My first Flash animations looked exactly like
GIFs, but I started to get the hang of it.
I realized that I only had to draw the background
once, which was a game changer.
My backgrounds got more and more complex,
and I started to do scrolling too.
I experimented with that before, but Flash
made it so much easier.
I could also experiment with different camera
angles, where the skater is actually on top
of the background.
I went with a bright red so the skater would
stand out.
Looking back, I'm not sure that was the best
choice.
I also started to pull sound effects in.
I had Tony Hawk 3 on PC back then, and I found
the folder with all the sounds and pulled
them out to use.
This next one is based on a real guy, Nate
Sherwood, and this is a real line he did.
He bailed the last trick when he filmed it,
so I made this as kind of an inside joke,
like he would have made it if he took more
of his pills.
Next are a couple of freestyle lines.
Interestingly, I actually filmed the last
part of this one, the railwhip to heelflip
thing, in one of my Flatland Fifteen videos.
I completely forgot that I ever animated it.
On another note, you'll see my name pop up
here and there in the clips, usually as the
graphic on the deck.
People were starting to steal my work, so
this was my way to sign it.
It was still possible to get a Flash decompiler
and make edits, but I wasn't going to make
it too easy.
One of my other ideas was to draw a skatepark
and then figure out lines to do.
I only ever got these two.
I think the idea came from the Tony Hawk series
on Game Boy Advance.
It gives you a fixed view like this and lets
you skate around in 3D.
After that, I started to try doing a cartoon
skater instead of a stick figure.
It is a ton of work.
Next up is a game I made as a project in high
school.
It's pretty simple.
Four flip tricks, four grinds, and two obstacles.
You can see everything the game has to offer
in a minute or two.
And it can get glitchy.
But I animated a custom bail if you did any
flip trick too late.
So there was a ton of frame by frame animation,
even for such a simple game.
After a while, the game kicks you out and
told you to go skate.
Then I thought – I need to try 3D.
This is my first and last attempt at that.
It's insane.
I've got tons of respect for people who can
actually do this well.
I'm not one of them.
Then, years later, at my advertising job,
we were trying to save a big client, so I
made them this.
This wasn't based on a real campaign, it was
more about showing off how good we were.
The longer you play, the more frequent and
numerous the cones get.
Eventually there will barely be any room to
land and you'll inevitably fail.
At that point, it launches the ad.
I thought it was a good idea, and we pitched
it to a few different places, but nobody went
for it.
Well that's all I've got to show for now.
Thanks for watching.
