You're So Square Baby.....

Here's a piece I animated for the February 11 Second Club competition. Its traditionally animated in Flash. Oh, and yay! I placed 4th in the competition! Hope you enjoy!

Cactus Gallery Tiny Treasures Show

I have some mini paintings for sale at the Cactus Gallery's Tiny Treasures Show.
They are mini 2x2 canvas's made with scratchboard, gouache, acrylic and thread for $25 a piece. Stop by the gallery and check them out or contact Sandra for details! email: semastroianni70@yahoo.com

2010 Flash Animation Demo Reel

Crystal Stromer 2010 Demo Reel from Crystal Stromer on Vimeo.

I heart cartoons!

MAD Magazine Cartoon

Currently working on the MAD Magazine cartoon for Cartoon Network. It airs Monday's at 8:30. Check it out!

Milky Way and The Galaxy Girls!

I was really excited when Chris Hamilton at Oddbot Animation told me we were getting to work on a project for the very talented Lauren Faust. Not only did she animate on one of my very favorite movies, Cats Don't Dance, but she is a seriously talented designer as well. It was not only fun to work on a project with super cute designs but it was also great to work on something super girly! The designs are by Lauren, I animated the girls, and the talented boys of Oddbot did the rest! Yay! Hope you like it!
And personally, Jupiter is my favorite girl.....

Check out Lauren's website - http://milkywayandthegalaxygirls.com

Oddbot "Bot" Animation

I recently got to animate the 'bot for Oddbot Animation Studios. Its being used right now for the end of their animation reel.
To check it out go to www.Oddbot.net!
I'm really happy with the way it came out. I even got to try my hand at some smoke effects, which took forever to do but I'm really happy with the end result. Hope you like it!!

A Candy Affair

Hey everyone! I'm so happy to post about this new original short from Oddbot Animation. Its called "A Candy Affair" and its just in time for Halloween!
My director, Chris Hamilton, presented me with the opportunity to write and direct my own short. It was a pretty quick turnaround, about 3 weeks from story to animation and a couple more weeks to work out the music. He told me he wanted it to be at least a min long and Halloween themed. I was a little stressed at first but it was really fun to work on, plus I like a challenge! It was actually a blessing to get a story idea written pretty quickly, I tend to second guess myself and noodle things to death. So working with a tight deadline I was forced to make decisions and commit to ideas. The came the whirl wind of character designs, storyboards, layout and animation.
Luckily, I had some great help:
Zach Aufdemberg - who helped with everything from story to animation to editing and sound
Will Patrick - who did the storyboards and helped with animation (http://willssteamshow.blogspot.com/)
Eric Gonzalez - who designed backgrounds and the title cards (http://ericgonzalez.blogspot.com/)
With thanks to Robert Ramirez for letting me ask a million questions.
And Jeff Zahn who did a really great job with the music! (http://www.jeffzahnmusic.com/)

Anyways, this is what came out!! Hope everyone likes it and shares it if you do! I'm really proud of the way it turned out and the work everyone put into it! That world needs a little more cuteness me think! Yay!

Do I Creep You Out music video

This is a music video I worked on a couple years back for Weird Al and made by Jib Jab.

Ghost Town music video

Ghost Town


Its been a while since my last posting since I've been super busy doing freelance lately. One of the projects I recently worked on was the music video "Ghost Town" by Shiny Toy Guns. It was directed by Glen Hanson and animated by the wonderful people from Six Point Harness. Hope you like it!

A Difference of Opinions

Here is the painting I did for the Skulls show at the Cactus Gallery. Its scratch board, acrylic, and gouche on wood. And did I mention it SOLD?!?!? (See the red dot? I got a red dot!) Yay! Thanks to the wonderful awesome people that bought it! And the equally wonderful people that came out that night to support! And a great big special thanks to Cactus!

Tasty Time With ZeFronk Premiere!

Playhouse Disney will be premiering this new series of cartoon shorts Saturday, November 8th at 6:25am. I dont expect most people will be up this early on a Saturday morning, but maybe if you are up after a long night of partying or you can DVR it, or if you are like me and are slow on the uptake of the future can video tape it.
Anyways, the show is about a French Wiener Dog who's cooking show teaches kids about healthy eating, He's got a little bird assistant sous chef, Sue and a neighbor cat, Dom, who is always trying to sneak his snacks.
The show is super cute and also features the very awesome voices of Rob Paulsen (best known as Yakko & Pinky from Animanics, Raphael from TMNT, the list goes on and on and on) and Mark Hamill (yes, THE Mark Hamill, who is an amazing voice actor).
So find out how to make Ze Tomato Surprise (cause you will be surprised) and check out some of my animation!!!!
Yay!

Cactus Gallery

I have a painting for a Day of the Dead show at the Cactus Gallery in Eagle Rock, CA. The artist reception is on the 25th of October! A couple of my very talented friends have work there as well, Daisy Church, Damon O'Keefe, Kirk Millett and Ashley Fisher! Come and celebrate!

Cactu​s Galle​ry,​ Eagle​ Rock,​ CA
4534 Eagle​ Rock Blvd,​ Eagle​ Rock,​ CA 90041​

Show dates​ :: Octob​er 11 - Novem​ber 6, 2008

Artis​t Recep​tion :: Satur​day,​ Octob​er 25, 2008 :: 7pm-​10pm :: DJ Soul Junki​e

http:​/​/​www.​ eclec​ticca​ctus.​ com
http:​/​/​www.​ myspa​ce.​ com/​cactu​sgall​ery
http:​/​/​www.​ etsy.​ com/​shop.​ php?​user_​id=​79481​

2008 animation Demo Reel

Crystal Stromer 2008 Demo Reel from Crystal Stromer on Vimeo.

Here's my new and improved 2008 demo reel! Please allow a min to load if its chuggy! Thanks! Enjoy!

A. mississippiensis

The topic for this weeks If "Fierce". Being raised in the swamps I have a special place in my heart for reptiles. The fiercest and the coolest of all these creatures is the alligator! They have been around for millions of years, like basking in the sun, and kill their prey by dragging them down and doing a death roll. You can tell a gator from a croc cause their snouts are rounder and flatter, they show fewer teeth when their mouths are closed, live in fresh water and are more blackish in color. Just watch yourself by any body of water if you are down south....they are everywhere! Respect the Gator and he won't bite ya! Yay! Reptiles!

Cat Hoarder

This week's topic for Illustration Friday, Hoard. The other day I saw a story about an animal hoarder who was arrested for having like 150 cats in her home....I'm not kidding. They mean well....but normally dont have the means to take care of all the animals....like 150 cats! Its usually related to OCD, addiction or dementia. Although Wikipedia tells me that cat hoarding might be related to the Toxoplasma gondii parasite, which render the infected host attracted to cats....Interesting. Anyways, I didn't feel like drawing a bunch of dead cats for this topic, so I tried to keep it a little lighter! Thanks!

Alligator Manners Premiere

Yay!


Playhouse Disney is premiering "Can You Teach My Alligator Manners?" on Saturday July 21st at 9:55 am! I am really excited about this show! I really had alot of fun working on this one! And I think everyone else that worked on it did too! We really had the best crew working on this show and I am really proud of it! We already got some write ups on it! Even a very small blurb in the new Entertainment Weekly! (Considering the show is only 2 mins long thats amazing!)

Check them out here:

Animation Magazine Article

Animation Insider Article

Playhouse Disney's Alligator Web Site...watch some clips

I forget alot of stuff.....

Illustration Friday's topic of Forgotten. Some things I have just forgotten, somethings I've chosen to forget. So this is a picture of me searching my brain for the forgotten things swimming around in there....

Worried Mr. Bear...

I had so much fun using markers I thought I would do another marker drawing. This is for Illustration Friday's topic of the week "Worry". Mr. Bear is worried about the monster underneath his bed....

Nothing better than a wide smile....

My drawing for Illustration Friday's topic Wide! Smiles all around. I dont think the small guy stands a chance, do you?

All images copyright Crystal Stromer 2008.

Return of the colored pencils....

I was thinking my blog needed a color pop, and then remembered once upon a time I used to use nothing but colored pencils. It was the first thing I was taught to use when I was younger and still my favorite! I kinda felt like my left arm was complete again (my blog also needs a nerdy Sweeney Todd reference). Anyways, here is the first prismacolor drawing I have done in a long long time...I am thinking of entering it in the primsacolor contest, see if I still know how to work these pencils! Yay!

All images copyright Crystal Stromer 2008.