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16/7/14
Not done one of these in a loooong time, so here it goes. We're working on our newest Todd episode 'Lizard Suit Larry' and it's freakin' sweet! It's been so long since we got into some real episode work that it took a while to get into the swing of things again but now it's just all come back. I love working on this stuff and this episode has been no exception. Even though it's been written by a couple of new guys, it's like they've done it before cause they've captured Todd & Co. perfectly.
The main thing I've been working on this episode are the parts involving Predator which I jumped at doing because I love that film...the first one ;) Gax drew the actual Predator character but I've done the rest which includes a face on close up of the creature itself, this I'm particularly proud of because it took me a full day to draw it to a standard I was happy with, I just kept adjusting bits.
According to Gax we've got over 20 minutes of finished footage so far for this episode, which means we're nearly there and I can't wait to see it all put together as always and seeing what everyone thinks of it.
Bring on the next episode!
28/12/12
Howdy Toddites!
I hope you've all had a good holiday so far and if you're lucky like Gax and myself you've not yet had to go back to work. Although we're not working at our day jobs we're hard at work on the newest episode of Todd. I took a few days off over Christmas but I'm back at it today and though I'd give you a quick update on our (well, my) progress.
Because there are only 2 of us working on the design and animation side of things we've split the episode in 2 and are each working on it separately. I'm doing most of the set and location design etc but I'm only animating the second half of the episode. There are some pretty tricky parts in this episode. Lots of different styles to draw and animate. Some of which I've had to refresh my memory on by watching clips on YouTube and doing searches on the net, and yet I'm still struggling with some parts. I've drawn and redrawn some things several times to the point where it starts to get frustrating because I just can't get it right. Then suddenly I'll have a brain wave, see how to draw it, scrap all previous work, start a new and finish it pretty quickly. Even though I say it gets frustrating I still love what I'm doing. It's only because I'm trying to do the best work possible that I get frustrated and because sometimes I can see it in my mind but just can't get it out. It happens every time I work on an episode but for some reason this one is creating more...not problems...but challenges.
On the plus side, not being in work for a couple of weeks is giving me plenty of time to work on the episode. The days I'm working are pretty much structured the same. Wake up, eat breakfast, put music on, work till i goes dark (whilst eating whatever snacks I can scavenge from the the kitchen), Watch a movie, do more work and fall asleep on laptop (most nights). Sounds like fun doesn't it? Haha.
Well I'll shuffle off back to work now my brain has had a bit of time to cool down.
Have a great new year!
06/12/12
Time for a new Eckyblog!
We're now working on the first episode of the second series. I think it's not giving too much away if I say this takes a bit from Labyrinth, Smash TV, Stargate, Borderlands among other things and I know that I can say it's going to be an awesome episode!
We're working against it a bit this time as the team has changed around and we're missing a couple of animators, which means that it's just myself and Gax putting it together this time. It might mean that it will take a bit longer for it to be complete but it's going to be well worth it. Plus, I believe that Gax has something a bit different in mind for the releasing of the episode but I don't think he's even entirely sure where he's going with it so I'll say no more :)
I've also been doing a bit of work on the 'George Lucas' edition version of series 1. Working on a few redesigns and extra bits and bobs and I'm sure you'll love it once it's done.
In other non Todd news, I've just started a great new job, doing what a couple of the other guys are doing and that's working in IT. I started off knowing absolutely nothing and after a few weeks I know even less! But it's pretty sweet going.
I hope you're all ready and in the Christmas spirit, I know I am! And what's even better is, it's a great way to annoy our Overlord haha!
Be back soon with more updates.
8/6/12
JUNE! It's bloody June! Already! Where has this year gone? Well actually I asked Gax this the other day and he simply said 'It's in the past'... Kinda makes sense that really doesn't it. Anyway after that little bit of philosophical thought let's get into it.
The past few weeks have been pretty busy as far as Todd work goes. We're now on the compiling of WMV files, which means we're taking the raw AVI files for the scene, putting them together along with sound effects and voices (the music comes at the next stage). This is the 2nd time I've been involved with this stage and it's probably become my favourite part. There's something about hunting down the right sound effect for the moment, putting it in the scene and actually having it fit, especially if it's the first attempt at adding it. It might not seem much but it's a pretty cool process to be involved and it's great to see how it all comes together, especially if it's a scene that I've designed and drawn myself. We've got just over 10/12 minutes of finished footage so far (minus music) and it looks like there's at least another 10 minutes to come, so this will probably be the longest episode yet but again I think it's going to be the best. The series will be going out with a great ending and leave you wanting more!
And speaking of wanting more, we're all working on series 2 in our own little way. Personally I'm working on some redesigns and new characters. So once this episode is completed a re-released we can kick off with the new episodes. And of course Luke is working on something a little bit special which will be announced probably after the release of this episode or when it's completed, so that's even more to look forward to!
It's the weekend again, and that means I'm going to throw myself into work and get as much done as it's possible to squeeze in to a couple of days. But also on Saturday a couple of us are going 'Ghost hunting' over at Gaxs flat as it looks like there is definitely 'something' there after what he's been catching on sound/video recently, so we're going round to see if we can get something and probably scare the crap out of each other at the same time haha.
Off to watch TV now so I'll see you soon!
12/5/12
Wow, this is my first blog in a long time. My last one was when we release the 'Movie Night' short *ahem* which I did....
So, episode 5....
How's it coming along? Freakin' awesome! Over the past couple of weeks I've really got into the cell work and have got over three quarters of my scenes done already. I don't know whether it's the script, the fact that's it's the last episode of this series or what but this episode is truly awesome. It has some great scenes to work on in it, some of the best that I've done whilst working on the series. Today I've been working on which is a little mini game in Lanes post room and it has just been great to design and draw. It's not the easiest of scenes to do, but it's been really enjoyable non the less.
I hope you've all enjoyed the screenshots and characters that I've been sending over to Jess to put up on the Facebook page. There's a few more that should go up today. I thought I'd show you what I've been up to and the kinds of cool things that you can look forward to in this episode upon release. My favourite character so far is the Hulking Warrior, just because it was so fun to design and draw and because the main scene he's in is a little bit different.
I've been talking with Sam and Gax the past few days and it sounds like they're really cracking on with their work too, despite several issues that we've all had recently. Mark is being a pain in the ass as the Director....haha just kidding, he's been pretty cool but I don't think he's Overlord material just yet, he's doing a wicked job though and I'm looking forward to seeing how he pulls this episode together, this being directorial debut and all.
I think it's back to the work again now though, I just can't stop myself! Bye for now Toddites.
27/2/12
Hello there Toddites!
Just a quickie from me just to give you all a poke about watching my, that's right, MY Todd the Zombie Short. I did all the animation, editing etc. Credit of course still goes to Colin for writing and to Gax for the voices. Anyway I'm really happy with the way it turned out, watching it back now there are bits I'd like to change but for my first attempt I think it's ok and the guys have said some really positive things about it too. So it looks like I'm moving on up. Watch it now, below.
18/2/12
So how you all doin?
Time for another exciting blog from Ecky. I thought now was as good a time as any for an update from me as I'm powering on this weekend with my scene work. I'm trying again to design a character that just won't work for me, whatever I do I just can't get it right. I don't know whether I'm just being too critical of it but whatever I do it just doesn't look like right, I think I'm going to do a couple more redesigns and then just pick the best of the several I've done so far, it's only for a quick 20 second (if that) scene and he will never been seen again but as we're getting better with the series and trying to make everything look and feel right it just feels wrong to settle for something that I'm just not happy with. I might even leave the final decision up to Gax that way I know he's happy with it too.
One thing I am happy with are the couple of posters that I've done for recently for the series. I just had a bit of a brainwave, and it struck me so much that it was something that I had to do. They seem to have had a good reception so I'm looking into some more designs that I could do. The 2 I've done are below and are based on the original 'Dawn of the Dead' movie poster and the best british zombie movie 'Shaun of the Dead'.
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‘Dawn of the Todd’
‘Todd of the Dead’
Not sure what I'll do next, I'll just have to see which is the next one to jump out and give me inspiration. If anyone has any that they'd like to see feel free to drop me a line on Twitter @EckyTZ with your suggestions.
Right I think it's time for me to get back to this damn character design, I'll let you know how it turns out...if it turns out.
29/1/12
Hello again. Today we had our first official animation meeting for episode 4 and the first time we've all been together this year we even managed to get Sam on the old webcam to join us, so it was great to have the team together to discuss what looks to be our hardest episode yet. We've all had the same kind of reaction to the script when reading it, one of shock and fear but overall one of excitement. This is going to be different, it's got some new places to go and also lead nicely onto the last episode of this series. The script this time has been split up into 39 scenes, that's 39! a normal episode is normally around 17-20 so you can imagine that this means we've all got more work to do. Some of the scenes are reused so this will got out a few but we've still got a lot of work ahead of us. I've managed to make of with several of the scenes that I had already wanted to do, but Gax has suggested that I do a couple of different ones because of the work I did on the Engineering Department scene on the last episode that he really liked. It's nice to know that he liked what I did and wants me to do more of the same....well kind of :)
I've been working on a couple of new characters over the past week but somehow just can't get them to look how I want them to. I won't give up though, even if I have to redraw them a hundred times, I'll do it until they're right. Funny thing is that they're only characters that appear in one scene each, in flashbacks.
I'll be flashing some screenshots at you over on my Twitter page (@EckyTZ) so be sure to Follow me for your first looks at what I'm up to.
I'm itching to get started on this work now, so I think tonight I'll start to design some of the new locations (of which there are many). I think it'll be time to book time off work, lock myself in my house and dig in...coincidentally that's also my plan for when Mass Effect 3 comes out!
22/1/12
Received a nice surprise in my inbox this morning, the script for episode 4! So straight away I had to print off a copy, make some tea and sit down and read it through. It starts off pretty simple and then starts to go off in some weird directions, but although I say it goes weird, it's bloody brilliant! It's going to be a challenge to design and animate but I gaurantee that it's going to fun and once again something that I'm really looking forward to working on. I can't wait to have our first animation meeting and see what everyone elses thoughts are on it, I've already picked some of the scenes that I would like to work on so I hope everyone else is ok with that and we don't have to have a TeamTodd battle royale for scene work haha
I'm sure we'll be giving you guys some sneak previews once we get started and be sure to Follow us all on Twitter for regular updates @ToddtheZombie @GaxTZ @EckyTZ @MarkJTZ & @JessLSTZ. Once I get started I'll start tweeting more often with what I'm upto and maybe some screenshots too!
5/11/11
Greetings! Tis I Ecky from Todd the Zombie.
Even though it's only Saturday it's been a crazy busy weekend already! I've been working on my scenes for episode 3. I finished all the design and cell creation during the week so been working on the animation side for the past few days and really decided to give it a kicking today and get it finished over the weekend, but like most things when working on Todd, once I start I can't stop. There's just something about working on this that gets me going and I really get into it, it's so different to anything I've ever done before and really enjoyable. The scenes that I've been working on are: the first scene we see the vending machine rampage, a scene that is basically just a lot of the gang walking through many different corridors and the one I most enjoyed, is the one set in the engineering department of iPear inc. I enjoyed designing that one the most mainly because of the way the little things in the room have turned out for example the little beakers and test tubes on the lab benches and the large bell charge at the entrance, although you as a viewer probably won't really see these I really like the way they turned out with shading and what not.
I've just finished the final avi creation for the scenes and sent them over to Gax for review and I'm pretty sure they're good enough but I'd be glad of the feedback whatever because of the amount of work I've put into them and also they are my first scenes for the show as this is the first episode I've worked on, so any feedback that can help me get better is always good.
Other than Todd work, I've been out and about and trying to sort several things out which despite my best efforts still remain unsorted, but hell, at least the Todd stuff is done! haha!
Glad I got it all cleared so I'm now ready and waiting for Modern Warfare 3 and will be able to have a week of non stop play...girl friend willing of course!
25/10/11
Hi! My names Alex Lee but most people call me Ecky. I’m the most recent addition to the Todd Team. I’ll mostly be working on animation but I’m also going to try my hand at some design work for the series. I like to think I can draw, kind of anyway.
I’ll be putting screen shots and whatnot of my drawings up via my Twitter account @Ecktz so come and follow me for Tweets on Todd, life and whatever else happens throughout the day.
If you’ve already missed the ones that I put up recently here’s my first attempt at a Todd style character. Hope you like it!
Tim & Simon from Brainspill (Click the image to go to their website)
I’m really enjoying working on Todd, something I never thought I get to do but it’s bloody awesome! I’m pretty sure it’s been said by the others, but it’s an awesome team. I can’t wait to get more into the episodes.
I’ll be off now, cya
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