Monkey Rag Sc. 30

Sc. 30 of Monkey Rag is penciled!  Only 5 seconds left to animate...so very close to the animation finish line.

Holy Crapbook! Free Art Friday Snuck Up On Me

Some quick thumbs working out what the heck I'm doing for Free Art Friday. 

Daily Crapbook Lesson

It's rare when I am entirely happy with a drawing, so at least in this case I'm certain that I'm nowhere near happy with it.  But at a certain point, you realize you've worked an hour longer than you intended and you're still going nowhere, so then you post it anyway as a lesson to yourself to do it better next time.

The Old Petunia Pig

I was so surprised the first time I saw a cartoon with the original Petunia Pig.  What a different look, very much of the era.  She was a nice visual foil for the uber-chubby Porky Pig.  I kinda prefer the old Petunia!

Daily Crapbook: Old Maid Sketch

Still slogging through Sc.30, but thought I'd scan in an old sketch I did while wishing for the next season of Downton Abbey to appear on Netflix.

Faces of Ivan

Someday I'd like to make an animated version of "The Poplar and the Stream," which is a very touching and cruel Russian folk tale.  Its always running on the back of my mind, so sometimes the characters seep their way into my doodling.  Here are some ideas for Ivan the Woodcutter- not near what I want, but it does take a long time for my hands and my brain to get in sync.

Daily Crapbook: Do Some Yoga

When I get to feeling about as supple and a dried out rubber band, I know its time to get off my butt and stretch a little.  But I'm in a groove here on Sc. 30 and don't wanna step away from the board, so maybe a little inspirational doodling will help.  Drawing yoga is just as good as actually doing it, right?  I'm sure it is.

Happy Birthday, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle!

Because I'm all about celebrating the lives of great literary figures, here's is an offering in honor of Sir Arthur Conan "The Barbarian" Doyle.    

Daily Crapbook: Honey

Its been such a long time, but yesterday I got a hankering to see some Tiny Toons.  I chanced upon one of my favorite episodes, "Feilds of Honey."  Its a great homage/updating of Bosko and Honey, and the story of Babs's search for a female role-model is still hilarious and touching.  What a cool show.

Monkey Rag Thanks!

Thanks to all of you who are following and supporting the completion of Monkey Rag.  Every nice comment and reblog is like a high five and it gives me energy.  You all rock!

Sc. 29 Pencils Complete!

I couldn't sleep tonight until I finished this scene.  Now its finished!  Now I sleep.  Now I'm wondering why birds are singing at three in the morning?

Daily Crapbook: Dark Thoughts

Hard to shake sometimes. 

The Witch's Tale on the Radio

While I work I like to fill the air with something to keep me company, and boy do I love me some Old Time Radio.  These old programs are simply fascinating.  Right now I'm getting my fill of horror/thriller stories listening to Relic Radio's podcast The Horror.  They play supernatural-themed episodes from a wide array of programs.  This is how I found out about Escape!, Quiet Please, Price of Fear, Lights Out, Hermit's Cave, and many other great shows.  Even my all-time favorite show Suspense gets wedged in there once in a while.  Horror stories are perfect for the radio, because most of the tension and eeriness really comes from sounds.  (At least for me: when I saw The Ring I ended up covering my ears more than my eyes.)  And the added pops and crackles of old radio really heightens the atmosphere.  Not every story is a winner, not every actor is the caliber of Orson Welles or Vincent Price, but each show has something about it worth coming back again for.  For instance, take the program The Witch's Tale hosted by the characters Old Nancy and her wise black cat Satan.  That character creeps the hell out of me, every time she says "A'm a hunner and ten year old today.  Hunner and ten year old!  Ah heh heh heh heh!" Well, I guess you'd just have the hear it to know what I mean.  

Sc. 28 Pencils

This took a day longer to complete than I expected, but that's better than my usual track record.  I took some time to experiment with Mitzi's scream, and as much as I like wild takes, I chose to do something that went better with the music.

Wild Mitzi

Almost done with Scene 28, but I'm having trouble getting Mitzi's scream jeeeest right.

Daily Crapbook: Geriatric Cat

When you own a geriatric cat, you say the darndest things.

Thoughts on Mitzi

Nate wants to make a maquette of Mitzi to possibly base figurines on as a promotional tool.  I did a couple sketches to help him build an armature, and I realized I probably should have done this way before I started animating.  Also, I think Mitzi is going to have red hair. 

Daily Crapbook: Old Cowboy

Daily Crapbook

Took a break to doodle some faces.

Unused Star Wars Pinup, the Sexy Ewok

I didn't have time to make this one for Free Art Friday, but here it is anyway:  another disturbing Star Wars girlie.

One More For May The Fourth, Hana Solo

My last contribution to today's Free Art Friday's Star Wars Day.  Han Solo would be fun to crossplay, it seems!

May The Fourth Be With You

Okay, so I never claimed to be a fan of Star Wars, but this geek holiday is too awesome to ignore.  Here is some more Free Art I will drop this afternoon.  This will probably mark the end of me trying to paint and marker on foam core, because that was a stupid, lazy idea to begin with.  It is an attempt now relegated to annals of history- be a part of it and capture Slave Leia!

Free Art Friday: Star Wars Pinups

 

In honor of May the Fourth Be With You, I'm contributing some Star Wars pinups for tomorrow's Free Art Friday.  Lets start with one that will haunt your nightmares, sexy Chewy!

Monkey Rag Updated Animatic Scenes 1-27 Pencils!

Another update to Monkey Rag!  Really closing in on the end of the pencils.

Monkey Rag Sc. 26

Haven't made my deadline for a new animatic post by May, but I'm pretty close.  I did finish Sc. 26 though.  Huzzah!