Jenni

JAM 2: The Second Annual January Animation Month Challenge

Jennifer — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:06:48 +0000

Welcome to the second annual January Animation Month! January 2012 is the second year of the JAM, where participants try to make an animation a day for an entire month. Last year I wanted to create a monthly challenge like NaNoWriMo and February Album Writing Month for my biggest love: animation. So, the JAM was born!

Last year we had a total of four people doing the challenge. Hopefully we can at least match that number this year, if not beat it.

For the JAM, the only rule is to make thirty one animations in January. The animations can be made one a day, or you can make several on several days, or even all at once (although I doubt anyone will do them all in one day, you’re more than welcome to try . The animations can be about anything. They can be animated gif, flash, traditionally animated, stop-motion, CGI, or whatever you wish. They can be 1 second long or they can be 20 minutes long. It’s up to you. Just remember you have to make 31 animations in the 31 days of January, so use your own judgement so you don’t burn yourself out.

You can update any animation as much as you like throughout the month or beyond. After all, this is all just for fun.

I don’t have the space or the bandwidth to host animations here, but you can use video hosting services like YouTube, or if your animation is in flash, you can use services like DeviantART or Newgrounds. If you want to participate, post your animations in this year’s JAM thread at the Telltale Games forum.

Like other challenges like it, you do not win anything for completing JAM. It is just for fun. You do, however, get the sense of accomplishment of finishing something, and you get the opportunity to improve your skills and share your art with the world!

NaNoWriMo

Jennifer — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 03:15:06 +0000

Long time no post. I’ve decided to try NaNoWriMo again this year. In 2009 I didn’t find out about it until November 11th, so I was only able to get just over 25,000 words done. I’ve always wanted to write a novel, so I’m going to be trying hard this year to make the 50,000 word goal (and the 1,667 words a day goal so I don’t get burned out). I typed 1,891 words for day one, so it’s looking good so far.

April Fool’s

Jennifer — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 00:30:44 +0000

Today’s April Fool’s Day, but it’s not a day of foolishness for us. Today’s the day that my sister’s baby went home for the first time, and the first day that he got to meet the dogs.

The event inspired me to create a cartoon for my new nephew, which I hope to have finished in a few days.

A Bear?

Jennifer — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 14:33:54 +0000

So, I still haven’t decided on what the third anthropomorphic character is yet. I want to keep the alliteration of the names in place though. So, for now I’ve decided he’s a bear. I’ve updated the characters page accordingly. Once he appears in a cartoon, hopefully I’ll keep him the same species, although he might still change ala Disney’s Pete.

Characters Page Updated With Diamond Joe Characters

Jennifer — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:33:25 +0000

I updated the characters page with characters from my planned animated sitcom Diamond Joe and the American Goldfish, since they all appeared in Jenni Comic 25.

Jenni Comic 25: Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Jennifer — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 03:45:08 +0000

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, and happy birthday to me. Right now I’m sitting in a brand new computer chair I got for my birthday, eating Reese’s peanut butter cake and drawing a nice St. Patrick’s Day drawing that I’ll add to this post shortly.

The image is finished, and I decided to make it an image for my Jenni comic since I haven’t made one in a while. A real new comic will be coming in a few days.

Jenni Movie?

Jennifer — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 06:39:03 +0000

While I’m posting about hypothetical ideas, I thought I’d post about another idea I’d like to do, but that I doubt I’ll actually ever do. I’d like to do a movie based on the multi-universe idea based in the Jenni world, but each universe would have it’s own style. The main universe would start in the Jenni comic (animation) style, and then other universes would be live action, stop-motion animation, possibly 3D computer generated animation, and it would all climax into a point where all of the styles intersected. It’s a fun idea, but I really have to finish the comic storyline before I even think of starting something like this (and possibly the video game too). I’ll probably never make this, but I’d love to see it so if someone wants to take the idea and run with it, have fun.

My adventure game idea: episodic, multi-game, or single game?

Jennifer — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 03:50:32 +0000

I have been planning an adventure game series for quite some time. I’ve been looking at adventure game engines, working on them a bit, and then putting the game on the back burner again. The game is to use my general storyline in the current Jenni comic arc. It was actually meant to be an adventure game before the comic, but I made a comic since I thought I’d never do the game and I thought the comic would be easier. But since I decided to do a very different story for the comic, it’s actually proven to be harder than I first thought.

Well, I’ve been looking at SLUDGE again, and they’re adding support for videos across all three platforms that SLUDGE runs on (Windows, Mac, and Linux). Since my idea has always been to make an adventure game that flows like a animated cartoon sitcom, videos are very important to the project. So, I’ve decided to start the game project again. But, I’m not sure whether to do it episodically, since a multi-universe story has a lot of potential for an episodic story (just look at Sliders ), single game, or multi-game. I have a general story mapped out in my head for a three game story, so I’m leaning towards doing one game and seeing how it does and then creating all three if it sells well. Of course, that also means I have to end the first story solidly so that there is no cliffhangers just in case I don’t make more games, but it also means I can’t close the story so much that any sequels seem out of place and tacked on.

This seems the best route for me too, since I’m working on this completely by myself, so working on one story at a time would keep a lot of burden off of my shoulders. And, even though I’d love to try it, an episodic schedule would be much too hectic for me at this time.

Planning for a Stop Motion Animation

Jennifer — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 03:32:14 +0000

I have just added stop motion animation to my list of 100 things to create before I die. I have always loved stop motion animation, and the way it can give a feel of realism than 2D animation can present since the objects are filmed in three dimensions. And since I have tried to do 3D computer animation before and have been overwhelmed by the various programs I’ve tried, this seems like my best bet to do an animation with a bit more dimension.

I’m still in the very early stages of this, and I’m not sure if I’m going to use a pre-existing character or create a new one, or even about the storyline or plot, but the gears are now moving in my head for this.

Not Sure How to Continue The Story

Jennifer — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 07:56:46 +0000

So, yesterday’s post about magic got me to thinking. Now that I finally got my Jenni comic through the portal and into an alternate dimension, I’m not sure where to take the story. I added Merlin in because I love magic and because I’ve been watching the BBC series Merlin a lot lately. But that idea kind of made me unsure of where to take the story. I have an idea for a story in three parts for an adventure game using the same premise, but I purposely don’t want to make the same storyline so the game’s story would be fresh if I ever did manage to get around to making it. Merlin would make a great guide to the other dimension, but I’m not sure whether I should go with traditional fictional characters or add in more modern ones, or a combination of both, or if I should finish the plot line up in a few comics, or make it a sprawling epic over hundreds of comics. I think I’m likely to go somewhere in the middle, but I’m not sure which side of the spectrum I’m thinking about taking it. It’s now been almost a month since a new comic was made, so I hope to have an answer sooner than later, since I don’t want anymore filler comics like the Valentine’s one (at least not right away).