I’ve been a beta tester for the team at Smith Micro Graphics for a while now, but over the past year and a half I actually got to work with them on the development of their new messenger app. It’s a fun way to send customized talking character messages from your phone, and I designed and animated some of those characters as well as creating the backgrounds.
AniMates Messenger has just launched in the US and Canada on the Google Play Store and Itunes store, and will eventually roll out to the rest of the world. Sadly, it seems that none of my devices is compatible with the app. So, if you have compatibility and are in the USA or Canada, and have given it a try I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Tech bits:
I used Anime Studio pro for the animation but the big surprise for me was being introduced to Manga Studio by the team. Previously I had done my roughs in Sketch book pro and my colour models in Xara Graphic designer pro. Manga Studio quickly took over those stages and, as it exports cmky psd files, has also become my program of choice for print illustration. If you draw or illustrate on a computer you should really give it a go. I also use TVpaint for any frame by frame rough animation I need.
Bye bye!
Dave
