Design With Charm
Mat the Wad is a monthly web animation series, consisted of individual short stories and cartoons, experimental in animation style and inspirational or humorous in character.
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Newfangled Every new technology has its critics; those who think it will mean the corruption of our youth. For example, when I was growing up, one of the big villains was supposed to be video games. They were supposed to make us violent, antisocial, lazy, and any number of other horrible things. Interacting with a machine so much just HAD to be bad for you, right? Interacting with machines is now an essential part of life, the video gamers just got a head start on it. Despite all the bad things they were supposed to do to us, I don't think we ended up any worse for it. In fact, we probably came out better. Every time I'm tempted to bash any new technology, activity, or concept, I try to remind myself to stay flexible. Whether I want it to or not, change will keep coming. I'd rather roll with it instead of fight it. Matthew Ducharme |
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Newfangled |
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 Watching TV |
 Playing Video Games |
 Surfing the Web |
 Puffy Snow |
 Wet Snow |
 Sneaky Snow |
 Head |
 Falling |
 Walk Cycle |
 Standing |
 Holding Head |
 Spike |
 On the sidewalk |
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 Castle |
 Mad Scientist |
 Monster Reaching |
 Leaves |
 House & Woods Smoke |
 Dinner Table |
 Robot Fight - Storyboard |
 Robot Fight - Preproduction |
 Robot Fight - Finished Frame |
 Latitude Character Proportions |
 TV |
 Beach |
 Restaurant |
 Menu |
 Ordering |
 Bully |
 OOooo |
 Raking |
How it Began
As a professional animator Matt wanted a way to experiment with animation, to express the random ideas and styles that popped into his head. Due to the unpredictable, feast-or-famine nature of the animation business, he knew he would have to develop a style that was simple enough to be done quickly yet versatile enough to tell a wide range of stories. The oddly chunky and simplified characters came to life.
In 2008, the band Nine Inch Nails challenged its fans to create music video's for its Ghosts album. The band had created the album with the idea of doing it quickly, without over thinking it. Being a long time fan, Matt decided to approach his animation in the same way and he completed "In Vino Veritas" music video animation using this simplified style. The video received many views and it still enjoys a five star rating on YouTube.
In 2009, Matthew A. Ducharme decided to create a monthly web series using the same simple style. The first “Mat the Wad” was published in February of 2009 and Matt continues to work on creating new shorts every month.