Back at the blogs

Hey, did you miss us? No??
We simply had to take some time out to work on the new drawings for the Frog Blog Dog Log video, and I find that the only way not to get distracted it to turn the computer right off!
So I had a blissfull week creating some new images, and realised how little time I get to create new work for it's own sake. A piece of art always has to have a purpose, to fit a specific brief, usually to illustrate a story.
I couldnt wait to get started on this tuba playing pic!
The video has been a collaboration with our good chum Chris Carter of Bluebird Recording Studios who wrote the original music for us, and who was keen to develop that into a pop song. I really wanted a video short that would amuse everyone and be a good promo tool, so we set about planning.

Because we have such a strong international following, I thought it would be good fun to have Frog with the most famous London Landmarks, and to have clips of our own dear beach here in Fleetwood; if we can do our bit to promote the tourism in Fleetwood, I would be very happy.

I also wanted a mix of Frog in his various guises, cartoon, plush toy and real dog. So the plan emerged that we would use brief shots of a mix of all these to create an animated effect with stills, but being the creative silly people we are, we couldnt resist a little stop animation with a Frog Ted. No cakes were harmed or eaten during the making of this video!

Having assembled over 80 photos, and a range of cartoons, I then spent a week storyboarding the pics into position, humming the song as I worked to give a rough plan. Then it was into the studio to work on the stop animation, where Chris excelled himself, and there was much giggling as we put it together and saw how it looked. We (Chris) spent quite some time going over and over it to get the synchronisation right, so when we finally finished very late that night, it was very hard indeed to go home and NOT share the results until the next morning!

We really want the song and the vid to be something for the kids to enjoy that they can access themselves through their mobile phones/mp3 players. We know that kids who are too old for the books still enjoy the whole concept and character of Frog and his friends, so like the blog, this song and vid are a new way of being friends with Frog.

So after that brief but exciting burst of creativity it's back to the marketing and selling in the run upto Christmas. Back to arranging signing events and book orders; but it's great fun telling everyone that we have a pop song out and how much fun it is. Stand by your ipod - launch day is 3rd Nov - we're nearly there!
PS: We'd be so appreciative of your support - if you can spare the time to comment, rate or review our vid on youtube, we'd be really gratefull!
Find us at www.youtube.com/frogthedog1