Countown to Christmas

As you may, or may not know, I started a new job last September for a company called Smilebox. They make it easy to share photos and videos online in customizable e-cards. My job is to design, build, and animate them. For the holidays, I had the opportunity of creating this fun advent calendar style e-card titled "Countdown to Christmas." Unlike an advent calendar, you're encouraged to open all the doors at once, but it's got a lot of fun art, animation and sounds behind each door, so Check it out:

The voices for characters were done by Jessica and I. Thanks to Susan, who created a lot of the artwork. If you enjoyed Countdown to Christmas, feel free to download Smilebox and make your own e-cards. It's free to share through email, but if you want to print things--you have to buy a subscription.

Sledding in Seattle

I love snow. It snowed this week in Seattle, so I spent some time out in it. Here's a little video I made about some sledding I witnessed at Gasworks Park:

Scooter Bozo

Something I drew on the bus.. A scooter bozo.

Up up up date

Hello. I owe you an update.

1. I started a new job last week at a company called Smilebox. They're an online-greeting card and scrap-booking company located in Redmond, WA. I'll be doing animation and illustration for their cards and products. It's a great opportunity for me to focus and do some fun animation. The first week went really well and I like the people I work with. I work in a team with 6 or 7 other animators/illustrators. It's comforting to be in a team that all does similar tasks. At my last job, I was the only in-house person that could do Flash, so it was a little bit lonely.

The commute is kinda hard. On a good day it takes about an hour and 10 minutes each way. On sunny days, I like to get off the bus early and ride my scooter the rest of the way. I'm getting more exercise!

2. As I mentioned in the last post, I purchased the iPhone 4, which has made it immensely easier to maintain a web presence. I love that I can take a photo anywhere I am, and immediately share it. I had been getting bogged down with the process of looking through things I've made or photos I'd taken, scanning stuff, uploading, blabla, but the phone makes things pretttty instant and easy. The only issue I'm having so far is tendonitis in my right wrist. I bought a stylus to help with that. I'm becoming an old man. If you want to keep up with all my old man shenanigans, follow me on Twitter.com/tomthinks.

3. Jessica and I are going on a trip to Iceland next week! If you're reading this and you live in Iceland, send me a message so we can hang out. We'll be in Reykjavik from the 14th to the 19th. Jess and I are really excited!

Bug

Me and the bug.

Oh! I got an iPhone 4, so I can post neat things on the go, which is great, because I haven't been posting at all!

Jiggle Head

Cat Fight

Renton and Reuben got into a little fight the other day in our kitchen.

New Spot

This is a still from a new TV spot that I animated that is currently airing in and around Colorado. Once it's posted to Youtube, I'll post the link.

Oh, and my car is all fixed, so that's nice.

I Got Rear Ended

Yep. A certain Seattle touring bus rear ended me on my way to work last Friday.

ah hah!

Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die:
Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that is needful for me,

Proverbs 30:7-8

Painting Tim

I decided to color this portrait of Tim. I like the portrait. I like Tim.

I've been worn out, but this was a comforting task.

'90s Home Movie: The Rescue of Kelly

This was made summer of '94 I believe. Probably after watching Hot Shots Part Deux on HBO a million times. My older brother Jason (the star) and Craig directed it, and I shot it (sorry). This is a fairly personal home movie, but hopefully there's something everyone can enjoy about it. At the very least the memory of being silly kids in the '90s.

The video was 10 minutes long, full of meandering bleh, so I cut it down to a bearable 4 minutes and through in some random bonus footage. I love my family.

Tom Sings His Songs

Last night I scanned several photos I had taken with my Holga. I posted a few of them on Facebook. My Grammy-nominated awesome designer friend Jordan Butcher was tickled enough by the above photo, that he quickly threw together this fake album cover. I'm so enamored with it, I'm thinking of writing the album to live up to it. Great song names Jordan!

Jessica's New Website

My talented and lovely wife, Jessica, just launched her new website, which she designed and built completely by herself! If you were familiar with her old site, you'll be delighted to see tons of new work. If you've never gone to her site before, then you'll be delighted anyways. Good job Jess!

Fun Facts

Half the visitors of this blog end up here by searching for "green chair" in google image search.

Also, at least 150 people a month go to my tomthinks.com website by searching for "bradley nowell."

It's a little bothersome being found this way, but I guess it's better than not being found at all.

Birds!

This is a short documentary about a woman named Monica and her 40+ birds. I shot the footage over a year ago, but only got around to editing it yesterday. Monica lived a couple houses up the street from us.

How I Learned to Flip

Here's one from the archives. 1993, the year I learned to flip backwards. I used to set up elaborate padding systems with the use of sleeping bags, blankets, and pillows. It was a little scary doing it in the hallway, but I didn't have a choice, it was dark outside.

Film Festival Intro

I made this to inform and inspire others at my work to participate in an internal film festival.

Tree Man

I made this. It is very silly and ends hastily.

Yay for animation

The above is a 30 second spot I animated/voiced (the characters). Hope you like it!

Toilet Roll Holder PSA

I'm on a video-making roll. Made this today to help encourage employees to be considerate and reload the toilet roll instead of setting it on top of the holder. Very crucial. I'm starting to love this flipcam. It's so easy, no focusing! The only downside is something got inside it, like a piece of dust--you can see it in every shot at the bottom/center.

Culture

Today at work we made a quick movie about culture. I think I play a pretty good casual dude.

We made it with a flipcam and shot it in about 15 minutes. Spontaneous.

Dreams Do Come True

Yeah! I know!

In recent years, I've had to repress my acrobat tendencies, because there wasn't a "safe" environment for it. BUT, that's over now. AND I will never have need for a gym membership, unless it's this gym: Sky High Sports, in Bellevue. It's got a trampoline arena, foam pit, and dodge ball area. It's $11 for an hour, and that's about all you need. It's been 24 hours since I went, and I can still feel it, but it's a good feeling.

They allow shoes, or bare feet, but no socks. I went bare, but I want to wear shoes next time. I scuffed my ankle up a bit and blisters were forming under my toes.

Major fun. Try it out!