Articles Written By: Ben

Remember riding in your parents’ old car to that store that’s been closed for years? Check out this week’s Billy Badass!

Watch me play Don’t Starve in my new Let’s Play series NoRights Plays…!

I slept in a bit today because I stayed up too late last night. I spent the afternoon and evening retooling some of the site – fixing my project list link on the homepage and the playlist shortcodes on the Live page. I added some pages to navigate videos so now there are dedicated pages to Crafting Mines, NoRights Plays… (with archives for both Rogue Legacy and Don’t Starve as those are the only ones that have gone up so far) as well as misc WIP videos I’ve done.

I still need to update the projects on my list. I also need to work out an automated slider solution. I want something that will pull recent posts. I’d also like to figure out a more automated workflow for making posts but one thing at a time.

Remember riding in your parents’ old car to that store that’s been closed for years? Check out this week’s Billy Badass!

Watch me play Don’t Starve in my new Let’s Play series NoRights Plays…!

I spent the morning cleaning up two elements in that animation I’ve been working on.

Ian was saying the reaper didn’t read that well because it flies by so fast. I agree, though I think some of that can be fixed with the spacing of inbetweens. I’m going to try a couple ideas with it. One means changing the ending so he flies past the camera and one means adding a movement during his hang time. Roughing in stuff like that is better left for early in the morning and inbetweening for when I’m winding down creatively.

I’d intended to spend more time on this but after my dad picked me up for lunch we ended up trying to get my car running again. They changed the fuel pump but it still stalls.

Can you keep a secret? Check out this week’s Billy Badass!

Watch me play Don’t Starve in my new Let’s Play series NoRights Plays…!

Spent the morning working in my studio refining that animation. Played some video games in the afternoon, went for dinner, and worked some more on it this evening.

I saved the fun part for last, focusing on the timing of some ‘tweened elements and animating the arms straight ahead first. By the time I was done with that I was too tired. The fluid stuff is best tackled early when I’m still fresh and full of beans. There’s inbetweens missing, some elements need more drawings so they’re not so static, and I’ll probably toss in a few other things for follow through, but I’m liking it so far.

Can you keep a secret? Check out this week’s Billy Badass!

Watch me play Don’t Starve in my new Let’s Play series NoRights Plays…!

I was up a little late last night so I set my alarm for 9 instead of 5 this morning. I showered, got dressed, and called my dad to see if he wanted to go out for breakfast. “Oh, I’m still in bed, maybe I’ll call you later when I’m up.” I figured he’d call back in around an hour so I didn’t want to start work. At 11:30 I decided to drive over to his house, found out he still hadn’t showered because he’s had trouble sleeping. I waited for him to get ready and we went to eat, then he talked me into stopping at this tire place to see if they’ve got one that’ll fit my car. They didn’t but he chatted up the owner for like twenty minutes while I waited around. We went somewhere else and get a tire put on. On the way back to drop him off the engine started kicking and on the off ramp it stalled. One tow truck ride later and we were at my dad’s again. He charged the battery and we got some stuff for water in the tank. He fussed with the filter and fuses but it wouldn’t keep running. I left it and the key with him. Hopefully he can sort it out.

So that’s been my day.

Can you keep a secret? Check out this week’s Billy Badass!

Watch me play Don’t Starve in my new Let’s Play series NoRights Plays…!

Spent the morning in pain, holding my gut. Tried to work but was impossible to keep concentration. By afternoon it’d dulled down to mostly discomfort. Second appointment went well and decided I was in no mood to try fussing with that phone call again today. I did manage to put together a rough layout for that animation, though.

This was mostly to figure out the framing and the paths of motion. Didn’t do any easing yet as the timing is subject to change. I’m looking forward to focusing on each element separately and adding little touches. It’s fascinating how few drawings it takes to tell if something’s working or not.

Can you keep a secret? Check out this week’s Billy Badass!

Watch me play Don’t Starve in my new Let’s Play series NoRights Plays…!

Woke up today still sick but on the mend over all. I spent the morning working on character designs, trying to suss out the general shapes and then add some sketchiness to them. Not exactly sure what the balance between clean lines vs. scribbles will be but I’ll figure that out as I work on it. Then I tried making a call I needed to make which wouldn’t connect so I’ll have to either try their line again later or see if somebody else can connect me. Following that I had to wait around for an appointment to show up. I’ve got another one to deal with tomorrow.

I really want to sit in my studio uninterrupted and work. It just feels like the rest of the world has other plans for me for some reason.

Can you keep a secret? Check out this week’s Billy Badass!

Watch me play Rogue Legacy in my new Let’s Play series NoRights Plays…!

Went for lunch and grocery shopping with my mom today. Think lunch made me sick and I hope it goes away by tomorrow.

I decided to try my hand at an entry for Draw with Jazza’s Animation Challenge. I came up with an idea I like, set up a project file, and I’ve been doodling character designs this evening. I’d like to step a little out of my comfort zone as far as style goes so we’ll see what I can accomplish.