College Duck 2

This design is from the same assignment as the mad scientist duck that I posted earlier.

Some Ant Designs

These are from Tiny Toons. I had a much longer lineup, but I need to find a better copy of the rest - the xerox toner smudged again. Also, I have no idea why the last one looks like Alfred E. Newman.

A 1988/89 Drawing

Another page from my Butter Battle work. This project was the first time that I tried to storyboard. It was discarded, which is okay, since I had no idea what I was doing. Gotta start somewhere!

Camera Pix And Mysteries

Here's a few pictures from the train trip - there was a lot of snow in the mountains, all of it undisturbed...so beautiful!

I'm sure you're wondering why there aren't any pictures of my friends. I ran into a problem where the camera only appeared to have seven images on it, yet the disc (which can usually hold over a hundred shots) was full. I assumed that I'd accidentally set the camera to shoot at a far higher resolution.

When I got home, though, I realized that I'd renamed all of the files on the card (for easier reference) - which meant the display feature could only recognize the newly-shot ones. So, I cleared off the card to give myself an empty camera to work with next time. Lots of the other folks took pictures, so I will be posting more in the near future.

A Nasty Bug

The good news is that Anita and I had a great time socializing on the train trip this weekend. The bad news is that I picked up a stomach flu that's making its way around my friends. I feel like a Macy's Thanksgiving day parade balloon, and have to stay fairly close to a bathroom. Achy, weak, and not much appetite. Blurgh. No work for me today!

eBay Under Fire

According to this article, victims of counterfeit merchandise are protesting eBay's limited policing of sellers.

Needing A Home

Oops! One more thing...If you live in Southern California, here's an dog you might adopt:

CHAD - A very special boy in search of a very special home.

Chad ruptured a disc in his back, which paralyzed him. His owners did not get him in to surgery in time and then decided they didn’t want him. Hard to imagine, but that’s what happened to this little boy. He arrived at our rehab facility three months ago, dirty, matted, overweight and very depressed. Thanks to hours of physical therapy a day, including swimming, treadmill work-outs, back and leg strengthening exercises and long walks in his new wheelchair (complete with Christmas lights), not to mention being truly adored by all of us, Chad is now 8 pounds lighter, groomed and gorgeous and the happiest, sweetest boy you’ll ever meet. He loves everyone, including children and other dogs. He loves to sit on your lap and to cuddle with you in bed. He’s also a brave, vigilant watchdog, racing to the door the instant the doorbell rings. He has no idea he’s disabled, so we’re not telling him. Chad may walk again someday, with continued therapy. But he needs a home with someone who’s as loving and positive as he is, who understands dogs with disabilities and will prove to him that no one will ever give up on him again. He’s a little guy thanks to all his hard work on his diet and exercise, so he can be carried everywhere with the greatest of ease.

Please call The Lange Foundation 310-473-5585 or 310-475-8555.

Vacation, Have To Get Away

I'm going to be busy today and Sunday, so I won't be able to post. Have a good weekend!

A Design Attempt For The Butter Battle TV Special

This is another Reagan-esque president I did (well, it was the late '80s). We went to visit Dr. Seuss in La Jolla, where he promptly threw out six weeks of my work! I'd never had that happen before, so it was devastating.

It seems I'd miscalculated in thinking that Mr. Geisel had really liked Chuck Jones' re-stylings of his characters for the Grinch special. While he came to appreciate and enjoy Jones' work later, at this point he really wanted his book to be animated with as little adaptation as possible - not as much fun for me, but I can't say as I blame him. By making the characters more individual, I also upset his conscious de-politization of the story and universal indentification with the cast. Oops!

Fortunately, I was working with Maurice Noble, who, true to his name, offered considerable consolation. Dr. Seuss did his part and gave me one of my most memorable autographs: "To Jeff, with sincere apologies for being such a bastard."

PS - Chuck Jones, Dr. Suess, Ralph Bakshi and I were all at that review meeting. Talk about a gnat among giants!

A Funny ESPN Commercial

Take a look at the latest from the LAIKA studio. Does anyone know why the ex-Vintons named themselves that?

Looks Like Photoshop, Part 1

Man! And we needed CG for The Hulk? He's Nikolay Valuev - the WBA heavyweight champion. Seven feet tall, 323 pounds. Good grief! Read more about him here.

Cartoon Modern

A new blog focusing on animation/design from the '50s. WOW. This is where I want to go when I die! Either that, or one of those Boomerang bumpers with all of the marching plastic Hanna-Barbera toys.

Return Of The Son Of The Bride Of Sequels 2

Here's a list of sequels that have been made, are being planned, being considered, or are simply generating rumors. Not for the faint of heart.

What Will Become Of The Sweatbox?

A great documentary is sitting in the Disney vault. Cartoon Brew is asking, will it see the light of day? Hopefully so.

Fancy A Game Of Car Darts?

No matter how insane a game of darts gets, the players will always argue about the score. Amazing!

In Memory

On this day in 1967, astronauts Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo spacecraft at Cape Kennedy, Fla.

Freelance Ferngully

Here's another inspirational design. The fantasy creatures were a blast, but the main human character (not surprisingly) was tough. Here's the best one I did.

Simpsons Rough 3

This one - between the pencil and the xerox - was pretty grubby, so I gave it a thorough Photoshop scrubbing. In spite of how 'primitive' these designs may seem, this show was one of the hardest for me to draw.

Simpsons Rough 2

The Best Drawing I May Ever Do Of Elmyra

She was always a challenge to draw. I just never had much fondness for her.

thesuperficial.com

My wife reads those magazine-esque tabloids like Us Weekly and People. They're awful, but I can't help reading them myself! Fortunately, there's an alternative - thesuperficial.com. It's a lot funnier than the tabloids, and it leaves you feeling less dirty than popbitch.com. So if you need to get your celebrity fix - whether you're willing to admit it or not - you know where to go!

Hooked On A Feeling

WOW. Mr. Hasselhoff seems to be hooked on something. What the heck's up with this? It looks like a cross between a 1980 music video and a Japanese travel commercial made on a bet with Roger Corman. You'll have to scroll down a little to find it, but it's worth the effort.

South Park Collectors Take Note

The South Park series 4 figures (the first figure line from Mirage, not the current one from Mezco) are available. These were supposedly discontinued, but some of them turned up somewhere - and are now for sale at toyzz.com. Approach this site with caution in mixed company - its graphics are loaded with pictures of "supermodels", so you could have a hard time explaining yourself to your significant other!

Tripod Performing Frustration

They're an Australian comedy group, but I think they sing really well!

PS - I don't know enough computer stuff to able to embed this video on my blog. Far from it! The Google Video page has a 'put on site' button that generates the necessary HTML.

He's Tiny, He's Toon-y

But I can't remember his name! I really like this guy - kinda wished they'd used him more. I think he was on an episode dealing with a prom, which was kind of odd considering the target age of the show. I imagine there was grade school proms out there in 1990 Los Angeles.

Thespian At Work

Here's a couple of pictures with Dan from Saturday's shoot!

Alex Ross Justice League Figures - Series 4

Series three hasn't even come out yet, and the next batch of characters has already been announced! We're looking at Shazam, Zatanna, Black Adam, Hawkman, and Solomon Grundy. I need to learn more about Solomon Grundy. What's his deal? Is he a Hulk rip-off, or what?

Also From Stark Raving Dad

This layout took me three days to do. I went a little crazy - I made all of the characters - even the ones not facing camera - recognizable cast members. It was going in the portfolio!

A Superhero

I'm not sure which Mighty Mouse episode this guy is from. He's got a partner, but I need to find a cleaner picture of him.

Tony Kushner On Munich

One of the authors of the screenplay writes in the L.A. Times about his family's reactions to the work, and discusses the goals of Munich as a film.

From The League of Super-Rodents

I think he was just called "The Badger". This show was a terrifying one to design. We only had a week to design each episode, and the only time I could meet with the director (John K.) was on Friday. I don't think he was happy with the script, which made it even more of an uphill battle. John's not an easy guy to make happy, so if he didn't like them, I wouldn't have much time to try again.

I remember him looking at the designs for what seemed like an eternity. "These are great," he said. "You saved the show".

That was nineteen years ago - I've forgotten a lot of stuff about Mighty Mouse, but not that!

Two From Tattertown

Here's some designs for a couple of henchmen. Design-wise, I like what I did for the show, but the characters didn't look as good in the finished product.

Happy Birthday, Ernie Kovacs!

Today's the birthday of a pioneer in television comedy. His bizarre sight gags and abstract skits inspired many other programs - The Muppet Show being a particularly strong example. If you've never seen any episodes of his television show, you should definitely take a look - no visual life is complete without a performance of the Nairobi Trio!

Happy Birthday, Pet Sounds

The breakthrough Beach Boys album turns 40! Here's an article on the genesis of the LP, set in the turbulent context of Brian Wilson's life.

My Wife's New Blog

Anita has a new blog called fudgesicle on a stick. It's a place to put all of her rants about various and sundry things - stuff that isn't appropriate for her puppetry blog. Check it out!

Something From Ferngully: The Last Rainforest

Here's one of the exploratory designs I did - this one, of course, is the Robin Williams character. He's done enough voice work by now that I imagine every character designer's had a crack at one of his roles!

The Not-So-Dangerous Game

Read about it here.

Jeff Pidgeon, Master Thespian

My friend Dan Scanlon has been working on a film for a few years. A month or so ago, he asked me to play one of the secondary characters. Dan's films are really funny, and this was a good part for me, so I said yes! I play an obsessive collector fanboy, so it wasn't much of a stretch.

I went over to his apartment yesterday and shot my scenes, had some lunch and chatted. It was a nice and relaxed atmosphere, but focused, too. I think I did a pretty good job for a rank amateur! It'll be a while before it's all finished, but it'll be neat to see...

A Happy Surprise

While I was trading in some used DVDs, I discovered that The Fugitive Kind, a Sidney Lumet film from 1960, is now out on DVD! I remember liking a lot when I first saw it, so I snapped it up! We'll see how it holds up, but Lumet is one of my favorite directors, so I think odds are high that it'll age well.

Bakshi Beatnik

This might be from Aqua-Guppy - another Mighty Mouse episode.

Now Available From SOTA Toys

There's a Killer Klowns From Outer Space figure in series two of the Now Playing toy line. The movie has its moments, but I like the alien clown designs the most. You can get one at bigbadtoystore.com for $11.99 + shipping.

I'm -- Laughing At The Superior Intellect

Here's the Kirk design. I had to put the other shoe down, don't you think?

Reality TV's Values

Here's an article that makes a good point about a dubiously conceived but enormously popular television show.

PS - The only defense I have for one of my favorite shows, South Park - that shares the "cool to be mean" philosophy - is that (I think) it airs later at night, and sometimes has a point to make. Plus, I don't think it's as bad to abuse cartoon characters.

Latest Acquisition

Yesterday, I was part of an auction in Texas (if you contact the auction house ahead of time, they let you participate over the phone). I made the winning bid on a cool Jack Davis drawing from Mad magazine! As you can see, it's from the Bad News Bears parody they did back in - what? - '75? '76? Something like that. I love that movie, so it's great to have a drawing inspired by it. Sweet!

Highly Stylized, Captain

I think this Spock design was used in Don't Touch That Dial, but I'm not sure. I've got a Kirk too, but the drawing was too big to scan both. The muddy tones of this scan of a xerox are why I try not to do shading on my drawings any more.

Ladies And Gentlemen, Raymond Burr

Another design from Mighty Mouse, used in the Scrappy's Playhouse episode. I had to do a lot of caricatures for the show, which was hard since I don't think it's a strength of mine. This one looks more like Orson Welles to me now.

McFarlane's First Simpsons Item

Finally! A picture of their first product, due out this February - an "Ironic Punishment" tableau. Nicely sculpted - it's nice enough that I'm a little tempted to buy it. Still...where's all those celebrity-guest-voice characters in the Simpsons style? That's what I want. Give me Leonard Nimoy Simpson-ified over this any day!

More From Tiny Toons

Here's another incidental character. I don't remember which episode it was for.

Needed: 16mm Film-To-Digital Transfer

The Hawaiian Railway Society has some reels of 16mm film that they'd like to transfer and make into a DVD. They want to use the video as a fundraiser, so if there's someone out there who could do the transfer as a donation (the Society is a 501(c3) non-profit historical and educational organization, so that would be tax deductible), please get in touch with Roger Colton (teamzurg@earthlink.net). Thanks!

Bang The Drum Slowly -- Or Quickly

A virtual drum kit. Have fun!

Six Months So Far

January 15th was this blog's six month anniversary. Six months already - good grief! A blog is a really good way to see how quickly time passes!

Sounds Like An Onion Article, Part 2

Kiss, the Garfield of rock bands, is opening a coffee house in Myrtle Beach, SC this summer. Guess the Carolinas aren't as conservative as I thought.

Troubles At The King Center

The King Center's administration is in disarray, and its involvement in the community has been steadily diminishing. Read about it here.

Font Porn

For people who like movie title cards, here's a website with...lots of movie title cards! Pretty cool. It'd be neat to stick some of this stuff into What The Font and see what the computer finds!

Threadless Does It Again

This design's called Scram!, and it's by Dean Timothy Fraser. I'm assuming it's not a coincidence that the homeless guy looks like Carroll Spinney, the puppeteer who performs Oscar the Grouch.

On The Set Of Art School Confidential

Terry Zwigoff's next film is based on a four-page comic story by Daniel Clowes. Gary Geraths was (is?) an on-set consultant, and he's done some drawings of the shoot. Check 'em out!

As a bonus, here's an interview with Clowes. It's interesting that they've picked Ghost World and Art School Confidential to adapt into films - they're my two favorite stories of his!

This One's For 2008

Here's another CG feature on the way. It'll be released nine years after The Matrix, and it's still got the bullet-time gag. Amazing!

The Million Dollar Homepage

So this guy figures out how to sell ad space on his webpage by the pixel. Now he's almost a millionaire. It's not a pretty site, but hey, I'm sure it works for him!

A Little Bald Man

Just did this today for no reason. The grease pencil broke up more than I expected, but I like it. Enjoy!

Quite An Inheiritance

An Austrian arbitration court has ruled that Maria Altmann, 89, will have five Klimt paintings returned to her. The artwork, valued at around $150 million, was stolen from her family by the Nazis. Read about it here.

Mighty Mouse Incidental Character

I think this guy was from Mouse And Supermouse - I always liked this one, too. The line quality isn't great, but you get the idea.

Here's something to watch out for - if you leave xeroxed art in those plastic portfolio pages long enough, the toner will start to stick to the plastic, then re-bond to the paper, making your drawings blurry.

This Just In, Directly From The Foot

Anita visited a nearby podiatrist today, who took an x-ray onsite (developing it in ten minutes), and pronounced the ankle unbroken. Phew! In spite of how painful it was/is, it's only a mild/moderate sprain. She may only need crutches for a couple more days, but she can keep using them if she's unsure. She paid her ten dollar co-pay (even though we'd never been there before, and had only set up the appointment a day in advance), and was on her way.

Now that's more like it!

Sorry Everybody

I was having trouble with Blogger at one point, and when I have trouble with my computer, I wander around in what I think is the offending site/tool/software and start changing settings. One thing that I thought might help would be to turn on Comment Moderation. It didn't help, but I forgot to turn it back off.

Of course, I wasn't really sure what that would do. What it did (making perfect sense in retrospect) was to hoard all of the comments that I got from then on, inform the posters that C.M. had been activated and that their posts were awaiting approval. Then Blogger sat and silently waited for me to read and publish whatever I wanted.

Unfortunately, aside from the fact that no comments were showing up on my blog, I had no idea that this was going on. I thought that my virtual audience had gotten busy with work/school/etc, and had withdrawn until they could resume chatting. Fortunately, Mr. Hudgens was resourceful enough to contact me and let me know. Now everyone's comments have been (and will be) published! I've only deleted a couple of duplicates that I imagine were generated in the confusion.

Rest assured, no one has written anything that's made me want to withold (or eliminate) comments. One of the most enjoyable part of blogging is chatting with posters, so have at it!

Sorry for all the confusion.

Name That Video Game!

Take the Namco Challenge here.

Images From Superman Returns

"This is the biggest electric train set a boy ever had!" -- Orson Welles, on filmmaking.

Nineteen stills! Look at 'em here.

Employment Bulletin Board

Laika is..."seeking a full time Assistant Editor who will provide Avid Adrenaline support on a PC platform. Candidate must possess strong interpersonal and organizational skills. Ideal applicants must be able to work under pressure while maintaining a consistent eye to detail and assuring the highest level of quality control in their own work."

Responsibilities include:
- Assisting editors
- Digitizing footage
- Import and export deliveries
- Media management
- Engineer scratch dialog sessions
- Create dubs onto multiple formats
- Creating DVDs
- Create and manage media databases
- Maintain sound effects library
- Troubleshoot Avid problems
- Prepare cultists for compositors


Qualifications:
- Must have at least 3 years Avid experience
- Strong working knowledge of Windows and OSX platforms
- Experience working with a variety of tape/DVD decks
- Working knowledge of audio mixers
- A thorough understanding of different video and audio compression techniques
- Strong organizational skills with the ability to prioritize and multi-task
- A self-starter able to work well independently within a dynamic and deadline-oriented environment
- Animation experience is desirable but not necessary
- Feature film experience is a plus

Interested parties can contact Margaret Andres at mandres@laika.com for more details.

New Muppet Merchandise At Disney Direct

I'm not a huge fan of unpainted stuff, but this sculpt looks pretty good. You can buy it here for $79.95 + shipping.

The Latest Offering From PodBrix

A limited edition T-shirt featuring their Lego-fied Steve Wozniak design. All that, and a functioning 6502 processor chip, too! It goes on sale for $34.99 + shipping at 9PM EST. There's only 300 of them, so be vigilant if you want one! These things usually sell out in 15 minutes or less.

Ankle Report

So far, Anita's ankle looks good - hardly any swelling or bruising. It doesn't hurt when it's not moving, so we suspect it's not broken or cracked. I've called a podiatrist and an x-ray lab for appointments, so we can try and learn more.

Not Much Help At All

Anita's doctor visit wasn't very productive - it was the canonical experience that people joke about. We waited for an hour to see him. My wife limps in with a bandaged foot, and he asks, "Where does it hurt?" Well, we think her ankle. "Have you gotten an X-ray?" Nope, it just happened on Sunday. "You really should get an X-ray." Yeah, maybe. But we thought we'd see a doctor first. "Why didn't you go to the emergency room?" Because as much as you're charging us to ask these questions, it's still cheaper than going to the ER on a weekend when they'll charge you the most and then have to wait for ten hours behind all of the people who really do have medical emergencies to see a doctor. "Does this hurt?" YES.

And through all of this - he doesn't even remove the bandage, and actually look at her foot.

Then we had some questions. "Where can we get an X-ray taken?" Look at the handout. "Where can we get crutches so we don't have to keep renting these?" I don't know - check the yellow pages.

"It looks like you're doing the right thing", he says. "Keep your weight off from it, keep it elevated, put ice on it." We read that on a website.

That'll be $175.00, plus the deposit for the crutches, not to mention the fact that my work day is gone. And doctors wonder why people self-diagnose.

We don't have a GP in the area yet, so I'd been thinking of this visit as the start of a possible long-term connection. Needless to say, he failed.

PS - There was a medical supply store right next door to his office.

In Celebration Of Martin Luther King Day

Feel free to visit the King Center website.

A Crash Course In Nursing

Anita sprained her ankle yesterday, so she's laid up in bed. I'm applying ice, buying meals, and keeping her stocked with movies and good cheer. Hopefully, we can get her to a doctor quickly and find out how serious it is.

PS (1:30 PM) - We have an appointment today! We'll see what the verdict is.

Older Seuss

This project (Bakshi's The Butter Battle Book special) was my first go-around at learning the Seuss style, circa 1988. We got a nice fax from Chuck Jones, who was consulting. "The drawings look excellent." he said. Not surprisingly, I've got the fax in my portfolio.

Chuck Jones said my drawings look excellent. It doesn't get better than that!

Mel Gibson's Apocalypto

Maybe I'm overthinking this, but when a hard-core Catholic makes a film about the end of Incan civilization, does that come off as a little...weighted? Is he implying that the fatal flaw in this culture is that they don't believe in Jesus?

A Simpsons Rough

I think this was for the episode where Michael Jackson did a voice (otherwise known as Stark Raving Dad). I don't often like my roughs, but I always liked this one - cleaning it up always seemed wrong.

Another Toons Drawing

I always liked this one. It turned out just the way I wanted!

Art From Tiny Toons

Even though I didn't like this show, I still like a lot of my work for it. Here's an old color drawing that I did for my portfolio, circa '89 or '90. I've gone first - maybe now, Jenny will feel comfortable posting some of her Tiny Toon Adventures work! :) Man - I'm really spoiled by Photoshop now. Marker coloring just doesn't cut it for me any more!

Hikikomori

Here's an article on a social phenomenon in Japan where teenagers hole up in their rooms, seldom emerging for years. It's claimed that 1% of Japan's population - about a million people - may suffer from this.

Civil Rights And Liberty

Here's an interesting article about cultural assimilation and individual liberty - and how the author believes that civil rights needs a new perspective.

Last One, I Think

I really like this one, too. This was one of those that just fell out of the pencil, and turned out the way I pictured it without much effort. It's nice when that happens!

Everything Old Is New Again

This retro-style Japanese robot movie looks like fun, but it's weird to see CG used to make a type of film that used to cost $200,000. This looks like it cost $20 or $30 million, at least.

That being said, I can't wait to see the live-action Gigantor!

Another Bakshi Piece

This was for a one-shot Christmas special called Tattertown that Ralph wanted to spin off into a series. That didn't happen, but I like a lot of the design work I did for it. Tattertown was a fantasy land filled with run-down toys and nostalgia, so I got a chance to display my affection for the look of animation in the '20s and '30s.

An Early Page

This one turned out pretty good. I had a dark blue section below the artwork, but I thought that'd look awkward without the text.

Is That Your Playlist, Or Are You Just Glad To See Me?

According to the BBC, Levi's will launch a pair of $200 jeans in August that'll have a remote control, headphones and a docking station for your iPod. No word yet on how you'd wash them. Sheesh!


When I was a kid, all you got for $200 was a designer label.

PS- Here's another link to explore.

Luc Bresson's Next Film

I like The Professional enough that I'll probably give this a shot. You can check out the trailer here. I wonder if it's really all in black and white? That doesn't happen a lot these days.

Private Car Service

To prove that I don't hate train travel as much as Peter Bagge does, here's my friend Roger Colton's newly-updated web site. A bunch of us go on a train trip at least once a year, usually from the east bay to Sparks, Nevada. It's a very persuasive argument for "The Journey Is The Reward" theory - Sparks doesn't have much that warrants travelling all day to get there. The trip (especially if there's snow, and there usually is) is a beautiful one, not to mention social and relaxing. The food is great, too - we get two or three meals on board. I've gone on every trip for years - I can't remember when I started! If you're interested in joining us - there's still spaces available for our next trip on January 28th and 29th - get in touch with Roger, and he'll be happy to accommodate you.

Plug For A New Magazine

A friend of mine (and some of his friends) have started their own video game periodical, appropriately called Hardcore Gamer Magazine. Terry paints the covers, and does a lot of art inside the book as well. You can download issues, or buy the good ol' fashioned print versions. Look here to learn more about it!

The Final Cover I Submitted

Here's a larger posting of the second cover so you can examine it more closely. I wish I could've figured out a way to keep the book credits, but there wasn't a lot of room in the new design. In retrospect, I guess I could've reduced the title and put the credits somewhere above the artwork.

The Original Cover

This was drawn from a photo of the museum, which turned out to be the wrong angle, so I did it again. Overall, I'm glad I did - this design is a little cold and kind of dull compared to the new one, but at least it's simple and clear. I made tons of layout mistakes vis-a-vis the page border, but I've fixed them now. You can also see a sample of the Seuss font here, used for the book credits.

Design Assigment, 1985

I had to do five different ducks. Here's one of the better ones. The 'grey' in his smock is actually silver colored pencil, but you know how well that reproduces.

Life Drawing, Circa Early '80s

Here's one I drew at an animal park, when I'd just started going to CalArts. I still like it!

I Tried

I was never that happy with this one. Not a great idea to fit the text, not a particularly interesting drawing. Well, there's bound to be clinkers when you do this many.

More Mighty Mouse

The first scan from the portfolio, it's from one of my favorite episodes, Don't Touch That Dial. The Rocky and Bullwinkle parody in this show had Rocky Balboa in it! Rich Moore did such a good job storyboarding the script, the design was pretty much there - I just slicked it up for the model sheet.

A Swap-Out

The first image is the first version of the page; the second replaced it when the museum wasn't happy. I like both of them, but I do think the new one is a better fit, considering what they wanted.

Phew!

I finally found my portfolio this morning! I've been looking for it for three or four days, so I could scan some of the artwork for my blog. I couldn't find it, and I was starting to panic that seven years of drawings (including some originals) were gone. Fortunately, it was hiding directly behind another portfolio that I have, and I didn't think anything was underneath it.

Thank goodness!

Future Statues From Electric Tiki

Dick Tracy and The Phantom! Cool! The bases get a little busy for my liking, but their statue work is pretty nice. Check out the website!

More Seuss! More Seuss!

I'm pretty sure this gag was done on a Richie Rich cover somewhere, but otherwise, it turned out well. Looking back, I think I should've finished off the "$" a little more thoroughly.

Coming To DVD March 28th

A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Snoopy Come Home, the first two features from writer Charles Schulz, producer Lee Mendelson, and director Bill Melendez. What's so striking about these films isn't their technical polish or musical scores, but their melancholy themes of failure and loss. Few animated features have ventured into this territory, but I'm guessing the success of the Peanuts comic strip and television specials (not to mention the films' low budgets) gave Schulz the license to preserve on film what makes his creation so unique. The later features lessened in impact, but these first outings are touching, graphically imaginative, and funny. Check 'em out!

The MOMA Exhibit, Continued

Read more about it on the Metropolis magazine website.

Another Favorite

I really like how this one turned out. Maybe I like it because I didn't lift as much for this one - it's in the Seuss style, but there isn't anything copied from real Seuss drawings, like some of the others. Anyway, I think it's very successful.

The New World Made Even Newer

From the IMDB: "Director Terrence Malick withdrew latest film The New World from cinema screens just days after its release because he was convinced it needed more editing. The bizarre recall came just nine days after the historical drama made its debut in U.S. movie houses, but Malick is confident his cuts will be beneficial. The Colin Farrell film, which focuses on the clash between native Americans and English settlers in the seventeenth century, has been cut by the Texan director by 17 minutes. The revised version will be released on January 20th."

More and More And More Seuss

I liked it when I could get the ideas down to something this simple - that helped to make it feel a lot more like Seuss' later work. I had a tough time duplicating the proportions of the characters' heads. Seuss draws his with pretty low foreheads, while mine tend toward the hydrocephalic, baby-like look. I could never quite break myself of that.

From Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures

This is from 1987 or '88. I think it may have been used in the Don't Touch That Dial episode, but I'm not sure at this point. This show was really hard work, but I had a lot of creative freedom to design almost anything I wanted! I got a lot of my UPA fetish out of my system on this show.

The Intel Page

I like how this one turned out, too - good color, and a simple drawing. It came together fairly quickly - I don't think I had to do a lot of tinkering at the rough stage.

Oops

DVD 'screeners' of Munich were unavailable for viewing by BAFTA members before the first voting deadline, due to mastering errors and delays in customs. Read about it here.

Another Pain

This was the last page I did. I'm not a fan of drawing buildings or backgrounds, so this one was just no fun. A lot of it was lifted from Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? (an excerpt is also shown above), with alterations and embellishments to suit the text. In the end, it still didn't illustrate the concept well, but I was too tired of the book to go back and re-work it. Good enough!

PS - It looks like Jim Woodring was inspired by Dr. Seuss too, now that I look at the building motifs more closely. Not surprising, really!

Does Anyone Remember The Wizard Of Speed And Time?

It was a short film made by Mike Jittlov, who also did a cool stop-motion short about a collector whose house is packed with Disney memorabilia. Here's his demo reel - it's still neat, but it doesn't get much more 1978 than this.


Thanks to the Condemned by the Space Pope blog for unearthing this!

Bambi 2002

Stop me if you've heard this one. It's still pretty funny, even four years later.

A Feel-Good Clip

Well, it makes me feel good. Here's Bill O'Reilly on Letterman.

Speaking Of Crap

Go to badmovies.org! Lots of awful, awful films from the '50s onward. Stills, synopses, audio and video clips. Old and new 'classics' alike - take a look!

Crap Cars

Here's a slim but funny book about some of the worst modern (i.e. '60s-'90s) automobiles. Check it out!

Another Page Of Seuss-osity

I like this one - it came together pretty quickly, aside from the clean-up.

Digging Into The Drawing Pile

Here's a drawing I did for Tazmania, circa 1991 - just before I moved to northern California. I liked a lot of the work I did for the show, even if I was just lukewarm on the overall result.

Cheaters Sometimes Prosper

I kind of cheated on this one - I did some transparency effects on the beekeeper veils (and on the bees' wings), which is something that wouldn't be in a Seuss drawing. But I thought they looked cool that way!

Cool Toys On The Way

More awesomeness from JUN Planning in March! Five more characters from The Corpse Bride, to add to the deluxe versions of Emily, Victor and Victoria! Skeleton Boy and Girl, Elder Gutknecht, Pastor Galswells, and Scrap the skele-dog! They'll be close to $100 each, but they're cheaper if you pre-order them at Things From Another World.

This Was Tough

A lot of these corporate sponsors do things that are very hard to visualize - this one was tricky, so I just did the best I could with it, cannibalizing imagery from a bunch of Seuss' books. Bonus nerd points if you can pick out the books I was referencing!

A Weird One

Here's something I whipped up for a friend's retirement card. This one may have been 100% digital - I can't remember if I did a pencil rough or not. I think it took a half-hour or so to do, so probably not.

The Museum Again

I decided to re-post this because I think I prefer displaying the cropped versions - you can see the drawing better that way. The full-page version is still available for people who prefer it.

And The Seuss Thread Goes On

This piece was a real pain to figure out - I did a lot of roughs before I decided on the right idea. The text was about a donor with a large family. At first, I'd wanted to do a big ring of people holding hands on a hill a la How The Grinch Stole Christmas, but it never looked right. I finally realized that a parade of people running off the page would make it look like a huge family without having to draw so much. Why is a good conclusion so hard to get to?

PS - I did a 'sharpen' pass on this one - I think it looks better.

More Recommended Television

The Big Knights, produced by Astley Baker Davies, Ltd. It's a great series of thirteen 10-minute cartoons that aired on the BBC in 1999. The scripts, animation and design are terrific! Unfortunately, they're currently available solely on PAL tape at Amazon.co.uk. Try putting "Big Knights" into your Tivo, and see if they re-run them on BBC America or something. They're well worth the hunt!

In Contrast

Here's a quick drawing I did in grease pencil. I did clean it up a little bit.

A Seuss-ified Museum

Here's a caricature of the museum in the Seuss style. I left the text area, since it wasn't just white (this is the shape of an average page). I re-used a lot of this art on the cover (there was a small version of it in a previous post). At some point, I'll also post the first cover, before my revisions and the museum's revisions. Ultimately, I think I like the second version of the cover the best.

PS - As always, you can click on any of these posted images to see them larger.

Another Charity Piece

What the heck. I'll post this one a little early.

One of the drawbacks of working digitally is that on the tightly detailed pages, the line work tends to look even and a bit soft, almost fuzzy. Maybe that's something I could fix now with a 'sharpen' filter pass.

Duma Returns

Check out Carroll Ballard's Duma, playing locally at the Rafael Theater in San Rafael, or at the Balboa Theater in San Francisco. It's also playing in selected theaters in New York and Los Angeles.

At first glance, Duma may appear to be another cute-kid-with-an-animal movie, but there's more going on beneath the surface. It's a rarity these days - a well crafted, thoughtful family film with no agenda other than telling a good story.

Warner Bros. has held off on a wider release for this film for over a year - it's only through critical support that it's been shown as often as it has. See it in all its widescreen glory!

Angus MacLane, Wedding Crasher

What our friendly neighborhood spline doctor (and his wife) do when he's not animating. Check it out!

Illustrated Literaries

At this website, a group of artists have donated their portrayals of literary figures. Check out work from Mark Andrews, Peter Bagge, John Buscema, Eddie Campbell, Enrico Casarosa, Gene Colan, Will Eisner, Fred Hembeck, Adam Hughes, and more! It's a pretty neat idea. Especially for the guy who gets all the cool artwork!

Finally, Something Current

Here's a piece from about March or April that I did for a charity function - Dr. Seuss got a postumous award from the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose. This was one of several illustrations that decorated the gift book - it was handed out to the guests (you may remember a previous post about this project). Anyway, I thought I'd share the 'originals' with everyone. These are distinctive as they're some of my first fully digital pieces - I did scan a pencil rough, but 80% of the work was done in Photoshop. I'll try to post one of these a day until I'm out of them.

Tear Down The Wall

The demolition stage for the bathroom/kitchen pantry is well under way. What a difference four days makes - this is where the sink used to be! We've found a collection of drawings, beer cans and notes (from 1987) in the walls. We'll have to put in a note of our own when we seal things back up, along with that tin box and the singing frog.

The Future Is Coming Soon

Futurama, that is! Following in the footsteps of Family Guy, Fox is taking steps to bring another of its abruptly-ended shows back to the small screen.

Jon Stewart To Host Oscars

That'll help make it fun! Read about it here.

2004 Election Artwork

I did this for a Kerry fundraiser. Sigh.

A Caricature, Early 90's

It's of a co-worker from ye olden days.

'Family' Portrait, Circa 1984

This shows a lot of the characters I was drawing (and the mistakes I was making) just before I went to college. Check out the Reagan-inspired haircut, and the Garfield vibe hovering over my drawing style. Click on the image to betray the limits of the scan and photocopied original.

Slacker Love

A Fifteen-Year-Old Drawing

We had a beat-up old vending machine in the cafeteria back then. Here's a drawing I did to decorate one of the buttons.

Ricky Gervais Voices, Writes Simpsons Episode

Read about it here. You can see a few storyboard roughs at Mr. Gervais' website.

Demolition Man

We've started remodeling our (upstairs) bathroom, since the toilet started to leak beneath the floor sometime late last summer. Ed (our contractor) has torn out most of it in the last few days, and Anita has been busy choosing the stone and tiling we'll need. The plan is to eliminate the adjacent pantry in the kitchen, pull out the bathtub, and replace them with a new sink, toilet and larger shower area. It'll look great when it's done, but I get twitchy when changes like this happen - even if they're called for.

Hippie Girl

This is an older drawing too - probably over five years old, and closer to ten than I realize!

College Doodle

I think. Aiming for Monty Python, it turned out a little creepier.

A Wedding Invitation

Circa early 90's. Still cute!

But My Lips Hurt Real Bad

McFarlane's Napoleon Dynamite figures are out - and they all have talking bases! Things from Another World (at the Metreon in San Francisco) had the whole line when I was there on Christmas Eve. I know you can buy the 12" Napoleon Dynamite figure in prom suit at Amazon. Looks like you can get the smaller figures there, too. The sculpts and paint jobs are great!

The Blog Is Back

At least, I can see it again. I'm not sure how visible it was to others during the 'blackout'. Or if it's visible to others now! Oh well, back to work.

More Blankness

The blog is invisible again! Time for another note to Blogger - apparently, it's inaccessible to others at times as well. Sigh.

Another Drawing

I'm not sure how old this is, either. But lederhosen never really ages.

Still More From The Archives

I'm not sure exactly when this doodle was done. It's old, that's all I know. It's funny that I've been so preoccupied with bebop jazz imagery, since it's not music that I gravitate to all that much.

Bubble

Steven Soderbergh's first foray into multi-media feature release: this film will be available in theaters, on DVD and on HDNet Movies (I'm assuming that's either a high-definition download, or some sort of pay-per-view thing), all on the same day - January 27th. The trailer's pretty bizarre, but the synopsis sounds interesting.

That Was Quick

A T-shirt inspired by the SNL Lazy Sunday video is now for sale. It doesn't take long these days.

A Cool Painting

This illustration is by François Roca. Nice, huh?

Smile, Darn Ya, Smile

Comedian, directed by Christian Charles.

There's a built-in potential for disappointment in Comedian. The posters, DVD box art, etc. prominently feature Jerry Seinfeld, leading one to believe that it's a film with him as the sole focus. While Mr. Seinfeld is a major part of the film, Comedian both falls short of, and surpasses, the viewer's expectations.

I thought the film was about Jerry Seinfeld's return to stand-up after a long and successful television career. While the film does indeed cover this, it also has a parallel story chronicling the struggles of Orny Adams, a talented up-and-comer who is shooting for his big break. It's presented with as much emphasis as Seinfeld's material, tranforming the proceedings.

One is tempted to see it as a contrast: the pain of the scrabbling newcomer vs. the comfort of the experienced, wealthy veteran. But soon it becomes clear that it's painful for both of them - that a successful career can only do so much (that is to say, not much at all) to protect a comic from the stark vulnerability of getting on a stage and trying to make an audience laugh. It's always hard, and requires a great deal of work and focus to do.

The true contrast is between how the performers approach their work. Mr. Adams is a knot of nervous insecurity, obsessively working and re-working his material, chattering non-stop about talk show appearences and development deals, privately scorning the audience after a perfomance falls short. Mr. Seinfeld, on the other hand, has a far better attitude. He treats the audience and his work with respect - he feels it's his job to make people laugh, and if construction workers can get up and go to work every day, than so can he, regardless of his success. If it doesn't happen, then he simply hasn't done his job.

There are tense moments for Mr. Seinfeld when he forgets his material onstage, or is unsatisfied with a television appearance, but there are also calm ones. Quietly preparing backstage. Studying performances of Robert Klein and Richard Pryor at the Museum of Television and Radio. One touching moment has him gently singing to his baby before a performance. It's hard to imagine Mr. Adams doing the same. Indeed, his follow-up segment in the DVD supplement shows him looking lost and alone in a Los Angeles apartment, lamenting his television development deal, still restless and dissatisfied.

Comedian is successful at describing the processes, attitudes and goals of two very different comics, as well as depicting the strenuous life on the stand-up circuit. Unfortunately, it's hard not to feel a little cheated when we don't get to see the final run of material Seinfeld has developed over the course of the film. In this regard, the film feels a bit choppy, an accumulation of sound bites that struggles to build to a goal. The DVD release has the Letterman appearances for both comics to compensate, but even this feels inadequate. Comedian splits its focus, attempting to straddle the banks of a making-of-a-concert film and a portrait of the comedy world. As such, it's successful enough to be compelling, but not quite the film it could've been.

Happy New Year!

Best wishes for your health and happiness this year! -- Jeff, Anita & Mouszers.