New scanner!

I've been without a working scanner for too long. I don't have time to post all of the drawings I've done in the last five months ( anymore than you have time to look at all of them ), so here's a small smattering.

The first two drawings are for my Dad's birthday which was back in April. There's some problems with them ( as Vincent Waller was kind enough to point out ), especially Manx's right hand.... eeesh!

If I can find them, and if it's okay with Vince, I'll post his notes. Valuable stuff, for sure. I can find them, but boy... I need to learn the value of labeling things properly. Thanks to Lili for cleaning up these drawings in Photoshop.... a lot of un-erasable pencil mess.

Speaking of Vince, he told me about the brush pens he uses on those awesome doodles he posts at his blog. When I bought them, I immediately drew Mike Peters' Grimmy. I grew up having Mike around, and he kind of is the reason I love thick lines so much.

Alright... now the construction studies.... ::: sigh :::

The first sketch is from two fan art Tinkerbell drawings. Here are the drawings I'm copying..

I started doing the construction for both at lunch on one sheet, and when I got home I couldn't find the same drawings again so I had to do finish the drawing from memory.

I completely got the line of action wrong on both of them... which I should have noticed from the onset.... of course, this drawing is three months old. Hopefully, I got better when I got to this one...

Here's mine.



And here's the comparison.



Finally, here's one I did two weeks ago. I wanted to practice construction, but also wanted to fill a page and see how many studies I could fit on it. I don't know why.


I'll post the original drawings for this a bit later.... but it's late.

Also? This is for Katie. I tried drawing Neil Patrick Harris once.... here it is.

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Animatic for Theme Song

So, we've been away for a while here at the Blooog, but a lot's been happening for us in the real world.

I had a birthday ( 31 ) and we successfully cast the role of Twinklebelly. Also, I have finished the first pass on the animatic for the theme song ( "Technocolored Ballad of the Rocketship Rangers" ), and while I will be making several more edits to get the timing right, I thought I'd share with you, flawed as it is, the first animatic.

Please leave thoughts and criticisms in the comment section.

ALSO, I KNOW THE SYNC IS OFF ON ONE OF THE DIALOGUE TRACKS. THIS WILL BE FIXED IN THE SECOND AND SUBSEQUENT VERSIONS OF THE ANIMATIC. FEAR NOT.

Here are some of the drawings used in it. Please let us know what you think, good or bad.

I made the mistake of trying to board this with thumbnail sketches first. I think it was a mistake because I was still getting the ideas out. The more finished drawings are re-do's of very very quick notebook sketches.

These thumbnail storyboard sketches show I spent too much time with them. I should've just stuck with the very quick notebook sketches for getting the ideas out and then jumped straight into "layout".








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Another Peek Behind The Curtain...

Developmental Death 2: Electric Boogaloo

by Trevor Thompson

So, a long time ago when I still had time to post somewhat interesting things on this blooog, I did a theory post about developmental sketches. It's theoretical because I myself have never worked professionally in the industry, so my opinion isn't really valid. Think of this as just me thinking aloud.

If you really want to read it for reference purposes, then click here.

The post basically pontificates about why it is that in most cases, aesthetically speaking, the 'developmental sketches' are usually some of the best work to come out of any given project. I used two otherwise bland shows as my example: the long-running Aqua Teen Hunger Force...




and the cancelled-after-two-episodes Clerks.

Anyway, the best drawings from that post were all done for Aqua Teen by Clay Croker, who in addition to doing animation and design work for a lot of early [adult swim] programs also voiced several of the characters. Zorak, Moltar, Steve, Dr. Weird and a bunch of one shot characters for The Brak Show and Perfect Hair Forever all owe Clay's tonsils a debt.



So, here's what Clay has to say about the development artwork he did for Aqua Teen Hunger Force. I apologize if one or two of these aren't yours, Clay. I'm going based on guesses and signatures. :)

FROM CLAY CROKER:

Thanks for the comments, Trevor - I tell ya why the funnier drawings...



Part of it, as was suggested, is we knew the characters would never ultimately come off as cool as we could draw them up front with the budget we had to work with - but we wanted to see how far we could push it anyway...



The other part is that there's always the chance that if you can provide something that the client "can't live without" then you might be able to push the project down a cooler path than had been originally envisioned.



(That route has worked for me time and again by the way)



A lot of the drawings I did were done over a 3 or 4 hour period when I met show creators Dave and Matt over at the Highland Tap one rainy Sunday afternoon in April 1999.



We drank pitcher after pitcher - they told me what they wanted and I drew about 10-12 pages of designs while we talked.



(Some of those drawings were actually incorrectly referred to as Wild Hare Studios art in this article -- But they ain't.)



So alcohol no doubt enhanced the overall "carefree" drawing approach to some of those.



But I ask ya - doesn't every animator wanna work on a show that's fun to draw? (and closer to their own style?)

I guess this answers the question about what you need to make a good looking cartoon: a bit of beer and a bit of budget.

Thanks Clay for taking the time to tell us about these fun sketches! Go visit Clay at his blog:

http://arglebarglin.blogspot.com/

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Scribner Face is next!

COMING SOON.... No, we really mean it this time!

Happy Father's Day!

My dad loves Bogey, and I love my dad!

Peter Thompson is the reason I'm a cartoonist. When I was six, my father, who through no fault of his own is English, went across the pond on a business trip and returned to American soil with a book. You may have heard of it.




He couldn't have picked a better book. And what's more? I owe my love of Warner Bros. Cartoons, the best cartoons ever made, and Monty Python, the best sketch comedy ever made, to my father.






We should all be so lucky to have a father like mine. The man gave so much to me and my sister, and hasn't stopped. Look what a happy family he made!





When I was little, my creative endeavors were, let's be fair, unrealistic for a first grader. I wanted to make movies and cartoons, and as difficult as it must have been in the early 80's my father managed to find a way to create an environment that I could do so in. The value of that is immeasurable and neither words, funny drawings or years and years of thanks would ever accurately get that across. But it's sure worth trying.




Also, today is the first Father's Day for Booo Tooon Marooon M.G. Nunnery. Matthew is going to be a great father, as proven by the fact that he already is.

We need more good dads out there, and I'm delighted that I've gotten to know two of the best.

Another Reason To Love Bill Watterson

I've been very busy lately working on the Secret Manx and Itchy Project, as have the other Booo Tooon Marooons. Our latest member to the family, by the way, is Lili, who is making Manx and Itchy into puppets, and rocking everywhere else she can be utilized. Say hi to Lili everybody!




But, to keep inspired, I've started re-reading all my old Calvin and Hobbes books, one of which included the obligatory Tenth Anniversary Treasury.




In it, Watterson talks about the two sabbaticals he took from the strip and his fights with Universal Press Syndicate, partly about licensing rights and also about graphic freedom ( though that was more of a fight with newspaper editors in general ).

The stuff about licensing is worth a read. It makes you realize how non-artistic executives exist in almost every form of entertainment. Bill lectured about this once at Ohio State University and made cartoons to accent his points.

Here they are. Enjoy!







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