If you're a fan of really bad Eastern European accents, this episode is for you. I gave it my best shot and now I know I'm bad at it. At least you don't have to hear me attempt British or Irish, your ears would likely start bleeding.

This cartoon is another nod to Grand Theft Auto, I think it will be the last reference for a while. We'll see.

I'm considering offering free Toon Boom templates for some of these characters (Niko, for instance). I don't want to go to the trouble though if there's no interest. Let me know in the comments or send me a quick message if you're interested in playing around with a couple of Toon Boom character templates.

There's something about Friday that makes me want to show you something interesting from the world of animation, something you might not normally get the chance to see.

This is an incredible stop-motion animation that I think you'll really enjoy. While there's no story to speak of, the animators created a fascinating and convincing depiction of somebody making a plate of spaghetti.

Back in early April we mentioned that Atom (formerly Atom Films) had begun accepting entries to their annual Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge. I received word this weekend that the finalists have been chosen and that the judging period is very short, only until this Thursday.

Head on over to Atom to start casting your votes.

My Favorite Star Wars Cartoons

Of the entries, I prefer the cartoons!

Toon Boom announced this weekend that they're having a brief sale of Toon Boom Studio 4. The cost is the lowest I've seen it, at only $299.

Toon Boom Studio is pretty much all I use to create my cartoons, so if you've considered purchasing it before, now is a great time to give it a look. There's a free trial for Toon Boom Studio if you're not sure if it's for you.

» Download Free Trial of Toon Boom Studio 4

After some time off we're back with this new cartoon about the video game Grand Theft Auto. If you're not familiar with it, on the Xbox 360 version there are achievements you can earn, one of which is killing all 200 pigeons in the city. That's really all you need to know to understand this video game cartoon.

Rock on.

As each summer brings a new stack of movies vying for your paycheck, there are several animated movies that require your attention. June 6th saw the release of Kung Fu Panda from Dreamworks, and while it's building critical acclaim, is it as good as they say it is?

The basic story of Kung Fu Panda involves the panda character Po (Jack Black) as he's mistakenly chosen to be the next Dragon Warrior, a master of the kung fu arts. He must deal with his master Shifu's (Dustin Hoffman) ire, as well as those of the other warriors as he prepares for a final battle against the film's nemesis.

The animation in Kung Fu Panda is stellar. Characters are great at communicating with their entire bodies and not simply with a lip sync. You can easily watch the entire animated movie and pay attention just to the body language of the characters and never be bored.

The voice acting done by the main characters is also first-rate. Jack Black clearly approaches every project with the mindset of a man trying to prove his ADD medication is working. He's enthusiastic throughout, and it shows in the final product.

There's some concern about the number of celebrity voices in Kung Fu Panda. It felt like the casting director asked for a list of who was available at the time. "Seth Rogen? Awesome! Give him three lines of dialog and put his name on the marquee!". It felt forced and out of place, but fortunately these distractions were kept to a minimum.

The story is one-dimensional, however the constant humor and beautifully designed characters and backgrounds keep the movie humming and moving along at a nice pace.

Kung Fu Panda does a great job of teaching the inevitable life lesson without actually beating you over the head with it. Eventually Po learns to not only accept his shortcomings but realizes that they can be an asset.

Kung Fu Panda is a great film for adults and kids. Approach it with a light-hearted spirit and you will not be disappointed.

Kung Fu Panda Review: A-

Welcome to the oh-so-exciting conclusion to this storyline. Clearly there are some questions still to be answered, but that's the way it must be, I'm afraid. This episode is the big reveal that I've been working my way towards.

Thank you Shannon, for lending your voice to Dr. Lemur.

With this storyline completed I'm going to take one cartoon cycle off to collect my thoughts and work on a couple of side projects. The next episode will be in four weeks instead of two.

Now that the characters are established a bit there will be a couple of one-off episodes before I head back into a multi-part story.

This brief timelapse video shows and talks about 2.5 hours of work in Toon Boom as I create a character from scratch. It starts with finding reference pictures of lemurs and goes all the way to lip syncing one of the lines of the character.

Say hello to "Dr. Lemur".

We're nearing the end of this particular storyline. One more episode should do it, I think. If you're a new visitor to Calico Monkey you can start watching from the beginning of this storyline here. Or you can start from the very beginning of the series.

Earlier this week I added a time lapse video of me creating the second scene in this episode. Enjoy.

I had to look up how to spell "chameleon". I had no idea there was an H in there.