NICE AND ORIGINAL

I heard about this studio before through a friend that works there. uggh. I wish these guys would have done a simple web search before they named their company eh?

Oh well.

Gene.

SKUNK FU! | FLASH GAME COOL!

Hilarious! Check it out.
Big thanks to Cliff Walker for finding it!

Gene.

REBOOT?

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Choir, I would like to firstly say that our beloved series from our childhood has 'Rebooted' the second coming of bob!

Yup, Reboot, one of the earliest computer-animated episodic TV series, will be redeveloped as a trilogy of feature-length films by Rainmaker Animation.

How great is that?

I remember waking up and watching this with my father early mornings on ABC! I'm soooo excited!

Let alone, they will be releasing a comic version of the "re-imagined" series today at comic-con!

Ch-ch-Check it out!

Wha-wh-What's it all about?

The classics are returning...

ACTIVISION SURPASSES EA!

That's right folks! It's taken a decade to finally surpass the giant called EA to fall and for Activision to surpass them as the leading developer!!

Activision's shares have jumped 54% over the last year and since they have a lot of homegrown franchises that are currently climbing the sales charts such as "Call of Duty," "Guitar Hero," and "Tony Hawk." Not bad for an all star lineup if I do say so myself!

I tip my hat to you boys and girls at Activision.

For the full press release click here!

Well done on the accomplishment!

WALT DISNEY STUDIO HANDBOOK

Ooh look what I found!
I can't remember when or where I found the images, but I thought someone should put it in PDF form and host it for all interested to download. It's quite neat to see how their studio was laid out back then.

Go ahead and download it here!

Enjoy!
Gene.

ANIME STUDIO | HMMMMMmmm.

A new (well its' new to me) vector animation software has come to my attention. Anime Studio might be worth checking into if you were going to stay kicking around in the realm of flashy lookin shows or web animation.

However if you're a good animator, draftsman and have already found a nice companionship with the established work-arounds of making flash do what you want, you probably are best sticking to what you already know. But who knows right?

The interface looks pretty complicated, but I guess so did flash when I first saw it. I'm sure the rigging bonus comes in handy.

Now, I firmly believe that flashy looking shows have run their course. I believe that the market is looking for higher quality shows then the typical slippy slidey shows like Odd Job Jack, Happy Tree Friends or Carl Squared. The quality bar is being raised and with it being raised do programs like Toon Boom and Anime Studio still offer the same amount of value as flash?



Again I think the software is just an extension of your personal skillsets. If you already have the fundementals of animation mastered and can design, pose and draw like the wind with great appeal, I think it really doesn't matter what software you use.

Well I'm sure Anime Studio won't make me a better animator, but it does make me wanna try it out!

Gene.

MONDAY MORNING SILLY

It's amazing. He's walking around the studio much more confidently now.

yeargh,

gene.

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S... ... SEASON 3!

It seems like ages ago that we started working on the first season of "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, Spray!"

This year we're rocking it out again! Bigger and Badder then ever!

Full page ad found inside "In Touch Weekly" while at the theatre.

This year's campaign is all over the web, print media and even TV; all pointing people to the web to watch the webisodes.

Doug Little VP of Production, Gene Fowler, Co-Director and Tracy Fernandez, Account Manager.

This year's team at Fatkat consisted of some of the finest designers and animators in house; folks like Keith Dury and Justin Coffee were throwing down! YUM!

Jimmy Richards Co-Director

Jimmy handled most of the directing capabilities on this season. I did a the first episode to get it all rolling and Jimmy took over in fine fashion. Logging a ton of hours; let's show him some love and pinch his bum next time we see him! Good Job Jimmy, the show is lookin solid bro!

Mike Concannon Art Director

Mike Concannon was instrumental in the art direction this year, breathing new life and sophistication into the backgrounds.

Geremy Walker Producer

Of course we couldn't do anything without these folks. Left to right Geri Donahue, one of the many fatkat accountants that keep the lights on. Season 3 Producer Geremy Walker and Account Manager Tracy Fernandez. Old picture.. sorry.


Enough babbling! - Let's watch some episodes!

Go to the site here
or
watch below!

Season 3 Episode 1:


Season 3 Episode 2


Season 3 Episode 3


Season 3 Episode 4 - GO VOTE!!


Stay tuned for the final episode! We're almost done!

Gene.

STAND UP 4 KIDZ | REDESIGNED

By Justin Coffee for our show "Standup 4 Kidz".

We decided to redesign the show based on what networks were talking about. I think it's an improvment. The show looks more like what's on TV but also has a bit of Coffee's unique style in there. What you think?

gene.

ESTATE PLANNING COMIC

Here's a comic I just did last night for Atlantic Business Magazine for their succession planning issue coming up. Dawn Chafe asked me to do the comic and answer the following question:

Dawn: Imagine you are in a position where, for whatever reason, you have no choice but to pass on the leadership of your company to someone else. Based on your own personal experience, as well as your observations of other businesses, is it better to recruit from within your company or should you look elsewhere for new talent? Why?

Me: Well if I had to relinquish the leadership of Fatkat I’d definitely be looking from within. I RARELY hire anyone for a middle or senior management role and certainly would NEVER hire (again) anyone for an executive role here at Fatkat. It takes years of training to grow a leader from the ground up. Someone that knows the company, the business we’re in and how to keep not only clients happy, but the employees happy too.

It’s rare that someone right out of the gate holds all of the company values so solidly. I would certainly exhaust every possibility internally before looking out the window for someone else – end of story.

Thanks for askin’!

Do you guys and gals think the comic represents the question well? What ya'll thinko!?

Gene.

CG Animators to Compete at SIGGRAPH 2007

15 competing teams, 32 hours...

That's right, this year's Siggraph unleashes a new event for everyone to watch and enjoy as 15 teams fight to create the world finest character driven animation in front of a live audience.

Sounds pretty awesome! I hope I get to go to Siggraph this year to check it out. I would stay the entire 32 hours to watch these guys go at it!

Not to mention, there's going to be belly dancers! And you can't go wrong with belly dancers!

For more information click here!

PART DEUX OF THE VACATION!

So, here I was in a vast wilderness, uninhabited for decades, so clean and pristine, not a soul or footprint could be seen and then suddenly I was surrounded by a pack of wolves! That's right, not your friendly doggies like our very own VP of Licking. But ravenous beasts' that wish to tear me limb from limb, and that really didn't happen, but it would've been a really cool story!

Alright, alright, I'll get back to my vacation now...hehe

So, after going whale watching we stayed around for a bit longer and went on to some of the trails that could be found on Brier Island. It's by far one of the most beautiful spots that I have seen in this great country of ours! We walked a long a path to a place called seal's cove, and well, we had high hopes to see one, and since my baby sister Mackenzie is taking a keen eye to oceanography we thought it'd be great!

Here's a pic of us trudging through the vast wilderness that is Brier Island!

So on the path we went high and low and climb a couple of rock faces just for the sheer fun of it, and finally we arrived!
Sooo beautiful, but to our dismay, there was no seals! Seriously! None! So we were kind of disappointed, but not as disappointed as my baby sister, we looked and looked but still nothing could be found.
So we decided to head back to our little hotel room for the evening and maybe walk around downtown, but just then, my father saw something specular in the water, I didn't see it at first, and then again it popped out, and this time it caught my eye! So I grabbed the long distance lens from my father and sure enough, it was a seal! WE FOUND ONE!
If you look really close you can see the seal's head poking out the water! It was so cool!

So we kept a close eye on him for a little while, then another popped up and the sort of watched us for a duration then we decided to head back. Can't give them too much of a show you know?
As well here's a shot of the west point Lighthouse that was found later that evening on the island.
That was my first 3 days of my vacation! And they were well worth the trip I'd say! So we decided to head to my old stomping grounds, Prince Edward Island!! We were there for a couple of just relaxing days, and it was gorgeous as always! I love PEI! We went to Charlottetown to go to the Comic Hunter (which was my favourite store to go to) and just to see what's new and exciting in the old town but we found something quite amazing...
Yeah, that's right, a coffee shop named Beanz...How quaint.

From there we went to Cavendish beach and just walked a long the shores till sunset; those are my favourite times with my family.
I like that shot a lot just because it reminds me of some old 70's photos that my parents have.

Here's some more shots of PEI...
After my visit to PEI we high tailed it back to my homeland of Ontario to finish off the vacation...

Here it was mostly helping my parents out at the restaurant and by helping I mean doodling on everything...and seeing my Great Grandmother, my Great Uncle and my Grandparents. Not to mention to go running on some of the best roads in the country!

Here's a shot of my Great Uncle Danny

And a broach that my Grandfather gave my sister...

and finally, when we had big family supper I took a shot of some Tabasco sauce!

Can't go anywhere without the sauce!

And that's it! Hope you had a good read and enjoyed some of my photos!

PIP PIP CHEERIOS!

FATKAT presents THE MID SUMMER PARTY!

Every 3 months we throw a big bash at Fatkat. We gotta, animation is a stressful business as much as it's supposed to be fun just making cartoons. Alot goes on behind the scenes that can lots of hair to appear off your head.

People sacrifice alot for the cartoons they make, nights, weekends, sanity. We all need to unwind as often as possible and recharge. What better way then to hang out with your pals and rock out to bands like The Motorleague and Refusal Code this Friday!

Nikki's sacrificing her house, Casey got the bands and I'm buying 2 BIG kegs for y'all.

Kids party from 2 to 6, then the real party begins!

Let's rock out!

gene.

AUDITIONS FOR SHADOWBOY

This week we held internal auditions for the cast of our new pilot Shadow Boy. A concept created by Mick Harrison and developed over the last few years by Mick, myself and many others. Now enough is enough, we're making it! It's going to blow doors down baby!

We had a great deal of interest from dozens of folks at the studio for the auditioning. It was really hard to narrow it all down for the characters, but I think a fair job was done. Thank you all for taking the time to help shape this cartoons! Stay tuned for animatics, designs and who knows what else!

Which voices do you like? Leave a comment with your picks!

Gene.

Shadowboy 01

Shadowboy 02

Shadowboy 03

Shadowboy 04

Shadowboy 05

Shadowboy 06

The Chief 01

The Chief 02

The Chief 03

The Chief 04

The Chief 05

The Chief 06

Big Toe was to be voiced by me, but Stone wanted a go at it. He did a good job! Hell he played both Flugelbinder and Big Toe during the reading.
Listen here!

Dave 01


Dave 02

Flugelbinder 01

Flugelbinder 02

Flugelbinder 03

Flugelbinder 04

Flugelbinder 05

Flugelbinder 06

The Narrator voice was also already filled, this time by Mick, but again, there was interest so we decided to give it a whirl, what you think?

Narrator 01

Narrator 02

Narrator 03

Narrator 04

Don't forget to vote on your picks, leave a comment instead of emailing me. We'll be picking our cast this week! Thanks so much for all your help!

Gene.

VACATION HOLIDAY!

That's right kittens! I'm back!

And all rested up from my 2 week vacation! To sum it all up for ya, there was lots of sleep, running, Tabasco sauce and whales! Not necessarily in that order, but a good time was had!

So, let me start off the whole vacation right here in the beautiful 'Mighty Miramichi.' That's right, my Dad and little sister came all the way from Ontario in my father's van and drove here to pick me up! Talk about being one lucky kat!

So from here I went right into Nova Scotia and all the way down to Brier Island where I went whale watching! Well, before we even got to go see the whales, I figured I had to get in the mood to see some whales, and what better way to get into "that" kind of mood but by watching Moby Dick, a classic! Gregory Peck did some of his finest work in that there movie!
But anyways, I digress, so my sister and I watched Moby Dick almost all the way down to Brier Island whilst my father was at the helm of our ship. After casting off from Miramichi it took us a whole 6.5 hours to get there! We even stopped in Springhill where there was a beautiful monument to all of the miners that have passed away from the mid eighteen hundreds all the way up to nineteen sixty-seven!

Here's a shot for ya!
After Springhill it was almost all down hill from there on out! haha! We got into our cabin for the night and nestled in for a night of good rest and a few kicks and stealing covers from my kid sister! grrr...

The next morning we woke up early and went whale watching on a research boat! How cool is that? One of the watchers was actually a whale tracker and she could tell me which whale was which by the spots on their tales! Here's some pics for all ya beautiful people!

Here's a mother and it's calf!

Another Mommy and it's baby!DERE SHE BLOWS!

Here's some more shots of just the journey out and some of the watchers!

My father and sister!

Here's a human Mommy and her baby!

This is some whale teeth! Aren't they awesome?

Tomorrow I'll post some more pictures of my journey and some more stories to tell! (I'm afraid that this will get tooo long!)

Have a good one and check back tomorrow for more pics and stories!!!

- Your Friendly Neighbourhood Beansy