Author: mattdowns

Buffalo Music Box

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Buffalo Gil stumbles across a music box and decides to give it a whirl.
I always hated these things when I was a kid. Jack in the Box always freaked me out, even when I knew it was going to pop out. This pencil test is a little interpretation of the adrenaline that ran through my head before the Weasel went “POP”!.
The layout and animation sketches for this test can be found here if you wish to look at how I came up with the idea.

Maanii’s Mad at Emmitt

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Emmitt (left) and Maanii (right) are two characters that I for one didn’t create on my own. (Emmitt was but long story). Rachael wanted to see her characters move and interact so I jumped at the opportunity to test out character animation and comedic timing.

Dynamic Globber Man and Boomer-Randy

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I did the layout animation for this while my classmate and friend Jeff Yandura did the in-betweens for this pencil test. I couldn’t be happier with the result.

In this pencil test, I was to do the opposite. Here I animated the in-betweens from Jeff’s Layout animation. You can tell what ones are his by the colored pencil key drawings, which is something that I should have done with mine. Again, I am quite pleased with the result, and so was Jeff!

Xax Animation Test

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I was experimenting more with effects animation, and this time I was leaning more toward explosion effects.

Xax here hears something around the corner, picks up an object and realizes that its a time bomb. He is able to throw it out of site in the nick of time.

Storyboard thumbnails


Sneak pencil test

and the heroic throw and leap

Follow That Car

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Follow That Car is the story of Lloyd, a simple-minded taxi driver in the big city. He’s grown tired of driving the same dull people to their same dull places of work and begins to have second thoughts of his career choice……until one day. Lloyd is given the chance to show what he’s really capable of.


I had always thought that a taxi driver’s goal in life was to one day be that car that was chosen to “Follow That Car!” in a chase.
Lloyd, my protagonist, wishes for just that. He shows that he has what it takes to pursue a getaway car in the busy city. After all, as a taxi driver he knows the neighborhood inside out and upside down. Lloyd turns out to be the perfect man for the job as he showcases his superior driving abilities.

FORE!

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Here’s my first stop motion animation using paper cut outs. It star’s my alligator character Ajax, and how he retaliates against a rude golfer.
This is a rough paper cut out of the shapes I needed for the body.