This is a big day for someone who I've known as a brilliant writer for a long time. You may have already seen her Sci-Fi work in the Newgrounds Writing Anthology. Today, she has come to prove it to the galaxy just what a brilliant writer is capable of.

Chasing Shadows is book 1 of Kristen Salustro's (known as KrisSalus to us NGers) space opera series of novels, The Star Hunters:

"Stand and Protect."  These are the words Star Federation soldiers live by as they work to uphold peace across the galaxy. Founded at the start of the Andromedan War, the Star Federation obliterated its opponents and now stands as the guardian of the galaxy. Its power has gone largely unchallenged in the wake of the war, and its officers now busy themselves with minor troubles. Once in a while, however, a powerful force surfaces and demands more attention, be it a drug lord, pirate crew, or a bounty hunter worthy of the Alpha Classification.  Following the assassination of one of the Star Federation's officers, Fleet Commander Lance Ashburn goes on the hunt for the Alpha Class bounty hunter known as the Shadow. One of the best officers the Star Federation has ever seen, Commander Ashburn comes closer than anyone ever has to eliminating the Shadow, but upon meeting her, he discovers that much larger and more dangerous enemies roam the stars. Enemies that even hunters fear.  Determined to do his duty as a Star Federation officer, Commander Ashburn fights for the galaxy, but the price of enduring peace may be one that the Shadow is not willing to pay.

.................................

You can find her book for sale on Amazon, you can also get it for FREE if you have Amazon prime. 

If you want to help with promoting Kristen's work, follow her on Twitter, and tweet out the page: http://amzn.to/1cdrCeH with the hashtag: #StandandProtect

If you're one of the lucky 10,000 views or so who have been able to get in on the ground floor of StoryShift and subscribed to my story, The Drunk Boys, thus far, then congratulations! You are in for a whirlwind journey. StoryShift is a dramatic new storytelling platform for comics and short stories. As a writer in this brave, young digital world, I'm looking for new ways to get my work out there, and Evil-Dog's project is perhaps the beginnings of a creative windfall.

To those who haven't gotten into the madness yet, I'll convince you...

ADJHQBERFOBHRFEHBAEOJGFBEAKIJMKEF JAKSDVAB AFBVJKSDVJDB  ASHNBAB aDHAKFB BHewkjbfkdsk!

See, it's that easy. 

Now that you're rushing to go read all the stories at StoryShift. Let me point you to one in particular.

The Drunk Boys.....

Think of it as House of Cards meets The World's End. 4 buddies get together to get hammered and end up in a fight for their lives! Sex! Lies! Videotape! Betrayals of all kinds!

It's starts off slow, but that's the point of subscribing, you'll get to watch it as it ramps up into chaos!

CHECK. It. out.

The Drunk Boys on StoryShift - Newgrounds

UPDATE: I've thinking... a good way to get motivated to get back into animating is to use my blog posts to livestream me animating. What do you think. You want to join me in finishing Pearly Whites?

Does anyone know the best way of going about doing this? What service I should use, what the set up should be. I have a cintiq that I use as a second screen, so I wouldn't be looking at the camera I'd be using, but I'm sure that's probably preferred anyway.

Yeah, I haven't posted in awhile and have gotten really sick that the most "recent" posts have almost all been asking people for money or to buy whatever I have to sell. I do, in fact, believe they have all been to good causes (the film I worked on, The Newgrounds Anthology. So this post might be more to push out the money aspect of my life, something which encroaches every day now, and talk more about the ART of life.

Since Clinger wrapped (it is now deep in post production) I have been plundering the Chicago indie scene, mostly doing gaff and grip work on a volunteer basis. Just building a resume and network as is the way in this industry. 

I have also applied to the Northwestern MFA for screenwriting. We'll see how that goes by the end of February. Writing is my strongest suit by far, and will likely be my ticket to the place where I want to be (a director who can work full time directing what he writes). A very ambitious plan. Of course, working on other people's projects are a vital part of keeping myself grounded and in tune with the shape of the industry so that will always be a part of my plans.

Lastly, I have put aside finishing Pearly Whites for now. I DO NOT want to leave this project unfinished. Honestly, I am sick of leaving things unfinished as I have done all my life. Every so often, I will go into flash and puzzle out a few new frames. There is a bit more done than what is currently available through my youtube page but there are significant "to dos" besides the obvious "finish the animations":

Replace placeholder backgrounds and pretty up/fix some of the ones in the beginning.

Better "Russ gets high" music. In general, there's a lot of empty space in diegetic sound, so I will probably consider giving more ambiance.

Get the sound mix redone.

Change editing workflow from final cut to premiere.

Suppose that's all for now. Not too much interesting. I am trying to do more of "constantly writing" thing. With my ADHD, it's hard to make that a routine, but I am propelled forward by the thought that all these ideas will stay locked in my head (thus not letting me think about other projects) if I don't start getting them out now.

UPDATE: I've thinking... a good way to get motivated to get back into animating is to use my blog posts to livestream me animating. What do you think. You want to join me in finishing Pearly Whites?

Does anyone know the best way of going about doing this? What service I should use, what the set up should be. I have a cintiq that I use as a second screen, so I wouldn't be looking at the camera I'd be using, but I'm sure that's probably preferred anyway.

Yeah, I haven't posted in awhile and have gotten really sick that the most "recent" posts have almost all been asking people for money or to buy whatever I have to sell. I do, in fact, believe they have all been to good causes (the film I worked on, The Newgrounds Anthology. So this post might be more to push out the money aspect of my life, something which encroaches every day now, and talk more about the ART of life.

Since Clinger wrapped (it is now deep in post production) I have been plundering the Chicago indie scene, mostly doing gaff and grip work on a volunteer basis. Just building a resume and network as is the way in this industry. 

I have also applied to the Northwestern MFA for screenwriting. We'll see how that goes by the end of February. Writing is my strongest suit by far, and will likely be my ticket to the place where I want to be (a director who can work full time directing what he writes). A very ambitious plan. Of course, working on other people's projects are a vital part of keeping myself grounded and in tune with the shape of the industry so that will always be a part of my plans.

Lastly, I have put aside finishing Pearly Whites for now. I DO NOT want to leave this project unfinished. Honestly, I am sick of leaving things unfinished as I have done all my life. Every so often, I will go into flash and puzzle out a few new frames. There is a bit more done than what is currently available through my youtube page but there are significant "to dos" besides the obvious "finish the animations":

Replace placeholder backgrounds and pretty up/fix some of the ones in the beginning.

Better "Russ gets high" music. In general, there's a lot of empty space in diegetic sound, so I will probably consider giving more ambiance.

Get the sound mix redone.

Change editing workflow from final cut to premiere.

Suppose that's all for now. Not too much interesting. I am trying to do more of "constantly writing" thing. With my ADHD, it's hard to make that a routine, but I am propelled forward by the thought that all these ideas will stay locked in my head (thus not letting me think about other projects) if I don't start getting them out now.

Not much other news to share. I'm going down on July 19th to start on the production for about a month. There won't be a lot of time for animating while I'm there, so I better get some Pearly Whites stuff done before then.

Cheers!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1093620518/c linger-0

"We must never fight the contradictions within us, we must learn to honor them." -- Joss Whedon

This was the resonating message that Joss Whedon rang out yesterday as he spoke at my University Class' commencement. A little background on Whedon: He was a five-year student at Wesleyan University, graduating in 1987 and in addition to delivering the commencement speech for my class, was receiving his honorary degree for his amazing career.

Being spoken at in such a funny, down-to-earth, yet illuminating fashion made my GRADUATION DAY all the more exhilarating and unforgettable. Simply being a film major and given the ability to interact with Joss this weekend made me feel far more special and deserving than I know I am. I've attached I pic with Joss, my girlfriend, and I AT A COLLEGE PARTY. What an awesome guy. He is so nice and without vanity, which takes a genuine heart when faced with so much fame.

His commencement address and particularly the quote above is something I will carry with me as I progress in my film, animation, writing, whatever career. I will never stop reinventing myself everyday and will never ignore the parts of me that contradict the other parts of me, because it is through honoring these contrasting features that I learn who I really am.

AND TODAY.... I'M ONE HAPPY SON OF A BITCH!

After four years of theory, practice, and barely making the grade, I am officially a Wesleyan University Alum. If you had told my high school where I would be today, I would not have believed you. But it's true. And not only was I able to graduate through one of the most prestigious film programs in the country, but my journey culminated in several events that, to my eyes, makes me very excited for the future.

My animation thesis, while not yet completed, has been a true passion project. And what made it even more rewarding was the fact that my professors did not get angry at the fact that I did not finish. Quite the opposite, they (led by the great Jeanine Basinger) gave me the time I wanted such that I could keep on animating up to basically Graduation Day. Wesleyan's film program truly is the place to be to make films if the your reason for making films is that you freakin' love films.

Congrats to me and Congrats to Wesleyan's class of 2013.

Hi,

My name is Ben Smith and I am a Senior Film Major at Wesleyan University. I am working on a 2D, flash-animated thesis film. Production has been underway on it for months, but I've just entered "crunch-time on it." So I'm seeking last-minute (and paid) help on making sure this film is completed by the April 12th deadline.
Description of the project: Based on a short story I wrote Sophomore year, this film is called "Pearly Whites."
It is a dark comedy about a dentist who steals teeth from his patient in order to implant them into his son, who was born and grew up without teeth.
Here is a rough cut of it on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S59uAs27TK8
This should give you an idea of the style you would be working in. Ideally, you would design specific backgrounds in a similar style and up to the detail standards of the better-looking backgrounds demonstrated in the first two minutes of the movie.
Again, this is a paid position. Please contact me and direct me to your portfolio. If you are interested or have further questions please contact me ASAP. I would like to set up an interview as quickly possible in the hopes that we could start as quickly as possible.
My skype name is beness321
My email is basmith@wesleyan.edu
Best,
Benjamin Smith
Wesleyan '13

Read my previous post for information on my senior thesis.

Work-in-Progress:

Hey Everyone,

So A LOT of stuff happening, but not a lot I can reveal at the moment...
BUT FIRST,

There are only five or six copies of the first hardcover printTHE NEWGROUNDS WRITING ANTHOLOGY left on the NG Store. The launch was a rousing success and hopefully as time goes on and we expose the anthology to broader audiences, the awareness of the writing community here on Newgrounds will increase. I'm seeing new faces on the Writing Forum all the time.

Now this IS exciting. Mostly for me, but for those who are also interested in the $10,000 prize challenge Tom offered back in 2008, it's gotten to be about that time that this community needs to show up or shut up.

My next project (and my University Film Thesis) won't be showing up on Newgrounds anytime soon but it STILL has its Newgrounds connection in the Newgrounds Writing Anthology since the film is based on my short story "Pearly Whites." Hopefully, it will win some University awards and encourage me to get it into some film festivals. But that's a long way off. The point is that due to these potential destinations for the finished film, I can't offer it on the internet just yet.

But what I can offer for those interested is a first-pass (more like an animatic) of the Prologue. HERE! This will essentially look like crap until January.

And then the storyboard for the rest of the film. HERE!

Sorry no dialogue included.

See you around,

EK

The Newgrounds Writing Anthology: Short Stories and Poetry

It's been a long road, everyone. A two year long road, to be exact. Thankfully, Kickstarter forced me to keep a list of donors so I know exactly who to thank for bringing this to fruition and as the project expands into markets beyond the Newgrounds audience, it will be nice to know that this book will bring the "Everything, by Everyone" spirit where ever it goes!

Now enough of the sappy stuff! Grab yourself a copy while supplies last!

Need convincing? Here's a review by starwarsjunkie!

And if you're a writer, c'mon over to the writing forum for advice, giving advice, and staying up to date on whatever we have in store next.