CostaRic's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[S01E01 - It's 1941 All Over Again]

Great storytelling and sound design, the characters where a bit stiff and uncanny, but definitive effort went into this. Good stuff!

lewisroscoe82 responds:

Thanks CostaRic! Yes imrpovements on the character animations needs to happen at my end :)

[Amy Mouse - Big Balloon Blues]

Happy Tree Friends 1920's style! :P

Enophano responds:

True!

[Tritoria - Episode 1 Part 1/2 - No Gods no Glory]

Really well done! Obvious anime inspiration but great nonetheless!

The only nitpicks I got is that the eyes sometimes look "lifeless", anatomy isnt right (this is okay for inbetweens but not for stills),voice actors could use a bit more emotion, and the animation looks "stiff" at times.

Otherwise the detail in the sound design is amazing and overall production is great, the story is appealing, and seems like A LOT of effort and love was poured into this. Keep it up!

Skashi95 responds:

Many things inspired me, but not anime, not really a fan of that.
Yeah, I have improved a lot the last two years.

[He Was Eaten By Owls - The Grey Of One's Matter pt II]

Amazing animation and music!

Malwine responds:

Thank you for the kind words :)

He Was Eaten By Owls are a precious sonic gem indeed.

[Jackalope Winter Whimsy]

Pretty pictures... not much substance.

BlackUniGryphon responds:

Hey thanx.
It's experimental, and subjective, not objective nor action-driven. Not a narrative.

Like how film originally was before it became narrative-driven and standardized storytelling formats by DW Griffith.

But, if it's a STORY you want, then let me tell you THE STORY about HOW & WHY this piece was made.

I was a traditional animator, and I graduated from school in May of 2001, then Out-souring swept the industry, and by September 2001 terrorists attacked, then the economy began crashing. NO jobs, no opportunities, and lots of sexist wrongs done to me personally, including rape and discrimination.

The bail-outs occurred, and poverty ensued, along with crippling depression.

A whole generation (Generation X) was screwed and stuck with student loan debts, mortgage sub-prime debacle, and DERIVATIVES, but the criminals at AIG got tons of money while people became homeless,n because AIG strong-armed the US government.

Elections came & went, promises made and broken.... no change.... those sent in to fix it ended up more corrupt than they went in post election...



But, by 2015, my husband decided that like himself since the government was funding people to further their education, I ought to go to University myself. But, he forbid me to do Art like himself, and said I could only do Philosophy since I study philosophy on my own at home for years. But, I wanted to upgrade my skills to HD... so, I talked my way into a video class.

I'm dyslexic, so I had trouble keeping up with the pace at University, and since I had no documentation in this state/commonwealth proving this in this century, it cost over $1700 just for the test, and I was about to completely drop out of university. But, on a technicality, if I kept 1 class, I didn't have to pay it all back. So, I kept the video class.

I dedicated ALL of my time to my filmmaking, and the new video teacher realized I was an animator then personally invited me to his new Experimental advanced animation class. So, the following semester I was in 2 video classes, and a digital media class.

I was thrust head-first into a competition for the Boston CyberArts for ArtOnTheMarquee.com and my proposal got chosen.

In my original concept, if was ALL 4 SEASONS, but the curator suggested I just stick with Spring.

But, I realized that much of the things I'd wanted to create, nearly ALL of the faculty & instructors had NO IDEA how to do, like basic particles in Adobe After Effects.

Not only that, but since I was registered in the Green Party and REFUSED to vote for either HRC or Trump, but my own party, people whom COULD help me REFUSED TO DO SO. Talk about petty! NOt only that, but the ONLY tutorials out there were out-dated and whole parts of scripting DID NOT WORK in the 2017 versions of After Effects.

I was also often SNEERED AT for having the audacity to actually animate whole parts of my puppet character in frame-by-frame traditional animation.

My instructor (who is my age) frequently wanted me to do his work, teach my classmates, and frequently ditched me. But, when the students began to come to me to learn the programs and tips, he became jealous, abusive, and rude to me. I began rapidly progressing on my own, and often felt held back by time-wasting academic practices like writing papers when I could actually MAKING and LEARNING things on my own. So, WHAT WAS I WASTING ALL THIS MONEY, TIME, and EFFORT on if I could do my own thing? AND, since I was capable of finding what I needed to know & learn on my own, why not do that?

So, at the Spring Semester 2017 film screening I got tag-teamed by the faculty, even tho' my works, especially my animations got a standing ovation. No one could do the things I could, and I KNEW if I kept up I could do EVEN BETTER.

But, I was furious. set off to do my own fundraising, and I got the software I needed. https://www.gofundme.com/YingQilin

BUT, I need this thing called PRACTICE. It takes TIME to learn, grow, make mistakes and LEARN FROM THEM. I needed to learn the software, and even improve my sketching skills. All of these things take time.

But, that's what i did starting 2018, because UMASS constantly screwed up my funding, and I;d already wanted to be done with them since summer. SO, even tho' i'd minored in Cinema Studies at UMASS, after the Fall 2017 Semester I was done.

NO ONE is going to swoop in and put their wings around me and help me reach my ZENITH. SO, Therefore, I need to do it on my own.

SO, as for the 4 Seasons, that was just a list of SEVERAL things I'd wanted to do while at UMASS. If you actually scroll through my movies/animated videos you can see that each one of those was a goal I made, and followed through with THIS YEAR.

The 4 Season WILL be cut into a final film, which I've been working on every day since Thanksgiving. But, i'm going filming later today (I also do Indie films in New England, and help support other creative people achieve their goals).

So, if you want STORYTELLING, and SUBSTANCE.... well THAT IS MINE.

But, there's MORE. I ONLY have ONE MORE puppet animation project that I also want to wrap-up, on principle as a big SCREW-YOU & IN-YOUR-FACE to UMASS (even tho' I don;t actually hate them and I'm grateful to them) because ALL that times & money spent appeasing them, and they couldn't even teach these basics to me, and their own biases and hang-ups and petty egoisms of academia (I could GO ON & ON about that end of things because in academia is ART is PRETTY it's NOT ART, and has to be UGLY, or literally made from trash, and heaven forfend if you ACTUALLY want to do things like Fundamentals in art like ANATOMY, and PRACTICE, and Life Drawing, or even something commercial like MANGA)

So, I'm documenting my process. I KNOW that putting in my time & effort into learning, practicing, and DOING what I BELIEVE in can lead to becoming BETTER THAN I WAS YESTERDAY, step by step, 1 day at a time.

But, also, i'm on a mission to preserve traditional animation.... it's just that, ON PRINCIPLE, I want to just STICK IT TO THE MAN in academia on their own lazy terms with puppet animations. I have 1 more puppet project I will also be wrapping up in 2019, and I'm ALSO producing 2 TV shows in my town. these bits will be part of those shows, and it will be preserved for the community where I live.

But, once these puppets are DONE with, I am RETURNING FULL ON to Traditional Animation FOREVER. It's WHO I AM. It's WHERE I BELONG.

Animation BELONGS TO EVERYONE in all of its many forms, and NOT academia NOR the Corporate Industries. I feel the same way about ART.

Animation is MORE popular than ever, especially the Traditional animation, but it's in danger of being lost forever. All this year many scandals were exposed, and YES I ALSO have a person John K story (actually more than 1).

There are no real role models out there in the online animation communities, or if they do still manage to work for the industry that are gagged with NDA contracts, and aren't allowed to talk. I know a few of those personally including out in California. And I DO mean PERSONAL, meaning private, personal relationships, and I do not want to break their trust as a friend.

You're welcome to follow along with me in my process... but, instant gratification is NOT going to occur at the click of a button, or touch screen. It takes time, effort, and dedication.

But THAT is also what it means to be human. To maintain your HUMANITY. To STRIVE to achieve something MORE. I do NOT want the machine to make the art, but the machines to be the TOOL with which I MAKE THE ART.

If it helps you to think of this moving animated piece, think of it as a picture, like all the other still art pieces out there. But this one just kind of moves a little bit.

It's intended to focus on, and explore, MOOD. It's SUBJECTIVE, not OBJECTIVE from WITHIN the piece. BUT, I do HAVE an OBJECTIVE, and I am ON THAT PATH. -and THAT is the story.

If I ONLY focused on STORYTELLING that doesn't help me get better at evoking mood, using & incorporation colors, or get practice at applying particles.

When the Ancient Hellenistic Greeks made their grand statues, were they telling stories? NO. Not at first. They were LEARNING, and APPLYING things like CANON of PROPORTIONS or Hierarchy of Scale, or Contro Posto, and mathematical formulas to understanding what makes a better piece of art.


I can't make the best piece of art in a day, let alone a masterpiece... but maybe SOME DAY after years of applied practice & application I just might. But, like the Dao De JIng (Tao Te Ching) The Journey of 1000 miles begins with but a single step.

Well, I'm still walking that road.

If I've done all of this in just This year, when before I had only an awkward bit of things to go through, and before that NOTHING, then imagine what to potentials and possibilities might be in not just 1 more year, but 2 years from now.

Perhaps, the sky is the limit. Who knows?

WHAT is MY best? I don't know yet. But, perhaps I MIGHT FIND OUT some day.






So, hey, if you have a narrative bias, this animated peice probably not for you.

But, thanx for the compliment nonetheless. ;)

Again, you're welcome to follow me on my journey within my ARtist/Animator Journey and my process. I'll be around. <3

[[Dream A Little Dream]]

Pretty creative!

Like it a lot, but i think it would have been better if you sang the lyrics, still great job!

ShaunSP responds:

Thanks. Maybe next time I can work more with lip syncing.

[Moon Lajt (Music video)]

A little tip...

DON'T USE HIGH PITCH SOUNDS WHEN YOU SAY TO PUT ON THE HEADPHONES >:(

It raped my ears.. T-T

The animation was average...you could make the music sound softer, also you could had a more catchy sound rather than 8-bit cellphone sounds raping ears.

Also the music with the animation sync could have been better.

Try improving those aspects and maybe you will get something smoother

Carr77 responds:

I have super-ears, that's why I can have headphones on :D