http://cranimated.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/HappyBirthdayBob_teaser02.jpg
Hey guys!
I’ve just uploaded my latest cartoon to YouTube, entitled “Happy Birthday Bob!” – that’s right, the podgy little delight is back! Have a watch, hopefully a chuckle, and let me know any crits/feedback you may have!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qsoFZafw4w
This short is dedicated to my big brother, Nick – love ya big guy, Happy belated Birthday! 
“Happy Birthday Bob!” was a real labour of love, combining over 5 weeks of rewrites, restarts and a lot of crying in the corner of the room. I am so chuffed at the results and hope you enjoy it as much as I hated making it… wait, that’s not right.
Created by:
Cam Ralph
Music by:
“Little Piggy” by Vincent Varco
“All Night” by Larry Buksbaum and Scott. P. Schreer
Distributed by Freeplay Music (www.freeplaymusic.com)
Any crits?
Like it? hate it? loathe it? Hopefully not that last one, sheesh…
Please let me know about anything you think needs improving/punching up. It helps me get better with each video.
Thanks!
Cam
This and all of your work is very solid I enjoyed just about every video. The animation is pretty consistent, I also Dig the writing. Great channel!
Thanks kindly man!
I have to say the same about yours, very cool style throughout! I’m really keen to see the film noir short finished! LOVE that style.
Thanks for the feedback man,
Cam
Thanks, haven’t been doing much of anything lately, but I plan on getting back on the ball soon. Been recovering from a car accident. 
Hope to see more from you soon!
As always, great work, Cam! I really like your characters and the expression you give them.
Alex, glad to hear you are okay! Are you?
Zeb thanks, well… I’m getting better, at least I can sit now lol. I hurt my neck and back really bad so sitting down was painful for a while. I often paid the price for 10 minutes of work. Thanks to all the prayers from my family It appears I am going to be ok, maybe not 100% but enough to live a semi-normal life.
The pain will apparently always be there, according to my doctors, but what can you do right?
I am really impressed with the way the community has grown here. The level of work keeps getting better along with the number of skilled Toonboom users. Don’t know if they where in hiding or just developed over the past couple of months.
Once again thanks for your concern Zeb, and thanks for the work you been doing … very inspiring!
That was really nice Cam, enjoyed it a lot! Have you submitted to ColdHardFlash? Seems like it would be up their alley.
@chrispurdin - Thanks kindly man! I still have a long way to go but it keeps me going when I hear such good feedback! Glad you enjoyed.
Nah, to be honest I hadn’t heard of this site before, thanks man I’ll give it a bash
sorry i took so long to watch it.
I absolutly loved the animation!!!
However I felt the the audio levels were all messed up and some part of the animation were too soft, especially bob!
@TheRaider - cheers for the feedback man! Glad you enjoyed it. I totally agree about the sound being a bit all over the place. I think I need to upgrade from my crappy speaker/headphone ensemble and actually start taking sound design a little more seriously. In my headphones it sounds ok but when I play it on others it sounds bizarre.
Thanks for taking a look mate
I think when it comes to sound if you aren’t sure if it is too loud or too soft in the mix it is almost certainly too soft!
It is what happens when Animators become one man armies! You have to really get a wide range of skills. Good sound can make an ordinary animation great to watch and conversly make a great animation poor to watch. Zeb on here, while clearly not a master of sound (no offense meant ) has been able to add simple sounds to his animations to really raise them to a professional level. I would watch some of his. While some of the effects are on the loud side you never miss the effect.
I try to watch everything and give a constructive advice (since I figure if you are posting in share your work you want feedback and “that was great” type feedback doesn’t really improve anyone as an artist). I have been travelling a lot so only had my phone for internet which is why it took so long. I was looking forward to watching it with the teaser and wasn’t disapointed!
@TheRaider - No worries at all man, I appreciate the feedback! I agree I still have a long way to go, it’s just nice to hear feedback as specific as that - helps me hone in on what I need to improve!
Cheers mate.
Wonderful!! Gotta love what you can do to family and friends through the miracle of animation.
Of course, you really excel at expressions - which is undoubtedly why I noticed the slightly different direction you gave Bob in the last seconds before his dance. I might have phrased that wrong. Point is, there was just a weeeeee bit of ambiguity so I couldn’t really tell what he was thinking.
Deliberate? Tired of doing one more expression? (I like expressions a lot and rely on them, but sometimes, all those eyebrows and mouth hitches start looking exactly the same. :))
@scaryfairy - Thanks for the response man! You are spot on to be honest. In the end I was wearing thin on this project so I guess my methods slipped up a bit. Got to learn to stick it out no matter how long it takes.
Ah well, each one is good practice and I was just so keen to start a new one!