August :: 2007

HI THARRR, you know the drill. I ask you shit you answer. I get to feed off your fame and you get a nice link to your website or something. So off we gooo...
First question is pretty standard, how long you been at this animating thing, what attracted you to newgrounds and or the animation scene?

No time for formalities at Brainwash Studios, eh?! Let's get cracking then. I want to say that I've been animating for two years now (ever since my very first episode of Blockhead was uploaded to Newgrounds in '05), but until recently I haven't even considered myself much of an animator. Sure, my characters move around on screen a bit, but my work has been more like a storybook with lip-synching. That's why I got into it. I'm a storyteller, and I love to hold an audience's attention. You may not know it, but I finished writing a still-unedited novel right before I switched to Flash. That bastard took me three whole years to write, and it's LONG. I've tried my hand at everything I can, but I've never been as happy as I've been through these two years of submitting to Newgrounds. I first heard about the site from a friend of mine who now teaches English to students on an island just off of Japan. I checked it out for a while and then came back at the beginning of '05 when I saw the familiar tank watermark on one of David Firth's toons.

Hmm interesting how that question always takes us to new places. Well ok, this follow-up question might be moot now but I'll ask it anyway, if it werent flash what would you be doing with your life right now?

Heck, I dunno. I actually picked up animating because I didn't see myself being skilled enough to draw still art. I thought my lack of skill could evade the audience's notice if I animated simple characters instead of trying to draw complex ones and failing miserably. But after about a year of animating, I ended up buying a few guide books and studying by example via some of the comic industry's great artists. Today, I consider myself to be decent, NOT GREAT, but decent at illustrating the television-standard for simplified anatomy. It was created for animation, after all. You won't see a lot of my progress in my recent cartoons though; I'm saving all my practice for another series I aim to release very soon…

Holding out on us are ya? Well since you bring up simplified characters, lets talk Blockhead. That character obviously turned into the apple of your eye, did that come about out of pure boredom or does the character indirectly relate to someone you know in real life or is it even your own alter ego?


A lot of Blockhead was inspired by the way I used to look at the things people would say, the things they would do, but that people didn't seem to notice they were doing. Blockhead has some bizarre insights about the world. Some of what he says is silly randomness, but even more of it is actually fairly studied content. This may come as a shocker, but I give a lot of thought to the things he and his Conscience say. I think the timing is the only thing I decide on a whim. As for the rest of it? Blockhead might just be looking at the world the “right way,” and it's the rest of us who have no clue what's going on. But yeah, he's also an idiot.

One of the toughest things as a new Newgrounds animator is to earn your stripes and the respect of people who for all intensive purposes want you to fail and be blammed out when you first step on the scene... is there any sort of advice or thought process you went through to get through that initial hump and slew of disses and negative comments? Did you ever say to yourself 'ok maybe this shit isnt for me and go back to learning the tuba? Yes its rare but im actually asking you to be semi-inspirational to people reading this. Usually these interviews only involve poop, piss, and negativity.

The thing about the cartoons I've submitted to Newgrounds is that they’re inoffensive. There's no profanity, no violence, no sex, no mature content of any kind, and most importantly, I don't force anyone to watch them. If someone leaves an angry review about my work, then I'm comfortable knowing that it wasn't because I provoked them. There are just a lot of jackasses out there, and I should know, because I was one of them when I was a kid. The internet is a great place to lash out without consequence, but I can't condemn that kinda behavior. After all, my main cartoon series is about a character who does the same thing. So, point is, there's no need to get bent out of shape because someone flames your cartoon. If you don't deserve it, then you don't deserve it. Let the reviewer be the scumbag and you can keep your hands clean. And if your cartoon actually WAS offensive, well, then don't get upset…the reviewer is probably right about you anyway.

Well said. I never did realize your stuff was so squeaky clean till just now. So on to something different, we're freshly back from comic con 07. Do you feel any different now that your back home after going through all that and finally putting a face on what is otherwise a pretty faceless scene? Or were you just bored/creeped out and you wished you never went?

I was only there for two nights, and even that felt like a week. Jesus Christ, were my legs aching after that. I really went to the event for Newgrounds, meaning the staff, artists, and programmers who fill its ranks. There were a couple booths I wanted to stop by while I was there, and I did, so there you go. But otherwise, I was thrilled to meet everyone with whom I've shared a PM, but this time I got to share a beer or two with them instead. It feels great to be more like friends than colleagues (or competitors) now. Thanks, Comic-Con! We love you!
Also, I had more than two beers. Vouch for me, Luis.

There will be no vouching of any kind in this interview. Speaking of Comic-Con, I had spoken to Krinkels once about his characters and he spoke to me how at times he felt frusterated and trapped by his own creations and the fame they had amassed, have you ever gotten to that point with Blockhead? Are you looking to wind out the series? Do you have other things brewing in your stew?

I think I'd like to see Blockhead go on and on and on, and I'd certainly like to be the one doing it. But believe it or not, I didn’t get into animation just to work on Blockhead until Judgment Day. There are a few projects I'm aching to get to, but sometimes it sucks just as much if I haven't worked on Blockhead in a long time either. Yeah, it does sometimes feel like I'm trapped with the series, but that's usually only when I'm nearing the end of the animation and all I want to do is anything but. Krinkels spends about six months per toon, whereas I spend about a month. I don't have quite as much to complain about as he does, believe me.

Interesting. On to a slightly different subject, you're a rare jack of all spades type in terms of being able to animate and provide your own voice acting and shit, do you enjoy doing it, are you just a control freak, or do you just not have the networking necessary to have someone else do it for you? Do your friends/relatives think you are mildly insane when they view your work and see that not only you have this colorful imagination but you actually sit there and come up with your own voices too?

I think all of those at one point or another, especially the insane part. The first episode of Blockhead was completed in 11 hours, including the time it took me to write the script, invent the character voices, compose the theme song, and illustrate some of the backgrounds that would continue to be used throughout the remainder of the series. Naturally, I didn't want to spend a week waiting to hear back from potential voice actors, music writers, or whoever else. I wanted to get it done, so I did. But remember, I'm a storyteller more than anything else! I firmly believe that I can be fairly proficient in any artistic avenue that I care to try to learn, but that I will never be brilliant at any of them. My hope is that I can get all the little things about a cartoon that I've done myself to work together like a storytelling symphony. I want the end product to be my greatest achievement, not my skill with a pen or knowledge of classic animation technique.


Well to be honest, you have be atleast slightly insane to be an animator anyway. I mean thousands and thousands of frames to mull through for what 30 seconds of airtime? I could go on for days about that so I'll stop there, OK. Time for a typical question, what else do you do for fun when you arent cranking animations out of your basement/ bat cave?

NOTHING.
…but I guess if you reallllllly want to know, I'm a pretty big PC gamer. I gave up on consoles after the N64, preferring instead to be immersed in the world of modifiable PC games where new content is never an issue. But no joke, after seeing The Behemoth's Castle Crashers at Comic-Con, I am dead-set on switching back to consoles when the game is released. It brings back all my fond memories of huddling around the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game, trash talking my friends beside me, and kicking Foot Soldiers in the face.
I'm also a pretty frequent drinker, though I stick to beer instead of liquor for the safety of my poor liver. I only really go crazy with it once a month or so, but I learned to drink when I was about 22, and so at my present age of 25 I tend to drink as though I were still a college freshman.

Bah, personally I always thought a diseased liver went hand in hand with being a great animator. Hmph. So heres a cute question, What do you think peoples biggest misconception of you is, or if you prefer what's something most people probably dont know about you? Personality quirk, 6th toe, you have a peg leg, that sort of thing...

I think some people confuse success with hubris. I'm actually a fairly modest person, and if I brag or boast then you can be sure that I'm only joking. Hell, I know my work has fans, and I appreciate every one of them. And yeah, I animate with the hope that as many people will see and enjoy my work as possible. But that doesn't mean I personally care to be famous, nor do I think I'm more of a god just because I am (however small that fame is). I'm also probably the best looking animator on the net, but everyone already knows that. (So much for modesty, huh?)

Ok Fabio, last question: Have you ever done something that you probably should regret but you dont? This question always leads to uncharted waters...

I think the one thing I don't regret but that I should is that I'm gonna answer this question wrong. But fine Luis, I'll play your game.
Let's try this question out…When I was younger, I think that I was trained to be mean to people by the even meaner people around me. It kinda made me sound pretentious no matter what I said. As I moved on from that phase of my life, I sort of convinced myself that none of it was my fault because I was an unwitting victim of the jackass personalities around me. Fact is, I probably ruined the memories a lot of people have today about their youths just with my behavior. I wasn't a bad teenager, just a jerk, but still. I think I should probably own up to it a little more? Then again, at least I've moved on. Jeez Luis, way to end the interview with a downer. I'm getting a beer. Cheers.

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