...and here is the wallpaper that I tried to finish by the 5th of December, but lost due to a program crash. Or, maybe the Sandwich Shop Ninja, being a ninja by nature, knew that nobody would be expect this to appear today? Probably. Ninjas are sneaky like that.

You can click the image above to download a Zip Archive containing all the files, or choose your desired resolution below (Right click and select "Save As"):
1024 x 720 (adjusted)
1280 x 800
1280 x 1024 (adjusted)
1440 x 900
1600 x 1200 (adjusted)
1680 x 1050
1920 x 1200

Happy 2008 everyone. I've got everything hooked up in my new dorm room, ready to get back to work on animation, as long as school doesn't bog me down too much.

The new portfolio is up, and is much better than the last one. I am still available for any freelancing work.

Hopefully I'll be able to start working on the Sandwich Shop Ninja episode on Monday.

This was a Christmas gift for my little sister. She loves cats and plays the oboe, and wears a beret for some reason.

This will be my last post of 2007. My next post will be some time in January, when I get moved into the dorms at BYU.

Search engine string on the month: "futuristic stuff." Similar to futuristic things and futuristic items.

A Christmas gift for my father: a caricature of his cat, Buzz.

Part of the scenery for the final in my Intro to 3D Animation class. Final render coming when I fix the lighting and can let the computer sit and render for a day.

...and then things went wrong. I got halfway done with the wallpaper, and then Flash crashed. I didn't have time to redo it, so I worked on my final projects for school. The illustration is mostly done, just missing a few background characters that I didn't do to save time and get it printed before it was due. The 3D Maya class final is... well, the last day we couldn't do anything because the school decided to turn off the license server, so the lab computers couldn't even load Maya. My tablet PC had Maya, and could render, but a single frame took 45 minutes to render.

Then, somehow, my tablet PC ended up with a huge gash in the bottom, and cracks around the battery compartment. The screen is okay, except for the known dirt-inside-the-screen problem that had been gradually coming back, but the main hardware section bends along the middle. I'm not sure how this could have happened as the largest crack looks like somebody tried to impale it with a lead pipe, or something. The computer seems to function properly for now, but I can't back up anything or turn it on due to another problem entirely: the power adapter broke again. It seems the wire used in it just isn't fit for transportation, as it keeps breaking apart. I'll be able to fix it quickly, and I'll have things backed up before Wednesday.

Now if the laptop ends up dead? I have experience with getting files of dead hard drives that have had their casing opened up leaving the platters exposed to the unsterilized, dust-filled air. I still have my old Wacom tablet, which will be slower to work with, but will suffice until I can afford a replacement.

It's been a while since the last update, with seeming inactivity. I've got a few things that I've been working on, such as the last illustration for a class, a quick run cycle I started last week, a portfolio redesign, and a desktop wallpaper for December 5th, the Day of the Ninja.

That's right, this Wednesday is the 5th annual celebration of Day of the Ninja! Its the day to be sneaky, quiet, and dress in black! To celebrate, I will be uploading a Sandwich Shop Ninja-themed desktop wallpaper.

Last month's search queries were more of the same from October, but the one new one makes up for the lack of variation. Last months weirdest search engine query goes to "hold your wee for a wii." I have no clue as to how this phrase in a search engine returned to any of my websites. Also, don't drink too much water, people. You'll die a painful death.

As for when I think things will get finished, wallpaper on Wednesday, illustration by the end of this week, portfolio probably by the end of next week, along with the run-cycle test animation. I'll probably be busy on things before Christmas, and after I'll be packing to go to Utah in January. I haven't had a chance to work on the "next episode" since mid-October, and I can't say when it will be done, but I hope to get working on it again soon.

Jet-propelled biplanes would be awesome.

Another Illustration class project.

Coyote, the trickster, is plotting to steal some fire from the fire spirits and give it to the humans. To do so, coyote needs to convince a few other animals to help him out.

The power adapter's been repaired, and I'm currently working on a piece for a Halloween-themed animation competition. Hopefully I can get it done. There's still a lot to do this next week.

I've gotten some interesting keywords that refer to my website. Sometimes I'm not sure what these people are actually looking for, but I'll comment on a few:

• mp3 player with am radio - Good luck, it's hard finding one of these with FM radio, let alone AM. If you're high-tech enough for an mp3 player, what do you want with AM radio, anyways? Do you want to connect rabbit-ear antennae to your high-definition television, too?
• ninja no yes shirt - What? Make up your mind! Do you want a shirt, or not? Are you looking for a ninja's opinion on shirts? Whether or not ninjas wear shirts? Do you not want ninjas, but you do want shirts? Person no yes find what they were looking for?
• tablet functionality stops working - I can relate.
• t-shirt sub shop - Those mist be some fibrous sub sandwiches.
• sandwich shop - If the first result for sandwich shop on Google ever refers to The Sandwich Shop Ninja, that would be awesome. Oddly enough, it's already floating around the second page.
• pirates and sociology - Hahahahaha. Wow. This makes me want to finish that sociology animation just to see what wacky things Google chooses to refer people here for. Then we can all learn about the social nature of pirates and ninjas, and the mor(t)al conflicts that arise between the two.

That's all for now, hopefully some more strange and bizarre search keywords will pop up for next month!

Last year I had a sociology class, and I made an animation to go with the oral presentation. The animation itself is in various states of incompletion, but I still got an "A" on the project. I don't know if ever get around to finishing it, but here's the most complete portion.

The first finished project for my Illustration class. We were given some articles to create an illustration for. I picked one titled "Dalit," which delved into India's class structure and how it has been effected by the modernization and technological boom that India has been experiencing.

...and the animation for section 7 is finished! I will get started on section 8 soon. This section will take a while to complete. This will be the most complex scene in the movie. After this section, all the other sections should be technically easier to complete.

Sorry about the lack of updates.

Comic-Con was pretty fun, met some cool people there. I'll have to do better planning beforehand next time.

Progress on the next episode of The Sandwich Shop Ninja has gotten nowhere. I finished the back ground for the current scene, then Flash crashed and I had to redo it. I took a week in between to work on something else, but didn't get the time to finish that, either. Work at my other job takes up a lot of time and school starts up again next week, so it will be interesting to see if I can get anything done.

Hopefully I will get it done this year. September would be preferable.

Not much to report this week. I'm still working on the background for Section 7. I leave for San Diego Comic-Con tomorrow, and won't be back until Saturday.

I thought I'd add an image to help show where I'm at with the episode. It does not include things like sound effects and music, which will be done after all the coloring is done.

I finished the animation for Section 6, and am now working on the background for Section 7. Section 8 is going to be a long and difficult scene to do, which is why the storyboard isn't done for it. I know where I want to go with it, it's just that huge parts of it have to be done before I can even start thinking of how the character animation will go.

San Diego Comic-Con is next week. I'll be there Thursday and Friday, so my next update will probably be next Wednesday.

And the promised weekly update continues! I completed the core animation for section 5 on Monday, and started work on 6 of about 12. I didn't make as much progress as I'd have liked to, since I had to book a flight and hotel for San Diego. That was a nightmare and a half (theres a 70-mile difference between SAN and SNA...). That's all over and done with, so now I have a week and a half to get as much animation done as I can before the convention.

I got my laptop back today and the screen is nice and clean! Hopefully this screen manifold won't screw up like the last one did.

I also completed the new site design! Well, almost. All that is left is the RSS feed. The store and forum will be opened when the next episode of The Sandwich Shop Ninja is finally complete. The demand for a forum is currently non-existent, so no point in rushing to complete the layout.

My current goal is this: finish all animation before Comic-Con. This is going to be tough, as there is one hugely complex scene that will take time to do, but will look really cool when it is finished. After Comic-Con, color and shade all frames, add sounds, compose music, and release.

3 custom maps for Worms Armageddon. Two are TSSN themed, and the third is the old logo. I made these a few years ago, but never uploaded them here. Now that I have a working downloads section, I can.