What The HELL...ROD?

Heres A couple bits of artwork that I did for a series idea my partner JD and I have. Its called "The Pop-Cult Picture Show"...basically its 26 short films that pay tribute to 50s and 60s b movies. All the short films star the same actor, Hamilton "Hambone" Bonaparte. So...its like a film festival of Hambone's ...um..."finest work". Anyway...I did like 26 fake movie posters for the pitch pack...and a bunch of locations. JD (as usual) did some kickass Character stuff! Here's Ham...as "Turk" a ruff and tumble hood who becomes overly obsessed with souping up his ride..only to find out hes created a mechanical monster...HELLROD! In the flick...Hambone also does hellrod's voice. Yeah..the car talks. Mostly about running people over, lawn jobs, and being thirsty for a swig of oil and stuff. Stupid? Maybe...but i love stupid! In one scene...hellrod goes nuts after someone tries to shove a banana in his tail pipe. He's not that kind of car!

FEATHERED FRIEND-ZY

Yep...its happening! Veteran Storyboard Artist, company gag man, and all around Bon Vivant, Patrick "Jimbo" Pakula is starting thumbnails on the storyboard for "Feathered Friend-zy" A kickass short that Jared and I have been dying to make but have been to damn... busy /lazy/drunk/insert any excuse...to get going on. We have a killer script written by big time LA writer Chris Brown, and a heap of sweet designs. I thought i'd post some. Pat we love you! But not..like..."LOVE"...love...(like Ted & Doreen love you) more like "luv"...love. Anyway...both JD and I will post the goods as we go.

Oy Robot!

Oy Robot...a fantastic Betty episode from season II aired on the weekend. Great job everybody! Here are a few of my key locations from that show. It was super fun to design and color...it all takes place inside a giant robot. So...to some degree I tried to add a bit of human biology to locations.

Post Cartoonapalooza...

Cartoonapalooza was a raging success last night! Thanks to the brass at atomic cartoons for pulling off a kickass event! The Numbskulls rocked the house, and fun was had by all... except of course for the mysterious old guy pictured above. It seems my good buddy and office mate Pat Pakula has taken to roughing up harmless senior citizens for fun. Oh, well...if ya can't handle a tumble down the stairs...ya might as well stay home. Haha...just kidding buddy! TEQUILA CRAZY EYES!

Gray Area

Missed my sunday grayscale post. So..here it is a day late. This one is for you Ridd! I don't know about anybody else but I could eat pancakes all day...every day!

Flat But Functional

Another "Horse & Buggy" location. Still super flat, but totally functional as an environment.

int. g-fifty's noggin - day

So...i was thinking...maybe I will start a separate blog strictly devoted to bg design. Kinda like the the sooper sweet "Character Design Blog". I love what they are doing with all the character design stuff, and interviews and whatnot. Since i've been designing bgs for the last ten years... i feel like I might be able to offer a word or two of insight, but I'd especially be interested in talking to other bg designers and painters about their process. There is a heap of good stuff out there...and i think it could work. Anybody else agree? Anyway i guess i gotta come up with a name for the blog and stuff...and track some folks down who might let me throw a barrage of questions at them. In the meantime...heres a bg from a short Jared (my carnival cartoons partner) and I are itching to make. The short is called "Feathered Friendzy" and its based on our show idea "Horse & Buggy". Its a real down-home, country style cartoon...so I tried to give the locations a sort of folk art feel.

Another Gray(scale) Sunday

Happy New Year! Well its another grey and cloudy day in Vancouver. In honor of the weather i've decided to post a grayscale drawing every sunday. I always start out a design by building a grayscale version first, before moving on to color. Kinda helps to wrap your head around the drawing before getting caught up in color choices. Anyway, I love the way the drawings look in this form. And...i've got alot of em! Heres something i did while helping to develop a show at work...can't say what its from...but I wanted to go in a real fifties direction. Ultimately that was nixed by the various parties involved. Oh well...still came out of it with a sweet looking doodle! Keep a look out on sundays for more color-free shtuff.