We are wrapping up Round 3, Sound Jam, part of our summer series of animation jams. Artists earn points in each round and a champion of animation will be announced at the end of the summer. Haven't participated yet? Join in for Round 4!

For Round 4, I put out a call for theme ideas on Twitter and Dorkdoodles had a good one with "rejected video game characters." Talking about it over lunch, we summarized it as "rejected mascots", so it could be a video game character, a cartoon character, a corporate / team mascot... Just some character that was pitched and was totally wrong for the part. It's a great opportunity for wacky character design and voice talent.

Another good suggestion came from @TheFabs, with "spooks/creeps" and @SKillustration with "nightmare fuel". Having just come off a Stranger Things binge, the horror theme sounds like a lot of fun, although maybe best when we're closer to Halloween.

I put up a Twitter poll with these, "Music Videos" and "None of the above" and it currently stands at 34% Rejected Mascots, 32% Spooky / Creepy after 349 votes. So close!

For this round, we're going with Rejected Mascots.

Rules:

Minimum 15 seconds of animation.

Tag your entry "MascotJam"

Content must be original; no characters you didn't create.

Music must be from the Audio Portal or an original piece by a teammate.

As lead animator, you may partner with background artists, in-betweeners, colorers, writers, voice actors, musicians and sound effects artists.

The lead animator is the one who earns points in each round of this event. Support members may work with multiple animators and change things up each round.

Due Date:

Monday, August 22nd at 4PM EST.

Discuss your progress in this Animation Forum thread!

You are welcome to join in on this round even if you missed the first three. The winner of each round gets 10pts, down to 1pt for tenth place. Not every animator makes it into every round so there is potential for things to move around as people come and go!

Round 1: Loop Jam (Winners)
Round 2: Robot Jam (Winners)
Round 3: Sound Jam

NOTE: Due date was bumped back a week to not conflict with Clock Day and Kitty Krew Day. Now you have three weeks!

Be sure to check out the winners of the Art Inspired Music Contest!

@TomFulp This is the second to last Animation Jam, right?

At 8/1/16 03:29 PM, Natty23 wrote: @TomFulp This is the second to last Animation Jam, right?

This will likely be one more jam, correct.

cool cool

Still wrapping up my Sound Jam entry.

I think I will have to take a pass on this last one though but it sounds really cool. good luck!

At 8/1/16 04:07 PM, kryzon wrote: Still wrapping up my Sound Jam entry.

I think I will have to take a pass on this last one though but it sounds really cool. good luck!

Now I wonder if I should have had a week break between these...

This turned into Scenes from a Hat from Whose Line is it Anyway? and I like it!

At 8/1/16 04:58 PM, LuckyLightTitan wrote: Ey Tom.
Why don't you start an animation jam about NG characters?

Been trying to keep focus on creating original characters... Plus there's always Pico Day for that.

Something else people should consider while creating their mascot - if there are enough good ones they might become a site skin like our current Robot Jam skin!

Everyone note, I moved the deadline to August 22nd because Clock Day is the 15th and Kitty Krew Day is two days later. This gives everyone three weeks.

At 8/1/16 05:47 PM, TomFulp wrote: Everyone note, I moved the deadline to August 22nd because Clock Day is the 15th and Kitty Krew Day is two days later. This gives everyone three weeks.

@TomFulp So does this mean that fifth Animation Jam might not happen after all?

Another good suggestion came from @TheFabs, with "spooks/creeps" and @SKillustration with "nightmare fuel". Having just come off a Stranger Things binge, the horror theme sounds like a lot of fun, although maybe best when we're closer to Halloween.

I'll absolutely join in on this whenever it goes down O u O

I feel like a lazy asshat for not finishing the Sound one in time, but I'll try to make something here.

Does it have to be the main character or can it be a support/sidekick character?

Hit me up if anyone needs some voice work done :)

One question, can the companies pitching the mascots be actual ones from IRL (e.g. Sega, Sony, etc.)?
My idea is about a rejected mascot (not Sonic) for Sega's new game to compete with Nintendo. Is that ok?

At 8/2/16 05:16 AM, RGPStudios wrote: One question, can the companies pitching the mascots be actual ones from IRL (e.g. Sega, Sony, etc.)?
My idea is about a rejected mascot (not Sonic) for Sega's new game to compete with Nintendo. Is that ok?

Hmmmm... Ok yeah that would be fine!

At 8/1/16 10:34 PM, HipnikDragomir wrote: I feel like a lazy asshat for not finishing the Sound one in time, but I'll try to make something here.

Does it have to be the main character or can it be a support/sidekick character?

Sidekicks / supporter characters are fine too.

At 8/1/16 07:13 PM, Natty23 wrote:

At 8/1/16 05:47 PM, TomFulp wrote: Everyone note, I moved the deadline to August 22nd because Clock Day is the 15th and Kitty Krew Day is two days later. This gives everyone three weeks.

@TomFulp So does this mean that fifth Animation Jam might not happen after all?

I'm pretty confident we'll do a 5th one, unless a bunch of people start expressing fatigue but so far everyone still seems to be having fun.

At 8/1/16 03:26 PM, TomFulp wrote: Talking about it over lunch, we summarized it as "rejected mascots", so it could be a video game character, a cartoon character, a corporate / team mascot... Just some character that was pitched and was totally wrong for the part. It's a great opportunity for wacky character design and voice talent.

Someone please make the rejected super hero comic - "Soybean Man"

At 8/1/16 09:35 PM, TheFabs wrote:

Another good suggestion came from @TheFabs, with "spooks/creeps" and @SKillustration with "nightmare fuel". Having just come off a Stranger Things binge, the horror theme sounds like a lot of fun, although maybe best when we're closer to Halloween.

I'll absolutely join in on this whenever it goes down O u O

All this sounds awesome and I'd love to work with you @TheFabs , if you're looking for any VAs! :) It's been waaay too long since I really jumped into doing something for NG as a whole!

It's allowed to use the theme from a game?

At 8/2/16 11:08 PM, YanShin wrote: It's allowed to use the theme from a game?

If you mean from an existing game, any references to existing games should be parody versions and not direct references, try to keep things as original as you can.

Yo, if anyone needs some voicework done, I'm here for ya

If anybody needs a voice actor I'm up for any kind of role you throw at me.

2d freaked 'n fried characters inside 3d mascot costumes, in a comedy-horror (more scare, less hahas) toon yah (and big thanks for returning to a less sound effect toon Tom; I really was freaked out (dialogue with much sound effects hah), but Butzbo offered the light (his is awesome)!

If anyone needs an animator, background artist, colorer, etc, for an existing entry, hit me up with the details and character design.

At 8/1/16 03:26 PM, TomFulp wrote:

Kitty Krew Day.

Is this an official thing now?

Aw man, this jam is right up my alley, but right in my busiest month...

At 8/3/16 05:34 PM, ZJ wrote:

At 8/1/16 03:26 PM, TomFulp wrote:

Kitty Krew Day.

Is this an official thing now?

Guess we'll see what the turnout is!

Woke today (aching and hungry but good kinda; pizza and veggies after hard exercise not enough hah) with a sci-Fi tilt to my slowly developing mascot horror tale (I think I'll do all the voices too (no delays whaa).

Hopefully character (2d and 3d) art soon (scared or just plain 'ole curious hah?).

At 8/3/16 04:34 PM, micbuzz84j wrote: 2d freaked 'n fried characters inside 3d mascot costumes, in a comedy-horror (more scare, less hahas) toon yah (and big thanks for returning to a less sound effect toon Tom; I really was freaked out (dialogue with much sound effects hah), but Butzbo offered the light (his is awesome)!

At 8/1/16 03:26 PM, TomFulp wrote:

Another good suggestion came from @TheFabs, with "spooks/creeps" and @SKillustration with "nightmare fuel". Having just come off a Stranger Things binge, the horror theme sounds like a lot of fun, although maybe best when we're closer to Halloween.

I put up a Twitter poll with these, "Music Videos" and "None of the above" and it currently stands at 34% Rejected Mascots, 32% Spooky / Creepy after 349 votes. So close!

For this round, we're going with Rejected Mascots.

Damn, "Spooky/Creeps," would have been GREAT! Even more so because its not Halloween related.

Rejected Mascots sounds great too. Excited to see what submissions come up.