the missing groovy

Children's Books into Movies.

2009-02-14T23:46:00.007-05:00

I'm really getting excited about all the children's books that are being made into films!

Spike Jonze & Dave Eggers are doing Where the Wild Things Are. Wes Anderson is doing Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox. Spielberg & Peter Jackson are doing Tin Tin.

When I was a kid one of my favorite books was Babar. Imagine a film about the story of Babar done seriously...

Here's my sketch.

Same ol' pimp.

2009-01-22T17:35:00.002-05:00

Here's is a walkcycle I did back when I was at Max the Mutt, I didn't like it so I re-did it!

Maya's World!

2009-01-07T23:04:00.002-05:00

Here's a character I design for my cousin in Vancouver. Tah-dah!

Dragon warrior.

2008-08-05T22:04:00.002-05:00

Went to a movie the other day. Was too early- so I popped into see some scenes of Kung Fu Panda again. It inspired me.

draw, draw, draw...

2008-07-29T23:07:00.001-05:00

a "Take" 3 in keys

2008-07-21T20:42:00.003-05:00

I was playing around with designs of characters and got something that looked close to the first image. cleaned it up a bit and with his serious face i thought it would be cool to see him freak out.

Getting ready...

2008-07-03T22:01:00.001-05:00

Just finished a new portfolio. Now I have to get ready and drop them off. GULP!

An elephant never...huh?

2008-07-03T21:46:00.002-05:00

Just another elephant post.

like in high school

2008-06-16T16:44:00.003-05:00

I haven't "doodled" on lined paper since high school. something about those thin blue-ish lines just brings back memories. this is an elephant i was drawing while waiting for my girlfriend. i got inspired by the elephants the house of cool guys were posting. mine is a bit anatomically off but there is something there i thought was worth posting.

Duck season.

2008-04-23T00:33:00.003-05:00

Say Something--storyboards

2008-03-27T22:59:00.003-05:00

Untitled.

2008-03-27T19:36:00.003-05:00

A friend in film school and wanted to do a film based on an image he saw of a little girl alone in the middle of the night. He gave me a premise and let me elaborate on it. What I came up with is the storyboard below.

Doodles.

2008-03-27T09:48:00.001-05:00

How Are You?-storyboard sample

2008-01-23T22:24:00.001-05:00

A scene I storyboarded for a live-action short, currently under production, called How Are You? It was written by Susan Coyne and Martha Burns. Directed by Martha Burns.

S'more character sketches

2008-01-21T20:28:00.000-05:00

Peeves Pets

2008-01-21T19:49:00.001-05:00

This is a lot to look at- so I guess I should do a little explaining. Peeves Pets was an idea based around four different animals;

a hypochondriac pigeon named Lewis who suffers from vertigo.

A white house-cat named Tedd who thinks he's a black stray.

Mel an independent minded female rabbit who can't live without males.

And Randal, a rough and tough pitbull who, after being "fixed" is riddled with sexual identity issues.

All their individual problems leads them to a city veterinary hospital where the group learns to work together. The series follows this odd band of animals as they episodically sneak out of the veterinary hospital and get into trouble in a large urban setting.

A rough rotation.

2008-01-17T00:58:00.000-05:00

What would Tex do?

2008-01-16T23:23:00.000-05:00

I've been watching a lot of old Tex Avery cartoons and was feeling a bit sad that they aren't making many gag driven shorts anymore so I thought it might be fun to come up with a premise for one. The Instinctive Travels and Paths of Balut. Balut is an unfertilized duck egg and an Asian delicacy. Perfect for a cartoon character. Imagine if you cross Droopy, Tweety bird and Borat. Balut, a small blue and purple bird with a filipino accent. Now what a good ol' fashion chase cartoon needs is a classic villain. Mr. Macomber is a Boston Thumb Cat. Your standard six fingered hungry predator. So the whole story goes like this; Mr. Macomber runs the waterfront piers in Boston. He terrorizes the local rats, fish and gulls. One day a boat docks. On it is an aviary. A collection of exotic oriental birds and seeming buffet for Mr. Macomber. He's just swallowed his first victim when he hears: " 'scuse mee, sur. purdon mee but doo you know where dee emfire state beelding iz?" PAN OVER to Balut wearing an "I love N.Y." t-shirt and holding a flag. Mr. Macomber vomits immediately and his lunch flies away safely. During the entire short Mr. Macomber tries to eat in peace. Balut asks for directions. It ends with Mr. Macomber emaciated. Starved Mr. Macomber coughs up a fur ball and with a knife and fork takes a bite. PAN OVER and Balut says "EWWW! Dat iz disgussting!" There it is! Mr. Macomber desperately tries to fill his belly, Balut is looking for tourist sites. Barf. Mr. Macomber is a sailor and Balut the constant tourist. A new city every episode. Fertile ground spawned from an unfertilized egg.

Now I only need to come up with the gags.

A complicated pan and plan.

2008-01-16T22:03:00.001-05:00

Below is a series of sketches/ boards for an idea based on the Chicken Little story. It starts off with a complicated pan setting up the familiar story points of the classic children's fable.

Chicken Little believes that "the sky is falling" and runs back to tell the rest of the coup. They all start to freak in a series of gags. One lays an egg, another climbs back into an empty egg shell, another is wearing a sandwich board with the words the end is near written on it, etc. The apocolyptic paranoia is interrupted by a single acorn rolling into frame. Chicken Little turns and sees where the acorn came from. "We need to do something about this." Chicken Little declares. X-DISSOLVE TO....

... a dean pan chicken counting to three. ZOOM OUT and all the chickens are yanking out a tree. Cheers! CUT TO a shot directly pointed at the sun. Lens flare and all. A series of shots showing the chickens basting under the sun. One chicken comments that it it so hot that it will "...melt the polar ice caps". End with an ominous up shot of Chicken Little: "We need to do something about this."

DONE.

Da' Head

2007-11-07T22:35:00.000-05:00

This is a character I designed for a friend with an idea for a music review/ comic strip. Da' Head is a hip hop aficionado. Or at least a stereotype of one. I took attributes of different friends and pieced them all together. The format was suppose to be Da' Head, on top whatever album cover with speech balloons saying whatever it was my friend wanted to say about the album.

Life's a gitch!

2007-10-29T20:24:00.000-05:00

This is a poster I designed and a sequence I storyboarded for a live-action film in production now, called Gitch. (www.arkitektfilms.com) I did the boards basically on spec. with the agreement that I'd get to do the opening credits as well. Revisions to the script were made and the film's length was extended. It is now; "-too long for an opening titles." Shit! The concept I had was going to be so dope.

Yashie...

2007-10-28T22:19:00.000-05:00

This was birthday gift for my girlfriend. As the story subtly hints, she sort of has a thing for chocolate. It was made a couple of years ago but since it is turning out that I'm collecting all my work on this blog I had to include it.

A gift for my cousin.

2007-10-22T01:24:00.000-05:00

Here's a card I made as birthday gift for my cousin. He was singing on a cruise ship up in Alaska. I went for a visit and got really into the inuit art. He surprised me with a few prints and I thought I'd make him this as sort of a thank you/ birthday card.

The PUGLY's

2007-10-22T00:59:00.000-05:00

The PUGLY's was a freelance animation/ design gig I got through my cousin www.jeedub.com. I have no idea where the name came from but they made it pretty obvious they wanted a pug for a logo. I came up with this snooty looking guy. They O.K.'d it. And I was done. Later they asked for some animation to be incorporated into the website. So with my cousin, we plotted out some stuff for the dog to do. A walk cycle intro to the site and little animated sequences every time you clicked one of the buttons. Here they are, all strung together...

Here are some pose sheets.

-so that's what the dog USED to look like. This year, they got someone in to redesign him. I have no idea who- but it looks more like a "logo" now. I'm a bit peeved, I guess that's how freelancing goes. www.pugawards.com

Is it the shoes?

2007-07-26T10:18:00.001-05:00

Here is a spec. ad/ illust. I did for this website. Still trying to clear out the computer-but I will start posting some actual drawings soon.

RINGO.

2007-07-24T19:13:00.000-05:00

Here is a little video of a short story reel I made, influenced by Tim Burton's The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and the works of Edward Gorey. Hit the lights. Turn that volume up and enjoy the next minute and a bit.

Pulled off the pegs.

2007-07-16T21:14:00.001-05:00

Lately I've been posting a lot of old work, so for a change I thought I'd post something new. Not anything special- just a page of doodles off my light table.

Old stuff.

2007-07-13T23:30:00.000-05:00

Here I was experimenting with lino cuts. A lot of them were about things I was trying dealing with back then. Others were just for fun.

Postcard perfect.

2007-07-05T17:34:00.000-05:00

Here is a doodle I drew a while back. I am presently trying to clean out my computer and am coming across all sorts of old work. Rejected submissions, failed experiments or just funny little doodles. I saved this one because I wanted to print it on the front of a postcard. I know it's lame to like one's own work but hey, the expression on the gorilla's face makes me laugh.

Some more magazine rejects...

2007-07-04T09:57:00.000-05:00

for a fashion trade magazine. originally I thought of doing a "newyorker" type cartoon.

they finally went for this;

The plight of a cartoonist and a snowman.

2007-03-25T20:53:00.000-05:00

Here are some cartoons I did for a magazine which were eventually rejected.
(they are not sequential)

When in Rome...

2007-03-20T22:04:00.000-05:00

I have recently decided to pursue a career in animation and have enlisted the advice of both friends and acquaintances already working in the field. All have urged me to create my own blog. Of course I've heard of blogging, even visited the odd one or two, but one of my own? Do I have anything worth "posting"? Would anybody see it?
So like any student of animation I began with research. Blog after blog I began to notice a trend in the animation community of drawing scantily clad/nude cute girls. Okay, here goes...