THUNDERCLUCK!

Categories: MOTION MONDAY (animation by Paul), TUTOR TUESDAY (art tutorials by Meg), THUNDER THURSDAY (project-related posts), and FEATHERED FRIDAY (bird content)

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Follow-up to my birthday post: this is the best part of the Author Q&A Greeting video. Full version with audio here! (Dance party starts at ~1min.)

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THUNDER THURSDAY: It’s My Birthday!

Hey folks! Paul here, with the first Thunder Thursday since... (checks calendar) 2018, oh my. Anyway! There have been some fun events & opportunities lately with the books, and wanted to share some videos.

(Today--November 12--is my birthday. So I believe everyone’s legally required to watch.)

I hope you enjoy, and if you know anyone looking for online educational content, please send them to thundercluck.com/schools!

Launch Video - JORVIK Bloodaxe Book Challenge:

(More info: jorvikvikingcentre.co.uk/get-involved/bloodaxe-book-challenge/)

Greeting Video - Author Q&A with Local School:

Thanks for watching, everyone!

- Paul

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Little Update (a... Motion Monday?):

Hey folks! Paul here with a little update, and some GIFS :D

This year I ended up skipping Inktober, but now I’ve challenged myself to “Chickenvember”--I’m trying to draw a chicken a day, and to turn each drawing into a simple animated GIF. The first few are above--hope you enjoy!

(On days 4, 5, 6, & 7, I was a little... preoccupied with the news, so I ended up drawing those days together as a chicken quartet.)

Stay tuned for more!

- Paul

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One more Halloween post!

I played a PS4 a few months back. (It was my roommate’s; he got FF7R, and kindly let me play. Nostalgia!) My cat was transfixed by the controller’s glow... seemed fitting for Halloween.

Goodnight everybody!

Paul

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Happy Halloween, everyone! (Above: line art by Meg, colors by Paul)

Updates here have been super sparse lately, but I’m working on some fun stuff I hope to share soon. And it warms my heart to see people are still enjoying the tutorials! Hope everyone’s doing well,

Paul

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Oct. 2020 Update:

I recently got an access request for PDF 09, which surprised me because it’s supposed to be available for anyone with the link. I’ve double-checked the file’s visibility settings, and I’ve recreated the link in this post (just in case I’d used the wrong URL before). If anyone still has trouble with access, please let me know!

Original message:

Hey folks! Paul here, with one more TUTOR TUESDAY goodie: For ease of downloading, I’ve taken all the PDFs and compiled them into a…

COMPLETE .ZIP OF TUTOR TUESDAY COLLECTIONS! (~120MB)

And once again, here are the links to individual collections:

TutorTues_PDF_01_Fundamentals1.pdf

TutorTues_PDF_02_Fundamentals2.pdf

TutorTues_PDF_03_Environments.pdf

TutorTues_PDF_04_Scenery_&_Props.pdf

TutorTues_PDF_05_Positivity.pdf

TutorTues_PDF_06_Color_Theory.pdf

TutorTues_PDF_07_Digital_Color.pdf

TutorTues_PDF_08_Digital_Tools.pdf

TutorTues_PDF_09_Human_Anatomy.pdf

TutorTues_PDF_10_Specific_Anatomy.pdf

TutorTues_PDF_11_Facial_Features.pdf

TutorTues_PDF_12_Faces_&_Expressions.pdf

TutorTues_PDF_13_Hair.pdf

TutorTues_PDF_14_Clothing_&_Accessories.pdf

TutorTues_PDF_15_Animal_Features

If you enjoy these, please send your love to Meg’s personal, @rawranansi. And stay tuned for news on where Tutor Tuesday might go next!

Paul

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Update: Still Alive, 2020 Edition!

Hey folks! Paul here, back from a far-too-long hiatus. 2020 has been quite a year--I hope everyone’s hanging in there!

When the THUNDERCLUCK books first came out, I really enjoyed doing author visits to schools. I’ve now made an online version of my presentation, and it features a drawing demo from the one-and-only Meg Wittwer (@rawranansi​), the mastermind behind TUTOR TUESDAY!

The preview above is 90 seconds long, and there’s a link at the end to the full presentation. If you check it out, I hope you enjoy! And here’s a quick GIF with the gist of it:

Thanks for checking it out--hope to post more soon!

Paul

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THUNDER THURSDAY #27: Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey folks, Paul here for Thunder Thursday! (The GIF above is a modified version of this week’s Motion Monday post.) For everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving, I hope you’ve had a good one!

Keep reading

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Reblogging this 2016 GIF for Motion Monday… now that Thanksgiving week is upon us! Have a good one :)

- Paul

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Reblogging again! (How’s it already late November 2019??)

Hope everyone’s having a good day :D

- Paul

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Update: Still Alive!

Hey all! I’ve been neglecting this blog for way too long, and I’m hoping to do better about posting more often again soon. In the meantime, three quick things:

More on books and school visits: thundercluck.com

OT Tutorials: on YouTube

It’s’ November 12--my birthday!

Here’s a short video with more info. Enjoy!

-Paul

[Edit: I first posted an incomplete draft of this while still typing it, whoops. If you saw it, hope you enjoyed that too!]

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Motion Monday (1/21/19): MLK Day 2019

Hey folks! I appreciate everyone’s patience with the limited posts lately.

The last two Januaries I’ve paused from silly cartoons to post for MLK Day, and I wanted not to break from that. Last year’s post was inspired by a quote directly from Martin Luther King, Jr. himself.

This year I was inspired by his son, Martin Luther King III, who recently said, “Martin Luther King Jr. was a bridge builder, not a wall builder.”

Amen.

- Paul

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THUNDER THURSDAY #87: More Tuts Up!

Hey folks! Technically it’s early AM Friday EST, but no matter--for those learning OpenToonz, enjoy these latest tutorials!

I’ve also linked the previous collection for newcomers, and here’s the playlist of individual sections if that’s more your speed.

I’m traveling for New Years, so I’ll be back with more in 2019--see you then!

-Paul

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THUNDER THURSDAY #86: More Tuts A-Comin’

Hey folks!

Wanted to let you know I’m working on the next round of OpenToonz tutorials (a trio about vectors and editing brush strokes). Now with cleaner background removal!

Stay tuned, - Paul

Edit: The resemblance is uncanny...

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THUNDER THURSDAY #85: OpenToonz Tutorials Are Live!

Hey folks! For those wanting to learn OpenToonz, thanks again for your patience, and behold: my first few tutorials are online! Here’s the introductory collection (~35min total), or check below for links to individual sections :D

I’ve made a YouTube playlist with individual videos, and here are their separate links (times approximate):

Part 0: Introduction (2min)

Part 1: Installation (2min)

Part 2: The Startup Menu (2min)

Part 3: The Interface (3min)

Part 4: Levels & Drawing (7min)

Part 5: Drawing Frames (6min)

Part 6: The X Sheet  (5min)

Part 7: Saving (2min)

Part 8: Exporting a GIF (7min)

ENJOY! And if you have questions, feel free to ask (either here, or in the YouTube comments). Thanks for watching!

Paul

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Hey folks, thanks for your patience--these tutorials have taken a lot longer than expected! It’s hard to shake that feeling of “One more thing I should add! Or change! Or re-record! Or...” I’m still applying some final tweaks. Once the tutorials are online, I hope you enjoy!

- Paul

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Hey folks, it’s been a minute! After a lot of recording and editing, quick announcement:

OpenToonz  intro tutorials coming soon! (Aiming for this week!)

The above gif captures how I felt when I first launched the program. I’ve learned a lot, and I’m hoping to make it more accessible for aspiring animators. Stay tuned!

- Paul

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MOTION MONDAY (11/12/18): It’s My Birthday!

Hey folks, Paul here for Motion Monday... on my birthday! I had to get a new license, so above you can see:

Me in 2010, turning 25

Me in 2018, turning 33

Almost a third of a century! Anyway, for my big day I have...

SHAMELESS PROMOTIONAL REQUESTS!

Enjoy the Thundercluck book trailer below! And then check out...

Thundercluck at Local Stores!

Thundercluck on Amazon!

Thundercluck at B&N!

Thundercluck on Goodreads!

Hope you enjoy! And for anyone with young readers in their life, give the gift of THUNDERCLUCK this holiday season :D

Thanks! Paul

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THUNDER THURSDAY #84: Teaching Animation!

Hey folks, Paul here for THUNDER THURSDAY! Couple quick updates:

Tomorrow I’m visiting a high school in Southern Pines, NC to give animation demos for computer arts classes. I’ll be showing how to make the gifs above in After Effects--looking forward to it!

On the OpenToonz front, I’ve written my first tutorial outlines and gotten a mic for better audio quality. I’m looking forward to recording soon, but first I need to finish some book stuff and hope that my head cold clears up.

Stay tuned for more toons!

- Paul