Daily Crapbook: May Flowers

May Flowers for this week's GirlsDrawinGirls.

Happy Birthday Liz!

My sister is a super-hero.

Daily Crapbook: Life is Still A Jerk

This platitude gets to me, even if its one I've said to people on occasion.

April Showers

April Showers for this week's GirlsDrawinGirls.

Daily Crapbook: More 80s Hair Warm-ups

I want to return to that evil little girl- I did not capture those cheeks at all.

Illustration Friday: Vanity

Waitresses for Schoolism

Schoolism homework for this week was three waitresses using different basic shape elements.  I chose banana, pear, and apple.

Daily Crapbook: May in Color

Baby May in color.

Daily Crapbook: Davi D'Lish

Happy Birthday to everbody's favorite Mistress of Ceremonies, Davi D'Lish!

Schoolism Homework Thumbs

Trying to find something interesting through thumbnails.

UPA Doc: Willis Pyle Model Sheet

My first model sheet for "The Boing Heard Round The World."

Daily Crapbook: Hope vs. Expectations

In the battle of contradictory platitudes, this is the one that probably bothers me the most.

Daily Crapbook: Liz Smash Sketch

Working out a sketch for my sis.

Daily Crapbook: May sketch

Illustration Friday: Natural

Tried to make it into a joke but gave up.  Sometimes you just gotta draw a girlie.

Daily Crapbook: More 80s Hair

Warmin' up!

Daily Crapbook: Night Bird

As if I needed another reason to stay up all night...

Gene Kelly as "The Pirate"

As I said before, this week's Schoolism assignment was to design a character based on a famous person, and I took my inspiration specifically from Gene Kelly in "The Pirate."  I really, really wanted to do a good job on this, but it always seems the more I agonize over something the more I mush it up.  Here's hoping Steven Silver will be able to help!

Daily Crapbook: Serafin The Pirate

I really want to do well on this week's Schoolism assignment- to create a character inspired by a famous person.  I chose Gene Kelly from "The Pirate" because its such a fun performance, and Kelly's idea to show that men can be graceful without sacrificing masculinity is a very interesting one.  Serafin is a rake, but very charming, and as the pirate he proves powerfully athletic even in those dainty little black shorts.  There are a lot of elements to play with: his muscular legs, pointed little boots, floppy curly hair, slim, lightbulb-shaped torso, high waist, roguish expression- but every time I think I'm close to tying it all together it just slips away.  I planned to finish this today but on the last assignment I committed too early and the final product suffered. This time around I'll take it slow and let it rest overnight.

Daily Crapbook: More 80s Hair

I've got enough of ref to keep my warm-ups awful for a while.

Daily Crapbook: Warm-Up Sketches of 80s Hair

The 80s had sure some weird shapes- I need to return to this exercise.  Thank you to my cousin Art for farming this ref for me!

Daily Crapbook: Life Is A Jerk

Daily Crapbook: Life Is A Jerk

There are lots of ways Life is a jerk.  Here is one.

Daily Girls Drawin' Friday: Virgo

IllustrationFriday and GirlsDrawinGirls have the same theme this week: zodiac!  Sometimes you get a lucky break.

UPA Docs Designs: Willis Pyle

This week's Schoolism assignment coincides with what I'm doing for the UPA doc so I thought I'd give it double duty.  It'll be great to have a chance to have Steven Silver weigh in.

Illustration Friday: Survival

It took a minute to get an idea for "Survival" that didn't involve camouflage and secret bunkers in the woods.  But then I thought, the atom bomb, of course!  I love how examples for the "duck and cover" campaign always seemed to have such appeal and yet was such a morbid subject.  Everything always looked so idyllic and glossy in those posters, except of course for the looming threat of utter annihilation.  Even the mushroom clouds were beautifully rendered and perfect, and the type was always so jolly and playful.  Here is my attempt at evoking that, but perhaps with a little more tastelessness.

Daily Crapbook: Unfortunate Hairstyles for Men

I need to work from photo ref more often- this was fuuuuun!

Daily Crapbook: UPA UPA

Trying to do UPA people in the style of UPA with emphasis on the trying.  I've been behind in my commitments lately, but this week's Schoolism just happened to have a UPA section so I felt the time was ripe to jump in.

Fat Girl At Heart Logo

Logo for my fabulous friend Miss Sarah B.

Daily Crapbook: Face Warmups

Trying to fill a pages of faces to warm up in the morning.

Daily Crapbook: Schoolism Cowboy

Homework for Schoolism time!  The first assignment was to design a cowboy.  I think this guy is an extra in a western, maaaybe a supporting character.  But he's seen a lot of nasty stuff go down and its made him jaded about violence.  But he'll still watch the fisticuffs seein' as there's nothin' else to do.

Daily Crapbook: Schoolism #1

Trying to get get my Schoolism homework done.

Bachelorette Bash

Working out the illustration for the poster of Davina and the Harlots' next show on May 3rd at the Earl.  Mark yer calendars!

Bill Plympton and "Cheatin'"

I had a terrific day at the Atlanta Film Festival on Tuesday.  I got to meet Bill Plympton and Linda Beck, and even hang out for a little bit!  Bill Plympton gave a workshop about his career and his unique approach to animation both as an artist and a businessman- it was very enlightening.  You wouldn't expect the King of Indie Animation to be a proponent of commercialism, but he brought up some very important points.  You have to sell your work if you wish to continue to do your own work.  Sounds simple, but that mindset has to inform the kind of work you do.  Short, cheap, and funny is the way to go if you want to support yourself in independent animation, with the idea that everything you create must be uniquely "you"- a product of value that could come from no one else.  And its also nice to hear someone talk about the satisfaction of having ownership of your own work as opposed to working for a big studio, which is something you don't hear many animators expressing.  Bill Plympton's latest feature "Cheatin'" is packed with all of his trademark surreal humor, but also has so much heart.  His animation is so unlike anything else, and for all the morphing and exaggeration the characters still have a sort of structural integrity that I could never emulate even at my most fearless.  He animates everything by himself, with his own hands, on real paper with real pencils, and he is a success.  It sounds impossible to conceive this day and age, but it is true.  As I've said before, this is my year to figure out what I'm doing with my career, and now I have even more to think about.  

Daily Crapbook: James Meh-son

Trying...meh...

Favorite Cartoons Growing Up #5: Wuzzles

"Wuzzles" was another cartoon I had almost forgotten entirely about, and actually went back and watched a couple episodes.  Its a simple premise- little suburban adventures in a fantasy town populated by animals that are combinations of species.  Not as interestingly designed as the ones on "Avatar", but still cute enough.  I remember why I watched the show- it had colorful, interesting animation that beat the crap out of any Hanna-Barbara cartoon that was airing at the time.  It only had thirteen episodes and I watched them over and over as a kid in syndication, which is why I grant it "favorite cartoon growing up" status, even though I didn't really like it as a whole.  It didn't have really fun characters beyond their designs, they didn't really do anything funny, they wedged the word "Wuzzle" into every part of speech all the smurfin' time, and I remember actively hating the voices.  Especially that smug narrator and that awful Rhinokey.  The only character I liked was Hoppo, and after watching a couple episodes I still like her.  She is the diva archetype, wrapped up in her own ego and only concerned with indulgence.  But she is the only character that isn't entirely flat and she doesn't have an awful "cartoony" voice.  It turns out she was voiced by Jo Ann Worley, which explains her fabulousness.  Here she is in a costume I saw in one episode that plants the show very firmly in the 80s.

Penny Serenade "Upcoming Shows" Sketch

Just a ink doodle to promote Penny Serenade's upcoming shows:

April 19, 2014: 10-11am, 12-1pm
Piedmont Park

May 3, 2014: 2:30-4:30pm
Sweetwater Fest

May 19, 2014: 5pm (ish)
Grant Park