Monday, December 30, 2013

LAST CALL FOR FREE SKETCHCARDS


I'm back from my
TRIUMPHANT HOLIDAY
on the
East Coast!

And now I gotta
unpack
answer e-mails
take the Christmas tree down
shave the chickens
pave the lawn
and
most importantly

CATCH UP WITH
PRINTLAB
ORDERS!

Thanks for being patient
if you ordered while I was away
eating too many delicious holiday cookies.

Speaking of which,
here's something sweet I
found in my mailbox from 
sooper special operative Tori:






Daaaaaaaaw shucks!
Thanks, Tori!
You rock!

There's only a couple days left 
to get your
free sketchcard
with any
printlab 
order.




Monday, December 23, 2013

HAPPY HAMSTERDAYS 2013





Wednesday, December 18, 2013

LAST MINUTE HOLIDAY GIFT!


If you're looking for a last minute gift,
don't forget about this thing
rocked last year:


Here are a couple Amazon.com reviews:

Freaking awesome! If you love the books you will love this activity book. 
It's HUGE! Like the biggest activity book ever! 
It's totally awesome and fun and both my kids love it.


my 7yo kid loves this and will go from page to page
 reading, writing, and making projects. 
It's kept him entertained for hours. 
It is not a standard activity book, this one is FUN!

WOW this book is HUGE and awesome!! I can't wait for Christmas
 so my son can open it! He is going to flip out. 
I'm very impressed with this order! :)

The only problem we have with this book is that he's almost done with it. 
He's always eager to share/show what he's done. 
And it's good fun to sit down with him and work on it, 
but the best part is he picks it up and entertains himself with it
 - peace and quiet to get diner completed laundry done, etc - 
since we don't have a TV this is worth it's weight in gold! 
And no guilt as I feel like he's learning...

It's a great stocking stuffer--
if you happen to have large
book-sized stockings!


Monday, December 16, 2013

KANO'S SECRET HIDEOUT


Last week I gots to have lunch
with old school
NYC sooper friend

We ate fish.
Talked about work.
Caught up on what fellow NYC pals are doin'.

Then we went around the corner 
to his sooper secret hideout/art studio!

It's a crappy picture...
but this is where
Kano 
gets it 
DONE!


Seriously.
Kano defines 
HUSTLE.
He's always got
a million things goin' on:

Paintings for gallery shows:




Products:


And most importantly,
VINYL TOYS:




In fact, 
I scored a couple of his latest:


And I'm keepin' em
MIB, yo!
That's 
MINT IN BOX
for all you---


Oops.

Well, they'll look better up on my shelf this way.

Kano also does animation character design rock solid.
Stuff like
Batman: Brave and the Bold
Venture Bros
New Teen Titans
and yeah
he worked on
KND, too!

Before I left,
he had me ruin his guest book with 
this:


It's always great talking shop 
and cracking jokes
with Mr. Kimanyen.

You should meet him.

Hit him up at


Thursday, December 12, 2013

THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER




On Tuesday night I ventured out to
meet some old NYC animation pals
and watch the first public screening of
unreleased 
"director's cut"
for
THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER.

It's not really a director's cut, though.
Technically it's the last surviving workprint
before the film was 
taken away from Mr. Williams in 1992
by the company that was financing the film.


Seeing no end to the film's ambitious production
(it started in 1964)
(yes... 1964)
they decided to steal away with Mr. Williams' baby 
and hastily hack and slash it into a more mainstream
Disney-esque musical:


Needless to say,
it didn't do well
at the box office.

That's not to say that
Mr. Williams' version
(if ever finished)
would have done well.

It's one of the most
gorgeously animated films of all time,
especially taking into account that there were 
no computers used 
to create the most 
technically and organically
animated scenes
EVER
drawn by hand.


But where the design and animation shines,
the story and characters fall down and go pbbbbbt.
Scenes and sequences are gratuitously looooooong
and lead us far, far away from the plot.
Too much time is spent on execution instead of emotion.


Perhaps that would have all been solved if the film was finished.
But we'll never know.
All we've got is this time capsule
showing an unfinished labor of love.

Regardless,
all fans of animation should watch this cut.
There are copies around.
(most of us in the business saw pencil tests and workprints
on illicit videotapes that were floating about
before the internets)

And while you may have missed the screening,
an exhibition of Mr. Williams' work 
is still up in the 

Go check it out if you get a chance!

And if you're interested in being an animator,
Mr. Williams'
ANIMATION SURVIVAL KIT
is a 
MUST HAVE:

Monday, December 9, 2013

SKETCHIN' SKETCHCARDS!


Tis' the season
where I ask:

WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO?!


if you order a print from
the mighty
then I'm drawn'
you a free sketch card with the
character of your choice.

So guess what I'm up late doodlin'?

The Delightful Children:


Numbuh Three
(El Salvador-style)


And this is the first year 
someone asked for
Pepper Ann:


And there's more comin'!
I just wish I would remember to
take a picture of each one!

Why not order
a print for
yourself 
or a loved one?

Heck...
buy one for your worst enemy
and they'll quickly become
your best friend!

Each order comes with bonus goodies, too!
(but they vary depending on what I've got hangin' around)


Alright...
gotta get back to sketchin'!

Thursday, December 5, 2013

OPERATION: NAUGHTY STORYBOARD PAGES



Remember when I
showed you 
all the 
from each episode of
Codename: Kids Next Door?

And how I seem to have misplaced
seasons five and six?

Well, guess what?

I STILL 
HAVE NO IDEA
WHERE THEY ARE!

But for some bizarre reason I
DO
have pages from the
KND Christmas Special
Operation: Naughty.

So here,
for your holiday enjoyment,
they are:



53B: Operation: NAUGHTY (part 2)
Writer: Mr. Warburton
Storyboard: Matt Peters

Fun Fact:
I've mentioned before that 
The Uncanny X-Men
was my 
ultra 
mega
favoritest 
comic book 
since 7th grade.
So how fun was it to come up with their 
Christmas versions:

Wolverine = Wintergreen
Nightcrawler = Nutcracker
Colossus = Coniferous
Storm/Angel = Snow Angel

Bonus Fun Fact:
That's 
doing his best
impression
in the opening narration!
_______________________________________


53B: Operation: NAUGHTY (part 2)
Writer: Mr. Warburton
Storyboard: Kim Arndt

Fun Fact:
The Faculty Four was originally called
The Secretarial Six!
They were a team of villains who
were fed up with Christmas
getting more attention than
Secretary's Day.
But Cartoon Network thought kids wouldn't
be familiar enough with secretaries and what they do.
So we went the school route and changed it to
The Faculty Five.
_________________________________________

 And there's a little holiday magic for ya!

Now where 
ARE
those pages
from 
seasons five 
and six?


Monday, December 2, 2013

HOLIDAY ACTION IN THE PRINTLAB!



It happened again,
didn't it?

You were just hangin' out...
Having some nachos...
Thinkin' about ninjas...
And then

WHAM!

IT'S HOLIDAY TIME AGAIN!

And you know what that means?

Time to hit the mighty
PRINTLAB
for 
ALL
your holiday 
gift-giving needs!

I know 
that you know
someone who knows
someone that wants
one of these:


Or maybe this: 


Perhaps this:


Or... 
might I 
suggest the newest 
addition to the 
PRINTLAB
that will elicit a
high-pitched
SQUEE
from the
3/4 
fans out there:

"SINGIN' IN THE RAINBOW MONKIES"



And
YES!
Every print
comes 
SIGNED
and
INSCRIBED
to the 
person of your choice!

Aaaaaaaaaaand...
(wait for it)

...



...



....


Okay, I can't wait any longer--

YES!!!
YES!!!
YES!!!

As per holiday tradition,
with any
printlab order
you'll receive a
SOOPER ORIGINAL  
HAND-DRAWN
SIGNED
SKETCHCARD
of the 
character of your choice
for the 
sooper dumb
price
of
FREE!

Here are some examples from
previous years:






Too good to be true, right?
Yeah,
but there are rules:

• One sketchcard per person

• One character per card

• You get what you get and don't get upset

• Orders made after December 17th
will not be shipped until 
after Christmas!

* Offer ends on January 1st, 2014


So why dontcha start the holiday season 
off with a stroll
down the luxurious aisles of
the mighty
printlab.

It's right over

Still skeptical?

Check out some
testimonials from
satisfied customers over


Monday, November 25, 2013

GIVE IT!




TANGENTS!


I like

There's a 
TON
of 
inspiring
art stuff
to
ENDLESSLY
scroll
through.

I especially like
the educational stuff.
For instance,

Chris Schweizer's
Guide to Spotting Tangents


The long line is when a line from one object runs directly 
into the line of another.  This is the tangent that everybody knows.  
The one that’s easiest to spot, easiest to avoid.  
For a lot of folks, this is the only thing meant 
when one refers to a “tangent.” 

I'm not familiar with 
but I like him already.

Anyone that can track down and kill a
yucky tangent is alright in my book.

He's mainly talking about 
tangents in comics,
but these rules apply to
animation
storyboards
and layout, too.

A good part of my day is spent watching animation
 that comes back from overseas studios
and finding ways to fix problems like these:




This is just a teeny taste
of what 
Mr. Schweizer
is out to learn ya.

To see the whole post
and really go on a 
TANGENT SAFARI
head on over





Thursday, November 21, 2013

BRAVEST WARRIORS!



So you've seen
right?

It's a
web series by
ADVENTURE TIME
creator
Pendleton Ward


No...
I'm not working on the show.

But I 
AM
doing an illustration 
for this book:

BRAVEST WARRIORS: THE SEARCH FOR CATBUG 


An amazing collection of artists venture to multiple dimensions to help you in...
THE SEARCH FOR CATBUG! 
Catbug ate some weird new cubes of food that caused him to lose 
what little control he already had over his jump abilities! 
Now he’s careening through dimensions, unable to stop! 
Help the Bravest Warriors travel the galaxy and find Catbug. 
Just don’t eat any of those cube snacks or you might end up lost too!



Save your excitement, though!

It's not coming out until
Summer of 2014
from
Viz Media's
imprint.

But I'm here to 
tell you it's gonna be 
block rockin'.

More info coming soon
but
you can read the latest over