Ed Bell- Art Blog

Graphic Novel Fanship -- Meet Marguerite Abouet...

2012-02-17T20:32:00.000-08:00

Some great talent I just discovered myself. Thanks to African Digital Art Network.

Aya de Youpougon is a critically acclaimed graphic novel series by Marguerite Abouet. Abouet was born in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire, many of the themes in Aya chronicle her childhood memories of a proposers and promising Ivory Coast in the 1970′s.

Perhaps the reason why Aya has captured the attention of readars across the globe is that the comic presents a different sort of Africa, one that illustrates daily life outside of the typical war, famine and disease narrative. Due to popular demand Aya de Youpougon will be gracing the screens this year in a feature length animated film.

School's In -- I just added a new class to teach....

2012-01-19T09:24:00.000-08:00

Brain is all jacked up on the the teaching of techniques I only have barely started to understand, trying forge this course into a boot-camp for design gourmets, ambassadors of good taste and trixter spirits -- if not actual great designers. When I go to do a sketch or doodle now, everything takes on this mental dust devil of theory: Line value, mindful doodling, figure to ground balance, opposition of line, straight vs curvilinear, negative space, silhouette, conflict, narrative, somatic memory, motion, value, harmony, lalalalalalalaaala....

Yep. Ok. Carry on, then.

MOVE

2011-11-13T14:24:00.000-08:00

Quick sketches

take you places

you didn't mean to go.

Then, it seems you meant to, but didn't know it.

Heavy D: A Legend Gone Too Soon (May 24, 1967 – Nov 8, 2011)

2011-11-12T14:48:00.000-08:00

-From various web sources including TMZ
The legendary Dwight “Heavy D” Myers passed away on the afternoon of November 8, 2011 in Los Angeles, California around 1pm PST at an LA Hospital.

The loss of Myers signaled another painful reminder that popular culture is losing our legends at an alarming rate. Numerous current and past entertainers expressed their sentiments via Twitter and other media outlets. His groundbreaking arrival on the urban music scene in the late 1980s was instrumental in fortifying the foundations of Hip Hop and New Jack Swing genres respectively.

His incandescent wordplay and earth shattering dance moves were undeniably infectious. He became the quintessential lovable big guy and audiences gravitated en masse to his genius. He was a songwriter and actor that had the foresight to be a step ahead of his contemporaries during his prominent career.

Dwight Arrington Myers was born on May 24, 1967 in Jamaica to Eulahlee Lee, a nurse and Clifford Vincent Myers, a machine technician. Myers spent his formative years in Mount Vernon, NY where he became best friends with Al B. Sure!. At the tender age of eight, Myers began performing rap songs and by the time he was a teenager he was recording demo tapes of his own works. Alongside his high school comrades, Eddie “DJ Eddie F” Ferrell, Glen “G-Whiz” Parrish and Troy “Trouble T-Roy” Dixon, he formed Heavy D & The Boyz.

From the Ecstatic Freshness Media Group

We mourn the passing of Hip-Hop legend Dwight ”Heavy D” Myers. Heav passed at the young age of 44; he was a pinnacle part of Hip-Hop and was THE father of making being big, the new sexy. Without Heavy D, Notorious B.I.G., Big Pun, Chubb Rock, Fat Joe and a host of other big men might not have had the courage to embrace themselves and their size. We salute you, Heav…gone too soon. We’ll rejoice in your music and influence.

Rest in peace.

You could say I grew up with your music, it was the soundtrack to my coming of age as an artist, as a member of your generation. You will be very much missed, Mr. Myers. Love to your family in their time of loss.

In Progress, Just starting to add color

2011-11-07T14:29:00.000-08:00

With a new schedule

shift I'll have to figure out a better time to get posts up. This is a sketch I'm going to color tonight. Just scanned.

Imaginative Engineering Rocks – Single Wheeled Personal Transport Cycle

2011-11-04T13:28:00.000-07:00

!!!

RYNO Motors Inc., based in Portland, OR, offers cost competitive, energy-efficient, personal transportation products allowing consumers to move through their community, business and environment in a highly efficient manner. RYNO is well positioned to ride the wave of the growing demand for urban commute vehicles driven by urban congestion, fuel costs, and the sustainability movement.

This is the kind of stuff that turns me into my twelve year old self again... Inventions that make one think we'll all live in a futuristic anime world soon. A single wheeled cycle? Where do we test drive? I'm in.

2011-09-11T21:57:00.001-07:00

Back To The Start -- A moving elegant film

2011-09-03T15:26:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure this piece has been on other places, but I want to make sure you've seen it too--

Coldplay's haunting classic 'The Scientist' is performed by country music legend Willie Nelson for the soundtrack of the short film entitled, "Back to the Start." Download the song now available on iTunes. Label and proceeds benefit The Chipotle Cultivate Foundation. http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-scientist-single/id458479961

The film, by film-maker Johnny Kelly, depicts the life of a farmer as he slowly turns his family farm into an industrial animal factory before seeing the errors of his ways and opting for a more sustainable future. Both the film and the soundtrack were commissioned by Chipotle to emphasize the importance of developing a sustainable food system.

I'm impressed by the ability to move through / over the action with such restraint -- makes the imagery even more poignant somehow. Whatever you may feel about the theme, it's a very beautifully crafted animation, down to the editing, and style choices. Whatdya thinkk, huh?

End of the day Sketch

2011-08-10T19:14:00.001-07:00

Oddly enough I named it september.

A muse piece in progress -- Ink and brush on Paper

2011-08-03T17:33:00.000-07:00

I was aiming for something I might see in the New Yorker or someplace. It sure is hard to commit to that ink. Cant figure out why. But at least I'm getting something that feels a little bit "alive" without a lot of surface area shading, or an real color. Interesting to see how the paper accepted the ink. The texture under the hat brim may have to go, we'll see. Cheers

Drawing Marlene!

2011-07-31T17:55:00.000-07:00

Some of the earliest work I ever took in the industry of animation was aimed at me getting to animate great characters in the traditional technique, which is drawing as we all know by now. Hand Drawn animation. There's something communal and of the spirit of craft to me, in humans watching other human expressions of ideas, because to see a person's drawings at film or digital speed is to see the effort of other hands just like yours. It's as close to the ground an art form as the Blues is, when used properly. So while I attempt to get proficient in Flash generally, I've been pipe dreaming about animating the way I was taught by the great Hal Ambro at Cal Arts. Aside from Hal there was Tony Fucile, Bruce Smith and Greg Manwaring and Rich Moore and Mike Smith and Mike Ng. And for a few weeks I'll never forget, even Mr Glen Keane during my little time on "Roger Rabbit".

I'm glad to be able to relate stories to my students of people who were generous with their time and knowledge all throughout my career. It boggles the mind for me to consider how much superb advice I got lucky enough to hear, being in so many right places at amazing times.

Not knowing when I'd be able to start, I decided to go ahead and pick some dialogue to work with and get started on building a scene. Okay, first it was "where did the disk go again?" Clear the desk of all the Make magazines and Software how-to manuals... Go run errands for the house, take care of life...yadda yadda. Anyway, just keep my eye on the prize, and knowing roughly the "type" of human character I wanted to see act in drawings, I put some thought into her design.

Then I realized that what I was up to would work for one my classes too, so two birds with one paper ball. Not bad. I think I'll need them to stay motivated , and be patient with myself around animating. It's been such a long time Too long. For the time being let's call the character Marlene. I should also post the audio segment I'm using.

Anyway please enjoy a little personal, side work as it gets underway. More to come...

Today's Addition

2011-07-26T17:22:00.000-07:00

More from the new series of women, men and couples. Makai is away for a few days so maybe I'll get these up on the daily for once! You know how it is when you're looking for that point in your color work where you don't polish away all the genuine drawing action in order to bring color into your piece? There's a sweet spot these days, a point after scanning a drawing and opening it in CS3 where the work can inform itself about how to use color. But I edge closer to keeping it alive.

Rebecca and and her thoughts...

2011-07-15T19:39:00.000-07:00

This one is number six in a series. I'm trying to post one each day if I can, either on fb or here.

Sketch posts

2011-07-11T13:56:00.000-07:00

Doodle of Abby Hoffman, of the Chicago 7, for a job that went away.

So much flotsam and jetsam from doodleville.

Words from a former life...

2011-07-09T12:11:00.000-07:00

This interview was made during the last productive days at the SF based Wild Brain Studio just a few years back. These days, it's a memento of the creative attitudes of the animation directors at the studio in general, and my own growing frustration with the ad-world and the stalled state of commercial animation

at that time. Thanks to Bruce Green,

Multimedia Designer
Madison College, Wisconsin

Postage

2011-07-08T15:06:00.001-07:00

So Much To Post -- So Little Patience with the process!!

2011-06-23T14:15:00.000-07:00

I know it’s been a while since I posted sketches and scribbles and whatnot. I’ve kinda felt like I needed something more “something”, than what my sketch life has had to offer of late. Such a wide range of thoughts, ideas and preoccupations show up on paper I often get a little stuck without a context or pretext to post things under.

So, I’m just going to stick things up with no real rhyme or reason rather than sit on everything in a state of indecision. The perfect is the enemy of the good, after all. Enjoy some un-filtered scribbles and stuff.

doodling faces w pen & marker

I must admit it’s tough to catch up with all the stuff I’d like to share in this space. I’ve got a quite a backlog to get online. The summer months are sucking time away like there’s no tomorrow.

Those of you with kids understand the challenge of just getting to the desk with purpose and a plan (outside of work assignments) amidst the self-generated storm of one’s own parenting-life. Makai is going to be in the second grade in just a couple MONTHS. Wait -- let me say that again, and try to make myself believe it: Our kid, Makai will be in SECOND grade! Hokey- smokes on a Rope, how did it happen? My amazing crazy nephews are like actual young-men… Actual movers and shakers in their respective cultural milieu, how did all this happen?

As you may know I made a commitment in 2009 to do something to bring more art education to school age children locally. With some help and support from the amazing people at 826 Valencia I’ve put together my first art-workshop for kids 6 to 10 years old in visual-storytelling and cartooning.

At the moment I’m preparing to launch the new workshop, and hopefully develop it for the SF after-school market. The program is being edited and I’m practicing my pitch to schools and parents everywhere. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. More info soon…

Sketchbook ball-point doodlings

I’ve also joined a weekly Taiko Drum session that’s fueling the soul with Beats I need to live. I’ve always loved Taiko, and now I get a chance to ask all my silly old questions about the cultural bits and -- most importantly-- to hit stuff really hard and make a beautiful noise in the La Mission.

Makai has always sung with lots of heart and is very tuneful, even dreaming up little ditties off the dome. Around the house he’s a regular songbird.

(Sometimes he’ll even let Pop beat-box backup) So he’s going start rocking in a great music program this season, so I better get the recording gear out. For Makai, this summer seems to be all about Pokemon trades and razor scooters and a fort in Glenn canyon somewhere. We had so much fun at Silvertree camp watching all the kids perform on the outdoor stage, beneath the canopy of trees and cloudy sky. Makai got to have a raw egg cracked on his head, which needless to say made his whole week. Ah, camp.

The boy is teaching me a great deal about drawing and having fun. Look at this piece he knocked out. Everything is there!

But Seven is also a challenging time of life.

He finds himself at the branching point between being a child -- with all it’s softer moods, it’s total dependence upon grownups, and the more awkward role of being a “young-boy”, carving out his identity a little bit more every day. Being taller than everybody his own age gives him privileged access to the secret worlds of the “older kids” at his summer program, who receive him as one of their own, and corrupt his hungry mind with whatever ten year olds happen to be fixated on this minute.

Mind you, my body sweats, my hands tremble even writing that fact down. Let’s face it, if Poppa had his ‘druthers, we would keep him “small & protected” for a few months or even years more… I so loved my little bundle of wide-eyed curiosities and innocent assumptions about the nature of reality. I dread the onset of grade-school competitiveness, ego and self-awareness that growing up is bringing all too fast. I remember all of it too well from my own school years. Makai has said as soon as he’s knowledgeable enough for the project, he will build Allison and I our own Time-Machine, and allow us to re visit him in his early years! Meanwhile his eye is on the sparrow: onward and upward, to ‘tweenhood and beyond!!

something from the BART travel sketchbook.

Teaching over at CCA in Oakland has been an experience. The school has been so supportive and positive, and recently tapped me to add another class to my week. Next term I’ll be the Senior Project professor in Animation, so we’ll see how that class shapes up. We didn’t have such a class period in my CalArts experience, so I’ll be curious to see in what ways I can help students larger projects in their final year of art-school. A new adventure. Aside from that, it's the great freelance-chase. Just finishing the new fashion-illustration folio to send to print art-directors this summer, while getting notes from the comic project. Chipping away... one stone at a time.

Alright - I gotta go fill up some waterpistols for a little melee out back. Till next post, have fun. It's Summer, you know!

Vive Le France!

2011-05-23T22:04:00.000-07:00

"Soul Man", a new CGI Feature from Blacklight Movies

Have You Seen??

2011-05-23T21:58:00.000-07:00

A french studio of talented artists: BLACKLIGHT Movies is tracking the making and release of their sci fi adventure flick, which looks fairly hot, I must say. This is all new to me. Maybe I've been under my shed, but I believe they showed at Cannes this year. Good on you, Blacklight!

SOUL MAN™ Teaser Guillaume Ivernel (Blacklight Movies) from Blacklight Movies on Vimeo.

Things you don't hear enough about, when they happen

2011-04-13T15:45:00.000-07:00

As we get older, we become more and more aware of how our own deeper self image is informed by the information/entertainment industry's prevailing areas of focus. I wish there existed a 24 hr news channel about society's successes.

The other night there happened to be a fire on our block, just 3 buildings away, off the back garden. That night was high winds from the south, and a downed power line on a building is all it takes... Only question was when the wind would shift in our direction. We watched a crew of firefighters going toe-to-toe with, being injured by, and finally, putting out this serious blaze -- threatening to eat whatever it could while it lasted. I was struck by the sheer courage I saw on that rooftop, and through busted windows on the 2nd floor. Awestruck from the courage. Let's hear it for tour better virtues, huh? Good News is always out there somewhere.
San Francisco Fire Department You guys rock!!! The Mission loves you!

ONE , ひとつ--Fundraiser for Japan relief efforts

2011-03-29T21:11:00.000-07:00

I am humbled, once again, to be in the company of great artists using their talents to make a difference in the world. If you are in the Bay Area this Saturday, 4/2, please come to the art auction at Super Frog Gallery in Japantown in SF. Wonderful people, great art and the opportunity to contribute to an important cause.

ひとつ（"HITOTSU") means "One" which is the first number of all, but also means "United" in Japanese. Our action might be a little "one" to start with, but we can get together and become "ONE" to make a difference.

SuperFrog , Maverix and ArtistsHelpJapan are donating 100% of all proceeds to Artists Help Japan Fund with Mercy Corps.

More info on the Maverix blog here:
http://maverixstudios.blogspot.com/2011/03/blog-post.html

A Panel of some of my art-heroes

2011-03-06T13:05:00.000-08:00

This is from the very excellent video series on Vimeo that you need to follow. It's basically a Tedtalks for Creative Entertainers of all mediums. A concept who's time has arrived for those of us who always hungered for direction, inspiration and career counseling of the sort these incredibly intelligent, open individuals are doing. Another positive in the culture's ambivalence about new media, huh?

This episode is just one of MANY AMAZING talks, lectures and rap sessions that blew my cap backwards when I discovered them. It's like being back in school, or the now hazy days of working in a studio, alongside these craftsmen and women from all over the globe, who can be so open with their ideas and experiences. What a gift!

One on One Spot Light Interview Mike Mignola from Creative Talent Network on Vimeo.

I know, great content, right? I've loved the work of this Mignola cat since his Bram Stokers' Dracula books came out from the young VERTIGO line. The intensity of his poses, even half hidden by dope atmospherics and lush art-deco/neuvo flavorings has always captivated me. But there's always a larger vision the artist is able to follow throughout his career, which is also so aspirational for many of us in the nerdverse. Meanwhile, every experience I've had with Mr Hahn has been one in which I found myself learning and actually growing as a result of his personal charisma and genial leadership. I'll have to write a post sometime, recalling my brief on the job experiences where I got an opportunity to bend Mr. Hahn's ear. Amazing how hearing someone's voice makes you remember, like opening doorways in memory. Till then, Have Fun.

FIVE RINGS: Happy be-delayed new year :p

2011-02-10T17:02:00.000-08:00

FIVE RINGS: Happy be-delayed new year :p

CHECK out what Patrick has been up to!

Go, Mr P!! Great sense of motion.. upward dynamics. I'd be first in line to animate this shot!

boards practice

2011-02-04T11:01:00.000-08:00

Story time - playing with a visual narrative

With much to learn, I'll be generating a bunch of these over the months, posting them as well. Seems like the best way for me to kind of warm up and tune my instrument for this particular craft. I'm going to start out with silent scenarios and work my way up to Dialogue bits from great film favorites out of my collection.

Good Feelin Spot

2011-01-30T16:00:00.000-08:00

Directed by The Mill’s McBess and Simon Landrein; clearly some talented creatives I need to watch. This sort of treatment of the medium using digital tools, is precisely what we were all up to during the Colossal Pictures years in SF. Only guys like Mike Smith and Gordon Clark were sweating out traditional techniques for the same effects: working under hot lights on ancient camera.

O2: The Making Of 'Niggles & Narks' - The Mill Visual Effects Studio from The Mill Visual Effects Studio on Vimeo.

Happy New Year - Have a look at this French short found on VIMEO

2011-01-02T23:29:00.000-08:00

I'm a monster from Headless Productions on Vimeo.

I had not heard of Headless Productions before now. You can be sure I'll look them up. I particularly love the attention to performances that read against the backgrounds with such grace and design. Let's hope they keep it coming!

Thought of You by Ryan J Woodward

2010-12-09T12:02:00.000-08:00

Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.
This animator has a channel on VIMEO, but I wanted to share what he's doing with you here. This animation is full of emotion, but it's lyrical imagination depicts the thoughts and feelings passing through the protagonist's inner world instead of using some external drama to make it's point.

I love the use of modern dance as foundation for an animated pieces. Direct, somatic communication with the viewer of how longing, love, desire can be a kind of poetry using the figure in motion. Good stuff, Mr. Woodward.

Thought of You

Behind the scenes here: vimeo.com / 16330140

"Celebrate Fishbone! 25 Year Anniversary video"

2010-12-08T11:22:00.000-08:00

The Hughes Brothers adapting Otomo's “Akira”

2010-11-08T10:44:00.000-08:00

Updates On Hughes Brothers “Akira” Adaptation (Casting, Location, More)

This report from SHADOW AND ACT

November 8th, 2010

We reported earlier this year that The Hughes Brothers(Albert and Allen) had signed on to adapt a live-action adaptation of the cult favorite, Katsuhiro Otomo’s epic 1982 manga, Akira, for Warner Bros, from a script by Iron Manscribes Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, with Leonardo DiCaprio’s company handling producing duties.

3 casting possibilities have been circulating the web, but, thus far, none has been verified as absolute fact.

First, the folks at Bloody Disgusting are saying that Morgan Freeman is in the running to play military man Colonel Shikishima – the tough-jawed man in charge of the the experiments on Tetsuo Shima.

Second, Slash Film reports that Zac Efron has been offered the lead role, likely Shotaro Kaneda, the motorcycle gang leader.

And lastly, Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been said to be a fave to play Tetsuo, the kid with the undiscovered psychic powers.

By the way, the city has been changed from a future, post-apocalyptic Japan to New York.

Let the lamenting begin…! But did anyone REALLY think that the studio would actually cast Japanese actors to play Japanese characters? Naaah! Despite the fallout over casting for The Last Airbender…

But, as Arturo Garcia at Racialicious notes this morning, it looks like this Hollywood adaptation is more of a complete westernization of the story, than what we’d call a whitewashing. They may even change the names altogether, and maybe they actually should; and while they’re at it, the film probably shouldn’t be called Akira. Fans of the source work will likely be more forgiving of the film..

As I suggested in that initial post, Akira is quite an intense, complex maze – a 2,182-page graphic novel that can’t be fully realized in 1 single film. Otomo himself recognized this, stripping away the last half of the novel for his 2-hour anime adaptation.

Warner Bros is planning to split the film into 2 parts, with the first three volumes of the six-volume manga making up the first film, due out next year.

Albert Hughes later revealed that Warner Bros insists that they deliver a PG13-rated movie. How exactly, will be a challenge. Anyone who’s read the source material, or watched the Otomo’s anime, will understand just how difficult that could be. But Albert said he and his brother are up for the task. He also said that he isn’t interested in sequels, and if Warner wants 2 films from them, he and his bro won’t be involved at all.

So, what does this mean? Well, either they’re working on summarizing/condensing it all into one epic of a movie, or they’ll follow Otomo’s lead and simply cut out entire volumes.

However, I should note that in a June 17, 2010 interview (just a day before Albert’s),Andrew Lazar (one of the movie’s producers) said that a new writer had been hired, and that the production was being fast-tracked for a 2011 release, confirming that the first movie would indeed be based on the first 3 volumes of the manga, and a second movie would adapt volumes 4 to 6. So, it could as well be that the Hughes bros will make the first, and someone else will direct the sequel.

And... The Final Piece

2010-11-02T21:09:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the confusion

Here she is: Terra-form Prayer.

Rough and finished work - My Artblocks piece

2010-11-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

Well, it's done. I finally, happily sent off the piece, entitled "Terra-forming Prayer" to the Dreamworks office where the art being collected for the artblocks 4 ghana project. Word on the street is sounding positive, I think it's going to be a huge success.

My piece is inspired by
images (and People) like this one.

Check it out on their site, along with all the great art you'll find there:

The Picture Book Project Foundation and The Hopkins Foundation present "Art Blocks for Ghana" A Charity Art Auction Created by the Top Artists in the Animation and Illustration Community to help build a Children's Home in Ghana. March 2011

Latest News on Creator Driven Convention Coming...

2010-11-01T12:58:00.000-07:00

My old buddy Jeff and some pals are up to something totally relevant -- that we're all going to want to get involved with: As I understand it, TRIXTER is the first event in this artist-driven enterprise. According to Jeff's blog:

A group of comic artists (including myself) are considering the creation of a new comic book convention. As you may know, San Diego Comic-Con has be come increasingly expensive and unwieldly for individual artists, especially in the last ten years. Due to the success of such recent films as Spider-Man, X-Men, Batman Begins andIron Man, Hollywoodhttp://www.facebook.com/pages/TRCKSTER/100933909959988?v=wall's presence in San Diego has dramatically increased. This has led to a huge spike in attendance - this year, the five-day Comic-Con has all but sold out months before its opening.

The worst aspect of all this is that San Diego Comic-Con is all but inacessible to the casual passer-by. it's hard not to feel that attendees are either die-hard comic fans (i.e, the converted), rubber-neckers who don't care about comics but want to see movie stars, and the studios who serve up the celebrities. Hopefully there's some converts being made, but it doesn't feel like much of a priority any longer.

As Creator-Con's Facebook page puts it:

"This page was created as a forum for the artists, writers, designers, self-publishers, retailers and fans that have become disillusioned and frustrated with what the flagship of comic conventions has become (y'all know the one...in San Diego).

The Creator-Con idea was hatched a few years ago by a few exhibitor friends as a reaction to the popular media takeover of a convention that used to celebrate artists and creators. We were tired of being pushed further and further aside each year to make room for the bigger, louder and flashier attractions that had nothing to do with the convention's humble beginnings.

This page hopefully will give us all a platform to get the ball rolling on something new or at the very least, voice our opinions. So let it ring! We want to hear what you have to say."

Sounds like we better get over there and put in our two cents!

From the Great ASIFA website...

2010-10-08T23:00:00.000-07:00

Good sample of Stephen Worths AMAZING, well organized frothing with knowledge and pure inspiration for art heads like me.

Lately, there has been a lot of activity in the "blogosphere" related to design and animation history. I want to quickly bring a few blogs to your attention that you should add to your bookmarks. I've limited this list to the blogs that provide the best resources for information on animation history, analysis and design for students. There are many other great news and personal artist sites to explore as well. In no particular order...

John Kricfalusi's ALL KINDS OF STUFF

John K's blog is swiftly rising to the top of the traffic rankings, and for good reason... He's packing it full of amazing drawings and solid information. His analysis of style in animation surpasses that of anything currently in print. Post by post, he's laying the groundwork for a broadly arching theory about the creative process that taps upon the whole history of cartooning, from T. S. Sullivant and Milt Gross all the way through the present day. I really don't need to say anything else about John's blog, except to say that it is essential reading for all animators.

Michael Sporn's SPLOG

Michael Sporn's Splog is to independent animation what John K's blog is to cartoons. Sporn has had a long career in animation, going all the way back to the days before he opened his own studio, when he worked with John and Faith Hubley, Richard Williams and R. O. Blechman. His blog is anecdotal and varied, as a forum for a creative artist's reflections should be, with commentary on the current animation scene, reflections on his own past work, and analysis of the importance of great animators from the past. Sporn's understanding and appreciation of the art of animation radiates through every post.

Jenny Lerew's BLACKWING DIARIES

Jenny Lerew's blog is indispensable reading for all animators for two reasons... First, for the well articulated analysis of the creative process in animation. Her articles on the art of pitching a storyboard, the importance of simplicity, and the need for likeable and honest protagonists in animated features are clear and direct and derive from practical experience and a firm foundation in the history of the medium. Secondly, her research into the life and work of Freddie Moore has been shining new light on a major talent. Moore's work illustrates vividly what is missing from a lot of animation today. Students of animation would be well advised to follow Jenny Lerew's blog closely.

Marc Deckter's DUCK WALK

Marc Deckter is one of the handful of people who form the core of the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive project. He's an animator himself, and has great appreciation for the history of the artform. He recently became inspired to create his own blog, Duck Walk. Although there are just a few postings so far, his article on rubber hose animation, and his collection of images by T.S. Sullivant are already tops on my list of great blog postings. Marc donates time each week to help us catalog the material being inducted into our digital archive. Through his work at the archive, he sees more cartoons and artwork than anyone else in town. You'll want to read what he has to say about all of it.

Clarke Snyder's INSPIRATION GRAB BAG

Clarke Snyder's approach to animation blogging is very similar to my own. In each of his postings, he focuses on a single artist or film. He provides an introduction to put the work in context, and then provides a long stack of jaw droppingly beautiful images. He's done features on many of my favorites... Virgil Partch, Mel Crawford, Floyd Gottfredson, and Milt Gross... as well as some of the best looking animated films ever made... Gerald McBoing Boing, Deputy Droopy and Betty Boop in Old Man of the Mountain. If you find the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Blog to be useful, you need to follow this one as well.

Amid Amidi's CARTOON MODERN

Amid Amidi has been working on a book dealing with 50s animation design for several years now. I shared some of my own original artwork from UPA with him back when he was first starting on the project- including the model stat on the right. Since then, he has amassed a remarkable amount of information on an area of animation that has been relegated to the back chapter of too many history books for too long. The stories of Disney and WB have been told... It's time for books that tell the rest of the story. Cartoon Modern features info on great artists like Bobe Cannon, Ed Benedict, Mary Blair and Tom Oreb. The focus is on a very narrow time frame and range of styles, but it's invaluable research into an area that's been neglected in the past.

Dan Goodsell's A SAMPLER OF THINGS

Dan Goodsell, the author ofKrazy Kids' Food! Vintage Food Graphics for Taschen, was our first Archive Alliance member. Dan's personal collection of pop culture graphics, cereal mascot material, and just plain crazy wonderful stuff is monumental. His blog, A Sampler of Things is a showcase for his own comic work, The Imaginary World of Mr. Toast, and a way to share images of material from his collection. Dan's eye for quality is unerring, and he has grouped items from his collection to reveal a context that one wouldn't normally be able to discern viewing them in everyday life. Organization of objects into a group that is more important than the sum of its parts is the mark of a truly brilliant collector.

P-E Fronning's group blog, MARTIN KLASCH and his scrapbook blog MUSSELSOPPANS VANNER

I know nothing at all about P-E Fronning except that he lives in Sweden, and his blogs consistently unearth remarkable examples of photography, illustration, industrial design, popular culture, animation and comics. It's rare when every single posting in a blog fascinates me, but this blog succeeds at that. I could easily spend an entire day just navigating through all the links in the sidebar. Along with Boing Boing, this is the blog I find myself reading most often.

These are just a few of my favorite blogs. You'll find more, including great animation news sites and artists' personal blogs in myTechnorati Blogroll.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

From a great site - A BOMBASTIC ELEMENT:

2010-10-03T19:29:00.000-07:00

Sudan: Futuristic Humanitarian Design?.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2010

Sudan: Futuristic Humanitarian Design?

Emily Pillton - here - explaining what humanitarian design is. I don't know if the conceptual art below counts as humanitarian design, but according to this gallery of pics over at Inhabitat:

Darfur has long been plagued by significant droughts, however in 2007 scientists at Boston University discovered the region has one of the biggest underwater lakes in the world. Putting these two facts together, Polish firm H3AR designed an incredible water-harvesting skyscraper that would draw H20 from underground and create an artificial lake!

These pumps take the water from the aquifer, pump it throughout the building to heat it and cool it, and store it within the core of the building itself.

One word - awesome.

Pictures speak volumes

2010-09-29T14:26:00.000-07:00

From the talented Liselotte Watkins' great blog of eclectic cuisine the eyes. This gir'l's expression makes me wonder... like the Mona Lisa!

Portrait Of My Boy

2010-09-27T15:43:00.000-07:00

Six and 1/2 and shy, but full of mischief of a magical kind. Always open, yet kind of a mystery, reminding me at times of the young narrator of Ben Okri's incredible novel, The Famished Road , which has had such an impact on my work for maybe 15 years, now. Sometimes my son reminds me of Azaro, the young Ibiku boy, for whom being born was a disruption of his contented spirit existence. A kid like many of us, starting out ambivilant about this thing called "being human". He loves to make you laugh. Salt of the Earth.

Stories By People You like to Read!

2010-09-24T15:18:00.000-07:00

My main man over at Starship Sofa is trying something new, still following his passion where it leads him:

Advice to Animators: San Diego Comic Con > Ralph Bakshi

2010-09-20T21:40:00.000-07:00

Natural Mathmatics - A lifelong fascination

2010-09-13T12:21:00.000-07:00

Sacred geometry proportion in Hindu classical dance (Lawlor, Robert. 1982. Sacred Geometry.

Some ideas are too elegant to ignore. This one at least, always ignites a creative impulse in myself.
As a designer, solving problems in terms of positive and negative spaces, having to be aware of the unity between all the basic building blocks of the world around us, I was always attracted to this worldwide perception of harmonies you can find in nature looking at it through the lens of geometry.

Oh, yeah. I better explain. Over at Geometrycode.com they break it down this way:

Sacred Geometry - According to this discipline, the basic patterns of existence are perceived as sacred: for by contemplating and communing with them one is thereby contemplating the Mysterium Magnum, the patterning relationships of the Great Design. By studying the nature of these patterns, forms and relationships and their manifold intra- and interconnectivity one may gain insight into the scientific, philosophical, psychological, aesthetic and mystical continuüm. That is, the laws and lore of the Universe.

It's how you get stuff like Fractals, Folk mathematics, Proportion (architecture), Platonic solids
Golden ratio, Golden spiral , Pythagorean symbols.

THE GOLDEN RATIO

The golden ratio (a.k.a. phi ratio a.k.a. sacred cut a.k.a. golden mean a.k.a. divine proportion) is another fundamental measure that seems to crop up almost everywhere, including crops. (The golden ratio is about 1.618033988749894848204586834365638117720309180...) The golden ratio is the unique ratio such that the ratio of the whole to the larger portion is the same as the ratio of the larger portion to the smaller portion. As such, it symbolically links each new generation to its ancestors, preserving the continuity of relationship as the means for retracing its lineage.

I know, but the pictures help a bit. Since I'm no math head, the systems of measurement terrify me, but the intuitive nature of geometry holds my interest I guess, because all these wild theories and connections use so many terms of art. Cool stuff to think/draw about, anyway.

9-9-2010 New Class @ CCA Oakland Begins

2010-09-10T13:34:00.000-07:00

One part of this busy end-of-summer has been preparing myself to teach the new Character Design for Animation course at cca this Fall.

I'll have blog link setup soon for the students to view their assignments, but for now, here's the Spots noted in the bio, better viewed on Youtube, but you'll get the idea:

An award winning Ad for Wrigley's Gum, of all things

It was a great job for it's mix of textured materials - even the drawings had an added layer of graphite line-noise --blended in Adobe's awesome image editing suite. I love jobs like this, allowing for the stretching of look and methodologies.

-- I directed and designed the girl and the bgs, boarded and made layouts. Designed the color. So many fantastic people were part of my team then, it makes my heart rise and my ears ring, just to think of it. We made some great art/animation!

This was a campaign for Sony/MTV and a collabo between myself and my notorious brother in arms Robert Valley. His name alone brings you to your knees in humility!! I had to direct a gang of spots for Sony's MTV promotional slots. All 2D cel, fx in After Effects. Once more an awesome crew creating the magic.

Another one of the Sony spots.

This is from the Coca Cola/Sprite Voltron campaign I designed and directed. These spots won a BDA award. The Bambatta homage to the Zulu Nation combined with animation was an effort to bring back beloved old school Voltron mixed with the message of urban unity thru rap. I am always humbled by my crew who made these come to life using a combination of 2D animation, and 2 and 3D efx. I'll post the 3 other spots from this series tomorrow, if I can. Enjoy.

I work with both Maverix Studios and Special Agent Productions these days. Be sure to pass by both to see how well displayed content oughtta look.

Pictoplasma - Eyes on the Prize

2010-08-29T11:55:00.001-07:00

"Spacious Thoughts" NASA feat. Kool Keith & Tom Waits from Fluorescent Hill on Vimeo.

And... A page layout. Woo-Hooo!

2010-08-20T00:30:00.001-07:00

2010-08-09T14:23:00.000-07:00

More Studies

2010-08-09T12:47:00.000-07:00

The need to jump around between paintings is pretty insane, but it's the onlyest way I know. There's also the fact that all the pieces on the table need to relate a little and to connect somehow to my theme, which is really an excuse to render something I've always thought would be awesome to see: supernatural havana-film noir, I guess. What? IS'NT THAT A GENRE?

All the images are going to be angles of a single autobiographical event, seen from different points of view, and tied to the music of my memory. Since we all know school is about to be starting again, I know I'll have to put this on the shelf again for awhile. But I'm glad to feel the pieces fall into a mental place anyway. That's a more solid start to a series of paintings than I've ever managed in the past. Tomorrow is not promised. Better shine while u can bwoah!

2010-08-07T00:37:00.001-07:00

quirky quicky...

2010-08-03T17:48:00.000-07:00

Fast Work

2010-07-30T15:26:00.000-07:00

AH, UM.

2010-07-27T22:35:00.000-07:00

littler studies for bigger pieces...

2010-07-26T12:50:00.001-07:00

Ruff Sketches

2010-07-26T09:48:00.000-07:00

getting "tonal" in prep for a large painting.

Sketchbook scrawl...

2010-07-10T23:18:00.000-07:00

Things I read while dreaming up a science fiction world

2010-06-10T10:29:00.000-07:00

Digested here for easier -- um -- digestion, this is the stuff that blew my mind enough to want to make genre stories that would introduce these ideas to all my friends.

Ron Eglash is an ethno-mathematician: he studies the way math and cultures intersect. He has shown that many aspects of African design -- in architecture, art, even hair braiding -- are based on perfect fractal patterns.

- Author: Ron Eglash, 1995 - from WWW.HAUSSITE.NET

-The use of African material culture as a form of analog representation is particularly vivid in cases of recursive information flow. In African architecture, recursive scaling – that is fractal geometry – can be seen in a variety of forms.

-In addition to spatial analog representation many African societies have developed techniques for the analog representation of time-varying systems, including transformation into frequency or phase-domain representation. We see animist energy flow, drawn by a Bambara seer for the author, visualized as a sort wave emanating from a sacrificial egg. The dashed lines inside the figure are a digital code symbolizing good fortune.

And, Here's Dr. Eglash himself making it all even more intriguing.

One African fractal design that is also part of African American innovation in the U.S. is the scaling pattern of cornrow hairstyles.

This all took me back to something I'd messed around with in my days at animation studio colossal pictures: Geomancy.

Geomancy, from Greek geōmanteía translates literally to "foresight by earth"; it is a translation of the Arabic term‛ilm al-raml, or the "science of the sand". - wik

And, CHECK THIS OUT - Interactive software: simulate African designs, create your own patterns, and learn about fractal mathematics

love the way this direction of thought begs the question: What if those who were never given the keys to high-technology suddenly found that they were now the ONLY people with access to the global database, that great neural network of human ideas and beliefs we all contribute to daily? How would this occur? What would it mean?

Somebody once wrote that any technology far enough removed from what we know, would be indistinguishable from magic. For an animator, a born dreamer, that's all they had to tell me.

ornamental intelligent machine

2010-06-05T13:01:00.000-07:00

So, lots of you may have heard this diatribe before, as I spent around 3 years researching and knocking around these ideas with my brothers over at Maverix studio, but for those I never got to regale with the story: a new kind of world view emerged from the process, one I had not found any way to interpret through a personal prism, though I'd seen it expressed by other minds I admire.

When I dream there's a place where technology looks alot like folk-art and handicrafts. As in the past, we become attached to our tools, rely on them to remind us of our meanings and not just our ambitions. In the dreamstate, we don't program our machines in the abstract, with numeric commands. Instead, we mold and shape it directly, by hand and heart. The sweetest piece of code, the most effective design, can only be the result of the most dedicated focus, the most intense curiosity, the most personal vision ( for whatever is being designed) for it's ultimate function.

My beloved maternal grandmother, Lucille Pulliam made her way to California with the skills of a sewing instructor. She taught at a Women's Insitution, preparing women who's existence

had been criminalized, for a world in which there was no future without these now almost unheard of, folk technologies.

-textiles, pattern making, shaping, sewing, hemming, fastening, understanding fabrics as functional & crucial elements of everyone's life.

Remember, at one time, tailoring and clothes-making were as revolutionary, and world changing as any technology of post industrial life on earth.

But, in my dreams, people seem to always be using the old skills, the ancient crafting technologies that my waking world has nearly forgotten ( exp: shout-out to the craft movement, you guys rule) to shape reality itself. Here, people have discovered a functionally tactile interface with the world's "substance" , it's "there-ness".

Okay, I should interject I been reading this thinker named Teilhard de Chardin, and trying to find an artistic response to ideas that frankly captivate my imagination like very few philosophers have. Look at this from wikipedia --

Noosphere (pronounced /ˈnoʊ.ɵsfɪər/; sometimes noösphere), according to the thought of Vladimir Vernadsky and Teilhard de Chardin, denotes the "sphere of human thought". The word is derived from the Greek νοῦς (nous "mind") + σφαῖρα (sphaira "sphere"), in lexical analogy to "atmosphere" and "biosphere".

In the original theory of Vernadsky, the noosphere is the third in a succession of phases of development of the Earth, after the geosphere (inanimate matter) and the biosphere (biological life). Just as the emergence of life fundamentally transformed the geosphere, the emergence of human cognition fundamentally transforms the biosphere. In contrast to the conceptions of the Gaia theorists, or the promoters of cyberspace, Vernadsky's noosphere emerges at the point where humankind, through the mastery of nuclear processes, begins to create resources through the transmutation of elements.

Snap!

Thinking of reality as having information content, data, code? How cool is that? See why my dreams are now full of these wigged out bio-machine creatures?

For Teilhard, the noosphere emerges through and is constituted by the interaction of human minds. The noosphere has grown in step with the organization of the human mass in relation to itself as it populates the earth. As mankind organizes itself in more complex social networks, the higher the noosphere will grow in awareness. This is an extension of Teilhard's Law of Complexity/Consciousness, the law describing the nature of evolution in the universe. Teilhard argued that the noosphere is growing towards an even greater integration and unification, culminating in the Omega point, which he saw as the goal of history. The goal of history, then, is an apex of thought/consciousness

If L. Frank Baum had been hip to the noosphere, would "Oz" have been any stranger? Maybe.

So, no wonder so much of the genre fiction novels I like seem to use this theoretical phenomena as a basis for fantastic universes and plotlines. It has such a mythic scope. It hangs in my consciousness and builds pictures and stories.

Blood Music is a science fiction novel by Greg Bear from 1986 I think. It deals with all my favorite issues around modern humanity: hemes including biotechnology, nanotechnology (including the grey goohypothesis), the nature of consciousness and of artificial intelligence.

2010-05-24T22:20:00.000-07:00

2010-05-24T22:17:00.000-07:00

Soulful

2010-05-24T13:03:00.000-07:00

Rokia Traore sings "M'Bifo" | Video on TED.com

2010-05-24T12:54:00.000-07:00

Rokia Traore sings the moving "M'Bifo," accompanied on the n'goni, a lute-like Malian stringed instrument with a soulful timbre. A quietly mesmerizing performance.

Gotta love TED Talks

Artists You should see...

2010-05-07T11:25:00.000-07:00

Carcamo is an artist I became aware of back in -01, trolling for new inspirations in illustration. He has a wonderful site now, go and see...

Celebrate CHARLES MINGUS today: Jazz Art

2010-04-22T09:20:00.000-07:00

Found this amazing site loaded with tasty cover artwork for many genres of music. Just look at these inspiring, pieces by my fave Jazz "graphicist" David Livingstone Martin!!

Quoting from one fantastic site at Squidoo, David Stone Martin and the Art of Jazz: David Stone Martin was one of the most prolific and influential graphic designers of the postwar era, with his signature hand sketched graphics with two or three primary colors, perfectly capturing the energy and spontaneity of the jazz idiom. Martin designed several hundred album covers, primarily those of jazz musicians album portraits, mostly done in distinctive heavy black-ink lines, included likenesses of Stan Getz,Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Coleman Hawkins, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald,Dizzy Gillespie, Jelly Roll Morton and Duke Ellington. Martin did nearly all the covers for the Asch, Clef and Jazz at the Philharmonic labels of the 1940's and 1950's

Beautiful images on must-hear lp's. This is the music, folks, that gets me up each morning. If JIM FLORA had an older brother in graphical hipness, it would be DS Martin.

It's February already?lbeacalender?

2010-02-01T00:57:00.000-08:00

It's never too late to get on the ball. I just have to push harder to get this series finished and worry about the printing costs later. Could it still be a calendar? Only way forward is the hardheaded way. Sheesh, but it's Feb already. What -- Huh? I got to get a job.

Almost Recovered!

2010-01-05T21:50:00.000-08:00

Be back to posting soon. Happy New Year!

Inspirations on Model Mayhem

2009-12-14T09:15:00.000-08:00

Color/Fashion/Forms!

This stylish stuff can be found at the model mayhem page, where talented costume pros meet up with talented shutterbugs and painters who make Vogue look timid next to their creations.

Do you like unusual reference for drawing figures? I recommend it. Are you a color nerd like me? Then you want to browse the stylists folios for the knowledge there. Have fun.

ROOT BRANCH WINTER ART EXHIBIT 09 @ Maverix

2009-12-11T13:39:00.000-08:00

Last night was a big ol' bowl of warm mulled cider and cured ham, I tell ya. The MAVERIX collective pulled off another yuletide art bash in good form. Pictures are coming soon. Some of our comrades, like Goru Patrick Awa were with us in art if not in person, thank you so much for contributing your SWEET piece, man. Killer watercolor skills always knock me out. I stared at it for aeons, deciphering the koans in your brushstrokes, my man!

Meanwhile Derek Thomson's monster paintings and Bosko's magical imagery were enough to water a parched geeks' mouth with longing. Woah -- Dice!!! Mr Tsutsume inspired me to get back to own "jazz chronicles" project soon, with his mythic portrait "Miles" sounding off from the east wall! Ahhhh -- sepia....! Oh, Enrico, where'd you guys go? I lost track of that gorgeous couple The Casarosas, after they arrived, and had hoped to bend Enrico's ear with proper greetings. So sorry my friend!

So much fine work produced during these artist's very busy schedule on productions... Extraordinary.

I was really overwhelmed at all the faces and voices who came through to see the pieces, which are headed to Google offices in the new year for a longer exhibit there. Shouts out to Nate Stanton, Joe Sloan, Catherine Margerine, Scott Tolmie, Carl Willat, Maestro himself, JOHN HAYES,,,,, Mind spinning... must breath. Aww, how cool to see James Baker and Leslie Arvio, CJ Guzman, Dedan, Steve Lee, and on and on, till the break a dawn. Good Times.

Pencil pixie

2009-11-27T21:50:00.000-08:00

Field Theory

2009-11-26T20:04:00.001-08:00

Happy Autumn. Everyone full?

So, My Buddy Max...

2009-11-24T22:56:00.000-08:00

home : max graenitz
Must-see gallery of work by animation artist and designer of subconscious lullabies. Go there dreaming awake.

Sketchbook Entry

2009-11-24T16:40:00.001-08:00

tablet sketching occasionally yields something

2009-11-24T12:50:00.000-08:00

Autumn Meditation

2009-11-24T12:46:00.000-08:00

For the exhibit. Fun with cut paper, decoupage and inks. "Oh, My!" Nearly done with four now. Yay...

Eowe

2009-11-20T15:55:00.000-08:00

COMING SOON in DECEMBER

2009-11-18T12:09:00.000-08:00

Maverix Art community: Throwin' down another exhibit

slash party, slash holiday catch up with folks you only see on facebk

event!

Please come if you can get out DECEMBER 10th. The lineup of artists

who will have original art on display is pure butter, Baby.

Enrico Casarosa,

Mike Judge, Sho Murase, Dice Tsusume, Patrick Awa, Ted Mathot...

Oh, just come see for yourself!

friday night

2009-11-13T20:10:00.000-08:00

December Art Show - work in progress

2009-11-13T09:13:00.000-08:00

Counting down to December & The Maverix Group art exhibit. I have several pieces to frame and hang in the lobby. Tonight, I'll scan the canvas and watercolor I'm attemping to finish!

We're posting an announcement and mail blast this wk. The show is going to Google headquarters for exhibit after our showing. Enjoy.

Another look...

2009-11-02T11:51:00.000-08:00

Some further study on that kid and her bot. After the holidays we'll get back to a full head of hot air on this project. We haven't figured out a tone just yet, but there's chemistry in the sessions. And Boatman can type, so that's that problem solved....

More robotica with The Kid

2009-10-28T16:19:00.000-07:00

From the project I mentioned yesterday. Mostly from a sketchbook. Nothing is nailed down at this point. Whatd'ya think?

---Here you go, Jamie!

More robotica

2009-10-27T15:42:00.000-07:00

From the "stuff I wanna do" pile under my desk. Micheal and I want to put a youngster with a robot and let fur fly, so to speak.

But he's all the way on the other Coast, so I do these things to keep him inspired and jotting ideas down whenever possible. Forward... HARCH!!

This color thingy is a shot at one of the directions we might move in for the bot itself. I mean himself.

Ed Bel TShirt Sale

2009-10-17T16:38:00.000-07:00

Better Late than Never!

Well, thanks to some bad luck with me gmail, and a bad cold, and possibly the most emotionally draining past two months on record, I've MISSED the window to really promote these, but there's still time to get one of these tshirts onsale today at RIPT APPAREL online store

Not the last TSHIRT design... I have a bunch more in my clogged pipeline as this goes up. My lady and I are choosing some options, getting files ready now.

Please go pickup one of these shirts and encourage more shenanigans like these from your's truly. Robots, anyone?

From the dome...

2009-10-07T11:12:00.000-07:00

Really, from the desktop. My buddy Michael B and I have been ironing out some of our projects and organize our many show and movie ideas, ever since I started penciling his graphic novel project "The Revenant Road".

We ain't immune to the robot craze, either. These guys were inspired by Neal Degrasse Tyson, and Carl Sagan, both of whom I sort of revere, I guess.

It's Little Gaia!

2009-09-29T12:30:00.001-07:00

Meet Gaia. Mother Earth. She's one of the folk figures in a small full-color calender I'm producing for sale in October. GAIA appears in the calender as "January". It's been a busy month, but I'll return with a heap of artwork and ideas very soon.

Something before tones go in...

2009-09-12T19:13:00.000-07:00

It's just a bit o something. I'll be posting again, soon. Ciao!

Working Fast - Pleading with the WACOM to behave...

2009-08-06T20:35:00.000-07:00

Trying to get the knack of the gestural statement. The composition that can still go bump, bump --tak, tak,tak! Rhythm first. But I can't have more than one hour to settle on one composition/idea. One little statement I can make with some confidence. Then, I'll deal with the details later...

2009-07-23T10:04:00.000-07:00

SF in July

2009-07-14T12:59:00.000-07:00

New postcard in progress. Almost done. Can't wait to get back to the tablet next week. Y'all stay cool, wherever you are.

play with a room

2009-07-08T23:48:00.000-07:00

Design Question:

2009-07-08T11:07:00.000-07:00

Trying to create a little signature graphic for some self promotional stuff. If I can ever manage to get my comic project done, I'll use this design in the info page. Trying different combinations of the elements I've chosen, and now have to whittle down to a final one. Any preferences you have would love to hear them! Mainly, I'm wondering how the font works as opposed to using a handwritten signature.

A Blast From Animation Past

2009-07-02T20:34:00.000-07:00

Here's a commercial I made with Wild Brain back in the Diz-ay. I directed and animated on all five of these, one crazy hot SF summer. I should remind you to always feel free to visit MAVERIX Studio's nifty website if you want to see more animation from your's truly. Enjoy!

Chris Carter - Great Artist - Great Friend: New BOOK!

2009-06-29T16:35:00.000-07:00

It's about time we had an art book representing Mr. Carter. I just had to say how amazing it is to now have a body of work documented here in print for this highly relevant, inventive and ultimately transcendent artist Chris Carter! His supporters have been waiting for this with mounting excitement.

I was lucky enough to have seen some early shows of Carter's, and was treated to an intensely artistic interpretation of all our shared influences in cultural experience; I mean to say that his work re-masters our present reality when you look closely at it's bold structures, playful concepts, industrial and natural world materials. This is sculpture in the same way that Robotech and the Matrix, and ILM's exquisite models for cinema over the past two decades could be called sculpture.
Christopher's work has eveolved in such rich directions since I first became aware of it, but I think that description is a bedrock layer of this complex artistic vision.
As a viewer, you will be riveted by your own primal side upon first gaze. Then you should let the sensual topographical language he's using guide you -- there's a joyful acceptance of urban decay as well as the breakdown of chemicals in nature. Every component of reality -- for him -- becomes a unique puzzle to be measured, recieved, re-ordered and untied from the old meanings we had given it.

Christopher's objects, to me at least, seem to call us out on our hubris as a species, while they allow us to play with the possibilities before us. But then I interact with one of these amazing pieces: the abacus, or fountain of rope, or an instrument that seems to be recording a musical impression upon itself... And none of that pseudo political crap means anything in the next moment, because it presents itself as a plaything as the artist reminds me I should touch the surface, of lift the object, or connect with it in some way that alters perspective, and make us laugh at our own pretensions. That tension between a profound statement and bit of a hoot, are welcome in the world of fine art.

You walk into one of Christopher's shows, and you may not be aware of this but you get to be a kid again, on one level, and yet grow your adult brain too. There's just a whole lot of Motown and Stax in those forms and spaces, textures and materials. One implied ramshackle object is an invitation to loosen up before you dive into the meaningful. Robert Johnson did that, warming up. Then you become aware of earthy, hard-won achievements over heavy materials. Materials that tend to resist any outside pressures excluding time. It's clear the artist has forged a relationship with woods, metals, resins, glass or bronze or hemp... that might be measured in sheer amounts of sweat, blood, basic human toil required to loose something new upon the world.
I'm not finished. More to come. But Yo -- Go buy it. Preorder at AMAZON.

"Into the Blank Where Life is Hurled,"

2009-06-27T12:23:00.000-07:00

Tony Smith over at starship sofa magazine sent me a fantastic story that needed some artwork for their JULY issue. It was a tale I could relate to, and even in hard times inspiration should be responded to with some work. The subject of this sci-fi drama is Harry Houdini, and written by a great author, Ken Scholes. Look for "Into the Blank Where Life is Hurled," coming next month. Details on the way.

OUT THERE...

2009-06-18T14:56:00.000-07:00

OUT THERE...

2009-06-18T14:52:00.000-07:00

Wow. I've been out of touch lately. Freelancing in summer months... time management issues, etc.

Splash

2009-04-21T15:33:00.000-07:00

image play

2009-04-12T00:31:00.000-07:00

Hey lookey....

2009-04-10T20:48:00.000-07:00

Catching up with things a bit,

2009-04-10T20:39:00.000-07:00

Spring and Summer bring with them many impediments to posting. This is the season when our kid is with us night and day -- thus the long lag in updates. Here is more of what I hope will be collage into larger finished paintings by the time we orginize our next auction at Mavx. I'm shooting for ten pieces of various dimensions, but most over 18 inches either way. Lots more to come. And one day I'll actually use my JOTT account to update this blog. 5000.

Friday

2009-03-13T12:37:00.000-07:00

Piecing together some larger compositions today, for framing and auction later in the year. Maverix is about due for an auction/gallery party anyhow. It's been awhile, huh?

Just posting some of the elements I'm drawing separately, to be combined into a bigger piece and colored afterward.

2009-03-10T17:02:00.001-07:00

drawing thinking doing remembering

A work of art goes through many phases of development, but in each phase it is always a work of art. (Therein lies the importance of sketches.) A work of art is finished, from the point of view of the artist, when feeling and perception have resulted in a spiritual synthesis. - Hans Hofmann

Saved by sketching...

2009-03-10T16:17:00.000-07:00

Holding on to sanity, one pencil at a time! Sketchbook fragments look alright in this space. So, here goes...

Wow, check out this piece:

2009-03-10T16:13:00.000-07:00

Some good ideas in Rushkoff's creative commons essay. worth reading

A rushed, hectic week

2009-03-06T15:21:00.000-08:00

But here's a pic. Maybe more this weekend.

2009-03-06T15:14:00.000-08:00

Hard to find time to post at the moment. Brain drain happens when daddy duty and freelance jobs blur together in my days. Since we just passed thru Black-Folks' history month, I thought I'd add one piece of info I thought interesting. The Hirschfeld stamp is not really new- news, but it's relevant. Anybody interested in Al himself or his work, please go straight to Margo Feiden Gallery at

Lots o good things to do there.