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BlakTornado
I am Me o.O

Age 31, Male

Owner - Blak Tornado

No. College.

England

Joined on 4/7/06

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BlakTornado's News

Posted by BlakTornado - October 8th, 2016


Today I was looking for an old login in 1Password on my Macbook and stumbled upon my user details for Newgrounds. Nostalgia hit me. It's literally been about five years since I last logged in. Half a decade. Time has gone by very quickly although, weirdly, Newgrounds still appears to be mostly the same.

The biggest reason I haven't used Newgrounds in so long is because platforms like Youtube became a much better outlet for my content, which I imagine is quite a common trend for many of the content creators who used Newgrounds for sharing their videos. Technology generally moved forward around the time I stopped posting too - the death of Flash started thanks to the iPhone and the App Store in 2008-2009. As a result I can't watch any of my old submissions here because I don't have Flash Player on any of my devices anymore; many of my devices don't support Flash Player at all. (I realise Newgrounds has moved forward since then too, so this isn't a criticism.)

I started making stop motion animation videos I was 13 years old, which was just over 10 years ago. (I'm 24 now. Older, wiser, etc.) As you'll see from my upload history, some of the videos I made back then acheived some relatively great view figures considering I was only making these animations in my bedroom after school. Getting a video on the front page was such a huge achievement, and getting my videos put into the Clay collection was an honour, even if I did have to send whiny PMs to Tom Fulp to make it happen. I'm still disappointed I never got my own sub-category like some of the others on there. (Simpler times though - where's the Tom Fulp of Youtube for people like me to pester these days? I've got a bunch of videos with view counts that need bumping up!) 

So, as I mentioned, it's been ten years since I started animation and five years since I stopped. You're probably expecting something from this post - I wouldn't be writing if I didn't have something to say, surely. Well, if you were hoping for an announcement of some new Clayground episodes I'm afriad I'm going to have to bitterly disappoint you. That's not going to happen. Not because anything bad has happened, like I've had my arms cut off and can't make clay figures any more, but because I've moved on. (This may have been obvious due to the lack of videos for five years.)

In the past five years my life has changed a lot. I've grown up. I went to university, left university and now run my own video production company here in England. We make corporate videos (sounds boring, I know, but it's not - I promise) and do things like live streaming at events. I've been doing this for my full time job, as my own boss, for three years now. I'm also working with some local web developers on a software platform for managing video content and selling it, essentially letting businesses create their own Netflix-style video channel dedicated to their area of expertise, such as project management. I basically spend my days feeling like Richard from HBO's Silicon Valley...!

In all seriousness, things currently feel like they're going very well. While I don't really make videos based on my own ideas anymore, I'm now spending my time putting my skills to good use, particularly when it comes to making things like training videos that teach people how to do important things like operating machinery or changing the world.

The reason I'm posting this is because I know a lot of my friends on here from that era will probably wonder from time to time what happened to that weird British kid who made the goofy Knox ripoffs. (The better quality Knox ripoffs, I like to think.) I also know that my videos and profile on here still get some views from people who are in the same position I was in ten years ago when I would browse through the endless archives of Newgrounds content to find new material to watch and be inspired by. I hope this post brings some closure to that chapter.

If I hadn't started making these goofy claymations, started posting them on newgrounds, and ultimately found my passion in video production here, I wouldn't be making videos and running my business for a living; something I'm thankful for every day. Almost everything I learnt came off the back of making these silly little films in my bedroom that I shared with people all over the world. They laid important foundations for me to build on as I moved forward in life - although I'd hate to see what my clients would make of some of these early videos of mine.

It's overdue, but on reflection I want to say thank you to everyone who supported me all those years ago and took the time to watch my videos, write reviews and give me such important feedback. I hope, equally, you're all doing well in your lives as well. Until next time...


Posted by BlakTornado - June 7th, 2009


An Unnecessary Biography is now available on Last.fm for your listening pleasure.

I know a lot of people wanted to buy the album on it's release and couldn't for whatever reason, so now you can listen to it for free.

LIsten for Free on Last.fm - An Unnecessary Biography


Posted by BlakTornado - July 28th, 2008


Update:
Sorry for the false alarm! I was just feeling very irritable because of the unusually intense heat we're having over here in the UK at the moment. My Claymen being annoying was just the final straw to my anger and it all came rushing out before I thought about it. Sorry!
Good news is (if you think it's good news!); I'm still doing the movie! I'm determined. These challenges will make it even more worth it in the end.
To make it up for you for causing a scene, here's an unreleased shot that's so fresh, it's not even been exported from iStopmotion yet! [see picture at the bottom]

Honestly, I really cannot be bothered with Clayground anymore.

It's taken me 25 days to make PART of the first scene of my movie, and even that sucks. The lighting is crap, the animation is crap, the editing is crappy and it seems rushed. Seriously, I really can't be bothered with it and I'm so close to scrapping it.

And if I do, will I go back to making shorts? Probably not. It's annoying. The clay is so stupid and soft that even making a character walk across the table makes it wear out. It's tedious, and the clay gets all over everything. It takes up so much time. I'm sick of it. I wouldn't care if I was actually getting somewhere with any of it, but am I? No. I'm not. My shorts suck.

Honestly, I feel like giving up on it all. The only creative thing I truly enjoy anymore is making music, both myself and in my band, Delayed Finality. I don't have any ideas for live-actions films, and even if I did, they would be so ridiculously ambitious that I wouldn't be able to make them anyway.

Whether or not I stop making clay shorts or my Clayground movie is far from confirmed, but at the moment, that's really what I feel like doing.

It turns out I really can be bothered


Posted by BlakTornado - July 20th, 2008


Blak Tornado Presents

Jollification

A Free, Download-only Album for your listening pleasure

Click here to download it!

"The best part about it is the album cover" - Basil K.

10 months of boredom. At 3am in the morning. 15 tracks. 43 minutes of wacky music.
Enjoy!

Jollification


Posted by BlakTornado - July 16th, 2008


So I submitted some crap in the audio portal recently, but that's no reason to down-rate all of my submissions...


Posted by BlakTornado - July 2nd, 2008


Does anyone know of a free FLV hosting service?

I want to get my new short on Newgrounds but it's too big to fit inside an SWF, so I figured I could link across an FLV from another website... I would host it on my own site but it would kill my bandwidth instantly (assuming I get 200 or so views at least)

So does anyone know of a free FLV hosting service?

Thanks :D


Posted by BlakTornado - April 23rd, 2008


No new short in two months!?

NO!

Well I'm working on one! Been a busy two months... with GCSEs and all... so, I should have a new one out by the end of April. Honest, officer!

P.S. Search for ANYTHING Knox-related in the iTunes store... Chances are you'll find my Clayground podcast and not his Klayworld one :P Bwahaha. Tags FTW (Come on, that's what they're there for; to help yourself be seen by people searching for similar or related content)


Posted by BlakTornado - March 1st, 2008


Ok, well I have a submission which is under judgement but not in the Flash portal due to a mis-flagging.

If possible, please could you just vote on it (even if you've voted before)?

I would appreciate it a lot :)

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
426793

Thanks!


Posted by BlakTornado - February 23rd, 2008


Hey, thanks for flagging my perfectly fine Submission.

I owe you one.


Posted by BlakTornado - January 3rd, 2008


I thought I should just make a quick plug about my Album since I know more people probably visit this page than my site, so here goes.

In November, I released my 3rd Album, An Unnecessary Biography. It features 12 tracks and is sort of Alternative Punk Rock (I don't really know what genre it is). You can listen to clips and find out more here. It costs £5/$10 (Not including postage) and is available on CD format only (For the time being).