And So It Begins

Well I've done it. I've begun setting up my new website! No more domain forwarding or free webhosting for me. It's simply not good for your internet visitibility and generating traffic. Ok if it goes to another site...it means when I accidentally re-forwarded my domain, things haven't been processed yet and I haven't been able to cancel the forwarding. Oy, we lrean more from our mistakes though. yeesh.

Finally http://hootnannyonline.com finally just goes there! Which means I can now submit my site to directories around the net and better my odds of getting more search traffic, more google loves, and hopefully some funding via ad revenue.

Eventualy this blog will actually have more cartooning information that is directly about cartooning. Still I figure any information I can provide to others like myself whom are trying to get their studios and projects off the ground may be of use.

I've stumbled across things in my efforts I never thought I'd have to think about. There is way more than simply putting up a site and waiting to be found. It's an adventure for sure. Hopefully the things I discover and share will be of use to others.

Cartooning Baby Steps

At last something animated! Yes it isn't much but it's a start. The last few days, no this didn't take that long, I've been getting the creative juices flowing.

I've been in a bit of a creative slump, or rather an animating slump. Too many ideas, not enough time, and I've not found many good tips for putting characters together in flash. So at long last I've decided to just try out all the theories I have and decide what techniques best help my ability to work quickly.

Aside from practicing effects with the vampire, I was also trying some of my "theories" about symbol composition. I think I'm on to something. As i become more comfortable and confident in those abilities I'll be sure to share those tidbits.

Hoot'Nanny Productions is now on YouTube! Not much there yet though. But it's all part of getting your site out there.

A Sound Idea Redux: Flashkit.com

While looking through my stock music I ran across some catchy tunes that I could not remember where I'd gotten them.

Anyhow, long story short I finally thought to check the file's properties and found they were from Flashkit.com I can't believe I'd forgotten to make mention of such a great resource.

They've got music, sound effects, tutorials of all manner and many other flash related goodies. Most importantly IT'S ALL FREE. Or free-ish. I've not yet found any particular restrictions or anything. Seems many may share the music and sounds for promotion. There are a few royalty free services that offer samples on Flashkit.

And there you have one more resource for your creative needs.

Music Service I Forgot

I'm not exactly sure how, but in my previous post where I listed some royalty free music sources, it would seem I forgot to list Shockwave-Sound.com .

Anyhow, they're another good option if you're looking for tunes. If you've just stumbled across my blog go checkout my archives for my posts on royalty free music and music services.

And looky, Shockwave has banners! They also have an affiliate program. So hopefully I'll increase my chances of making money online.

Yeah, shameless plug I know. But I've actually managed to make some money with blogging and google ads....Ok 2 whole cents in the last two days! Hey, it's a start. Besides if things start going well, I'll start sharing my online money secrets. FOR FREE! After funding your projects is a part of being your own studio.

A Sound Idea: Part 2

In the previous post I touched on the benefits of using music you're in control of in your productions. Now I'll make mention of a few of the sites and services I've encountered thus far. In no particular order. Though I will start with the absolute cheapest option of the things you pay for!

1. SoundSnap - SoundSnap began life as a VERY noble idea. That being that it was absolutely free. All of the music and various sounds provided were largely contributed by talented individuals of the industry. Sort of a side project throwing us little guys a bone. There was a vast assortment of quality music and effects, it was in fact too good to be true. It's not hard to immagine that quality all at the very affordable price of FREE did wonders for their PR. It did. Of course that means higher opperating costs and means of the minds behind it making more money. Now SoundSnap isn't as free as it used to be.

At the most basic level you still have free and complete access to SoundSnap's library. HOWEVER! You can only download 5 files per month. Depending on your particular needs that may be good enough. If you need more than that, you can upgrade your membership to one of their several subscription plans. The lowest being $29 per month for 100 downloads per.

$29 might be a number larger than you wanted to see, but that's still a great deal if you're working to amass a library for your projects. Especially considering that most royalty free places charge that per track!

So go checkout SoundSnap Their library is quite vast and you'll likely find the style tunes you're looking for, or get pretty darn close.

2. StockMusic.net - One of the more "affordably priced" options out there. They have a good and largely original library. I say that because I have actually found some sites selling the same music found on their competitors. You can also download their track demos. Buuuuut, they're "watermarked". So if you plan on using it for anything, you'll have your work cut out for you.

3. Music Bakery - They offer a quality, varied, and original selecion of music. Tracks going from $14 and up depending on their production work/quality. They do offer Lo-Fi selections of their music. The samples are VERY LO-FI. But you can down load them. What I downloaded didn't seem to be watermarked, or it could very well be I didn't hear it. Yeah, that Lo-Fi. All in all they're still an "affordable" choice, depending on what catches your ear.

Music Services and Networking

Apart from royalty free tunes there are a couple of options I've found so far where free is still the name of the game. Including social networking. Basically the sites are geared toward musically talented folks to mingle and share their audio creations as well as mix-and-match the submissions of other site members with provided audio mixing as part of the site.

So you not only have the ability to find new and free music for your production, you might just find a talented person to make tunes for your project and getting a bit of exposure for themselves too.

1. Jamglue - Jamglue is a good place to start rooting around for music or a contributing artist. The site however, is a wee bit buggy. I always had an issue with the mixer freezing up or crashing. Also when combing tracks and loops the mixer doesn't really allow you to seamlessly combine and edit samples. Maybe the place just doesn't like me.

2. Splice Music - I think Splice Music may have been merging with someone else. At least that was the word the last time I tried checking them out. I heard of the place, like Jamglue, while watching Attack of the Show on G4 a long time ago. I have yet to actually see how the site works. Not because I haven't tried, but because no matter where I was or who's PC i was using the site just didn't work. Either the site would crash, or the blasted thing just wouldn't load. So if the link works for you, good luck, the site likely won't. I never said all the options would be good ones.

All in all there's a lot of cyberspace to be covered when looking for sound and music for your toons. I know it's incredibly easy just to use tunes from your favorite CD's or downloads. And the vast majority of independant toons out there on the net do just that. Which I guess is all well and good if you never plan on profiting from it.

Even when you're still learning the ropes, going that extra mile to find music you control for your projects and practice lends a little bit more of a professional touch to the whole thing.