PiGPEN 2011-02-06 18:53:45

Don't listen to Luis, the Pencil tool is badass.
You just need to stop smoothing it... and also learn how to draw humans in a visually appealing way. That inception screenshot is herpderp.

Steinberg 2011-02-06 20:00:15

Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one that had this problem.
But in the end I realised that having a style is not really neccessary. I guess the secret is just never stop creating, without worries. Works for me.

Neophyte-Ronin 2011-02-06 20:17:25

You're dying to compose a series? Name your genre and a few concepts--maybe a general plot to bind everything--and maybe I can accommodate you! I can also perform voice-overs to some degree, so don't be afraid to inquire about those.

Finally, don't worry about nailing a specific style. There are graphic novelists who employ a multitude of character and art styles, one for each project, that prevents them from being tagged for a specific one. Draw whatever, however, and don't look back.

NitrogenousBeing 2011-02-07 01:01:57

I really enjoy reading your news posts. Good luck on finding your own style. I treat style as something you copy from somewhere whether its another flash artist or a weird dream. Sometimes I think to myself I will animate this in the style of ___. But I probably have a lot less experience than you do so if you find your style let me know how. I can never get straight lines with the brush tool either but I think hotdiggedydemon uses the brush tool then smooths it with the selection tool and he has some nice lines... then again he draws heads in illustrator which has a brush with tapered edges...
Also I think you already have style your purple RicePirate character is awesome and I'm jealous cause I haven't been able to draw a NitrogenousBeing the way I imagine it yet.

frabalon13 2011-02-08 23:24:51

bout you mace a comick seres to help you find a sile.sinse they are easyer to make

redminus 2011-02-10 23:45:21

I agree with Luis that developing a style is something that sort of happens over time in sort of a combination of how you perceive ideas, how you aim to create images in a way that makes sense to you, and how you use the tools... eventually your comfort in these areas will congeal into some kind of consistency. That said, it's not something to take lightly or something that can be forced. Shit son, in art school I've seen girls stand up in front of studio groups and break into tears because they couldn't handle the fact that they hadn't developed a signature style by the end of 2nd year, which was actually a totally normal phase to be at.
I really like the way that Egoraptor has an obvious interest in honing his chops for use in animation specifically, and you can really see that he gets a little better with pretty much everything he does. To me, that just proves all the more how important it is to focus on your approach to the medium, and create a style that works in co-operation with the "rules" of animation. Personally, I've developed my styles over a really long time, but now I'm at the point where I have to find a way to scale it back a little bit for the sake of animation, as a painter/illustrator i tend to take a way too time-consuming and detail-oriented approach and it ends up taking me forever to get anything done. There's definitely something to be said for considering the intent of whatever piece you're working on and, again, the nature and limits of the tools at hand. I think you totally have a handle on it though and if you just grind a little you'll totally fall into something that you're happy with.

TL;DR - I'm with Luis, get a tablet, ditch the pencil. THOUGH, mind you, the pencil is by far the best thing going when it comes to coloring areas, you can just draw the spots you want filled, fill them in, and then erase all the pencil at once. BAM awesome.

crazincraz 2011-02-13 10:18:04

HWOAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH!

WhiteLightning 2011-02-13 20:42:29

Well that's weird ^

Anyway, on the few videos of yours that I've watched (sorry), I've actually always appreciated the opening bit of the Rice Pirate character most. My vote is to go with that style.

VanillaBeast 2011-02-15 12:26:48

As for a art style, there's no such thiing if you draw "within" flash. You probably alrady know this, but flash limits any type of real style. I'm a complete novice at flash, don't even have anything real made... yet, but I do know something about digital art as I've been into it for the past year or two doing exactly what you're talkinga about, finding a identity. I suggest buying some sort of Wacom product if you're serious about digital art (I own a Wacom Cintiq 12WX) and using it within a program such as PS or AI. The first thing you should do is learn line weights and how to correctly use tools such as the pen tool and such. Soooo many people can animate and do flash well, but their art sucks balls and looks like every other retard that tries to animate digitally. I will be doing the opposite actually, good personal style but total lack of flash skills when I put my product out here with a few weeks. Anyway, stick to the basics and learn the tools first then let the style come to you.

Spazmonkey618 2011-02-15 14:59:20

Phaaa...
You're still amazing whatever style you use.

Aronkadonk 2011-02-16 03:08:46

When you're talking about style do you mean funny, dramatic etc... or do you mean a drawing style for example some people like to draw anime, stick figures, or if you take a look at my art work i have a good example where i drew a picture for my account image that's 270 x 200 px...

in my opinion i don't like anime. i like the kind of stuff with loose funny epressions like the one i drew... :P you know what i mean? if you mean like dramatic, funny etc: i would definitly go for funny... that's always what i'm looking for in flash animations... :P and the one's that crack me up are the one's with funny expressions for example "Egorapter" makes animations using epic expressions... :P

Aronkadonk 2011-02-16 03:18:04

When you mean style, do you mean different ways of drawing like if you take a look at my profile image (the one that's 270 x 200px) you will see I went for the humorous approach... when I first saw this profile I was introduced by your profile image (which is outstanding by the way) and I thought to myself oh... this animator must be humorous after I got a good look at the purple pirate. In my opinion I would go for funny animations with epic expressions, an example animator would be 'Egorapter; if you've seen his work many of his flash animations have epic expressions that seem to make his flash entertaining! Why don't you try some of that in the future and see how that works out for you... that's where I'm heading. :D

Sektor-Z 2011-02-16 06:40:23

<a href="http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/399367">http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/liste n/399367</a>

Hulalaoo 2011-02-16 13:23:00

he need a nose for get oxygen

Sektor-Z 2011-02-16 15:17:18

So anyways, about the style thing, even if you're still finding yar ways you've still done great for yourself and you should be proud. Maybe that's what you should always do - experiment, whatever you do seems to work out so I wouldn't be so worried. I like the second pic though, that could be your style :3

Kaluahmon 2011-02-17 08:40:13

I just wanted to tell you that I love the style that you used to draw the purple pirate and Darth Vader in. I find your use of colors in them to be very appealing. Your purple pirate has such movement, personality, and screams that this artist has a wicked sence of humor. I am no artist, but as a fan I would love to see such abstract charaters (possibly on an abstract background) used in a flash. I feels very distinctive and original (something desperatly needed on Newgrounds). If you kept with that style, I believe that I could immediatly recognise the author on the Newgrounds front page. At the very least, a flash icon (or whatever you call it) drawn in that style would make me want to click on it. Whatever you choose, I am sure that it will end up being fantastic! I hope it helps to know that you have a fan.

DemiseAnimation 2011-02-18 14:32:49

Experimenting with styles has made you so good! It's not the same shit rubbed in glitter with everything you release, everything is a experiment and you seem to pull it off very well!

If you choose something make sure it's as good as the stuff your releasing when your "remotely consistent" ones.

(I personally like the whole FBF artistic type animation)