Starkston Character Concepts

Staring at the same anchor keys for Racist Vampires over the course of two weeks has worn out my poor Swain eyes, so I thought I'd renew my interest in Flash by trying my hand at a few concept sketches of some characters from Starkston Crusade, the series that got me into Flash two years ago (Blockhead was supposed to be a little practice piece to get me ready, but we see how that turned out). Whew, long sentence!



Anyway, here's the roster of each of the three images:
1st - Black Hood, Armstrong, Severance
2nd - Electrikill, Hot Rodney, Alexander Griffin
3rd - Paladin, Kurt Weapon, Axiom

When I finally get to making Starkston Crusade, it will probably not be fully animated. I'll share more with you as I develop it, mkay?

Progress Report on Racist Vampires

I've never animated before adding all character voices to a Flash, so this has been a learning experience for me. Nevertheless I've already collected all the main ones from my voice actors, and animation has begun in earnest. The cartoon is looking nice, and I hope to have some serious progress by the end of the week. I finally developed a Racist Vampires script that I can say I'm proud of, so I really want to do it some justice!



A concept I've already begun to develop is the Workshop. In the Workshop, you will be able to view my progress on current cartoons and also watch fragments of these cartoon as they are completed. That way larger cartoons like Blockhead can be separated into more frequent updates, hopefully every week! Plus I won't be burned out by large projects with a single release date, so I'll be ready to work on the next big project immediately. In total, the Workshop setup will allow me to produce more for the site.

New Desktops

Finally created a desktop wallpaper for the Cop and one for Blockhead. It's about time I added something other than those crappy Time Squad screen captures, eh? Go set yours up RIGHT NOW.

1280x1024 / 1680x1050 1280x1024 / 1680x1050

I've also completed my Blockhead painted set. One will go to my parents as compensation for getting acrylic paint over all their outdoor furniture, one will go to the Newgrounds.com office as some makeshift form of a gypsy curse, and one will go to the winner of the Ghostmas Contest, which will be announced this weekend!



Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3
Picture 4
Picture 5
Picture 6
Picture 7
Picture 8
Picture 9

I know they didn't take long to make, but I'm going to be sad to see them go. :(

Preparing for Racist Vampires...

... for real this time.



I am finishing the script for the 2-minute Racist Vampires segment I recently decided to make, a little something to get people warmed up the characters before I devote time and heart to a more full-length project. This, of course, will come after I've got the Ghostmas Contest flash done for you. On that subject, here is some progress on the award painting:



The left image is the Blockhead set with added lighting and background color. The right is me holding a Munny figure, which I have already started painting to look like The Cop from my Time Squad series.

Cameos, Paintings

Sorry for the late update, but I'm in Miami at the moment and content work is difficult to pull off. Doesn't mean I don't have news for you, though!

The Blockhead Ghostmas Special won 1st place for both the Newgrounds 2007 Halloween Contest and the Best of October awards. With all of this sweet victory in the air, I thought I'd talk about the prize I've been making for the winner of the Ghostmas contest. That's right, making. It's not just some sketch, but a set of three Blockhead acrylic paintings. One will go to the Ghostmas winner, one will go to the Newgrounds office as a little keepsake, and one will stay with me for the time being. They're all meant to be identical, so I wanted to share my progress with you and hopefully include you in the madness that has come out of this whole Ghostmas Contest thing. This way, everyone who didn't win will still get to be a part of it.



So far I've only painted the base color over the canvas, which is now awaiting the actual color areas that will appear on top. As for the Flash, hang tight - I'm in Miami, like I said, so progress has slowed, but I've already picked a winner. I just don't want to announce it. That's Blockhead's job :D

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In other news, Blockhead also played a cameo roll in Squeakytoad's Halloween cartoon over on Newgrounds. He pops in near the end, so don't get to anxious waiting for him.

I also helped Tyler Glaiel out on some backgrounds and interface graphics for his new game, Blockslide 2. Pop over to his site to play it, and then tell me what you think :D

Mastermind

I'm just news-crazy, aren't I? You couldn't squeeze an update out of me more than once a month, but nowadays its twice a week. And not only that, I'm updating with content. I am a good Swain.

I wrote more dialogue than I intended for the Ghostmas Contest cartoon, so I have to finish recording those before I can post it (obviously). But I've already decided on the winner, and the prize, which will come in two parts. One will be a Blockhead shirt from the new shirt set that is being printed outside of Cafepress, and the other will be a personalized piece of Blockhead artwork. And no, not some crappy pencil sketch that took a few minutes to whip up and sign. I've got something up my sleeve and I need to spend this weekend collecting the supplies.

"So Swain, what content DO you have?", you might find yourself asking. Well, go watch Mastermind. It's not exactly rated G, but...well, you'll see.

And just to iterate what I posted yesterday: if you've got Blockhead-related photographs of your Halloween/Ghostmas, send them to me at mike@theswain.com. I'd like to put up an album of them if I collect enough!

Blockhead Ghostmas Special

Go watch the Blockhead Ghostmas Special now!

Next update will be on Halloween, when Blockhead announces the Ghostmas contest winners. Today is the final day to submit your work, so if you've been waiting, then now's the time to send it over to fanmail@theswain.com.

Merry Ghostmas! Wheeeeee!!

Preparing for Thursday Update

It's almost here! I've finished all but a few small details on the Blockhead Ghostmas Special; the cartoon will be done tonight, but I am waiting until Thursday to release it. I need time to make sure all the little glitches are worked out.

Thursday is the day I've been hoping to dedicate to major site updates. Tuesday is nice because I have the weekend to make up time if I am behind, but Thursday is just far enough into the week where everyone could use a little entertainment. Also, Thursday is the last day to submit something for the Official Ghostmas Contest! After that, I'll be putting the entries into a cartoon, they will be judged by Blockhead himself, and then the cartoon will be released on Halloween day.

If you haven't contributed to the Ghostmas Contest yet, you still have time...but not much! The deadline for entries is the 25th. The winner, determined by Blockhead, will have their work featured on the site and will also receive an UNDISCLOSED PRIZE. For contest rules, check this topic.


Blockhead feeds the Weevil at the ball toss booth

Halfway to Ghostmas!

We're nearly up to Halloween, which means another zany adventure from Blockhead as he pursues his favorite made-up holiday, Ghostmas. Along with the cartoon, the entries for the Official Ghostmas Contest will be reviewed by Blockhead himself. And if you can, print out a few Ghostmas decorations. Don't look away, YOU'LL MISS IT!


Cell in Progress: Blockhead takes the Weevil Ghostmasing

And don't forget the Official Ghostmas Contest!

Ghostmas Decorations!

To prepare you guys for Halloween, I've created two little Ghostmas decorations that you can print out and stick on your door, window, or whatever you want. I'm going to be making a few more over the next two weeks so I hope you check back! All decorations will also be available in the Downloads section.

Ghostmas Sign
Hanging Blockhead

Note: Try gluing or taping the Hanging Blockhead cutout from the bottom nail of the Ghostmas Sign cutout. It works better if you have a metal hole-punch fastner for him to swing from!


Don't forget about the Official Ghostmas Contest! I've received quite a few entries so far, and there's still plenty of time until the October 25th deadline! Blockhead himself will discuss all the entries in a Flash cartoon to be released just after Halloween.

And to prepare you for the upcoming Ghostmas cartoon, here's a screen capture of a cell in progress:


Merry Ghostmas!

Official TheSwain.com Ghostmas Contest

It's time to celebrate Blockhead's third Ghostmas, and this year YOU have the chance to get involved!

To participate, all you need to do is draw a picture of YOUR perfect Ghostmas, save it as a jpg, bmp, gif, or png file, and then send it as an email attachment to fanstuff@theswain.com with the word Ghostmas anywhere in the title. Don't forget to include the name you would like to appear beneath your submission in your email! Entries will be accepted until October 25th, and please, no multiple submissions!

Submissions will be judged using the following criteria:
1) Relevance - Does your work look like it represents Ghostmas?
2) Originality - Is your work just a copy of existing Ghostmas ideas from Episodes of Blockhead, or is it a new and creative idea of your own?
3) Would Blockhead Like It? - Imagine that Blockhead will see your work. Do you think he would agree with your vision?
4) Effort - You'll be competing against many other participants, so try to show that your vision of Ghostmas is stronger than theirs.

The winner will be announced when Blockhead's latest Ghostmas toon is released at the end of this month, and Blockhead himself will pick the winner! That's right: Blockhead will review every single entry, and then declare who the King/Queen of Ghostmas is for this year.

The contest is officially on, so get started! I'll announce additional prizes over the course of the month :) Here is a link to the official thread.

Some Voices

I did some voice acting in swiftstylerX's submission to the Newgrounds Madness Day competition. If you've got time, watch it here. For those who don't know, swift is the winner of the Fan Art contest here on the forums, and I haven't forgotten to feature his work (along with including all entries from all competitors) in the Fanstuff section.

Yesterday I sat down with my friend Jenna to practice recording for the Nat character from Racist Vampires! I'll be doing Percy's voice, and site-friend Andy Dennis will be playing JJ. I've also made some breakthroughs with backgrounds for the series, since I've been trying to develop something different than my traditional Blockhead approach. More on that soon.

Ill have an Audio Update up here very soon :) My voice is gone so I couldn't really pull it off today.

So What's Next?

What's next? WHAT'S NEXT? I'll TELL you what's next.

I've gotta get myself a new computer very soon, because the fossil I'm using now can barely support Flash anymore. That's alright for now because I've been busy doing practice artwork here and here. I've been wrapping up a few other projects too, and those are mostly out of the way.

Anyway, I've got a few more things to do until I can OFFICIALLY start Racist Vampires, not the least of which is to finalize a few style issues I've been dealing with and complete the storyboard. Unfortunately I developed a bach-ache from moving heavy furniture on my own for three days as I transitioned into my new house, so once that's cleared up, I can finish my concept work and get down to it!

I'll keep track of the Racist Vampires production and share that with you all by the next update!

New Music Added

I threw some music you may have heard before into the Downloads section. Some of it is from Time Squad, pieces I never bothered putting together outside of Flash. The other is Espada de Toledo, a song I wrote for a Newgrounds audio contest.

CURRENTLY, I am finishing the first Racist Vampires script. Really it's not going to be that big a deal, but I've been going over it again and again and again trying to determine whether or not it's "perfect" for the series.


I'm also co-op'ing on a game with Komix again, but you'll have to wait and see what it is when we're finished. It's not Blockhead-related though, but I'm still excited to have more games on the site at last! This one will be done soon.

BYE!

Blockhead: Episode 10

Not a hoax. Here it is. It's also on Newgrounds. Long live The Weevil!

Have you spotted any easter eggs in the episode? Go post in this topic on the forums if you've found something that you think no one else noticed ;)

I seriously need to be working on Racist Vampires now. :)

Progress Report

Audio update #3. Here I record a few voices that will appear in the actual episode, and give assurances that the episode's sure getting close to finished. Mmm hmm, I can taste it.

I finished "the hard part" of Blockhead 10, one of two things I dread doing in any cartoon. The one that remains is lipsynching, which shouldn't be too tough this time. I hope.

If you haven't seen King Santa's Fanart contest in the forum, go check it out. Be sure to vote for the entries you like the most so that artist can move on to the final rounds!

* UPDATE 8/12 *
Blockhead is really wearing me out and I don't want the episode to suffer because I'm burnt out, so I've had to slow the pace a bit. What's the rush, right? You guys did just see a new episode :D

Meanwhile, go check out a song I wrote called Espada de Toledo over on Newgrounds. Acoustic guitar by Rodrigo from Toonimated.com, choir vocals by me.

Back to Florida, Back to Work!

I just got back, I'm now getting cracking on Blockhead 10 with newfound enthusiasm.

Had a strange, fantastic weekend in San Diego where dreams happen and you somehow get drunk with the staff, artists, and game-makers from Newgrounds. Heaven save me, I'm totally surprised that everyone got along so well. Of all the pretentious, egotistical artists at Comic Con, none were to be found at the Newgrounds booth. Well, maybe some walked by. But we probably hated them.

Got to meet a lot of your favorites, including the Super Flash Bros (Tom and Dim have got the most optimistic personality of the whole lot), Krinkles (Matt was surprisingly not-insane, considering his Madness series), the Toonimated guys (well, maybe not ALL your favorites, HAHA), DrNeroCF of Fancy Pants Adventures fame (the Orlando Bloom lookalike you might have seen on the NG webcam, but not quite as handsome as yours truly), Luis, Rtil, and Tomorrow's Nobodies. Let's not forget Tom Fulp and his cast of cronies, who, I should stress, were some of the coolest guys I've ever met. Really, despite their being good at what they do, I think Tom actually hired them because of how easy it is to get along with them.

I half expected it to be a nerdfest, half expected the nervous tension to ruin the experience for all the newcomers. How did it all turn out so well?

That having been said, let's finish up with Blockhead 10, shall we?


Me, Tom Fulp, and Luis passing out fliers. Gangsta.