Interview No. 28

Interviewer: @Skitch

Interviewee: @The-Swain

Original Date: 6/4/2006

Newgrounds has its share of unique, unusual, and just plain weird characters. Among those is the creation of Michael Swain, you will know as Blockhead, now among the most recognisable toons on Newgrounds. Recently I was lucky to get in contact with Michael and really get inside his mind, to find out what exactly makes a creation like Blockhead tick.

Q: First of all Michael, thanks for taking the time to do this interview, with the rate the Blockhead cartoons come out you must be a reasonably busy person. Let’s start right at the very beginning. Tell us about yourself, who are you, when did you first pick up flash, what made you decide to start, etc?

A: We’re all friends here, so you can call me Mike. Or Swain. Yes, Swain will be good. Well, where do I start without going dull on you? I’m twenty-four and a graduate student at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. It’s a great setup for someone like me who spends so much time animating. My schedule is very versatile and I can find plenty of time to squeeze in a bit of cartooning wherever I can. Anyway, I first started learning Flash in August of ’05 or so, and that was for a whole lot of reasons. I first got the idea after watching Firth’s “Burnt Face Man” series over on Newgrounds. Like so many other Flash cartoonists before me, I thought to myself “Hey, I could do that! In fact, why haven’t I already?!”

Q: Seems to be the start for a lot of animators, seeing something and being inspired. What program of Flash do you use and do you have any other programs that help you animate?

A: I’ve moved up to Flash 8 recently, and I was already really proficient in Adobe Photoshop before I picked up Flash. You’ve probably noticed how much favour I gave to .JPG backgrounds in my earlier cartoons. I was in love with the pixel at the time, and it was tough giving it up in favour of the Flash vector, which is much cleaner. Now I try not to go beyond Flash for my graphics. As for audio, I use Cool Edit Pro 2 for editing and recording and Cakewalk Home Studio for my homemade MIDI songs.

Q: In more detail, when you animate, what tools do you use to draw? Do you use the line, pen or pencil, or have you got a graphics tablet like some other animators?

A: I’m an avid Wacom tablet user, something I picked up especially for my journey into the Flash world. I find the brush tool to be my best friend in animating, but in future projects I plan to explore the pencil and line tools. So far I’ve been scared to death of touching them! It takes a lot of finesse to perfect their usage, and I just haven’t practiced with them yet. But mark my words: I will. I will. The reason I started off with the brush tool is because that was the apparent tool of choice for Chris Voigt, the talented dude with the Greasy Moose series on Newgrounds. I liked the clean look of his later work and was convinced I could go the same route with a little practice.

Q: And for the really inquisitive, you seem to mainly use frame by frame to animate, am I right? What frame rate do you use?

A: You’re right, I like drawing individual frames for characters and objects whenever possible. I dunno, it just feels like real animation to me, so I try not to “cheat” by tweening when a frame-by-frame (FBF) animation would look nicer. It’s not that FBF is any better than tweening, but they each have pretty definite purposes in my mind and I don’t let one do the job of the other. My frame rate in all of my cartoons so far has been 18 - not too few to be choppy and not too many to demand hundreds of needless hand-drawn frames when fewer would suffice.

Q: We’ll move onto you animations themselves. Blockhead is your main, well only, series (Time Squad is a trilogy) on Newgrounds. From what I can see from your site, Blockhead has quite a history. Care to sum it up in a nutshell for those who haven’t seen it?

A: Sure, I can recap it one more time. Way back in elementary school, I’d say at the age of 11 or 12, I used to spend my class time doodling little Mega-Man-style levels for video games I dreamt of making some day. A couple of my friends got into it too, but none of them were very good at drawing and the pictures they penned for me were horrible. I mean really bad. One such drawing that someone showed me was a dinosaur of some kind, maybe a brontosaurus, but where its head should have been was a circular smiley face. The drawing was so bad and yet so hilarious that I have never forgotten it. Blockhead somehow spawned as a mockery of that drawing. I started to make little notebook paper comics featuring the character all through my early teens. Then I brought the character back for a few weeks at the age of 18. He made his final return as a Flash cartoon in ’05.

Q: Blockhead gained quite a large amount of popularity when you started posting it on Newgrounds. Did you expect it to be so well received?

A: I was intimidated when I submitted my first Blockhead toon to Newgrounds. I expected that a few people out there like myself would think it was hilarious but that the majority of folks wouldn’t give it much thought. I never expected my work to have actual fans. The support of those fans is really what’s helped the series to improve. To any Newgrounds user who has ever wondered if their reviews can be helpful: they are! I owe a lot to the people who took the time to tell me what they liked about my cartoons as well as what they didn’t.

Q: Blockhead wasn’t originally intended to be a large ongoing series was it?

A: You can guess by my having labelled the first cartoon “Episode 1” that I planned to make at least one more, but I never would have thought I’d go as far as I have. I have big plans for other Flash projects in the future, but I’m in this for the fun of it and one project is no better than another so long as I’m enjoying doing it. I’ve stuck with Blockhead this long for that reason.

Q: For anyone who has actually watched any of the Blockhead cartoons they will notice that they are very, very random. Where do you come up with the story ideas?

A: Haha, well, the short answer to that is drinking and sleep deprivation. The long answer is that I like to laugh at the situational comedy of the world around us. I’m talking about the things people say and do everyday, and some of those things are just plain funny even if they don’t seem that way when you first run across them. My stories (the comedy-oriented ones anyway) are my way of showing people why certain things are funny. What you call “random” is actually just the language I use to express it. To me it’s not random at all. Then again, I am probably also insane.

Q: Do you see a bit of yourself in the Blockhead characters? Would you say your more like Blockhead or the conscience?

A: My actual conscience, the little voice telling me what to do and what not to do, is a lot like the Conscience in the Blockhead series. I sometimes get pissed off at myself for doing or not doing certain things regardless of how good of an idea those things seemed at the time. I’m sure there are plenty of people out there like that. As for Blockhead, I’d say that by default I am probably at least a little like him. I do write for him, after all.

Q: Fair enough. Does Blockhead have any hidden meanings at all? Do you believe Blockhead the idiot deep down inside every one of us?

A: What Blockhead means today isn’t the same as his definition from a few years ago. I’ve heard a lot of viewers call Blockhead an absolute idiot and I’ve heard others claim that Blockhead is more of a genius than most people give him credit for. I think they’re both right and wrong for the same reasons. Blockhead’s personality is the embodiment of ill decision without consequence, of bliss through ignorance, and of knowledge without responsibility. Sure he acts like a moron, but doesn’t he always seem to get what he wants? For that matter, has he even once had to pay for his actions? As a whole, Blockhead himself is my example of a perfect world. He is that world. But as for his ultimate purpose…well, I suppose we’ll just have to see how the series develops, now won’t we?

Q: Moving on to Time Squad set in…..uh…..all over the place. What was the inspiration behind it? Were you influenced by ‘Back to the Future’ at all?

A: Influenced? Great Scott! That’s putting it lightly. Actually, the series was inspired by the Back to the Future ride at Universal Studios here in Orlando. If anyone hasn’t experienced it yet, then I recommend you do. They stuff you inside a six-seater De Lorean and you get to chase Biff Tannen all across time. I included the flying car scene in Part 1 for that reason, and my Scientist character’s metallic flying automobile was inspired by Doc Brown’s time machine.

Q: Ha, Great Scot, good response. For those who don’t know it was the catch phrase of Doc Brown from the Back to the Future trilogy.

In comparison to Blockhead, Time Squad can be deemed as a serious film. But of course Blockhead is in there with his random humour. Was Blockhead always going to be included or did you think he had to be there for comical reasons?

A: Time Squad was just a joke between me and my friend Dan about a pretend film featuring Blockhead where, in the preview, you get to watch him riding a velociraptor for absolutely no reason. I now judge that the exact moment when I decided to turn Time Squad into a real cartoon is probably when I lost my mind. Needless to say, I somehow figured that our zany musings were enough to write an entire feature, and it took me all of December 2005 to flesh out a script. But remember that it was always going to be centered on Blockhead.

Q: Time Squad did end itself nicely but still left enough mystery to carry on. Do you plan on Time Squad making a return in a sequel?

A: I’ve got a general premise for a follow-up, though I may never have the stomach to make it. Assuming I do, it may or may not include Blockhead. I hope that doesn’t make it less awesome.

Q: Hmm, no Blockhead? That would get mixed responses.

When you look at the first Blockhead episode and compare them all the way up to your most recent one, (Currently episode 7) the art and animation improves greatly. Do you think you will continue to improve or have you reached a comfortable zone?

A: I think I’ve started to solidify my style, but no one ever really finishes with learning a skill. We all get better at what we do the more we practice it. But I do expect that Episode 7 is a pretty good example of what everyone can look forward to from Blockhead in the future, and I’ve got the Time Squad project to thank for any improvements in my work.

Q: Your first cartoon of Blockhead was submitted on the 25th of September 2005, your most recent release is episode 7 submitted on 1st of June 2006. On top of that you have the trilogy Time Squad released in between. That’s 7 shorts and a 3 part feature, making 10 toons in total, released in between 9-10 months. How do you get your cartoons out so fast?

A: Man oh man, if someone had told me from the outset that 10 cartoons in 10 months was considered fast, I might never have started! Of course Time Squad took nearly five months to complete, and I might have gotten up to Episode 15 with Blockhead by now if not for that. But if that’s considered fast, then I confess that I owe it to my dedication. I’m lazy only up to the point that I start working on something, and in the immortal words of Michael Richards as Kramer in Seinfeld, “I don’t back off until it’s finished.” I hate leaving things undone. It bugs the heck out of me.

Q: Tell Newgrounds one thing that they will not know about yourself but you would like them to know.

A: Let’s not share this with too many people, but I like talking to myself when I’m alone. My previous roommates have sometimes asked me to keep it down when I have friends over late at night, but I haven’t got the nerve to tell them that no one was there but me.

Q: Yes, we’ll keep that between us. Now I’m struggling to think of more things to say. Uh, what’s the weather like? *Cringe* This might be a good time to wrap things up.

A: Thanks for giving me the chance to revel in my insanity, big guy; you’ve got some great questions up your sleeve.

Q: No problem. Thanks for taking the time to talk with us. Any last words you want to say?

A: Yes, I’ve got some advice for the readers out there. If you haven’t already, go buy yourself a set of tongs! If you’re creative, you’ll find that they really can do anything. In fact, name something they can’t do and I’ll tell you why you’re wrong. I call this the Swain Challenge.

Thanks for the interview!

Interview No. 27

Interviewer: @Skitch

Interviewee: @The-Super-Flash-Bros

Original Date: 5/31/2006

As artists continue to animate, one would assume they would get increasingly better. One such team is the Super Flash Bros, made up of Dim and Tom Vian. While Tom is more into coding and making games, Dim is the animator. Recently I was fortuante to get a chance to talk with Dim and ask him all those probing questions about his work.

Q: First of all Dim, thanks for taking the time to talk with us. Let’s start with the basics. Tell us about yourself, how old are you, when did you get Flash, what made you get started with Flash, what Flash program do you use, etc?

A: Hey there. My name is Adam Vian, I’m an 18 year old ‘student’ from Kent in England. I finished school a few weeks ago, so I’ve got some exams, and then after the Summer I’m going to an art college. I got Flash when I was like... 13? Tom was playing around with it and I watched for the most part. Nowadays I use Flash 8.

Q: On the same note explain how you got the nickname Dim.

A: It comes from the ‘dam’ in Adam. For some reason my friends changed all the vowels in our names to ‘i’s one day (when we were like, 10, 11) and it’s stuck ever since. Crazy, no?

Q: Indeed, very crazy. So how did the Super Flash Bros form and get their name?

A: Like I said, I was watching Tom play with Flash and then one day we were shown LegendaryFrog’s Chocobo Mix movie. We were like, “we can totally make something like that.” So we went and made “Metal Gear Mayhem.” We named ourselves SFB because we liked Super Smash Bros, and we were brothers who did Flash! Originally we used the SSBM image for ourselves. Our original website looked like the SSBM menus.

Q: So apart from Tom, have you got any other siblings?

A: I have a sister, Maddy. She’s an artist too.

Q: For the more inquisitive, what do you use to draw in Flash? Do you use your mouse, the pen or pencil tool, or have you got a graphics tablet?

A: I use a mixture of stuff. For AD it’s the tablet, and for Decline it’s a bit of everything.

Q: Let’s move on to your animations. You have two successful series, Another Day and Decline of Video Gaming. What was your inspiration behind each respective series?

A: Another Day started as an experiment with my graphics tablet. The wobbling style was inspired by LegendaryFrog’s Kerrigan and the Muffin backgrounds. (wow I really owe a lot to Joey…) Decline began as a Devil May Cry parody, but then Dan and I decided that we should expand it to feature many different games.

Q: ‘Another Day’ can be interpreted in many different ways. What is your own personal interpretation of the series?

A: Well, the idea of AD is that each person takes their own interpretation. Originally it wasn’t supposed to have any meanings – but the NG public gave some in their reviews and so that theme was born. The only one that has a specific interpretation is AD4, and that’s a little personal story, with the vase and the train station and stuff.

Q: Do you plan on continuing ‘Another Day’ on another day? (*Cringe* Lame pun)

A: Yeah, I’m working on AD8 right now. I should have some more original music, and its sort of a “back to basics” narrative.

Q: Moving on to Decline, which I think is safe to say is the more popular of the two. In Decline 1 the Flash seems to be made mainly by Double Helix. Why is this?

A: Double Helix originally featured me. I created it with my friends so we could make funny Flash cartoons. When I realised how good Decline 1 was, I changed it to incorporate the Super Flash Bros. name as well, which of course meant that Double Helix became just Dan and JT. That’s why later Decline episodes are more obviously SFB + DH.

Q: And while we're on the subject, for those you don’t know who is Double Helix?

A: Double Helix consists of Dan and Jonny (JT). They’re my friends from school, and we write the scripts together, and do voice recording and stuff. JT began some of his own Flash projects, but they never got finished.

Q: Decline 1 is set in the year 2059, yet Decline 2-3 are set in the present day. Any particular reason for this time change?

A: Um... Decline 1 was basically a stream of gaming parodies, so we set it in the future to focus on the specific ‘decline’ of games. Decline 2 was set around a real event in the real world, (E3) and Decline 3 had all the same characters so it had to be in the present day, right?

Q: Hey, fair enough, Decline 2 is set around E3. Have you actually been?

A: No...

Q: Would you like to?

A: Yeah I’d love to, someday. I have a few online friends who have been though, they tell me about it.

Q: Egoraptor does most of your voice work for Decline. How did you manage to rope him into the production? Do you know him personally?

A: Not like, in real life. When I was looking for an American voice to do the intro to Decline 1, I went to LegendaryFrog and asked him. He had a go, but suggested that Ego could do a better job. Ego has been helping with the voices ever since, and the Decline series owes a lot to him.

Q: I suppose I have to ask this. Where did the catch phrase ‘OHMYGODIMONFIRE!!’ used by Tom come from?

A: I told him to say something in the scene where he gets set on fire. He made it up on the spot, first time recording!

Q: What’s up with the blatant advertising of Randy Solem’s VGDC on your t-shirt?

A: Randy gave me a plug on the front page of VGDC, so in thanks, I wore a VGDC t-shirt all through Decline 2. We picked up on it in later episodes... that’s about it.

Q: Your three main characters in Decline (Yourself, Dan & JT) all have different characterisations. You’re in the middle, Dan is incredibly sensible while JT is the stupid one. Are these reflecting how you are in real life?

A: Its sort of like exaggerated forms of our real life personalities. JT isn’t stupid by any means, but he is perhaps the one most likely to have an extreme opinion, or attempt something really ridiculous.

Q: From what I can tell, Decline is animated using motion tweening while Another Day is all frame by frame. Which do you prefer to use?

A: I like them both, but like I said, I reached my limit with tweening in Decline 3. I’ve still got a lot to learn with FBF, so I’m continuing that.

Q: Now if you look at Decline 1, 2 & 3 back to back, as well as all the Another Day animations, you have a style change almost every time. Have you settled on a style yet or are you still changing as you improve?

A: I don’t think I could animate anything better than the tweening in Decline 3. If I did more tweened comedy, it would probably look a lot like that. AD keeps improving, and AD8 looks quite different to the other ones.

Q: With the release of the next generation consoles many people think they are owed another Decline. Do you plan on continuing the franchise?

A: A lot of people do think we should do anther Decline. As of now, I still have no plans to produce one. There are a number of reasons for this, a few I’ve already specified. Thanks to all the fans for their support and I’m sorry if you were looking forward to a Decline 4, but its not going to happen for now. You can however look forward to “There’s Something About Halo 2” (sequel to TSAH) – my part in that is kinda Decline-like (tweened parodies of video games!!)

Q: Well I’m pretty much out of questions so thanks for taking the time for this interview, Dim.

A: That’s cool.

Q: Any last words or advice to aspiring Flash authors before I spruce this up and send it off?

A: Advice? Playing around with Flash is really the best way to learn! Just keep experimenting, keep drawing and keep working!

Interview No. 26

Interviewer: @CockathriceOfXanth

Interviewee: @Glaiel-Gamer

Original Date: 01/2/2006

Few Flash artists have what it takes to make a great game. One of those flash artists is Glaiel_Gamer. Since he first joined Newgrounds in late 2004, he has gifted the portal with 30 submissions. 19 of these were original IPs and all of them played very well. In fact in such a short time Tyler Glaiel has won 16 awards and worked with well-known artists such as Dan Paladin and GameCubicle. He is now himself a well-known flash artist. When I Instant messaged the Tyler I didn’t know where to start; so I decided to start at the very beginning, which unbeknownst to me was a very good place to start.

Q: How did you get into flash?

A: When I was in like 6th grade or something, my dad's friend gave us a copy of Flash 4 and my dad, my brother, and I played around with it a bit. It was fun to do shape-tweening to make weird little animations. It wasn't until about 2 years later that I got into programming.

Q: Who is your favorite flash artist and why?

A: Probably JoeCartoon. He was really the first flash artist whose funny movies I enjoyed watching. I spent hours at his site playing the gerbil in a microwave and the frog in a blender games and watching his wacky gerbil genocide movies.

Q: You make a lot of puzzle game, why is this?

A: Because I have a fondness for programming. I'm not really good at art. Well, I am if I try hard enough, but I don't like animating. I'm a mathematical and logical thinker, and I enjoy solving complicated programming problems to make a puzzle game. I believe Blockslide was the first big puzzle game I completed. It was so fun to make, and designing the levels proved to be a challenge. I basically randomly laid out the levels, then I had to see if they were solvable. It was fun. Plus, I love thinking games. Any game that makes you think is a winner in my opinion.

Q: You have a lot of interesting IPs out there like Magnetism and Chain Reaction. Where do you get your ideas?

A: Well I got the ideas for those two games in completely different ways. One day I thought "I need a game with magnets" So I brainstormed and my brother gave me a few ideas and eventually I settled on drop it in the cup.

Chain Reaction, on the other hand, is the only game which I kind of stole the idea from another game. I played this Japanese game called "Chaos Theory." I modified the game play a bit and made my own fast engine for it. Most of the time though the ideas for my games just hit me in the head out of nowhere. Sometimes they fail, but most of the time the games come out fun.

Q: How did you learn about Newgrounds?

A: Before I was good at flash, many times websites I was browsing redirected me to Newgrounds. After I launched my website a little over a year ago, I needed to do some promoting, so I thought of all the flash sites I knew and submitted there. I was surprised at the method of submitting to Newgrounds. It was so popular, and the submissions were added immediately. Deep Space Wars, my first submission, passed with a 2.68 I think, (It is now deleted from my account). The portal is awesome!

Q: What interests do you pursue off the computer?

A: Well I'm a member of a Boy Scout troop, and we go hiking and biking and camping. Plus I'm taking two band classes: Wind Ensemble, where I play the Tuba, and Jazz Combo, where I play the piano. The band has to play for the halftime shows at the football games. And every game last year it was raining or snowing. It was a very wet year. So biking, hiking, and music are my favorite extra-curricular activities, besides computer stuff.

Q: Do you play video games?

A: Yes, of course. I have a Sega genesis, a Playstation One (the big bulky one), a Gamegear, a Gameboy, a Gameboy advanced, a Nintendo DS, and a Gamecube. Sonic the Hedgehog is my favorite game ever. I have every sonic game ever made for the genesis. Oh and I also have an SNES and an N64, plus I love playing my own games too.

Q: 360, PS3, or Revolution?

A: Revolution, definitely. Nintendo is great. They aren’t overpriced, they have a variety of good games, and they always come out with something original.

Q: What are you currently working on?

A: A game with MindChamber, a super-massive flash RPG, an updated version of Supersoldier with levels and more stuff. Plus I'm trying to learn C++, and I have tons of essays to write.

Q: What computer languages do you know?

A: Actionscript, HTML, a tiny bit of Javascript, whatever language TI-82's use, and a little C++.

Q: If you could make a collab with any flash author who would it be with and why?

A: Well that already came true with Supersoldier. Dan Paladin is awesome, and I'd wanted to make a game with him ever since I saw his stuff. And the game came out awesome. The full game will be more awesome! Although making a game with Adam Phillips would be cool.

Q: How do you test a game before submitting it to the portal?

A: It all depends on how excited I am about the game. Sometimes I get people to beta test it for bugs, but most of the time I test it when making it. This method had some issues though. When I made Project: Monochrome I Finished it and then added Easy and Hard modes. Unfortunately you couldn’t get past the first level on them due to a small glitch, and only the mode I tested, Normal, worked. So I was in a scramble trying to fix it. From then on I made sure the games worked before submitting.

Q: And finally what advice would you give to aspiring flash artists?

A: Practice, and don't give up. It takes time to learn flash. Nobody can pick up a copy of flash and have an award winning game in a week.

So there it is, an interview with Glaiel_Gamer. He is sure to be known as one of the great flash artists. Not only does he make new and exciting games, but he has connections like you wouldn't believe. If I was Adam Philips I would ask Tyler to make a collab with me.

Interview No. 25

Interviewer: @Skye-McCloud

Interviewee: @LegendaryFrog

Original Date: 2/7/2005

Q: Ok, for starters, tell us about yourself. What's your name, how old are you, what got you started in flash, etc.

A: My name is Joseph Blanchette. I’m 22 and started using flash when I was 19. I began using Flash at my job, were I make Flash based software for Chiropractic Offices.

Q: For the curious, what tools do you use when making your flash animations? Do you use a drawing tablet, your mouse, or something else (If possible)?

A: Sometimes I draw the picture on paper, and sometimes I draw directly in flash. I don’t use a tablet. (I have one but never got the hang of it) In Flash I use the line tool, not the pencil or pen tool.

Q: Ok, moving into some questions regarding your animations, the first set is based on the Ark & Kerrigan world. You put in a small FAQ in "All Your Pie" that Kerrigan and Ark are from your sci-fi story, "The Galactic War Saga". What about Sal and Senya, though? Did those two come from GWS (I'm sure you can guess what that means) as well, or are they something different?

A: Yeah, Senya and Sal are from the same universe as Kerrigan and Ark, which is serious and not cartoony in the least. A&K are Altera, or “Human Mutants.” Senya & Sal are a race called Delar.

Q: What kind of nightmares does Ark even have if a giant stuffed bear is a "manifestation" of said nightmares?

A: I don’t’ think we can’t comprehend what goes on in Ark’s head during the day, let alone at night. It’s best not to think about it.

Q: I remember reading something about Ark disliking Sal. Where does this disliking come from?

A: I guess it’s not explained much in the cartoons, but there’s meant to be a sort of rivalry between the two. Ark and Sal would always get into competitions and Sal would always be perfect at them. There’s a “deleted” scene in “Kerri’s Big Invention” that had a flash back of Sal winning Senya the stuffed bear from a “Swing the mallet ring the bell” game. (I always thought the line felt out of place without the flashback, but I kept it.) When Ark tried to win Kerri a stuffed animal the mallet ricocheted off the ground and knocked him out.

Another delete scene from that cartoon had Sal recalling the time he bowled a perfect game when the four went bowling one time. So Sal’s perfect at everything… Except cooking that is.

Q: On the NG version of Legendary Tales, you put your first four shorts up. Three of them were from the Ark and Kerrigan world, while the fourth (Or rather third) was from Metal Gear Solid. What the heck spawned these creations (Especially the DDR one, which was just weird)?

A: Full length cartoons that months to make and I’m not exactly speedy in their creation. My buddy Chris Boe suggested short cartoons and he would help animate them. I thought it would be a great idea. It would be a way to get cartoons out faster, and make more A&K cartoons because I didn’t have any plans for more at the time. Although they’re not coming out as speedy as I would have hoped, it’s better than nothing.

Q: Moving onto the One Ring series... As you had said in the "Forging of the One Ring" as part of the "One Ring: Special Edition", you had come up with the idea after watching "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring". Did that scene with the sock puppets actually happen, or was there more behind the idea for One Ring?

A: Most of that mock-umentary was a joke, so no, there were no sock puppets. That conversation did take place though, in the car ride home… up until the point Dustin started hitting me that is.

Q: I couldn't think of any decent questions for the original One Ring 1, so I'll be asking about the special edition. Why the heck would Sauron need an evil henchman? Doesn't he have huge legions of orcs?

A: When I made One Ring 2 I made the goblin his lackey and named him Wayne. I always liked the classic idea of stupid master, smart henchmen. (I have ideas for future episodes that expand on this concept.) So that’s why in One Ring: SE I made him looking for a henchmen. Had to explain where Wayne came from. “One Ring” doesn’t relate much to LotR anyway.

Q: I've never heard of Shrink-e-dinks (From One Ring 3). What are Shrink-e-dinks?

A: Never heard of Shrink-e-dinks? What kind of deprived childhood did you have? Shrink-dinks are these little sheets of plastic you color with markers, then heat in the oven, and they become hard like a thick plastic.

Q: From One Ring we come to a sole question regarding your FF Tribute. Where did the FF Tribute start from? What was your inspiration for it?

A: I listen to a lot of music at work, and when I listen to music I begin imagining images for it. (Like music videos) So after listening to “Chocobo Robo Voice” over and over I had the idea of having the FF character dance to it. One day I randomly drew Cloud and the Tonberry, and then Eiko, and then I decided to move forward with the movie. I never worked on a big Flash movie before so it was a new thing to me. I didn’t’ even know about Newgrounds when I started.

Q: To finish up on the animation questions, let's talk about Return of Ganondorf. First and foremost, what gave you the idea for "Return of Ganondorf"? Did the popularity of it surprise you any bit?

A: The popularity surprised me greatly; it’s become one of my most popular movies. I got the idea when I was walking my dog one day. I forget how exactly, I guess it was the concept of someone acting, looking, and sounding totally evil but having a heart of gold. I picked Zelda because I’m a big fan of the series.

Q: Did I see an X-Box in Ganondorf's room? I know you're a Gamecube and PS2 fan (Based on the Ark & Kerrigan animations), so is the X-Box in Ganondorf's room a sign of what you think of both Ganondorf and X-Box?

A: Ganondorf = the ultimate evil. You figure it out. :p

I‘m kidding though, I have no problems with Xbox. But that WAS the joke I was going for.

Q: Why didn't Ganondorf wonder why Link was in his room in a black ninja outfit? I mean, wouldn't you be a bit suspicious if the person who locked you away in some sacred realm was in your room in a ninja suit?

A: He was just glad to see Link. He’s just full of love you know.

Q: You told me in a prior conversation that you felt Return of Ganondorf was your cleverest animation. Mind explaining why you think that?

A: Just the concept of evil guys being big teddy bears. I also like the narration by Link and how it cuts back to him at the title screen after each segment. So, I think it’s clever because it’s not set up like normal cartoons.

Q: Since it can be safely said that the height of your popularity on NG has passed (Your height being when you had some 6 or 7 entries in the top 50)... Back during your peak, there were a lot of problems around NG. There were a number of nasty rumours, such as you using an auto-vote script to keep your stuff on the top 50, as well as a number of big NG artists who seemed to have hated you. Do you have any comments regarding those rumours, and to those artists?

A: Well, those rumors, and whatever rumors there are now, are 100% false. I’m not going to name names, but some high profile NG people began making claims I cheated my way into the top 50 with auto-vote 5 scripts or telling my fans to vote other movies down. One even wanted me to resubmit my movies to proof they got where they were on their own. I refused because I was proud of the fact they were so high. It kind of died away after that.

The only time know of one of my movies was effected by an auto-vote script was when someone made a movie to auto vote “One Ring 2” a zero and leave an all zero review.

Q: I remember reading something that said you have another style for flash animations that you want to try, but you have nothing suitable to try it on. Is this true, and, if so, can you tell us a bit about this unseen style? What exactly would "fit" this style, if what I remember is true?

A: Yeah, I want to try a more realistic style. And I will in the future. I’ll be using that style in “The Matrix Has You Again” and another secret collection not headed by me. If you go to some of my art pages you can see my realistic drawing. (Go to the movie section on my site for links)

Q: There are a number of people who feel your humor is getting old and/or stale in your animations. Do you feel the same of this, or do you think that the humor just isn't being recognized anymore? What do you think is causing people to think like this?

A: It’s hard to say. “One Ring 3” didn’t do as well as I hoped and I thought it had a solid script. I felt “Final Fight” from the first Matrix collection was lacking somewhat, but I didn’t feel the need to do an all out parody, just make my point about The Matrix Revolutions.

So I suppose my movies in 2004 weren’t as strong as my older ones and that’s why. Maybe due to the fact that half of them weren’t real parodies like my other ones. Nonetheless, the movies and collabs I’m doing now seem to be shaping up nicely, and the people who have seen the scripts love it. (Including some not in production) So I’m hoping people won’t think I’m loosing it.

Q: Just out of curiosity, what would be the one thing that NGers don't know about you that you'd like them to know?

A: Maybe that I always like talking to fans on Instant Messenger, but unfortunately replying to E-mail is to overwhelming, but I do try and go though a good number of them. Outside of the internet I don’t’ really have unusual hobbies or anything.

One thing people might not know is I like taking music from games and writing lyrics for them, which is like poetry. Again, you go to my site, find the link for deviantART to see them.

Q: Around the time that your animations were going down in the top 50, a couple of professional animators joined the NG community: James Farr and Adam Phillips. What do you think of these two animators, the coming of more professional looking work? How do you feel of the effect brought by these two animators? Do you think it is for the better or for the worse, and why?

A: I enjoy those animators work a great deal, but I think their coming to NG is a double edged sword.

On the one hand I think its great that professionals (or near professionals) are showcasing their work on a public Flash site like Newgrounds. The world’s most popular Flash portal is a great way for people to see it.

However, it means the standards get raised for everyone else. I always felt Newgrounds was the “Everyman’s Portal” People like myself, Flash Bros, Randy Solem and all my animator friends are “Everyman Animators” We all have talent obviously, but it’s not our living or anything like that. Movies like “Prowlies at the River” are masterpieces no doubt about it. But looking at the top 10 at the moment, almost all of them are serous bits of animation.

That being said, animators like Super Flash Bros are getting recognition not because of intense Frame by Frame but quality story and humor. Not to say Flash Bros’ animation isn’t great, because it is, just not the same level.

Q: If there was one thing of Newgrounds that you'd like to see a change implemented in, what would it be?

A: One change that I always wanted got fixed last year, which was no adult ads except on adult submissions. I’m really glad those are gone. I can’t really think of anything to change, because NG is doing a lot of things right at the moment. (I love the new icons you can pick for your movies!) Maybe a way for the collections to get updated more and be noticed more.

Q: Well, I think that's about all the time we have, not to mention I can't squeeze out any more decent questions. Thanks for your time, Joseph, and I can't wait to see your next animation.

A: No problem! I plan on having a good number of movies out in 2005. Movies made totally by me and more collaborations. I’m working on Resident Evil: Code Veronica Flash Edition at the moment, which is loooong overdo. I’m also working with a few different animators on scripts, which includes a Metal Gear Solid movie.

I want to thanks everyone on NG and all the difference places that house my movies, as well as all the friends I made! I wouldn’t be anyone without you!

Interview No. 24

Interviewer: @Skye-McCloud

Interviewee: @Pikanjo

Original Date: 10/15/2004

Every now and then, Newgrounds is gifted by its users with a great, funny animation series. Perfect Kirby, a series about our pink puffball hero, Kirby, in a spy environment like Perfect Dark, is no exception. With its twists and turns, and large cast of both original characters and familiar characters, it's become one of the biggest series on Newgrounds. I got the chance to talk to the creators of Perfect Kirby, John and Richie Zirbes aka @Pikanjo, to get into their heads and bring out the motherload on Perfect Kirby.

ANSWERS WILL BE POSTED BENEATH THE _A:_ DUE TO TWO PEOPLE BEING INTERVIEWED PERSON ANSWERING WILL BE NOTED AS SO.

Q: First and foremost, I'd like to thank both of you for taking some time for this interview. I'm quite sure both of you are really busy with Perfect Kirby and the next installment or short of it. It really is a pleasure to be interviewing both of you. To get started, I'd like to start by asking what inspired the idea of Perfect Kirby?

A:

Richie: We'll I played Perfect Dark all the time and I thought it was freaking awesome. We also had Super Smash Bros. for the N64 and John played Kirby all the time. I thought it was cool when Kirby did all his cool moves and whooped his opponents. It was very different from the Kirby I had envisioned, wussy and girly (I had never played a Kirby game before in my life). So I decided to take Kirby to the next step by giving him guns. Basically everything I knew about guns was from Perfect Dark, then I started making pictures and soon after gifs of Kirby working for the Institute. Since Kirby and Joanna were both Nintendo characters it was only natural to include them all.

John: We both always wanted to just do a series; something entertaining. After learning about Newgrounds and all the funny movies and series we saw, we wanted in. After getting flash we thought up some crazy ideas that never worked. We both loved Perfect Dark and Super Smash Bros., particularly Kirby. Richie thought of combining the two and that's what we've been doing now for a little more than 2 years.

Q: This question is directed at John. On average, how long does it take for you to develop the full script for each actual episode of Perfect Kirby, and how long for the small shorts? Would you consider it difficult to come up with ideas for the script?

A:

John: A full PK episode obviously takes longer to write than a short, but they both have about the same difficulty. Most of the plots I write about come from several jokes I just think up over time. Full PK episode scripts from a week to two or so to work out the bugs. Most of the shorts so far have been written in about a day; the ideas for the plots I think up just run smoothly while writing. Ideas aren't too hard for me to think up; it's thinking of what people aren't expecting and making it funny that's the trick.

Q: Richie, do you find yourself learning new tricks with each episode/short to use in the animation process, and do you think you manage to animate better with each episode/short, or only equal your previous animations?

A:

Richie: After I made the first Perfect Kirby, I felt there were obvious thing I could improve on. So I started completely over with a new flash file. I decided to give everyone gradients to make everyone look more 3D and more realistic. While I animated I always found new ways to do things or found different shortcuts. I noticed how well I improved from PK1 to PK2 and from animating PK I knew I could do a lot better, so it became an issue with me to make the movies better then their predecessor. I liked the script for PK3 and I felt that that series was getting a lot better so if I wanted people to notice PK I would have to do the best animation I had ever done. PK3 ended up doing really well and now as I animate PK4 I hope to make this one as good as the last 3 combined.

Q: What do you find are your biggest obstacles when you're making each episode or short of Perfect Kirby? How do you get around such challenges?

A:

John: Keeping the show funny is a top priority. We come up with jokes and fine tune them to work in each episode. As it takes awhile for a full episode to come out, we see jokes that we made over and over and forget why the joke is funny anymore. We also hope no one does a joke similar to ours before the episode comes out, as we'll be pinned for copying. I also try to be original with the jokes.

Richie: I would say the biggest challenge is to get into the mood to animate. Every so often, we'll buy a new CD and the music helps me get into the mood. Another way around it would be to watch a cool movie.

Q: To Richie, would you say you sometimes go a bit overboard with the blood and violence, and why or why not? Yea, I saw the 'Interesting Stuff' in PK 3.3, so I know about the whole queasy thing. :)

A:

Richie: In PK1 the blood looked totally fake and even though there was a lot of it, it wasn't overboard because it wasn't real. I cut down the blood in PK2 and in PK3, but I began to miss it, so expect more blood in PK4. I think blood is one of the signatures of the PK series. I do get queasy when I see needles whether on TV or in real life. HUMAN BEINGS WERE NOT MEANT TO HAVE NEEDLES LODGED INSIDE THEM.

Q: John, do you like the fact that Richie kills you every chance he gets in the animations, and if so, do you plan any of these killings or are they all his ideas?

A:

John: Me dying in all the episodes and some shorts is just a fun running gag. I don't find offense in it. It started as Richie's revenge for him doing the animation, which is more work than me doing the writing. Now it's a funny sight gag we put in. I actually have planned out all the times I die; it’s quite fun actually. I choose all the funny and sickening ways I go out.

Q: The only non-PK work you two have done to date was part of "The Matrix Has You". Based on comments made by LegendaryFrog, who was the head of that project, it seems as though you two took the original idea he had and reworked it quite a bit. Would you mind telling us what it was like working on that project? From the various changes you two made on that scene, to be able to work with such a number of talented artists, what was the experience like?

Richie: Joey was one of the first animating friends I met on Newgrounds. We thought it would be fun to do a project together and this seemed like a great way to do it. It took awhile to agree on a parody for us to do, but I don't think we really strayed off course too much. I think it was awesome, not to work with, but to be a part of something that involved other top animators. Meeting the flash bros. was very rewarding. John & I are now making a PK Game with the most extraordinary flash programmer, Tom.

John: Joey had the idea to do a group project with several authors for Matrix parodies for awhile. He obviously chose Richie to do the Burly Brawl because it was the hardest and most complex short. Richie showed he could do from his work on PK3. The project was a lot of fun to do. We did a lot of the kung fu and gags to make it better from the initial idea. Overall, a great project to do with so many authors.

Q: Would you two say that Perfect Kirby is what you expected? If not, is it more or less than your expectations, and, no matter which it is was, why do you both think it's that way?

A:

John: I had envisioned Perfect Kirby to be a huge hit, but it never really got recognition right away. It's cool that people watch the movies and laugh at the jokes and just marvel at the animation. It's great to hear people spread PK around and more and more viewers become fans. It's wonderful we're actually entertaining people around the world and their loving the characters and the stories. That's why we really started doing this series, we wanted to entertain.

Richie: I think PK started under my expectations, but as I got better at flash PK got better; we got more actors, better stories, and it just got better. I find it very surprising that we have so many fans. We talk to them and find out how much they quote PK in their daily life. I think that's the coolest thing in the universe.

Q: Finally, what can we expect in future episodes and shorts of Perfect Kirby? Any new characters being introduced and such in the near, or even distant, future?

A:

Richie: As I mentioned earlier, we are going to come out with a PK game. The style will be a lot like Perfect Dark and have all the major PK characters. New characters will emerge only if the plots demand it.

John: The stories are just getting bigger for PK. We have more shorts in the works and a few new characters in the future. Besides the PK game, PK4 is our big project for now, with some familiar faces returning. We may do more collaboration movies later on, but they're still sketchy right now.

Interview No. 23

Interviewer: @madhatt3r

Interviewee: @StrawberryClock

Original Date: 8/27/2004

StrawberryClock. Love him or hate him, he’s a Newgrounds veteran. With a crew molded after him, and a name legendary to Newgrounds, he’s certainly not an anybody. Here’s a conversation I had with him over the internet.

Q: When did you first come to Newgrounds.com, and what did you think of it?

A: Well my friend gave me a link to Newgrounds.com, this was before the portal. I liked the Pico games (and) shit, (and) then the portal opened, where you could submit any movies you want. I submitted some movies under ‘Coolboyman’ that sucked cause I was just starting out at flash, and I didn’t really care. There were no reviews; the review system wasn’t in yet.

Q: What was your first submission under the name StrawberryClock, and what was the general response to it?

A: Well it was ‘How da bitch stole X-mas’. I was bored so I made a crap movie and submitted it under a different name. Everyone hated it, (and I) laughed at the reviews.

Q: How old were you when you submitted your first movie to the Newgrounds portal?

A: 14.

Q: And how old are you now?

A: 18.

Q: When did the Clock Crew arise, and how did you feel about that?

A: Well it started when I submitted B. I thought those people were kinda crazy, (haha), loving my crappy movies, but they are good guys, almost every clock.

Q: What do you think most Newgrounds users see you as?

A: An idol or a complete dumbass. I’d take 50/50.

Q: Why did you change your name and stop submitting Clock movies? Do you think people were disappointed about that?

A: Well (Josh) Bedn took my account and now it’s lost and no one can retrieve it, (but) I was bored with CC for a while.

Q: How did Bedn end up getting your account?

A: He had this password hacker thing. (He took it) in 2001. I don’t care as long as people know that me = SBC.

Q: Did you visit any of the Clock Crew forums, or take part in the Clock Day every year?

A: Well I took place in Clock Day on 2002 and 2004. On 2003 I was busy. And yes, I visit the forums.

Q: How do you feel about the majority of clocks breaking off into groups, and creating forums all over the place, which then died off and caused a lot of clocks to leave and disband the crew?

A: Well it’s their choice to make; I can’t control that, so basically I don’t mind at all (not caring).

Q: So basically, it wasn't really that much of a thing to you, having a group of people that formed because of your 'shitty' flash?

A: No, I was very surprised that the group formed because of my bad flash, and I cared a lot about them. I just don’t care about the "other groups", like the Lock Legion. I couldn’t seriously care less about (those groups).

Q: So where are you now concerning flash? Do you still fool around with it, or have you moved on? Do you go to school?

A: Well I’m making some flashes with actual effort (I’ve said that for a while, it takes time!), and yeah, I go to college. I always make shitty movies just for fun.

Q: Who's your favorite author on Newgrounds? Any favorite submissions?

A: Well there’s this young man, called Gerkinman, I really like his flash, it isn’t anything super special, but I’m sure that he will get somewhere with it one day. And favorite submissions... most clock movies, Retarded Animal Babies, etc. And horribly crappy movies that were meant to be crappy on purpose. I always laugh at those.

Q: What are your views on the more popular flash artists, such as Illwillpress, LegendaryFrog, or Zipperfish?

A: illwillpress’s movies sometimes have their moments. Otherwise its just repetitive crap. LegendaryFrog could get his movies on TV, but he shouldn’t act so arrogant.

Q: What do you see yourself doing in the future? Do you have any plans?

A: Well I’m thinking of working in the video gaming industry, I already got lots of pals there, and I do awesome jobs designing maps, as well as writing.

Q: Thanks for your time. Any last words before I make this look pretty and send it to Tom?

A: Yeah. You cannot kill Strawberry Clock.

Interview No. 22

Interviewer: @unclemike

Interviewee: @pyropymp

Original Date: 8/27/2004

Thomas Lee. One great flash artist indeed. Today I talk with him about his past, present, and future in the world of Flash Animation. I am very happy to be doing this interview, and I am especially glad it's going to promote Thomas's work.

Q: For those who don't know, you've been doing flash for a long time. Would you consider yourself "NG Old Skool"?

A: Oh yes, and proudly so. I started visiting Newgrounds on a regular basis since '99, and have actively participated and contributed to the Portal since the Summer 2000. It's good to see how Newgrounds has evolved though the years... and it's good to be able to say "back in the days" whenever I'm here!

Q: Star Wars Gangsta Rap. The first creation I witnessed from you... and one of the best flashes I've seen on NG. Sadly, it is no longer on NG; what makes me want to remember the lyrics to those awesome parody flashes?

A: What makes you want to remember? Probably the same reason I wanted to make the video in the first place. A friend of mine showed me Bentframe's Star Wars Gangsta Rap mp3 back in 2000, and I immediately fell in love with it. I was just starting to learn Flash too, and I thought - why not make a video for it? After showing the results to Bentframe, they were like "Dude, you want to work with us?" and now here I am, a part of Bent TV.

Q: Let's talk animation. Unofficially dubbed "The Motion Tween King", you seem to out-do any other flash artists's detail in their animation by this method. What sets you apart from other flash artists?

A: Speaking of detail, I definitely wouldn't dare to say I can "out-do any other flash artists"... I envy people like James Farr (Xombie series) and Adam Phillips (Bitey of Brackenwood). But I do like to incorporate as much details as I could, because I like the idea of people having to watch my stuff more than once or twice to catch everything. Now, on motion tween, I guess what sets me apart from most motion-tweeners I know, is that I always try to blend the outlines, and edges of my shapes and symbols as smoothly as I could, so the movement would seem more organic and fluid, rather than straight, hard vector tween.

Q: What animation techniques do you most commonly use in your flashes?

A: Well, technically, I guess it would primarily be shape and motion tweening ;) Layers and layers of motion/shape tweens. You would not believe how many layers I have, in symbols, scenes, and the main time-line. I wish I knew enough classical animation to be able to do frame-by-frame.

Q: How long does it usually take you to create one of your toons? If you start to slow down because lack of interest, what keeps you motivated?

A: On average, a 3 minute more-or-less flash would take around a month and a half or so... I don't slow down because of lack of interest, I slow down sometimes because I get exhausted, or I am trying to find new ways to animate certain elements/scenes/characters. It's like solving a math problem, only without the actual math *cringe*. Sometimes the problem takes a long time to solve.

Practically speaking, what keeps me motivated right now is mainly the desire to complete my portfolio, getting my stuff licensed to gain what measly cash I can get, and submitting them to local festivals. But ideally, my motivation is the act of creating itself.... it's both fun and painfully tiresome, but it's what I love.

Q: Do you get alot of feedback from your flash parodies? If so, good or bad?

A: Well, compared to the more popular flashes in the Portal, I think the amount of feedback I get is rather modest.

As for the feedbacks themselves, I get both good and bad, I appreciate the positive ones very much, but I absolutely adore the negative ones. I guess it's because people are usually much more intense when they are negative as opposed to when they are positive, and that leaves a lot of room for some comedic ridiculing. You can see that I respond to almost every negative review I get, I enjoy the interaction, especially when it's about my more controversial works.

Q: Also, what would you like to tell the people who take your flashes too seriously?

A: Okay, this is to these people: Please, take it AS SERIOUSLY AS YOU CAN!

Be as offended as you can possibly be! Please keep telling me how much I suck because of my personal tastes, and my opinions about politics and pop-culture, and then turn to making colorful comments about my sexual preferences and bodily inadequacies. Because of people like you, I would be able to do something like this:

http://www.yorku.ca/casa/thomas/tupacconvo.html (MSN conversation with a hardcore Tupac fan in regards to my work "EmpTV: Tupac, Paris Hilton")

Q: Chipmunks Gangsta Rap is threatened lawsuit by the owner of Alvin and the Chipmunks?? What do you have to say about that?

A: I think it was ludicrous... we were perfectly within the legal boundaries of parody rights and fair use, and they threatened lawsuit on grounds that it was "defamatory". Their marketing representative even called me up saying that they think Chipmunks Gangsta Rap is going to affect the sales of their merchandise. Please, if anything, we are actually making Alvin and the Chipmunks more popular, seeing that they haven't done squat since '93. One word to fellow satire artists: beware of corporate bullies.

Anyhoo... we complied and let atomfilms take it off their site (where it was seen by them in the first place).

Q: BentTV. Who are the people involved in this group?

A: Jason Brannon, the brains and voices behind the majority of our BentTV stuff.

Chris Crawford, the main musical talent (and also voices). Also a respectable hip-hop artist.

Moi - director / animator / producer

Q: What do you think about Newgrounds these days?

A: I've always loved Newgrounds, it is always improving itself. Although I do get nostalgic at times and start looking up some of the old classics.

Personally I think the Portal needs a better way to give exposure to all worthy flashes rather than having them end up getting buried away and forgotten beneath the top 50. Tom spoke of an automatic categorizing system, where the submissions can automatically be put into the "Genres and Series" part of the page. That would really help a lot. I think this should be made a priority.

Q: Do you like the new flash content that is sweeping the Portal? What new artists have really caught your attention?

A: Yes, very much so. The many talents on Newgrounds also get better and better everyday. I will have to say this site has the largest community of the most talented artists on the web. James Farr and Adam Phillips immediately jumps to mind when talking about being immensely impressed.

Notable mentions also goes to MikethePod for his hilarious "John's Arm" series, and Ping146 for his laugh-tastic "The Hate Machine" series - both of these two artists are severely underrated in my opinion.

Q: Where do you see yourself in the future? Do you plan on being an animator for life, or is there something else that you want to try too?

A: I want to be a director - an animation director. I think animation is not respected enough as a legitimate film form in the film industry.

Animation is a very disciplined art form, and takes immense skill. I want to see more animated feature movies the theatres, not generic live-action block-busters. I want to take part in this change, and I want to join with people who feel the same way. Yes, I am a big fan of Hayao Miyazaki ;)

Q: You rock. What do you have to say to an animator in the making like me?

A: Work your friggin' ASS off! And have patience. If you don't have patience, you cannot be an animator. You also need to always keep a calm temper and be cheerful. It helps.

Q: Well hey thanks for your time Thomas. It's definitely been a pleasure interviewing you since I've watched your stuff since the beginning of me going to NG.

A: No, thank YOU for giving me this chance!

Well to sum things up, Thomas is better than ever with his new flashes on the way and will definitely be known as a grand flash artist in my books. Be sure to look out for his re-mastered flashes like Tupac and his Cheetos.

Interview No. 21

Interviewer: @DirtySyko

Interviewee: @Krinkels

Original Date: 8/27/2004

It took a while, but I finally snatched me a chance to interview Krinkels. I hope you enjoy reading my interview with this all powerful flash animator. Brace yourself.

Q: You have a very unique, yet simply drawn character design. A lot of people use some of the same drawing techniques you do; like the floating hands for instance. What I'm wondering is, did this character design just one day pop in your head? Or did some other animation inspire you to make Madness the way it is?

A: Marsh-Mellow-Madness was the very first animation I made with that style. I used it because I drew the little madness looking guys in my sketchbook all the time, and I thought that maybe I could stand a chance at animating something so simple.

Q: About 90% of Madness is black and white. Before you made the series did you ever think of making it with color, or was black and white the route you wanted to go the whole time?

A: I really like the whole black and white thing, I find that it's just plain stylish.

Q: Ever since the first Madness the big enemy has been a Jesus-like character. What made you want to make the antagonist of Madness a character that resembled Jesus?

A: Because Jesus Christ is a world renouned pacifist. I just love the idea of a strictly non-violent person shooting the place up and making zombies.

Q: A lot of people try to make spoofs of Madness, but none ever seem to have the magic touch you bring to it. Some even try to recreate Madness with color! What are your thoughts on these spoofs and the people who make them?

A: Most of them suck ass, frankly. Only because most of the people who are big enough fans to parody it are too impatient to make a decent flash movie. There have been a few, and just as mine did, they took their time with them to make them high quality.

Q: Which Madness episode is your personal favorite and why?

A: Madness Combat 4, so far. It's damn stylish. If I predict correctly, you guys will love it.

Q: Tons of people go crazy over your Madness game. Can we expect you to make a new Madness game anytime soon?

A: From me? no. My partner in that game (Max Abernethy) shows no interest in a sequel, and I am thinking about a new series, so... after madness 4, this might be it from me.

Q: Did you expect Madness to turn over such a huge fan base as it has? Also, did you ever have thoughts of making this an on going series before you found out how popular it was?

A: I really didn't expect this much positive regard. It wasn't until I posted Madness Redeemer until I knew it had a fan base, working on Avenger started to feel like real work because I knew people were eager to see it.

If it weren't for the reaction, redeemer would have been the end.

Q: On average, about how long does it take you to make a Madness episode?

A: Too damn long, like, about 6 months, average. maybe well over 250-300 hours. If I could work on it all the time, it would probably come out sooner, but I'm a somewhat buzy college kid.

Q: Where do you get all of your sound effects from? Do you create them yourself?

A: Some, but most of them are taken from random websites. There is a wealth of free material out there!

Q: Besides making Madness, what do you do to make money? What goals do you wish to accomplish in the future?

A: Right now, I am a security guard. It's really lame. I hope to change my major from computer science over to something in the graphical department. Hopefully, I can make a bit of a name for myself animating in something other than flash (not like flash is lame, or anything)

Q: It's no doubt you have great flash skills, so I'm just wondering how long have you actually been using flash?

A: About two and a half years.

Q: Do you ever plan on coming out with something different than Madness? If you do, how do you think the public is going to react when they see an animation from Krinkels that isn't Madness?

A: Yeah, I got another idea for a series on paper, but I haven't really tried anything with it yet. It's going to be mostly variety violence/humor/comedy, so... more of the same... probably!

Q: Out of my own curiosity, how did you come up with the name Krinkels?

A: Some Primus song that I heard a long time ago, called 'mr. krinkels' I have no idea what that song is about.

Q: Thank you for your time Krinkels. It was great interviewing you and I can't wait to see more Madness.

A: No problem!

Interview No. 20

Interviewer: @Skye-McCloud

Interviewee: @jamesfarr

Original Date: 7/7/2004

The Newgrounds community has shown to be home for many great flash series, produced by equally great flash animators. Recently, I was able to get in touch with James Farr, the creator of the Xombie series, to talk to him about his hit series. What I discovered was a lot more surprising than I ever imagined.

Q: Thanks for taking the time for this interview, James. I can only imagine how busy a person like you must be. As a fan of the Xombie series, I can easily say your efforts are not going to waste. But anyway, as a fan of Xombie, I would like to know what other projects, besides Xombie, are you working on? It is easily guessed that you have other projects, since it took you five months alone for Xombie Chapter 4.

A: Thanks. Yes, I have several other projects which I'm juggling simultaniously. I recently pitched a children's show and got that sold, which we'll hopefully be seeing on TV very soon. It's called My Pet Robot, and I've been nurturing that along for the last 6 or 7 years. Everything else is in the early development stages. I don't like to devote a lot of energy to something unless it can get me excited in its most basic form. So the trick is hitting on a concept which is fundamentally cool, then adding to it. Hopefully the new stuff will pop up on Newgrounds pretty soon.

Q: What originally inspired you to make the story of Xombie? Would you say it's been a hard road up to this point in making Xombie?

A: Xombie is an idea I've played with for almost a decade, before I even knew about Flash. I thought the idea of a coherent zombie hero was fascinating, and could not believe that it hadn't been done. It also seemed like a great platform to challenge myself artistically, and commit myself to producing something that would force me to keep getting better. The fact that I can only work evenings on the show has made it hard, but the end product has been really rewarding. I can see where I've improved, and chart my progress since the first chapter. So at least in that respect, I've achieved exactly what I wanted.

Q: As a big fan of Xombie, I've taken notice to the fact that you don't have chapter 1 released on Newgrounds. While a lot of people like the Xombie series, not all of them have gone to your site to see chapter 1. Do you have any plans to release chapter 1, or remake and release it, to the Newgrounds community?

A: Yes. I notice a lot of confusion in the talkbacks, wondering why the story seemed to "begin' with chapter 2. The main reason I haven't uploaded it is due to the massive artistic differences between 1 and 2. It almost looks like a whole different show. I'll be cracking it open and fine-tuning some things eventually, and bringing the character artwork up to date. Once that's done, I'll add it to Newgrounds - which will hopefully put any confusion to rest.

Q: Throughout the Xombie chapters, viewers can easily notice a change in the characters. Do you plan on going back to the older chapters and redoing them once you achieve the final designs you want for the Xombie series?

A: I hope to. The character Zoe has probably undergone the most substantial changes. Since Xombie is largely an artistic exercise, the characters are bound to evolve slightly from chapter to chapter, as I take audience reaction into consideration, and try to fine tune things. Once this initial story arc is complete, I hope to go back and tighten things up. I'll probably keep the originals though. I think it's interesting to see the how the style has developed.

Q: In order to help stem off rumours and help people understand some truth, I figured I'd ask this. Where did the inspiration for Cerberus' design come from? This was addressed in one of your FAQ's for the Xombie series, but given the number of people who still ridicule you for this, not a wide number of people must read your FAQs.

A: Yeah, if I've learned anything from the Xombie experience, it's that people don't read. Or at least angry people don't. =)

The Cerberus character was originally based on my German Shepard, Paws. Being that I was so uncomfortable with four-legged movement and locomotion, I looked to movies like Balto for reference material and animation guides. As time has gone on, I've gotten more and more comfortable with the character, and need reference materials less and less. This is partly why Cerberus loses his face in Chapter 4. It gave me an opportunity to give him a design update that made sense in the context of the show, and would hopefully satisfy the angry Balto fans. By the time Chapter 5 rolls around, Cerberus will have a brand new look.

I certainly didn't sit down and think "Ha. Nobody on earth has seen Balto!" Come on, people.

Q: Why exactly is it that Dirge uses the embalming fluid? We know it helps stop his body from decaying, but, given the fact that he's now a zombie, wouldn't he rather just let his body decompose? What kind on influence does his self-awareness have on Dirge?

A: Good question. In the Xombie universe, dead humans and animals alike are echoes of their former selves. They retain pieces of their personalities, which not only shape who they are, but how they act. Even what they fear. So like most any human, Dirge has a psychological pre-disposition to delay his eventual "end" as long as possible. Not to mention a nagging sense that he's meant for greater things. All the Xombies are, in fact. Even if they don't know it yet.

Q: Wow, is it just me, or did you manage to cover most of the important questions in your FAQs for Xombie? Haha... Anyway, this next question is something that confuses me quite a bit. Given that he's dead, Dirge seems to have a high level of agility. Is his agility related to his past life, or is it just good ol' movie magic? Speaking of his past life, is there any details you can tell us about Dirge?

A: The series has yet to touch on the zombie virus very much, but it will. The virus responsible for re-animating the dead is called Nekrosis. (There's a little info to be found on xombified.com) The virus, in some ways, displays a sentient behavior in the way it overtakes, and assumes executive control of dead brain tissue. Not only does it kick-start the rudimentary functions of the body, but pumps the system full of endorphins, endowing the victim's limbs with unnatural strength and resilience. The virus is highly adaptive, and as a result, its hosts tend to share this trait. The secondary answer to this question is...do you want to see Dirge fight monsters or not?

As for Dirge, his entire backstory will eventually be explained. If not in the flash series, in the top-secret DVD series. =) There is just so much backstory going on, it's impossible to cover it all in little 5 minute increments.

Q: Something has always risen my curiosity whenever I watch chapter 3. When Zoe first dives behind one of the stands (in order to hide from the clown zombies), a large shadow is shown on the ground. However, this shadow doesn't seem match any character shown to date. It looks like something you'd expect from a vampire. Can you tell us who's making that shadow, or will that be revealed soon in the story?

A: Sorry to disappoint, but it's just the zombie tiger. The shadow was actually taken directly from the tiger's outline. But it does kind of throw people off.

Q: In chapter 3 you gave a small glimpse to the character Nephthys, and in chapter 4 you fully introduced her. After taking notice of how she acts, I've wondered if she is going to be meant to be an ally along side Dirge, Zoe, and Cerberus, or if she is going to be the first major villain (Or the only major villian) of the story. Can you give us some insight on this?

A: I can tell you that, either way, you'll be a seeing a LOT of her. She definitely factors heavily into the story, though her origins might not be fully explored in this series. Very possibly the sequel series, though. (There are three series currently planned) But I can tell you that there are some new characters coming VERY soon. And they are most certainly evil.

Q: As being recognized as one of the best flash animators to ever grace Newgrounds, a number of people, some currently flash animators themselves, or soon to be flash animators, look up to you. What advice do you have for these people, and for all flash animators in general?

A: (Blush) Thanks. Firstly, I would highly recommend developing a story of your own. Your own characters. Your own plot. Imagine creating the most amazing cartoon of all time, but you can't market it or profit from your creation in any way because you used somebody else's copyrighted material. If you push yourself in an original direction, there's no end to the cool stuff you can come up with. Secondly, don't ever feel you have to resort to stuff like swearing or gore to get attention. A good animation will stand on its own. Especially one that everybody can enjoy.

Other than that, practice all the time. Draw something every day. Animate something every day. And always enjoy what you're doing. If you stop having fun, you're doing something wrong. =)

Q: Well, since I seem to be all out of questions, I guess we'll finish up here with this question. What can we expect to see from the Xombie series? Give us any details you can. It helps build up the Xombie hype.

A: DVDS! Toys. Video games. Lots of stuff. The Xombie story is so big, that it looks like we'll see a feature film hit DVD very soon. The Xombie saga was originally written (back in 1996) as a trilogy of three feature-film scripts. The flash episodes are small 5-minute snippets from the 'first film.' So what we'll see, eventually, will be a super-charged version of the series, directed by myself, but animated by an entire team of professionals. As details become available, I'll post them on the site. I'm really excited about it.

Q: That's all. Thanks again for your time, James. Can't wait to see the next chapter of Xombie.

A: Thanks very much for thinking of me. Glad you guys like the show.

Interview No. 19

Interviewer: @SketchMichaels

Interviewee: @RiftMaster

Original Date: May 5th, 2004

RiftMaster is one of the busiest Flash coders on the web, and his recent collaborations have put him in the spotlight on a regular basis!

Q: Have you been schooled in programming, or was it something you just picked up one day?

A: For the most part, I'm self-taught. Flashkit.com helped me initially but, after that, it was mostly a lot of trial and error.

Q: I noticed that you've worked with an all-star cast of animators, as well as having gone at it by yourself quite a few times. Do you have a preference between collaborations or going solo? Also, do you have a favorite artist and/or game that you particular enjoyed above the others?

A: I think I enjoy collaborations more, just cause I can focus on one aspect of the game's production (the engineering) and let someone else worry about how it's going to look. I think, as far as artists go, I've had the most fun working with Edmund McMillen. We both have the same sort of philosophies behind game play; we're both like "Hell yeah!" when one of us things up something the other hadn't though of yet. Synj was also fun to work with; he's f'ing fast and a totally wacky freakazoid.

Q: Do you enjoy the engineering aspect more, or the animation? Do you see yourself pursuing a career in either, or is this just a hobby?

A: Well, I'm definitely better at engineering, though the few games I've made on my own, I've enjoyed working on the art and animation quite a bit. I've recently been working with Photoshop.That program isnuts; I love the versatility of the program.

As far as a career, well, technically, I do both as a career, since www.ETGames.com is what pays my bills and whatnot. As far as the future, I'm not sure right now, just trying to work on developing as many skills as possible, so more fields will be open to me down the line, though I definitely would like to start a game development studio one day.

Q: Are you often approached with story ideas, and/or have you ever asked others to go in on projects?

A: Usually it's the artist who approaches me for a collaboration, though there have been a few cases where I've suggested a project or concept behind a game. The most recent example of this is when I asked animator Sherbalex (known for his films, "Cheese," "Gun," and Parachute," to name a few) if he wanted to work on a game, which is actually in production right now (and looking hot as hell, by the way).

Q: Any other projects on the drafting table?

A: There is, of course, Cereus Peashy, which Ed and I have been working on. We've yet to release our dress-up game, too. Hell, I wouldn't mind working with Synj again, when he was some time away from his duties at The Behemoth; his characters are always fun to play... that sounded gay.

Q: What are your thoughts on the Newgrounds audience? Do you respond much to feedback, or are people generally a pain in the side?

A: Oh, boy... well, I will say NG has gotten better; it seemed that, a year and a half ago, there was quite the "riffraff factor" on the site (meaning copious amounts of twelve-year-olds with deadbeat parents and an internet connection). I still get ass-faced reviews now and then, though it seems to have gotten a little better.

Basically, if people have something intelligent to say - even if it's negative - I'll listen. I tune out the juvenile b.s., though - I don't even pay attention to that crap. My main grip nowadays with the Newgrounds community is how games are still underrated compared to movies. Granted, there are some awesome movies, but I think in half the cases, it takes more skills, work, and effort to make a game, for the simple fact that you have issues in both art AND programming to consider.

But, like I said, there are some straight-up awesome movies on the Portal these days -"Bitey of Brackenwood" and "There She Is" are my current favs.

Q: How/do you think Newgrounds has helped you to establish yourself, and where do you see, or in what direction would you like to see, the site go?

A: As much as I may gripe on occasion about the Portal community, Newgrounds totally made me. It is how I got my work seen by thousands upon thousands of viewers, and ended up meeting such people as Peter Kapelyn (who made www.ETGames.com happen) and Edmund, whom I'm sure I'll be working with years down the road.

If your creation can survive the gauntlet of oft-unforgiving critics on the Portal, anyone with an idea and some skill can achieve "fame," and potentially have their work seen by thousands - sometimes millions - of people.

Q: What do you when you're not sitting around getting a VGA-tan?

A: Well, lots of things, surprisingly. I go to punk shows whenever they're in my area. I've been teaching myself guitar, learning to play charts from NOFX and Minor Threat. I definitely want to start a punk/hardcore band one of these days.

I'm a hardcore gamer, I guess you could say (it was, in fact, my fascination with watching Mario jump across the screen for the first time at age six that sparked my interest in creating games), although I don't play games like I used to - too busy making them HA, though, when I get the chance, I play on the PC and Gamecube.

As far as my personal life goes, I'm in a relationship with a lovely girl who lives in Holland, so I have been and will be making trips back and forth to chill with her. I have the internet to thank for most of the good things in my life...

Q: Right on. On a final note, any rants, criticisms, words of wisdom, or anything else that tickles your fancy?

A: Yeah. The revolution will not be televised because Ted Turner is an asshole. I like my beer how I like my women, tall and Dutch. Keyboard metal sucks. Goodnight.