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The Last of the Dashkin

December 10 , 2009 - The new Brackenwood movie answers a lot of questions about Bitey, who he is and where he came from. It also poses new questions about his future as the last of his kind, a fleck of spite in an abandoned paradise.

Click to download high-res.

You can see the movie here: "The Last of the Dashkin"

Continued below... .

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I released LotD on Newgrounds.com yesterday (9th, Dec 2009) and has broken the all time record for score (so I'm told). Currently at 4.85 (and counting) it has topped Waterlollies best which managed 4.80 at its height.

The reaction to a narrated Brackenwood has been mixed, some like it and some don't. Others are worried that every Brackenwood movie from here on will be narrated but uhm.. that would be silly and I do have a brain in my head. "The Last of the Dashkin" is setting up the world of Brackenwood to be seen in a way it never has up to this point. Gone are the days where a Brackenwood short consisted of sequence upon sequence of mindless Bitey pranks and karmic consequences - of which many people, including myself were growing tired.

While there are reasons to detest Bitey, everyone was cheering for him in The Yuyu. Sure he's a spiteful little turd, but he's not evil to the core. I now want the world to know who he really is and why.. to prove that there's more to the character and his world than anyone imagined. For that purpose, I believed narration to be a suitable expository technique, despite how unfashionable it may be in the eyes of today's screenwriters and snobbish film students. I know (just as some others wish) I could have made this movie entirely without narration, but I've said a number of times since LotD's release that I have a soft spot for the spoken storytelling tradition which is something that I grew up with. Using it cleverly is a challenge, but I've always wanted to use it and I think I did OK, even if it is a little heavy in parts. You can however expect a few minor revisions in the coming days ;)

FYI, I'll be releasing the entire unedited narration, along with music and sound effects together in an audioplay so you can listen to the story as it's told to you by the narrator, just like the old radioplays. I'll put the download link on the LotD page soon.

EA2D and Dragon Age: Journeys

In other news, the game job I was working on for the past 14 months was launched. It's a browser-based Flash game called Dragon Age: Journeys, and it's been blazing trails and making waves all at the same time. With achievements in the Flash game that unlock special items in the PC/XBox360 game, Dragon Age: Origins, it has been very well received. Be sure to check it out here. I did all the art & animation, while the programming was done by Daniel Stradwick, the genius behind the wildly popular (with 15 million plays) Monster's Den.

D&D

My current assignment with Wizards of the Coast is some illustrations for a Dungeons & Dragons print publication. I'll talk about it more and post some pics when I can.

DMG2 - The Lady of Pain

Of all the D&D 4th Edition cartoons, I'm most proud of this one: "DMG2 - The Lady of Pain ". I used ToonBoom's incredible Animate Pro which allowed me to pull off some of my most ambitious FX stuff to date. Just check out the refraction in the beer & wine glasses. Thank you, Refract module! If you're a Flash animator and haven't checked out any ToonBoom software yet, I strongly urge you to do so. Animate is aimed at the Flash user to help you ease into the workflow.

This video is in HQ, so try it fullscreen ;)