Recent Posts
March ’18
- Added video – Cardinal Theme – UI Elements 4 – Tour Boxes and Saving your Elements to Port to other Pages
- Added video – Cardinal Theme – UI Elements 3 – Site Map, Toggle, Tabs, Search
- Added video – Cardinal Theme – UI Elements 2 – Message Boxes and Icons
- Added video – Cardinal Theme – UI Elements 1 – Accordian
- Added video – Cardinal Theme – Displaying Recent Posts within Pages
- Added video – Cardinal Theme – Installation and Introduction
- Added video – Widgets
- Added video – Facebook Pixel (install NOW, trust me)
- Added video – Plugins Part 2 – Some Essential, some just recommended
- Added video – Plugins Part 1 – Jetpack Plugin
- Added video – WordPress Themes and Pages vs Posts Overview
- Added video – WordPress Installation
- Added a new documentation video on Multi-Language support in the Story Tellers Kit
- March game art for all subscribers is coming today!
February ’18
- Added video – Quick discussion on the new features in the Sticker Kit
- Added a second version of our popular Sticker Kit, this one includes an upsell footer which can link to your other apps in the store (as opposed to someone else’s, which Apple does not allow).
- Added video – Interested in sprucing up your Facebook Page header? Check out this video.
- Added Video – Blender in 3 Minutes – Lesson 10
- Added Video – Blender in 3 Minutes – Lesson 9
- Added Video – Blender in 3 Minutes – Lesson 8
- Added Video – Blender in 3 Minutes – Lesson 7
- Added Video – Blender in 3 Minutes – Lesson 6
- Added Video – Blender in 3 Minutes – Lesson 5
- Added Video – Curious about how a new sticker pack performs? Check out this video.
- Added Video – Blender in 3 Minutes – Lesson 4
- Added Video – Blender in 3 Minutes – Lesson 3
- Added Video – Blender in 3 Minutes – Lesson 2
- Added Video – Blender in 3 Minutes – Lesson 1
- Added Video – Blender in 3 Minutes – Course Introduction
- Added Video – Should you use Apple’s Search Ads?
- Added Video – How to Draw Comic Book Style Spaceships
- February’s game art has finally arrived and it’s a ton! Go check it out
- Redesigned the Yearly Game Art Archive
January ’18
- Added a short tutorial, How to Draw Magical Flames in Procreate
- Added a two part tutorial on Technical Illustrations with Adobe Animate
- Did some shuffling around in the subscriber portal, mainly moved the Free Courses to their own page.
- Added a new Web section to the CSTV app, with 4 of our full-length courses!
- Added 12 new Royalty Free Game Art FX for Subscribers
- Added Video – SceneKit and ARKit – Part 6 – Detecting Physics Collisions
- Added an extra Side Scroller level to this Month’s Game Art Bonuses
- Added Video – SceneKit and ARKit – Part 5 – How to Subclass SCNNode
- Added Video – SceneKit and ARKit – Part 4 – Handling Multiple Scene Files
- Added Video – SceneKit and ARKit – Part 3 – Adding Nodes at Runtime
- Added Video – SceneKit and ARKit – Part 2 – Hit Testing
- New Tutorial Series – SceneKit and ARKit – Part 1 – Getting Started
December ’17
- Added Video – Adobe Animate CC 2018 Basics Tutorial – Part 9
- Added Video – Adobe Animate CC 2018 Basics Tutorial – Part 8
- Added Video – Adobe Animate CC 2018 Basics Tutorial – Part 7
- Added Video – Adobe Animate CC 2018 Basics Tutorial – Part 6
- Added Video – Adobe Animate CC 2018 Basics Tutorial – Part 5
- Added Video – Adobe Animate CC 2018 Basics Tutorial – Part 4
- Added Video – Adobe Animate CC 2018 Basics Tutorial – Part 3
- Added Video – Adobe Animate CC 2018 Basics Tutorial – Part 2
- Added Video – Adobe Animate CC 2018 Basics Tutorial – Part 1
- Added Video Tutorial – Swift 4 Refresher Course 5
- Added Video Tutorial – Swift 4 Refresher Course 4
- Added Video Tutorial – Swift 4 Refresher Course 3
- Added Video Tutorial – Swift 4 Refresher Course 2
- Added Video Tutorial – Swift 4 Refresher Course 1
- Added Video Tutorial – How to Create a Sprite Based Swipe Line
- Added Video Tutorial – Recreating the Thor Logo with Vector Art
- How to Program Asteroids with Swift and Sprite Kit – Part 4 – The Physics
- How to Program Asteroids with Swift and Sprite Kit – Part 3 – Adding the Actual Asteroids
- How to Program Asteroids with Swift and Sprite Kit – Part 2 – Firing Missiles
- How to Program Asteroids with Swift and Sprite Kit – Part 1 – Rotation and Tap Gestures
November ’17
- Prototyping Video Tutorial – Double Dragon
- Prototyping Video Tutorial – Tetris
- Prototyping Video Tutorial – Galaga
- Prototyping Video Tutorial – Chess
- Prototyping Video Tutorial – Asteroids
- Added Video Tutorial – Using AWS DynamoDB with Swift 4 – Part 4
- Added Video Tutorial – Using AWS DynamoDB with Swift 4 – Part 3
- Added Video Tutorial – Using AWS DynamoDB with Swift 4 – Part 2
- Added Video Tutorial – Using AWS DynamoDB with Swift 4 – Part 1
- Procreate Tutorial – Drawing an Angry Head
- Prototyping Video Tutorial – The Classic Board Game Risk
- HUGE new series on Unity Scripting!
- Free CSTV App-Exclusive lesson – How to Create Your Own Fonts
- Free CSTV App-Exclusive lesson – Recreating the Solo Logo in Adobe Animate
- Added to our tvOS Fundamentals Course – UIButtons and UIView Animations
- Added to our tvOS Fundamentals Course – Remote Controls
- Added to our tvOS Fundamentals Course – Capturing User Input
- Added to our tvOS Fundamentals Course – Property Lists and Random Backgrounds Part 2
- Added to our tvOS Fundamentals Course – Property Lists and Random Backgrounds
- Added to our tvOS Fundamentals Course – Connecting a TableView and UICollectionView
October ’17
- Free Procreate Video Tutorial series “How to Draw a Chibi Han Solo”, get it via our App!
- Added Video Tutorial – UICollectionViews Part 2
- Added Video Tutorial – UICollectionViews Part 1
- New Course – tvOS Fundamentals – UITableViews Lesson
- Added video tutorial – 5 Minute Workflow Tips in Xcode #4
- Added video tutorial – 5 Minute Workflow Tips in Xcode #3
- Added video tutorial – 5 Minute Workflow Tips in Xcode #2
- Added video tutorial – 5 Minute Workflow Tips in Xcode #1
- CartoonSmart now has an iOS and Apple TV app!
- New video tutorial – How to give Tile Map Nodes a physics body
- New video tutorial – How to load a Property List from a server
- New video tutorial – New SKLableNode features in iOS11
- How to update your Swift 3 Sprite Kit Projects to Swift 4
- New royalty free game art for subscribers!
September ’17
- Added 2 more videos to the ARKit series
- All kits have been updated for Swift 4, and include the new Promoted In-App Purchase code Apple is now requiring.
- Added an article on how to update from Swift 3 to Swift 4. It’s incredibly easy (there’s really no code changes), so just follow a few steps and you’re done. For you Kit-users, this is probably easier than re-downloading a new version of the kit from scratch. Read more here.
- Read about my 10 Weeks using ARKit in Beta.
- Someone wanted a Shredding Wheel, well you got it! Watch the video tutorial here.
- New royalty free game art for subscribers!
August ’17
- More ARKit video tutorials added, and now at a dedicated page.
- ARKit Tutorials in now available in the Subscriber Portal (in the iOS section of course). Get started here.
- New royalty free game art for subscribers!
June ’17
- Sorry folks, forgot to update the actual What’s New page, when I was updating the Platform Games Kit in June. Everything from Build 1.65 on up is new stuff. Visit the change log for the kit here. Highlights include – two brand new demo versions of the kit, tile map support, health meters, breakable platforms, new attack options for enemies, automatically moving levels, platforms the player can jump up or down through and much more!
- New royalty free game art for subscribers!
May ’17
- Version 1 of the Role Playing Games Kit is now available for subscribers. Documentation is coming soon!
- New royalty free game art for subscribers!
April
- Busy engineering the RPG Kit!
- Added the Gorilla / Yeti game art characters and Jungle Themed level pack
- That’s a wrap on the Role Playing Games tutorial series. All lessons have been posted!
- Almost done with the Enemy class in the Role Playing Games with Sprite Kit and Swift 3 , posting the lessons shortly, wanted to make sure we get this perfect first!
March ’17
- New royalty free game art for subscribers!
- Yowsa. Video 42 just got added to the Role Playing series. Capping off the Inventory section. Folks, all we have left to go are the Enemies!
- Finished off the Items section of the Role Playing Games with Sprite Kit and Swift 3. All sorts of RPG style possibilities are available now. Unlocking treasure, jumping to other worlds, and what not!
February ’17
- Already up to Part 15 in our Role Playing Games with Sprite Kit and Swift 3 , well past the NPC section, we’re onto Level design / setup!
- Updated the Story Tellers Kit 2 so readers can now include an unlimited number of custom images in their stories. Previously you could only take / pick one photo to save
- New video tutorial series started: Role Playing Games with Sprite Kit and Swift 3.
- Added a new video tutorial: How to Draw Spooky Cartoon Backgrounds with Procreate
- Added a new video tutorial: How to Animate Along a Path or Circle in Adobe Animate
- Added a new video tutorial: How to Animate a Robot Walk Cycle in Adobe Animate
- Added a new video tutorial: How to Animate a 2D Explosion in Adobe Animate
- Added a new video tutorial: How to Draw a Stylized 2D Mountain in Adobe Animate
- Added a new video tutorial: How to Animate a Looping Fire Effect in Adobe Flash
- Added a new video tutorial: How to Draw and Shade a Chibi / Animate Style Head
- Added a new Adobe Animate section for video tutorials.
- Added a new Procreate section for video tutorials, include 9 part series on How to Draw, Ink and Shade Clothing on a comic book style character in Procreate. Check out this new viewing format here.
January ’17
- How to Draw, Shade and Color a Male Comic Book Character in Procreate. Click here to watch
- New Adobe Illustrator Tutorial – How to Draw a Retro Style Ghost Character. Get started!
- How to Draw a Snowy Cartoon Style Background. Click here to watch.
- Brand new Introduction to Sprite Kit course! This time with Swift 3!
- Added a preview page for this month’s game art Ryu – 4 directional top down animated character
- More new game art! An 8 pack of enemy characters. Great to beat up on in games you’re prototyping or sending to the store!
December ’16
- Huge new series on How to Build a User-Customizable Emoji App for iMessage. Get started here!
- Added a preview page for the Snowy Top Down Tower Defense game art for subscribers
- Added a preview page for the Super Tiny Goblin – 3 Pack game art for subscribers
- Added a preview page for the Super Tiny Archers – 3 Pack game art for subscribers
- Added a preview page for the Spaceship Platform Level Art for subscribers
November ’16
- New game art for subscribers. Another PREMIUM Top Down Tower Defense style set. This time dungeon themed! Plus a 3 pack of Skeleton characters! Check it out here.
October ’16
- Updated all our Swift based game projects to Swift 3.
- Added some incredible Top Down Tower Defense game art for subscribers. Check it out here.
September ’16
- Added a new course on How to Make iOS Sticker Packs for Non-Programmers.
- Updated all the Swift-based Starter Kits to version 3. Now fully compatible with the Xcode 8 GM!
- Cooking up some awesome new gaming lessons for iMessage apps! Hold tight =)
- Four new video tutorials on how to build an iMessage app version of Paper, Scissors, Rock. Learn more about MSMessage, MSSession and tons more. First video is a short intro, check it out here.
August ’16
- New video tutorial on how to add unlimited UIButtons to a UIScrollview in a Message App extension with data populated from a property list. In other words, tap a button and pre-populate the messages window with text. Click here to view.
- New video tutorial on how to send an MSSticker without using the Sticker Browser, in other words, directly with code. This opens up many possibilities for different GUI to send content. Click here to view
- Updated the Story Tellers Kit and Pinball Kit to the latest version of Swift 3 (now builds fine in Xcode 8 Beta 6)
- Add In-App Purchasing to your iMessage App to sell stickers! Start here for the videos. Jump in here for the source files.
- Learn how to add Sprite Kit to an iMessage App in this video tutorial. Yeah, seriously!
- How to setup a Basic iMessage App. This essentially do what the Sticker App Project Template does, but with code.
- How to use Animated PNGs instead of Sticker Sequences in Xcode 8’s Sticker Packs or iMessage Apps.
- A quick look at Sticker Packs in Xcode 8
- Learn how to check tile definitions in your Tile Map with Xcode 8
- Learn how to setup Tile Maps in Xcode 8 with this bleeding-edge video tutorial!
- We’ve got four hours of 2D game development tutorials for Unity! More details to come on the standalone sales page, but subscribers can go ahead and get started
- Stay away from Xcode 8 Beta 4 if you work with Sprite Kit. It will crash immediately upon opening. Yes, really!
July ’16
- Added a standalone sales page for Paris Christou’s new course. Check it out!
- Starting to document the Card and Board Games Kit (the card portion at least), if you’d like to get a jump start on it, feel free to dive in!
- What’s that? You want even more game art this month?! Download Red Bot!
- Four new packages of royalty free game art added for ALL subscribers! Monthly subscribers, don’t forget to download these while they are available!
- New Digital Painting tutorials from the mighty Paris Christou! Two sections have been added to the Cherry courses!
June ’16
- Added three more videos to begin Session 6 of the Card and Board Game series.
- The first of many tutorials for iOS10, Sprite Kit on the Apple Watch is available!
- Platform Games Kit update! Added ExplodeAsBullet for Enemy types. And a code fix on iOS for enemies that were spawned and offset based on the Player1 position.
- Added a 4th video on how to make a game similar to Donkey Kong with Swift and Sprite Kit
- New podcast on switching from Swift 2.2 to Swift 3
- Added three more videos to begin Session 6 of the Card and Board Game series.
- Added a video on how to randomly drop barrels in our Donkey Kong-inspired Swift clone.
- For Yearly subscribers, an Early Look at the Swift 3 versions of our Swift-based kits.
- Added two videos from a short series (very short I promise) on how to make a basic Donkey Kong style game if you begin with the Empty Starter Kit.
- New podcast on How to Draw Donkey Kong style game art
- Oops, forgot to mention the Empty iOS and tvOS Starter Kit launched! Download from here.
- Finished up Session 5 in the Card and Board Game series. Learn how to add sounds, external controllers, and much more!
- Added a property called IgnoreSiblingOrder to the Story Tellers Kit specifically for coloring app pages. Forces newly drawn nodes to stay on top of others.
- Added Spring Boards to the Platform Games Kit. Bounce it up! Find out how to implement them here.
May ’16
- Happy Memorial Day – Added two more videos to the Card and Board Game series. How to create a button class with Swift and load the main game from a menu.
- Free Swift and Sprite Kit Video Tutorial – Prototype a Board Game and Moving Pieces
- Session 4 is a wrap in our Card and Board Games video tutorial series!
- How to Pause and Repeat Actions in an SKAction Sequence with Swift and Sprite Kit – Video tutorial
- More podcasts! If you like these, let me know!
- Added In-App Purchasing to the Platform Games iOS and tvOS Starter Kit
- Five more videos in the 4th Session of the Card and Board Games iOS and tvOS Tutorial series . We’re fully into some 8-player action now!
- New user-requested video on How to Use the Timeline in Adobe Photoshop to Animate /Export PNG’s or Gifs
- Lots of new videos added to the CartoonSmart Podcast!
- Ended Session 3 with four more videos. Onto Session 4 tomorrow (getting closer and closer to implementing the “Board” in our Board games tutorials)
- Got Session 3 our new Card and Board Games iOS and tvOS series off to a mighty start with 4 new videos. It took me all Wednesday (May 11) to crack the back half of this session, but I’m happy to say we’ll have a cool card matching system, where you can score combos like 3 Queens and 2 Pair.
- Added a PlaySoundFromPool property for playing random sounds in the Story Tellers Kit 2. More info here.
- Two new videos cap off Session 2 in the Card and Board Games iOS and tvOS tutorials. Plenty more t come!
- Added a video on the Swift code to open restricted or unrestricted URLs
- Updated the Story Tellers Kit 2 to include properties to open restricted or unrestricted URLS.
- Added 3 new videos to session 2 in our new Card and Board Games iOS and tvOS series.
- Time to have some fun, the CartoonSmart Podcast is officially live! Nine episodes are already available!
- Four new royalty free game art packages available for all subscribers!
- Added In-App Purchasing to the Pinball Games iOS and tvOS Starter Kit! Find out more in the Change Log for the kit.
- Added some of this month’s royalty free game art for subscribers. Four fully animated knight characters, great game art for plenty of games, but obviously killer art for a medieval style game! Subscribers can download all four from here.
April ’16
- Added 4 new videos to wrap up session 1 in our new Card and Board Games series. But its nowhere near over!
- Added a free digital illustration tutorial on How to Draw a Star Wars Style Droid
- Added a new video in the Card and Board Games series, Creating the Card Class and using an SKReferenceNode to Hold the Card Data
- The Card and Board Games iOS and tvOS Tutorial has officially begun! The first four lessons are now available
- Added an experimental version of the Pinball Games iOS and tvOS Starter Kit with some properties to use the Accelerometer to control the ball or motion settings on the Apple TV Remote.
- Added a short video tutorial on How to Check Values Periodically with Swift and Sprite Kit
- Launched our April newsletter. I’ll repost it officially on the site, but till then, here’s the actual send out.
- Added a new digital illustration tutorial with Adobe Animate or Adobe Flash on how to draw spokes characters
- Spent what felt like an eternity changing the menu colors on the site. What year is this? What version is iOS up to? Did they call it iOS10 or iOS-X?
- Added a new digital illustration video tutorial on Adobe Illustrator Draw (sketching on the iPad)
- Added a student requested video on Slot Machine code (in Xcode with Swift and Sprite Kit)
- Added a sizzle reel header to iOS and tvOS tutorials page.
- Remade the CartoonSmart homepage, hope you like!
- Added a student requested video on How to Submit Your App to Apple with Xcode 7
- Added a student requested video on How to Make a Still PhotoShop Image an Animated Sequence
- Added a student requested video on How to Draw a Sword.
- Object-Oriented PHP – HUGE new course!
- Javascript – HUGE new course!
- SASS – HUGE new course!
- PHP7 – HUGE new course!
- All kits and Swift based Sprite Kit tutorials updated for Swift 2.2 and Xcode 7
- Posted a short article about some minor changes in Swift 2.2. You can read that right here.