge in your address bar, declaring the glory and splendor of Heretik Studios that is filling your browser like a slutty girl's mouth on prom night. And that ain't a milk shake she was drinkin either. Sticky icky icky. ooh-wee. Too bad her last name was Spitzer... ooooohhh.
Disgustingly vague sexual references aside, I also hopped on here more importantly, to show you fine folks a little something i've been working on lately. I mentioned awhile back that I was toying with a new illustration for Gun. I won't go into details of how this came about, but suffice it to say Artboy is a douchebag and I have a really big fucking mouth. It will be fully developed into something totally new later on, and its very much in the creation stages, but here's a little preview of it!! cha-cha-cha.
By the way, that's not a screenshot from episode 2, but there actually is a similar-ish shot in the episode. i wont bother posting that because... well frankly I don't feel like it.
What can I say, I'm a little shit! haha. My birthday is tomorrow and I'm feeling some pressures outside of this creative artwork world of mine. But the Times isnt for personal ranting normally so... Ignore that last part.
OK back to Gun!!!
Realizations, Realizations.
I came to one last night as I was working on episode 2 of Gun. It's coming up on 2 years since episode 1 was released. Yeah. Two fucking years. I was going back over some of the scenes I've completed so far in episode 2 and just realizing how much I had limited myself in terms of sharing content with viewers and fans. This is mostly due to the episode content itself. The way it's structured... It's.. well it's complicated. Anyway, as I was going back over these scenes I was editing little things here and there that I thought needed fixing... and then I watched it. I like allowed myself to sit back and watch episode 2 so far... and I fucking love it.
I seriously have to get this episode out! No bullshit.
And in realizing that the 2-year anniversary is 30 days away, I threw down a gauntlet. I issued myself a challenge. The pertinent question here is this:
Can I complete episode 2 by the time the 2-year benchmark comes around?
Truth is, I don't know. It's a seriously dangerous and EXTREMELY difficult undertaking, considering how much work I'm putting into this and the fact that I'm doing it all by myself. I'm gonna lose alot of sleep. But I don't care. I have worked too damn hard so far on making this episode bigger, cleaner, badder, and just generally one-upping episode 1 in every way.
So that's my task. Complete Gun - Episode 2, in the next 30 days.
Can he do it? Who knows. All I know is it's gonna be a really... really hard, bumpy road ahead.
We'll see what happens!
Also, I'm gonna be releasing Gun episodes into new channels. While working on the episode itself too. More on that as it develops.
Also, my knee is injured from over-exercising while running laps. I'm stuck at home and bored so come visit me this weekend and pity me.
Also, my birthday is coming up next Wednesday. Hooray for me.
In the meantime, go vote on ep 1 if you haven't already you lazy bastards!
So that's that. Like I said, similar yes, but there's some obvious differences. I won't go into detailing them because well, that's pointless. You'll see it when you see episode 2. SOMEDAY!
