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update

Posted by officialericcrooks - November 29th, 2018

Like the new channel art ? :)

RIP Stephen Hillenburg / Spongebob fandom memories

Posted by officialericcrooks - November 27th, 2018

RIP Stephen Hillenburg

If your a cartoon animation nerd like me , you were probably shocked to hear about how Spongebob creator “ Stephen Hillenburg “ has passed away.

I remember when the show came out in the late 1990s / Early 2000s and it must have been one of the last shows I watched on Nickelodeon before switching to Cartoon Network.

I kind of knew when season one came out that it was going to be the next best show since Rocko’s Modern Life in which Stephen Hillenburg and many others from Spongebob worked on previously. A friend of mine had episodes he taped off of television that he gave to me and let’s just say that I had no idea that Spongebob was going to be more popular than Rugrats.

I did feel that at some point the show was becoming so popular that it was losing it’s edgy and crude touch it once had so I stop watching the show. But after seeing videos online in which people said that the show went to far kind of makes me regret not seeing those episodes.

Perhaps the new Rocko’s Modern Life movie will be dedicated to Stephen Hillenburg’s memory.

I remember doing some Spongebob parody comics but I’ll have to eventually check my archives to see if one still exists. lol

I think there was a Spongebob reference when I did this comic lampooning how parody movies just isn’t as funny as the classic ( Before he turned Republican ) David Zucker / Jerry Zucker / Jim Abrahams films.

I still have my Patrick Brain Freeze T-shirt in my closet somewhere which I got at Universal Studios when I was a teenager.

Relating to Spongebob , The Erica Crooks Show did make references to Spongebob technically making fun of of it’s popularity a little bit as early as 2009.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhBY-mQdxlw

Near the ending Arnold The Jock mentions a “Spongebob Alarm Clock“

There was another sketch I think it was around 2015 where a crazy character was singing a disgusting song and was running away from getting a time out. The unseen voice tells this character that if this character doesn’t stop acting up and take a time out then “ No Spongebob for him tonight “ . That’s another reference.

But perhaps the first reference that came to mind was a background gag in the dark comedy sketch , Fluffy Fuzzy Go Bye-Bye.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caR80I3QAZk

So in conclusion , I do have respect for Spongebob and I am as well sadden of the passing of Stephen Hillenburg . So In this post I just wanted to mention just my fandom of the early years of Spongebob and perhaps some references I have made as a parody / satiric artist.

RIP Stephen Hillenburg

_ Erica

Puppetry vs Animation vs Cartooning vs Writing vs Radio Comedy ( Pros and Cons )

Posted by officialericcrooks - November 26th, 2018

Cartoons , Animation , Comics , Comedy , Puppetry etc ( Pros and Cons ) By Erica Crooks

Cartoons , Animation , Comics , Comedy , Puppetry

etc

( Pros and Cons )

Erica Crooks

For those who’ve seen my work , I’m quite a multi-talented artist aren’t I . Lol

But putting joking Ego aside , lol

I’ve been interested in this stuff for quite a long time.

The Erica Crooks Show alone will turn 20 next year.

All that I say here is from personal experience as an independent filmmaker and multi-talented artist who’s never worked for Unions , Managers , Agents , Mainstream , or anyone else.

And this also comes from someone who’s invested her own money , time , blood , sweat , tears , continuing to perfect her craft all the time , never a competition date.

Ok lets go …

Puppets

Pros :

_ Basically it’s making a doll look as cartoony as possible.

In a way , perhaps it relates to the origins of CGI today.

But it’s organic and at times can look more real than CGI characters at times.

It’s filmed in real time , and they can interact with humans .

Also it’s performance art , it’s acting , it’s live action animation.

So in a way it relates to all three and as low tech CGI you can possibly get.

Plus also there’s certain things that are funny about puppets and their movement which you don’t need to think about and it’s just improv , shaking and running insanely from the stomach upward as well as floppy arms for example.

Con :

_ If your trying to create a large cast of characters like The Muppets ,

It’s expensive.

_ Puppets wear out and need to be rebuilt / repaired .

_ How long it takes to build depends on the quality in how it looks / how it works / what’s your budget like.

_ Puppeteering is just like exercising . When you haven’t puppeteer in awhile , your arms are going to hurt less than 5 minutes. Some might develop joint pain or even needing to go to surgery relating to how much you’ve done it for. As well as how heavy the puppet is.

_ Cartoon Animation is unfortunately a lot more popular in the eyes of the puppet no matter how great it looks as puppets still get the “ kids stuff “ discrimination . Cartoons and Animation did until more Adult Cartoons came about during the 1990s.

Cartoon Animation ( 2D )

Pro : If you got the skills , you invested in lasting computer equipment , you can pretty much do ANYTHING !

Con : Unlike puppets , you have to think about EVERY SINGLE LITTLE MOVE , even if you improved on the audio soundtrack. It’s like cleaning the mess while making a mess.

Animation is about thinking is slow motion , every frame matters because it creates the movement on film. Also unlike puppets , it’s hard to improvise during the performance . Perhaps it’s more of a planned and structured improvisation .

There are ways you can do lip-sync automatic sort of thing but I’ve tried that out from 2011 - 2012 , and it came out kind of crappy.

But technology changes.

Also digital puppet animation / bone animation can speed things up if you want something faster.

But of course nothing beats the quality of hand drawn 2D animation.

It just takes time.

That’s why the Entertainment Industry / Animation Industry always has overseas animation studios do it for them.

Comics :

Pro - All cartoonists pretty much know that this is the fastest way to produce someone of quality , that’s pretty much why editorial / political cartoons exist.

_ Comics are easy to distribute. Remember The Underground Comix movements in the 1960s ?

_ It’s called Comic Con / Comic Book stores for a reason and it somehow gets video games and pop culture stuff in as well.

And don’t forget the Cosplay .

_ People who can’t hear can enjoy it just as much as those who can hear.

Con : Some people prefer watching videos instead of reading.

There’s some people who can’t read well or at all.

Some people don’t even bother reading at all because they feel that it takes longer than watching a video even though it can be roughly the same time

Depending on their reading skills.

_ Sometimes film creates the illusion where you forget it’s a cartoon . Then again comics can do that too.

Audio Comedy

Pros : You can do pretty much everything just like animation. It’s pretty much literature acted out.

_ Before television , there was radio shows and movies.

_ Cheech and Chong albums and 1950s novelty comedy is hilarious.

_ Spitting Image and I Love Lucy were inspired by radio shows

_ Blind people can enjoy it.

_ Same benefits as music has.

Con :

Probably the least popular media form EVER which is why it automatically is installed in most cars now a days because people would rather listen to iTunes , Spotify , YouTube Music , Pandora , Online Radio , Amazon Prime , etc

_ Can’t see it.

_ People’s attention span would lose interest or not have any to it at all.

_ Public Access Television is more available than a mainstream version unless you got a college radio station or something.

Literature

Pro : The cheapest , fastest , media art form someone can produce.

_ Like drawing , It can even be written on a napkin with a pen.

_ Anyone can do it. But creativity can show depending on how well you express yourself with it.

Con : Typing skills might be a requirement depending on how much you write.

_ Sometime voice dictation writing is inaccurate.

_ PEOPLE HATE READING ! THE MOST #1 HATED MEDIA EVER !

_ Your friends will hate you for writing your emails and messages to them like works of literature and tell you to KNOCK IT OFF WITH BOMBARDING THEIR IMBOX ( personal experience ) .

Pro : My Twin Flame told me she didn’t mind be bombarding her inbox honestly and not sarcastically back in 2016 before Twin Flame Running went out of control. :) lol :P

All the above

PRO:

_ I live creativity and it’s my thing.

All the Above CON :

_ Not everyone can relate to me. Oh well. MORE FOR ME ! lol :P

_ Erica

Puppetry vs Animation vs Cartooning vs Writing vs Radio Comedy

Pros and Cons

#cartoon #cartoons #cartooning #comic #comics #cartoonist #art #popculture #comiccon #puppet #puppets #puppeshow #puppetry #puppeteer #puppeteering #puppetbuilding #buildingpuppets #radio #entertainment #entertainer #acting #actor #actress #performancearts #satirist #literature #comicbook #comicbooks #animator #animation

I just do them all . lol

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For more hilarious puppet and cartoon animation parodies , Dark Comedy humor , satires and funny stupid videos for adults

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Official Erica Crooks YouTube Channel , over 500 Videos !

Posted by officialericcrooks - November 21st, 2018

For those who have enjoyed the officialericcrooks Newgrounds Channel , check out The Official Erica Crooks YouTube Channel !

Over 500 Videos

http://youtube.com/user/officialericcrooks/videos

For more hilarious puppet and cartoon animation parodies , Dark Comedy humor , satires and funny stupid videos for adults

( and other cool stuff )
visit The Official Erica Crooks Websites :

ericacrooks.com and officialericcrooks.com today !

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The overwhelming side to puppetry and animation filmmaking

Posted by officialericcrooks - November 15th, 2018

4908385_154233121981_Theoverwhelmingsidetopuppetryandanimationfilmmakingima.png

The overwhelming side to

puppetry and animation

filmmaking

Erica Crooks

I’m not exactly sure how to begin this blog post. But it’s something that came to my mind this evening as I little by little unpacking and organizing things in my new apartment.

As I now relax and take it easy this evening in my new apartment , I think about a little bit about my previous apartment. For those who don’t already know this , I was living out of my mother’s bedroom as a temporary apartment ( me and my mother live in the same neighborhood ) because I was being bullied by transphobic middle aged men in my neighborhood and no one really did anything about it so the only solution was to let the landlords know that I’d like another apartment which I did feel pushed out of my other one which I was at since 2010.

So it’s a relief to have an apartment again , even though my own mother is my next-door neighbor ironically. lol , still this 30 year old wants to live an independent life even though my mom still acts like a mom.

But that’s not exactly what I wanted to talk about in this blog post ,

The other thing I wanted to mention was when I rebuilt my puppets for The Erica Crooks Show again from 2013 / 2014 - 2016 .

And I think I mentioned this in my somewhat recent behind the scenes blog videos where I mention that I work out of my own apartment . It’s one thing if you have a little home office.

It’s another when you turn it into a puppet film studio and workshop.

Not only was the show funded out of my own personal money , but many times I would work late nights and crash into bed with barely any sleep at all.

Also I had the bad habit of not really cleaning after myself after filming because I was so exhausted . In a recent video I did showing how I go about building my puppets , I mentioned my awareness that the puppets are cheaply built which I like to compare my puppets to crash-test dummies . However the best puppet builders know that when you build a puppet , you want to make sure that they will last because puppets do wear out.

The Muppets did this all the time , they kept rebuilding current characters as well as new ones.

And since we live in a hierarchical capitalist society , yes things cost money.

And many times I felt like a single parent raising many kids ( my puppets ).

So as you can already tell , this may not be a normal average person living in an apartment.

Sure it was fun but at the same time it was overwhelming probably due to social media.

Social Media encourages people who create online content not only quality content but quantity but sometimes there’s people who put out quantity over quality.

I tried to do my best to deliver both but I know I’m not the only one to feel the “ Burn-out “ .

Even the biggest YouTube stars get burned out .

I still remember when I had a public access television show which of course was The Erica Crooks Show from 2006 - Spring 2009 , I filmed the show like an independent mini-movie technically making my own television program out of my own room or the basement of my abusive father’s house ( usually when he was asleep or not home ) .

And since I did video editing and things , This was No simple public access TV show , I was doing my best to make a quality comedy show with a shoe string budget.

And the show went from once a week , to every other week , to bi-weekly , to once a month , to bi-monthly , etc. And I think even doing online stuff I tend to fall into the same trap the more quality I load into something.

Hollywood has got all the money and only a lucky few get in if at all , one moment someone would be part of a show loved my many and the next they end up trying to make the bills even with their comic con career.

Now back to my apartment situation , it’s often difficult to record sound and I’m just lucky no one ever complained about me being too loud. Lol

I’m thankful for the work I got done from 2013 - 2016.

However I did have a thought that came to my mind many times in recent months.

Just how many people are trying to imitate the 30 minute half hour television show format and doing it in their videos as a one person show ?

And if doing this format with a sketch comedy show featuring over 100 puppets is challenging and a lot of hard work , try doing the South Park challenge by trying to make a 30 minute animated comedy show within 6 days however unlike South Park , you do it by yourself. That’s even more insane.

Noticed how my Halloween comedy special ended up being 1 minute long ? And also I had a planned Halloween special in 2014 that eventually got abandon.

The Ask Dr LeBrick Halloween Special was probably the fastest I ever came to doing anything relating to making a movie by myself with the exception of doing my show of course.

The fun thing about that special as well as The Ask Dr LeBrick Holiday Special was about 99% of it all was improv and adding stuff through editing and things like that.

It was so wild , creative and fun to do no matter how low brow.

And it kind of brought me back to my roots before my show became more and more of a satirical comedy show then the silly comedy show that made no sense like it was when I started going on 20 years ago.

Here’s the thing about television , it’s pretty much as good as dead unless someone was doing something necessary . Because when puppets and cartoon animation is made for television , technically it’s filmmaking.

The differences between what’s available to us within the last 20 years ( which is pretty much as old as the internet itself ) is that filmmaking equipment has became more advanced and affordable while before if you weren’t in the mainstream you couldn’t do it.

However like I said due to capitalism , it’s hard to resemble anything with the same quality unless of course someone successfully fundraises it with something on the lines of Kickstarter , indigogo , Patreon , or some form of online crowdfunding .

It’s just that even though it may look easy , it’s really a lot of hard work and effort that goes into what I do . Also a lot of time to make too.

When I was in my 20s and even younger , I had so much more energy than I have now at age 30. And I know it might sound silly and perhaps I’m sounding older then I am , but again what I was trying to achieve was making my own television show and I did achieve that even though at times it was hit or miss.

I love the work that I’ve done and still love to do it , although brainstorming many possibilities of trying new things and formats out is a good idea. There’s a saying “ Quality over Quantity “ which sounds like a good idea , however it takes forever and I loose my concentration and it might get abandoned if I’m too bored. That’s why when I do something such as The Ask Dr LeBrick specials , I would constantly add more new ideas and creative stuff into it so I would still have interest in completing the project.

There’s so much freedom in what I do which makes it so much fun to do , however sometimes I write down so many ideas that a lot of them need to be thought into consideration before I decided to go and create a new project without abandoning it.

I think the life lesson that I’ve learned within the past 3 years was to take better care of myself and take breaks when I need them. And sometimes that can be hard to do because I would work in huge bursts of energy and then burn out , and then I get the second wind after having thoughts of quitting for awhile and the whole cycle happens again.

I think the most important aspect in what I do is to remember why I do what I do. Because if it ain’t fun , why do it ? And sometimes when taking breaks I get re-energized and re-inspired.

Also it good to plan stuff instead of doing a life balancing / juggling act where one works on a new film project while things in the personal life get in the way.

One of the things that I’ve been doing since the 2017 Season of my show was not to go into production all year round and take the rest of the year off if I feel like I need time to re-charge and stuff . But even making shows in bulk like I was trying to do didn’t work out for me exactly.

It’s interesting because if you look at how certain television shows are made now a days , many shows take on that filmmaking format and like movies , some are made in the matter of months while others take longer. But one person does everything independently outside the Hollywood system , perhaps it depends on what they do , but perhaps it would take longer.

As an anarchist , I strongly feel that art in such a free society such as an anarchist society / 5D Earth because without the worry about money , artists will have the maximum unlimited freedom to do what they want to do as well as meet like minded artists that won’t screw them over.

So in conclusion , when you set your body , mind and soul into something , perhaps an indicator of if something you do is meant to be , perhaps see if you fall into such a loop that I go into. lol

_ Erica

For more hilarious puppet and cartoon animation parodies , Dark Comedy humor , satires and funny stupid videos for adults

( and other cool stuff )
visit The Official Erica Crooks Websites :

ericacrooks.com and officialericcrooks.com today !

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