Score: 7

"I liked it"

submission: Avalanches

date: January 24, 2006

As a collection by your hand this is quite interesting. It gives a good insight in the way you experiment with style/concept and the themes you are interested in. However the individual shorts lacked direction and execution. They often had a nice idea behind them but they were too short and undetailed in order to be really convincing on their own. I know the entire idea of a collection like this is not the individual strength, but it still shouldnt be used as an excuse in my eyes.

But like i said before, as an entirety it gives a good idea who you are and what your vision is. I like that.... Alot

AITD

Score: 10

"kol belov"

submission: Bankomat

date: January 16, 2006

I love how you developped your own unique style over the years.
I love how you sweep away all the people who think a good animation has to have alot of frame by frame and special effects from the table.
I love how your characters are integrated with the backgrounds.
I love how they arent overly designed like most western animators do and how the environment, camera effects, characters and subtle effects are one coherent thing.
I love the original music you chose for your work.
I love the way you think out the color palette to fit the atmosphere of each individual animation.
I love the non commercial/non american feel your work has.
I love the dark themes you explore and the symbolism you use to portray them.
I love your work.

AITD

Score: 10

"Marvellous"

submission: moral sense

date: December 21, 2005

Its not often you find animators with such an interesting unique vision on animating. I like the simple and unpretentious approach you have in your work. Both in concept and execution. Meh, not so motivated lately to write good reviews. Just take my word for it when i say you rock. The 10 is not only for this particular flash, but based on your entire work as a whole.

AITD

Score: 8

"Original"

submission: -MASS-

date: December 20, 2005

That was a bizarre flash. Nice idea to make a movie for the ignored artist.

A strange psychedelic color palette combined with a melange of pixel and vector. Certainly an unusual combination that only worked because of the awesome soundtrack and frustrated message. I really felt the anger you tried to convey by watching this.

Not that i particularly agree with the message though, since i dont give a rats ass about who deserves their e-fame and who doesnt, but if that is what catches your attention and the foundation for your flash then i can only applaud that. Maybe this will sound weird but im glad you arent a star in proportions/realism and animating. The weird characters and simple environments gave it a unique artsy style.

Although a tad bit incoherent at some points where there was a too large shift between styles and technique it wasnt really as annoying as in most other movies. Maybe this is what you intended. All i can say is that it was an overall good original flash that will give some of us material to think about.

AITD

Score: 6

"Not too bad"

submission: At Least I'm Alive

date: December 12, 2005

That was actually the second well done 3d animation i have seen so far on this website.

The first was called Freak, by whizzkid Evil-Dog. Its unfair to compare the two, since the only similarity they have is that they are rendered in 3d.

The visual style used for this movie is excellent. It all looked really cool and believable. The robots design was a bit simple and didnt really speak to my imagination, but the backgrounds were really well done. The animation was great too!

However, having an excellent visual style may in no way be used as excuse to forget about the other aspects of a flash movie.. What the hell did you exactley try to make? A comedy? A drama? It still isnt clear to me after seeing it for the second time. It wasnt funny and the stupid ending prevented me from taking it serious.

The characters in the movie were all very one dimensional also. I dont expect you to deepen their characters in a short like this, but at least give them some more lines of dialogue or unique traits or something. They were just being there, trying to look pretty in 3d. Anyway, think up a better concept next time. Besides the mentioned flaws, the entire robot falling in love thing has been done before and better. If you are willing to put as much time in thinking out a good concept/story/characters/dialogue and keep the visual talent, then you WILL have a solid movie.

AITD

Score: 9

"Terribly amazing"

submission: Black Knights Episode 3

date: December 8, 2005

That was so bloody awesome... From the moment it started all the way until the end.

I never really took my time to watch your other work, even though i saw it on the frontpage.. and i regret that now. It takes ambition and motivation to take make flash with big stories like this, but you seem to handle it very well.

The thing thats always hard to do right in this type of flash is to create a believable atmosphere. Unnatural drawings, crappy sound effects or bad pace usually ruin it for the viewer to really enjoy. However, all of these elements were approached with great care and never became at a single point annoying. Your drawing style reminds me of the one of granfaloon, only more realistic. Im not saying thats a better thing, its just different and gives it the right personal touch.

The camera work was very well done and only at a few scenes it was a bit over the top. For example, when the blonde guy was slaughtering, the action sequences were mixed with shots that focused on the grass and environment only. Its a good thing to contrast battle and environment, but if you do so, you have to make the environment more interesting to watch. Draw like a forrest on the background, and some more objects and things (e.g: flying birds, a castle.. anything). This way, these shots will not come across as a lazy way of skipping battle, but as a very interesting addition that adds depth to the story.

Another thing you might want to work a bit more on are the hands of the characters. I know how much of a pain they can be, but since you proportioned and detailed the characters so well, you should do the same with the hands.

I would be stupid though to give you a bad or average grade just because of these small minors, but they do prevent me from giving you the full 10. Next thing on my agenda is to watch all your other flash movies and for the long term ill be looking out for the rest of your work!

AITD

Score: 6

"Pretty good"

submission: Mad World Collab

date: December 6, 2005

Cool to see this thing finally finished.

This collab mainly suffers the problems any open public collab suffers. A chain is as strong as its weakest link and when there are alot of weak links the result is very fragile and breakable. What im trying to say is that if i would judge this collab based on Hellbereth, BMK, Ciambotti, Ren or Joems part then i would have given it a flat out 9. Good animation, clever ideas and creatively handled. But i dont think a collab should be about the good parts making up for the poorly executed ones.

One thing that really annoys me when i watch a song collab is when people literally animate the lyrics of the text. I never understood what the purpose of doing that is, but it takes away all the creativity and identity of the artist. Its like writing down the results for a list of premade formulas, instead of making the formulas yourself. Allright enough with the metaphors now. This thing gives me mixed feelings.

AITD

Score: 2

"Completely didnt like it"

submission: A Theft of Funny (TTA)

date: October 20, 2005

I really appreciate all the effort that went into this. But i complete miss to see the purpose of this flash. Its a blatant copy of the famous Warner Brothers animations.

I know this was your intention but to me that doesnt justify this conceptless work at all. Animating/art is about exploiting your creativity. Finding ways to express yourself. How simple is it to completely copy someone else's visual style, characters, theming, pace, etc. Heck, even the sound effects and voice acting pretended to be the same.

So what exactley did you as the animator had to do in this case? Nothing but brainless drawing. Like a machine of which all the parameters are set that only has to process it into the predetermined result. The only thing this flash proves is that you can draw almost as good as the Warner Brothers animators. It might get some oohh's from the younger audience, but if your willing to take yourself seriously as an animator you better learn to figure out the other aspects of creating/telling a good story too.

AITD

Score: 5

"Mediocre"

submission: Flathead Symphony

date: October 11, 2005

Am i having a deja-vu here? Or is this meant to be -play- 2 with graphics by Synj... Kind of not a good idea to redo a good conceptflash again, exactley the same, with better graphics. Play wasnt good because of its graphics, but because of its clever soundtrack and synchronisation with the visuals. This cartoony drawing style didnt add anything new to the idea. Even the visual presentation was the same.. Frontal view of all the characters on one stage. At least add some interesting perspectives or something to make it refreshing and add the value of Synj animation skill to the flash.
All in all i can only credit this thing for the new soundtrack, since everything else was a been-there-seen-that. Hence the 5

Score: 10

"One of the best on Newgrounds"

submission: Routine

date: October 10, 2005

Its not often that i take time to write a review anymore. After checking out flash on this website for over 2 years I think i have seen most of it. Unless the occasional masterpiece stops by, like its the case here.

A movie about chosing who you are, about brushing teeth, waking to work, picking a tie, handling the routine. Pretty good in its concept, even better in its execution. There arent alot of flaws here so ill just make a sum list of all the pros i found and enjoyed.

One thing that immediately jumps in the eye is the careful eye for detail in the backgrounds. Its amazing how you can make a visually wonderful flash with simple characters but atmospheric backgrounds. Its one of the secrets of making creme de la creme flash actually. Imagine brackenwood, there she is or fallen angel without the backgrounds.

What i also loved was how you allmost literally managed to have the viewer experience the routine. Untalented people with the same ambitious idea in mind simply animate 1 day in the life of the main character and expect the viewer to understand he has a boring life by giving him a sad face. You on the other hand managed to make the routinious life almost annoying, unbearable by animating the same scenes over and over again. By paying enormous detail on the boring detail. An approach that can be extremely effective (as i also used in Autumn Tree)

The fun you had in animating this simply shines off the product. From the cleverly designed logo on the application form to the unique and hilarious ties in his wardrobe. Not to mention the detailed street and work environment. There is a minor flaw here which I feel like i should point out. The perspectives when the man walks outside are a bit off. The man is a bit too big in proportion to the houses. But really this is peanuts.

One thing that could have made this an even bigger masterpiece is if you animated the citylife also. Cars riding, business men walking... I know its very hard, but trust me, its very rewarding. Would be cool if you would have a peak at the new newgrounds TimeTrial, in which i try to tackle this problem (will be out somewhere end of october).

Overall an extremely good movie. Everything matches, the style, the music, the concept. I wonder what your next project will be, because i personally think something like this should only be made one time by the same artist. Meh maybe im wrong. Doesnt matter, just keep up the awesome work and make some more flashes that i can add to my small favorite list

AITD