First of all, the fifth FredtheMonkey.com Podcast is now up and ready for listenings. And on time today! Made me happy to be on time with the darn update this week.

Also I promised answers to questions, so let’s get to that:

“Hey, JKR what ever happened to that Cubetoons music video you talked about on the blog months ago?”

I’m actually still working on it. Or them. There are a couple. I’ve been busy with all sorts of other stuff, so they haven’t been finished yet, but they are being worked on slowly.

“Hey JKR,

You said some time ago that you have several cartoons already in the works/planned. My question is, do any of them take place outside of the fredthemonkey.com house, and if not, a suggestion: if you’re having trouble creatively, maybe try coming up with other locations for the characters to go so the toons dont have to be concerning laziness?”

I don’t think any of the ones currently on the list have them leaving the normal scenes of the cartoons. The reason I don’t do that more often is strictly time. To do a whole new scene background takes me FOR-EV-ER, because I’m not used to drawing backdrops at all. But getting the characters out of the house is a good idea to stretch the creativity. That’s a valid point.

“When is the Pink Space Chicken going to be in? (Claire I think).
I remember I asked you like 2 years ago and you said she will be in the site launched…

You should do just one episode based around her atleast and then just leave it at that.”

Well two years ago I had a date set for that cartoon launching. Then it didn’t happen. I can tell you this: I currently have a NEW date set for that cartoon again. This time I’m really hoping to make it happen. I hate to give away what that schedule is, though, so no one but myself is disappointed if it doesn’t make it. (That darn cartoon involves so many people and new art that it’s really a monster of a project.)

“I know this isn’t a FTM one, but I still want to ask it.
What do you think is the funniest show on Fox Sunday?
Maybe you could parody it.”

I’d have said Futurama when it was still on Fox, but now probably The Simpsons. It’s hit or miss, but I’m not a huge King of the Hill fan, Family Guy can be funny sometimes and terrible other times, and American Dad is probably one of the worst shows I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I hate that show, because it’s essentially a giant sell-out through and through. That it stays on the air when Futurama was canceled makes me sick to my stomach.

“Is your Tablet Extremely important to aid you in using Flash?!?
Sorry, but I asked this like a week ago and never got an anwser.
I have the cash to get one, but is it that helpful?”

I would absolutely get a tablet if you’re at all serious about digital art, Flash or otherwise. I would not have the websites/cartoons/comics I do without my tablet, and if I had to only take one piece of equipment out of my office of anything it would be my Wacom Graphire. One day I hope to be able to afford their monster of a tablet, the one where you actually draw on the screen. Mmmm…

“@Fellow J.K.R

I must ask of you, what is your favorite book?
I know the its OBVIOUS, but I want to hear it from you.”

If we’re talking ANY book, then the Hunter X Hunter series. If you mean novel, then Map of Bones by James Rollins.

“Which voices are the hardest for you to do in your cartoons? Also, other than yourself, who does the voice acting?”

Sceb hurts my throat after a while, but Cadberry is probably the most difficult to maintain. I nearly have to close off my breathing to make that happen. Fred has days when I can’t get it “right” but it’s generally easy. SC is my voice with a touch higher pitch, so I can talk (and do talk) like that all day. Other voices are done by my wife and my cousin, who is also the producer of music for most of the audio you hear. There will be one more member of the team whenever that darn Claire/Melvin cartoon launches…

“Have you ever noticed that 90% of your toons are about updating the website and being lazy?”

Nope.

“Anyone remember when the website would go months at a time without an update?”

I do. I sure hope that will never, ever happen again.

“Could we ever Just like for a second see a full picture of you?
Also, I hate being in like the middle of a cartoon when my BF calls me
and there is like no way I can pause the video.

Would that be a fixable problem, or is it like O.O.T.Q”

I get a lot of requests for a pause button, but it’s just not something I really want to put in. Some visual gags are only up on the screen for a second, and I think that’s part of the charm. Also comedy is SO much about timing that being able to pause changes a lot of what I mean for people to see/hear. But one day I’ll likely add the feature, if only because so many people want it.

Also as far as a picture, you’ll probably have to hold out until I make a DVD of the Fred cartoons, which I have already written my “Message from JKR” parts for, featuring a video of me talking.

Thanks for the questions, everybody! Have a great weekend, and I hope you like the new podcast!

This entry was posted on Friday, August 21st, 2009 at 5:50 pm and is filed under Cubetoons, Everyday Rants, Fred the Monkey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.