FLEXXO

Hi Everybody!

2009-11-27T22:08:00.002-05:00

Happy Friday everyone. We've been incommunicado lately (what else is new?) but not entirely idle. First the bad news: it's pretty safe to say Flexxo is on hiatus. You're entitled to a snarky comment or two about we're taking a hiatus from not doing anything, and we've earned that. The simple truth is that Flexxo is way too much work for two people, especially when only one of them knows how to draw (hint: not me). If circumstances change in the future where we can get more help/Kevin grows a few more neurally independent arms/someone hits lotto and wants to fund the big fella, we're back in the saddle. Barring that though, work on flexxo is going to proceed whenever we can dedicate time to it. I wish I had better news on that front but there's no sense in pretending it's anything other than what it is.

The good news (depending on your point of view, of course) is that we've been able to channel some good energy into a soundtrack. It turns out that in addition to just being lousy cartoonists, we're also lousy musicians. Who knew, right?

We were sitting around one day a couple weeks ago and got to talking about how whenever someone comes up with a good robot (the day the earth stood still, for example), it doesn't just kill everyone. What a bunch of horseshit! You create a giant, kick ass robot - everyone should be killed by it. What's this "We can reason with it" bullshit? Fuck you, our robot has lasers and no heart. Everyone is going to die. But then we realized, we don't have a robot. All that bravado for nothing...or was it?

Instead of making a giant robot cartoon/movie and undertaking another project we had no hope of finishing, we decided to write the soundtrack to a movie where the robot actually does what a giant robot is supposed to do. It's definitely more avant garde than Flexxo (soundtrack to an imaginary movie vs. a guy with a big dick) but we think it's still pretty accessible depending on your musical tastes.

Going forward, I don't want to use the Flexxo blog for non-Flexxo type announcements but until we have another jumping off page for the robot, I'll post here. Here's a couple tracks to whet your appetite. All of the songs were recorded using only a shitty guitar, shitty bass, the occasional 15 year old drum machine beat and lots of audio processing. Hope you like it.

Death Generator
Hunter-Killer

Only 10 downloads per track allowed so get em while they're hot. If I notice that they went pretty quick, I'll repost them or perhaps something else.

As always, stay stiff and rock hard everyone. Flexxo loves you. And your mom.

Rob

A Friend's A Friend Who Knows What Being A Friend Is

2009-09-15T21:13:00.002-05:00

The Stallion, Part 1, Scene 1 has been sketched.

The Stallion Part 2 is a work in progress.

The Stallion Part 3 is the gleam in our eye that we think will bring it all on home. Exciting and retarded times ahead Flexxo fans.

More to follow sooner or later (probably later considering how we tend to work these days).

Stay stiff and rock hard,
Rob

Flexxo The Savage

2009-08-04T21:12:00.001-05:00

Dude! He's The Stallion

2009-07-31T15:17:00.003-05:00

Do you know who you're fucking with? You're fucking with The Stallion, man.

Hey, folks! How's it been?

2009-06-17T21:28:00.002-05:00

It's been a long time since I've had anything to write about in this here blog. Such is life in these times, where the simple pleasures of a man in spandex and his retarded buddy have to take a back seat. It's a grand damn tragedy, I say.

The good news is that Flexxo isn't on hiatus or completely frozen development. In fact, I bother Kevin several times a week about the big fella. It's more an issue of creative speed bumps and not enough man power (oh, how ironic). Flexxo is simple enough to write that an inattentive child could pump out scripts only slightly slower than me. It turns out rendering that idiot babble into something that people might want to watch is tricky. Or so I'm told.

Now, I have a couple theories about the hold up with the sketches. Kevin claims that drawing the fight scene (yes, there's a legitimate fight scene in this one) is causing him troubles. Nevermind that Kevin asked explicitly for a fight or action scene. Ignore that completely. He says drawing the fight scene is tricky.

Personally, I think he's hung up on the script: I rely pretty heavily on the word 'penis' in this one and I think he gets...distracted....every time he reads through it.

Whatever the cause, we've been seriously dragging ass. No one is more sore about this than us, folks. Rest assured though: more flexxo is in the works. We're not gonna let the dream die; lord knows we've got nothing better going on.

So thanks for checking in. The second we have something that might be fun for other people to see, I'll post it here. On that note, stay stiff and rock hard, folks.

Rob

Fuck You 2008

2008-12-23T00:53:00.002-05:00

Hello Flexx addicts!

Clearly, 2008 was not the year of Flexxo on the desktop. Who knew?

A turbulent and troublesome year is damn near rear view mirror material and I for one could not be happier to see it off. 2008 has been a miserable, clusterfuctacious calendar event and I will be cheering to see it dead and buried. "Why so bitter?" you may ask amongst yourselves. Fair question. Let me try to explain.

2008 was the perfect storm of suck and blow for both Kevin and myself (more for me than him though). "But Rob, why? Kevin had a kid and everything. Sounds like it should've been great and..." WRONG. Not about the kid thing. Kevin seems to enjoy the new one as much as he's enjoyed the old ones, so hats off everyone. But no. That's not it. And you must be some jaded mother fucks to think it's the kid thing. You guys are dicks.

No, the main reason it sucked can be summed up succinctly: not enough Flexxo.

I mean really. We've sat down and talked about it and realized that an episode of Flexxo should not take us much more than a month. So what the fuck happened? It turns out real life had a cock sized boot aimed at Flexxo's goodies. Damn you, real life.

But what have we learned from the ordeal? Something? Anything? You bet your bulging crotch we have!

It turns out life without the big fella is drab and bullshit. OK, not bullshit but not as awesome as it is with the big fella. Work has been hella busy (my wife is listening to No Doubt again, so sue me for the hella reference) for a damn near calendar year. But the good part about busy calendar years is that they have tangible and foreseeable ends. So ours approaches.

Flexxo WILL pick up in the new year. Head Ache will be written/finished this week and produced shortly thereafter. The world needs Flexxo and we need the world. Wait, that's not right. We need Flexxo and the world needs us. No wait. That's not right either. Whatever. You catch the point.

Flexxo will return - bulgier and manlier than ever. Except for the next episode. Bulgy - yes. Manly - sort of, but fuck it. You'll laugh. We'll laugh. It'll be fun for everyone involved.

So with that, I bid you a fond adieu. Stay stiff and rock hard folks...

Rob

Hear ye, hear ye!

2008-10-06T21:57:00.003-05:00

Greetings and good evening. The damnedest thing just happened. Couldn't make this stuff up if I tried. Kevin and I were fully planning on keeping things on the Flexxo front quite for a while, you know, as a nice change of pace.

With three full episodes and one partial under our belt (I still see the first episode as a work in progress); it's got us feeling pretty good. "Resting on your laurels? Really? Don't you need laurels to in order to rest on them?" Easy, untamed masses, easy. I'm getting to that. Once we got Doug in the rear view, we decided that the next logical thing to do would be to focus solely on a pitch bible and encourage people to pay us for this. Makes sense, right?

"NO! Nay! Niet!"

So Kevin and I are on the train today and a genius stroke hits. Brand new episode material. "But, Kev, I thought we were gonna work exclusively on the pitch?" I ask timidly. "Silence! Fool!" he shouts at me. "Can't you see we are sitting in the crotch of opportunity!?!" he bellows. Indeed.

Shamed and embarassed, I took the idea home and nurtured it; I fed it vitamins and nutrients to make it strong. Jerked it off to give it confidence.

SO

"What can the average Flexxo fan expect from this kind of announcement?" Great question, average Flexxo fan! Our next episode will be titled 'Head Ache!' and it will be done in conjunction with the pitch book we hope to put together so people will pay us for this.

Friends that I've spoken to in person about the next episode were assured 'What's Big Day Out' would be the next episode. I can only assure you that 'What's Big Day Out' is being put on hold for good cause. 'Head Ache!' stands to be the dumbest piece of shit we've come up with yet.

So with baited anticipation, I leave you with that. Rock on Flexx addicts. More to follow shortly. Huzzah!!

Stay stiff and rock hard
-Rob

Hello Flexx Addicts!

2008-09-20T11:45:00.002-05:00

The albatross has been lifted! The impossible has happened! 11 months after our initial announcement, Meet Doug is finally finished! That's a lot of exclamation points!!

So, is it worth the wait? That's not for me to judge, but I will say I'm pretty happy with it. I had actually forgotten about a couple scenes in there when I watched the full thing for the first time yesterday and it was pretty funny (it's been a long time for me too).

Without further ado, here it is: Meet Doug. Enjoy...

Comic Strips

2008-06-11T19:28:00.000-05:00

We're going to try and post a Flexxo strip each week. Nothing earth shattering, just a gag or two.

Jonesing for a Fix

2008-05-24T13:53:00.002-05:00

So it's official. Neither Kevin nor I had wanted to admit it, but the cold, hard truth of it is undeniable. "Meet Doug" has become our albatross. There's no denying it.

Before we started working on Doug, life was carefree and fun and each day was filled with wonder and awe. Since then however, not so much. Work has been a mother fucker. Home life has been stressful. I know, I know - correlation is not causation, but it is mighty suspicious.

Frankly, we didn't realize how good we had it.

Worry not, though, Flexx-addicts. I'm not gonna throw out a post like this and then just leave you hanging. That's not how I roll. Since I don't have any real Flexxo updates to give you, I'll let you know where Kevin and I are at and where we'll be in a couple weeks time. Fair enough?

First and most importantly, Kevin's family recently got 7lbs., 8ozs. bigger. The man is truly a fountain of virility. Seriously. I won't even let him walk behind me, you know, just in case. But congratulations are in order for him and his lovely wife.

I'll keep my update much shorter cause it's much less interesting. After a few months of 50 hour weeks, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I think next week might be the last of the retardo weeks for me.

What does this mean? Well, there's only one way to celebrate a return to normalcy: Flexxo.

So stay tuned. We will finish Doug.

Thanks for still caring.

Stay stiff and rock hard,
Rob

Greetings, Internet!

2008-03-25T21:36:00.005-05:00

So here we are again. First, let's get formalities out of the way: Meet Doug isn't finished yet. Real life played no small part in this too, I swear. Not to steal his thunder, but Kevin's family is on the verge of getting a little bigger. They may not be much to look at, but the man is packing some serious heat if you know what I'm saying. (Of course you know what I'm talking about, you read and watch Flexxo stuff). So working on Flexxo during at home time is right out.

The day job is making it tougher to sneak in Flexxo time ("You jerkoffs get PAID to do this!?!" No. We do this while we get paid to do other stuff, big difference). Not to elicit too much pity from anyone in the tech sector, but we're switching off a Novell environment that purrs like a kitten and going balls deep into AD. I cry a little each night when I think about it. So "work" at work is right out.

As if Doug hasn't encountered enough road blocks, the last and most daunting obstacle to productivity has been a hookah. During our social time together ("Awwww". Sort of, but not as much cuddling as you might think), I used to tell Kevin to fuck off and draw. Compared to my company, it was a pleasant alternative. Now, we sit around and smoke hookah. It's like, nay, it is smoking magic. And there's no sense in pretending to be productive while smoking hookah.

"Wow, this post is a heaping pile of shit for us Flexxo fans. Thanks idiot." It's not as bad it seems. In fact, these altered conditions have opened up some very interesting and different avenues for Flexxo to develop in. For instance, we sit around and smoke hookah while AT THE SAME TIME flesh out and develop new story lines. Really great stuff, I might add. "Awesome! More crap you'll never finish!" That just hurts my feelings. I assure you, we'd be hurting ourselves far worse if we never made these and I think too highly of myself to allow that kind of hurt to happen.

And if that doesn't tweak your nipples, we've explored a new angle: music. Kevin is a hell of a guitar and bass player. I also play the bass. So what does this mean? It means we're gonna start writing our own awesome brand of Flexxo music. Not to say we can compete with Andy Taylor or Y&T, but sometimes you want something a little dumber than what already exists. So you write stuff like "Lady DeMain's Potty Party" and "Love Tongue". And those little ditties have spurred new ideas. So all in all, it's still a pretty creative process, which is what this is all about, right? "No, it's about dick jokes. Idiot." You guys are just never happy.

In summation, life is busy. We're on the hump of it right now but things can only improve, right? Hopefully, when we can pull everything together again, it'll be more awesome than ever. So hang tight, Flexxo fans. More is coming. You're patience will be duly rewarded.

Stay stiff and rock hard,

Rob

The Larrys

2008-03-19T09:52:00.002-05:00

Just a rough of two reoccurring characters based off a pic of two Trekkies.

Yo ho ho and a bottle of your mom

2008-02-02T16:20:00.000-05:00

Greetings all. Hope you're all enjoying a fine Saturday afternoon. Things are just dandy by me, thanks for asking. "What news of the Big Fella?" you ask? Well, I'll tell you.

Progress on Doug has been good. I'm gonna give you guys a little insider information (mostly because I know that if I didn't, it would go unnoticed which would be a greater shame). I know a few of you have watched Grey Matters from way back when. Great stuff there. Anyway, during the montage scene, you'll notice 2 star trek nerds in the background. Or maybe you won't. But they're there. And they fuckin rule. Tall skinny guy, short fat guy. Both giving the live long and prosper hand job. Easy joke, right? Well, they were actually inspired by these two real guys whose photo we found on the internets. Ain't technology grand?

OK. These guys, during their brief moment in the flexxoverse, thoroughly impressed us. As I can't help but keep saying, they fuckin rule. So we brought em back and gave em their own scene to star in. Needless to say, we are very happy with the decision.

Also, Kev's cock tease pic with the role reversal thing...that's a semi-completed script for what will probably be the next Flexxo cartoon: "What's Big Day Out!" Honestly, we had the title long before we knew what the hell it was gonna be about. Now we know. And now you know. We were bouncing some jokes around the other day and golly, it should be awesome.

Lastly, I figure this is a good time to let everyone know that after Meet Doug, we're gonna shift gears up a little. Rather than start work on the next cartoon right away, we're gonna try and get serious for a moment. Figure we can put together a pitch bible and try to shop the sumnabitch around. The more we sit around and talk about story lines and character ideas...well, we cry a little. We cry because we can't get it all done fast enough on our own. We want it to be real(er) already. So we decided that, rather than cry, we're gonna make a honest effort to get the damn thing made and made right. If no one wants it, than we can go back to our snail's pace and that'll be fine. But if someone does like it...::the devil's own grin::

So that's it for now folks. As soon as we have more for you, I'll be sure to pass it along. For now, I leave you with this incidental picture my parents took on their last vacation. If it's not an omen, I don't know what is...

Rock on and stay stiff...

Rob

Role Reversal

2008-01-24T23:02:00.001-05:00

This could make for a fun story.

Here it is. For real this time.

2008-01-20T14:12:00.000-05:00

After days and hand wringing and finger pointing; name calling and masculinity questioning; the full first scene is ready for mass consumption. Very exciting stuff. Hope you folks enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed watching Kevin make it. Maybe more, even. Also, a special thanks to my dearest again for lending her vocal talents.

So without further delay, here it is. Meet Doug: The Intro Proper.

Super Special TWO Day Only Sneak Peak!

2008-01-16T20:12:00.001-05:00

Expired. And not without good reason.

Welcome Back, I've Missed You...

2008-01-08T21:03:00.000-05:00

Hi, hello and how are you? I've missed you. Really.

"So why have you been such a dick? You said you were gonna call us, but you never called us!"

Baby! I was drunk, and shit I say when I'm drinking can not be held against me. I mean, I meant to call, but I lost your number and got drunk again and kinda forgot. It happens, right?

OK. Seriously, a lot of things have happened but unfortunately, not a lot of those things are Flexxo related. That's not to say nothing has been done on the Flexxo front, just a lot less than we hoped. We both got hung up with a bunch of family matters (Kevin much more so than me but he can tell you about that himself if he wants) and with the holidays and all...you get the picture. Life has just been really busy.

Fear not though, gentle reader. Meet Doug is about halfway finished and with the holidays behind us and all that other nonsense, we should be able to reapply ourselves to the task at hand: finish that sumnabitch up. As a gesture of good faith though, I'll try to get the intro scene(s) posted by the end of the week. HURRAY! I know I've said that before but you can trust me this time.

Speaking of abusive relationships (but otherwise entirely offtopic), I'm sure a lot of you are aware that Ike Turner passed away recently. Now, I'm not a big fan of the New York Post. In fact, I wouldn't wipe my ass with it. HOWEVER, I do need to give credit where credit is due. The headline the Post ran regarding the death of Ike Turner is classic and needs to be shared. So on this note, I bid you a fair evening and hope to be seeing more of you in the coming days:

"Ike Beats Tina to Death"

Farewell and goodnight. Don't forget to check back soon for the scene.

-Rob

Gobble Gobble Bitches

2007-11-22T14:04:00.000-05:00

Just a quick Thanksgiving appetizer. Sort of. Actually, what's the opposite of appetizer? Cause this is more like one of those.

This is an 'out take' from Constance Craving. Remember how I was crying about how long it took us to find women willing to do voices for us? Well, the scenes needed to be timed. We needed voices and those are the only ones we're good at (which speaks volumes in and of itself).

So enjoy the creepiness of the Commissioner practicing his kissing skills on Flexxo, Lady DeMain, and the (soon to be renamed) Evil Brain. Happy Thanksgiving all. Stay stiff.

-R

Oh Hi Fellas

2007-11-08T15:05:00.000-05:00

Greetings and polite salutations. I figured it's about time to stop in and say hello. "What news on the Flexxo front?", you ask? Well, I'll tell you. Nothing so big and exciting as a new completed episode yet (I'll wait while you put your pants back on). The first (and longest) scene looks great and once I get my wife to lay down a few lines for us, we may have to post it as a teaser. I'm very eager for everyone to meet Doug. So stay tuned for that in the next few days. Come to think of it, I did semi-promise an alternate take from Constance Craving too, didn't I? Hmm...

While work continues on Meet Doug, I've begun work on the next installment plus 1. To those I've spoken to about future story ideas, this is gonna be the one you've all been waiting for: What's Big Day Out. I finally figured out how work out some of the story details that had been bothering me. I've got one scene already written down and a few more plotted out in my noggin. Should be good stuff. If we don't fuck it up, it should be awesome stuff, but I'll leave myself a little wiggle room until it's actually written.

Here's the kicker though: because it's just the two of us and these things aren't making themselves (yet), it's real easy for us to get sidetracked. I'm sure you all noticed the super cool bouncing Flexxo on the page. Well, we had been sitting around thinking about how awesome it would be to see the big fella actually animated. Boom! Kevin goes and rubs that out. Awesome! Of course, now we're a little behind in getting the next couple scenes for Meet Doug done. But he fucking moves now! That's awesome! And if What's Big Day Out has some super awesome jokes that we can't stop toying with, well, I think you can see where this is going. But fear not, faithful reader. More than anything, we want to see these ideas turned into something real. You'll just have to forgive us if we get a little sidetracked here and there. It's all for the greater good (the greater good).

So that's that for now. Check back in the next couple days and I'll try to get that Constance Craving outtake up on youtube as well as the first scene for Meet Doug (if Kevin doesn't object too much). We'll try and keep our eye on the ball (I know Kevin won't have a problem with that at least). Stay stiff and rock on.

Rob

16 Tons and What Do You Get?

2007-10-25T13:25:00.001-05:00

How is everyone enjoying their Thursday so far? I can't complain myself. But this isn't about me. This is about the big fella; so let's just cut to the chase and talk about him for a bit. Then we can do that small talk that all the kids are raving about.

So where are we? Well, scene 1 is all sketched out. (I gotta talk to the sketch monkey and see if we can get a few choice pieces up for everyone's enjoyment). Kevin managed to get some good lines recorded and has the scene laid out in flash with music and sound effects all mapped out. All in all, pretty good progress, at least by our measure.

I do need to throw a bit of a wet blanket on this flexxgasm before I go any further though. I'm thinking we're looking at a time frame for completion somewhere between what it took us to do Grey Matters and Constance Craving. Initially, I was hopeful we could bang it out in a month, maybe a little over a month. Right now, I'm thinking it'll probably be closer to the end of November than the middle of it before we finish. I know what you're thinking: "Why?!? You horrible soul raping son of a bitch, WHY?? I want more Flexxo!" Let me explain.

So far, we have taken a good deal of care with "Meet Doug". Kevin is even considering re-recording lines that he already imported into Flash. (How's that for dedication to a quality product?) Visually, this stands to be our best episode yet. Again, hats off to Kevin for some of his best sketches thus far. It doesn't even matter that he set the bar so low with some real chicken scratch in the first three episodes that there was no where to go but up. The story is the same hack job you've come to expect, nay, demand. The voice acting will be just as middling if slightly more exacting. It really should be something to behold when it's done. Personally, I'm excited.

Check back in the next day or so and hopefully we'll have some nice art work up in here for you to enjoy and wet your pants to. Rock on rockstars and stay stiff.

Rob

PAY ATTENTION TO ME!

2007-10-12T19:18:00.000-05:00

First off, I'd like to thank everyone for the positive feedback. I'm nothing if not a glory hole and every little bit helps. Seriously though, for everyone who's watched it and liked it enough to let us know, and to the family and friends who haven't told us to stop bothering them with it yet, a big thanks. Now just give me a second while I get back into character...

OK. That was nice. On to the matter at hand. The next story has been put to paper and preliminary sketches are in. Voices are being tested. Layouts are being conceived. People are getting dumber for just being around it. (I'm really struggling with a good, cheesy catch-phrase/action hero type utterance to bring this paragraph home right now.) It's time to Flexx. (Ehh. I'm open to suggestions for future posts...)

That's pretty much where we are. I know you're all excited. We'll try to get some sketches up (heh, we...) in the near future. It should be exciting. I'm gonna wrap this post up while it's still short. There are probably a few people still reading that novel I wrote for the last post. Sorry about that folks. So yeah, go forth and stay stiff. Rock on.

Rob

Greetings

2007-10-08T23:29:00.000-05:00

Happy Tuesday everyone. I trust everyone had a fine and pleasant Columbus Day (observed). I'm finer than a Georgia peach, thank you for asking. Why the elevated mood? "Booze!" you'll shout. Not this time dear friends. "Liar!" you'll shout. You're pressing. Aside from a solid fantasy football showing, some productive nerd sessions (got opensuse 10.3 installed on an old laptop w/ native wireless + desktop effects), and celebrating three years of wedded bliss today (not necessarily in that order); what has me on the up and up dear friends is another completed episode of Flexxo.

I have to be honest with you for a moment though. How long have we been working on this episode? 3 months? Something like that? I don't know how Kevin feels about this, but after working on something for so long when in your heart you know it shouldn't have taken 1/3 that time, well...you get these niggling doubts.

"Well, that was pretty funny back in July but this is August now. The world might have moved on! Well, we're almost done and it'll still be fresh and funny by the time we get it out."

"Fuck! It's September! Whatever shine this thing may have had in August is looking a little dull now. Damnit! They're going to hate it, and by extension they'll hate us and by further extension our families! And what did they ever do to deserve that? Nothing, that's what! Those good for nothing low lifes..."

You can imagine the anxiety we had once it was time to turn the calendar over yet another month and October rolled around. But all was not lost it turns out. Fortunately for us (judging by your comments and google analytics), no one reads this thing so no one knew how far behind we had fallen on it (all because we couldn't convince a woman to lend her voice to it earlier). The upside: a new episode of Flexxo and no one even noticed it was gone. We're more than happy to ignore the down side part about nobody noticing it was gone. Of course it helps knowing that people think it's pretty funny. That's big.

So it's back to the drawing board (I think that's the first time I've ever used that phrase and it was literally appropriate) to start this whole sweet ride again. After the joy of releasing a completed story, this is the best part. We get to pick a story, laugh at the jokes for the first time and we can take comfort in the fact that we haven't fucked up any of the punchlines yet. It's a magical time when we can enjoy creating the greatest show never made (as far as we're concerned).

Before I wrap this up, I'd just like to state authoritatively and for the record: I don't foresee another 3 month episode gap. In fact, anything more than half that would be a pretty big disappointment at this stage. I'm gonna wrap up the next script in a couple days while Kevin will probably start story boarding the already scripted scenes, which means we'll be laying down our lines in short order. Both of us are psyched to work on it, not just because it's not CC anymore, but because we're stirring up a whole new breed of stupid for the next one. Should be sweet.

Thanks for checking up. Hope your enjoying "Constance Craving" and telling your friends about it so they can enjoy it to. Don't go hogging all that enjoyment for yourselves, you selfish bastards. Check back soon because Flexxo will be back before you've had a chance to miss him.

Rock on and stay stiff!

-R

Constance Craving Animatic

2007-10-05T21:40:00.000-05:00

Well, we finally completed the animatic for "Constance Craving". There's also a special message from our hero at the end, so pay attention. His advice just may save your very soul, if you can actually figure out what the hell he's talking about. Hopefully you'll enjoy it and lose a couple of IQ points in the process. Stay stiff!

Pencil Test

2007-10-02T21:59:00.000-05:00

This is a pencil test from the first Flexxo story we did. It's pretty mechanical looking to me but I am proud of the "sack bounce".

The home stretch and other myths of creation

2007-09-26T18:58:00.000-05:00

So we're up to the sketches for the final scene of 'Constance Craving'. Once that's done, we'll lay down a few lines and then it's done. Hooray. Except for the ladies voices. So it'll mostly be done. That's pretty good right? (Who among us didn't see that coming?)

It turns out that besides my wife and Kevin's wife...well, that's pretty much the only 2 women we know and that we can sucker into doing this kind of thing for us. And there are like, I don't know, 4 or 6 lines that are supposed to be from different people and so so so. I mean, hookers aren't out of the question but that's something of a last resort. I'm sure we'll work something out.

Funny story though on a related note. There's a scene where What is watching and listening to a group of girls and getting real stupid. A lot of his reactions are timing jokes so we needed those lines to time out the scene. So we improvised. All I can say is there's something very alarming about Flexxo, The Commissioner, Lady DeMain and the Evil Brain [joke censored until episode completion]. It definitely changed the...I guess I'll say 'feel' of the scene. And definitely funny. Just for very different reasons. Maybe a DVD extra (I'm told confidence is a good thing in these situations), maybe I'll post it to youtube after the episode is done and you can see the scene as it's supposed to be first. Then you'll enjoy the jackassery that much more.

So yeah, hang in there. We are. Shouldn't be more than a few days away. Hooray.

Word to your mother.

R

Anyone else feeling sexy tonight?

2007-08-31T21:32:00.000-05:00

So we have clearly decided to hold off on presenting 'Constance Craving' until it is complete. This wasn't a decision we came to lightly. Truthfully, we didn't actually come to any decision at all. Its pretty much that we got lazy and never got around to posting it. The unintended advantage is that the first scene on its own doesn't make much sense so withholding it was probably the right thing to do. I can live with shrewd and lucky.

The episode itself is about halfway done and I must admit, I'm pretty excited about it. Kevin is doing a real good job with the sketches on this one. There are a couple sketches in there that crack me up every time I see them. The music and sound cues are awesome (we've gone back to the Y&T well for 'Summertime Girls' again; I swear, if awesome had a theme song, that's it!). For my part in it, I'm a little nervous cause I've only been doing pretty much one take for all the lines but, after future listens, they seem to work so I guess I'll just have to accept that I'm awesome. And if anyone disagrees, it's cause you've got no taste and it was only my first take so lay off. I'm awesome, not perfect. Now, now, don't be so hard on yourself. Everybody else makes mistakes too. I don't even know what the hell I'm talking about anymore.

Before I forget, I would like to thank all the body builders and exercise enthusiasts out there who have taken an interest in Flexxo. That's right, both of you. I think its pretty cool that we seem to have equal appeal among cartoon nerds and body builders. Who else can claim that demographic? The fact that somebody we haven't met in person or online reads this or watches the animatics is pretty flattering. I hope we keep up our end of the bargain.

So yeah. Hang in there. Constance Craving is almost done (more than 1/2 way there). As soon as it's ready, you'll be the first to know. Rock on rock stars. Enjoy the weekend.

Sketches

2007-08-30T22:48:00.001-05:00

Here's a couple of sketches of our hero while we're still hard at work storyboarding another episode. We'll post another animatic when it's complete. It would be nice to see one of these episodes animated but it's been more fun coming up with more stories.

As Promised

2007-08-09T23:55:00.000-05:00

It worked! Happy times for all. Now viewing on google video, the single greatest episode of television ever created. Of relevance, you'll get to see the inspiration for the commissioner. I can't begin to say how happy I am to share this with everyone. It's a bit long, but there are so many awesome nuances tucked in every scene...you'll just have to see for yourself. Enjoy.

-Rob

Johnny Staccato - Nice Little Town

Title Card and Sketches

2007-08-09T21:00:00.001-05:00

This is the Title sequence for "Constance Craving" along with some sketches. The title card drawing will probably be redrawn, the ink lines are too thick for my tastes. Plus it was drawn in about 5 minutes.

Small Victories

2007-08-08T21:16:00.000-05:00

So work is now under way on Flexxo's new adventure, 'Constance Craving'. The first scene is story boarded, some lines have been recorded and some music has been tested for effect. If early indications are any indication at all, this is gonna be a good one. We're not sure whether or not we should do a first scene teaser like we did with 'Grey Matters' or just do a singular grand unveiling. If anyone reads this and has any preference, post a comment. Otherwise we'll just continue to make some shit up as we go along.

On a tangentially related note, I'm working on a little treat for everyone. I won't go into details in case it doesn't work out the way I want. Trust me though, if you like what we've done with Flexxo so far, you'll like this. Check back tomorrow and you may get a wonderful treat. I'm just saying.

Anyway, thanks for continuing to check in now and again. Rock on, rock stars.

-rob

Warm Up Sketches

2007-07-27T21:44:00.000-05:00

These are just a couple of pages of (really) rough sketches to try and get a feel of what some of the girls may look like for the next story we're working on.

Flexxo and What all decked out.

Greetings from the Flexxoverse

2007-07-26T21:10:00.000-05:00

So it's been a couple months and alls been quiet. 'What are those idiots up to?' you may be asking yourselves. Mostly a lot a butt jokes. Lots of butt jokes. But that's not all!

We got some good work done on a Flexxo public service announcement (Flexxo is a very civic minded fellow; not a lot of people know that yet). 'How are they going from a full 10 minute episode to a minute long PSA? What the fuck is wrong with those guys?' you may be asking yourselves. I'll tell you the fuck. It's gonna be an actual cartoon (remember that color and movement thing I was talking about a couple months ago? This is that). Even for a short episode, it's still a very ambitious project. Especially considering only one of us knows how to draw (hint: not me). But work is being done and progress is being made. Time will let tell if this little endeavor is worth it or if it might just be cheaper to hire some cheap child labor or something.

Don't get all forlorn though. That's not all! We also have two scripts coming down the pipe that are really making good on our striving for incremental improvement (I just made that up, we have no such ambition). Ironically, the script I started over a month ago stagnated (because I'm lazy more than anything else) and has been supplanted by an excellent idea Kevin had a couple days ago. With any luck, I should wrap it up tomorrow. Kevin is already roughing out some character designs so by the time everything is done, we can get right to work on the layout. Personally, I'm very excited about the potential for this one. We're putting Flexxo back in his element (women) and the material is better for it (I think). If our previous pace is any indication, expect something in a shade over a month (we need to find actual women for some of the voices; how the hell are we gonna make that happen?)

So all in all, Flexxo lives. Not only does he live, but we have a much more comfortable sense of working with him and What and the Commish and the ideas are crystallizing much faster and with better results. There should probably be more commas in that last sentence. Anyway. Thanks again for reading. We hope to have something for you soon. Goodnight New York!

Excellent Progress

2007-05-14T22:08:00.000-05:00

Grey Matters is done! We only have one more scene to do. Wait, that doesn't make sense. How about this: The happy ending is done (huh-HUH) and we're thinking long and hard (damnit, no more puns!) about adding the extra creepy ending we've got kicking around. I guess that'll depend on whether or not the next script (in progress) is nearly as...uncomfortable as Grey Matters turned out. If it's littered with fat guys in dresses and massage parlor hand jobs, then we'll probably leave it out. No sense in fucking a dead dog (that's probably not a real expression, but I'm now convinced it should be). On the other hand, if we manage to create a story line that's relatively normal and doesn't pander to everyone's inner sexual deviant, we may as well go back and get all that creepy shit out of our collective system in one episode. Truthfully, it could go either way.

The as-yet-untitled next episode is still in its infancy but there's some real gold in there (at least I think so). In the meantime, maybe the sketch monkey can fancy up some model sheets so it looks like this is a real cartoon project and not some horrible abuse of tax dollars. Just because we have already managed to replicate the quality of an adult swim one and done (shudder) doesn't mean that's what we're striving for. Ideally, we'd like to get some color in there. That's right, color. And, if we can afford to buy some Koreans, perhaps some character movement. That's a bold leap for a cartoon, but we think it's probably the right way to go.

Keep the faith and spread the word, Constant Reader. Your support is much appreciated. Thanks for checking up.

-r

Grey Matters

2007-04-26T13:10:00.000-05:00

Flexxo is coming back in an all new adventure!

Maybe 'adventure' is too strong a word but he is definitely coming back. And it is definitely mostly new. Mostly. New characters, a proper storyline (that's new) and everybody's favorite jump suit. What more could you ask for?

Transvestites? Done.
Hand jobs? Done.
A Frank Stallone montage? Done.
Boobies? Done.
What used as a prop? Done.

Everything you could possibly ask for in this episode has been done. Except for the episode itself. But that is a minor detail. It's almost done. And on the internet, a promise issued is worth just as much as a promise delivered. So check back soon and behold the glory that is Flexxo in his all new episode: Grey Matters.

-r

UPDATE: Here's the first scene! Huzzah!

Animatic

2007-02-08T21:47:00.000-05:00

Here's the animatic of Flexxo's introductory episode. It's short but hopefully you'll find it funny. Please excuse many of the poor drawings in it, the storyboard wasn't meant to be finished art.

Storyboard Panels

2007-01-24T22:56:00.000-05:00

These are some storyboard panels from the first short starring Flexxo.

Flexxo's Sidekick- "What"

2006-12-28T22:32:00.000-05:00

A couple of quick crappy drawings of Flexxo's faithful, dim-witted sidekick: What.

Commissioner Eldredge

2006-12-13T23:14:00.000-05:00

A rough sketch of Commissioner Eldredge, part of the "Flexxoverse"

FLEXXOOOOOO

2006-12-10T00:59:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Flexxo blog.