I compose music and draw stuff. I helped make Club Penguin.
I hope you will bear with a little of my foolishness, but you are already doing that. 2 Cor 11:1
I've decided to update my music demo reel, but in doing so, put out collections of music by theme/mood. Here's a collection of some of the calmer music I've composed over the years:
This little penguin, which I created almost 15 years ago to the day, has been seen by more people than anything else I've ever drawn (an estimated 1%+ of the population of the Earth).
I spent about 15 minutes on it.
In hindsight, I absolutely wish I'd put more thought into it.
OK... I think I feel comfortable confirming it now.
Coming October 24, for Club Penguin's 18th birthday: "How the Penguin Avatar Was Made". It's a 25-minute long deep dive behind the scenes into how this little penguin came to be.
See you then!
Well,
#CancelCanadaDay
is trending.
My answer is no.
The frustration and anger over Canada's flaws are justified. Reconciliation should continue to happen. But cancelling Canada Day says that there's nothing about this country worth celebrating. That's a bridge too far for me.
Hey, everyone; I'm not great at self-promotion, but a bunch of unexpected expenses have come up in the last few weeks, so I'd like to point out that I'm open for commissions/contract work. Illustration, music composing; if you have a need, contact me at .
For the first time ever, I was recognized in person today as "the Club Penguin music guy" by someone who had only previously seen me on YouTube. It was surreal and cool.
(Obviously, I'm not the only Club Penguin composer, but it was still a cool moment.)
Kelowna has had a lot of forest fire activity in the last 10 days. Some areas of West Kelowna are still evacuated.
I had an idea of an art project I wanted to do with some of the charcoal from the burnt trees, but I needed to test first.
The test went pretty well.
#Kelowna
Club Penguin fact: If you sent a question to Aunt Arctic in the early days, it was likely through this box.
Confession: I coded the Send button so it wouldn't actually send anything if the message was less than 25 letters long. That time you said "Hi!"? Yeah, she never saw that.
It's the 17th anniversary of Club Penguin's Winter Luau!
I kinda regret that we never really brought this party idea back (though there were other tropical events). Oh, for the days of sparsely decorated "parties" again.
@Schaffrillas
Yeah, it's a tough sell. Every Toy Story movie has centered around a challenge for Woody. What's left to challenge him?
My only thought is that Andy is in trouble as an adult, and at the end of the movie, Woody breaks the big rule and talks to him. But that's all I got.
As someone who arrived onto the Internet in 1998, you know what's weird? No one goes to forums any more.
Forums used to be huge. Now... I guess it's all just Reddit?
If ever Club Penguin had been added to Scribblenauts as an object you could add to the game, THIS is what I would have wanted it to look like. It's perfect.
Club Penguin was the best job I ever had. There was a period of a few golden years where even the stress was constructive and exciting, and I knew that I was part of something amazing. It's sad to hear it's shutting down for good.
Love you, CP.
#OnceAPenguinAlwaysAPenguin
@ItsYourShojoEmb
I'm not against certain tools, like Photoshop's content-aware fill. But the trend toward AI art taking over for human creations... not a fan.
Why were so many of the April Fools parties on Club Penguin covered in cardboard boxes doing random things?
I've told this story before, but it's worth repeating.
Fun fact for today: As Club Penguin got larger and the lore got more difficult to keep track of in our heads, the company created a private wiki called the Internal Community Encyclopedia to keep track of it all.
Why that name? We liked the acronym. ;)
#ClubPenguin15
Have you ever considered how strange Halloween is?
Once a year, kids dress up in costume and go door to door, collecting candy that others have purchased for the occasion, and it just... works? And if you don't want to participate, you keep your lights off, and that's respected?
It is okay to just have a hobby.
The hobby doesn't need to turn into a side hustle. It doesn't need to become your job. You don't need to stream it. The Internet doesn't need to know about it.
It can just be something you enjoy without pressure from the digital world.
Todayβs
#ClubhouseGames
: 51 Worldwide Classics Game of the Day is Mancala! Collect the most stones in your store in this ancient and beloved strategy game. By-the-way, did you know that some claim Mancala is more than 6000 years old?
@ClubPenguinLore
I may have actually gotten to see this in person back in the day. Though I can't guess as to the contents; they likely wiped the contents frequently as they tested new versions.
If it's an early enough build, they might have Club Penguin MP3 music on it instead of tracker music.
Club Penguin Fact: Many of the characters in the printed Club Penguin books (e.g. Pick-Your-Path) had names that were 2 or 3 letters long (Joe, Ed, Al, Sue, etc.). This ensured that we wouldn't completely copy a real player's penguin name (which were minimum 4 letters long).
@JGLjen
You say that, but then try giving it a clothing item with pants or long sleeves... I am indebted to the clothing creators who came after me for figuring out a way to make certain outfits work.
I have a secret to share. A big secret. A secret so shocking I can't tell it all at once. So I've been hiding it in my Twitter posts from the last month.
Go to my Twitter profile and scroll down, reading the first word of every tweet below this one. (You'll know when to stop.)
So, this blew up. Hi, penguins.
If you're interested, I've made a bunch of YouTube videos about the making of Club Penguin. You can check them out if you want. This is a good place to start:
The site may be called "X"... but the Terms and Conditions still call it "Twitter".
Someone smarter than me can probably find all sorts of legal loopholes in that...
Good news! I've started working on music for a new virtual world called "Box Critters"!
However, I need your help. There's gonna be a card battling RPG game in Box Critters, and we're trying to decide on a style of music. Listen to the two songs in the video below:
OK, Club Penguin fans, I have an urgent mission for you.
Danielle was one of the very first CP moderators to be hired back in early 2006. She's been diagnosed with Multicentric Castlemans disease, and needs some financial help.
For the first time ever, I have art up in a restaurant! It's at The Sandwich Company in Landmark 3 (one building away from the former Club Penguin office at Landmark 4).
Hey, if any of you are old-school Club Penguin fans, I made a quick Behind-The-Scenes video about the making of Club Penguin music. It's pretty short, there's a lot more to tell, but let me know if this kind of thing interests you!
10 years ago today was my last day at Disney Online Studios.
At the time, I chose to leave. I wasn't let go. Still, there are always some "what ifs" in my mind... what if I'd stayed? To this day, I don't know.
YO BEST CLUB PENGUIN SOUNDTRACK MAKER GUY (
@_screenhog
), I MADE THIS VIDEO ABOUT CLUB PENGUIN'S ICEBERG, AND I DONT THINK I MISSED ANYTHING, BUT YOULL KNOW IF I DID, SO JUST CURIOUS ABOUT IT. (oops caps lol)
@JaidenAnimation
Hi. You don't know me. But I was surfing Youtube, and happened upon someone making a big deal that you animated your avatar doing the Club Penguin dance.
I was the artist who animated that dance. I love your channel and animations now. Just wanted to tell you.
This technology's ability to create compelling video is impressive.
But it can't tell your stories. It can't be personal. And as long as we value other people more than we value being entertained, that's what's going to matter most.
Introducing Sora, our text-to-video model.
Sora can create videos of up to 60 seconds featuring highly detailed scenes, complex camera motion, and multiple characters with vibrant emotions.
Prompt: βBeautiful, snowyβ¦
@peterdeseve
Considering that movies credit the people that deliver their coffee as helping them make the movie, yeah, there's no excuse for not crediting you for this.
Since we're calling today the death of Flash, here are some of my favorite/nostalgic Flash products:
-
#ClubPenguin
- Homestar Runner
- Gemcraft
- Fantastic Contraption
- Toon Marooned
- Achievement Unlocked
- Clockwords
- TooMuchSpareTime
- countless things on Kongregate
"The strength of a democracy isn't how well we agree but how well we disagree." - Mike Myers
Great quote, and more broadly applicable to close relationships as well.
I was asked by
@ClubPenguinLore
if I had any art from Crab Chat (a small virtual world that I worked on with
@rocketsnail
before Club Penguin launched). It turns out, I do! There was an outdoor beach, and a sand castle that you could enter. This is what it looked like inside:
I made a video about the history of Club Penguin, a tour of its homes in Kelowna, and how I got involved with the game.
(Side note: outdoor shoots are hard when you're by yourself! I have greater respect for videographers now.)
In mathematics, "X" is an unknown quantity. A big question mark.
If I was going to buy something for $44 billion, I'd make sure I knew what it was first.
Desert creatures have always fascinated me. Their ability to survive in a harsh, moisture-free environment is amazing.
But today I realized that since Antarctica is technically a desert (it gets very little precipitation), penguins are technically desert creatures.
Mind blown.
One of the more surprising things from making YouTube videos in the last year has been that a number of commenters have asked whether or not I'm on the autism spectrum.
I've taken some online tests with suggesting moderate symptoms. So that's interesting.
Hey everyone... since this is Club Penguin's 14th anniversary, I think I'm gonna try doing something I haven't done before. I'm gonna do a livestream on YouTube. Play some music, answer some questions.
I'm thinking 1 PM PST? (4 PM Eastern, 9 PM UK)
If you can't wait for my YouTube video later today, I was also interviewed about my involvement with Club Penguin by Quinn Marr for his podcast. Check it out!
@HEbePlayin
Yeah, they didn't explain it well in the game, but the first DS game actually had special missions that were seasonal to the DS internal clock.
At what point does someone officially become "a YouTuber"? Because I think I might be one now?
I've hit over 10,000 YouTube subscribers.
I don't quite know how to process that.
During my time at Club Penguin, I got to visit Walt Disney Animation Studios, and unexpectedly was able to visit the office of Eric Goldberg. He animated many characters (including the Genie) and was working on the crocodile from Princess and the Frog at the time.
Finding Nemo came out in 2003. Imagine for a moment that the movie had used realistic clownfish. Would it have been a better movie?
I'm not opposed to live action remakes. But Disney, please, allow your artists to create appealing main characters that belong in the foreground.
I just turned 40. This means I should start getting settled in my ways and avoid change and new experiences.
Just kidding! I baked my first ever muffins today! (Banana muffins.)
Lane Merrifield, one of the founders of Club Penguin, was just added as one of the two new "dragons" on CBC's Dragon's Den (a show that's known as Shark Tank in USA). I'm amazed and shocked... CBC chose an awesome person to be in that role. Congratulations,
@lanemerrifield
!
Have you all seen Once Upon a Studio? It's a recent Disney short, and it is phenomenal. It showcases the best side of Disney, the side that loves its art and its craft, rather than just its brands. Please go check it out if you're an animation lover.
I've finally finished watching all of Gravity Falls. It was one of those shows that was highly recommended, but I never got around to until it came to Disney Plus.
It's really good. Highly recommend it.
I'm in this weird place right now where depression is hitting pretty hard, but I'm composing a song that I think is actually quite beautiful.
Sometimes, my natural emotional state and the art I need to create line up well. This is not one of those times.
#LifeAsAnArtist
@AzureWolf168
We did. Club Penguin was huge for us, too.
And there's also the interesting phenomenon that I can spend 5 hours on a large pastel image of Yoda but get way more appreciation for a 15 minute illustration of a deformed penguin. I'm kinda always going to be known for Club Penguin.
πΉπΉπΉπΉπΉ
There are a lot of video games about war. Combat is exciting. Killing a bad guy and achieving victory is thrilling.
Perhaps this is why there aren't a lot of video games about World War I.