Moday..ugh.

Hello out there in internet computer land. Here's my gift of the day...some doodles and drawings from a few years back. Oh yeah, I'm supposed to explain the birthday drawing from my previous post. Well that drawing was done for JJ Villard, the brilliant artist and most disgusting friend I know. But I use the word "disgusting" in the most positive sense...for those traits are what make our conversations about the reality of life so intersting. The drawing was done in honor of his attempt to jump on stage at an M.I.A concert and present her with a painting. Though his courageous attempts were thwarted by a vicious man-eating security gaurd who's tiger like instincts quickly stopped him. Too bad....it would have been awesome. This isn't his first stage attempt though...you see, JJ gets what he wants....ask Gwen Stefani about it.




Here's Sean Szeles with no nose....and no moustache! Probably done at Cal Arts 2002.



This is Bigfoot. The most hairiest, ugliest creature on earth. He's also loud and funny and performs at the comedy store in Hollywood. He eats cabbage and sauerkrout and sometimes small squirrels. He been known to scarf down Hamentashens and Potato Latkes without breathing. He is also known by the U.S. Park Ranger Services as Ron Yavnieli
He's also a good friend.

I'll explain soon....

A Day with Dad

Waffle progression

These are most of the original designs for the wacky waffle restaurant logo. Thought it would be cool to show you the progress. Originally, the owner couldn't decide on weather to have a waffle or a blonde waitress carrying a plate of waffles.







Here's a parade of waffles on the run. Don't know why they're so happy...they're about to get eaten.

Look at him run!

News flash! My aunt found a pic of the Wacky Waffle Restaurant. Thanks Auntie Carol. For more info, scroll down to his pic.

More Work Buddies

Yoshi Tamura


Alessandro Carloni


Kevin Maclean


Dave Burgess



Jason Reisig and Fred Nilsson


































Jim Van Der Keyl



Jason again...



Karey Kirkpatrick

Run Wacky Run!

Anybody in Los Angeles recognize this? It's Wacky the Waffle! If you ever drive down Sunset Blvd. at night, you'll see this bad boy lit up in neon. I designed it for a small restaurant on the corner of Crescent Heights and Sunset, across the street from Miagi's. 8226 W Sunset Blvd to be exact. And the name of the place? "Wacky Waffles" silly! Last time I went there I saw the logo on the waitress's t-shirts. It was also etched in glass by some of the tables. I should post a photo of the place...but I can't find any online. I should also post some of the designs I did before I reached this version. They're pretty funny.


Here's a drawing I did a few weeks ago at our weekly animation meeting. The idea, taken from the one and only Mark Walton (story board artist extraordinair), was to draw a wrestler and a girl scout in a funny predicament. This was my attempt. I know , I know, it seems pretty vicious at first glance....but c'mon! The girl was charging 5 bucks for a box of Thin Mints! And this guy doesn't make a lot...ya know?




This is a painting in my living room. Again..owls. Or one owl. I did this for an art show about 2 years ago. I thought it came out all right... A lot of my friends notice it and are surprised I did it. I guess because it looks very professional in a thrift store frame. Or maybe it's because it's actually finished. Who knows? It's kind of fun surprising people with your work...keeps them on their toes!




SEQUOIA!
I saw this little....er big guy walking casually across the main road like he owned it. I stopped in the middle of the street and shot away. At one point this tarantula stopped and offered me a ride. I said "No thanks buddy..already got one..." as I pointed to my girlfriend's jeep. He slowly turned around ...shrugged his shoulders and while walking away I swore he mumbled "Dang tourists..."
He also had these 2 black pinchers on the back of his abdamen that looked mighty threatening...so no way was I trusting that arachnid.



Tarantula, Tarantula
Crawling up my leg.
I gasp, then scream...
Oh great, I'm dead



It's kind of hard to tell in this photo....but I'm in that tree below. Sequoia trees are so huge and beautiful they will just leave you stunned. I still can't get over it. Wanna see the aftermath of a tree attacking an SUV? click here.



If you look closely...wait...click on the pic first...see the 2 rainbows? Awesome. Too bad I didn't see any leprechauns.

Update on past post

Looks like Disney took down those pics from their upcoming computer animated flick

The Wild...click this

I wonder if they read my rant....hmmmmmm.

wow

Wow. Have you seen this mess?

Disney posted some pics up from their computer animated film, The Wild , yesterday.

Disney disney disney......how sad. These guys made Pinochio and Dumbo! Can you believe that? And they're even out-sourcing the animation to Canada....but just look at that. Wow, I never thought my eyes could bleed so quickly. Well wait, the Valiant trailer was pretty bad. There are so many talented character designers out there and none of them are used...or maybe they were..but the executives can't see good design...it's like us artists looking at a long wordy contract and making decisions without even understanding it. Well, at least Wilbur Robinson and American Dog look great.



I met John K. once and he was telling me how executives can't read storyboards...he would give them boards and they couldn't make heads or tails out of it. Hah! He said, if they can't read story boards, then they can't read comic books. A 5 yr old can read comic-books and an executive can't. Pretty sad and ironic eh? Oh well, it kind of gets us all charged up when there are stupid decisions made...makes us work harder and stronger and pushes us to do our best. Because that's what we all strive for... right?




Now I know the company I work for has some designs that make us scream.... I, as well, scream with you....but the visual development here will blow your socks off! It's just the transition from drawings to models that gets screwed up! But we did make Madagascar and those designs kick ass. Thanks goes out to mad genius Craig Kellman and all the character modelers and riggers. Wait till ya see what Craig's up to next. That's all I'm gonna say.




Creepy critters under the sea,
Keep your gaze and I guarantee
That the feeling on your upper thigh
is their teeth...oh whoops...
Goodbye, goodbye.

These underwater creepies were done in Rik Maki's class.
Go here to buy his book.
Click

It's well worth it. This guy know his stuff. He even has drawings (most likely copies ) in the animation art room at California Adventure.

No that's not a set behind me in the top photo.
It's the real deal....in Sequoia national park. More pics to come!

Cow-boyzzzzzzzzzz!

Here's the last 2 cowboys.... not much else to post today....I'll see what I can scan tonight.

Hey all you bloggers! Whaz up? Got some fresh new fly hip edgy drawings for ya today. Hope you enjoy them. Sorry I haven't posted in a week. Been tied up with work and camping preparations...I'm going to Sequoia National Park this weekend with my girlfriend. Ahhhhh camping. The trees, the smell, the wildlife....the black bear shoving his paw in your tent as you eat your peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The rock...that trips you as you try to flee from the bear while it rips your clothes off...ahhhhh.....the rattlesnake that you happen to step on as you hide from that deranged bear.....ahhh the trip to the ER in a helicopter...ahhhhhh camping. No seriously folks.....I can't wait to go. I love mini vacations!




Jimmy Dood
was quite the fellow.
Had no horse,
and no stories to tellya.

Boring as heck
you thought you'd die.
Makes you want to punch
his lazy eye.

Then one day
he found some gin.
Drank it all down
and started to grin.



Flew off his feet
and bounced off the ground.
Boots came off
and people gathered around.

Jimmy Dood
Became quite a stud.
Ladies all swooned
And their hearts went thud.

Still stupid and dumb,
the boy hadn't changed.
But at least he looked,
a little bit sane.




I drew Jimmy Dood in 2002 back at Cal Arts. I like all the negative space in there...keeps it interesting. I'll post 2 more next week.






I am obsessed with owls...I keep drawing them and drawing them..I just can't stop.




These lions, I tell ya
seem to get all the fame.
Their manners quite awful,
It's really a shame.





This little lad was drawn off a bootleg copy of Disney's Song of the South. My cartoony buddies meet once a week and we got together and did some studies of the film. Check out Sean's versions here. Just scroll down a little. Click me.

Sketch sketch..tra la la...

Thanks Cartoonbrew!

www.cartoonbrew.com hooked me up with a plug. Thanks Amid and Jerry. Click the link on the right if you'd like to visit.

And hello to all of you new people out there. I've been checking out who's been viewing the page and in the last 100 visits it seems like the whole world has stopped by. Hello to Spain, England, the Netherlands, France, Canada, Italy, Israel, Taiwan, Turkey, Germany, Denmark, Portugal, and Norway. Hi world.

So here are some sketchbook pages... the top drawing was done at a Starbucks in Valencia, Ca. They were standing in line for their Cappucino latte frape tall grande with a dash of soymilk and cinnamon syrup sauce and a mashed potato topping. The big guy was about 7 feet tall and the little lady was about 4 feet tall. They weren't a couple but I think they should be.



I thought about cropping these drawings but I kind of like the look of the sketchbook in there. It's just more interesting to me.



This lil' pooch reminds me of Droopy...I don't know, maybe I was channeling his droopiness when I drew it. I think he'd make a fine little character and one day maybe I'll animate him.



Boogey man boogey man,
Moving to the city.
Practicing his scaring skills
While looking quite silly.

These are some studies for an animation test I did back in school. Oooh scary. I've got some ideas for this dude so maybe you'll be seeing him soon. Hopefully in a short film or maybe in a cameo in one of my friends' films.



These are some fine chaps working in the animation field today. Joe is a funny lookin' music makin' character designer.
Jeff is a funny lookin' character designer and story supervisor, and Dave is a funny lookin' animator, story supervisor, and figure drawing teacher. The drawings don't exactly look like them...but my intention wasn't to caricature them. I was more focused on getting their gestures down. It's really important to observe people and the way they walk, stand, or sit. As an animator, you're basically an actor..breathing life into these characters. And the more you observe the more ideas will come to you when you're stuck on a scene. These were drawn in Jeff Ranjo's class back in 2003. It was a great lecture on character design and storyboarding and Joe (working at Disney Feature) and Dave (working at Dreamworks Feature) had some really great things to say about the studio system and the differences between the two companies.