Fire and watercolors...

Had lunch outside today on DCP's Commisary patio with John Quinn, Jennifer Long and Eric Hutchison. While we were eating, the hills of Hollywood were burning in the distance.
Another thing burning itself into existence, was one of John Quinn's latest watercolor sketches.
John's got a great rendering technique that doesn't look labored, and he inspired me to make a quick watercolor cartoon that didn't look like gouache and didn't have that over-worked magic marker look to it.
Thanks for the inspiration, John.

I've also been inspired by a new book I just recieved: "Halas & Batchelor Cartoons" by Vivien Halas and Paul Wells. I'm still skimming through it and looking at the visuals, but I hope to start reading it in a day or two. I've been curious about this studio since seeing stills of Animal Farm in the early '70s.

I'm glad the weekend's here!

It's been a rough couple of work weeks at Disney.

We're all mad here!

No Kiddin'.

"Plan 14 Carat from Outer Space"

Here's some nonsense created in June '95 while at Warner Brothers. Never had any ideas of pitching it, just having a little fun. I love Tim Burton's "Ed Wood" film, and had just finished reading "Nightmare of Ecstasy", the Wood bio.

An experiment...

We've been asked to create three images to be used as "tiles" that will be mounted to a wall at work, as part of our Mission Statement. I decided to try my hand at watercolor. I've only done a few pieces in the past, but these were fun to cobble together.
This is the first two of the tiles, the top image represents the search for an idea. The bottom visual is the "eureka" moment, and the last one (still in progress) will represent the relief that comes from completing an assignment.

"Princess Comics" Update-updated again!--And again!!

A few posts back ("Never made it to the Ball...") I was wondering if this Princess Design Program that I created and produced was ever used. I didn't think it was, and some of you were disappointed that Disney passed on it. Well it pleases me greatly to announce that this art WAS published on product in the UK and Japan, and I couldn't be happier.
It was used on Stationery, and the program was named... "Girl Talk".
Isn't that cute?

********************************************************
Update- 4/3: The products made in Japan were produced by, get this: Sony Creative Products.Do you believe that? Maybe I should be working for them?! I don't know what type of deal was made to make this happen, or whether I should be proud of bringing these two giant corporations together, or feel insulted that my own company pimped out my idea.
The art on the pieces of stationery look the same as I intended, but there is a lot of extraneous copy on all of them. Shit like: "Series 4", and such. I guess they were issued as a collectible set or some other hokey plan that Japanese marketers are famous for. But at least they were used, even if they were released like a bubble gum card series.

******************************************************
Update-3/26: It turns out that the U.K. did NOT create product with this design program, and I couldn't be happier. You see, they wanted to use my original rough concept sketches instead of the final art, and I wasn't too keen on that idea. It was always my intention to make the art look like comic strips, dot-patterns and all. It can really be frustrating at times, working as a creative person in a corporate setting with committees second guessing your work at every turn.
I have seen the line of products produced in Japan, and they look great. I should be getting samples soon, and when I do I'll post them.
******************************************************
This visual of "Tink" is from an earlier Black & White version of the concept, with my inks and hand-lettering. I'll post the final, closer-to-model color version some time next week.
Tink was the only one that was left out of the mix, since she's a "fairy" and not a Princess.

A big thanks to my team member, Eric "Sherlock" Hutchison, who discovered the product samples in our I.T. department - taped up on a fellow employee's cubicle wall!

I'm so glad that this adventure finally has a Fairy Tale ending.

Id of the Sailor man...

There's more to Id than meets the popped eye.

I've been watching the old Fleischer Popeye's lately, and while I still love the animation- the inevitable ass-whipping Popeye lays on Bluto gets a little tiring after a few cartoons. The Elzie Segar comic strips, however take the Salty Sea Dog on great extended adventures with lots of dimension.
The good people at Fantagraphics Books have recently released the first volume of Popeye, an oversize book collecting the early adventures in B&W Daily and Color Sunday strip form. I highly recommend it for the cartoonist and cartoon fan, especially if your only exposure to Popeye & Co. have been the Fleischer & Paramount cartoons. ( If, heaven forbid, the only Popeye cartoons you've ever known of are DiC's "Popeye & Son"- go out to the bookstore now, even if you have to sleep in the doorway until they open up in the morning, and buy this book!) These strips have a completely different scope to them, lots of adventure. And they're funny. Laugh-out-loud funny.

The always-amazing Oscar Grillo has been posting some very imaginative re-mixes of "Popeye" and his pals, so lately the ol' sailor has been dancing around in my head. Thanks for the inspiration, Mr. Grillo!

I'll use any excuse I can get to take out the Higgins Ink and Windsor & Newton series 7.

After all... I yam what I yam.

Now go to: http://okgrillo.blogspot.com ... and get inspired too.

Out of my head -- out of this World...

I love doing concept sketches for ideas I'll never pitch. I also love Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet. This little guy is based on him. The monster chasing him is inspired from reading too many EC comics.

Sketchbook:1971...

When I look at my old sketchbooks I'm always amazed that I had the balls to keep going. Who would accept this type of crap? Surely not any art buyer or editor with taste. But somehow, for some reason, I soldiered on. Maybe it was sheer force of will. I surely wasn't prepared for any type of art career in my schooling or background. I came from a neighborhood of Longshoremen, Sanitation Workers and Shoemakers. Who in their right mind would let this little greaseball into the art world?

As it turns out; my first boss in the advertising field was a third generation Italian-American like I was, who probably saw a bit of himself in me when I interviewed for a "Paste-Up Artist" position at Gem Studio. He took a chance on hiring me, and ultimatelly I wound up being the first on-staff Illustrator in the studios history,for that I will always be grateful, and willing to bet on any creative person who has a burning desire to work in the creative arts.

I encourage anyone who may not be "there yet" to keep at it, because you never know... maybe someone will take a chance and hire you. Then, years later, you can look at your old crappy drawings and smile.

Princess comics-- behind the scenes...

The Princess program was based on '50's romance comic strips like "The Heart of Juliet Jones", "Mary Perkins" and the graphic beauty of Ken Bald's "Dr. Kildare".

I've known Ken since 1980, when he came aboard as Creative Director of Illustration at Gem Studios in NYC. In fact I helped him move in. In those pre-Google days Illustrators would file away reference in file cabinets referred to as "morgues", and their contents were called "scrap". Ken's reference filled eight file cabinets, and he knew the exact location of every bit of information.

In addition to my own assignments I'd assist Ken in small ways, like rendering product in storyboard panels. But mostly I'd observe and ask questions on the how's and whys of illustration every chance I got. Ken was very patient and generous with all of us younger guys and as a result we would learn more from him in a workweek than we'd ever learned in a semester at art school.

Mr. Bald worked at Gem until retiring a few years ago, and still accepts the occassional assignment. But mainly he's been painting and enjoying himself and the company of his wonderful wife Kaye.

When I got the go-ahead from my then VP, Janet Parks to produce the Comic Strip program my first and only choice for the illustration assignment was Ken Bald. Working from my concepts Ken produced pencil art for all of them and one final inking for the Cinderella piece. The original intention was to create the art in a more photo-realistic style, without the Disney stylizations. But we decided to stay true to the film designs- with me producing the finals and working with a "Princess Artist" and an outside production freelancer.

The best part of it all was the fact that I was able to work with my dear friend and mentor at Disney. I thought that this was the first time that Ken would be working with Disney, but I was wrong- Ken created art for the theatrical poster campaign for "Old Yeller" in its original release.

In addition to Ken's Snow White pencil art I've included a few sundays from his syndicated "Dark Shadows" comic strip. The strip was collected in paperback a few years ago, and may still be available from the publisher or Amazon.com. Here's the contact info for the publisher: Pomegranate Press, Ltd. - P.O. Box 17217 - Beverly Hills, Ca. 90209-3217. They may even have a website, so do a little searching. And while you're searching, Google Ken Bald and check out his body of work. You'll be glad you did!

Never made it to the Ball...

Here is a sampling of a design program I created and pitched. The idea was a spoof on the old "soap opera" romance comic strips from the '50s.

For a while it looked like Europe was going to use these images on product. Then Stationery got involved and asked me to direct a color version, as shown here.

The visuals were intended to be B & W, so I've included one of them.

If anyone in Europe has ever seen these visuals, please let me know.





























All images are
TM & (c) 2007 Disney

Not-So-Great Moments in Animation History...

New York City, 1917... Max Fleischer signs Koko the Clown to an iron-clad contract.

Gee Whizz!

Almost lost my blog while switching to the newer version. Very scary, sheesh!

More Alex Toth art...

Toth Covers discovered!

Courtesy of one of my dearest friends, Brian Postman. I first met Brian in the early '80s at GEM Studios in NYC. I was a big fan of his Spider-Woman artwork for Marvel Comics. Brian was responsible for creating the visual look of one of my favorite S-W villians: Daddy Longlegs! For some reason I assumed that Brian was British when I saw his byline. Who knew he was a nice Jewish Kid from Queens?!

Brian pulled my butt out of the fire many times when I was fighting short deadlines producing "The Honeymooners" comic book with Triad Publications in the mid-'80s. I hope we get to collaborate again some day.

Thanks for the Toth images, Big Guy.

Alex Toth '59

Illustrated adventure by Alexander Toth, and available at the nearest Variety Store!

In 1959.






I'm not sure if the cover art is by Alex, but it's pretty nice. I got very lucky when I picked up this copy for $3.95 a few years ago in a local bookshop.






I'll post more illustrations from the book in the next few weeks.

More Mickey Mouse on Mars...

One of my rough concepts for the Mickey on Mars program. Jeff's version leaned toward the exploration of Mars, I was ready to get him into trouble on the red planet. The creature sneaking up behind him was inspired by Jiminy Cricket.

I've always preferred the "Adventurer Mickey" over the domesticated version that's been dominant since he started wearing Fedora's in the early '50s.

Mickey goes to Mars!

This is a concept piece done for presentation. The original idea and rough layout was created by Jeff Shelly, Character Art Director for the Mickey team. I did the color sketch in markers, with Prismacolor linework and a little gouache accenting.

Our deadlines are usually tight, so marker renderings are a quick and efficient way to work. Especially when you need to bang out two of these in a day.

The secret lives of 'toons...

Tattoo's & T-Shirts...

rough
concept
art




















































All Images
TM & (C) 2007 Disney

The secret lives of 'toons...

This is Phil...

He never
gets things
right.

And
probably
never will.

"Bat-Guy"

In the early '90s I'd create characters and draw comics at home after working in advertising all day. I've always loved the form and the freedom you can enjoy working on your own stuff.

This page of nonsense was an excuse to satirize Batman from the animated series. I loved the show, it was close to what I imagined the Fleischer Studios would have done with the character, and I think Bruce Timm is one of the best artists working in comic books and animation.

A few months after my artwork was created, John Byrne did the same gag in a story for a Batman Animated Annual. There's no way he could have seen my work, nor could I have seen his. But we both went down the same path, including the fat guy in the window yelling at the costumed hero.

I'm convinced that our brains are like radios and sometimes we pick up similar transmissions.

Baby, it's cold outside...

I thought it might be a good time to post some unused Disney concept art from a Surf-Themed Design Program that I worked on.

Maybe it will warm us up a bit out here in Cali.






(All images are
TM & (c) 2007 by Disney)

For Iwao...

I joined Warner Bros. Studio Stores in late '94.
I showed my portfolio to Designer, David Harrison (He's now at the Disney Stores), and after a few freelance assignments I was offered a full-time position as Senior Illustrator. WB was a fun and challenging place to work, we were able to follow through on products from concepts to finals. No licensees in the way of a compelling product, and the opportunity to work with Illustrators and Designers who understood and appreciated the characters.
WB's design studio was originally in NYC, the following year it was re-located to Los Angeles, I stayed behind as a contracted freelancer and later moved out to L.A. in June of '96.

When WB & Turner merged we gained the Hanna-Barbera characters.

Our VP Director of Creative, Ruth Clampett asked H-B Design Director Iwao Takamoto to give a "Chalk Talk" to the Character Illustrators, an overview of the H-B characters, especially "Scooby-Doo". Iwao was very generous with his time and knowledge, we spent hours with him in a conference room and later in his private office at the old H-B Building. He was working on final pencils for a Scooby-Doo Style Guide. His pencils were amazingly clean and clear. Very lively.

I remember having a very informative and fun visit with the great Iwao Takamoto.

Scat Inking...

Taking a new
Brush Pen
out for a spin.

"Happy New Year!"