Would you be interested in an Okira Goddess Mobile Wallpaper? If the answer is “YES!”, We have something really cool for you guys today. Download this free Okira Goddess Mobile Wallpaper for your smartphone today. It’s absolutely free and is our gift to our fans for all your loyal support.

Just click here to download.
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Remember to check out the trailer for our upcoming Celflux Animated Short and like, share and spread the word if you think it’s cool.

Till next time.

Everard J. McBain Jr.

Everard is the Creative Director and CEO of GemGfx. GemGfx is a multidisciplinary design consultancy based in Trinidad and Tobago. He has been involved in the field of Graphic Design for over 14 years. He is also the art director and co-author of the graphic novel Celflux which he created along with his wife Dixie Ann Archer-McBain.

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The Early Days

I first started sitting in front of the television as early as the age of five. Jonny Quest (1964 ), Birdman (1967), The Herculoids (1968), Space Ghost (1968) and, Thundarr The Barbarian (1980) were some of my early introductions to cartoons. I fell in love with animation immediately. I loved seeing these characters with superpowers in action and I remember thinking to myself, even way back then, “Boy I wish I could do that someday.”

During the 80s I was introduced to a lot of great animated sci-fi and fantasy movie classics. Watership Down (1978), Heavy Metal (1981), The Secret of Nimh (1982), Rock and Rule (1983), Fire and Ice (1983), Starchaser The Legend of Orin (1985), Transformers The Movie (1986), Gi Joe The Movie (1987), Gandahar (1988) and, Brave Starr The Movie (1988). This is just a small list and I haven’t even touched on the Japanese animation that I discovered in the 80s and 90s. I singled these out because they had the greatest effect on me at the time. So my hope was that one day, maybe, I would be able to animate something.

Just a few of the classic sci-fi and fantasy animated movies that I came across in the 1980s.

The First Celflux Trailer

When Dixie Ann and I decided to create Celflux I wanted to create a trailer to help promote the book. The first one that I did was similar to a motion comic. Have a look at it here.

It was cool and got the job done. I simply used the images from the comic itself and put them in the video. At the end of the trailer, I did my first animated footage and it was of Samantha doing a flyby. I realised then that the next trailer that I did had to have more than just the motion comic.

When you have a burning desire to create, you find a way to make it happen.

I started this post talking about Thundercats. The reality is I’ve always loved 80s cartoon intros. Bionic Six, Thundercats, Silver Hawks, Visionaries, you name it. I loved the action and energy demonstrated during those intros. Have a look at this Visionaries Knights of the Magical Light intro.

So I wanted to do a trailer for Celflux with an 80s cartoon tribute feel to it. I didn’t have the skill or know-how though, so I decided to approach some animation studios to get some quotations. I got quotations of $20K and 30K for a 30-second intro. Astronomical and rightly so. Make no mistake animation is a very difficult, tedious and technical process. So I couldn’t be angry with anyone who charges those prices for their animation work. It is well deserved. I, however, did not have that kind of money. So what was I to do? I thought to myself “Perhaps crowdfunding?”. Crowdfunding is a strange creature and is not for everyone. Many people see the success of certain crowdfunding campaigns and think that it’s easy to do. We have a saying in Trinidad. “Gopaul luck, ain’t Seepaul luck.’ It means what one person will get away with, another person will not be so lucky. Therefore, we decided against that. So we didn’t have the money and couldn’t raise it. Most folks would give up on the idea at this point. But my fellow indie creators can bear witness that we don’t give up that easily. When you have a burning desire to create, you find a way to make it happen. I thought about that little boy sitting in front of the television all those years ago hoping that he would someday animate something and realised, that little boy’s time had come. I was going to teach myself how to animate, and I was going to attempt to animate the 30-second trailer myself.

Is it Possible To Animate Alone?

This is a question I had to ask myself. As I said earlier, animation is a very difficult, tedious and technical process. Hence the reason there are usually teams of people working on any given animated project. So I had to find out if it was possible for one person to do it all by themselves. I was happy to discover that the answer was a resounding YES! I found that there are hundreds of talented animators out there creating masterpieces all by themselves. The advances in technology and the availability of software has made high-quality animation possible for the single creator. There are several case studies, but the one that stands out to me was the story of Makoto Shinkai.

Makoto Shinkai left his job to work on the animated short Voices of A Distant Star

Makoto Shinkai born as Makoto Niitsu, is a Japanese director, writer, producer, animator, editor, cinematographer, voice actor, manga artist and former graphic designer. The story is told that in May 2001, Makoto quit his job at a video game company and began to work on a film called Voices of a Distant Star. As he would later say in an interview, the 20-minute film took about seven months of “real work”. The film went on to be critically acclaimed and is talked about even to this day. The work on Voices is fantastic and one is hard-pressed to believe it was all done by one person. But it was. So it was possible. I decided then to apply myself. Look at tutorials on YouTube. Learn about the animation process, frame rates, cinematography, lighting, film editing and so on. It was a learning process but I put my best foot forward. The result was the first Celflux Animated Trailer. It had a lot of room for improvement, but I was happy with it. So we put it online and set it loose. It racked up about 14K views (on Facebook) in a relatively short period of time. By no means viral, but it encouraged us that we did something worth watching.

The Celflux Animated Short.

Many folks saw the first Celflux trailer and gave us some great feedback. One of the individuals was Ms Camille Selvon Abrahams. She is the owner of Full Circle Animation Studios and the head organiser of an event called Animae Caribe that takes place annually here in Trinidad and Tobago. She saw the trailer online and extended an invitation to us to be guests at Animae Caribe. We’re eternally grateful to her for this because she gave us an opportunity to introduce Celflux to a local audience. The response to Celflux was fantastic. Our books and t-shirts sold out and everyone has some really encouraging words for us about our animated trailer. Because of the positive response to the first trailer at Animae Caribe and online, I asked Dixie Ann if she thought we should try to do an animated short film. Dixie Ann is always encouraging and convinced me that I could do it. So I again decided to do more research into the process of creating an animated short. This was going to be more involved than the first trailer. This was going to have a story, and actors, and lots of other cool stuff. So I got to work on the planning. The first thing I did was write a script. I had to learn how to do this as well. Scriptwriting is a skill. Much respect to those who do it for a living. With a few drafts and much trial and error, I was able to complete a stand-alone story featuring the characters of Celflux. The second thing I needed was voice actors. I found the Voice Acting Club and I put out a call for people willing to collaborate on the Celflux Animated Short project. To our surprise, we got quite a few responses from folks wanting to be a part of it. All of them very talented. We eventually settled on a group that we believe are not only the most talented, but the most decent, helpful and genuine individuals you would ever hope to meet. We are lucky to have them on board.

Demetria Bridges – Okira, Kate Sample – Samantha, Matthew Curtis – High Councillor, Sarah Brown – Genocyde, Tony Black – Raymond, Manuel Benavidez -Ahoteh, Chasity Conner – Shandrita, Tracy Pfau – Sarah, Hector Chavez – Indigo, William Harmar – Stephen, Stephen Jared – Aditional voices, George Sharperson – Aditional voices.

Gwenaël Mario Grisi the talented musician from Brussels came on board to create an original musical score for Celflux.

We want to thank Kate Sample as she was the one who brought on board Demetria Bridges who is the voice of our leading lady Okira. We also want to say thanks to Matthew Curtis as he was the one who brought on board Gwenaël Mario Grisi who would become our talented musical composer. We also want to thank Tracy Pfau who was responsible for bringing on board her husband Stephen Jared and her good friend George Sharperson. I sent them the script, and they all recorded their lines and sent them back to me. We were going to do this. For no other reason than it’s something, we wanted to do. I then had everything I needed to begin working on the next thing. A trailer.

The Celflux Secret Weapon Trailer

Like the first trailer, I had new things to learn. I needed to learn sound editing. How to match up the sound effects with the action. How to synchronise the character’s mouth movements with the voices and so on. So once again there was a learning curve. But I was following in the footsteps of all the other talented independent animators that had gone before me so it could be done. After about 5 months of work, I was able to complete and release the first trailer for the Celflux Animated Short. Have a look at the trailer here:

In April of this year, after some encouragement from one of the voice actors Tony Black, we submitted a proposal to CreativeTT. There was an open call for individual filmmakers to receive grants for film projects. The Trinidad and Tobago Creative Industries Company Limited (CreativeTT) is a wholly-owned State enterprise established by The Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago through the Ministry of Trade and Industry. CreativeTT’s mandate is to stimulate and facilitate the business development and export activities of the Creative Industries in Trinidad and Tobago to generate national wealth and, as such, the company is responsible for the strategic and business development of the three (3) niche areas and subsectors under its purview- Music, Film, Fashion. In May, we received an email from CreativeTT that told us the Celflux project was selected to receive a grant for Marketing and Distribution. We can’t really talk about our plans yet, but suffice to say we are seeking to take Celflux to the next level. You can find the official announcement by CreativeTT here.

Conclusion

So that’s the story of how the Celflux Animated Short came to be. We began working on Celflux the graphic novel in 2013, and had no idea where it would take us. Now four years later, we’re working on an animated short with a great group of voice actors and a state investor behind us. If you had told us that in 2013, we would never have believed you. I’d like to encourage my fellow independent creators out there to live that independent spirit. Follow your creative heart and do what is necessary to bring your creations into reality. Don’t let the pursuit of fame or money cloud your vision. Don’t let anything hinder your creativity. In the immortal words of Shia LaBeouf “Just do it!” You never know where your journey will take you.

Till next time. All the best.

Everard J. McBain Jr.

Everard is the Creative Director and CEO of GemGfx. GemGfx is a multidisciplinary design consultancy based in Trinidad and Tobago. He has been involved in the field of Graphic Design for over 14 years. He is also the art director and co-author of the graphic novel Celflux which he created along with his wife Dixie Ann Archer-McBain.

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The post Why I Taught Myself How To Animate. The Celflux Story appeared first on Celflux - Graphic Novel & Animated Series.

Our recently released animated trailer has risen to 13K views on Facebook. This is more than I ever thought possible when I was making it. Because of that response and some really positive feedback from our fans, we have decided to embark upon an even more ambitious journey. We’ll be making a Celflux animated short film.

UPDATE: Celflux Animated Short First Trailer Completed.

As I’ve said on more than one occasion, I’m a child of the 80s and my early Saturday morning cartoon addiction was the inspiration for me spending nine months creating the Celflux animated trailer. You can have a look at the trailer:

Or check the 13k views on Facebook: http://bit.ly/2fbd82D

I had to learn most of it from scratch and there was a learning curve. Through it all, I’ve learned a lot and we received som really good feedback. So Dixie Ann and I were talking about the possibility of us doing an animated short. Was it possible? Could I do it? It would be a lot of work. But I thought to myself it wasn’t necessarily about my ability but more about “What have I got to loose?” So as is our custom we began to do our research. We also had to decide if we were going to do a short with voices for the characters. I did everything for the trailer. But I couldn’t do voices. We decided that we had to have voices. But who would want to be a part of this little project? So we took a leap of faith and sent out requests. To our surprise, we were inundated with auditions of extremely talented individuals who wanted to portray the characters of Celflux. So much so, that it was really difficult to choose the voices because of so much talent.

What helped us decide was not how well someone could deliver a line, because as we said all the auditions were awesome. No, the deciding factor was if the individual could capture the spirit that we had in mind for the character. This was really important to us because the voices had to be believable. So today we are happy to introduce you to the talented voice artists who will be lending their awesome talent to bring the characters of Celflux to life. We want to say a huge thank you to each and every one of these individuals who not only have committed their time to help us, but they have really expressed a confidence in the project that really encouraged us. We encourage everyone to show these guys all the love and support possible.

Demetria Bridges – Okira: Her tagline is “The voice with the velvet touch.” Believe me, when I tell you, that’s a perfect description. Demetria has accepted the awesome task of being the voice of our leading lady Okira. She is an extremely talented and experienced voice actor with a long and impressive resume. She is also a fan of 80s cartoons. We are very lucky to have her as part of this project. You can find out more about her work and connect with her via her
Website: www.demetriabridges.com
LinkedIn page: www.linkedin.com/in/demetriabridges

Kate Sample – Samantha: You would remember Kate as the voice at the beginning of the trailer. She did a really good job for us and was excited to learn that we wanted to do a short. She is also highly talented and a really cool individual. It means a lot to us to have her on board. Visit her links to show her some love and support.
Website: www.BostonBritVoice.com
Voices 123: http://voice123.com/katesample
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kate-Sample-BostonBrit-Voice-1488146798064029/

Matt Curtis – High Councilor: When we heard Matt’s audition for the High Councilor, we were immediately sold. The guy is a vocal wizard. If someone can make you see facial expressions by just hearing their voice, that person is talented. He also has a long and impressive resume and a lot of experience doing character voices. To have him as part of the Cleflux project is invaluable. You can connect with him at these links:
Website: www.MicTheMatt.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MictheMatt/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MictheMatt

Manuel Benavidez – Ahoteh: Manuel describes himself as a newbie to voice acting. Well, we couldn’t tell. Because his audition was exactly what we had in mind for Ahoteh. Ahoteh is one of the main characters of Celflux and we needed someone to properly deliever him. The intensity and spirit were perfect so we immediately let him know that. He’s also shown us a great deal of encouragement and is really excited about the project. We are excited to have him as well. You can reach out to him on his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/manuel.benavidez.9

Tony Black – Raymond: We’ve always pictured Raymond played by Michael Jai White in a live action version of Celflux. So for the animation, we said we wanted a voice “similar” to Michael Jai White. When Tony sent his audition, we thought the real Michael Jai White was auditioning for the part. The guy did a perfect impression. We are really lucky to have this guy as part of the project. We have no doubt that Raymond will become one of the most memorable characters of Celflux because of Tony’s portrayal. You can check out his many other impressions and extensive demo talent via his Soundcloud page: https://soundcloud.com/user-69124635

Chasity Conner – Shandrita: How can you demonstrate an introverted person using a voice? That’s what we had in mind as Shandrita’s personality. Chasity was able to capture that. She has extensive experience doing voices for anime and said Celflux was a project she really liked the first time she saw it. She, like the other voice actors, is very talented. We are really blessed to have her on board. You can check out her work via her Social Links:
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CeeCeeVA
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ceeceeva/
Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/ceeceeva
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CeeCeeVA

William Harmar – Stephen: William has a strong English narrator’s voice. His YouTube channel has some really powerful readings of short stories that reminded us of those radio dramas that we used to listen to long ago. The guy is a vocal performer. To play Stephen would be a walk in the park for him, in our opinion. He sounds like he belongs on Broadway. The guy is that good. His audition for Stephen sold us immediately. We still can’t believe he is on board. You can check him out on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/GentlemanWalrus

Hector Chavez – Indigo: Versatile. That’s the word that comes to mind in listening to the work done by Hector. We needed a crazy, unhinged portrayal for Indigo. We wanted it believable. Hector delivered it spot on. His YouTube channel shows his wide range of work. His talent speaks for itself and we really appreciate the fact that he is part of this project. Follow him on Facebook: www.facebook.com/HectorChavezVO
Or YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdmAyESqajZTY37-sRFXB6Q

Sarah Brown – Genocyde: The interesting thing about Sarah’s audition, is we weren’t sold at her portrayal of Gencyde, but on her introduction of the audition. She started out by saying. “Hello my name is Sarah Brown and I’ll be auditioning for the role of Genocyde”. The way she spoke saying that, sounded like Genocyde to us and it was enough for us. But even more than that, she captured Genocyde’s rage perfectly. In our minds, we saw Genocyde’s rant while we listened to her voice. It was perfect. As with the other talents, we cannot believe how lucky we are to have her as part of the project. Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Synaes

Tracy Pfau – Sarah: So we’ve saved Tracy for last. But believe me when I tell you she is by no means the least. Tracy is not just a voice actor, but an accomplished movie and TV actor. As her IMDB page will tell you, (yeah, she has an IMDB page) she’s had roles in Touched by an Angel, Vampire Diaries, Chuck, Married with Children and Dragnet to name a few. To say her resume is extensive is a drastic understatement. She is an excellent actor. We still are in disbelief that she sent us an audition and wanted to be a part of the project. You can check out her work at her website http://www.tracypfau.com/ and on IMDB. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0679336/

So here you have it. The amazing voice cast of our Celflux animated short film. It will be titled “The Secret Weapon”. So here’s the thing. With this level of talent being on board, I’m challenged to bring my work up to the level that will be worthy of this kind of talent. As with the trailer, I’ll be doing everything myself. Yes, all of it. I have my work cut out for me. But I’m excited about it because not only is the team talented, they seem to really believe in Celflux and that’s a huge, huge encouragement to me.

We won’t be doing any form of crowdfunding for the Celflux Animated Short. The only support we’re asking of our fans, is to help us spread the word. Share the news with your friends using the hashtag #CelfluxFilm. So stay tuned for updates as we begin this journey, and we look forward to creating something we hope fans can watch and enjoy.

Everard J. McBain Jr.

Everard is the Creative Director and CEO of GemGfx. GemGfx is a multidisciplinary design consultancy based in Trinidad and Tobago. He has been involved in the field of Graphic Design for over 14 years. He is also the art director and co-author of the graphic novel Celflux which he created along with his wife Dixie Ann Archer-McBain.

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The post Celflux Animated Short Film appeared first on Celflux - Graphic Novel & Animated Series.

(from Wikipedia)
“Birdman and the Galaxy Trio is an animated science fiction television series created by Alex Toth and produced by Hanna-Barbera. It debuted on NBC on September 9, 1967,[2] and ran on Saturday mornings until September 6, 1969. The program consists of two segments: Birdman, depicting the adventures of a winged superhero powered by the sun, and The Galaxy Trio, centering around the exploits of three extraterrestrial superheroes. NBC ran two new segments of Birdman each Saturday, separated by a segment of The Galaxy Trio.

The character of Birdman was revived three decades later in the Cartoon Network/Adult Swim TV series Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, and several characters from Birdman and the Galaxy Trio appeared in this revival.”

You may have noticed by now that I’ve been mentioning works created by Alex Toth (June 25, 1928 – May 27, 2006). This was one of his creations. The other that we have mentioned so far was The Herculoids. When I first saw Birdman, the thing that caught me was that he swooped down from the sky and shouted his name in this all powerful booming voice. “Birrrdddmmaaaannn!” I was like “Wow!” That voice came from veteran performer Keith Andes. Keith Andes (July 12, 1920 – November 11, 2005) was an American film, radio, musical theatre, stage and television actor.Whenever the show was on I wouldn’t miss it.

Birdman was an ordinary human who was granted special abilities by the Egyptian sun god Ra. In addition to having the ability to shoot solar rays from his fists and project “solar shields” to defend himself against attacks, he also could fly.

Birdman introduced to me the aspect of the mythical. This guy didn’t get his abilities from science but from a god. I was also introduced to the idea of super hero weaknesses. He was not invulnerable. His powers had limits. He would have to recharge his powers by absorbing rays from the sun. The cartoon also brought to me the idea of super hero responsibility. Birdman was recruited by a secret government agency to fight threats that faced humanity. I realized that those with the gift of special abilities had a noble responsibility to use them for the good of humanity.

Here’s the intro for the Birdman.

There were also a few editions to the cast which were called the Galaxy Trio. The Galaxy Trio is a group of three extraterrestrial superheroes, Vapor Man, Meteor Man, and Gravity Girl, who patrol space in their cruiser Condor One maintaining order and fighting evildoers in the name of the Galactic Patrol law enforcement agency. Here’s the intro:

So again, early inspirations. How many remember this one? What are some of your early inspirations?

Till next time.

Cheers.

Everard J. McBain Jr.

Everard is the Creative Director and CEO of GemGfx. GemGfx is a multidisciplinary design consultancy based in Trinidad and Tobago. He has been involved in the field of Graphic Design for over 14 years. He is also the art director and co-author of the graphic novel Celflux which he created along with his wife Dixie Ann Archer-McBain.

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We thought about it and decided that the best way to get people to be a part of your vision, is simply to share how you feel about it what inspired you to have this vision in the first place. So we’ve decided to go back to the very beginning, and tell the story of how it all got started. To do this we have to go back. Way, way back. Back to the days of a young boy who was introduced to, and fell in love with creativity.

I’ve told the story before of how I was scolded as a young boy for drawing in my school exercise books. Well I’ve never shared just what I was drawing in those books. It was mainly stuff I saw on Saturday morning cartoons, or what I saw in the comic strip of my newspaper. This week I’ll be sharing some of those.

One of the very first cartoons I was introduced to as a young child was The Herculoids.

The Herculoids is an American Saturday-morning animated-cartoon television series, created and designed by Alex Toth, that was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions.

(from Wikipedia)

“The Herculoids is an American Saturday-morning animated-cartoon television series, created and designed by Alex Toth, that was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The show debuted on September 9, 1967 on CBS.[1] Hanna-Barbera produced one season for the original airing of the show, although the original 18 episodes were rerun during the 1968–69 television season, with The Herculoids ending its run on September 6, 1969.

Eleven new episodes were produced in 1981 as part of the Space Stars show. The plotlines are rooted in science fiction, and have story direction and content similar to Jonny Quest and Space Ghost. This series is set on the distant planet Amzot (renamed Quasar in the Space Stars episodes). The name “Amzot” was first mentioned in the Space Ghost episode “The Molten Monsters of Moltar” (in which the Herculoids made a brief guest appearance) and in the series proper in the “Time Creatures” episode.”

The characters of The Herculoids, were a seamless blend of primitive yet futuristic design.

As a child I was fascinated by this cartoon. Not just for the magical creatures and their abilities, but because of the fantasy world they lived in, the dangers they faced and how they overcame them through teamwork. Both the characters and the world they lived in was a seamless blend of primitive and futuristic. There were prehistoric like creatures with fantasy and futuristic abilities. They wore loincloths but used laser guns. Strange yes, but it all seemed to work. Also as a young boy you didn’t question the practicality of such things you just accepted it for its awesomeness. I had a group of friends at school who were also fans of the cartoon and each of us called the other by the name of one of the cartoons characters. I was Tundro. These were also some of the first characters that I began drawing as a young boy.

Here’s the opening credits to The Hurculoids. Seeing this brings back memories. Awesome stuff.

Also, here’s a short documentary taking a look at the creator and the inspiration for the show.

So this was one of the shows that kindled the spark of creativity in me and made me fall in love with sci-fi, fantasy and imagination.

We’ll be sharing more of early inspiration in the coming days. Till then, keep dreaming.

Cheers.

Everard J. McBain Jr.

Everard is the Creative Director and CEO of GemGfx. GemGfx is a multidisciplinary design consultancy based in Trinidad and Tobago. He has been involved in the field of Graphic Design for over 14 years. He is also the art director and co-author of the graphic novel Celflux which he created along with his wife Dixie Ann Archer-McBain.

ww.gemgfx.com

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