I just wanted to take a second out to say how much I love animating. You know, when I released Metal Gear Awesome, and everyone was labeling me as “an animator” and I was catching a lot of flak for it considering MGA’s obvious lack of animation in any way, I denied that title pretty strongly.

You know, being an animator usually means you want to go work for Pixar or some studio and work on someone else’s projects… I don’t like JUST animating, I love telling jokes and creating characters. I love coloring and I love cleaning up, I love writing and tossing out ideas. I’m not strictly an animator, and when I say “I love animating,” I love the entire process.

I’m not claiming I’m any good, and I’m sure there are still people who don’t consider me to be a “real animator,” whatever that means. As far as I’m concerned, drawing two pictures and swapping them real quick qualifies you as an animator. The implications of your skill level or devotion is obvious in your work, and I think it’s silly to think that any of those implications should carry on into the term “animator.”

What is gained from being elitist about animating? Maybe someone is not as good at drawing, or animating anything, but perhaps there’s some good ideas there. Execution a little off, but intentions really good. We’re all human after all, your work may reflect some things about you but it’s still just work. As long as you’re not slicing babies in half, I’m cool with you. You can be elitist about animating but I feel like you’re missing out on a lot of possibilities. You know, great ideas or even just okay ideas. Anything can inspire you, and deciding whether or not you like something before you even know what it is just silly to me.

In short, I love creating. I hope to keep doing it for a long time.

Yo.

I’ve got a little time to kill while Afro’s working his mega magic on Puzzmosis, so I figured I’d slam ass on a new toon… it’s been a while and I didn’t even realize how much I was craving making a new cartoon. I’m so happy with how it’s turning out, I hope you guys like it. I’m shooting for under 2 weeks production time, so it will be SOON.

It’s going to be called “Mr. Literal.”

What up Chil’en?  I’m in the new Cyanide and Happiness short.

I’m a method actor, so I taped tempurpedic foam to my ass to get into character.

What up chaps.

So I let this linger a little bit too far, but I’m so paranoid about going public with things unless I have something to show for it, you know?

Miss Osma, the titular character of Miss Osma’s Puzzmosis will be played by Kimlinh “Hnilmik” Tran. Her boyish and peppy tone was a perfect match for Osma, and I’m glad to have recorded with her!

As for Janice, well, I haven’t decided yet, but I’m sure I will today or tomorrow (I need to, anyway). I’m sorry to all those who’ve been waiting so patiently for an answer. I’m so scatterbrained sometimes and it’s a wonder I can manage my own project. I’ve gotten some really impressive auditions all around, again, I didn’t know the AVA scene was so filled with talent. Guess I’ve really been out of the loop, huh.

Speaking of voice acting, I’m going to be a bit more involved in it after I release this game. I’m going to pump out a really nice, new demo and look around LA for some work. In the meantime and certainly even if I find anything I’ll still offer stuff to the online amateur scene. I still have the most respect for independent producers and I’m much more interested in contributing to fresh new ideas rather than dubbing some samey anime or something. ;p

Also I really want to just thank and plug Shawn “Afro-Ninja” Tanner for his incredible work on Puzzmosis so far. He’s an incredibly hard worker and has an otherworldly sense of understanding and patience. This project wouldn’t be the same with another programmer and I’m really grateful to have worked with him and I hope to be able to even more in the future. The one thing I am always afraid of in a collaborative project is creative differences causing that feeling of being afraid to be honest, and Afro has been not only very honest with me but understanding of my honesty too. My hats are off to him and his work and his cool dude status in my heart!!

We’re getting close, and today is all about editing voice samples. All voice recording is done (except Janice of course) and I’m really excited to make these characters come alive. Just a little longer, and I can finally raise my arms in triumph!

Come out, already.

When you work on an “official” project all day, it’s very easy to get in that mode. You know, like you can’t have fun, everything has to look perfect so you have to bust your ass instead of let it flow. I’ve been drawing Osma all day, but at the end of today, I didn’t feel like I drew Osma at all. Weird, huh? So I did some doodles, ’cause I was still in that Miss Osma mood.

A new arting. Wanted to let loose and doodle some really animated looking drawings of The Girls. God I hope the animation looks like this, right? Always nice to draw these beauties.

Dunno if ya’ll saw this new drawin’. It’s one of my girls, Julia.

Gunna do some more art from now on, though Puzzmosis is taking up most of my time, yeah.

Also, I’ve decided on a voice for Miss Osma!! It was VERY hard, but I finally decided. Once I find my perfect Janice, I’ll announce the results. YES, that means if you think you are a GOOD JANICE, PLEASE AUDITION still! Read the below blog post to properly audition! Also, I’m sorry I haven’t responded to a lot of auditions, I’m pretty confident I’ve gotten all of them, I’ve gotten over 70 auditions!!! I didn’t know there were so many amateur voice actresses on the internet! You all did great, and so far it’s been very difficult to find the perfect voice among so many great choices!

Sup ya’ll

So I’ve been pretty inactive because, as you know, I’ve been busting my ass on a flash game with the amazingly talented Afro-Ninja. “Miss Osma’s Puzzmosis” is coming closer to completion, and I’m now at the point where I’m confident to be casting for my female roles (didn’t wanna waste anyone’s time with a game that might not happen). There are no male openings, sorry all you voice actors out there. =(

So, here’s the deal girls PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU AUDITION:

There are two characters, with a POSSIBILITY of three. The third would be an announcer, who will PROBABLY be the voice of Miss Osma, but if I like a dissimilar voice that you offer, I may make an exception and have an extra voice for an announcer.

Please send a demo with your audition so I know your range. If you don’t have one, just say so, but gimme some variety in your auditions. I do ask for specific things in my descriptions, but please feel free to have fun, get into character, show me what YOU think, and what you’ve got. The lines I give are mearly guidelines. Go nuts. Who knows, they might end up in the game! Remember I am a voice actor too, so I understand what it means to have fun with a role. =)

AS A PERSONAL NOTE: I am very much into unique, strange voices. Certainly a voice that fits, but one that may have a lisp, an imperfection; some kind of natural “quirk.” Maybe a little deeper than normal, a little boyish… who knows? Maybe you’re not even a voice actress, but you have a neat voice. Try it! I am soo NOT looking for “that anime girl” kind of sound, I want something fresh and exciting. Search all aspects you know of the characters and explore.

THE CHARACTERS:

Capable Chemist Miss Osma
Click here for pictures of Osma

Miss Osma is your avatar in the game. She’s a young chemist, with a bit of naivity, but nothing but heart and soul. She’s spunky, fresh, but she’s focussed, and intelligent. She’s fighting with all her heart to develop a super-cure for most diseases, and she won’t simply back down to constant discouragements. She believes her mission is infinitely more than just a pipe-dream; it is a reality just around the corner, all she has to do is turn it. She is very expressive and experiences the extremes of human emotion.

Possible Audition Lines:
“Yes, this is it!!” (triumphant, brainstormy)
“I knew that wouldn’t work…” (pensive, perhaps defeated? perhaps uplifted?)
“Maybe this!!” (excited, eager)
“Aghh! My formula!!” (distressed)
“You know, a few of these formulas give me some great ideas! Thanks a bunch!” (grateful, accomplished)
“Yes!!”
“Oh oh oh oh, I got it!” (silly, hurried, too excited to contain)

Catty Chemist Janice Duvoir
Click here for pictures of Janice.

Janice is a manipulative seductress who will do anything to get to the top, which, yes, includes being a good chemist. She is arrogant, coldhearted, and she absolutely hates the idea of another woman chemist rising above her. She tries to mess up Osma’s formulas, projecting sarcastically, using passive aggressive comments. There is no subtlety though, she makes it no mystery that she wants Miss Osma to fall flat on her face. She is, in the strictest sense, a total bitch. Perhaps not without reason, has she been crossed in the past? Untrusting of girls, ready for her revenge on all women.

Possible Audition Lines:
“Oh, isn’t that a shame?” (sarcastic, biting)
“Ahh, maybe you should pay a little bit more attention, hmm?” (ditto)
“I’m on a completely different level!!” (superior, no uncertainty)
“Why do I keep seeing Sheith (pronounced sheeth) in her formulas?” (in desperation)
“Wouldn’t want your breakthrough formula backfiring now would you?” (coniving, guilty and privvy to it)
“No!!” (ultimately distressed, as if her world is crumbling)

Please send all files to my e-mail, rotparoge@webmoron.net, with the word “audition” somewhere in the subject line. DO THIS BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE. You may (IN ADDITION TO THE PRIOR) post your auditions in this thread if you wish to make them public, I don’t mind.

This project is heavily in progress, so immediate turn-around for the final lines is MANDATORY. If you can’t get finished lines within a 3-4 day period, I WILL replace you. I don’t WANT to, but I will. Please don’t waste my time and yours if you know you can’t get me lines quickly.

I suppose I will have this audition open for a week unless I find an amazing voice earlier than that. So get those auditions in!

Thanks, and good luck to everyone!!

Hey guys.

I love you, so I want to be honest about something.

Being in the spotlight for a long enough time makes you feel a lot of pressures, you know, that you should keep doing what everybody likes, that you need to stick to something, that sort of thing, but I’m a creative guy, my mind is all over the place, and I can’t stop the ideas and thoughts from coming out. I get passionate about certain things, and when I feel like it’s completed, or done, I move on to a new project, a new idea.

Right now I’m focusing on a puzzle game that will be finished a little over a month from now and be released online in Flash, specifically on Newgrounds. It will be a lot of fun (it already is) and it will hopefully stick around for a while. I have a few more ideas for a sequel or different versions of it.

This project is taking up all of my time, and I’m not going to pretend like I’m working on a new awesome cartoon or whatever, basically everything else is on hold. Well, that’s not true, I do write, and organize notes constantly about other future projects in my downtime, and I have a LOT of future projects.

Basically, what I’m saying is, I’m not a one trick pony, and it’s hard to balance that image and myself. Arin. My life and my passions are far more than animating video game parodies, and as of late those passions have taken the front seat.

I used to be incredibly disorganized, wasted a lot of time, that sort of thing. But I’ve learned over time how to accomplish things, learn, study, get things done. So I do that, but I can only do so much at one time, you know? Having so much under my belt, you know, the awesome series, Girlchan, Lemon ‘n Bill, it’s kind of a shot in the foot, telling the world I’m going to be sticking to conventions, staying with a flow, but those kinds of flows are outside of my current situation.

I feel like I’ve done this kind of thing often, you know, saying the awesome series was over, making an Awesome DVD, but I want to be straight about WHY. The reason is that… I’m human. I get excited and bored easily, I love exploring new possibilities, new ways to tell jokes, new ways to play games, make games, the world is a sandbox. I’ve given up on working on great ideas I’ve had for flash movies because I thought my time would be better spent making an awesome cartoon or a Girlchan.

It’s not that I’ve been playing to the crowd, it’s that I’ve been limiting myself to the crowd. It’s like, I don’t try to force it out, but I only really listen to myself when it comes out about those topics, you know? I’ve been wanting that to change, and I think being public about it is a step forward.

I know everybody who visits this blog, who watches my twitter, who is friends on facebook with me is a fan of the Awesome series, or Girlchan, or god forbid Lemon ‘n Bill haha. I am so grateful to you all, but with that I am also asking you to understand me as a person as well. I guess it’s in bad form to be so personal about my work, but that’s just how I am, I like being personal with fans, it is something that I always have wished about the people I admire, and I would hate to be that guy who does great things but is kind of a standoffish dick, haha.

So, I’m truly sorry that a new awesome cartoon is taking so long to come out, a new girlchan taking so long to come out, lemon ‘n bill is not weekly like I promised, but, you know, things happen, energies transfer, lives change. I feel like I stress myself out over trying to get something serial out, stay consistent, but when it comes down to it, I’m the least consistent person ever. I am all over the place, and I always want to change and do different things. I don’t want you to think I’m being mean or lazy by not making an awesome cartoon or whatever, the complete opposite. I’m working constantly.

I am not saying there will be no more awesome cartoons or girlchan, the idea of new ones excites me, but I can’t really say for sure when or what they will be. Everybody wants an answer, and I can’t really give you any. I suppose you can admire the beauty of the unpredictability of my work. After all, comedy is the unexpected.

But I’ve promised Metal Gear Awesome 3, Girlchan 3, and new Lemon ‘n Bills, and they will exist. Just how and when, I cannot really say right now. It seems silly for me to tell you to stick with me on that note, especially since I neglect my blog so much (FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER DAMNIT) but I’m always creating, ALWAYS, that is the one thing I am absolutely sure of, so I always try to keep things interesting to some degree. =)

When this game is finished, I have a bunch of projects to start on. What one interests me the most at that time will be the one I pursue. Games, movies, anything. Who knows? You’ll probably hear about it, though.

I feel a little better having written this. Once again I’m eternally grateful for the support everybody has given me for my work. And once again I’m not saying anything is coming to an end, but that I am a human being, I am an artist, I need to explore all of my ideas, all of my passions, and giving myself an aneurysm about making something I don’t particularly want to make right now is not something I feel like I have the energy to deal with.