My Triumphant Return!

Well, perhaps "triumphant" is too brazen a word, but that title sounds more interesting than "hey guys I'm back. sup."

I've had a helluva lot of work pile up on me these past few months, so I've been neglecting my cyber-presence. But things are easing up a bit so I can get back to working on my own stuff again. Hey! Here's a logo character I created a couple months ago- yes another redhead. --->

Looking down through my blog, I notice I have naught but girlie drawings: I swear I draw other stuff, really I do. Its just that none of it seems interesting enough to post. I'll get to work on that.

In other news, my titles for "Touch Me I'm Karen Taylor" won an "Excellence in Design" award from the ASIFA-East Animation Festival, a distinction shared with an E-Surance ad, so I'm really pleased. Also, I have some projects completed and I'm itching to post them, but I'm not at liberty just yet. But do keep an eye on Low Carb Comedy- I'm just sayin'.

Some Sketches

Muybridge XTREME!

You know that feeling of wonder and awe you felt when you first discovered those remarkable Muybridge photographs? Those step-by-step explorations of simple motions in humans and animals revealed subtleties that were up until that point unnoticeable. Those pictures are fascinating to anyone who never knew that horses fly, but particularly so to animators. Animation is, after all, a study of motion.

I've just finished watching a show on Discovery called "Time Warp" and I'm thrilled to announce that it is Muybridge 2.0, Muybridge To The Max, Muybridge On Acid, MUYBRIDGE XTREME!!! The concept of the show is simple: take common actions and film them at 3,000 to 10,000 frames per second. And the results are astonishing. A man gets punched in the abdomen and his body becomes liquid- with tremors rippling in all directions from the point of impact. As his head snaps back from a clock to the jaw, his nose literally gets left behind. A balloon is popped with a pin and reveals a second smaller balloon inside and then that pops too (I still have no idea how that's possible or what that means, but its friggendy cool.) Did you know that a dog laps up water not by curling his tongue forward and making in a little tongue-bowl, but by curling his tongue backward and tossing the water in his mouth? WEIRD!

So to all you animators and everyone interested in the poetry of motion, you must make a weekly date with this show and goggle. I know I'll be adding it to my reference library the 3,000th of a second it comes out on DVD.

X Minus One

I've stumbled across something remarkable on this electronic manna known as "the internet". In an innocuous archive, there is a treasure trove of episodes from a mid-century radio program called "X Minus One". This is a fantastic science fiction show that I just cannot get enough of. Most of the episodes are adapted from a publication called "Galaxy", and it includes stories by Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov and a bevy of other trailblazing authors. The tone of the show reminds me a lot of the Rod Serling "Twilight Zone", with stories ranging from tongue-in-cheek funny, to soul-trappingly horrifying. There are of course, a few clunkers (the one about a blinded spaceship worker who sings in spaceports was a bit blah) but the better part of the series is awesome. My favorites so far are "The Cave of Night", "Skulking Permit", and "A Thousand Dollars A Plate" . Go check 'em out!


Now, for those who have never bothered with old-time radio (or OTR, as the cool kids say) this is an entertainment experience that nothing today can compare with. There such an intimacy with radio- even after half a century these programs seem spontaneous and personal. I really recommend you give them a chance.

"Accio!"

I'm a dork and I'm not ashamed.

I love Harry Potter. I've read all the books, natch. I've gleefully listened to the Jim Dale's delightful readings of the audiobooks about a dozen times each. The movies...well, I've seen them. Some more than others. But the point is, I like Harry Potter.

I don't like video games that much though. They're ok, but I normally can do without. But I've just begun playing "Order of the Phoenix" on the Wii, and I'm shocked by how much I'm enjoying it. I've been playing it for hours, and I've yet to get bored with making objects whiz across the screen with a flick of my Wiimote. Granted, everything else about the game sucks. The storytelling, the rendering, the character "animation"...its all you'd except from EA. And yet, any time I shout "Wingardium Leviosa!" (and yes, I do shout it... that helps somehow) and make a stone bench fly across the courtyard and beam Hermione in the face, it makes up for everything! So what with being back at Primal for a spell (heh heh) and discovering I can be way nerdier than heretofore dreamed, I've not been drawing much. But I have been having a good time at least.

Daily...uh...Der?

By labeling some posts "Daily"- I was trying to motivate myself to post at least one drawing a day. That...has not happened. Maybe I should take a cue from Jon Stewart and just call it "A" Daily drawing to take the pressure off. I've been working on some projects these past few weeks that have demanded my easily-waylaid attention. These projects may or may not include a) an animated title for a live-action MTV show b) an orange bird hawking chocolaty cereal and c) a huge smlling dilly-dong.

In the meantime, have a crappy old doodle!

Coat Lady

Daily Pinup

"Who needs sunscreen!"

Daily Pinup

I was recently told that I draw "like a woman." I know it wasn't meant as an insult, but I guess since I'm used being teased for throwing "like a girl", the statement irked me. So today I have some old girlie drawings because drawing pin-ups makes me feel defiant and cheeky.

Mitzi as Rosie

If I could claim to have any kind if style whatsoever, it would probably be my girlie drawing style I call "Mitzi". So here's the inevitable picture of my Mitzi as Rosie the Riveter. As a girl born forty years too late, I've always had a fondness for the Rosie image, although I find the "We Can Do It!" Rosie a bit too dour. I prefer the Normal Rockwell Rosie, as she seems to possess a bit more personality. If I weren't so lazy I'd include image links, but I geh...bleh...blach..

SNOW!

Atlanta rarely sees snow, but we saw it last night! Big, fat, glorious snowflakes. Didn't stick, of course, but I make a doodle to commemorate it.

Doodle Page #42

Here are some of today's daily doodles plus some old stuff I'm cleaning out. (Looks like someone needs more life drawing sessions!)

Trix In SPAAAAAAACE! Part Deux

All righty, so I finally saw the Trix in Space spot. The one I worked on the Primal pitch for and lost to Calabash. What irks me is that this spot looks so similar to the one we pitched. The layouts, the Trix ship, the characters... this spot was just a couple tweaks away from what we showed the client. The black guy's design looks very similar to mine (I kinda like my design better actually- his face in the spot is too bottom-heavy). The ginger kid is never near the camera so its hard to tell what he looks like, but he seems very familiar. The Latina got switched to a Japanese girl, but I hate to think we lost the pitch because they preferred a different ethnicity for the girl. Also the colors on the kids got switched around, with the girl now in green, the ginger in red (ick, that clashes!), and the black guy in purple (haven't they watched Chapelle's Show? Don't they know that's racist?) Anyhow, its a decent spot. Calabsh always does amazing work. But I still feel like Primal could have made it just as great. And I could have changed the friggin' colors on the uniforms, and designed a Japanese girl godammit! Was a Latina in red really so offensive that they had to go with a different studio? Grumblecakes.

Doodle Dump

Marion Davies

TCM recently introduced me to a splendid actress and I am ashamed I didn't know about her sooner. Marion Davies is actress from the 20s and 30s, and one of the most charming and riotously funny actresses I've ever come across. As I was watching her films, I realized I had never really seen a silent film with a hilarious lady in it- usually women in silent films are weepy, mopey, or faint a lot. Later on I dug up some info on her, and was astonished. This woman figures into American pop culture more than I ever would have guessed. She is famous as the life-long mistress of Mr. William Randolph Hearst. They never married as Hearst couldn't finagle a divorce from his wife, but Hearst doted on Marion fiercely and set a new bar for all the sugar daddies in the world to reckon by. He created a movie studio for her to head, and produced dozens of films as star vehicles for her. If this sounds at all familiar, its because Orson Welles adapted this story in "Citizen Kane", implying through the character of Susan Alexander than Marion Davies was just a kept woman who's success was fake and undeserved. Ever wonder why snooty film majors make such a big whoop out of "Citizen Kane", calling it the best film ever made? You yourself have probably watched it, then shrugged your shoulders and gone "meh! whats the big deal?" Well, after learning what a commotion it caused in its time, I think I have a better idea of why it is remembered so well. "Citizen Kane" is basically an allegory based on William Randolph Hearst's life. Hearst and Davies, though more or less forgotten today, were superstars for decades. When "Citizen Kane" came out, the audiences surely knew who Charles Foster Kane and Susan Alexander were based on. Hearst bucked furiously at the implications it made about Marion (particularly her drinking) and even endeavored to destroy all the prints of the film. Perhaps the scent of scandal still lingers over the "Citizen Kane", even if most people have forgotten who made the original stink. How sad that people today will remember Susan Alexander, but not Marion Davies. Because the truth of the matter is that Marion Davies was superbly talented. Go rent "The Red Mill" and you'll see what a treasure she is. She was a remarkable woman for her time, or any time for that matter.

Thank you again, TCM, for continuously expanding my cinematic education! Oh, and this doodle isn't technically supposed to be Marion Davies- I just was inspired to do some 30s stuff after seeing Marion's movies.