New Lower Prices on all Courses!

Happy Friday everyone!

After listening to feedback and weighing in on various things, I have decided to enact a permanent price cut on www.toonfiles.com. As of now, all courses are only $20! I am also working on some other courses in addition to file packs to help with more animation needs. I am hoping to start releasing courses again this June, starting with DUIK.

I am also working on a new live cast series which will probably be premiering on YouTube. These will be less structured than the courses, but more interactive. So I am hoping that is something you guys will take advantage of. Again, I will post more info once I have it.

Other than that I've just been doing the usual Chad stuff. But if you were waiting for a price cut on any course, now is the time to check it out! Just head over to www.toonfiles.com to browse to your heart's content. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

Free Demo of Building 3D Sets in Moho Pro

This weekend on Toon Files I am giving timed access to one of my premium Moho courses: Building 3D Sets in Moho Pro. All you have to do is sign up for a free Newcomer plan and you will have access until Monday morning (March 11th). No payment info needed (just a valid email address).

Have a great weekend!

Updates to Toon Files Storefront

Hi Guys!

As some of you may have noticed, I did some rearranging on the site over the weekend. Here is what you need to know:

• All paid props, characters and backgrounds are now part of the paid Animator plan. They cannot be purchased outside of the plan. I decided to due this based on sales trends but also the storefront was really cluttered and it bugged me.

• All present and future free props are still available on the storefront. They are no longer labeled individually but are contained in a bundle. When you subscribe to the bundle (or a membership plan), you will have access to all future free files as well.

• The Newcomer plan, which is free, allows you easy access to any free content on the site including courses and files. It's a great way to get your feet wet before deciding to invest money in any content.

Beyond this, everything else is the same. If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. Thanks!

Now Available: Drawing Cute Characters in Procreate

That’s right! Drawing Cute Characters in Procreate has officially launched and can be yours for only $20! This is a limited time offer and expires at the end of March 2019.

What’s this course all about? We will cover:

• Drawing basics

• Procreate basics

• Cute theory (how to draw characters so they appear cute or adorable)

• Sketching, inking, coloring

• Shading and highlighting

• Build two full characters and scenes from scratch using the above methods

Our cute fish using a combination of sketching, inking, shading and refining

This course is perfect if you’re new to art and design or are looking for new ways to design characters for your design projects or animations. It also acts as a nice crash course to Procreate.

The cat uses different coloring techniques compared to the fish, giving you a wide scope of knowledge to draw from

Don’t have Procreate? No problem! This course can be applied to any software. You can even use a pencil and paper! Excited? Sign up today!

Learn All About Cute Character Design!

Hi there!

I hope you had a good week. I am putting the final touches on my new course: Drawing Cute Animals in Procreate. This is the first hybrid course on Toon Files where I team up with Jimmy Mills. He does the art, I narrate. It's a terrific combination! I am really excited about this one and just put it up for preorder on my site!

This course covers drawing basics, character design, the theory of cute, sketching, inking, coloring, shading, highlighting and more. Plus we build two characters and scenes from scratch, making this a robust learning experience.

Interested? Click this link and enjoy 30% off! This link is good until March 1st when the course officially launches: https://www.toonfiles.com/drawing-adorable-animals-in-procreate?coupon=PRECUTE30

New Course! Designing Image Backgrounds in Moho!

I am proud to announce the launch of my new course: Building Image Based Backgrounds in Moho! There are a number of ways you can work with images in Moho to get the most out of your style and workflow. This course aims to teach three variations of how you could put together a background using images in Moho (with assistance from Photoshop and Procreate).

Click here to check it out!

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out! Have a great weekend!

Chad

New Toon Files Courses and Backgrounds!

We have some new courses coming this month! These are currently listed for pre-release on Toon Files, in case you're interested. First up is Building Image Based Backgrounds in Moho Pro. By using a combination of 3D elements, Moho tools, textures and Photoshop filters, you will learn how to build three variations of an image based background to prepare you for your own animated works. More info will be posted in the coming days and the course launches February 8th! You can check out the preorder page by clicking here. Clicking that link also gives you 40% off ;)

The next course is all about character design: Drawing Adorable Animals in Procreate. This course is a joint venture between Jimmy Mills and myself. He's going to draw, I'm going to narrate. It's going to be fun (and educational)! Check out the images of what we plan to draw on the product page. More info (as well as price) will be updated soon. The course is planned to release near the end of February.

I have also uploaded five new backgrounds that can be downloaded, edited, and utilized in any design or animation project

Phew, I think that's it for this update! Thanks for reading and supporting our service! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

Preorder Building Image Based Backgrounds in Moho Pro!

New course incoming! Click here to preorder and receive 40% off! https://www.toonfiles.com/building-image-based-backgrounds-…

Launching February 8th, Building Image Based Backgrounds in Moho will showcase a workflow for building sets out of raster images. This will include creating 3D set pieces for a believable environment, adjusting textures, blend modes and much more. In the end you will create three variations of one background using a combination of Moho and Photoshop (or an image editor of your choosing).

Free Lesson of the Week: Dragger Handles in Character Animator

This lesson is from a larger course which can be located at: https://www.toonfiles.com/rigging-and-recording-in-adobe-character-animator

Dragger handles, coupled with the Dragger behavior, allow us to drag and move any part of the rig we choose. But like pins, layer independence plays a big role in dragger functionality.

Another Overdue Update

Hey there! It’s been a while since I have updated this blog. But with the new year underway, in addition to Toon Files officially launching, I can take a moment now to write a proper update.

First, back in December I posted a video on YouTube giving a proper update on my life in the past year. I go over some personal issues as well as outline what my plan for 2019 is going to be. You can check out that video below.

Since I have officially retired from working for other companies, I decided now was a good time to try to launch my own service. Toon Files is a new website that hosts over 20 hours of animation lessons and as of this writing, over 50 downloadable assets. You can choose to buy courses and assets individually or sign up as a member to access everything.

Click on the logo to check out Toon Files!

So far the response has been awesome and I am looking forward to creating quality content for all my fans. In addition to Toon Files, I plan to continue pushing content to Udemy. So if you’re a student of that service, no worries! This is just one more venue you can use to access my content.

With all that said I plan to keep this blog updated as I am using it as a way to keep Toon Files users updated as well. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out!

Get my latest animation course for free!

New course! Rigging Photoshop Documents in Moho. Use coupon code: MOHOPSDFUN to get FREE access to this course! Offer ends Oct 31st with limited coupons available. https://www.udemy.com/rigging-and-animating-psds-in-moho

Old Works Online in Animation Archive

Over the past few months I have been quietly updating the animation archive on this site (as well as my personal YouTube Channel and a Facebook Page) with all of my past publicly released works.

I removed these works years ago because I let the negative opinions of a few drive my decisions. Plus, I was afraid the vulgarity would make me appear unprofessional.

Eh, fuck it.

So if you go here, you will find the archive. I have organized it by series for easier viewing. The further down the page you go, the older the works get. And, well,  the more questionable in quality they get.

For most of the videos I include present thoughts, any insights into the production and so forth. This is headlined as Film History in the video descriptions on YouTube and Facebook.

As I have been doing this, I've discovered fans of all my works. Even the old 3DMM Bineks I did in 2001. It's awesome to see something I did so long ago still have a connection with someone today.

I originaly started animating to tell stories and make people laugh. It has always been a way for me to cope with depression and anxiety as well. This archive represents a lot of myself.

Anyway, I am animating again and will be posting new content soon. So browse the archive and enjoy!

A Long Overdue Update

Hey Guys,

I've been silent on this blog, so I decided I would take a moment to reflect on the past few months to further help me understand everything I’ve experienced.

Last year I released tutorials on my YouTube channel (after taking a break for a couple years). In addition, I worked a few projects and contracts. You know, the usual stuff.

Events moved along issue-free until I hit a health issue. During a routine physical exam, my heart stopped for two minutes while my wife (an ICU nurse) and my physician performed CPR to revive me. This incident triggered from a mix of a flu shot allergy, lack of food and anxiety.

Although it took two months of tests and labs to determine those facts.

This leads to the most wonderful thing in the world: anxiety; something I have lived with for as long as I can remember. And while the anxiety from the situation sucked, it subsided, and I tried to pick up the pieces and resume life.

A couple weeks after the incident I experienced severe panic attacks. Nothing new but the severity and frequency increased. Every day, I would break down and relive what happened. I would become terrified my heart would stop again. And I existed in this loop, unable to break free of the mental chains.

What’s more terrifying? The thought of death, going from being scared to comforted. I can’t explain nothingness. But a moment transpired in that void where I experienced pure joy.

Anxiety was kicking my ass. A losing battle. I needed help.

I saw a therapist who helped me better understand the imbalance in my brain. And that’s all an anxiety disorder is, an imbalance. I had been resistant to medication my whole life. It was a lie; a quick fix to a more complicated problem. What I learned is that medication is a tool, not a hinderance. Or an easy way out.

And the past few months have been eye opening. While I still struggle with anxiety (and I always will), I now have better tools to combat and understand it. The medication has helped me refocus on my life and put the anxiety ridden what-ifs at bay.

One thing the anxiety always prevented me from doing was being proud of my animated works. There was a time where I removed all my cartoons because I didn’t think I was good enough. Well, that time is over now. I have been re-releasing all my old toons and new never seen material. Will everyone like it? Nope. But I am proud of my body of work. I feel it’s unique and acts as a time capsule to specific moments in my life.

This also means I am back on track with animating new material too. Don’t worry, I still plan to release tutorials. But they may not be as frequent as they were.

I hope by sharing this story it may help someone out there who struggles with similar experiences.

You don’t have to battle anxiety alone. Science is understanding it better everyday. Break your silence. Reach out to a friend or family member, call a doctor. Do SOMETHING.

Otherwise the alternative is not living and fearing every single event that crosses your path. That’s not a good alternative, my friend, Trust me, I’ve been there.

I will try to keep on top of my updates with this blog. Thanks for reading.

Implementing Mouth Poses into a Photoshop Rig

This week we continue building a rig for lip syncing by grouping mouth poses together and properly shading inside of Photoshop.

Assembling Mouth Poses in Adobe Draw

This week we learn how to assemble mouth poses in Adobe Draw to start the process of lip syncing.

Updating PSD Rigs for Moho

This week we learn how to make additions and changes to a rig in Photoshop and have them apply to Moho.

Shading a Character in Photoshop

Last week's tutorial covers a simple shading technique you can use in Photoshop to help spruce up the design of your characters.

Smooth Joint Image Based Rigging in Moho

This week we take our image based character into Moho (Anime Studio) to create smooth joint binding for the rig.

Cleaning Lines and Filling Shapes

This week we continue building a character by cleaning lines and filling in all the major areas. From here we can add more details and prepare the structure for animation.

Outlining a Character in Adobe Draw

This week's tutorial is all about Adobe Draw. Check it out in the video below!