Viking warlords playing wicked, ass-kicking guitar solos on the high-seas. Now that’s what I call a music video. Check out this Flash-animated music video for Jason Forrest‘s War Photographer off his recent album ‘Shamelessly Exciting.’ It’s the brainchild of Joel Trussell, a brilliant character designer, who along with a few friends has assembled a perfect compliment for Jason Forrest’s earth-shaking track.

According to Joel, the video was produced primarily with Flash, along with a little help from Photoshop and Premiere. He called upon a gang of production friends from around the globe to help pull it all together. Joel explained that his crew included “Darin Bendall (Tokyo), Chris Fox (Atlanta), Leo Riley (LA), Gene Blakefield (Seattle) and Doug Gordon (Seattle as well). God bless the internet. They were a talented crew to work with.”

Check out some of Joel’s other animated pieces over at his Cartoon Cockfight site. He’s been a Flash user for 6 years now, and it’s quite apparent that he’s been drawing for much longer than that. And here’s a great interview with Joel over at Pop Cult Magazine.

The PBS kids show ‘Between the Lions’ has been airing occasional Flash-animated segments. Animated by Todd Gallina, of ‘Cooking with Bigfoot’ fame, the simplistic and sleekly stylish shorts are aimed at the diaper gang. Todd draws pencil layouts, and then pencil tests in Flash, as you can see on his website. The finished product is completely vector, and based on Todd’s original character designs for the segments. Todd has posted a sing-a-long segment from the show that features fish, cowboys and gorillas.

Over at Todd’s website, intermediate and novice Flash animators should plunk down in front of his two well-produced tutorials. The first tutorial starts with storyboarding and then moves into design and layout cleanup. Todd’s method of smoothing out the linework in Flash is one approach, but I actually recommend using a pen tablet and stroking the lines in Flash or Illustrator.

The second tutorial deals specifically with character animation, and Todd uses characters from ‘Cooking with Bigfoot.’ Great stuff, Todd.

I’ve recently spotted a few new articles focusing on Flash animation production companies. The first is in the Austin-American Statesman, titled ‘Austin a center of digital animation,’ and it highlights a couple Flash-friendly studios, Powerhouse Animation and Horseback Salad Entertainment. Here’s a quote from that article…

Using Flash software, an off-the-shelf computer animation program, HorseBack Salad keeps its costs down and attracts projects that might have ruled out animation because of budget constraints.

The second article comes from the Ottawa Business Journal, and we learn more about PIP Animation Studios and Funbag Animation, both located up in Ottawa. The article, titled ‘Child’s Play,’ reveals that ‘Carl Squared,’ the new series on Canada’s Teletoon network, is being produced with Flash software. Here’s an interesting quote from Dave Fortier, the director of studio operations at PIP Animation.

The industry itself has changed significantly because in the 80s all of the (animated) material was produced in North America and then it started going overseas,” he says. “By the 90s, virtually all material was done overseas, but things have changed now with the ever-dropping prices, smaller budgets and the flexibility of Flash, which can do just about anything and allows the artist to have complete control.

Cartoon Network’s hit Flash-animated show ‘Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi’ will
soon be available on DVD. On November 29th, we’ll be treated to ‘Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi: Let’s Go’, and ‘Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi: Rock Forever,’ two DVDs, each featuring 12 episodes from the hit TV series aimed at the girls market. ‘Puffy’ is animated out of Glendale, California by Renegade Animation – and you can see clips online at the Cartoon Network website.

We’ll also be seeing the Flash-animated series ‘Atomic Betty’ on the store shelves in October. Two DVD releases are scheduled
Atomic Betty, Vol. 1 – Betty, Set, Go! and Atomic Betty, Vol. 2 – Betty to the Rescue!.

These DVD releases of Flash-animated project are exciting, but surely not the first. Here’s a little taste of the history of Flash animation on DVD:

Strongbad Emails (2005)

Home Movies – Season Two (2005)

Broken Saints (2005)

Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie: Dee-Vee-Dee (2005)

Quads Vol 1:Freak Parade (2005)

Lil’ Pimp (2005)

Mucha Lucha – The Return of El Malefico (2005)

Happy Tree Friends:Third Strike Vol 3 (2004)

Mucha Lucha: Heart of a Lucha (2004)

National Lampoon Presents – Mr Wong (2004)

Happy Tree Friends – Second Serving (Vol. 2) (2003)

Happy Tree Friends – First Blood (Vol. 1) (2003)

Larryboy – The Angry Eyebrows (2002)

Welcome back to the Cold, Hard Flash interview with Jennifer Shiman, the creator of ’30-Second Bunnies Theatre.’ In this second half we learn about Jennifer’s interest in actionscripting, her upcoming travel schedule and her love of ‘Homestar Runner.’

AARON SIMPSON: Were you using any animation software before you picked up Flash?
JENNIFER SHIMAN: In 1998, I made my first animated short film using US Animation ToonBoom software on an SGI workstation at a studio I worked for at the time. Using Flash has cut my production time drastically for a number of reasons. It took me about 3 years to finish that first six-minute short, whereas it takes me 3-4 weeks to make a 30 second ‘bunnies’ re-enactment. Of course the first short was also 24 frames per second of all hand-drawn animation.

AARON: What was your first Flash project?
JENNIFER: I used Flash to create three webisodes featuring longtime characters which had also starred in my first short film.

AARON: What aspect of your animation skillset has most improved since then?
JENNIFER: I actually just revisited those first files to optimize them for broadcast use, and man. I saw that I’ve improved in my line quality and use of color, as well as file organization and production effects.

AARON: Where do you turn to if you’re aiming to learn a new Flash trick?
JENNIFER: I belong to the Los Angeles Flash User Group (laflash.org), and they have a very helpful forum. Flashkit.com offers helpful tutorials, and Moock.org has lots of neat stuff.

AARON: I’ve heard a rumor you’re teaching yourself actionscripting. What spurred this interest?
JENNIFER: I’ve been interested in actionscripting all along. I’ve wanted to create more interactive little worlds and toys using Flash. I think of neat content uses and then try teach myself the actionscript to implement them.

AARON: Have you found any time between ‘Bunnies’ shorts to dream up new project ideas?
JENNIFER: I haven’t had time to deal with the ideas that crop up here and there, so I’ve been netting them and saving them in a notebook for later reference.

AARON: What’s the most gratifying aspect of the ‘Bunnies’ experience?
JENNIFER: The most gratifying thing is people viewing my work and emailing me to say how it made them laugh. I feel incredibly grateful that Starz has given me the opportunity to pay my bills while working on what I love, and likewise that I got recognized at Ottawa, one of the finest animation festivals around. It is all kinds of good.

AARON: Do you plan on traveling out to the Port City Animation Festival, where one of your shorts is appearing this Fall?
JENNIFER: I won’t be there, due to schedule conflicts. But I will be on the east coast in late August giving a talk at the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY.

AARON: I’ve read that you’re a big ‘Homestar Runner’ fan. Who’s your favorite character?
JENNIFER: The world of ‘Homestar Runner’ is one of the best things I’ve ever seen. My favorite characters are StrongSad and Bubs.

AARON: Over the past few years, what animated features have you enjoyed most?
JENNIFER: ‘The Incredibles,’ ‘The Iron Giant,’
‘The Triplets of Belleville,’ and Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘Howl’s Moving Castle.’ Miyazaki’s ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ and ‘Spirited Away’
and Richard Linklater’s ‘Waking Life’
are some of my favorite movies of all time.

AARON: Thanks, Jennifer. Best of luck at the festivals!