Thought I'd start things off right with a new comic. This is the rebranding of Replay-Value: Burbank I've been talking about. Going forward, it will be called "My [adjective] Life" with the titles of whatever story arc filling in the adjective space (Ex, paranromal, extraterrestrial, mundane, subsurface, etc)

Anyway, head over to the COMICS page and check out the 5-page Prologue comic. More to come!

First up, comics. Where are they? As you may have noticed, Replay-Value [the series] has been on hiatus and in its place I've been posting shorts. I want everyone to know the comic isn't over (and neither is "Oh Shit, Monsters") but shorts are a little more time-consuming to make. I hope to start the comic back up in 2012 (with a brand-new name) along-side short film updates, hopefully a balance can be found for doing both. In order to do that I've brought some new blood to the Replay-Value Studios team!

I'd like to welcome Lauren and Jenai, they'll be helping me write and produce more animated shorts and comics going forward! They are both incredibly talented and creative artists and I'm so glad to bring them on board. Also, long-time cast member Matt (yes, he is a real person) has been put in charge of Replay-Value Records, which will be getting its own page in the near future once the recording studio is ready. Matt is an accomplished DJ and will be producing the soundtracks for future shorts. We'll all be getting special icons soon to differentiate who's posting what so be on the lookout for their posts!

Lastly, website rejiggering. The sketchbook section. I haven't updated it all year, and I think the Backlot tumblr and Twitter feed has kind of taken its place. I'm probably going to get rid of it or replace it with a portfolio page for each of us pretty soon.

Pendleton Ward drew a bunch of characters and level designs one day and asked people on Twitter to make them into an actual Flash game. I don't know how to code a game, but I do know how to make a cartoon, so I did the next best thing.

Super F-Yeah! characters and levels belong to Pendleton Ward

Rex and Max characters belong to Garrett Jackson

Concept by Pen Ward

Writing, animation, music, and voices by Garrett Jackson

I've also made some new terrible short films:

More to come!

Brain Dead

"Garrett and Carly have a slumber party, but things get weird when a pillow fight goes awry."

Shot and edited on my iPhone! Whoa!

Hopefully this is just the first of many - sadly it is apparently a huge pain in the ass to get all the cast in one place long enough to film something for 20 minutes.

Shameful.

Oh Shit, Monsters has a very strange origin story. I was sitting in the guest room at my parent's house during a little vacation, staring blackly out into space while I had Twitter open. Suddenly, something persuaded me to post this:

And follow it up with this:

I felt like I'd said all the needed to be said on the subject, but a few hours later, this happened: 

Then this followed it: 

Then this one happened (shown here for the first time):

And while I was at the San Diego ComiCon, this happened: 

And now here we are.

Oh Shit, Monsters tells the story of two French-Canadian brothers who are employed by the US Government to help fight giant monsters. But not just any giant monsters, these monsters have an affinity for terrible pop music. As such the brothers, who are themselves prolific DJs and MCs, have to use their own music to fight them.

OSM will span both animated shorts and comics, with their first foray into the world of animation hitting shortly after the next Tales from the Back Room short.

Tales from the Back Room explores true stories from the people who work at your favorite stores. See just what kind of wild insanity goes on behind closed doors, out on the sales floor or even in the parking lot. Of course, names and species have been changed to protect the innocent, but it's all in good fun! From breaking cases of wine bottles to employee BBQs to heartwarming tales of people going the extra mile to make a customer's day brighter, Tales from the Back Room has it all.

The one I'd like to talk about today is "Tales from the Back Room". This is a new series of shorts I'm working on, each one ranging from 30-seconds to several minutes. The premise is simple - it's a behind-the-scenes look at what really goes on while working at a grocery store. Think of it like The Office, but for a popular market place. Having worked at Trader Joe's for the last 7 years, I know first-hand just what kind of crazy customer interactions occur on a regular basis. It is time to share these stories with the world!

Each short is a true story told by an actual employee, but to protect the innocent everyone has been replaced with Bigfoots, Ghosts, Dragons, and Goblins. As the series gains popularity, I'm hoping that people will send me their stories from all over the country.

Here's a peek at what it looks like:

This short features "Tad" and gives a brief look at what the series is about. It's about 40-seconds long (the length of a TV commercial) and goes live this Friday!

Here's a little look at the character sheet for Tad and some of the backgrounds I designed:

Exciting! I wanted to design characters that would be very simple to draw so that I could animate them quickly. I also tried to keep the backgrounds muted so the characters would stand out more. I'd like to get two of these done a month, depending on the length of the stories. Also, I'll be uploading the storyboard/animantic for this episode this weekend after the finished short goes up.

I'll be back next Monday to talk about the two other series, particularly "Oh Shit, Monsters" which some of you may know about already if you've been following my Twitter feed or tumblr. And of course check back this Friday for the new short!

-Garrett