"The 13th of Friday!" Movie

This long awaited movie is finally completed! Please check out this YouTube friendly version (all bad words are bleeped). To see the un-edited version, much LARGER and HIGHER RESOLUTION, you'll have to go to our official site linked here, Un-Edited "13th of Friday! Movie.

Enjoy! And please comment here or send your comments to fans@summercampofdeath.com



Happy Halloween!!!

From the Grave, Part 2

Hello SCOD fans
It's been way too long but I wanted you to know that the film is completed. I've been so busy that I haven't been able to DO anything with it yet, except for showing it at a small screening in Atlanta, GA. However, I've gotten a LOT of recent traffic on the site so I thought you might like to know what I'll be working on next:

-Finishing the site and posting "The 13th of Friday!"
(If you want to see it sooner, email fans@summercampofdeath.com)
-Posting "The 13th of Friday!" on youtube
-Sending out all those FREE STICKERS that I promised you...
-Entering "The 13th of Friday!" into animation festivals
-Sending the link of "The 13th of Friday!" to the most recent sticker requestees

Thanks to all the fans who are showing support. And thanks to ASIFA Atlanta and Brett Thompson for allowing the 'night before the event submission' at the latest Roll Yer Own.

Another Friday the 13th!

click here to view a larger sized movie!

Check out this promo for the mostly completed pilot episode, "13th of Friday!" Happy Friday the 13th horror fans!

Backgrounds

As we approach completion of "13th of Friday!" (which should be Halloween of this year), I've finally had the time to touch up the backgrounds. Originally, I really wanted painted bg's, and plan to have them down the line, but for now have had to settle with my own attempt at cintiq brushwork done on top of my original flash backgrounds. Not the level of painting I'd like, but certainly better than before, and the characters contrast and pop off of them much better than before.





And, a few new sketches for fans since the last post.

Happy Friday the 13th!

In celebration of today, you can go to the main site and click on the above image to see a sneak preview of SCOD's opening title sequence!

Also, I realized I've gotten behind on showing you the fan doodles I've given away. This first one is one of my favorites.

New Stickers (and other stuff)

New stickers have been ordered! Check them out!







The first is SCOD's first red, black, and white sticker and it looks great! We are happy about this episode specific, deluxe sticker. We ran out of our initial run of 750 stickers for Gary, Derek, and Mell. So, we decided to order a new ones for each character showing off their updated designs and also the long awaited Sanchez sticker! And last but not least, a large size sticker, also the first of it's kind for SCOD, measuring 4.25 x 5.5 inches, shows our group of male counselors as you see them on the site. We will continue to mail out the character specific stickers to our fans, and may throw in the special edition "13th of Friday!" stickers and/or the large size B&W as a bonus. Expect more stickers in the future, with the ability to purchase packs of stickers or individually.

Also, we are in the middle of our final recording session and hope to be back to the drawing board by the end of the week. The recording quality sounds better than ever! We also have a new Sanchez actor. More details on that coming soon. And, last but not least, we have gotten sample clips from our sound team of what our scary, rock music will sound like for the final. Listen to a sample!

2008 Update

Greetings SCOD fans! There's a LOT to catch up on since the last post. First let's start with these three sketches:





Each person that registers as a SCOD fan gets free stickers and a sketch. These are the first three for the year!

Serious production of "The 13th of Friday!" is underway! Finally! Though our team is not fully assembled, most of it is, and momentum is building! Here are stills from what we're working on now:




After many stalls and setbacks last year, 2008 is making up for it quickly! Right now we have well over two minutes of animation completed of an estimated five. Presently we will reach the half-way mark sometime next week. Hopes are high that we could get close to completion in February. We'll see... I'm anxious to show clips but am holding back. I want to document the production without ruining the final piece (somehow). Always hate it when they show too much in the previews. If you are an animation enthusiast, classic horror enthusiast -or both, sign up as a fan through the site and you'll get to see sneak peaks of the animation as we update the work reel with new scenes, backgrounds, and animation!

Gary as Zombie Soul Eater

As I mentioned in my last post, SCOD is about to rise from the grave. To celebrate, I drew this for the latest SCOD fan who signed up for free stickers. This sketch is a complete deviation from all of my earlier ones, and a real treat to send out. You never know what you might get!

In less than 2 weeks I'll be working on "The 13th of Friday" full time. Can't wait. The animated short I've been working on, on and off for the last year, will finally resume production. I'm not even going to promise when it'll be done by, at this point. I originally thought I'd be done by this year's end, but am thinking about additional scenes, so who knows... All I can say is, it'll be ridiculous and hopefully somewhat hilarious.

I've been looking into finally buying my sound equipment, so that I can record character voices at professional quality. I think it's gonna cost me around $900 bucks. The things I do for you people... But anyway, I'm excited about it!

Happy Halloween 2007

Hey SCOD fans! Happy Halloween. Just wanted to catch up with you and let you know we are still here. It's been a while since my last post, but as I've been telling friends... "Yes, SCOD is dead... soon to arise again as zombie soul eaters!" Here's a sneak preview of the long awaited "13th of Friday!"

13th sneak preview #2

Here's the deal: I was hoping to finish the 13th by Halloween but people offered me lots of money to work on something else. What's a freelance artist gonna do? So now, the revised schedule is to finish this thing by years end... OR DIE!!!

The sneak preview scene was animated by a good friend and very talented animator, Matt Lee. I have a few friends who are helping me finish this. I get by with a little help from my friends.

SCOD also get's by with a little help from it's fans. So, those of you who have signed up lately for stickers, hang in there... so busy, but you HAVE NOT been forgotten. And thanks...

Oh, and one more thing... I don't think I share with you the final SCOD theme song. Thomas and I had been working on it here and there for months and he gave me a version that kicks ass! So that's it! It's done. And here it is! crank up the speakers! SCOD Theme Song

Fan Club Sketches

Here's the latest batch that went out in the mail yesterday accompanied by stickers. I'm happy to show the first ever Bambi doodle, done for a very old friend.




And this one below turned out pretty weird. This sketch went to the guy who I consider the first official fan, judging by my records. He's also the first to ask for sticker refills, and the first to get them!

13th of Friday! Preview

HAPPY FRIDAY THE 13, HORROR FANS!

Here we are! Another Friday the 13th, and we are still busy HACKING AWAY on our latest short film, "The 13th of Friday!". Boy, it's taking forever! But rest assured, progress IS being made. We currently have a team of five animators who are taking on scenes. Thomas is about to finish the theme song, and we are going to make a special cut-down version for the opening titles/credits to use with all of our short films. We hope to be finished by Halloween. Check out this small preview of the storyboard/animatic.

Latest Fan Sketch

Here's the latest fan sketch! It accompanied the FREE stickers that went out to the last person who signed up as an official Summer Camp of Death! fan. That's right, FREE STICKERS! And yes, you get a FREE SKETCH TOO! Pretty cool, huh?



What's even cooler about this one, is that it's the first ever Sanchez sketch. And he doesn't even have a sticker yet! But I'm renewing my promise to make one, so it's now on the top of the list of 'things to do'.

THEME SONG RAISES THE DEAD!

S.C.O.D. reached another level today when the first draft of the opening theme song was created by none other than Thomas Amason and the Gazillionaires. Thom contacted me about a project he is working on after seeing my Carl Doodle video on YouTube. It turns out that Thom, guitarist of Love Arcade, is not only a prolific song writer and musician, but also an animation enthusiast and creator. He is working on his own cartoon show slated to be voiced by himself along with a variety of music industry talent. It's called The Zoo and you can learn more about it HERE. It wasn't long before I mentioned S.C.O.D. and we soon decided to collaborate, trading work on each other's shows. Thom got together today with Nathanael A+, keyboardist of Love Arcade and music producer of Gazillionaires, and banged out an awesome first version of Summer Camp of Death's theme song! I'm proud to share it with you! Check it out!

SUMMER CAMP OF DEATH THEME SONG VERSION ONE

We already discussed some tweaks that will be made, and I want to write some more lyrics and make it a little longer. But I can't wait to put some images and titles to this song!

On a different subject, I wanted to follow up with the last post. The company that was super interested in S.C.O.D. and asked for a budget became super dis-interested just as quickly as they got excited in the first place. It was a bummer at first, but I'm really happy to have gotten that far. I also now have a budget and schedule to work with. I have always planned on making cartoons for S.C.O.D. independently, and we are getting farther along each day. I plan on doing major work on the show this winter, possibly making it my full time job for several months!

Please let me know what you think of the theme song!

Closer Than Ever

EXCITING NEXT STEP FOR THE SUMMER CAMP OF DEATH!

Hello fans. I'm happy to tell you that we pitched the series to a NYC internet video content site, and the meeting went quite well. For the first time, we were asked to attend a second meeting in a week or so, and submit a proposal with a budget and schedule. I created one this Saturday, and I have to say that it was almost as fun as drawing and animating! To think about the project, and to sit down and figure out just how long it would take, and just how much it would cost, was a very exciting step in our efforts to bring our show to the public. Of course, we're still somewhat far from a signed contract, but as usual, I consider this a great success. We're waiting to find out how appealing the show is in terms of an internal revue, measuring such things as what the demographic is, how easy it is to reach it's demographic, and whether it can attract ad sales, etc. And of course, they still need to review the script, but we're assuming they'll love it!

Thanks to everyone who continues to show support for this idea. With any luck, they'll approve the budget and we can finally make our cartoon! Also, I've had two more fans sign up for stickers, so I've posted the two sketches that I'll be mailing out soon. The first one ever for Derek, and a second of Gary.

Gary Sketch

This quick sketch was done for the latest S.C.O.D. fan who signed up for free stickers. I usually include one for each package.

The 13th of Friday!

Here are the mostly completed backgrounds for the next webisode titled, "The 13th of Friday!". Too bad it's not finished by my loose deadline of today. Until then, official S.C.O.D. fans get a sneak preview. I've uploaded the black and white, animatic rough cut to the site and fans get the link (along with free stickers and other treats). So sign up today!

The Legend of Dr. Hooke

Hello S.C.O.D. fans! Let's catch up on a few things. Check out the image below. Here's a good example of a quick Mell-stabbed-through-the-head doodle.


As you may know, you can sign up to become a S.C.O.D. fan to recieve free stickers. But what you don't know, is that I've been sending all the official fans a letter, packed with stickers and also an original inked doodle. This one above is next in line to be sent to S.C.O.D.'s next official fan. They're fun to do, and I'll keep including them until I get too busy (which probably won't be for a while, so it's not like a threat or anything...). So far, everyone has gotten a Mell-stabbed-through-the-head doodle except for one lucky person who received a Gary-stabbed-through-the-head doodle. If you have not recieved your stickers yet, it might be because you applied without sending some important info like your City and State. Yes that's happened at least one time. No prob. Just resend your info!

Now on to some other fun stuff! The webisode I'm working on now, the latest masterpiece, is called "The 13th of Friday!" which aside from making no sense, is destined to be a cult classic of animated, web, horror-comedy. It is now dubbed 'the first webisode', and what you can currently see on the site are now 'studies'. With that in mind I've finally accepted that the latest masterpiece is going to realistically take another three or four months to finish (ouch!). I know. Sucks. But it's got a beginning, middle, and end, and has several scenes (more backgrounds), a few murders, and some very bizarre sexual situations! So needless to say, it'll be worth the wait!

Also, I had the fortune to meet with another big network about a week ago. Although I didn't feel the meeting went as well as it could have, there is interest in reading my script (cool!). Even though I like my pilot, I think episode two is a lot better. So, I decided to do the hard thing and finish the script and turn that in instead. Now it's finished, which is great, but its become a half-hour show, which the last few networks have been more into, and well, I don't know exactly what I've got. It's like Frankenstein or something. You can make him, but after you electrocute him back from the dead, you don't know what the hell he'll do! I'll do the usual and pass it around to my friends and see what they think. I can say that adding twice as much material in one story allows a lot more characters and a much more complex narrative giving the whole thing a different flavor. I'll probably weigh my friends' critiques and make several revisions before turning it in for review, but I'm hoping it'll be worth it. Episode two is currently titled "The Legend of Dr. Hooke" (a twisted tale derived from the urban legend of the escaped convict with the hook-hand). It's sure to be sillier, spookier, and more retarded than anything to date!

One last thing. I finally met someone over at Fangoria who might be the right person to talk to! Exciting! I've always wondered if they would be into S.C.O.D. and hopefully I can soon find out!

Back from the Dead (almost)

Things started out great. I took my wife to see Evil Dead the Musical on her birthday.


We had a blast! It was really funny and they really hit the nail right on the head. It was a great satire, keeping the true creepiness of the original while amplifying the campy-ness. Then two days later I was puking my guts out with stomach flu. "Huuyeechh!!" It took almost a week to get my strength back. Then my main storage drive with all my S.C.O.D. files on it failed! Ouch!

I thought all was lost but have managed, with a little help from the tech guys at work, to extract and restore my latest animation on the new webisode. I was really down when I thought I'd lost it all. I feel SO lucky to have gotten it back and am very excited to get some work done on it this weekend. It's sure to be the best one yet!

I have a meeting coming up soon, pitching the show. I feel really good about it! This guy's going to love it, I just know it! "I'll purchase 20 episodes, please!" More and more fans are signing up at the website which continues to draw more and more interest. I think Summer Camp of Death's time has come!

While sifting through the recovered files, I noticed this rough of the website and thought I'd post it here. The site has really come a long way!

New Year, New Sketches, and New News

Hello fans and Happy New Year! If you're reading this, you probably know that the Summer Camp of Death! site has been updated with some cool animation on the characters and some more blood-dripping buttons. So go on over there if you haven't seen the new changes yet!

Here are some sketches I worked on over the holidays for the new webisode I'm working on. This one is sure to be the best, and if you look closely, you can see a hint of what's going to happen.




The big push to update the site coincides with another meeting I'm scheduled to have this month with some more folks over at MTV. I know my last post was pretty final concerning that network, yet another door has opened up and has great possibilities. I know better than to get my hopes up, but I'm still excited anyway!

Read 'em and Weep (but not really)

I promised to let everyone (all 8 of you) know what the latest news concerning the S.C.O.D. pitch at MTV, and well, I found out last week and simply haven't had the time to post anything. Here's what happened. We had a meeting with MTV that went very well. There was real, genuine interest in the show. One of the main points of discussion was the demographic of MTV2. MTV2 has it's own demographic, separate from MTV proper. It's more male oriented and currently features most of the network's animated content. All in all, we came away from the meeting with high hopes, simply because all the pieces seemed to fit well. After waiting for over six weeks for our pilot script to be read, after some prodding, I finally got an email back. Here is an excerpt,

"My apologies for the long delay in responding. I finally had a chance to read the script and really enjoyed it. Since we last spoke, there have been some changes in our development criteria. To be considered for pickup, projects are now expected to be able to play on both MTV and MTV2. While Summer Camp might play well for the male teen in the MTV2 audience, it doesn't play broadly enough to work on MTV. Therefore, we're going to have to pass on this project. If you have any questions or want to discuss further, please let me know."

Can you believe that? Unlike many meetings with executives of networks, I have reason to take this email at face value, that its meaning is what it says it is. With that in mind, I have to say, "Bummer!" It sounds as if we almost had a deal by a difference of six months. It was tough to accept since he liked the idea, liked the script, and thought it would work well on MTV2. So some dumb new rule botched the whole thing. What's the point of having two channels then? So you can play the same crap at two different times of the day? That's like buying two suits of the same color and design. I don't get it, but I'm OK with it. All in all, I think we got closer than ever to making a deal which makes it a success of sorts. Now I'm scheduling a meeting with Fangoria TV and am also thinking about Spike TV and Comedy Central. Who knows?

Since the MTV chapter is closed, I'm happy to announce that work on the project has resumed. I have plans to produce more webisodes, continue work on the site, and am looking into producing independently the pilot episode or possibly the second script that is almost completed. The world needs Summer Camp of Death! even if it doesn't know it yet. The independent route will be excruciatingly slow, but slow and steady wins the race. Thanks for your interest, and I'll be sure to add new stuff to the site as soon as we get through the busy holiday season.

Now, for a little description of the character line-up posted above. This is the latest in character design for Mell, Gary, Derek, and Sanchez. These updated models have a new look, new inking style, and are ready to go (all symbolized in Flash, etc.). Truthfully, I'm not completely happy with Sanchez, so there will be a little bit more work done there. How do you like the T-shirt art? This is something I'm looking forward to. I've always thought cartoon characters should be wearing clothes that are more true to life, and that will have a role in the show's design.

NEWS UPDATE

What happens if you stick a knife in Mell's head and let a week or two pass by?


After Halloween, I got so busy, as usual, that I forgot about this Mell-O-Lantern. But, when I finally noticed it, I found the image to be quite fascinating. The decay of this moldy pumpkin reminds me of a decayed body, which matches the theme of the image. I love how the mouth seems to have opened wider in a silent scream. Poor Mell! Anyway, onto some news...

Well, no news is good news right? There actually is some, although the Summer Camp of Death! project has been at somewhat of a standstill. Here's why.

As I mentioned before, the idea was well received after pitching it to MTV. Upon their request, I quickly sent in the pilot that I had been working on for over a year. And then...well, nothing. It's a "hurry up and wait" sort of thing. I walked away from the meeting saying to myself that I'd be surprised if the exec' read the script sooner than two months time. Having pitched a lot of shows to various networks, that's about the turn-around time that I've noticed it takes. In the meantime, I haven't really worked on anything simply because there are so many possibilities that could and would change the creative process if they end up being seriously interested. The main issue is whether or not it would be a 15 minute show (as it stands now), or a 30 minute show (something we contemplated during the pitch meeting).

So, I've been relaxing and taking a break from all things S.C.O.D., with one exception. I have been thinking about new scripts, trying to come up with a season's worth of good ideas. I've also shown my pilot script to collegues who have been giving it (surprisingly) good reviews. And, I've been in touch with said exec' who assures me that the script will be read this weekend! So, to celebrate and also to keep the good vibe resonating this weekend, after six long weeks I've dusted off my writing fingers and gotten a significant amount of work done on script two! And it's a good one! So, for the few of you who read this blog, keep your fingers crossed for me today and next week, and I'll be sure to post the good news (or the not so good news) as soon as I find out.

Happy Halloween!

My first Jack-O-Lantern in about 20 years.



Hopefully you'll recognize the image. This is Mell with a knife through his head! Ouch!

I carved this mostly on Saturday while watching Halloween. It took all all of the first movie and most of the second, which we happened to have saved on the DVR.



The rough sketch I wanted to use.


The ink that I push-pinned into the pumpkin and then used a push-pin to dot all the line work.


This is the reverse that I thought looked neat. Happy Halloween everyone!