Emerald City ComiCon

Hey all you my loyal 3 readers!..Been awhile since an update, but daddy-hood and work have been keeping me pretty busy lately. Sketch above ( and shitty color ) is one I did of The Green Lantern John Stewart..Lots of green which is a good segway to what me and the fam did Saturday.

We went to the Emerald City Comicon up here in Seattle, and I've gone the last 3 years and this year I have to say was the best by far. They moved the event from the Exhibition Hall at Qwest field ( think Comic convention set up in a school gym ) to the Washington State Convention center, and it's starting to feel like a major Con now.They had good giveaways and some talented artists. Unfortunately both Sean "Cheeks" Galloway and Alberto Ruiz couldn't make it, and I wanted to purchase some of their art books, but I did get to check out Phil Noto's work and Ethan Van Scriver's...I was really tempted to add a Noto Superman sketch to my collection, but he was charging 100 bucks per sketch and I had to look at my son in the Baby Bjorn we were toting him in and see that equaled 5 tubs of Similac...I know view Pampers and Similac like currency

Took Garrick booth to booth , and man did he dig on the Suicide Girls and these "goth french maids"....I think my son is gonna like his girls a little on the dirty side.

Other than that I wlaked away with a Justice League Batman maquette and a Superman beer stein, for when I wanna get Super-Blizted.

L8tr!

Oh Where, Oh Where.....

Little sketch and color...The story is pretty much that the phone is ringing to tell "Junior" that ol Oscar had to be put down.

He's in a better place.

HAVE A GOOD ONE!

Martian Manhunter

I did some superhero sketches awhile back and one of them was of the "Martian Manhunter" from the Justice League. He's fighting an OMAC and I just decided I'd do some pencil shading on it and thought it turned out pretty good.

The biggest pain in the ass with this drawing was getting the anatomy right on the OMAC, and it's a good thing I've started lifedrawing again because this is where it comes in handy!...And for drawing chicks!

I did do a coloring job on this and boy did it look like something I wiped my ass with, I'll probably post it up just so I can get some feedback on how to improve it.

Other than that my New York Football Giants will be in the big game this Sunday and even I didn't think they'd make it this far, but damn I hope the hotstreak continues and they send Tom Brady home crying to his multi-million dollar house where he can cry on Giselle Bundchen's breasts.................Hey, that actually doesn't sound too bad. When we lost in little league all we got was a scoop of Carvel ice cream.

Been awhile huh?

Man, it has been forever since I posted, and I'm sure that you my loyal 3.5 readers have been wondering "What's up?"

Well a big part of my absence is due in large part to the picture above, which like my drawings I did have a little hand in creating, my son Garrick. He was born 3 months ago and has truly become the center of my wife and I's universe. Getting my "dad legs" underneath me has been one of the most challenging and amazing experiences of my life. Bill Murray said it best in "Lost In Translation"

Bob: It gets a whole lot more complicated when you have kids.

Charlotte: It's scary.

Bob: The most terrifying day of your life is the day the first one is born.

Charlotte: Nobody ever tells you that.

Bob: Your life, as you know it... is gone. Never to return. But they learn how to walk, and they learn how to talk... and you want to be with them. And they turn out to be the most delightful people you will ever meet in your life.

So with being a new dad and a pinch of procrastination I haven't been posting too much, but I am going to try and start back up at least on a semi-regular basis and see how that all goes.

Take It Easy and keep checking back!

Actual An-er-matin

This blog has been called "Suspended Animation", but there has never been any, ya know ..Animation. Well looks like blogger went and got themselves a video posting tool, so I thought I'd post some animation. I did this 10 second sound clip for the Animation Beefcakes blog, but we were using YouTube to post them, and every time the lip-sync was off so it looked like some badly dubbed foreign film.

But go ahead and check it out.

L8t's

Blast From Da Past

Sorry for the lack of posts, but professional and personal life are at a fever pitch!...And I've been a lazy f*ck.

So anyway, the above clip is from our student film that we had completed for our final year at "The Joe Kubert School" in 1995 and it was called "Cruel-Tea".

All 5 of us who were in the Animation class worked on it over the course of 5 months, inbetween our normal class load. The school "semi-supported" the production in that they allowed us class time and that was about it. Our ink and paint method was to print out backgrounds on a copier and then trace and use white-out over the characters, or cut them out and paste them onto the Xerox backgrounds. Now THAT's old school!.

One of our teachers Sal Mallimo, (who actually got it onto YouTube) encouraged us to enter it into the ASIFA-East film festival, so we then went into New York City ( the school is in Jersey) and had added film post and sound. The guy who did our sound had an entire library of BETA tapes which we went through to see what would work.

We entered our film into the student category and it was the first time any class from our school was entered. We had competing films from both CalArts and SVA, so we just didn't wanna get ripped apart. They had the viewing at NYU film school and we watched all the films, and then ours game up. As it played we heard laughs and at the end all of us had a sigh of relief and as we were talking amongst ourselves a dude who sat in the front of us turned and said " Was that your guys' film?"..My bussy Bill replied that it was and he said " That was a fun, little cartoon..Good Job"....We later found out that that dude was kick-ass animator Bill Plympton, so we were stoked.

In the end we actually got 2nd place ( the film from CalArts got first...who knew?)and were pretty happy, but now when watching it after 13 years, we cringe at some timing we get unsettled at some of our key poses...But we still laugh when the Bear digs into the kids skull to grab his tongue.

L8tr

Diminutive Dictator

The sketch above I did was for a dictator like boss character, and they wanted him to have some "Kim Jong-Il and Castro"...Because the setting was sci-fi, I threw a little "ED-209" in there to help the lil' bastard get around...It runs on farts too.

This weekend I wanted to see "Ratatouille", but didn't get to go..But I will. I did however get to see "Surf's Up" the other weekend and I really enjoyed it. I mean, Penguins are played out, but then again I guess there's always room for more than one penguin film..I mean weren't there like 8 Vietnam flicks in the late 80's and early 90's?...Anyway, it was a better overall picture than Sony's last outing "Open Season", as it had more enjoyable characters and story. I will say this that I really do like Sony's overall art direction, both in "Open Season" and "Surf's Up". The environments and character designs in "Surf's Up" were really impressive, and damn did the water look amazing.

L8tr!

Don Bluth Interview

Newsarama has posted a pretty good interview with "Secret of Nimh" and former Disney animator Don Bluth. He has kind of retired from animation after the debacle of " Titan A.E" that he headed up at the late Fox Animation. He has some interesting things to say:

About some of Disney's "9 Old Men"

"What we noticed that the 9 Old Men who were still there were instructed to teach us their techniques and different things they had learned over the years. That way we could continue the Disney way. Well, I’m not sure they really wanted to do that. Many times we would ask them questions and they ‘couldn't remember’ how they did it."

On the abundance of 3D animation

"It’s also caused a lot of people to enter the animation industry who can not draw. Now they’ve become puppeteers. With CGI it’s a puppet inside the machine. All you have to be able to do is move it. The curse is we are losing a beautiful art form that many people still love. "

It's a really great read, and he still has real passion for the business as an art form, although as a 3D animator who transitioned from 2D his whole " all ya gotta do is know how to move it around" atatement comes from someone who has never animated on a computer...Also he suggests the one "dream project" he'd come out of retirement for.

Read the article in it's entirety HERE

Mmmmm...Sketch and color him I will

Been heads down on our latest PSP title as well as ramping up for a new project, but I've been trying to get this lil' piece done in between. It's of course Yoda, and I haven't finished the full color, but wanted to post up the progress I've made...In reality just like Luke gave up trying to lift that X-Wing out of the Dagobah swamp, I might do the same with this.

OK, I've had discussions with my fellow geeks on this point, but didn't it seem that Today went from using his "backward speech" only slightly in "The Empire Strikes Back" to every single damn sentence in the prequels?

Peanuts & Crackerjacks

This was a concept sketch I did for a baseball title, so being it's baseball season and it's in full swing, I threw some color in it and decided to throw it on up here. By the way, the inks done on this piece were by Jeff Willis, who is without doubt a 4-star kick ass artist.

I'm a pretty huge fan of baseball and my team in the Yankees..Yes, I've heard all the "big money" talk and everything, but it IS a Yankee-Nation and everyone else just lives in it. The Yanks are staring to turn things around it seems, and hopefully can get into the playoffs this year, Clemens is back, A-Rod is getting getting caught hitting on chicks, but he's also hitting balls outta the park, and Jeter just keeps increasing the value of that rookie card I own..Just need to know if I'm gonna fork over money for the kid's future college fund, or buy myself a trip to see the Yanks play in the World Series once.

I live in Seattle, but I was born and raised in Jersey so the Yankees are like religion. I light a votive candle for Saint Anthony and one for Lou Gherig ( Catholics know what I mean). Now anyone who knows baseball knows about the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry, and that's why it darn near baffled me when Democratic Presidential hopeful, Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico said on "Meet The Press" that he had loyalty to both the Yankees AND the Red Sox...?!?!..There are constants in the Universe, and that statement goes against the very sands of time. Only a politician trying to get every vote he can would even try to say that with a straight face..Oh he also said that he liked Pepsi AND Coke, Harley's AND Suzuki's as well as Sean Connery AND Roger Moore.

Look Ma...More Lifedrawing

Here is another lifedrawing, and yes ladies we don't just draw nekkid women, but also dudes..And yes, they're nekkid too. . I had a male model in class who was a dead ringer for old Saint Nick, ( he didn't have a sack full o' toys, but indeed had a sack ) and I'll scan it in...Maybe even make it my Christmas card this year.

I know. " Too Much Info" but here is one of the sketches I scanned, I went with a more gestural sketch and actually used charcoal for this. I usually as an animator always use pencil, but once in a blue, I will try something new and get some nice results.

Have a good weekend!

Lil' Lifedrawing

Went through and started to scan some of the lifedrawings from my portfolio and various sketch pads, so I'll start posting them up once in a blue.

I remember the first time I started doing life sketches in school and when I brought my sketchpad home, my uncle was like "They don't have any clothes" and I still hear that statement today whenever you talk about "nude" models.

I think the only other occupation that can relate to seeing a nekkid person in a professional context are doctors....I mean, don't get me wrong when an attractive girls walks in, your like "Wow, not bad" but then when that pencil hits the pad, your more concerned that you drew her feet like crap, then what her nipples look like.

Chick With Gloves

Hope you all had a good Memorial Day weekend, filled with BBQ and cold beer!. It's been awhile since I've posted any sketches, so here is a chick...With gloves.

I decided to post the pencil sketch as well, because I ain't thrilled to death with the color, but in the pencil version I think I went a bit too forced ( perspective wise ) with the hands. As Jerry Seinfeld would say "She's got Man Hands!"

Was still good to get the pencil moving again.

Inspiration Monday: The Dover Boys

The weekly "Inspiration Thurday" is hella late this week, so it got kicked to Monday..I don't think my 3 regular readers are in any uproar over it, but deadlines and such got in the way.

Anyway animation is such a quick process, and in animation there are many techniques that take place in that 1/24th of a second to fool that you never really notice..One of them is the Blur.

One of my animation teachers Doug Compton showed us this great Warner Brothers cartoon called the "Dover Boys Of Pimento University", check it out:

After watching it, we went back on a few scenes and he went frame-by-frame on the old 4 Head VCR ( we're talking 1993 here) and we saw some of the images below ( which happens at 3:29 in the cartoon)

We were all pretty awed, as you never really focused on these crazy frames, but they are all over the film, and in many other ( especially Warners) cartoons.

When I worked on 2D games, I would use blurs for toony action, as it gave a good look, and cut down on the number of frames you would have to draw, in the 3D games I've worked on, we were able to get this effect in some of the anims we did for "Over The Hedge" PSP, especially with the speedy hamster Hammy. So it is definitely something that can be used for animation of all mediums.

Spidey-Sketching

It's been a lil bit since I've posted, and a weekend has come and gone. The big deal this weekend was that "Spider-Man 3" opened up, and it made ass-loads of cash. I haven't seen it yet, mainly because this weekend was also was Cinco De Mayo, so I was too busy drinking Tecate's and eating fried foods lathered in cheese, which made my Spidey-Sense tingle all the way to the Banjo!

Even though some friends of mine said it was "alright" I still plan on catching it next weekend, and hopefully at IMAX...But until then I did up a sketch of ol' Spidey, which was actually a lot of fun, as he lends himself to awesome animated poses..As much as Spidey has been in movies and media, my first and fondest memory of the "Wall Crawler" was when he appeared on "The Electric Company". Web sling your way down memory lane HERE

L8tr!

L8tr

Sorry haven't posted in awhile, but been busy, busy. I am on a new project at work, and one of the reasons is because one talented animator and good friend of mine Jason Newkirk a.k.a "Notorious Newsquirt" is leaving Amaze after 10 years!

You can go ahead and read about the awesome opportunity he is leaving for at his blog by clicking HERE

As a proper sendoff we decided to do up a caricature as a CD cover, and frame it with a gold CD, like some big time recording artist. It is a great play, because Jason loves music, and he loves all types of hip-hop. So I went on ahead and drew him up, rocking the Mickey Mouse boxers and the animation disc chain.

Newk and I along with two other artists shared an office 10 years ago when Amaze first started, and it was a great time, we had one CD player in our office and we'd pick a CD and we'd all listen to it...Jason had eclectic tastes, from "Zony Mash" all the way to Michael Bolton's "Secret Passion" opera CD, and even throwing in "John Tesh" for a round ( and I think each of those CD's were only played once ). All in all, he is a good guy, and in 10 years there have been a hell of a lot of laughs, late night crunches, and good times.

Inspiration Thursday: History Of Computer Graphics

The above clip is an early Disney CGI test directed by John Lasseter with characters from the "Where The Wild Things Are" children's book series. This came a year after the Jeff Bridge's masterpiece "TRON" ( remember the gridbugs?).

This test is one part of a great website that chronicles the history of computer graphics and animation. It's a great look back. Check it out HERE

Down On The Farm

Well here are the background sketches I did using the Looney Tune backgrounds as a style reference. I know I said it would be a stylized Titty Bar, but at least you get "teets" on a farm...Oh and two penis shaped silos.

I've never been big on drawing backgrounds, I'm not an architectural whiz like Mike Brady or anything , and perspective is always a tricky deal. But when it's something less realistic and more stylized it is a bit more fun, almost like if the background itself was a character.

Inspiration Thursday:Warner Brothers Backgrounds

all images are copyright of Warner Bros...So don't sue my ass, I did pay for the book!

Figured I'd start a new post called "Inspiration Thursday" where I'll post either examples of art, blogs, books or animation that I have used as reference and inspiration as an animator and artist.

Gonna kick it off with these amazing backgrounds from various Looney Tune cartoons. These images I have been studying these for some background sketches ( which I'll post soon) that I have been concepting out. They come from the "Draw the Looney Tunes" book, and believe me there are a tone more like it.

What I really liked about these pieces was how they follow all the perspective rules ( as seen in the 1st pic ), and yet they still added their own unique angles in the details to keep it from looking to rigid. Also the dimension that some elements have, mixed with flat almost billboard like objects as well. Also the colors to convey a mood, as seen in the 2nd pic is just like the artistic lighting that films use.

So enjoy the work of the "masters" and hopefully I'll post my stylized "titty bar" soon.

One Mo' with Fro

Well the above character sketch was another concept I had done for an potential project. The basic gist was that all these characters all had to represent hip-hop and rap, and have some type of "future elements" as well.

Each link below is for each of the other characters I previously posted:

Beat Boy

Lil' Shorty

G-Chick

One funny thing is that in the post about the "Lil' Shorty" I linked to a pic of rapper "Lil, Kim" . I get at least 8 hits from image search hits to my site for that one pic. Most come from the UK, where it seems the Brits want a gander at her assets...Even if they are bought ( guessing from record sales)

Have a good weekend!

Milt Kahl Hands

pics from Animationarchive.net click images to enlarge

I've been busy doing some animation for the Beefcakes blog, so I haven't been able to get a new sketch to post up. One of the toughest things about drawing characters has got to be hands, but luckily with all art, there is usually someone who kicked ass at it, and whose work can be learned from.

For animation the best reference for hands is found in the work from the artist above, Disney animator Milt Kahl. Kahl was considered one of the best draughtsman at the Disney studio, and in one instance "The Sword in the Stone" director Woolie Reitherman saw Milt's first rough drawings of Merlin the magician and Madame Medusa, he reportedly turned to Milt and said, "These things look so beautiful, they could hang in a museum" to which, Milt responded with a characteristic "Aw...You're full of it!"

So enjoy the above pics, save them and learn from them. I have the pencil versions, and am constantly using them for reference. Gotta learn from da Masters!

"Who You Callin' Scruffy Lookin?"

I have been trying to get some animation to post through youtube, but I have been running into problems posting it. If anybody has a way of doing it, drop a comment by, because I'ts been a pain in da ass!

So you guys will have to just look at another drawrin' today, and this time I did a take on the man who shot Greedo first Han Solo. Overall I am pretty happy with it, but it still looks "off" from Harrison Ford, I think I probably should have gone more "toony" and less charicature, but I did like the pose and all, so I though I'd post it up anyways.

I found Star Wars actually done all in ascii text and for fun you can check it out HERE

Draw'n Chicks

Got back to doing some sketching, and decided to make an attempt at a pinup gal ( which is based on a Rose McGowan photo). I always found getting the features of a chick's face ( unlike the obvious butt and boobs ) just right. I think the above was one of my better attempts.

Speaking of chicks, I had the displeasure of watching about 5 minutes of Halle Berry's "Catwoman" movie, and man was it beyond terrible. The direction and the acting, from both Berry and Sharon Stone was awful. I can honestly say that the best work each of the two actresses has done has been when they were nekkid ( and one even got an Oscar for it ).

I think the most awful thing was the network that had Catwoman on it was AMC which stands for "American Movie CLASSICS".

Good Beer+Good Tunes=Good Time

photo by: Danny Ngan...and yes, those are panties

As posted earlier, our band the "Drunks Of Hazzard" had our show last Thursday and it was a hella good time! The Jewelbox Theatre was the perfect venue for us to spew our rude, filth ridden lyrics...All to a toe tapping beat!

We gotta thank everyone who came out on a school night, as the place was packed with family, friends and new fans of the Drunks, was awesome to see a full house of drunken folks. Gotta give big props to Chris Brockett and the Tweezer guys for helping put on a great show.

Fellow co-worker, and awesome photographer Danny Ngan took some great shots of the show and you can check them out at the following link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dn/sets/72157594582930246/

Also another co-worker and fellow blogger Jack Brummet wrote up a fun review of our show

"Chris Brockett and The Wasted Bullets opened up a show on Thursday night at The Rendezvous. Chris played a short set with some of his own tunes and some great covers, including a Johnny Cash cover in which he was joined by the Drunks of Hazzard. Brockett was nervous about his guitar playing, but it didn't matter. His voice sounded great, and he put on a moving, and oh so humble show. I hope I can see him perform a longer set soon. Keep it coming, Chris!

The Drunks of Hazzard are Fraser Thompson, Tony Ravo, Eric Gingrich, and Mike Chavez--artists, designers, and a programmer in the game world. You can find some posters of their gigs here. This band is a gas to watch and hear. And for some reason, you get thirsty listening. After their Thursday night gig, my stomach hurt from laughing so much. Each of their faces are a unique mirror of the music. Tony Ravo and Fraser Thompson mainly front the band. Fraser, in particular, is a joy to watch. His frantic facial expressions and wild limb movements while he plays and sings (most lead vocals and lead guitar) are worth the price of admission. His face can be puzzled, amused, and demonic all at the same time and watching him bounce around the stage only amplifies the music.

I have seen the Drunks play four or five times, but this time they were the most rehearsed I'd ever seen, and they broke out six or seven new songs--most as sick and hilarious as the great old tunes. The audience was convulsed in laughter. I want to try and post some of their lyrics in the near future. If you live in Seattle, try to show up at one of their sporadic gigs. And, hey, Drunks! Isn't it time to put out a CD? I could already name 12 songs that deserve inclusion. I have some low-quality boots of them, but I need an actual CD. Thanks, Drunks!"

Thanks Jack!

Meet Us At The Rendezvous!

poster art by: Mike Chavez

Well it's been awhile, but our band "The Drunks Of Hazzard" are gonna be spewing our al-kee-hol inspired, sophomoric tunes this Thursday March 8th at the Rendezvous' Jewelbox Theatre.

We're gonna have two other bands, "Chris Brockett and the Wasted Bullets" is a solo act, and "El Scorcho" is a Weezer cover band.

We've had some great shows at the Rendezvous, which has been totally renovated, but I remember one time we played we saw this super hot chick nearly fall on her ass, but a bum had helped grabbed her arm right before she hit the ground and pulled her up. However she was totally blitzed and she acted as if the bum saved her from falling into a hole filled with starved Rottweilers, and actually exclaimed " You saved me". The best part was she totally full on frenched the hell outta the bum to repay him for his good deed..The Breathalyzer test between those two mouths was probably a "point 30"..good Times

So if you can stay up a bit late on a school night, then bring 3 bucks and your best drinking duds!