Ok guys, the captain wanted me to show this to you...

i would say 'Happy pico day' but i think he would chuck a fit and punch me in the ovaries, so i'll just show you his message... i recorded it... he delivered it...

he's not happy, i know, but i think he just needs some attention guys...

HERES THE MESSAGE ON THE PORTAL, plz vote/review :P

take it away captain:

PS... it works now, lol... it's set to public :P

YAAY!
don't you just love that feeling where after working on stuff for MONTHS you know you're about to unleash it? i do.

anyhow i have two very AWESOME items of news for you!

FIRST:
All 12 tracks of my album 'View from a Window' are finished. i had a photo shoot last week and as soon as i get the images back and get the cover art and what not done i will send it all off for publishing and announce it's release in a few week,s 2-3 i'm hoping.

And yes, i did record with my very awesome friend Lisa Gerrard and it went amazingly well.

My MYSPACE MUSIC page has 4 of the songs from my album on it, not that the mp3 online versions are nowhere near as good as the CD sound is, i have compared. The first song that plays is the song i recorded with lisa. I hope you love it, i think Lisa did an AMAZING job.

ok and now, SECOND:
touching on a topic that has not been brought up for a while, regarding the game 'Brotherhood of Battle'. It has been worked on for over 3 months solid now, thats how long paladin the game took to finish and release. theres another month or so to go but we're hoping to get the OPEN TO PUBLIC BETA out in a few weeks.

MOONKEY has been doing a SPECTACULAR job. GO THANK HIM. seriously, i have never worked with anyone as fantastic as him. he will hate me for talking like this lol. anyhow, the game has a full working lobby with a friends/ignore list, complete ranking system based on games won, unlockable icons and goodies and stuff.

GAME INFO:
*5 game types: assault, capture the flag, brotherhood battle, capture and hold, gold rush
*FULLY online PVP, 2-4 players per game, host your own or join others
*MASSIVELY comprehensive map editor allowing you to make maps better then the default ones.
*MAP SHARING and rating is in the works
*I will be putting together a brotherhoodofbattle.com featuring video tuts and info and goodies
*it's all rendered in 3D from maya to flash

THE GAME is pretty much a friggen PC game like warcraft, just better... coz it's FREE lol
It'll be hosted on and by Xgenstudios but we will release a demo version linking to the full free version on every website we can, so chances are you'll see a playable online demo version on NG. the only difference between the demo and full is only 1 game type available, fewer maps, no map editor and no ranks and unlockables.

Heres a little shot i hooked up. ignore the 99 for time and the little editor box, its taken from a testing session from the map editor.

YOU WILL LOVE THIS GAME

*** EDIT ***

YES i recorded the preist going 'Ho lo lo' like off of age of empires. :)

well, the post's title is the long story short, lol.

I am friends with a Lady by the name of Lisa Gerrard whom i have mentioned before, she is a golden globe winning, Oscar nominated singer. She was very involved in the making of the music scores to the following movies:

-gladiator
-man on fire
-the insider
-whale rider
-ali
-the passion of the Christ
(as well as other movies and her solo album work)

CLICK HERE; TO HEAR SOME OF HER WORK

anyhow, she's the nicest most supportive person you could ever know. we have even watched my paladin DVD together lol. anyhow, at the moment i'm animating a music video to a song on her upcoming album 'the black opal', and in our collaborative sessions, i showed her 6 of my completed songs from my album.

She told me she really really loved them, which is (needless to say) VERY comforting and encouraging. Not only that, i showed her a bunch of music i was putting together in a song, and she hooked up her mics, and 'jammed' with me. she has an amazing voice.

TO THE POINT:

After 'jamming' i asked if she would be interested in featuring in the album. she wanted to!! she said yes! so, come next week i am going to her house for a WEEK with all my gear. most of the week will be working on her music video, BUT at a time in that week she will record the backing vocal track to a song i have done my part in recording so far, to be titled 'There in your Arms'.

There is no point to this post to say anything more then 'yay look at me' which is quite narcissistic, but hey, we need a little self love to survive right? lol jokes.

After our record session next week, my album will be FINISHED. yes, i have 12 almost fully finished songs, and my album should be available within a months time.

FOR ALBUM UPDATES, SONG SAMPLES AND 'STUFF' VISIT MY MYSPACE MUSIC...

the album will be called 'View from a Window', will feature 9 original vocal songs, 1 acoustic version of a song, and 2 composed orchestral recordings. It will cost $14.95, which i think is fair as the publishers take $10 per CD, and i would hope months of solid work would amount to $5 a copy. anyhow, i really hope you guys look foreward to this as much as i do. it's something i've wanted to do for quite a while...

oh, and below... is a rondom pick i made lol. half me half lisa. i'm the dude... i hope...

Hi all, i made a simple myspace artist page just to show a couple of the songs from the upcoming album.

The final album will be at least 10 songs long (i've recorded almost 6 of them so far), but for now, feel free to listen to the result of some of my hard work. Let me know what you think! Honestly!

Oh, and add me to friends and if you like a song, host it on your own space!

JOSIAH BROOKS MYSPACE MUSIC

oh and yes. i know the photo's are cheesy... it happens. lol.
I got some professional lighting equipment this morning and the photos are the result of me mucking around.

thought i'd bring up this years TGSNT animation competition finalists

For those who don't know, TGSNT is a competition for storytellers. it stands for 'The Greatest Stories Never Told' and has previously won by the likes of Adam Phillips, Bernard Derryman (of Arj and Poopy) and more.

Lucky us, newgrounds has taken quite a hold on this one!! Artists from right here are being recognized which is awesome, artists like:

AloneInTheDark
ZekeySpaceyLizard
KibitzCo
Kol-Belov
Kelly Loftus
Spike vallentine
Belka
notorious
and me

i think it's totally awesome
Almost HALF of the 20 finalists (around 9 of them) are newgrounders. now, time to VOTE!!
anyone can vote, the TGSNT judges get the final say as to who gets first second and third prizes, but let's all vote and make sure a NEWGROUNDER wins the peoples choice.

strange though, i pictured Adam Phillips taking this one with waterlollies... For some strange reason he musn't have entered... can someone check if he died? coz that guy would have won for sure (personal opinion).

Frankly i don't care if i win or not, i'm super happy to be on the shortlist and among such awesome stories.

well then, here it is, TGSNT 5

MAKE YOUR CHOICE

(newgrounders in the image below are highlighted)
oh, and if i missed any newgrounds artists, i am really sorry. i don't have the best memory :S

Though I'd give you all a little peak at the epic game Moonkey and I are working very hard on. As usual we're doing our best to tailor the game to be pushing the envelope a bit in how flash games are played and what they can involve. (IE pvp + 3D rendered)

about the game:
-start off with all 5 units, with upgrades and unit/army more production
-online PVP
-different game types (deathmatch, C.T.F, etc etc)
-some games involve a fortress you can upgrade and research from

there's a couple of features we're working to get in there, such as map editor and the ability to share maps with friends, and loads of different game types. It should be really fun. Think 'Age of empires/mythology' and 'warcraft' with a flash feel

aaaaaaand screenie:

The other night i got bored... I did something random and made 2 video tutorials.

I enjoyed making them and they didn't take long to make, so I made some more today. They are in a 'How to Draw' theme, and although I don't by any means claim to be the best, I have had a bunch of requests from people asking me to 'teach them', a bit too much effort to do one on one online...

This I feel is a nice alternative though! If you can somehow get past my Australian accent, I hope that they will be informative to those of you with a creative side. Let me know what you think, and what might also be any good addition to the collection.

FREE DRAWING VIDEO TUTORIALS:

part 1 - construct
part 2 - emotion
part 2.5 - emotion
part 3 - poses
part 3.5 - poses
part 4 - color/shading

i've in the past wanted to find some video tutorials, and never founf anything free that was of any use. There was cartoonsmart, but i never really liked his art style not to mention the bloody COST, lol.

Anyhow, I'll leave you all with a little update, Moonkey and I are working hard on our next game, I'll not give too much away, but we hope for it to be PVP over the net. The art has all been made in 3D for the game and rendered for flash. Heres a sample of some characters!!
:
:
:
:::::::::::::::::::::::: UPDATE (1/24/08) ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
MORE video tutorials!! all based on the mosts requests i've gotton so far:

Part 5 - hands
Part 6 - hair
Part 7 - animation setup
part 8 - animation
part 8.5 - aniamtion
:
:
:

One question that has popped up a lot for me in emails and PM's, is what am i doing now that the paladin series is finished?

well, towards the end of April this year, I will be leaving to do some missionary service! This goes for two years, and I really look forward to it. I assume some questions will come up regarding this also, so heres a few bits of info:
- I will not be animating those two years
- I will no be able to update forums/sites over that time
- and yes, it is for the LDS church, more commonly known as 'mormons'
- I find out where I go when I submit my papers
When I get back I look forward to fully perusing my directing career!

SO! now to my plans for the next four months. The following are projects that I aim to complete before the end of April:

1 - Another game with moonkey, a 3D (hopefuly multiplayer pvp) strategy game
2 - Record an album with original songs both composed and vocalized
3 - Make an animation about... well, you'll find out
4 - Make a tankman spoof :D
5 - Finish shooting editing and composing for my first short film
6 - Animate a music video Lisa Gerrard commissioned me to do

If you have any questions, let me know! i'll be happy to answer them :)
and don't forget i'm not gone yet. still here for four months, and i'll come back before you know it

also... no news post would be complete without an image of sorts:

YAAAY!

after months of tireless work, MOONKEY and i made the game i had dreamed about for ages

GO PLAY IT

i hope you love it

any questions or comments, leave them here and i'll respond. i never can catch up to all reviews on a submission, but i read them all so dont NOT review lol

ENJOY!!

EDIT:::

the video demo is complete and uploaded
check it out here

:::
As many of you know Moonkey and I have been working hard on the PALADIN game game for the past 3 months.

private BETA testing begins in a week or so (the participants are selected, no more soz) and because i'm a sucker for giving away previews and stuff, i decided to let you all know, from now until the release of the PALADIN game, I will share a screenshot of the game with you for every page that the paladin progress thread increases in page size.

i've revealed for now that page 8 will show a dragon, 9 will show radiel and kognor, and 10 will be a video sample.

So, if you're interested, Get posting! and GET EXITED! I am really pumped to be making a game of this size (it's huge, trust me) and i get a buzz every time I play it. Really though, all props to Moonkey for his super amazing coding work. he's a champion

For those who care to see the previous screenshot's ive given, see them below rather then combing through all those forum pages.

1 - young Auron in training
2 - undead giant
3 - (test level) Auron in test room
4 - undead decapitation!
5 - Auron and Melahn attacking skeletons
6 - Auron defending against undead fortress
7 - Auron casting 'Judgement'

well good luck guys, and thanks for all your support and interest so far. I leave you with a sample menu for the Paladin Game!