The buzz on the Buzz
August 7, 2002
When Mario Furmanczyk first started his Web site, it existed as an exhibition of his artwork. But since then, it has grown to become an interactive environment for artists and fans of animation.
Mario still features his artwork on the site, but he also wants AnimatedBuzz.com to "become a popular meeting ground for aspiring artists and people interested in animation to share artwork, ideas, and just have a fun time collaborating with one another. "
About two weeks shy of a year ago, Mario launched a forum to serve in conjunction with his Web site—then called Mario36.com. It was the first step toward creating a community. Eventually, Mario changed the name and the URL of the site to Animated Buzz to appeal to a broader audience since it had outgrown the strict "portfolio" roots.
Mario quickly added new features onto his site such as games with high scores lists, a "Drawing of the Week" and a "Character of the Week." As the potential for the site grew, I saw an opportunity to weasel my way in and build power. Just kidding ... honest. What really happened was, in the neverending quest to add quality features for visitors, I inquired about a weekly column. The plan was for it to feature news and opinions on the world of animation. Little did I realize there was more news than one weekly column could handle. Since I'm never one to half-ass it—HA!—the Buzz-Wire was created as a way to give Animated Buzz visitors all the news in animation. Meanwhile, I could concentrate on any one topic my little heart desired for my weekly editorial.
Oh, sorry, I went off on a tangent glorifying myself. Let me get back to the site itself. As Mario36 and Animated Buzz, the site has undergone a number of new looks--the most recent one happening only a couple of weeks ago. "I'm always thinking of better ways to present the graphics and layout in the most efficient way," Mario says. "Currently, I'm happy with the layout because it is very clear and to the point. But, I plan on tweaking the graphics some more to make it more appealing. That project is postponed until I finish the Dragon Tears book that I'm currently working on."
What the heck is Dragon Tears, you ask? I'll get to that later.
Recently, Mario changed directions with the "Drawing of the Week" Before, he featured random drawings—a small strip here, a satirical piece there. But now, Mario launched a comic sequential called Vampira that will continue for roughly seven more weeks, providing visitors with a major reason keep coming back to Animated Buzz (as if there weren't enough reasons before).
"I believe that if I create solid artwork along with an interesting enough story-line," Mario says, "people will be anxious to come back to the site to see more of the strip." Of course, Mario is also learning from the experience since the new strip is his first shot at a continuing saga. "I will develop my character-design skills, story-development skills, environment and layout skills and inking and coloring skills," he says. All the while, visitors to the site can help Mario with constructive criticism—or plain out mean criticism if that's your bag--via the forums. The new "Character Design 101" forum, which replaced the "Character of the Week," is a haven for all aspiring artists to show off and receive feedback on concept development for their creations.
Mario said he'll eventually create a homepage for Vampira so "visitors can see everything from story concepts, preliminary sketches, to the final finished pieces all in front of them in one location."
Animated Buzz continues to grow every week, but we aren't resting on our laurels. (Well, I might eventually, but that's all a part of my loving personality.)
After Vampira, Mario plans on creating a new comic concept, and he'll produce it in the same fashion as his first outing. There are also a few new features that are scheduled to debut in the coming months. Want the buzz on 'em? I know you do!
"First, I plan on creating a weekly newsletter that will be sent out to remind people of weekly updates and new attractions," Mario says. I'm hoping the newsletter will also feature clips from the B-Wire and "Weekly Buzz" teasers as well. Visitors would sign up for it through a mailing list offered on Animated Buzz.
Mario also hopes to create a homepage for a children's book he's working on, Dragon Tears. (I told you I'd come back to it.) "I think it will be a nice feature to add to the site," he says, "because it will have its own distinct design separate from AnimatedBuzz.com. I plan on having numerous 'entities' like that in the future so the viewer will have more to look at. In all, I would like to display many concepts and as much artwork as I possibly can to keep viewers coming."
If this is your first time visiting, then take some time to surf around the site. You'll dig it. If you've been here before, then you already know Animated Buzz kicks Animated butt. So, to paraphrase Batman from the live-action Batman movie, "Tell all your friends about us."
Chris Douvalas
P.S. Yeah, yeah, I know this week's column was late. It won't happen again...because Mario threatened to fire me if it does.
EXTRAS:
The forum is a happening place, in my biased opinion. Here are a couple of gems that can be found in its midst.
Simpsons Trivia - Who doesn't enjoy The Simpsons? If you answers "me," then leave my sight immediately--you disgust me. Here, we have a trivia game where the person who answers the question correctly gets to ask the next question. I keep track of the points.
My debut post - I'm not hyping myself here, but I had hoped my thread would be the first to reach 100 posts in the forum. That damn Simpsons thread is challenging it now, so the race is on.
Chris Douvalas
