Colored Cuties

October 2nd we received final character color from Nick Lakiotes. This would be the last step before Flashifying everyone into animatable poppets.



Nick is the Art Director over at Six Point Harness East - that's right, this studio is too formidable for just one coast.

xoxo
Vera

A quick, unrelated note:

It is beautiful, no?



Saharat Tantivaranyoo designed this poster for our Lucha VaVOOM shows, tomorrow through Thursday. If you can find us, we’ll give you one.

xoxo
Fifi & Bibi

"Young, Fast & Brilliant" - Oh Animation Magazine, you're too much!

We won't spoil the whole article about Six Point Harness in November's Animation Magazine, but here's a little taste of some Twincesses in the print.



xoxo,
Vera

Turnarounds

Mid-September... With our main characters all approved and in-love with, the next step was to design their turnarounds. This was also the time to make sure everybody was Flash-friendly. Barbara and I finalized the details with Matt, who then cleaned them up, paying special attention to their construction for animation.

Hey, look! Me, Matt & Barbara hard at work! (*Please note birthday pineapple, courtesy of Jaime Velasquez)

Over the next week or so, Matt finished their ¾s, fronts, backs & profiles.


Once completed, Mikey the PA was nice enough to scan 'em and send them over to Zach, who built them in Illustrator. He did a painstakingly perfect job, for which we say, Thank you, Mr. Aufdemberg.

xoxo,
Vera

Happy Birthday BGs

September 11th: Boy did we get a special present for our birthday - our first backgrounds from Mindy Lee!



Mindy came HIGHLY recommended from Matt. We checked out her blog and found some amazing BGs - but what really fascinated me were her origami and related illustrations (scroll down the above link for awe).

Yep, so us twins was born on 9/11. Here are some other fun facts about that day that you might not know:

1226 - The Catholic practice of perpetual adoration begins. (I don't know what that is, but it sounds ADORABLE.)
1789 - Alexander Hamilton appointed as first Secretary of the Treasury. (That's right - never President. I know this because I saw his picture in my 8th grade textbook and thought he was cute.)
1885 - Birth of D.H. Lawrence, English novelist. (Lady Chatterley is pretty cool.)
1918 - The Boston Red Sox "Curse of the Bambino" begins. (If I gave any cares about basebat games, this might mean something!)
1921 - Motion picture star Fatty Arbuckle is arrested for rape. (FALSELY accused, poor Li'l Fats.)
1940 - Birth of Brian de Palma, American film director. (Our friend's mom kept his house when we were 7; he had an all-blue room & we ran around on his roof.)
1962 - The Beatles record their debut single, Love Me Do. (My husband likes this band.)
1981 -The Pee-wee Herman Show airs as a special on HBO. (My golly, this man is a genius.)

Do YOU have a fact to add??!?!

xoxo
Vera

We *heart* you, Radical Cute!

Thanks to Mercedes, reporting for Rita Street's "Radical Cute" blog on Frederator. "Sweet characters... dark comedy" - you get us and we twincerely appreciate it!

xoxo
Vera & Barbara

Storyboardin'

Around the third week of August, Matt showed us the first section of storyboards. Soooo pretty! Look at a magic called how some scribbles on the script turn into a board of stories!



With the radio play already assembled using Final Cut Pro, the next step was to create an animatic. Barbara would be handling that, as she just happens to be an Emmy® nominated Assistant Director for the Nickelodeon show "As Told By Ginger."

xoxo
Vera

Cleaning Up (the Ring with Your Face)

The first three weeks of August, Anna gave us a load more props as well as initial color and special poses. The fellows at Six Point -– James Crowley, Chris Toms and Zach Aufdemberg - cleaned up her drawings in Illustrator. It was kinda cool having these dudes try out different stuff, in part because it allowed us to figure out what kind of line weights and coloring worked best. Like using colored lines instead of black - I wouldn't have thought of that!

So things were moving along, which was lucky since in mid-August Barbara and I got a golly of a lot busier with training. Si, es verdad; when we're not creating adorable six-year-old princesses, we are, of course, tearing up the squared circle lucha libre-style as Bibi and Fifi Poubelle. The twin and I have been performing as luchadoras (Mexican-style wrestlers) for the past four years or so, in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and even Tijuana.

Refuse to believe us? Check this out:



(Nice music, huh? That's Mr. Uncertain, and you'll be hearing more of him in the Twincess pilot.)

So you probably donut want to miss our upcoming Lucha Va VOOM shows, October 24th, 25th & 26th at the Mayan Theater, downtown LA. Equal parts lucha libre, burlesque dancing and comedy, it will blow your mind OFF.

xoxo
Vera

6PH & TFF

Oh yeah, a little about the studio and what it does.

Six Point Harness is an animation production company in Hollywood, run by Brendan Burch and Dave Vamos. Check out their reel– they’ve done loads of projects like commercials for Cartoon Network, MTV’s “Where My Dogs At?”, Nick Jr.’s “Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!” and the criminally un-picked-up Phil Hendrie pilot.

In July they launched a brand new website to showcase their original shorts program, Tire Fire Films. I highly recommend the “Neenja” series, as well as bizarre “Clawdad.” In the works: “Rednecks in Space,” Matt Danner’s “Sir Leo,” and of course “Twincesses”!

xoxo
Vera

Cast 'n' Characters

August 2nd was our first recording session at Esho Sound, a studio conveniently located in the Six Point Building. John Warrin, proprietor and fellow twin, has built himself a cozy little booth for one (or two, if it’s Duffys).

For the guest role of Tooth, we were thinking either a Dave Chappelle sound-alike or Flava Flav (whichever was cheaper), but we landed someone much better: Brandon Johnson. You might have seen Brandon on Punk’d, Crossballs or Arrested Development, but we knew him from his live comedy. Dressed as half man, half woman, he'd performed an insane duet with himself for the Comedy Karaoke show. Priceless. We called upon his singing skills for both a hurt-feelinged rap and a soulful jam.

The rest of the cast recorded on the 3rd. Matt Danner played Kindly Old Timer; his other voice acting roles have included Shaggy, Pussy Cow and "Go! Go! Moba Boy!" Matt’s one of those reasons this studio is so special: he does voices, development, design, storyboarding, writing - and he does it all really, really well.

Milo was done by Eric Bauza, who's on Nickelodeon’s “El Tigre" and is Stimpy on “Ren and Stimpy Adult House Party.” He can also mimic just about anyone in the studio, an endlessly entertaining skill. It's like a caricature in his mouth!
Prince Jamima was played by Matt, Bauza & me, depending on whether the infant was crying, gurgling or laughing. We pieced together a pretty cute frankenbaby.

Barbara and I voiced Priddy and Ugalee, respectively. People want to know how we picked which twin to play which twin, and the answer is simple: *shrug*.

xoxo
Vera