http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/679706

I'm alive! Oh man, this one took a long time. Episode 5 was the last post/release I had on Newgrounds and that was last year. This season finale kicked my ass between everything going on in my life. Lost 3 months last year of productivity to some personal issues, but being able to come back and finish this is tremendously important to me. 

It's a long one at 22 minutes. I'm really happy with my growth from episode 1 to now on this series. I learned a lot, still am learning. I'm much more confident in the animator/creator I am today than I when I released episode 1 back in 2013. 

This episode serves as the end of my "experiment" period and makes the beginning of my series' main plot. Season 2 is everything I loved about my story. Season 1 was just a way to get to the inciting incident to start the protagonist's journey and I'm really happy with it. There's issues and I'm working on making a combined OVA of season 1 where I'm going back to fix those issues with episodes 1-3. 

For those on Newgrounds that have kept up with me, followed my work, I really hope you enjoy the season finale. I know I'm not super active in the community or post regularly. But Newgrounds is where I first discovered animation and the idea that you could make your own project. So I'll always continue to post work here and hopefully I'll continue to improve and learn. 

Episodes are generally released on Youtube first, so you can always follow me there as well https://www.youtube.com/user/AzureProStudios

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/657915

The 5th episode of my original web series is out. This one took so much time and effort, I definitely tried to push myself on it. Overall, I'm proud of how it came out. It's definitely the best one I've done to date. I finally feel I'm at a level where I can do what I want. Looking forward to improving and doing better with the next one. 

Hopefully this is something some of you can enjoy. 

Hey guys,

I know I'm not really super active on Newgrounds anymore. The content I tend to produce is episodic so it takes a while for me to get things finished. Especially with a full time 40 hour a week job, in addition to freelance work and writing jobs. I'm more active on Youtube as I'll upload side stories which focus on a lot of character development for the world I'm adapting from my novels. If you like the world I'm building, you can follow me over there for more up to date videos. https://www.youtube.com/user/AzureProStudios

That being said, I'll never stop posting episodes over here. 

I recently uploaded Episode 4 of Shattered Heaven and I'm extremely proud of this one. You can watch it through the link below:

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/651022

The first few episodes were me experimenting. I wasn't confident in my abilities to animate the things that are coming in the next few episodes, so I focused on the character driven, set up stuff. I know to some it might have been boring and slow, but in the overall scheme of the story/book, it's something I wanted to have in the beginnig to contrast the characters after the inciting incident of the story where the plot takes off. If you enjoyed the earlier episodes and have stuck around, thank you for your continued support. It truly means a lot. I'm still trying to grow as an animator. I'm aware of my flaws and my weak points and with each episode I'm trying what I can to improve them all while keeping the consistency of the story. 

Episode 4 is the first video that's received a Daily Feature. I've had a few trophies before, but never anything higher than 3rd. And those were with the original attempt at making this a series. So it really meant a lot to me to have received that. To me, it's proof that I am improving and it's being noticed. So again, thank you all for that. 

2014 has been a very kind year to me and I'm grateful for everything it's given to me. From being able to guest at some conventions to holding a panel. I'm really looking forward to 2015 and wrapping up what I consider to be the first season of Shattered Heaven. There's some other collab projects on the way as well. 

I hope everyone has a happy holiday and a great New Year!

Watch it on Newgrounds - http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/640083

For those who enjoy Shattered Heaven, episodes are initially released on Youtube. You can view and subscribe to me there - https://www.youtube.com/user/AzureProStudios

This episode is an improvement over the first 2. People have names and they're used...>_>. I still have a lot of improvements to make, but I'm making progress. For something I do in between a 40 hr/week job and book editng, I'm pretty pleased with my progression. This episode is more focused on character development and setting up the drama and tension that the last 3 episodes of this "arc" will focus on. The first 2 episodes I felt were really just me practicing to figure out what works best for me when it comes to rebooting an animated web series. I feel like I've figured it out now.

 I know a lot of people want more action and an emphasis on that, but I don't think I was ready to really do that before. The upcoming episodes that this one set up are heavily focused on more drama and action. For me, converting a book I published to animated form has been both a blessing and a frustration. A blessing in that I know exactly where things are going and where the foreshadowing is. A frustration in that the beginnng chapters that set up the entire book and the inciting incident that establishes the protagonist can be a bit slow when episodes take about 3 1/2 months to release. For those who have been patient with me and have been enjoying the ride so far, it really does mean a lot to me. I am really excited about the next 3 episodes. They're going to be a big challenge and that's why I'm handling them differently. 

I have a bunch of mecha concepts for the Frames that will appear, and I'm designing all the interior and exterior locations in advance. Backgrounds are my weak point and I'm trying to get a better grasp on them. 

Ultimately, I am very happy with episode 3. Also, I had to recast a major character. I am happy to announce the addition of Piper Petrie http://piper.newgrounds.com/  to the cast. I've had the pleasure of already starting to animate the upcoming minisode animation that her character debuts in. She is a fantastic voice actress and a professional with an enthusastic attitude. 

I hope you enjoy episode 3 and I hope to continue improving to make a better, more well rounded web series in the future. 

Like us: https://www.facebook.com/ShatteredHeaven

Happy New Year! Here's to 2014 and new opportunities. 2 releases actually. 

The first one is a quick short for Christmas that was released for the holiday. Since it was a last minute decision and not fully animated, I chose not to release it on Newgrounds. But it can be seen on my youtube - http://youtu.be/DbRFOOYQqic

Episode 2 can be watched here - http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/631321

Episode 2 "Measuring Up" was released on the 31st,  I had to adjust some audio levels before I released it to Newgrounds. This episode was fun to do, and it also took a lot less time than the first one did. It's hard finding balance  with a full time, 40 hr a week job, working on another book for publication and animation, but I've found a stride that works well for me. Hopefully as time goes on I'll be able to increase the animation quality and cleanliness with a comfort level that fits in that schedule. But the first episode took 6 months to do and it had a lot less animation than this one, so a 3 1/2 month production time for this episode was satisfactory to me. 

Some concerns I noticed from the first episode was that the mecha genre is "flooded", truthfully, everything out there is "flooded". This is a story I enjoyed writing and I know where it's going. It's based on a published book of mine and the series has 2 more books to be released. Scripts for the first book are already written so I know where it's going to go and everything, even if it seems unimportant, has a reason. But I've enjoyed reading the comments and learning from the suggestions and advice given from the first one. I can't guarantee you'll see immediate changes, but I am working on it at a comfort level that works within my extremely limited free time. 

That being said, I'm really looking forward to 2014. The episodes that I'm scheduling to release this year are ones I've been looking forward to animating since they were converted to script format last year. From the acting to the action and drama. It's going to be a good year for this series as far as I'm concerned. And if you enjoy them, then I'll be happy if you'd come on this journey with me. And if it's not your cup of tea, then that's okay too! For all the support I've received in 2013, thank you. I can not properly express how much it meant to me and how it affected my productivity. 

Here's to the future. 

Wow, to be honest, I haven't really felt connected to the Newgrounds community in years. I started posting on a whim in 2008, not an animator, more of a side artist specifically for my writing. I don't consider myself an animator, I consider myself a writer, an author. That's what I do, that's what I'm good at. Writing prose and full on stories. But above all else, I'm a creative type and I like to dabble in things and improve. I started to teach myself animation because I simply just wanted to add another dimension/medium to my books. Like most, I started off really bad but it was a great learning experience. The first 4 episodes I posted on Newgrounds from 2008 to 2011 were an amazing learning experience. I wouldn't be where I am now if it weren't for them.

Of course, I still have a lot to improve with, but honestly, for the first time I feel remotely confident in the product I've put out. It's still a bit weird for me, converting a prose based story to script/episodic. But the flow and pacing will get better as it goes along. Episode 1 was a good way for me to break through the doubt that I had, wondering if I could do this. Life's been rather shit the past 6 months, it was very hard to find time to do any real work, so a lot of it was done after my 9-5 and before bed. I'm just happy it's done and out now. It was a bit too character focused, included too many, but half of them won't be showing up again for a while and were really only there for foreshadowing/to put questions to the world in a way. The next few episodes are more focused and the character development is more balanced with action. Writing a book is simple, since you can have a chapter be more focused on character development, but you can read the next one right away, so it really doesn't hurt anything. With animation, there's going to be a wait time, and I didn't really take that into account with Episode 1. But what's done is done, and overall I am extremely happy with how it turned out, knowing exactly what to improve for the next episode.

Episode 1 being featured on Newgrounds is amazing and I honestly don't feel it deserves it, but I am so thankful and honored that it has been. The reception of support that was given with its release has been overwhelming and really put back my drive and focus.

Episode 2 is already being worked on. Episode 2 Early Preview

You can follow the series on Facebook

I'm aiming for a November release. Episode 1 took 6 months to produce, mainly because I had so much going on and so little time to work on it. But towards the end of it, I found a much more comfortable and efficient way of animating. That's going to help further episodes come out faster.

Again, thank you all for the support and even the tips on what to improve for the next episode.

HI!!!

After, wow...11/22/10 is the last movie I updated. Well, anyway, I realized that I went about the original animated series the wrong way. It was done for an audience that had read the books, so they knew everything that was going on. That was a mistake. My bad. But it did serve a good purpose, I learned how to animate and continued to get better as I went along.

I'm still learning and moving forward, but I have started up the animated series from the beginning. Episode 0, which serves as the prologue for the series is now out. I'm going to be more active again and I'm looking forward to improving some more and getting this series going.

Glad to be back.

Check out the episode here - http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/611003

I kinda haven't even touched this in a while...like over a year while >_>. Main reasoning being that the animations I do are long. Full episodes approximately 20+ minutes and breaking them into scenes just wasn't working well enough for me I suppose. Plus all my animations were rushed in between a 9-5, novel writing and publishing, audio work and voice acting. Needless to say I'm just a busy person by default.

That all being said, I do still animate. All Shattered Heaven stuff can be viewed on www.azureprostudios.com or www.shatteredheaven.com

Episode 4 is completed. I recently got back from Genericon where I was on a voice acting panel along with my friends including Seymour. Currently I am working on an animated feature film to be sold direct to DVD of Shattered Heaven. Animation and overall style is much different than what's been posted on here to date. It's no longer a rush job where I do it for fun and the sake of learning. Now I'm actually acting like someone who has pride again woo!. So the animation and art quality is going to be so much higher.

I'll be posting up a teaser trailer animation probably in the coming weeks.

First off, the 3rd scene for Act 4 is finished, making the 4th episode a little more than halfway completed. It's a little over the 10mb limit, so thanks in advance to Tom for raising my limit so I can put it up. The 3rd scene is close to 8 minutes in length.

It's almost Christmas and it seems I may end up being able to pull the first volume DVD with the first 4 complete episodes and extras out of my ass in time.

Got a new tablet, Cintiq which I have to say is so worth the price. Half of this scene was used with it, so it may come off a little rougher than usual at some parts because I'm still getting used to it, but it'll end up allowing me to improve the art so much.

Shattered Heaven has an official Facebook page now as well. It has pictures of the first three novels printed, and I'm preparing to sell them, probably by spring of next year. Since the animation is a loose sequel to the 3rd book I know it was a bit hard to get into the animated series because it went with preassumed knowledge and was more geared towards the fanbase of people who read the books as I wrote them. Yeah, that was my bad. I learned my lesson from that.

But hey, if you're on FB and you enjoy the series and its shotty animation (as you watch me learn how to animate better and smoother over time, trial by fire!) then go "like" it. I'll be putting up extras like Voice Actor interviews, etc.
Facebook Page

Act 4 "Conflict", 3rd scene will be released once I get out of work tonight.

Working on Act 4 and needless to say it's going to be the most involved episode to date. The next scene, in terms of how I script is technically the last one. I'm going to attempt to get it all in one fla file and then one swf, since it'll more than likely be more than 10mb I'd have to see if the admins would be so kind to allow it to be uploaded.

Though the fight scene I'm working on is going to take a lot of time, it's going to be so worth it. Once again I will say watch the full episodes on my site, it'll make the pacing seem a lot faster and well to be honest, it supports me haha.

Work has been dull, and very uninspiring, but it's work, so I guess it's to be expected. I'm almost done editing the 3rd novel and once that's done I may be selling them on my site, updates will come as more develops on it.

For now, I'll leave everyone with a screen from Act 4, scene 3.