Little Green Blog

That's brisk baby!

2012-01-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

Brudders - episode 56 'Refreshment' is being served for your snacking pleasure.

Our budding artist 'Sister' has a new on-going feature in the Studio called Sister's Sketchbook. With comments by the artist!

We're going to close the store for remodeling. You can buy our junk later.

-Sgt M.

Happy New Year! Happy New Comic!

2012-01-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

It's our first new comic strip for 2012, Brudders episode 55 - 'Lost in Translation'.

Also watch for our new feature Sister's Sketchbook in the Studio later this week.

-Sgt M.

Storyboarding 'Happy Box'

2011-12-05T21:56:00.001-08:00

Learn how our new short film Happy Box was conceived and planned in Studio Sessions 3: Storyboarding 'Happy Box'.

Merry stuff and all that.

-Sgt M.

Happy Thanksgiving! Here's your happy meal.

2011-11-24T08:09:00.000-08:00

Come and get it! In the spirit of the holiday, we're serving up the final release version of Happy
Box, the first Brudders mini-movie. Happy Box was completely homemade from scratch, just like how the Native Americans and Pilgrims made their movies. Yum yum!

You can watch Happy Box on the website in the Movies section or at our YouTube channel Little Green Dog Movies. Or just click the image below:

Maybe now we can get back to drawing some comic strips.

-Sgt M.

I want to thank my buddy Ken Wilder for giving me a five-minute crash course in how to use Lightwave SoftFX. The resulting 'jiggle' effect totally makes Sparklepus.

-G.

'Happy Box' Preview is Live at Gothtober!

2011-10-29T00:00:00.000-07:00

It took a month of sleep deprived nights after a full day of work and family time to get it (almost) completed but the sneak preview of Happy Box is finally live at Gothtober.com! To see it, go to the Gothtober website and click on the 29th.

For those who need more info, Happy Box is our first Brudders 'mini movie' and our second short film for Gothtober (the first was Hello Frankenstein way back in 2005) Gothtober is an annual Halloween inspired internet event featuring short films, animation, slide shows and recipes from a variety of crazy people (a.k.a., artists) for the entire month of October.

The reason I'm calling this a 'preview' version is because I had to cut some corners to make our October 29th deadline.

Most noticeably missing is the lipsync animation—I simply ran out of time to finish it. I decided to take out the lipsync completely because it looked weird to have only half the film with lipsync animation. Happy Box still plays well without it but I'm working on getting lip sync back in as quickly as possible.

There are also a few 'bugs' that need to be fixed, props that need to be properly finished, a few FX added, and I really wish to re-render the entire project in HD. (My little render farm lost half its capacity last week so I wound up rendering this project at 320 x 180 on two desktops and a tablet PC; surprisingly this 'web res' actually held up when scaled to double-size (640 x 360) for Gothtober.)

The final release version of Happy Box, with lip sync animation, bug fixes and other improvements should appear at our website later in November. In the meantime, please enjoy this exclusive Gothtober preview!

Now, I beg your indulgence as I take a moment send out heartfelt thanks to my friends:

To JP and Cristin for presenting Gothober every year. Gotober has been a great motivator in getting me to do 'big things' just for fun.

To the guys at work, for their curiosity and encouragement, and for just being a lot of fun to hang out with.

To the Lightwave and iPi Soft user and developer communities for their interest and support. Especially to Cageman and Rebel Hill for their technical advice and assistance in setting up my 'home brew' motion capture pipeline.

And finally, extra special thanks and love to my wife Alisa and my daughter Sienna Kai for putting up with all my nonsense these past weeks. Oh, yeah, and Sergeant and Toullie too. I could not have done this without all of you guys. Go Team Little Green Dog!

Come Monday morning, I'm taking a break and going back to work for a while. :)

G.

Our 'secret' project: Happy Box

2011-10-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

Bring out the candy corn and witches brew because it's that time of year again.

Gothober, the annual Halloween countdown calendar is alive! For 31 days in October, Gothober brings you music, movies, animation, craft projects, recipes and other spooky madness by a different artist each day.

This year, Team Little Green Dog will present our mini-movie Happy Box. Watch for it on the 29th.

In the meantime, be sure to check out all the fun stuff by other artists at www.gothtober.com beginning at midnight on October 1st.

Here's a little peek at what we're working on right now...

G.

Sneak Peek: Brudders CGI

2011-08-14T00:15:00.000-07:00

Here's a peek at what Sergeant, Toullie and Sister look like rendered in 3D.

These images are from a test of the new Skin material introduced in Lightwave 10.1. (See, we are working on the movie!)

And this is what a rigged character looks like inside the 3D program running on my tablet PC.

As you can see here, Lightwave 10.1's new realtime previewer, called VPR, is pretty sweet.

Okay, so if these were actual toys, would you buy one? Let us know; we're thinking about making that happen after the movie is finished.

Finally here's a small sample of the mocap 'puppetry' created for Sergeant last fall using iPi Desktop Motion Capture:

This video may look a little 'jumpy' because the animation was played back live and I'm sure frames were being dropped for realtime speed. Next time I'll post animation of all the Brudders characters pre-cached for full speed playback.

G.

May the Force be with Tou

2011-06-06T00:00:00.000-07:00

Well, another Memorial Day weekend has gone by without a new Star Wars movie. If that saddens you, we can help: check out Brudders - Episode 54 'Star Snores'.

The Studio is finally open to all of our online friends! If you drop in now, you can learn about the making of Episode 54.

- Sgt M.

Inspiring Movement

2011-05-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

Toullie becomes Sergeant's muse in the moving Brudders - Episode 53 'Inspiration'.

Still working on the Brudders movie. Talk about a 'Never Ending Story'.

- Sgt M.

I am Toullie, hear me roar!

2011-03-06T22:04:00.000-08:00

This week, on very special Brudders, we continue last week's sensitive gender bending topic in Episode 52 'Ladylike'.

If you're curious about some of the technical stuff behind our upcoming short film, visit our other YouTube channel LGD Test Tube. We just uploaded a calibration video for our motion capture system with annotations. I wouldn't exactly call the video entertaining but if you're the 'geeky type' you might find it interesting.

- Sgt M.

Happy Presidents' Day

2011-02-21T03:29:00.000-08:00

But, really, shouldn't happiness be for everybody? Well we think so, and we created a brand new Brudders comic to help spread that happiness. Read it here: Brudders - Episode 51 'Confession'. It's good for the soul.

By the way, the drawing session for this episode was recorded. We'll premiere the video at our YouTube channel in a few days.

Speaking of video, work on the Brudders music video 'Don't Fear the Pooper' continues. Fear not; we're still intent on getting this project done before next Gothtober.

- Sgt M.

What's the scoop on 'Poop'?

2011-02-04T12:25:00.000-08:00

Sorry for neglecting the website since last November. (Yikes! Has it been that long?) The Brudders short film project 'Don't Fear the Pooper' is taking a lot longer than we anticipated. Most of our time is being spent R&D-ing the experimental mocap system but we have the process mostly nailed down now.

Another reason for the delay is that we decided to up the production value quite a bit. Funny how that always happens. We were originally aiming for a 'quick and dirty' machinima look for 'Pooper' but because the quality of the mocap software improved dramatically last December, it seemed a shame to settle for our original goal of 'just okay' animation. Anyway, now we're shooting for a spring or early summer release and I think the extra time will be well spent. Hopefully, the release won't be as late as next Gothtober. Now that would be embarrassing!

Just for fun, here's a peek at the proxy model of Sister with mocap test data applied:

I know I keep talking about starting a public production log, and I will try to get it posted on the website this weekend. Really, I mean it. In the meantime, here's another mocap test video from last year: Deform Test Mocap Session. The motion from this session was created to test how well the characters deformed in motion, and it's the same data applied to the Sister rig in the above image. Pretty fun stuff! Come back for more sneak peeks at this production soon.

By the way, we posted Act I of the 'Pooper' animatic at the Little Green Dog Movies channel. This is essentially the same video that premiered last October at Gothtober 2010 so there's nothing really new here. If you haven't already seen it though, I hope you enjoy it. (The original blog entry about the animatic and Gothtober can be seen here: Hello Gothtober 2010.)

Finally, I've been itching to draw the next episode of Brudders. Maybe I can make time for it this week. Keep your eye on our tweets!

G.

Happy 60 Years Charlie Brown!

2010-11-22T00:00:00.000-08:00

That's right, Peanuts celebrated its 60th birthday last month and we mark the occasion with the 50th episode of Brudders, which we're calling, well, 'Peanuts'. (Good grief!)

Read the artist's notes about this strip here and write your own comments and questions.

- Sgt M.

More cowbell!

2010-11-09T10:01:00.000-08:00

In my previous post I mentioned that there were a few missing cowbell hits at the beginning of Sister's motion capture data. As it turns out this is easily correctable from within iPi DMC. First I enable IK or FK on the rig which allows me to manually make a pose correction. Then I click on Refit Pose, and press Track Forwards and Track Backwards a few frames from the corrected frame. Very simple and elegant, especially with the multiple video references visible in the backdrop to 'rotoscope' the action to. This last point is especially important in this case because the motion has to timed to musical events I can't hear in the iPi DMC playback.

Also, if you run into a bad 'pop' in a joint, try stepping to a frame after the pop, hit Refit Pose a couple of times (and maybe Analyze Actor again followed by Refit Pose one or two times,) and then track backwards right through the pop. Sometimes tracking backwards can be more precise. (Note: you may need to track forward a few frames from the frame after the pop to help smooth the motion forward from that frame.)

For you techies who just can't get enough of this 'geek speak', tracking Toullie's 1922 frame performance shown above took 1 hour and 30 minutes to process. (iPi DMC's initial rough estimate was about 2 hours.) This was with a Nvidia Geforce GTX 260; with a GTX 480, I believe the speed could be two to four times better.

- Greenlaw

Take 2...no wait...

2010-11-08T12:57:00.000-08:00

Shot the new session this morning. It seemed like all went well until I got back to the studio and started tracking the footage. That's when I realized I forgot to take iPi Recorder out of Calibration mode and all the footage was underexposed. Sigh! Went back to the stage for a another retake.

Now I'm back at the studio again and this time the data really does look good. Will start tracking the new performances after I pick my daughter up from pre-school and have some lunch.

Update: Okay, back from lunch and have already tracked Sister's performance. Looks pretty good. Some slight jitters when she's standing still but within the context of the shots I don't think it will be noticeable. What will be a problem is that we're losing some of the smaller cowbell hits in the early part of the data. Apparently, there is a threshold for what motions iPi DMC will pickup or ignore. No big deal; it should be a minor issue to keyframe the missing hits.

Oh, yeah, and rolling up the pants cuffs fixed the heel problem.

- Greenlaw

My pants do vex me!

2010-11-07T23:39:00.000-08:00

Ran into a new snag today. It turns out that in my previous mocap session, my pants cuffs were too long, covering the back of my feet and preventing iPi DMC from tracking the heels accurately. The result is that, even though the toes in the rig are pinned to the ground, the heels are swiveling slightly from side to side, and this motion is riding up through nearly every joint in the body. Looks like it's back to the stage tomorrow morning to recapture this session.

Fortunately, I have this performance pretty well rehearsed by now and it should only take a half hour to recapture all of Act I.

Otherwise, the software seems to be tracking the performance with reasonable accuracy. Can't wait to see it applied to the actual character rigs.

- Greenlaw

Acting!

2010-11-07T01:21:00.000-07:00

Today I'm tracking the motion capture performances from earlier this week. So far the motions are looking very good. Some expected jitters in the raw data, but iPi DMC has very good Jitter removal, which I'll run before saving the final data.

I may have to redo a couple of performances; I acted a bit broadly in two segments because I didn't believe the system would pick up on subtleties. Boy was I wrong. iPi DMC faithfully captured my exaggerations with embarassing accuracy. Now I understand why a lot of motion capture performances can look so bad. Less is definitely more here.

- Greenlaw

Here we go!

2010-11-02T01:31:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to setting up the new motion capture gear this morning and did some preliminary tests. The new computer and software appears to be capable of capturing four streams of synchronized video at 640 x 480 at 60fps! Previously on my older system, the best I could get consistently was four streams of 320 x 240 at 30fps. What I think is making the difference with the new computer is having installed two USB 3.0 cards and an internal 1TB SATA 3 drive dedicated for video capture.

Now I'm wondering how well this system can handle six Playstation 3 Eye cameras. I'm currently plugging two PS3 Eye cameras into one on-board controller, two more into a USB 3.0 card, and I have the internal SATA 3 drive plugged into the second USB 3.0 card (which happens to be a SATA 3 card too.) Since there are two on-board USB 2.0 controllers, in theory I could add two more cameras. The question is, is the SATA 3 drive fast enough to record six streams of video data without dropping frames?

For now, I'm sticking with my four camera setup though; I really do want to get this film done this year.

I just finished writing the motion capture performance script, and actual production shooting (i.e., not another test) will begin in the morning after I drop my daughter off at pre-school.

Stay tuned!

- Greenlaw

Hello Gothtober 2010!

2010-11-01T09:52:00.001-07:00

A day late, but is it ever really too late to celebrate Gothtober? Yesterday our friends at Gothtober premiered Act I of the animatic (a moving storyboard) for our next Brudders movie 'Don't Fear the Pooper'. In a few days we're going to start posting the production log on the website so you can follow the weekly progress of the fully animated movie, which we intend to release in mid-December. (Like I said, it's never too late to celebrate.)

In the meantime, you can visit www.gothtober.com and watch the 'teaser' by clicking on the big button for October 31st. And while you're there, please check out the many wonderful Howl-o-ween projects by other Gothtober artists.

Oh, and buy some of their stuff. Fiddle Cat is awesome!

- Sgt M.

Get Ready For Gothtober 2010

2010-10-28T12:27:00.000-07:00

Last night we delivered the 'teaser' version of our short film to our friends at Gothtober. This version is the first act in animatic (animated storyboard) format, and it has the final music track performed by Team Little Green Dog (Brett '2ch' Santucci, Alisa Loren Klein, A. Isamu Kuromi, Claire K. Kuromi, Sienna Kai Greenlaw, myself, and of course Sergeant Marshmallow and Toullie.) We had hoped to have the fully animated cg version ready, but unforeseen mocap retargeting issues tripped us up. Once I accepted that the cg version wasn't going to happen in time for Gothtober, I realized that our back up plan (the animatic) played better as a 'teaser' anyway.

So, if you're curious about our project and want to become even more curious about it, watch for the teaser at www.gothtober.com on October 31st.

We still intend to finish the cg version of the full movie by mid-December, and you can keep up with our progress by reading the production log, which we'll open to our friends (that's you) shortly after Halloween.

- Greenlaw

What the Hell?

2010-09-06T00:05:00.001-07:00

Our new computer arrived this week, specially built for our markerless motion capture system. Just in time for Gothtober 2010!

So what exactly does that mean? Sorry, you'll just have to wait until next month to find out.

In the meantime it's 'bring-a-friend-to-work' day for the Grim Reaper in this week's webcomic Streams - Episode 12 'Snowball'.

- Sgt M.

Boring Tech Update

2010-08-22T22:36:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed that the website was under construction all this week. Things should be stable now so, if you see anything weird, try refreshing your browser.

So what's new? We updated the Hello Frankenstein page to display the YouTube version of the movie, so you can watch it here bigger and in higher quality now. Other sections (Gallery, Books, Comics,) have been improved or at least made to look more uniform with the rest of the site. We're still working on the Store and the new Studio sections, so you can expect a new look and content there soon.

Two new features are Comic Roulette and Sergeant Says..., which are appearing on almost every page. These panels are still a bit limited in content, but we'll be expanding them over the next week or two.

We hope you like these changes. Let us know what you think!

Two bad things this week:

1. Because we changed the extensions on many pages from .html to .php, we lost our comments on those pages. We're going to try to restore the comments as best we can but the dates will be wrong. Oh, well.

2. No new comic this Monday because the web stuff took up too much time.

Look for a four part Streams starting next Monday though. (Now that's a good thing!)

- Greenlaw

"The Mysteryes of Nature and Art"

2010-08-16T03:51:00.000-07:00

When people tell us to "go fly a kite," in Brudders - Episode 49 'Kite', we show 'em how it's done.

Remember folks: flying is still the safest way to travel.

- Sgt M.

"...isn't that interesting?"

2010-08-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

Our delightful dinner with Death continues in this week's comic Streams - Episode 11 'Just Dessert'.

Save room for cookies.

Brudders will be back with a new episode next week.

- Sgt M.

History Reruns Itself

2010-08-02T01:10:00.000-07:00

So if Henry the VIII and Bill Cosby got into a fight, who do you think would win? These are the things Greenlaw thinks about. Pathetic, isn't it?

Anyway, Brudders - Episode 48 'Ye Olde Saturday Morning Catoone' is up. If you find it too puzzling, try singing it to the tune of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.

If you're a glutton for punishment, or maybe just a glutton, come back later this week for a 'behind the scenes' look look at this strip.

- Sgt M.

The Next Studio Session

2010-07-16T23:17:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the delays with Brudders and Streams. We've been busy figuring out a workflow for our new mocap system, and we're getting close to nailing things down. If you'd like to see a brief test done in our secret lab, please visit Little Green Dog Test Tube, our new YouTube channel where we will be posting our geeky tests and experiments.

Anyway, creating motion capture on a 'regular Joe' budget will be the topic of our next Studio Sessions.

-Greenlaw

Little Green Screen Dog

2010-07-04T02:02:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited! Team Little Green Dog now has its own green screen and motion capture stage. Granted, by Hollywood standards, it's a teeny-tiny 'broom closet' of a space, but it means we can finally get going with some of our movie productions.

For motion capture, we've been beta testing a system called iPi Studio for about a year now. iPi Studio was very affordable (introductory price is $495, and the recommended Playstation 3 Eye cameras cost about $30 each,) and because it's a markerless system, no special suit is needed. The system uses four PS3 cameras and a laptop to capture performances. I had to tap the metal base of the cameras to be able to securely mount them on c-stands but that turned out to be pretty easy. With the recent version 1.0 release, we're getting surprisingly good results for what's supposed to be an 'entry level' mocap system.

I'll post videos of the camera mod and test sessions in a few weeks.

Right now I'm writing a Brudders mini-movie so we can test the system in a real production scenario. It should be fun.

-Greenlaw

It's a Big Summer!

2010-06-14T00:24:00.000-07:00

It doesn't matter if you're on summer vacation or not, you can still kick back and enjoy Brudders - Episode 47 'Energy'.

Notice anything different? Yup, our comics are bigger now! Starting this week you can enjoy Brudders and Streams in a wider format. The rest of the site will soon follow, plus new features!

By the way, if things look weird, try refreshing your browser (or press F5). Toullie is updating our CSS code, which may cause funky stuff to happen throughout the week.

- Sgt M.

Recital Invitation

2010-06-02T23:09:00.000-07:00

For all you music lovers out there, Brudders Episode 46 'Recital' has been posted.

Greenlaw is back to drawing the new Streams. Watch for it in a day or two.

- Sgt M.

Tell Me What You See...

2010-05-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

Brudders Episode 45 'Rorschach', the cartoon that inspired Psychodiagnostik, is available for your analysis.

Come back for a new Streams later this week.

As you can see, we added a Studio button to the navigation bar, but it's not active yet. Hopefully that will go online this week too.

- Sgt M.

It's Science!

2010-05-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

Once again, it's time for an educational moment with Toullie, in Brudders, Episode 44 'Deep'.

The new Streams comic is up today. We're calling this one Episode 10 'Gourmet'.

In case you didn't know, the first Studio Sessions video went up a couple of weeks ago. This episode is called Studio Sessions - Session 1: Drawing Brudders, Episode 42 'Conscience', and it features commentary by Greenlaw. You can watch it at our YouTube channel.

Let us know what you think about the video, and please rate it at YouTube.

- Sgt M.

New Stuff Today and Tomorrow

2010-04-25T15:05:00.001-07:00

Rhythm & Hues Studios (my day job) made the big move to their new six story facility in El Segundo, which completely disrupted my R+H and Little Green Dog projects this week. Things are quickly settling down though, and I have to say, the new place is pretty awesome! I even have a pleasant view from the fourth floor looking over beautiful tall trees. (My old office looked out over a dumpster.)

Anyway, Toullie is finally getting around to posting Little Green Dog material that should have gone up earlier this week. Today we posted the first Studio Sessions video which you can watch now on our YouTube channel. Remember, if you like it, please leave a comment and rate it.

- Greenlaw

Status Report

2010-04-16T16:45:00.000-07:00

We posted a new Streams (Episode 9 'Rebuttal') the other night. I actually had a different episode drawn for this week, but the idea for this one popped up at the last minute and it obviously had to follow the previous episode. Funny how this stuff happens.

Right now, I'm drawing the next episode of Brudders. We're going to post this and the next episode of Streams on Monday.

As for the promised Studio Session video, it's been mostly edited, but we still need to record the audio commentary track. Hope to get to that tonight.

- Greenlaw

Poetry Time

2010-04-12T08:06:00.001-07:00

This week we attempt to class up Brudders with Episode 43 - 'Shelley'.

We're running a little behind on finishing the first Studio Session video. Toullie says cutting 3.5 hours of video to less than 10 minutes is trickier than he thought it would be. We're getting close though so stay tuned.

- Sgt M.

Something New is Coming

2010-04-04T20:30:00.000-07:00

This week's guilt-free episode of Brudders is called 'Conscience'.

For this episode, we tried something new (for us anyway.) The drawing session for 'Conscience' was recorded to video and we'll be posting that in a new section of the website called The Studio. Watch for it a few days from now.

- Sgt M.

Let's Talk

2010-03-26T01:45:00.000-07:00

After my last post, this is really embarrassing: I'm already late!

Sorry for the delay, but I've been helping Toullie bring the website into the 21st century by converting a huge chunks of it to CSS. It's going slowly and we still have a lot to do, but so far, we got all the Brudders and Streams pages done.

So what's new? Well, the biggest change is the addition of the new Comment Box at the bottom of each comics page. Feel free to revisit your favorite comic strips and ask a question or tell me what you think.

Okay, going back to drawing comics now. Look for a brand new Brudders this weekend...I promise!

- Greenlaw

Greenlaw Speaks!

2010-03-21T23:55:00.000-07:00

My last post to the Little Green Blog was a long time ago. In fact, it was a couple of years ago, just before Sergeant Marshmallow took over as this blog's editor. Sergeant's been doing a fine job, but we decided that I should be posting entries too, at least on the more 'behind the scenes' type topics.

Good news for Brudders fans: Some of you may have noticed that I've been making a stronger effort to keep the comic strip on a regular weekly schedule. My target was always weekly releases every Friday night, but typically the strip came out on Monday or much later. Thanks to some workflow improvements, I've been able to stick to regular weekend releases again. I'm still shooting for Fridays, but a friend Scott Wright suggested that I publish on Mondays, which will give me a couple of extra days for last minute art and writing tweaks. So here's the official schedule for Brudders: from now on, you can expect to read a new Brudders strip every week on Monday.

By the way, Scott publishes a very funny and personal webcomic called Team Spectacular, so check it out. (Not surprisingly, a new episode every Monday.)

New episodes of Streams will still come out, well, whenever, but I will try to draw these comics more frequently too. As a matter of fact, I'm inking a new episode right now and you can expect it to come out later this week.

This next item is pretty exciting for me as an artist. We've been experimenting with recording my Brudders and Streams drawing sessions, and we're going to post these videos in the website's upcoming Studio section and to our Little Green Dog Movies YouTube channel. If this works out well, we're planning to do more behind-the-scenes and tutorial type videos. I'm not sure when the first one will go online, but I'll let you know more when we work out the details.

- Greenlaw

The Brainy Season

2010-03-12T21:43:00.001-08:00

This week's food for thought: Brudders, Episode 41 'Brain'.

While you're there, check out the new comment box on the Streams and Brudders comics pages.

- Sgt M.

Got Chocolate Milk?

2010-03-05T23:35:00.000-08:00

Cheers! Brudders, Episode 40 has been poured for your enjoyment.

Also, the long-awaited return of Streams. Read Episode 8 'Winter' in the Comics section now.

We're adding new features to the website this week to make it more participatory. Stay tuned.

- Sgt M.

Oh, Where, Oh, Where Has My Little Green Dog Gone?

2010-02-26T08:35:00.000-08:00

Team Little Green Dog traveled out of town for a few weeks and incredibly, we survived without the internet. We did bring a computer with us though, the new HP tm2 tablet PC, so it wasn't exactly life on the Oregon Trail. As a matter of fact, this week's Brudders, Episode 39 'Call of Doodie', was completely drawn on this tablet PC.

If you're curious about what it's like to draw on this tablet, look for a review and tutorial in the upcoming Studio section of the website. With a little luck, it will be online this weekend.

- Sgt M

Singalong with the Cats

2009-12-12T16:04:00.000-08:00

Happy Hanukkah! I hope everybody is having a good and not-too-hectic holiday season.

This week Toullie and I made a music video episode we're calling 'A Cat's Song'.

In case you're wondering, Toullie is playing a Lanikai Soprano Ukulele and I'm playing a Hohner Marine Band Deluxe Harmonica. (The Deluxe is a lot like a regular Marine Band but it's easier to bend notes with.)

By the way, Toullie says the website should display more correctly now when using Internet Explorer. Even so, Firefox is still our preferred browser.

- Sgt M.

Happy Birthday Sister!

2009-11-01T15:55:00.000-08:00

Sergeant and Toullie celebrate Sister's special day in the obviously titled Episode 37 - 'Birthday'.

We're working on some original Brudders T-Shirt designs. More to come.

- Sgt M.

Twinkle, twinkle...

2009-10-18T02:59:00.000-07:00

Brudders Episode 36 - 'Star' is up. No 3D glasses needed to read this comic strip, not even a telescope.

- Sgt M.

Gasp! Gothtober again!

2009-10-08T23:05:00.000-07:00

Today the brudders go back to where they made their Hollywood debut: Gothtober! If you didn't already know, Hello Frankenstein first appeared at Gothtober, a terrific annual Halloween themed art exhibition. That was four years ago, and now Sergeant and Toullie return with episode 35 - 'Drive-in Movie'. To read this strip, go to www.gothtober.com and click on the number 8.

And bring your 3D glasses. You're going to need them because this comic was an experiment in anaglyphic drawing, which means, with the proper glasses (the red/cyan kind,) you will see Sergeant and Toullie leap off your computer screen.

Don't know where to get 3D glasses? You can use the pair that comes with some 3D DVD's like the recent Coraline release, or even better you can purchase a deluxe pair for a reasonable price from vendors like Rainbow Symphony Store. Alisa and Greenlaw wear glasses so they like Rainbow Symphony's Proview Professional Clip-On, but Toullie and I prefer the stylish Proview Professional, which is comfy and excellent if you don't already wear glasses. Either model sells for $6.95. Rainbow Symphony Store also carries the traditional paper ones for as little as 15 cents a piece. (No, they didn't pay us for this plug. We just like their stuff.)

If you enjoy this 3D episode of Brudders, let us know and we'll make more 3D comics and art.

Oh, and while you're there, be sure to check out some horrific treats by other Gothtober artists...if you dare!

- Sgt M.

Hello YouTube

2009-09-21T02:45:00.001-07:00

We're now on YouTube! Watch Hello Frankenstein in high quality, and please rate it. If you want to be notified on our latest movies on YouTube, you can subscribe to our channel here.

And if you just arrived here from YouTube, well, hello! We hope you have fun at our website. Please sign up in the forums if you want to chat with us.

We added a couple of new items to the shop: Brudders coffee mugs! We got our samples yesterday and they look fantastic. We'll post some pics in the forum later this week.

- Sgt M.

A Matter of Taste

2009-09-14T22:45:00.000-07:00

Once again, it's time for a new Brudders. You can read Episode 34 - 'Curiosity' in the usual place.

- Sgt M.

Eureka!

2009-09-08T01:55:00.001-07:00

Who says there are no original ideas left? Find out in Brudders Episode 33 - 'Epiphany'.

We're going to be opening new sections in The Doghouse later this week. Remember, some areas will require the free membership to see them. We'll bring you more details in the next Little Green Blog entry, so come back soon.

- Sgt M.

...of Human Kindness

2009-08-30T23:50:00.000-07:00

Thirsty for a new Brudders? You're in luck because Episode 32 - 'Milk' just got uploaded.

You may have noticed that the website got a new look this week. We've also been busy writing and designing more content (in addition to the usual Brudders and Streams episodes,) and we are testing new technology that will help us create animated shorts more quickly.

The juicy details will be revealed in a new members-only section of the Little Green Dog discussion forums called The Studio. This new forum is the place where you can chat directly with the artists Greenlaw and Loren, and see what really goes on behind the scenes. Membership to this area will be absolutely free, but you will need to register to enter The Studio.

Watch for more announcements here, or sign up to become a member and get informed before everybody else.

- Sgt M.

Pardon our dust

2009-08-27T10:29:00.000-07:00

Today, Toullie is going to be working on the website again, so if things look weird, clear your browser cache and hit the Refresh button.

Update! Okay, all done. We've given the site a new look, so don't forget to clear your browser cache.

Toullie thinks it's a bit cleaner now, and certainly it's more colorful. Toullie has been busy learning CSS, and he eventually wants overhaul the site from the ground up, but this will do for now.

Do you like it? Let us know what you think.

- Sgt M.

Nisei Week

2009-08-23T09:05:00.000-07:00

Last summer, Toullie and I took lessons from Yoki Daiko, the excellent Taiko drumming group.

This week, in observance of Nisei Week here in Los Angeles, we present the special Taiko episode of Brudders (Episode 31- 'Renshu'.)

- Sgt M.

Downtime

2009-08-16T15:33:00.001-07:00

Just so you know, Toullie is working on the website today and some pages may be breaking. He says things should be good by this evening. (Update: Toullie is done for now. If things look weird, clear your browser cache or hit the refresh button.)

Sadly, we may not have a new episode of Brudders posted this weekend. Brudders will definitely be back next weekend, and there should be a new Streams too.

- Sgt M.

Phonnoyance

2009-08-09T09:24:00.000-07:00

Okay, so who doesn't hate that unsolicited sales call? Find out in Brudders Episode 30 - 'Telemarketing'.

- Sgt M.

Lunch Break

2009-08-02T14:41:00.000-07:00

Time for a sandwich in a bottle. Brudders Episode 29 - 'Moth' is online.

- Sgt M.

Astronomy Lesson

2009-07-23T09:52:00.000-07:00

Oh, Sister. You have so much to learn.

Brudders Episode 28 - 'Moon' has been posted for your educational pleasure.

- Sgt M.

Hungry?

2009-06-15T08:11:00.000-07:00

It's time to serve up a new episode of Brudders. Fresh from the oven is Episode 27 - 'Food Chain'.

Mm, mm, good!

- Sgt M.

Abra-cat-dabra

2009-03-22T13:13:00.000-07:00

Your eyes do not deceive you. Brudders may have disappeared for a couple of weeks but it's back now with Episode 26 - 'Pet Tricks'.

Two new paintings have been entered in the Gallery. These images were sketched using a handheld Nintendo DS Lite and a homebrew paint program called Colors! If you've visited Doodle Du Jour in the past year, then you already know that the Nintendo is Greenlaw's favorite sketching device. "It's like a Cintiq that fits in your pocket."

- Sgt M.

(Updated 04/03/09)

Pee-yoo!

2009-02-17T15:30:00.000-08:00

Get a whiff of Brudders Episode 25, the stinkiest episode ever. Also, Streams Episode 7 is finally up.

Oh, and since people are asking, we're looking into making some Brudders stuff you can buy like original and limited-edition artwork. We're also going to offer a few POD items like mugs and t-shirts. Keep watching this blog for news.

- Sgt M.

Is this the end?

2009-02-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

Nah, it's just the latest installment of Streams. Episode 6 is online.

Look for a new episode of Brudders next week. For now, enjoy Episode 24. And don't forget, if you're on Facebook, you can become a Fan of Brudders.

Oh, and the Forum is temporarily down. Somebody here accidentally deleted it. Hmm.

- Sgt M.

It's Black History Month

2009-02-01T03:32:00.000-08:00

Brudders Episode 24. It's the educational episode!

Next week we'll post a new Streams, and Brudders will be back the week after that.

Have fun people!

- Sgt M.

No more tears

2009-01-26T01:31:00.001-08:00

With Brudders Episode 23 we continue our weekly tradition of bringing you the finest in sophisticated humor and intellectual stimulation.

Okay, maybe not, but who doesn't like a metaphor when it's this cute?

- Sgt M.

Brudders welcomes the new President!

2009-01-18T22:24:00.001-08:00

Episode 22, the special Inauguration Day episode is online.

Oh, and Streams Episode 5 is online. No, really, this time I mean it.

Over on deviantArt, Greenlaw has been posting past episodes of Brudders. So far his dA page doesn't feature anything new, but keep an eye on it for new work later this month. Click here and bookmark his page now.

And finally, if you're on Facebook, you can become a fan of Brudders by clicking right here.

- Sgt M.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-28T00:45:00.000-08:00

The long overdue Episode 21 of Brudders is online!

New Streams this Sunday. I swear!

Yawn! Tryptophan kicking in. Must sleeee...

- Sgt M.

The Wuxia Episode

2008-11-02T23:23:00.000-08:00

Need we say more? Brudders, Episode 20.

Oh, yeah, and the discussion forum is officially open. Here you can discuss and ask questions about any Little Green Dog project, and you can even post fan art. Just click on the button labled 'Forum' at the top of any page.

To post messages to the forum, you'll need to sign up as a member. Don't worry, we're not interested in selling or otherwise distributing member information. Are you kidding? That's too much work.

- Sgt M.

Wah!

2008-10-20T13:07:00.000-07:00

Sorry, no new Brudders this week. Things got a little too crazy here and we really need the break.

There will be a new Brudders this weekend and, with a little luck, the latest episode of Streams too.

- Sgt M.

Pardon Our Dust

2008-10-16T00:55:00.000-07:00

Toullie is making two big changes to the website this week:

1. The Mailbag button was moved to the bottom of every page. A minor change, but we hope it helps remind visitors that they can send us a message from any page. Please do write us when you see something you like. We may be cats but we like to read, and we might write back.

2. We're adding a discussion forum to the site. Please note that even though you can see it, the forums are not active yet. I'll make another announcement here when the dust settles.

- Sgt M.

Sergeant's No-Nonsense Blog Entry

2008-10-14T00:14:00.000-07:00

Toullie and I have houseguests to entertain this week so I'm going to keep this short and to the point: Brudders, Episode 19, read it. Now.

- Sgt M.

Happy Birthday Sister

2008-10-05T00:30:00.000-07:00

It's Sister's birthday. See how she celebrates it in this week's Brudders, Episode 18.

- Sgt M.

Cat-ch Me If You Can

2008-09-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

Summer is over and autumn has begun. What does this mean? Well if it was a Monty Python movie, the fat man throws up. Nobody throws up in this week's Brudders but, for your reading pleasure, we offer something almost as grotesque: Episode 17.

- Sgt M.

Sweet Sixteen

2008-09-21T16:07:00.000-07:00

You can enjoy this week's Brudders with no strings attached. Well, almost.

Click here to read Episode 16.

- Sgt M

Sick Artist

2008-09-14T07:30:00.000-07:00

That guy who draws us was sick with a head cold this weekend but he still finished this week's Brudders. He also fed us, and even changed Sister's diapers a few times. Now that's dedication!

Brudders Episode 15 is online. Achoo! Uh, oh.

- Sgt. M

Fight!

2008-09-07T20:29:00.000-07:00

Episode 14 of Brudders is up. Don't look at me, Toullie started it!

- Sgt M.

Slipped Streams

2008-09-01T11:05:00.000-07:00

Happy Labor Day!

Episode 13 of Brudders is up. Uh oh! Unlucky number. Read it if you dare!

Greenlaw didn't finish the new Streams in time for today. He blames it on an extra busy schedule this week, but I think he's just being lazy because of the holiday. Oh, well, at least he finished drawing this week's Brudders and that's what really matters isn't it?

- Sgt M.

More Poo Poo

2008-08-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome back! You're just in time for Episode 12 of Brudders. If you liked last week's strip, well, this week's is more of the same. Sister thinks it's funny, so whatever.

Next weekend, we're going to post a new Streams.

- Sgt M.

Sergeant's First Blog Entry

2008-08-17T20:29:00.000-07:00

I can't believe they woke me from my nap to write this blog entry. Anyway, Episode 11 of Brudders is up. This one is not one of my favorite episodes but if poo poo jokes make you laugh, you'll probably like it.

Stop laughing Toullie.

- Sgt M.

Fakecation

2008-08-10T22:00:00.000-07:00

We were on vacation this past week. Can you guess how we spent it? By working of course! (Nobody can call us lazy!)

Today we're posting two new comics: Episode 4 of Streams and Episode 10 of Brudders.

We added a new Mailbag page to the website where you can send us messages, haikus, and love letters. To get there, just click on the tab at the top of any Little Green Dog website page that says Mailbag. In the future, Sergeant and Toullie will pick their favorite messages and post them here in this blog.

By the way, this is my final entry. It's been fun but, between writing and drawing Brudders, producing RVJ, raising a family, and keeping a day job at Rhythm & Hues Studios, it's become too hard to make time for this blog. So, starting next week, the Little Green Blog will be written by Sergeant Marshmallow.

This is Greenlaw, signing off.

Rare Turkey

2008-08-03T00:04:00.000-07:00

We're getting some nice feedback about the print edition of Turkey for Dinner. Heartfelt thanks to everyone who bought a copy.

While we're very pleased with the version of the book that's currently available from Lulu, we have to confess, the first two copies went out with a small typo: On the dedication page, the Japanese word 'Itadakimas' was misspelled. Arrgh! We proofed this book to pieces but somehow that one snuck past us. We know who bought one of those books but we were wondering who got the other one. No need to contact us if you don't want to, but you should take pride in knowing you own a very rare copy of Turkey for Dinner, only one of two that got released to the public. The typo has since been corrected.

Oh, and episode 9 of Brudders is up.

New Brudders

2008-07-28T18:38:00.000-07:00

In episode 8 of Brudders, Sergeant sets the record straight.

If you're on Facebook, you can join the new Brudders group and talk about, well, the brothers. Click here to visit Brudders on Facebook.

Sergeant and Toullie can read (they're very talented cats,) so don't be surprised if they join a discussion.

It's Turkey Time!

2008-07-20T02:42:00.000-07:00

No, it isn't Thanksgiving yet but Turkey for Dinner, the printed edition, has arrived! The quality of this book is quite nice and we're pretty excited about it. It's available now in the Little Green Dog Store. Of course, you can still preview it for free on the website.

And anudder Brudders is online. In episode 7, Toullie discusses the family tree with Sergeant.

Bon Appétit!

2008-07-14T07:18:00.000-07:00

A week late but episode 6 of Brudders is here.

The print edition of Turkey for Dinner is in its final proofing stage. If all goes well, you'll find the book in our online store next week. We'll tell you more after we get the next proof.

Toullie Sings

2008-06-29T00:00:00.000-07:00

Bravo! Click here to read the first musical episode of Brudders. This one should be sung to the tune of Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World.

The Saga Continues

2008-06-24T23:59:00.000-07:00

Meow! The fourth Brudders comic strip has been uploaded to the comics section. And while we're at it, we posted two new episodes of Streams too.

There are two new additions in the Gallery.

Valentine was a concept painting for a plush toy Alisa made. Here's the plushie.

(Hmm. I wonder how Sergeant and Toullie would look as plushies?) The second painting is the original textless artwork for the Hello Frankenstein one-sheet.

If you had trouble accessing some pages on this website last week, it was probably because we were tweaking the interface. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused caused but all should be good now. Better actually.

Brudders

2008-06-15T23:07:00.000-07:00

Making its debut today with three episodes is Brudders, a new comic strip featuring Sergeant Marshmallow and Ratatoullie. The fourth Brudders strip will appear next Sunday, and a new strip will follow every Sunday after that.

Streams will finally get on with some new strips next week.

We're also working on a third comic strip but it won't be ready to post for a few months yet. For now we're going to focus on just one, well, okay, two new things at a time.

RVJ fell way behind schedule, but it looks like we may be able to wrap this short film this summer, assuming our 'day job' as animators doesn't kill the season for us again. When we get close to finishing the project, you'll read about it here first.

Turkey for Dinner's print release also fell behind schedule. We're targeting the 4th of July for final print preparations, and will send it to press a few days after.

Sorry again for all delays, and thanks for sticking around.

Turkey for Dinner

2007-07-04T18:42:00.000-07:00

Turkey for Dinner was created way back in 1995 to explore the feasibility of creating children's books using then current 'off-the-shelf' 3D software. To put this period in context, this was the same year Pixar released the first Toy Story movie, so 3D technology was not commonly seen in the mainstream yet.

I was already working as a illustrator back then but looking for a way to distinguish my style from other artists. 3D seemed like a good direction and, even though Turkey for Dinner is primitive by today's standards, it was a pretty good start for the time. The book was never published but it brought me a lot of other 3D work for many years.

You can now read Turkey for Dinner on the website for free. If you'd like to own a printed copy of the book, it will be available for purchase in the store soon. (Update Aug 3, 2008: The print edition is now available from Little Green Dog Press.)

Little Green Dog plans to produce more children's books so keep reading this blog for future title announcements.

Hello Frankenstore

2007-07-03T10:46:00.000-07:00

A few Hello Frankenstein items are now available in the Little Green Dog store. We want to limit the merchandising but we thought offering a few movie souvenirs would be fun.

The t-shirt is very nice. It's direct printed on rich black fabric, and features the movie poster art. I'm wearing one right now and I can confirm that it's quite comfortable too.

The movie poster is awesome. At 22 x 34 inches, it's not quite full 'one-sheet' size, but it's still pretty big and it looks great.

There is also an 8-pack of postcards featuring the lobby card art. I haven't seen the sample yet but I'll describe it here when I do.

We're prepping our first children's book Turkey for Dinner for publication but before it goes to press, you'll be able to read the entire book on the Little Green Dog website for free. Look here for the announcement in a few days.

'Streams' Debuts

2007-06-15T10:20:00.000-07:00

The website has a completely new look and I think we got all of the bugs worked out. If you have trouble seeing anything, try clearing your browser cache and refreshing the page.

The latest additions to the site can be found in the Comics and Gallery sections.

In Comics, the first episode of Streams went online today. I plan to do more of these but we’re very busy on about 10 other projects right now, including two other comic strips.

We also added Beastmark to the comics section. It's an oldie but I still kinda like it. The comic was completed back in 1994 to determine the practicality of using Adobe Illustrator 5.5 to draw comic books. It was also the first time I used Photoshop, which was at version 3.0 at the time.

Beastmark was fun to draw but it took way too much work to get a look I was happy with and I abondoned the idea of drawing comics this way. These days I like drawing comics using Manga Studio EX, which fantastically simulates traditional comic book drawing techniques.

In the Gallery section, Alisa and I have each posted a painting, respectively titled Sleep Witch and How I Spent My Summer Vacation.

Little Green Dog Days

2007-06-14T09:14:00.001-07:00

The Little Green Dog website is going through some changes and it will be up and down intermittently this summer. Sorry for any inconvenience this causes, but a lot of good stuff will be going up during this period.

What's My Type?

2007-06-05T14:07:00.000-07:00

Today I designed a font based on my comic book lettering style. I tested it out in Manga Studio EX and it's fairly accurate to my hand printing. I'll start using it in the next installment of Streams.

I used a typeface design program called Font Creator 5.5, which is easy to learn and relatively inexpensive. If you can afford it, get the Professional Edition; the auto kerning feature is worth it.

Doodle Du Jour

2007-05-03T11:54:00.000-07:00

It's been six months since we launched the Little Green Dog website, and this is only the second post. That doesn't mean we've been goofing off. Au contraire!

Our second film, RVJ, is back on track and will hopefully be completed this summer, and then we'll start production on our second Sgt and Toullie short. We're also about to release our first children's book--more on this soon.

In the meantime, please check out Doodle Du Jour, a sketchblog featuring drawings by me, Alisa, and some of our friends. Even though Doodle Du Jour is not a part of Little Green Dog, Sgt Marshmallow and Ratatoullie have made surprise appearances in it.

Hello Little Green Dog!

2007-01-05T15:14:00.000-08:00

The Little Green Dog website went online today.

To celebrate the occasion, we've posted our first short film Hello Frankenstein on the site.

Fear what the cat dragged in!