AHOOOOOOOUGHAAA it's been over HALF a YEAR!??!? I can't even believe it's almost August. Wow. Damn. Okay. Just keep on doing your thing then, time. <: We all appreciate it.

So I finished a little toon about Chun-Li. Scope creep's a funny thing, initially it was just going to be a single shot of her and nothing more, but I decided to add more exposition and other nonsense instead. Practiced a lot in that one, there were many movements I wasn't entirely familiar with conveying properly, animation-wise. Felt like I had to keep hitting the brakes and doing studies/experiments until I was able to reach something closer to what I envisioned. There was still plenty to improve upon, but I decided to stop succumbing to the scope-creep and just called it good, because I was spending FAR too much time on it as it was.

Still got plans and ideas for more toons, and now I feel my hands have finally been freed. Going to start showing bits of something I've been planning for AGES (there's also a really funny story behind this, but that's for a MUCH later date ;). Sorry, just merged that winky emote with the close parenthesis to save time because I feel it's been going so fast and there's so much to do. Like seriously I feel like I just teleported in from May.

Better get back to work!! Still practicing everything, come on down to Twitch if you'd like to take part in the oh-so-fun streams! Can always have more meat in the seats, if you know what I mean. ;) ;)

-T4k

What a great year! A tough one, but the seeds of work can and often do blossom into progress and results! 2023 was a prime example of such. Let's get right down into the dark portal!

​Just like last year, I have been animating for Flashgitz, though a lot more so this time around! This year's contributions have been Detective Pikachu Busts Andrew Tate, Zoomer the Hedgehog, Why Animes Never End, Hollywood Eats Mario, The Fate of All Weebs, Mickey's Diversity Games, Bison Defeats Ryu, Historically Accurate Little Mermaid, All Weebs Go to Anime Heaven, Tech YouTube is Getting Weird, Console Wars - Don't Join PC Master Race, Historically Accurate Mulan, and POV: Detective Pikachu Turns off His Body Cam. Always a pleasure to work with such a talented crew! And guess what? For the first time ever, we're working on an original series! PRAISE BE TO SPACE KING!!

Late October, right before my voyage to Japan, I finally finished Juri Needs to Cross, a Street Fighter 6 cartoon! Once I unleashed that baby to the physical world, I vowed never to spend that much time on an animation for the rest of my life. Which means my videos, from now on, are going to be shorter and leaner, kinda like this one.

During November, the talented BrokenMOJO released his slick and classy horror animation, ThereAreDemonsInYourHouse, which I had the pleasure of lending a voice to! Was so psyched to be a part of the cartoon, and it was a hot minute since I did any voice overs. If you need a hand (or "vocal cords", more specifically), give me a holler and maybe I can help!

I try to stream on Twitch at least once a week, the schedule changes at times but you're free to check out my community posts on YouTube to see what's up with it! Currently it's every Friday night @ 10:30PM MST (9:30PM PST, 11:30PM CST, and 12:30AM EST). Come on over and let's talk about whatever's on our collective mind that night!

I spent a lot of time practicing my drawing skills this year, and you're always free to check out the progress in my gallery. I imagine I'll still be moving forward with art in 2024. Excited to see where it all goes! On top of the whole art and animation thing, I've been brushing up on audio/music mixing as well as game developing. Got plans with that knowledge that may just come to fruition, soon!

Follow me on X (Twitter) and subscribe to my YouTube channel! If you wish, of course. 2023 was great, but I'm even more excited for 2024. 

Check out the video version of this post if you want a more cinematic experience!

See you soon!

​-T4k

I finished Juri Needs to Cross a couple of weeks ago. That one was a beast; I started it Summer 2022 but put it off for almost a year to make way for shorter videos (JENNY, Boys' Night out in Nevada, Princess Peach's Pumpkin Pie and an unfinished Cuphead toon). All the line work for the details in the clothing was nuts, and that combined with the constant back-and-forth skill creep as I continued to learn about animating in general made it a doozy. But it's now done, so I can finally rest.

JUST KIDDING! Rest!? HAHAHAHAHA never. I got a list of shorts I'd like to sporadically publish as I continue to practice and improve (here's one we can start with). Just not going to dump that same amount of time into a single cartoon for basically the rest of my life. You have no idea how liberated I now feel.

In other news, I've been visiting Japan since late October. The legends were true! This place is pretty cool, and I can already feel the manga and anime vibes trickling into my consciousness; hopefully this will become visible in my work. And luckily I'm still able to get my job done for Flashgitz while residing here, which I received full-time hours for last Summer; having my primary source of income flowing from what I love to do is an insane feeling. And, for the first time in history, we got an original series on the way!

Now let's end this post with something BIG: For over a year I've been planning and sketching down ideas for a project, and I'm elated that I now have time allocated to officially get started on it. All I will say is that it's not a video (and it's not that music album either, we'll talk about that another time... though that's on the way, too!). If all goes according to plan, I'll upload some WIP's on my social media pages (they're down at the footer of this site, if you're interested).

Twitch streams will start up again, they are fun! The new schedule will be posted once I get it all sorted out and return from the Empire of the Sun, just before Thanksgiving.

Gobble gobble!

-T4k

Just thought I'd drop in and make a brief lil' what's up-date! Been sketching a lot and have learning more and more drawing techniques, even if the uploads are slow. As I've said in some recent posts, my priority is to get better at what I do as of late. That being said, I've been whipping up a plan for a big, bouncy project for quite some time now! But, as always, I don't wanna give it away before it's done; otherwise it may not come true!!

I'd like to publish more artwork once my skills have reached a more consistent level; I'm still figuring some things out and workin' those drawing muscles. If you're really disappointed by what I've written there, do not worry, I got a couple of videos in the works for the channel, as well! And if that wasn't enough, I'm streaming on Twitch every Friday night at 11:00PM MST (10PM PST, 12AM CST, and 1AM EST), where you can come along the journey of me chiseling away at the next cartoons.

I'm very excited about some things I've been planning to finally materialize, but I think it's best I keep quiet until there's actually something presentable to show. Life's been a blast, just working with my animation crew, working on my own stuff, practicing and improving... so much to move on from, and so much coming up on the horizon.

​See you soon!

-T4k

Can you believe this is the TENTH YEAR I've done one of these!? A whole decade! Holy big, bouncy bizongers, that's a long time! Well, why don't we just dive right into this, then!? And if you don't feel like reading, WATCH THIS INSTEAD!

It all began during late May with the publication of Palutena Comes Home--a video I started in the Autumn of 2021, which was also my first animation NOT entirely made with Adobe Flash, but rather Toon Boom Harmony. There was a big learning curve involved, but it was worth it. That goddess really initiated an odyssey as the following month brought us JENNY, a Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl toon.

Later that Summer, Kalabor106, Rambojoe and I trudged into the local forest and searched for sasquatch. It was an incredible experience, and it led to us documenting evidence beyond what we ever imagined we'd find.

I had the pleasure of participating in this year's Madness Day, as I like to do when I get the chance. My contribution this time was Boys' Night out in Nevada, a Madness animation done with frame-by-frame rather than the traditional Madnessy goodness we're used to. And finally, during the holidays, I managed to get out Princess Peach's Pumpkin Pie, a silly and delightful little romp starring some princesses. Had fun making all of these shenanigans, and I learned many things during each one.

A little shoutout to Hyenaedon, a fine chap that provided audio tracks for every single one of the cartoons I made this year! A very talented and hardworking dude, check out his music!

But let's back up a bit; during the middle of the year, I was anointed by Flashgitz to work on some of their platinum-tier videos, Mr. Beast Exterminates Humanity, The Problem with Anime Girls, Doom Guy Vs TikTok, Detective Pikachu Cleans up the Hood, Fear the Furry, and Kratos vs Simping. More to come, and it's always an honor being a part of the crew!

I streamed some animation on Twitch a handful of times during the later months of year, and you're always free to follow me there! Will be doing them more regularly from here on out, as it's been a lot of fun chilling with you guys. As always, you're always free to follow me on my other pages, including my YouTube channel, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram.

This year was fantastic, got a crapload of work done and had a hell of a great time doing it! I've been practicing art and animation techniques I haven't tried in a long time, and I can't wait for how 2023 unfolds as I continue to improve. Thanks for checking it all out!

​-T4k

As it was every year, this Madness Day was a good time! It's always fun sifting through the talented participants' work, and hot dang, I'm really impressed at all of the effort and time dumped into their projects! And, of course, it's always nice when I can participate! This year I went with something closer to my typical animation style rather than using sprites. But if you miss the classic Madness look, never fear, because I submitted three entries over the years that have that: for 2020 I entered Madness Magnification, the year before was a game, Madness Gemini, and I debuted in 2018 with Madness Frankfurterfication. It's always cool to be a part of this amazing internet series, and it just never gets old!

Moving on, during Summer I landed an animator position with the fine folks at Flashgitz! I was anointed with the pleasure of helping with Mr. Beast Exterminates Humanity, The Problem with Anime Girls (a Genshin Impact cartoon), Doom Guy Vs TikTok, and--just published today--Detective Pikachu Cleans up the Hood! Got more coming, and I've been having such a fantastic time working with this skilled crew! I can't wait to see how the future unfolds with them all.

As for my own shtuff, I got a couple of animations in the works (as always), and I'm pretty much spending all of my free time (outside of gaming) drawing. I've been practicing and experimenting a lot, and doing things I haven't tried in years. Occasionally I like to publish finished pieces when I can, but at the moment I'm more focused on getting better. I'll start uploading more consistently and perhaps doing art commissions when I feel I'm at an apt level, and that may be very soon!

Lastly, Kalabor106, Rambojoe and I will have a little film out for Halloween. Stay tuned!

Feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel, follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and Twitch (haven't streamed on there in a while but that will change), if you want to come along for this journey! Thanks for reading, I'm genuinely very excited and happy with the direction everything in life has been going. See ya next time!

-T4k

The 22nd of September is Madness Day. A day celebrated on Newgrounds in honor of the iconic internet series, Madness Combat created by Krinkels. And this year, I published a fan cartoon of that series. And you can go ahead and click on that link about a sentence behind if you'd like to watch it.

This started out fun, but turned into quite the race because--on top of my continued work with Flashgitz as well as my current day job--the days started closing in on the deadline. But, somehow, I managed, and here we are. Had a fun time animating our three sons in a frame-by-frame fashion for once.

Still got a big animation in the works (which I will now get back to) on the way! Thanks for sticking around!

-T4k

HEY, Y'ALL! I just got back from a trip with my good homies Kalabor106 and Rambojoe! Fishing, shooting, swimming, and... what's this, filming!?  You bet your gosh darn behind we did! This is the first time we've hung out since 2018, and although at that time we wanted to make some little video for you all, time and energy got away from us. But this time things were different! You should expect to see a film of sorts appear on the channel within the next few months, I'll be chiseling away at it when I have the time. Had a great time making it, that's for sure!

In other news, I've recently been recruited onto the Flashgitz crew as an animator and have been working with them! It's been a lot of fun, and I'm absolutely honored to be a part of their team. But does this mean I won't have time to work on my own projects? Heck naw, I still manage! There's a cartoon I started after JENNY that's still in progress (linework's getting done now), but, just as I thought, my announcements about when I'd be finishing more cartoons couldn't have been more wrong! Obstacles appear out of nowhere and priorities change. Sometimes you have to shift gears whether you want to or not. But never fear, it's still going great!

One more thing I want to mention, the art; after doing extra learning and sketching this year... yikes, I see only mistakes with my previous work (including the banner of this very site I'm staring at right now). I was just doing so many things wrong, and I had no idea. I mean, yeah, I knew I had a lot to learn, but you generally don't seem to know what those things are until you've learned them, which is the ironic thing. I've been trying to find a balance between uploading as well as practicing when it comes to drawings, but as time passed and as I continued to improve, I just don't see much of a reason to focus on "getting art out there" when I could just be getting better. When the "goodness" threshold is met, then it will be time to publish. Otherwise, I'll look back years or even months later and start cleaning up the gallery again (I've been deleting art I published lately lol).

But here's the tricky part, what's "good"? Even if you get "good" now, later when you're better, you will no longer see it as such. Where should the line be drawn (NPI)? Either way, though, despite all of this rattling around in my head throughout this year, I'm finally going to start cleaning up this site as well as some other social media pages of mine more and more. Seeing artwork from an artist's adolescence is cool for comparison reasons, and it's always cool to watch them grow, but at the end of the day, you gotta turn the page, ya dig?

TL;DR (how is that acronym supposed to be lettered again? Why is there a semi-colon in there? I don't know, who cares, have this full-colon after the end of these parentheses. I'll even bullet point everything for you):

• My friends and I finished filming a little video which will be edited and published momentarily
• I started getting regular animation commission work on top of my full daytime job
• I've been working on a toon since last June, and although I was initially expecting it to be done earlier this month, it's got a ways to go
• I'll be sporadically updating and cleaning up this site as well as my other social media pages of all of my older, more awful artwork
• I've still got more ideas for cartoons after these are all finished, but time remains to be the biggest variable

Thanks for sticking with me, to those of you who are. Again, life's been really awesome and I really do feel I've been getting a lot done. But I want to do so much more. I wish I didn't have to sleep, and also that hours possibly lasted maybe 3-4 times as long.

-Ben

Life is good. It's been great, actually. Of all the years that went by that consisted of very low-frequency uploads, this one has been great by comparison, and I've got plenty more planned! Chronologically, in fact (subject to change)! Now that I've got my new animation tool (mostly) squared away, it turned out that my theory was correct; I can get cartoons out there on a regular basis. It's just what I love to do most, and I'm so glad that this has all been so smooth recently.

I've been spending a lot of my free time practicing art, learning a game development program that I'm not terribly familiar with yet (Unity), and squaring away more music composition skills (all in that order, from most to least). This has become finding a balance between getting good at what I do as well as uploading content for you all, instead of merely one-or-the-other.

Since plans are subject to change, I typically don't like to announce them, but what I will say--for now--is that there is a video in the works that I imagine will be finished toward the end of this month, if not early July. After that, I've got at least three more little animations I think I'll get done right before Autumn falls, but it all depends on what happens!

Life's been great, I haven't been this happy in a long time. Just spending my time doing what I love, practicing, improving, seeing results, publishing, discussing ideas and building concepts with friends... it's been a hell of a ride, and I can't wait to see how it all plays out and ends.

-T4k

After Palutena Came Home, armed with my knowhow of Toon Boom, I dove into a Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl cartoon: JENNY. Worked on it when I could, and I had a great time doing so! (I actually started a different animation, but put it on hold when this idea appeared in my mind. What will become of that other one now, I don't know, so I ain't making any promises.)

It is now time to continue to practice and make publish more videos when I can!

-T4k