PomerErica's World

Union Jacked and more pics

2009-06-29T07:22:00.001-07:00

I've been uploading these pics to facebook but forgot about my blog! So here's a bunch more Jack in Hats!!!

Che Jack!

Jack of the Jungle

Fighting Irish!!! Irish Cap hat

Hula Jack

2 Pugs for the Price of One

2009-05-04T07:14:00.000-07:00

Here are Jack (as Jack-a-hontas) and another Puggy friend from work Hercules (as Big Chief Herc)
Enjoy!!!

(Single dog photos are all Jack, doubles are Jack and Hercules)

More Jack

2009-05-04T07:05:00.001-07:00

British Hat or Russian....you decide!

Jack Hats are BACK

2009-04-23T21:52:00.000-07:00

After a slight pause because of end of contracts, and waiting for new ones to start...Jack Hats are back on the assembly line!
Enjoy Chef Jack!

Wizard Jack will cast a spell on you!

2009-02-12T22:24:00.000-08:00

Check out more hats!

Don't misbehave, or you'll be sent to the corner like this delinquent!

He has Cute Casting abilities!

Too cute in a sweater!

Captain Jack Sparrow...Pug Pirate!!!

2009-02-09T19:45:00.000-08:00

Jack in a plethora of hats: Pirate Hat, Sailor Hat, and Robin Hood hat are new!!!

Jack in a Third Hat

2009-02-03T20:56:00.000-08:00

I decided to get in on the hat making, and crafted a Fez:

Ta da!!!!! Next week I might try to do a pirate hat. YARRRRRRR!!!!!!

Jack In A Hat!!! 2 hats actually

2009-01-30T21:20:00.000-08:00

So....
When animators get bored, they come up with all sorts of good ideas. Ahahahah. Since Studio B is a dog friendly studio...Joel has been bringing in his Pug Jack.
For the past 2 days Jack has been sporting some rather dashing hats:

Apparently the original plan was to make him a fez...but there was no red paper to be found. So I have decided that I shall make him the fez...
Stay tuned for more hat adventures!

transmission.LIVE was Amazing

2008-12-06T11:15:00.000-08:00

So I got to go to transmission.LIVE for the past 2 days...it was a crazy awesome music festival here in Vancouver which featured a ton of awesome Canadian bands. It was a good opportunity to pass out some business cards too in case there were any bands that are interested in getting an animated music video.
Here's some Myspace links to some bands that rocked my socks off:

Winter Gloves
Woodhands
Wendy McNeill
Beast
The Awkward Stage
Elliott Brood

You can even see the Music Video Aaron and I directed for Elliott Brood (way back in August 2006) on their page.
But yeah...super fun was had.
And also, Winter Gloves.....this is for you....I notice you don't have any music videos yet on your Myspace............your manager has Aaron's and my cards. *wink* hahahahaha. I also enjoyed your tour diary videos and the near death escape of your tour van! Craziness.
I actually have any idea in my head already for a little sumthin'. Yay....too many animation ideas in my head right now.
My brain feels rejuvenated and creative after this weekend!

New Portfolio Blog

2008-12-03T12:43:00.000-08:00

SO I created a new blog today where I'm going to stash all my portfolio type stuff. I figured it would be nice to have it all in one place rather then spread out amongst all the posts I do on here about beard rock bands, or other random things.

It'll take a little while to get everything organized and linked...and I'll have to wait until after the Sideshow Christmas airs too on Dec. 12th before I get my flash demo reel up as well. But soon it shall be coming together!

Erica Pitt - Animator

Snuggle Pony build in Flash

2008-11-15T12:46:00.000-08:00

Looks like someone is ready to get animated!

Basic build in flash. Can't wait to animate him and get more shapes drawn...he'll look less stiff!

Mazarin is BACK. Now known as Black Stoltzfus

2007-11-11T12:43:00.000-08:00

That's right........my new favourite band (as of last summer when I discovered them here in Vancouver) is back.

I'm very picky when it comes to the music I like, so when I first heard these guys I was like, "Right on.....a new band with kick ass beard(s) and kick ass tunes". But then they had to change their name because of some other band calling themselves Mazarin..........but whatever to them.
These guys are back and are calling themselves Black Stoltzfus. Stoltzfus being the last name of frontman Quentin (who has a really awesome beard by the way)

So yes........on this long weekend, Erica is now happy. All is right with the world again.

If you want to check them out, you can listen to some of their tunes on their Myspace page here:

Mazarin Band

UPDATE: Ok so apparently I shouldn't get too used to the new name Black Stoltzfus......but....they are still my new favourite band no matter what they call themselves.

I think I fixed the link below for their myspace page too.

Neglect

2007-10-20T17:40:00.000-07:00

This blog is being neglected badly.........

I wish I had some artwork or anything fun to put up here, but I've been a tad busy with work lately.

so sad.....

Nicktoons Animation Festival

2007-08-03T18:33:00.000-07:00

My film "A Peach for the Teach" is one of 30 finalists in the Nicktoons Animation Festival this year.
It will be broadcast on TV on Nicktoons on August 14th at 10pm. I wish we got that station here.....oh well.

http://www.nicktoonsnetwork.com

And the film also won 1st place in the under 2 min category of the ilaugh.com Shortfest. Woooohooooo.

WOO HOO

2007-06-16T09:10:00.000-07:00

New Blog

2007-06-10T20:49:00.000-07:00

Work on the new blog continues.....

In case you haven't heard from me already, I'm creating a new blog specifically for the horseback riding video games. I bought one as a joke last summer but actually got quite addicted to it.
Now I have people emailing me questions on how to get past certain parts of the game.....
I've been experimenting with Video Capturing software for game tutorial videos and I think I found the best one for what I want to do. So videos should be able to go up soon, and people can find solutions from watching them.
It's very hard to respond to people when I get busy with work.

I've also been working on the logo. This is a quick mock up of what it might look like. It will probably end up looking much different since I'm never actually happy with anything I draw :P

I've also done the character in flash so if I want to animate him at some point I totally can!!!

Never fear girls...your helpful website for the game is almost here!!!

UPDATE: Yeah the logo is lookin' pretty different now because I hate this one. Stay tuned!

Updates on stuff!

2007-05-18T12:30:00.000-07:00

Here's a few quick updates

So the final version of my film is not on Youtube yet because of contest rules, so to see it you can view it here:

A Peach for the Teach

Also...here are a few pics of me and Aaron's Mii's from the Nintendo Wii:

here are a couple pics of some finished Peach for the Teach characters which include the Apple now:

In other news......it has been revealed that John Stamos has a nose where his belly button should be. Click here for the video proof!!!!

Stamos Nose-Belly Button

hagagagag!!!!!!!!

Back to BC baby!!!

2007-05-07T15:50:00.000-07:00

I'm in lovely Vancouver again, and man, I kicked off my "summer o' fun" by going to see Spiderman 3 yesterday. Craptacular!!!!! Which is my way of saying i thought it kinda sucked.

Hopefully there will be some awesome movies coming out this summer.

And the idea of not having to go back to school in September is also making this summer super spectacular. I already got down to the gelato shop where Aaron and I treated ourselves to deliciousness.
And coming back to BC had a favourable time change for me. I'm actually getting up early woo hoo. I got so much (laundry) done today. I have a couple more errands to run today but artwork should be appearing on here soon hopefully again.

Millions of Peaches

2007-04-24T20:40:00.000-07:00

these are for my two 1st year helpers who did a bunch of scanning for me.

We're haveing a school screening tomorrow and I shall see them there!!! Woooo fun times

Click on the link

2007-03-24T10:38:00.000-07:00

Check Me Out

I'm dancing up a storm, and apparently I'm my own biggest fan. WOO HOO

Animation stills

2007-03-24T10:14:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple of stills from my film so far. It's just the basic colours on right now, and later in after effects they will be SUPER AWESOMEfied.

WOOoooo

Peach Sparkle Power

2007-03-06T06:16:00.001-08:00

Coming along....

2007-03-05T07:28:00.000-08:00

The film is coming along........slowly but surely......it's getting there.
Here's my production chart as of last night when I got home from school.

Peeping Tom in my closet

2007-02-25T17:38:00.000-08:00

Do you ever have the feeling you're being watched when you're changing?

Well I did today. I was in my room after having my shower, putting on some makeup and doing my hair, and then I went to get changed....when suddenly I felt as if I was being watched.

I heard a little noise of paper rustling from my closet...and I knew I wasn't alone.

Check out these pics to see my landlady's cat being all freaky creepy....

She's done this before...which is why I piled up a bunch of crap in front of the closet...to deter her from going in there...

But as you can see....someone with beedy little eyes has not been deterred at all.

"Cripes I've been caught, now to make my escape"

Happy Bday To ME

2007-02-16T07:34:00.000-08:00

It's my Birthday......Feb. 16th baby

here's a piece of artwork to celebrate. They look a little too sassy to be enjoying my bday though but whatevs!

The Goal

2007-02-15T07:46:00.000-08:00

My goal.....

to finish animating before Reading week (starting Monday Feb. 26th)

It can be done.......I just need to do it. Finish inbetweening a scene a day. As of today, 9 more to go (out of 24)

PEACH POWER!!! (eye sparkle)

Beard Rock

2007-02-10T09:07:00.000-08:00

So I've decided that my favourite kind of music is (what I like to call) Beard Rock.
The proof is in the photos!!!!!

Aaron also has a healthy beard. Coincidence? I think not.

Yam Yam the Pomeranian

2007-02-07T08:35:00.000-08:00

So Aaron forwarded me an email on friday, because someone at his work needed to find a new home for his cute little pomeranian Yam Yam.

SO I started thinking hey...he's a super cute! I want him sooooo Bad!!!! My mom even offered to keep him at our family's house in Victoria until I got to Vancouver, since Aaron's building is "no pets allowed". But I found out last night someone got to him first, but the guy works in Aaron's department so that's cool (as long as I get to be invited over to his house for visits).

This is what happens when I'm not in Vancouver....I miss out on Prime Pomeranian give away season!

Oh well...soon enough I shall get one, and I'll get it from puppy stage so I don't miss out on all the cute times...although pomeranians are always cute, no matter which age they are.

......sigh.......Yam Yam

Erica's Demo Reel and an Ode to my Favourite pets

2007-02-05T22:10:00.000-08:00

Posting up some demo reel action here. I needed to get it on youtube to put on my website so I decided to put it here too.

Aaron has been working hard to create some craziness on the website. Check out the "Learn more about us" link. www.designerwhite.ca

I'm also posting another video I found on Youtube the other day. It's like an ode to my favourite dogs......keep watching till the end of the video and you'll be rewarded with some of the best editing I've ever seen hahaha.

the quality is pretty low so my awesome girl skip cycle is a little colour blasted white. But oh well...

Oh Cap Reit....

2007-02-03T09:58:00.000-08:00

This is the apartment building I was in for 2nd year...

Needless to say, it's stuff like this that makes me glad I moved out.

Xmas Haul

2007-01-19T07:14:00.000-08:00

So here's a few pics of some of me and Aaron's Christmas haul.....

I got him a remote controlled Dalek from Dr. Who. (It moves and says different things...usually about exterminating you) And Aaron got me a 2D figurine from Gorillaz.

Man, I can see why Jamie Hewlett won "Designer of the Year" in 2006. The Gorillaz art and videos are amazing. Good times says I!!!

You may also notice the totally cool Nintendo mushroom couch throw pillow!

Tamogotchi Connection 2 DS game is also visible in the bottom left here.....super fun game.

And this little piece of awesome was modelled by Kelly for me. I keep it by my desk to watch over me as I animate. She spurs me on to finish up pose testing, for the fun of inbetweening is close at hand!!!
OH inbetweening......i actually finished inbetweening my girl character's skip/leap/ballerina-esque walk cycle last night. I'm fairly happy with it, and I tried to make it good since it's one of 2 scenes that have characters with arms and legs ahah.

Guild Wars Update

2007-01-16T19:20:00.000-08:00

So...it's not really fun to post line tests of my animation (which is basically what I'm doing right now on my film)...so I thought I'd show off the new armour I got for my elementalist character in Guild Wars. Hahah...and Aaron and I created some new characters too.

I now have a female Warrior named Smoochy Muvums and Aaron has a male Elementalist named Robot Showerbucket. Fun times! Here's a few candid pics.

New armour covers less than before yet protects better? Hmmm...

Aaron's skull staff and lightnings floating around my head.

Warrior Princess and Aaron's dude looking a bit old with the grey hair...

Scaring his character with my Amazonian good looks.

New stuffs coming

2007-01-12T22:26:00.000-08:00

I've been working hard trying to key out a bunch of scenes of animation...so I haven't been posting as much.
But I will post some fun stuff soon.

Say what now?

2006-12-12T22:13:00.000-08:00

Check out this load of awesome. I found it on a blog I frequent occasionally because it's hilarious. Not only is this a funny picture on it's own, but there is also a Pomeranian in the background, and we all know how much I love them!!! But yeah, if you like comics and such check out the page I swiped this from:

http://jimsmash.blogspot.com/

X-Mas Present Insanity

2006-12-07T22:00:00.000-08:00

SO...I just finished making a Christmas present for my land lady Tina. She has a cat named Kitty who is super cute and friendly so I decided to whip up some craziness. I bought a nice picture frame and I will be placing this monstrosity inside. It's cheesy to the max, but I love it. It was originally in colour but I thought the black and white made it slightly more classy...if that's possible.
Tomorrow, work on my film shall resume.

What a little Angel that Kitty is...

Newest Leica version

2006-11-20T20:14:00.000-08:00

Here's another leica pass......this time with music by Scott Christian and voice acting by Pierre (the Apple) and a mixture of me, Anna, Kelly and Lianna as the Peach. After I raised the pitch I can't tell who's who anymore. The dialogue still needs to be tweaked a bit more to smooth out the transitions, same with some of the sound effects...but here ya go anyways!!!

For new viewers...a leica reel is not a finished animation. It's still drawings (storyboards) timed out so the animator will know how much time he/she has for each scene and for all the actions.
The reason it's coloured it because that was one of our requirements. I will start the actual animation soon though. So hopefully the final product turns out well.

Aaron's Bday party

2006-11-19T20:10:00.000-08:00

Aaron's birthday was on Nov. 16th and he turned 24 years old. He just got his Nintendo Wii today though and I was lucky enough to attend his party via webcam (seeing as how he's in Vancouver and I am in Oakville). Here's the invitation he sent out to his friends:

Mazarin no more?

2006-11-17T05:44:00.000-08:00

So my favourite new band has to stop using their name Mazarin because apparently there is already another band using the same name. Yar.........

Just when I find a band I can be as obsessed with as I am with Coldplay they gotta go and change. I'm crying single tears of sadness right now.

But if you want to check them out before they go and rename themselves something else then go here. My favourite songs by them are not featured on their Myspace page but oh well. They still rock.

Sigh..........

Pom Pom the Superdog

2006-11-11T18:26:00.000-08:00

I've been going to the Royal Winter Fair for the past 4 years that I've been out here in Oakville, and I never went to the Superdogs show until this year. It was always super busy other years but I said NOT AGAIN...this year I shall see them, for perhaps there might be a pomeranian. And guess what, there was!
So now I shall introduce to you Pom Pom. Samantha took the video clips for me and she is now my hero!
Pom Pom was not following directions very well, hence the laughter in the background but oh well. She's cute...that's all she needs!

newer leica reel

2006-11-09T19:07:00.000-08:00

here's another version of my leica reel...
there's only a few slight modifications from the other one. This is the version I'm getting my music person to use as reference so booyakasha!
I got to record some wicked audio with schoolmates on Monday so "non-stock" dialogue and screaming should make it's way into the leica soon. And the final music will also make an appearance at some point as well.
It's starting to feel like a real film now.
Special thanks to the girls (Anna, Kelly and Lianna) for their lung capacity and also to Pierre for the best laugh ever!

and now for the arts and crafts version of animation....scene folder preparation. Mwah hah hah........

Full of Surprizes!!!

2006-11-07T15:52:00.000-08:00

Today is definately a day to remember.
First of all, I saw on the news that a cow escaped from the Royal Winter Fair and broke into an electronics store.
And next I hear that Britney Spears has FINALLY filed for divorce with Kevin Federline. Oh K-Fed, you're so ridiculous....but when I think things can't get any more crazy, I see a commercial for a new live action production of Aladdin and guess who is playing the genie? None other than my favourite WWF wrestler of all time: Bret the Hitman Hart...

He even gets to do some wrestling action with a ring and ropes and everything. What the heck?

Oh November 7th, 2006, how I shall remember you always.

Aaron on the Radio link

2006-11-05T17:01:00.000-08:00

Aaron was recently interviewed on the CBC about the future of music videos, along with the band Elliott Brood who we did the video for. Here is a link to the audio (as it was a radio interview!!!)

http://www.designerwhite.ca/forum/Bandwidth_Nov42007.mp3

On another note...now I know how to create links within my blog now. I didn't know before so this one is the first!

My favourite part of the interview is when Aaron mentions that it would be cool if the National Film Board of Canada would give grants for animators to make music videos for Canadian artists.

If I could somehow convince either Coldplay or Mazarin to let me do a video for them...Wink!!!

My Little Pwny

2006-11-04T18:12:00.000-08:00

Alrighty, Aaron helped me buy a Kirin minipet in Guild Wars last night. I've named him Pwny (Pony) hahah. Check him out. It's the closest thing I'll get to a pomeranian in the game me thinks!

And here's my character being "All up in yo grill....mmmmmHmmmmm!!!"

Lion Cub Video

2006-11-01T21:20:00.000-08:00

I found a video clip of the lion!!!

Elephant action

2006-10-27T20:17:00.000-07:00

How awesome would this have been last year when we were doing our group film about an elephant. Hahah oh well it's still very cool the school provided us with an elephant to draw AND a lion of about 9 months old too.
This is me being very excited but scared also haha. It's a big animal, but he moved so gently with so many people around. Very beautiful animal. Anna touched his tongue haha.

Working Story reel

2006-10-24T00:08:00.000-07:00

I'm handing this in tomorrow as my working progress.
The sound effects are stand in ones for now as I haven't recorded actual people yet, some sounds are missing still and some just need to be changed because they're really lame right now. But yeah.....I hope you enjoy it despite.
It's still my working reel however so things might change again still after this version.

Champion Dreams 2??? For the DS

2006-10-23T15:36:00.000-07:00

Oh.....My....God......

Aaron has just informed me about a new Nintendo DS game where you have to raise a horse and ride it just like the Gem of my life Champion Dreams!!!! AND...........I just checked out the link Aaron gave me:

http://gonintendo.com/?p=7099#comments

........and it would appear that Ubisoft has taken one of the characters of Champion Dreams (the American girl Ginger) and made her the main character of this game. Something I found brilliant about the screenshots on this link, were they probably have the same person translating this game into English as Champion Dreams, cause they're still making hilarious mistakes:

hahahah.......oh man. This is going to be my new favourite game I can tell. One of the things I didn't like about the PC version of Champion Dreams was the controls for when you had to clean the horse. How I wished it could be on my Ds and I could clean that horse Nintendogs style. And now they have granted my wildest dream!!!! Hahahahaha oh boy.....

Oh man...I just went here:

http://www.pippafunnellgame.com/home.php

and read up on the PC version of their "new" Pippa Funnel game and guess what. It's just Champion Dreams repackaged. You can't fool me Ubisoft! I am one of the 2 people in the planet who bought the game. Maybe I should buy it to see if they fixed all the glitches I have previously complained about.
But I am looking forward to the DS version...and I am very serious when I say that haha.

Film Stuffs

2006-10-22T19:52:00.000-07:00

Some rough character rotations and colour choices. I'm going to work on effects to make the peach look fuzzy and the apple shiny!!!
I like the idea of colour linework but I'm still working on getting a nice shadow effect as well. I'll have to wait and see what looks best when I work more on the layouts. I want to get some texture aspect in there rather than just flat colours like the ones I'm working with for my leica reel.

I will be pulling things together more over the next couple weeks.

Peach

2006-10-19T19:07:00.000-07:00

Spudgy the Pomeranian

2006-10-19T11:06:00.000-07:00

So, I used to think that Mr. Winkle was the cutest Pomeranian in the world. And he is super cute.....if you don't know who Mr. Winkle is, here's the link:

Mr Winkle

But last night on YouTube I discovered Spudgy the pomeranian...

I love the way he face plants into the carpet at the end there. So cute!!!

Why PomerErica?

2006-10-13T21:09:00.000-07:00

So why did I call this blog PomerErica's World...because of my unhealthy obsession with Pomeranians!!!

This is Tigger with her summer haircut. She was my dog for many years and one of the sweetest little Pom's. She passed away the summer of first year animation. I always felt bad for not being home for that...but life must be lived...or cloned. I wish I could clone her, I really do. I could have like 5 or 6 of her running around hahahah. That would be my dream come true.

I'm not sure of why I thought of her today but I thought I would share her with you.

My blog exploded

2006-10-12T16:49:00.000-07:00

I was just adding some links when I accidentally deleted some code which made my blog explode into an array of words.
It was quite frightening. I made a new blog and compared the code to find out what happened and I managed to fix it. This incident only reminds me why I didn't continue on with Computer Science at University.

Aaron on the radio?

2006-10-10T15:44:00.000-07:00

Aaron is going to be interviewed on the CBC radio tomorrow, talking about the music video we did for Elliott Brood this past summer. Cool!!!

Sally Jenkins!!!!

2006-10-06T12:29:00.000-07:00

Prissy little Sally Jenkins.

Little Big on Youtube

2006-10-05T09:23:00.000-07:00

Our 3rd Year Animation group film project Little Big is now up on Youtube. The orignal concept was thought up by Anna Gopin. We worked long and hard on this film, but there's still a glitch or 2 here and there, but we got the whole thing coloured and composited. It turned out to be over 6 min and we just about died making it...but in the end I think all the struggles were worth it.

I have to thank Aaron White for teaching us how to colour and composite it and Chantelle Tokarz for doing the sound.

There's still a couple of glitches that we should get around to fixing at some point.

Guild Wars action

2006-10-03T15:56:00.000-07:00

Some pics of Aaron's and my characters in Guild Wars. Somehow...my character's top provides armour while defying the laws of gravity. Ah well.....

Our characters just chattin up a storm. Aaron is "Sassy Swashbuckler" and I'm "Elrica of Pomerania". So geeky....but so much fun. Edit... his character's name is Zombie Swashbuckler. haha

Rosenpig Version 2 now at Occupied

2006-09-26T17:11:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of the new Rosenpigs in the shop Occupied, in Vancouver.
Soooo cool.
If you want to see the other awesome things for sale check out

http://www.flickr.com/photos/occupied/

The Big Apple

2006-09-25T16:01:00.000-07:00

We saw this giant apple on our way to Ottawa for the Animation Festival. We had to stop and check it out. I found it very inspirational!!!

Some more Concept

2006-09-24T21:31:00.000-07:00

A couple more layout concepts for my film. I'm trying out a new style so it might take a few trys to get it looking right. I need to work out some textures and overlay effects to them as well to make it look all nice and...texture-ish! But yeah, I did these in photoshop.
The Peach will also look much better hand drawn. I did this one when my tablet was acting up, so I had to switch over to the mouse (uuuug). But at least I don't hate layout right now like I sometimes do.

I'm trying to get all my layouts worked out really quick in photoshop so I can put them into my leica right away. I want to be animating before Xmas. I remember what it was like doing a minute and a half in the 2nd semester last year PLUS cleanup, PLUS scanning and colouring and compositing. So yeah...before Xmas.

A Peach for the Teach

2006-09-18T20:17:00.000-07:00

That's the title for my film I'm making at school.
I threw this layout together as part of some concept design work. The story will take place in an elementary school classroom. I will put up more art as it gets done, and eventually put the best stuff on my website.

Makeover Sunday!!!

2006-09-17T14:14:00.000-07:00

So...my sister found this website where you can upload your photo and try out new hairstyles and colours, so she forwarded it to me, not knowing what I was going to do with it.

I decided I wasn't happy with just doing one version, so I did a bunch and with the power of print screen and photoshop I came up with these beauties:

One for me and one for Aaron. Pretty scary stuff, but it was entertaining enough for a few hours.

If you'd like to try out this hideousness youself, here's the webpage:

clairol canada

Elliott Brood Video

2006-09-16T10:25:00.000-07:00

Cooooool,
Aaron sent a link to the music video blog and the person has been getting some good comments on it. Woo woo.

http://badtemperedzombie.blogspot.com/2006/09/oh-yes-they-did-elliott-brood-have.html

the blog for the video is here though:

http://broodsbridge.blogspot.com/

Art Show

2006-09-13T18:04:00.000-07:00

Aaron and I sent off 4 of our new "flat" Rosenpig stuffed animals to an art show in Baltimore, Maryland. The show is taking place here:
http://www.ccspace.org/

They will have some info on the show up soon. WOO!

I hope the little guys do well. I wish I had had time to do some of the other "Fat" Rosenpigs too, but they do take time to make because they're hand sewn from start to finish, and have a hand painted adventure that Aaron does for each one.

Hooray for the Art Show though!

Back in Oakville

2006-09-07T10:39:00.000-07:00

So I'm back in Oakville now, getting ready to start 4th year.

Aaron and I made 14 Rosenpigs of a new flat design (machine sewn so they take less time than the fat log type which is all by hand) and he should be taking then to the Occupied shop pretty soon. They will be cheaper since they are far easier to make (but they still took some time).
We made another 4 to send to an art show in Baltimore, Maryland. They might not get there in time for the opening but we'll see. Gotta spread the Rosenpig love!

I should finish unpacking now...but I will try to post stuff frequently about my film because I will be starting that up pretty quickly. I love youtube!!! So easy.

Guild Wars loves Blue Oyster Cult

2006-08-23T01:57:00.000-07:00

How much do I love Guild Wars right now...

there's a quest called "More Cowbell". A guy has dropped his blessed Cowbell into a bed of Blue Oysters, and you have to retrieve it for him.

Some of you may know my obsession with the "I gotta have more Cowbell, baby" skit on Saturday Night Live starring Christopher Walken and Will Farrel, where Will Farrel plays the cowbell to the Blue Oyster Cult song Don't Fear the Reaper. This game just made me smile!!!

More Zombie pics!!!

2006-08-22T15:22:00.000-07:00

More pics of us looking gross!!!

Can't wait for Zombie Walk 2007. Check out Zombie Charlotte and Zombie Kyle..."Just Burried"

Zombie Walk 2006 - Vancouver

2006-08-19T18:48:00.000-07:00

So...we participated in Zombie Walk 2006 today, and what craziness it was.

We started off at the art gallery, and got lots of funny looks on our way down there. It seemed not everyone in the city knew about this event. One woman looked very dissaproving at us, but everyone else was pretty cool. Those who were very intrigued asked us what the deal was so we told them...

When we got there, we joined the gaggle of Zombies. We took a few pics then headed out on the journey. We stuck to the sidewalk for the first couple blocks on Robson St. There was even a plainclothes police officer directing traffic when we came to the first set of lights.

As we got further down Robson however the zombies started to spill out onto the street, but just into the lane on our side; not into the oncoming traffic. I wasn't sure if we should be on the street or not so I stuck to the sidewalk. I'm pretty glad I did, because I heard a loud smash behind me a few blocks further. I turned around and about 12 feet behind me, someone had been hit by a car coming from behind. The front windshield was smashed, and by the time I turned to look, the guy who had been hit was already on the ground. He looked pretty hurt, but I don't think it was life threatening. But he still didn't look too Ok.

I don't know what had transpired between the zombies and that car because my back was to them, but I don't think running down a slow walking person was the smartest decision that driver could have made. But it sure pissed off the zombies. Pretty soon there were zombies going at the car. The car was in the process of trying to get away, and he managed to, but not before it took a bit more damage.

I heard later that the side mirrors had been kicked off, but man...that really shook a lot of us up.
If anyone knows the guy who was hit, and you manage to find this blog, could you please post a message if he's ok?

But the zombies kept on trucking. Nothing was gonna stop us, not even some dink in a car with a road rage problem. We're going to post the rest of our photos on our flickr site

http://www.flickr.com/photos/designerwhite/

crazy crazy day!

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron "Forever Free"

2006-08-17T19:48:00.000-07:00

So I picked up another horse adventure game a few weeks ago. You might have heard of the movie, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.

The first time I saw the movie was when me and a bunch of animation students were trying to finish our walk/run cycles in 2nd year in the animation room, and we put it on as background entertainment.
The animation was pretty great, but I was having trouble sitting through the Bryan Adams songs every 10 minutes. I don't really have anything against him; I like a few songs here and there, but not a song every 10 minutes. And they all sound like the same song. But whatever....I still liked the film, so when I saw the game for 10 bucks at the same Toys R Us I picked up the gem, Champion Dreams, I couldn't refuse buying it.

The cashier asked me if I needed a gift receipt (I assume she thought I was buying the game for someone else. Perhaps someone a lot younger). So I said no, but I didn't elaborate and say it was for me.
I started it when I got home on my laptop...I think Aaon has had enough horse games on his computer, and I wanted to see if the ol' lappy 3000 was buff enough to handle this game.

The Game:
You play as Spirit, and you and your horse friends have been captured by various people and are put to work. So, when you start you are in a pen with another horse who wants to escape as well, but he's too old to jump the fence. The fence is pretty annoying too, cause you have to be lined up exactly, and be clicking on the left mouse button to make sure you're going fast enough to get over it.

So once you get out of there (you can come back to help the other horse later) you go around to the different areas freeing your horse friends AND taking care of your girlfriend horse Rain. You have to collect some arrowheads and trade them to the trader to get a water pouch, so everytime she's all like "Yo, I need some water." you have to dunk it in the stream and take it to her. Sometimes she needs food too, so you can find random apples on the ground, or buy them from that trader dude.
In order to get faster you have to chase this rabbit around. Once you catch him, he gives you a carrot. The more carrots you get the faster you go, but it wears off after a bit...so you're constantly clicking the mouse to keep running.

And when you get enough carrots to run somewhat fast, you can race the eagle. I can't remember what you get for beating him, it's probably not worth remembering.
I'm sure there's lots of kids that will like this game, but since I'm 25 now, it was pretty easy. I finished the whole game in 3 days...but it shouldn't have taken that long.
The first time I had to stop playing after a couple hours because my computer froze up. The next day I didn't play because I was busy doing other things, and then the third day I finished it.

That being said...it's not quite as involving as Champion Dreams!!! but, it's probably something easy enough for kids to pick up and have fun with. It was only 10 bucks. I do like the fact you can kick things too (like barrels. They usually have bunch of arrowheads hiding inside)
So yeah, I'm probably not going to play it again, but maybe I'll save it for my future kid(s).

Fun Summer

2006-08-10T14:58:00.000-07:00

Woo!!! The summer of fun. An update of things from the past little while.
We got 6 Rosenpigs in the store "Occupied" here in Vancouver:

Got a great job offer but had to turn it down unfortunately because I'm going back to school in September for my final year. Can't wait to finish my film next year.

Just got back from a wedding yesterday in London Ontario which was super awesome. I love weddings, and this one was superb.

Working more on the music video, getting that done for the end of August. I can't wait to see it on TV.

I think I need more horse games to critique though.

More Champion Dreams pics

2006-07-22T03:07:00.000-07:00

More Pics, including Spike calling me a Wombat. Sooo good!

Awesome pics!!!!!!!!!!

2006-07-22T02:57:00.000-07:00

Check out these awesome screen caps from my Girly Horsie Adventure game.
Dirty, dirty horse:

Showjumping:

Apparently he was bored, so I gave him a tire? And then a hug:

Champion Dreams : First to Ride

2006-07-19T18:38:00.000-07:00

This is the name of a PC video game I picked up for 20 bucks at Toys R Us. It's a game aimed at 8 year old girls I think, with the promise of Horsies and all the fun that goes along with them. This game (as cheesy as it is) is AMAZING.
I don't know what it is I like about it, but I do. There's plenty of things not to like about the game too, but I can't stop playing it.

You can compete in Dressage, Show Jumping, and Cross Country events as well as be responsible for the general upkeep of your horse (cleaning it's hooves, brushing, spraying with a hose, picking up poop) AND gain popularity points with your fellow students by buying riding outfits, horse equipment, hair dye and clothes. YAY SHOPPING!!!!! hahahha......but seriously. The game was made in France and published by Ubisoft, so it has some backing by them, but I love the fact it was made in France and I'll tell you why:

Although it's dubbed in English, there are still English subtitles, and they generally don't correspond very well, which makes for much hilarity!!! Like when the one character Spike calls me Princess in the dub, but the subtitles say Wombat. Or when they accidentally forget to dub a sentence here and there and the school administrator screams something at you in French. Good times!
Obviously a game like this wouldn't get the same funding as a game like Halo or Prince of Persia, so I can overlook it's flaws. Except the few times I actually started swearing because of some little glitches or a puzzle I had a hard time figuring out.

Puzzles you say? Oh yes, this game has a storyline. You're the star student at the school and someone is out to get you...get you in trouble that is!!!
Here's a little summary of how things go down, but I won't spoil it and tell you who the bad guy/girl is:

So you start off in what seems like a Harry Potter movie...you're on a train making it's way through tree covered mountains to a castle-ish school in Scotland. When you get to the school, the surly groundskeeper dude lets you in when suddenly a flash of lightning lights the barn on fire. You rush in, grab a key and unlock a horse box letting out a spirited horse.
For your bravery, this horse becomes YOURS WOOOOO!!!!!! Excitement ensues. Then you meet the other student : Esteban - a sexy Spanish dude, Ginger - the all American girl who likes to rock out with her boombox and slide-y foot dancing due to not great animation, Spike - a blond British punk guy (much like Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Kiew - a sassy competative Asian girl who wonn't stop until she's the best.

To sum up the rest of the story without spoiling too much (because I know everyone will go out and buy this game after reading this...ha ha..cough) you have certain categories you have to do each week to make sure you have enough popularity, horse level, dressage, show jumping and cross country points, and then do a competition at the end of each week.
But watch out, someone is trying to get you in trouble at every step of the way. From dirtying your horsebox right after you cleaned it, to letting your horse out loose right before an inspection, to finally poisoning your horse before a competition so he tests positive for drugs. CraaAaAAaazy stuff huh?
One glitch I got really angry at is when you have to give Harry a sandwich...and for the love of God it wouldn't let me give him the sandwich. The reason was, the game should've popped up the Inventory icon (so you can give him the sandwich) but it put up a speech bubble with an x through it, meaning you can't talk to him. I was so mad...
I kept screaming, "Why won't they let me talk to him and give him this damn sandwich"
but then we figured out that while that speech bubble is up, you have to hit I for inventory.....so aggravating though. Stupid sandwich

But the actual horse jumping, dressage and cross country stuff is pretty good. Good 3D model for the horse and movement. The cut scenes are animated pretty badly though. Dressage was annoying me for awhile though cause it said for Half Pass to hold down the A button but it would never work. Then I found out the controls had it set up for Q, so once that was fixed it was all good.

I think I might be the only person who has ever played this game too, because I couldn't find anything about it on the web. Like when that whole sandwich fiasco had me angry, there was no online help. So if this blog post could help even one little girl out there with this game it'll be worth it.

The art on the box doesn't reflect the game either. The picture is of a girl with long blonde hair wearing a pink riding jacket. The main character in the game has short red hair, and there is no pink jacket to buy I'm afraid. The box also boasts you can choose from 14 different breeds of horses.....but I haven't come across the Andalusian yet. (Although I have only been brave enough to play on easy mode thus far ahhah) Maybe it's something to be unlocked. Although they only have one horse model just painted different colours and called different breeds, so what would be the point of unlocking it anyway.

I still like this game though...it can actually be a lot of fun. They give you lots of praise as you do well which is an ego boost ahha. But anyway this is a really long post for a silly game, but it is cute!

New Blog

2006-07-19T04:55:00.000-07:00

Woo, I have a blog now too. I actually only signed up for it so I could post on the blog for the music video for Elliott Brood Aaron and I are working on (and since we have our web pages already too for our artwork) BUT I think it's a good opportunity to ramble some words to anyone who wants to read them.

On that note.....more to come in the following days.

P.S - I love Pomeranians