Cattrigger - Kitty Does Cartoons!

So this Blog Ends, and a NEW ONE TAKES ITS PLACE!

2011-08-24T10:06:00.004-05:00

This blog is done. Everybody visit this one:

http://CatTrigger.com/Blog

Go go go!

The Kitty Journal Site is here

2010-03-21T19:12:00.001-05:00

It Begins.

And thus ends the Blogspot version of The Kitty Journal. The new Kitty Journal will be bigger (better is not guaranteed).

The new KJ will be a daily thing through the weekdays every week instead of just Wednesday. I hope you do enjoy it and feel free to tell your friends.

TheKittyJournal.com

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Happy Holidays Everyone!

2009-12-21T09:19:00.001-06:00

Click here for CatTrigger Goodness!

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Happy Halloween Everybody!

2009-10-31T12:53:00.003-05:00

Click HERE!

Navy the Poetry Kitty

2009-07-13T21:57:00.003-05:00

Near the end of the rope for "Navy the Poetry Kitty", introducing the logo I will be bringing into the short.

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Happy Father's Day everyone!

2009-06-21T12:57:00.002-05:00

Happy Father's Day Everyone

Another Animated E-Card, this time for all you dads, to-be dads, grand dads, and yes everyone else!

Click here to check out the new CatTrigger Father's Day E-Card!!!

So these three guys walk into a bar...

2009-05-23T18:35:00.002-05:00

Twitter is the new Blogspot!

2009-05-21T22:05:00.012-05:00

What's happened to me recently? Have I gone missing? Why do I update this blog every 50th full moon?

Well, honestly, blogs are so formal, it doesn't allow the rough stuff and spontaneity that my schizophrenic mind yearns for.

Thus, Twitter takes that fold, and with that comes TwitPic.

Here's what you've been missing on my Twitter account:

I will periodically try to post my twitter sketches on here, but if you're not patient, I suggest going over to Twitter.com/patach and following me. If you don't have an account, I suggest you make one... NOW.

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Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T05:01:00.005-05:00

Click Here to watch

Like last year's Mother's Day ecard, this one has a gag that seems exclusive towards certain kinds of people, mostly Literature Buffs.

I do apologize for people who don't really read or know anything about the Literary world. Just like how I had to apologize to people last year that didn't play videogames.

Next Year I might just go all out and be even more obscure.

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"How to Open a Door" Screening at the Three Minute Film Festival in Santa Fe

2009-05-04T22:31:00.002-05:00

The Vintage short animated by me, starring "Akira Thompson" is screening at the Three Minute Film Festival in Santa Fe May 16th, 7:00. For more information, please check their website.

3MFF.com

Happy Watching, guys!

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COMPUTER FREEZE PROGRAM!!!

2009-03-01T15:45:00.003-06:00

I felt like drawing a picture of Captain Picard with a disturbed look on his face:

But realizing that there was no context to it, I quickly tacked one on:

I doubt myself alot

---

2009-02-24T00:40:00.004-06:00

Me and my friend, Neil, have for the longest time joked about Chicago Mayor Richard Daley as a mayor with so much power to influence, manipulate and micromanage in improving a city, that he was not really a “real mayor” but a “SimCity Mayor”.

SimCity was a classic City Creation Simulator back in the day when Super Nintendo was huge. Most of the time you built large cities where you created residential areas for living, commercial areas for increased property value of your city, and industrial areas for jobs. In between was fighting crime and pollution in the city, while keeping citizens happy with good roads, fire stations, environment and of course... a low tax rate.

But videogames can hardly cover the complexity of creating a metropolis, and many people resorted to cheating and exploits to make their flourishing city. Such as building parks and lakes near industrial zones to miraculously lower pollution, building as many football stadiums as possible to raise property values, and using cheat codes to create massive cityscapes without raising taxes for such a project.

The joke had always been that Daley was able to do all these things, including other features of Sim City such as controlling the weather, and summoning monsters to attack the city. All which we believe Daley has the power to do.

If anybody had played the SNES game, Dr. Wright is the advisor to the player as he/she creates the city, he's a short professor fellow who gives generic tips on how to be a good mayor.

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The Adventures of Marie Curie

2009-02-17T22:07:00.002-06:00

(Click to Enlarge)

CatTrigger (And Me) WISHES YOU HAPPY VAL-DAY!

2009-02-13T12:33:00.003-06:00

Click Here to Watch it!

The Kitty Version 4.0

2009-02-07T16:00:00.003-06:00

Every once in a while, the CatTrigger Kitty gets a facelift. This is rather easy at CatTrigger Labs, as they have the most advanced technology in the entire world.

As said before, this is Kitty 4.0, which means CatTrigger 4.0 may actually NOT be too far away. Actually, yes it is, because I have no plans to do a new CatTrigger site at this time. But Kitty has officially changed.

Another positive thing about this new move is the fact that there is now very different qualities between the CatTrigger Kitty and "K", the Kitty Journal Kitty.

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The Next CatTrigger Ecard presents you... the Umbrella

2009-01-31T18:38:00.001-06:00

An illustrated prop for the upcoming "CatTrigger E-card", yes... Valentine's Day is coming.

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The Hero of the Short

2009-01-08T21:21:00.001-06:00

Production Screenshots of the Short (and more!)

2009-01-07T19:21:00.001-06:00

The short is roughly coming together, a radical new philosophy that I've been overtaking now that I have more time on this project.

Originally, my ambition was to make everything look perfect, and I spent weeks on one scene trying to pose it correctly, nervous that something, somewhere was amiss, which would tear the entire short apart and make everyone hate it, and the then they'll burn down the theater that would unfortunately screen it. Find out where I live, and then graffiti the walls of my house with “that S-curve wasn't strong enough, Pat!”

Instead now, I'm bent on “working to the schedule”, instead of “working to perfection.”

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The Navy Short

2009-01-02T14:50:00.002-06:00

"Water is Better than Ice Cream" was an animated short that I started last year in August, but was easily put on hold after work started coming in from all over starting in September.

Now that most of the work is behind me, I have a tiny window opened right now to work on the short.

I will start a neat little "production diary" on its progress as I continue to work on it and learn new things about my experience.

Some information on the short:

1. It's the first short I'm doing that attempts to avoid as much motion tweening as possible.

2. The short utilizes a free flowing system that is usually done well in Flash... using a mixture of redrawing with recycling. Its direction isn't to be a fully cut-out animation native nor is it suppose to be full animation.

3. The short should be about a little over 2 minutes long.

4. This short will feature voices. OH MY!

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The Kitty Journal is Moving

2008-12-30T04:53:00.003-06:00

Very soon, all Kitty Journal Posts will be moved to:

http://TheKittyJournal.blogspot.com/

And updates of the Kitty Journal will continue there. This blog will be Kitty Journal-less, and focus more on my other art than the KJs.

The site isn't fully developed yet, but it right now contains all Kitty Journals in one place.

THIS SITE WILL NO LONGER HAVE THE KJs VERY SOON AND I WILL ANNOUNCE IT AGAIN WHEN IT HAPPENS

Ok, good. Everybody update their bookmarks for:

http://TheKittyJournal.blogspot.com/

CatTrigger Wishes YOU a Winter WonderLand of a Holiday!

2008-12-24T17:07:00.003-06:00

Animated Ecard coming in 3...2...1...

Click here!

The Next Adventure of The CatTrigger Kitty (Preview)

2008-12-22T17:57:00.001-06:00

Preview of the NEXT ADVENTURE of the CatTrigger Kitty.

He's not the Kitty Journal Kitty, he's the CatTrigger Kitty. See, these guys are different. One is blue, the other is not. Also there are no spirals above this kitty AT ALL TIMES!

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The Short

2008-11-16T20:10:00.001-06:00

God, this was suppose to be done in August. That was the plan, the very next week after my plan was from an email that said “We pay good, get your butt onboard!” Two onsite jobs, and remnants of Offsite past. What a disaster!

I've been too busy to do much, but I've made a regiment for myself to dedicate at least a small patch of time to complete my independent short in the next few months. Plans have changed, but I'm hoping for the best.

Working in these two offsites help re-educate me in how I do my animation workflow. Now tweaking out my Flash to become a much more efficient animation program, at least under the workflow I prefer and I found to have very little technical hangups.

I may make posts on how my workflow has changed later, when I have time. But right now I just wanted to let everyone know that I haven't devolved into just doing Kitty Journals :P

Another Webcomic Idea, this time about WITCHES

2008-10-06T20:47:00.003-05:00

Patrick: So I got a new idea for a webcomic.

Someone: Oooh! Tell me!

Patrick: It's about a witch!

Someone: Ok.

Patrick: ...

Someone: ...

Patrick: Um...

Someone: I like it, I like witches.

Patrick: Yes, it's a cool witch.

Someone: Is it a goth witch?

Patrick: Um... not really. More of a cute Halloween Witch.

Someone: Ok. But I like goth witches.

Patrick: I... could... make... a... goth witch... somewhere...

Someone: I think deep inside I'm a goth.

Patrick: (Deep inside, we're all goth)

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Unrelated to this blog.

2008-09-27T10:47:00.005-05:00

I've only been able to post Kitty Journals due to the fact that I'm incredibly busy now. So here's something that I DIDN'T MAKE, to make up for some of that.

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Toad

2008-09-08T00:56:00.002-05:00

Me: Ha ha ha! Get it?

Friend: Oh, Toad as Toad. I see what you did there.

Me: Yes, (Yawn) now it's time for me to hit the hay ::punches a haystack::

--

Emotionally Confused Hyena

2008-09-03T03:50:00.002-05:00

I'm a little depressed because while hunting, I ate a whole Zebra family, including one of the sister's brothers*.

I'm not kidding.

*Joke, taken from The Darjeeling Limited.
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Rough Sketches for Throw Away "Mini-WebComic" Ideas

2008-08-29T02:04:00.003-05:00

She sees something.

2008-08-19T09:29:00.001-05:00

Backbreaking Work

2008-08-14T18:22:00.004-05:00

Digital Artist Freelancers like me get the privilege to have a mobile office.

Sometimes it's not much of a privilege.

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The Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood Sing in the Name of Anarchy!

2008-08-06T17:08:00.003-05:00

(sketch)

I knew the Little Red Riding Hood was a little TOO RED! I just couldn't put my finger on it, but seeing her karaoke songs in tribute of anarchy is SOMETHING ELSE, my friend!

Alert the Parliament, let's stop this Little Girl Version of Guy Fawkes from causing any more trouble.

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Coming back to comics

2008-08-02T05:43:00.004-05:00

Warning: Rant

So... the animation teacher, pointed at me. “Why did you want to go into Animation?”

It was the first day of the first animation class I've ever had at Columbia, the room was illuminated by the sun, The animation teacher had just brushed through the room and squeezed out everybody's reason to be an animator after his little explanation of why he personally wanted to be one (accompanied with a little bit of dancing on top of a table).

I'm not sure if my reason was honest or my attempt to be funny, but what I said was “I wanted to go into Cartooning, but then realized it was one of those 'don't quit your day job' kind of jobs. So I got into Animation. Which is... of course, another 'don't quit your day job' kind of jobs.”

After a small pause, I had a creeping feeling that my explanation wasn't going to turn out to be funny.

“So...” I continued a little bit nervous,” My theory is... if I combine two 'don't quit your day job' jobs, I can have an actual day job.”

Well, at least the teacher laughed at that.

Throughout my career as an animator I thought hard on my statement. I'm a professional animator, I get paid doing it. It's fun, and any complaints I have about it are easily brushed aside by the big list of things that I like about it. Career-wise I have yet to ask the question if I made the right choice.

But then as the years went on, I pressed so much into animation, that I have forgotten the original passion I had in cartooning...
(More in expanded)
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an artform that has lived through the worst of times, a couple crashes caused by the Beanie-Baby like fanboyism of the 80s and early 90s, only to evolve even stronger than ever to leave the pulpit of an abandoned collectibles hobby store to the front pages of the NY Times, in museums, and in literary sections in bookstores such as fiction, non-fiction, and history instead of just staying in the back next to the pulp sci-fi books.

In the beginning, comics were considered a degenerate artform, not just by the public, but by the cartoonists themselves. Many cartoonists thought of themselves as comedians or showmen instead of artists or social commentators. In “Reinventing Comics” Will Eisner notes a time when he had a conversation with Rube Goldberg. Conversation drifted to the possible future of comics as an actual artform, and the older Rube Goldberg got out of his seat and scolded Will Eisner. “That's bullshit, we're vaudevillians and you know it.” He'd say.

Will Eisner, of course, being the father of the American graphic novel.

Animation never had it so tough. It was brought into people's family rooms through Walt Disney, it became a political tool with the UPA, and it became a widespread artform when Television came around.

But there is something Animation has a crucial disadvantage of, and it is simply because Animation, even at this day and age, is extremely time consuming, and plays by the game of the film industry, while comics have utterly complete freedom and the ability to communicate their ideas fast. Where one person can make a book, another person in animation would need an army to make the same experience at twice the amount of time.

While animators tend to go into teams based on the amount of work that is needed to complete a project, many cartoonists create their comic completely by themselves. There, you see the purity of the person's work, not compromised by others. The comic artform is literally opened to the complete nakedness of storytelling through the original eye.

Until technology becomes good enough for large amounts of animation to be done by one person, comics are still the ultimate one-man-band. And the many people who have used it, Will Eisner, Art Spiegelman, Chris Ware, Craig Thompson and others, can reveal much more about themselves and what they believe in than in most other mediums, including Animation.

So while I'm working on an animated short, and going through clients busily I wonder to myself, if the point of doing independent work is to express myself, why spend all that time JUST in animation? Why don't I go back to the medium of my original love and spend just a LITTLE BIT of time there?

So... I guess I'm kind of thinking about it.

Twitter

2008-08-01T03:19:00.000-05:00

I've just joined the Twitter Network. Twitter IS a social network, but it plays very differently from facebook and myspace. Instead of having profiles and apps, Twitter is all about status.

Why is this important?

I think twitter is a good concept in terms of family and friends being able to communicate with each other quickly, and speaking on what they're up to what is going on and what they're doing without needing them to be there at all times. While facebook and myspace is all about putting a little spot for yourself on a site, twitter brings the now to your readers, whether you tweet on phone or the web.

Come and join me on twitter.com!

http://twitter.com/patach

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Independent Short Project - Pre-production is now over, time for PRODUCTION HELL!

2008-07-30T00:18:00.004-05:00

I have finally left the stage of Pre-Production Hell, and into the Production Stage Apocalypse for my personal short.

No more wondering about the story, the design, or what type of shots I need to take. Now, all it is between me and a finished short is animation, animation and more animation.

I started my engines down this lonely, hard road with an excel sheet used to record my progress, put notes and problems I bump into, and it's even equipped with a small little column section which allows me to rant about how hard everything is.

18 large honkin' scenes. I'm not sure how long it will take, perhaps a month, perhaps a thousand months. It probably all depends on what my schedule will be like as time passes.

Anyways. Let the slaughter begin.

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Team Fortress 2 - Pyro (Mmmph Mmmph Hudda Hudda!)

2008-07-25T03:32:00.007-05:00

I haven't done fanart of the stuff I like for a while.

Pyro is like my 2nd favorite character from TF2 (Engineer's my fav.) Nothing feels better than lighting a slowpoke on fire and then taking them out with your Axtinguisher.

Hidden under that haunted gasmask must lay a warm soul.

Mmmph Hurrf hurrf hudda hudda hudda thpff fo pfff pfff hudda hudda huh!

MUDDA Hudda MUDDA! Ehfft Ehfft Mfft Tttfff!

Burn the world, Pyro. I believe in you!

Don't you want to know how we keep starting fires?
It's my desire, It's my desire

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The Other Batman

2008-07-20T23:08:00.004-05:00

Nosterafu Hates Mondays.

Sorry, no KJs this week because of... well... see entry below :(

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The Little Quarterback – at the San Diego International Children's Film Festival

2008-07-10T21:53:00.004-05:00

A while back, Former Football Star Shaun Gayle approached me to do a quick animated short called “The Little Quarterback”.

I storyboarded, designed and animated most of it within a good 4 and some weeks last year.

Anybody in San Diego or going to Comic-Con can see a screening of it at the San Diego International Children's Film Festival on July 27th.

More information here.

I hope they get a better screenshot than what they have on the page soon. :P

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Volleyball is fun.

2008-07-01T07:22:00.001-05:00

Haven't been in the best of moods lately.

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What's New, Pussycat?

2008-06-26T23:35:00.005-05:00

Quoting the great Tom Jones:

What's new pussycat? Woah, Woah
What's new pussycat? Woah, Woah
Pussycat, Pussycat
I've got flowers
And lots of hours
To spend with you.
So go and powder your cute little pussycat nose!
Pussycat, Pussycat
I love you
Yes, I do!

These are sketches.

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Navy The Poetry Student Kitty

2008-06-24T20:15:00.005-05:00

Name: Navy The Poetry Student Kitty

Sex: Male

Occupation: Poetry Student Kitty

Likes: Long walks on the beach, Ingmar Bergman Films and Freudian Slips.

Dislikes: My Parents don't approve of what I'm going to school for. They keep on telling me “Navy, you got a talent in law. You can be a lawyer.” Well, I tell my parents that-ENTRY HAS EXCEEDED LIMITED SIZE RESTRICTIONS

Looking for: Women

In the mood for: Networking, Random Play, Relationships, Ice Skating.

Favorite Book: The Holy Bible.

Don't lie, what's your real favorite book: Um... uh... it's uh... listen... it's kind of embarrassing... don't tell anyone that I really like... Dark Desires After Dusk by Kresley Cole

Haha, Thanks for that information: Hey! I told you not to publish that!

You can't tell me what to do, I'm a Social Network Form, I can do anything I want: Now you're just being mean! I didn't want to come to Facebook to be bullied!

Your Mom: Man, screw this, I'm going back to MySpace.

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Spread the word of ChicagoAnimators.com with mini-banners!

2008-06-24T01:31:00.007-05:00

In order to spread the word of ChicagoAnimators.com, we've created small, easy, and cool lookin' mini-banners for people to put on their site or blog.

How do you do this on Blogger?

Very Simple:

1.After signing onto your blogger account, go to your Dashboard and click on “Layout” on your blog.

2.You will be greeted by your blog layout. You can place different subsections here easily. Let's try adding the banner link onto the sidebar!

3.Click on “Add a Page Element” located near the upper right of the large beige box.

4.A pop-up box will appear, scroll halfway down on the pop-up box until you see HTML/Javascript, click on the “Add to Blog” button under it.

5.A new popup will show called “Configure HTML/Javascript” Copy and Paste the Following Code onto the “Content” section:

<a href=http://ChicagoAnimators.com><img src=http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/8515/chicagoanimatorsbannerle8.jpg>
</a>

6.Click Save, and you'll be brought back to your layout page. There, you'll see a new “HTML/JavaScript” element, which you can drag and drop anywhere you want in your layout!

And there you have it! A nice clickable banner!

Wanna do it to any old site? Just copy and paste that html code I have above into your HTML document and there you'll have it!

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ChicagoAnimators.com

2008-06-23T22:45:00.006-05:00

After some preparation, a few others and I have created a new online forum for Chicago Animators known as ChicagoAnimators.com.

We wanted to create a comfortable, online hub for Chicago animators, be they professionals, students and/or hobbyists of any form to be able to speak with each other, and ultimately, to create a tighter knit of an Animation community here in Chicago.

We hope you can join us to help mold a community in Chicago for animators, so please come visit:

ChicagoAnimators.com

Please don't forget to tell others about it.

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The Kitty got some “fanart”, like a couple days from each other.

2008-06-18T13:05:00.004-05:00

Ok, fine.

Ben Chow did this little diddy.

I would assume this is photoshop, but from all I know, it could very well be him dipping a kitten into a vat of toxic waste and making him glow blue.

Christie Shinn imagines a world where The Kitty kills Gerald McBoing Boing, which made me a little sad.

For some reason, Gerald STILL looks cute even when he's violently dying.

It's a literal interpretation of this.

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Happy Father's Day Everyone!

2008-06-15T13:22:00.007-05:00

I used to go fishing when I was a kid with my dad, it was one of those "Father/Son bonding" things my dad attempted with me when I was little. It did slightly better than playing basketball together, but not as well as playing catch.

I think the best Father/Son bonding thing was sharing the first beer... except that it was a whiskey. Man, that was awesome.

Happy Father's Day, Dad! Even if my card was harshly done.

See The Father's Day Animated E-Card here.

Also the music is from "Jumping Beans" from Frank Black and the Catholics

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Aaron the Aardvark on his first day of school

2008-06-08T02:54:00.008-05:00

What if the other Aardvarks think I'm not COOL enough?

(The Author asks that question to himself every day).

Also...

Why do I have to get up so early for school? Aren't Aardvarks Nocturnal?

(There, the Author has secured his "Animal Joke".)

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A Typical Suburb in Santa Fe

2008-06-05T23:42:00.000-05:00

Waking up in Santa Fe

2008-06-05T11:14:00.004-05:00

So I wake up in Santa Fe, and went outside for some fresh air.

This is what my parents backyard looks like:

Back in Chicago, MY backyard is a parking lot with two dumpsters.

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In Santa Fe

2008-06-05T01:34:00.006-05:00

Left Houston at around 9am and touched down here in Santa Fe at 10pm. Great scott, what a trip.

Near the end, we were in the middle of the mountains and plains of New Mexico, not a street light or another car in sight. So we were practically in complete darkness. To kill the time, my brother was playing the DS, and I did a harshly drawn picture of him on my tablet pc.

It's harsh, like the head's a little too big and stuff...

Eh... I'm tired.

P.S. I will not be back in Chicago until the 9th. Thus, no KJs this week. Next week you'll be given a nice gift of 3 weeks worth of Kitty Journals.

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Professor Sanders the Giraffe

2008-05-29T15:53:00.003-05:00

Professor Sanders the Giraffe, the Computer Engineering 101 teacher

Now class, if you could turn your textbooks to page 1,038, I'd like to talk to you in more detail about Integration of Heterogeneous Technologies.

But before that, does anybody have questions about any of the Distribution Systems or Avionic Software that I have been speaking about? Maybe even a bit of the speech I made about asynchronous systems, co-processors and arrays?

Anyone?

Hello?

Alright, I'm going to be very angry, if the class is empty again, just because I can't see any of you due to the fact that my head is sticking out of a hole in the roof....

“We don't have any questions at all, Professor Sanders.”

Okay, good. Now let's turn to... wait a minute.

Is this a tape recorder again?

“We don't have any questions at all, Professor Sanders.”

Dammit.

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KJ Update - Going to Houston

2008-05-29T10:35:00.006-05:00

Today, I will be flying to Houston to help my brother to move to Santa Fe. I'll be up there around Texas/New Mexico for about a week and a half, so that means, no Kitty Journal this week.

To soothe the wounds of people who yearn for cartoons about my embarrassing adventures here's a small taste of what happened this week... just a small:

Love you all, guys! Love you all!

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"DJDJ Cityscapes" Concept Sketch 1 (with possible logo?)

2008-05-20T20:48:00.007-05:00

My Internet's down. So I have been walking between cafes to get things done.

I have been recently doing some concept work for the DJDJ Cityscapes "series" if you call it that. Mostly details in concepts and stuff like that.

Here's a logo idea:

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CatTrigger Mother's Day E-Card (High Quality Version)

2008-05-11T02:30:00.007-05:00

It's a new animated e-card brought to you by CatTrigger and ME! Happy Mother's Day everyone! And feel free to share!

~~I'll post a youtube, lower quality video later today.~~

Link.

Also, due to heavy workload, I will be posting the KJs later on Monday.

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My brother shows me what the CatTrigger Kitty would look like in real life.

2008-05-11T01:08:00.004-05:00

Thanks Ben. Thank you for realizing my dream.

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Just got something today.

2008-05-09T19:31:00.001-05:00

Hey guys, guess what I just got today.

Yeah that's right. I got a bowl of almonds.

Tough Week (Part Deux)

2008-05-09T02:23:00.006-05:00

It's been a tough week. A very tough week. But you know what? I know I'll get to the other side of this, I know that when the going gets tough, then I-

Oh my god, there is no hope for mankind. We are all doomed. DOOMED!

Oh, and here's a reaction shot from someone who is not me:

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Busy Week - Thus, here is some Slam Poetry from one of my faves.

2008-05-07T06:23:00.007-05:00

It's a busy week.

So to kill the time on this blog between KJs, enjoy Taylor Mali, one of my favorite poets:

"What Teachers Make" is probably my favorite poem from him.

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Avatar Changes

2008-05-01T22:08:00.003-05:00

Ok, changed the avatar again.

Let's see if this works.

Hiya folks, it's the new avatar pic!

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Kitty Exercise #5: Kitty Does Something?

2008-04-30T15:20:00.002-05:00

A preliminary screenshot of the next "exercise" with Flash guides, labels and all!!!

All this talk about DJDJ hurt the CatTrigger Kitty's feelings.

He told me he wanted to do something too, but I paid too much attention to DJDJ.

I felt very sorry for Kitty and now I'm doing something for him too.

Also, my avatar pic has changed to a new pic. This new pic is most likely temporary. It's just that I got sick and tired of looking at the old Kitty rig.

Freakin' old Kitty rig is so old! OLD! Like Grandpa Kitty.

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My mind has been blown.

2008-04-30T15:06:00.003-05:00

I have just seen a picture of an official re-design of Hello Kitty commissioned by Sanrio themselves, including a profile view of her.

A... profile... view... of... Hello.. Kitty...

I have seen everything in the world, somebody please hit "reset".

We will return to our proper programming very soon.

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Sarah the Goth Bunny as a Hot Topic Store Clerk

2008-04-23T04:50:00.003-05:00

What the heck is GOING ON with this store?

First, we're like a goth store, and I was like “oh, right! I'm a goth! So I can work here!”

But NO! Now the boss comes in and says “You know what's missing? Nintendo stuff!” So now we're all a bunch of goths wearing Nintendo merchandise!

“Wait, no! We need to include the comic geeks!”

So then he gets this Superman t-shirt, which is totally bright blue and the complete opposite of goth and tells me to wear it.

So here I am, looking like every single kid that's been beaten up in high school stirred and pounded in a frickin' bowl and then baked under 450 degrees into a Gamer/Geek/Goth abomination.

That's it, I'm going back to my job at American Eagle. At least they know their audience.

-

Rant: A Paperless workflow

2008-04-22T12:18:00.006-05:00

Whenever I tell people that I'm “slowly, but surely going into a completely paperless workflow”, they act like I'm part of the Borg or something that is trying to assimilate the entire Earth.

“How can you say that? You're abandoning the organic side of art! You're taking the pencil for granted!”

How can I say that? One word:

Notes.

And lots of it.

Notes, notes notes... all over my desk. I just cleaned this thing last week, and now lo' and behold I have a billion notes shielding every wooden frame on this desk.

And what will I do at the end of a project or a contract? I shove all of it into a trash compacter and make Captain Planet cry with my notions of killing trees.

That's right, by going paperless, I'm actually MORE ORGANIC! I save the Earth! LONG LIVE THE COMPUTER, LONG LIVE OUR ROBOT OVERLORDS!

-

More DJDJ

2008-04-19T01:14:00.003-05:00

Oh god, I can't believe I made it this far without thinking of excuses such as "hey, I'm not making money off of this". Obviously, my priorities during the late nights go out of whack.

Will return to actually working on a job in the afternoon.

No, the cat will not have that same facial expression at ALL times.

-

DJDJ in Color

2008-04-16T13:54:00.003-05:00

Everybody please call me out if it seems like I'm about to back out of this entire “do an independent project thing”.

-

DJDJ, sketches and study for animation idea.

2008-04-08T04:55:00.002-05:00

For any of you that don't know, DJDJ is my other blue cat.

I'm “preparing” to work on a series of animated shorts with this guy, but I think I need further study into him to make sure.

If anybody has any suggestions to his being, please let me know.

-

Regal the Alligator and his Cooking Tips.

2008-04-07T01:10:00.004-05:00

'Allo everybody. I'm Regal. Welcome to the show, today we're going to make Chicken Pepper 'n' Onions Stew.

Step One:

Get your chicken fresh from the market, don't get it from the frozen aisle.

Step Two:

Don't eat it yet. We need to actually prepare it and put it into the stew...

Step Three:

Aw, what the hell- CHOMP! MUNCH! MMMM!!!

Step Four:

Cancel Show, this is the 6th episode and I can't get past introducing the meat.

-

FanArt Time! It's Toribash: The Animator's Mortal Kombat!!!

2008-04-05T19:40:00.003-05:00

(My outwardly quick and careless sketch of Toribash)

There's a bloody mess of a computer game called “Toribash”. It's a game where two, expressionless beat up dolls try to tear each other apart limb from limb decorated with gratuitous amounts of blood. Usually I would count it as "typical videogame fodder that only attracts teenagers."

But there is a catch to this game that is incredible for animators.

It's a game where you have to plan out your moves in advance. You extend and contract limbs frame by frame over the course of 500 frames against your opponent. After you “animate” your moves, you get to see them in action against your opponent in fully animated detail. Did you animate well enough to take out your opponent, or did you fail to anticipate his skills or his abilities? The game challenges you to “plan” and rewards “better animators”, ones who understand weight, anticipation, and other points of animation fundamentals.

The game is harder than hell to learn how to play (I finally learned how to extend and contract enough to kick somebody's torso off).

But in many ways, it's the closest to an “Animator's” Videogame that we have.

Anyways, here's a trailer:

-

Geisha

2008-04-01T21:00:00.002-05:00

CatTrigger.com Portfolio Section now present

2008-03-31T22:35:00.001-05:00

After months of trying to figure crap out, CatTrigger.com is now sportin' an art section.

Actionscript will be the death of me.

Check it here.

-

The Wise Owl Says

2008-03-26T13:49:00.004-05:00

The Wise Owl says:

“Hoo! One mouse in the claw is worth two in the bush. Hoo!”

“Hoo! A Mouse Saved is a Mouse earned. Hoo!”

“Hoo! And why do you look at the Mouse in your brother's claw but not the mouse in your own? Remove the mouse from your claw and then you can remove your brother's. Hoo!”

“Hoo! The Universe does not need to follow the ambitions of the owl looking for a mouse. Hoo!”

“Hoo! The mouse is the opiate of the masses. Hoo!”

“Hoo! Without the mouse, good owls will do good things and evil owls will do evil things, but it takes the mouse to have good owls do evil things. Hoo!”

“Hootie-Toot! Yes, We Can get the mouse! Si, se puede! Hootie-Toot!”

And this is for my brother because only my brother will understand:

“Hoo! My wife Ellen. Hoo!”

-

Experimenting

2008-03-23T10:43:00.008-05:00

For People Asking...

Yes, I did post the latest Kitty Journals, they're below this post.

Some experimentation with mediums I'm not used to for a small job I was doing.

Ha ha ha, what a week. Somebody come over and shoot caffeine into my eye, please.

-

Oh my God

2008-03-21T15:25:00.010-05:00

WHAT THE (Expletive deleted) IS GOING ON OUTSIDE?!

God: What month is this?

Angel: It's Late March.

God: Yes, that's right, everything should be going through Spring right now.

Angel: Yes sir. Just a question, did you make sure you gave Spring to every area on Earth that can use Spring?

God: Uh... yeah, Angel. I'm, like, God, why do you ask such a dumb question?

Angel: Well, it's um... it's um...

God: Angel, I'm too busy trying to give this 80-year-old woman in Kettering, Ohio a winning Lottery Ticket, please mumble somewhere else.

-

Kiki from Animal Crossing

2008-03-06T03:31:00.003-06:00

It was suggested to me that "Animal Crossing" was one of the only games that offered kind of a "brain massage" and relaxation as opposed to tenseness.

So I got "Animal Crossing" for my DS and have become a huge fan of it. I started a new town, and these cute large headed animals started pouring into town. One being KiKi (above), a black cat that "likes to dress conservatively" and has a fondness for shopping.

For about an hour, I just followed her around as she gossiped to me about everyone else. Then she went through a bunch of mood swings, first somebody apparently criticized her house heavily, so she fell into a horrible depression. But then when she traded a table with me, she began acting happy and singing.

Animal Crossing is perhaps the most disgustingly cute game of all time. I have to play it little by little because I'm so afraid that it'd kill me with cuteness.

-

Carthy - Character Design/Flash Rig

2008-03-04T16:41:00.004-06:00

BUNNY

2008-03-01T16:52:00.013-06:00

BUNNY ONE

BUNNY TWO

BUNNY THREE

BUNNY FOUR

BREAK TIME!

BUNNY FIVE

BUNNY SIX

-

Work VS. Art

2008-02-29T14:52:00.007-06:00

I originally had this long winded entry, but I think I'm just going to replace it with something simple.

I've been putting a lot of time on client work and not enough time on personal work. I've been feeling a mass disparity of working on anything independent.

I have a gutting feeling that even though I'm working alot, there needs to be a way for me to be able to squeeze in enough time and motivation to work on something personal. But I'm not quite sure how I should look at it.

I was wondering if other animators and artists in the field have had the same problem, and would like to know what any of you think about it.

-

AudioSurf

2008-02-28T14:41:00.002-06:00

Last night I spent the last wee bit hours waiting for feedback from clients.

That was when I came to the attention to this amazing timekiller known as “AudioSurf”. AudioSurf is a game that makes levels out of the music you give it. It's incredibly intuitive and creates amazing levels out of almost anything I've given it.

For instance, here's me playing a favorite of mine in the electronic world: Snoop Droop:

And here is me experimenting with the audiobook of “Audacity of Hope” written and narrated by Barack Obama:

-

Meet my new girlfriend.

2008-02-17T17:49:00.005-06:00

There's a sale at Circuit City for one of these beauties for only $69.99

Bamboo's are the new "fit-in-the-purse" graphics tablets, flat, light and showing off a rough, teethed surface that makes drawing on it like you would on a piece of bristol.

I usually do major drawing work on the tablet pc, but minor animations and sketches works like a breeze on this beautiful thing.

Everybody amend the laws now, I want to legally marry my Bamboo.

-

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T13:01:00.002-06:00

Kitty Journal's Return?

2008-02-04T18:31:00.000-06:00

I've been very busy, but unfortunately, not busy enough to pick up a pen and do a billion unpublished Kitty Journals in my sketchbook.

Once I have enough time to breathe, I am going to set up my workspace so that KJs can be easily scanned and uploaded once again!

Also I might have something special planned for Kitty Journal!

Site?

Book?

Animation?

Actually no, I don't have anything specially planned for Kitty Journal, because I'm busy.

-

The difference between Obama and Hillary (Vote on Super Tuesday!)

2008-02-03T03:44:00.000-06:00

If you want to read my boring editorial about this and my past political cartooning, please read the EXTENDED post. :P

-

A couple years ago I did a lot of political cartoons.

I actually started it back in high school in a feeble attempt to “exercise study”. Failing that, I succeeded in becoming incredibly interested in politics, which is a subject most people try to avoid just because they think it's too complicated, divisive, and compassionate.

I continued doing it in college and began making some money off of it along with a couple awards.

As I was finishing college, I became “busy” and stopped doing political cartoons because I stopped making money from it and getting an external appreciation from it. Seeing as it didn't benefit me anymore, I dumped the idea thinking that life goes on without politics.

Life did go on, but I began to realize that many things that have happened in my life and my family and friends started to have a direct correlation with National politics.

I know a friend who has been in Iraq. I know several family members and friends who have gone through the unemployment cycle. I and others have suffered through the impossible healthcare system. There is a showing of broadband companies trying to create tiers on the Internet, along with the fact that me, and everyone else are paying 50% of their taxes to the military complex, which is being funded to continue a war I couldn't understand why our government started.

So throughout those couple of years, I got more and more “talky” to people about politics. And through my talking and complaining I realized that the cool majority of people had very little interest in it, because they couldn't really understand the situation and felt that it was too disconnected from them to research it.

With this election coming up, I see two futures. One with a president like Barack Obama, who shares many of the same views I have, and I believe could bring about a turning point in the political drudgery, or a future that continues to drag into us into oblivion and create a situation where many of my family and friends will end their careers in an unemployment cycle, further more will be killed in Iraq, our freedom of speech being diminished because of tiered Internet... the list could go on.

It was yesterday when I felt the need to clear my head from my own ideas and read political cartoons from my favorite political cartoonist and one of my biggest inspirations: Ted Rall. Rall doesn't like Obama, and there have been several other different things I disagree with him on, but his way of doing political cartoons seemed more substantial and telling than many other political cartoonists.

As I flipped through all his nifty cartoons, I came upon the foreward on the book.

There was one point that Rall wrote, which was the fact that the point of political cartooning wasn't the persuade, but to replicate your world and inviting people for one second to think your way.

Political cartooning breaks things down for people to understand. It may not contain all the research and details of politics, but it becomes a starter for people and explains to them the world and realm of the cartoonist's head. Because it's easy to read, people who disagree with the cartoonist's views still choose to read it over a column. It brings forth a message to new eyes, and has less of a chance to preach to the choir.

I remembered one fan email sent to me a long time ago when I still did political cartoons, and it said “I don't ever agree with you and think you're naïve, but you have made me read my stuff to see if I can evidence to my disagreements.”

After reading the foreward, I got up and drew this.

For the first time in three years.

Clarinet Girl

2008-01-25T21:55:00.001-06:00

Animated Kitty Journal?

2008-01-21T16:08:00.001-06:00

Good Idea or Bad Idea?

I've been experimenting with Flash animation to see how many traditional Flash rules I can break. It's an exercise of discovering if stylization can be diversified in the Flash medium.

Flash's traditional encouragement of stylization is powerful clean line and powerful consistency. That's a disadvantage in many ways, and I have been trying to figure out ways to bring out a little bit of “human error” to the digital monster.

An animated Kitty Journal is still in the territory of speculation, as I am still figuring out digital streamlines to make the process much quicker. The process I've discovered so far is at least faster than doing it traditionally, but at the same time, it's still victimized by the bureaucracy set up in Flash. Not that the value of animation is always about the speed of getting it done, but to figure out new ways to streamline new kinds animation in the new digital era is incredibly exhilarating.

..or maybe because I'm such a geek.

-

Women in Animation presents: Me.

2008-01-19T21:11:00.000-06:00

Yes, I will be with Women in Animation next week, presenting people about my favorite kind of animation in the world: Flash animation.

I will cover its history, the controversy behind it, its popularity, success, and yes... even some basic how tos on how to get started on your OWN Flash short.

Here's the details taken directly from the Women in Animation's blog:

A FLASH DEMO
by
Patrick Cheng
A local Chicago freelancer, that will give a brief history about Flash and a demo of how to use Flash in todays Animation Industry.

Wednesday, January 23rd
1104 S. Wabash Building
Room 415
6:00pm

I am also available for parties and Bar Mitzvahs. Clown suit optional.

-

xmas ecard

2007-12-23T23:49:00.001-06:00

xmas cards

2007-12-19T11:22:00.000-06:00

"I Apologize for the gift-wrapping. Merry Xmas, Mom!" ~Pat

You know all those free Shop Local magazines you find on the first floor of your apartment? Guess who didn't have to pay for gift wrap this year.

-

Three Generations of Kitty

2007-11-30T02:54:00.000-06:00

As I'm finishing up the final touches of the new CatTrigger site, I look back at the history of Kitty and his evolution to now.

2003-2004

2006

2008

CatTrigger.com 3.0 will be completely functional starting early January.

-

Get yer Cereal Comics available in Chicago

2007-11-20T11:19:00.000-06:00

Cereal Comics, which includes three of my comic strip segments is available in Chicago comic stores. Drop on by and support a cartoonist.

Available right now at:

Graham Crackers Comics on 2562 North Clark Street

and

Chicago Comics 3244 North Clark Street

More Information available here.

-

Some stuff going on... yeah

2007-11-17T18:17:00.001-06:00

Been working on alot of stuff lately, so haven't been able to post new drawings or animation for a while. I have a lot of stuff on my plate right now.

Personal stuff have been sort've put in the backburner, but I manage to get a few hours of it here or there in. Stay tuned for a new Cattrigger site coming soon to a Internet near you.

I hope.

-

The opposite of today

2007-10-29T15:47:00.000-05:00

It's bright and sunny out today.

-

Gaaaah...

2007-10-28T04:09:00.000-05:00

So tired.

-

Dentist's Office

2007-10-25T10:24:00.000-05:00

I drew this for no reason.

-

The pounding in my head will not stop

2007-10-22T14:41:00.001-05:00

I drew this during the morning before I started work, not knowing that this was exactly how I was going to feel in a few hours.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

2007-10-22T12:32:00.000-05:00

Hey! Maybe the cake WASN'T a lie after all!

Happy B-Day, Mom!

-

Now you are thinking with Portals (TM)

2007-10-14T06:33:00.001-05:00

I just beat the game, so now I'm doing fanart. I'm such a dork.

I'm so tired right now, I think I'm going to assume the Party Escort Submission Position very soon.

Remember folks, THE CAKE IS A LIE!

-

Excuses as to why this blog isn't moving

2007-10-07T06:27:00.000-05:00

So here is the thing:

1.I'm very busy.
2.I still do Kitty Journals, but my scanner is disconnected for the moment.
3.Projects are up to my eyeballs (which is good).
4.I am now a fulltime freelancer (which is really good).
5.I should've bought Fat Tire instead of that crummy Goose Island beer (which is bad, and a waste of money. Don't buy Goose Island).

-

Redesigning the Cattrigger Site...

2007-09-21T20:18:00.000-05:00

It seems every time I redesign Kitty, the site needs to change. Well, for this one, I'm attempting a more "cleaner" route and avoiding the "cartoony, whacky, welcome to the world of ~~hogwarts~~ toons" look.

So here's kitty in a more abstract environment.

And here's a second pass.

Unlike the other versions, my plans is that the Kitty will be very prevalent throughout the entire site and not just on the homepage.

Suggestions, anyone?

Oh, you may have also noticed that Kitty's changed a bit from the last time we met him. Well, hopefully for the better. Rabbit ears is for rabbits, not kitties.

-

The Quest for a New Kitty Rig

2007-09-09T01:50:00.000-05:00

I'm redoing the CatTrigger mascot himself, Kitty, to give him a little bit more dynamic real estate.

Here's my first attempt.

Kitty does REBIRTH!

Slightly different stroke:

Uniform Line:

And here's the original:

More attempts to come!

-

Dear God.

2007-08-26T02:19:00.000-05:00

Why is the "close program" and "close file" shortcuts so close to the "save" shortcut in Flash?!

By the way, may not be posting for a little bit. That includes KJs. Stay tuned.

-

KJs delayed

2007-08-22T01:04:00.001-05:00

As some people have pointed out by annoying me on my cell phone (it's ok though, I still love you), the KJs aren't up.

That's because I don't have the time right now.

I will post them when I have the time. But before then, please sit tight!

-

Flash CS3 Experimentation Part 3

2007-08-12T22:44:00.001-05:00

Check out Part 1 and Part 2 first.

So how did I manage with CS3? Here's the result:

My little review of the process in the extended.

I've always had a difficult time with After Effects. Back in the days of 6.5, it was a slow nightmare. CS3 just feels faster, smoother, and well... overall better.

And the best thing there is about CS3? Importing swf files. God, we needed that. And finally we got it!

With imported swfs instead of png sequences, Flash animation was now lossless. I could zoom up, skew and do anything to my animation without a loss of quality. And that, my friend, makes it all worthwhile.

Flash, the program, has been plagued with sort've a disadvantage to 2D animators. It lacks the effects we need and the ability to have a 3D camera that could create a feeling of depth in our animation. After Effects had always been our painful, but necessary step to that process. Fortunately now, it's not only painless, but more fun than ever.

Thanks Adobe.

-

Cattrigger - Kitty Does Cartoons!

So this Blog Ends, and a NEW ONE TAKES ITS PLACE!

http://CatTrigger.com/Blog

The Kitty Journal Site is here

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Happy Halloween Everybody!

Click HERE!

Navy the Poetry Kitty

Happy Father's Day everyone!

Happy Father's Day Everyone

Click here to check out the new CatTrigger Father's Day E-Card!!!

So these three guys walk into a bar...

Twitter is the new Blogspot!

Happy Mother's Day

Click Here to watch

"How to Open a Door" Screening at the Three Minute Film Festival in Santa Fe

COMPUTER FREEZE PROGRAM!!!

The Adventures of Marie Curie

CatTrigger (And Me) WISHES YOU HAPPY VAL-DAY!

Click Here to Watch it!

The Kitty Version 4.0

The Next CatTrigger Ecard presents you... the Umbrella

The Hero of the Short

Production Screenshots of the Short (and more!)

The Navy Short

The Kitty Journal is Moving

http://TheKittyJournal.blogspot.com/

http://TheKittyJournal.blogspot.com/

CatTrigger Wishes YOU a Winter WonderLand of a Holiday!

Click here!

The Next Adventure of The CatTrigger Kitty (Preview)

The Short

Another Webcomic Idea, this time about WITCHES

Unrelated to this blog.

Toad

Emotionally Confused Hyena

Rough Sketches for Throw Away "Mini-WebComic" Ideas

She sees something.

Backbreaking Work

The Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood Sing in the Name of Anarchy!

Coming back to comics

Twitter

Independent Short Project - Pre-production is now over, time for PRODUCTION HELL!

Team Fortress 2 - Pyro (Mmmph Mmmph Hudda Hudda!)

The Other Batman

The Little Quarterback – at the San Diego International Children's Film Festival

Volleyball is fun.

What's New, Pussycat?

Navy The Poetry Student Kitty

Spread the word of ChicagoAnimators.com with mini-banners!

ChicagoAnimators.com

The Kitty got some “fanart”, like a couple days from each other.

Happy Father's Day Everyone!

Aaron the Aardvark on his first day of school

A Typical Suburb in Santa Fe

Waking up in Santa Fe

In Santa Fe

Professor Sanders the Giraffe

KJ Update - Going to Houston

"DJDJ Cityscapes" Concept Sketch 1 (with possible logo?)

CatTrigger Mother's Day E-Card (High Quality Version)

My brother shows me what the CatTrigger Kitty would look like in real life.

Just got something today.

Tough Week (Part Deux)

Busy Week - Thus, here is some Slam Poetry from one of my faves.

Avatar Changes

Kitty Exercise #5: Kitty Does Something?

My mind has been blown.

Sarah the Goth Bunny as a Hot Topic Store Clerk

Rant: A Paperless workflow

More DJDJ

DJDJ in Color

DJDJ, sketches and study for animation idea.

Regal the Alligator and his Cooking Tips.

FanArt Time! It's Toribash: The Animator's Mortal Kombat!!!

Geisha

CatTrigger.com Portfolio Section now present

The Wise Owl Says

Experimenting

For People Asking...Yes, I did post the latest Kitty Journals, they're below this post.

For People Asking...

Yes, I did post the latest Kitty Journals, they're below this post.