CARTOON NETWORK SHORTS

For the past two years I've been working at Cartoon Network running their "new media" department. A fancy title that means I make shorts for all their current shows. I jump from show to show and make a series of 2 minute shorts. I initially was hired to make 90! And believe it or not, I'm almost done with those! That's over 180 minutes worth of footage!

The other interesting thing about my department is that it's run with just two people. Myself and a production manager (Nate Funaro). Of course we freelance out a bit. He have a couple writers and sheet timers that we like to use. But for the most part, it's just Nate and I. So I get to wear a lot of hats, and so do the shorts themselves. They have been aired on television, cel phones, podcasts, and even in movie theaters!

Now that I'm almost done, it's fun to look back on all the shorts and see what we've done. Follow the links to some samples...































*all shorts are copyright Cartoon Network ©

Amazing Screw On Head part2

I was going thru an old folder of mine and I came across some boards I thought I'd post. I did this for Titmouse Animation back in 2005 I think. I had a blast doing this. Did it all in Photoshop. I submitted these to the Emmy's, but apparently the voters aren't Mingola fans. Or they just thought it sucked. Either way, I didn't hear anything. Oh well, there's always next year.

(click here for part one of my ASOH posts)

"BATHROOM BREAK" SHORT

Someone posted on You Tube a short I made a while back. It's a "Gym Partner" short I directed, storyboarded, and wrote with Darrick Bachman. I thought it turned out pretty good. I liked the timing and pacing we got. Tony Tedford was the editor on this one and I can really see his fingerprint. Check it out before the CN police take it down (click on the image)

Jim Henson was brilliant

It's easy to dismiss the work of Jim Henson as cute kid's fare. Stuff for 6 year olds. A lot of people overlook what Henson and his team did together. What they made together was nothing short of brilliant. Look at this scene from "The Muppet Movie". This is a song Gonzo sings after the gang's bus breaks down and it looks as though their plans to reach their goals have come to a dead end. Paul Williams' lyrics are elegant, poetic, and touching. Dave Golez gives a performance as Gonzo that is full of warmth and soul. It's an incredibly moving song that is easily overlooked. Not many films go beneath the surface and speak about something so deep and soulfull. I have no idea how this didn't win an Academy Award.

Oh, that's right...a puppet sang it.

3D FOSTERS EPISODE

So an episode that I boarded is going to air this Friday. It's a Halloween episode and it's going to be in 3D! That's the good news. The bad news (especially if you're a kid) is that you have to make your own glasses to watch it! Check out the official site if you don't believe me. Luckily we've got glasses around the studio otherwise I'd have to make a trip to the craft store!

Check out the website for when it airs in your part of the world!

MORE DARK CRYSTAL VIS DEV

BENCH WARMER

Stranger on the Train

VOLLEYBALL

Spencer and I got to do some quality father-son time over the weekend. And what better way than to watch a little beach volleyball? He had the remote...

PICTURE PAGES...

I'm supposed to be working on my Fosters freelance. This all started with one sketch and I just couldn't stop until I filled the whole page. Looks like Fosters will have to wait until tomorrow

don't tell Craig...

BACK FROM THE CON

Well, it's all over. I am beat! The experience of having your own table is an exhausting one. I met so many cool people. My voice is gone. Thanks to everyone that braved the crowds and stopped by to pick up a book. I really had a blast with it.
Here's me at my table. I have no idea why I made that face...

I had two of the nicest guys next to me. Josh and Justin Parpan. We got a couple prints and a book for Spencer too! Check out their art. They really are two talented guys. I was proud to sit next to them.

Here's a sketch I did of the two of them drawing

The best thing about Comic Con is coming home and seeing everything you got. It's like HALLOWEEN!

I got away from the table on preview night to secure an original Bill Presing piece!

Plus an original Derek Thompson!

I loved this figure by Chris Sanders.

Like I said. I met a lot of people!

For those of you that didn't make it to the Con and are interested in picking up a copy of my book, don't fear! You can order one simply by clicking on the Paypal button to the left and I'll get you one lickety-split!

SAN DIEGO OR BUST!

See you geeks at the Con! And if you ain't goin', then you're just a dork that can't admit that you're a geek. I've got news for you. You're a geek my friend. So admit it and get yourself on the road! Last one there buys the beer!

COMIC CON!

It's almost here! I'm pretty excited cause this is my first year where I have a table! I'll be at table #F3 (see map below).

I'm going to be selling a noir themed sketchbook that's being printed right now. I just got the comp last week and it looks great! I should've gotten a photo of it before I gave it back to the printer, but I was too excited to get the final printing going.

here's a preview...







If I can get away, I'm going to try and get some time to wander the floor. If you have a booth/table, let me know where you are!

See everyone in San Diego!

Drew Carey GREENSCREEN SHOW

Here's a short I worked on for Drew Carey's "Greenscreen Show". My buddy Chris Prynoski directed it and I pretty much animated it on my own over the course of two weeks (Mike Roush did help out a bit too!). Not a hilarious piece, but I had fun merging the worlds. Notice my kick ass shadow work!...

Adventure has a name...

He's back! Here's the first photo of old Indy.

DARK CRYSTAL

I think it's safe to say that this series will never be made (sadly). Here's some of the work I did in developing it. I'll post more if people are interested. Also check out some other work in a previous post (click here)


This was one of my favorites. Who doesn't love Skeksis?

UN-USED DESIGN

I just found this old design when I was cleaning out my computer. It was a design I did for a title sequence for a horrible Randal Kleiser film, "Red Riding Hood". I think I like this one better than the one they chose. But what do I know?Here's another version of it. Different art direction on the line work.

CARTOON NETWORK Alien Designs

CARTOON NETWORK just aired a stunt called "Invaded!", where 5 shows were all created with a common theme. Aliens are coming to earth and they want our cheese! They asked me to make a pass on a couple alien and ship designs that all the shows could use as a basis for their episodes. It was a lot of fun. Too bad I was never credited...



FINAL APPROVED ALIEN...

DISNEY SHORT

I didn't get a chance to post this earlier, but a short I storyboarded on aired on Disney the other day. "THE IMPERFECT DUPLICATES OF DODGER DARE" is a Disney short that was created by Andy Suriano (a CN vet and fellow 'midwesterner'). Luckily someone posted it up on 'YouTube". My section is the montage "date" sequence.

NEW HD CAMERA! WOO-HOO!

Well, I finally bit the bullet and got myself a camera. I got the Canon HV20. It's great so far. Shoots in HD and everything! It looks pretty amazing. See image above.

I shot a stupid little movie in my backyard to practice. I also got myself "FINAL CUT PRO" too, so I was also experimenting with getting something edited in that program. Here's the result. Nothing fancy. But hey, what do you care?!

No Trees Were Harmed...

I've been experimenting at work with an easier and faster way to do traditional animation and I think I've come up with a good option. The test above is an animation I did entirely on a Cintiq using Mirage. I think it looks pretty convincing as graphite. And plus, it was really easy and quick to do. Instant pencil testing. The "YouTube" version is obviously compressed, so here's a larger image so you can get a better look. No more paper. My flipping is done with the arrow keys now!

YUCK!

I just got my first good look at the designs for Michael Bay's "Transformers". What a mess! I'm sure he's got the best in the business, but man did something go wrong. All of them look so busy and void of any personality. The cars and ships they transform into convey more personality and emotion. Where is the eye supposed to look? You can tell that there's some Syd Mead in the designs, but even Syd Mead knew that you had to have a balance of simpilicy and complexity in a good design

Short Concept

I've always wanted to animate something to this particular piece by Ennio Morricone. Just last week, I came up with a little story about a boy on his big wheels. Here's a concept still frame and a bunch of designs of the little boy.

Fun With Brushes

I usually only use Mirage for storyboarding, but for some reason today I started to play around with some fun and experimental brushes. In Mirage when you want to type text, you have to first create a brush and then stamp it down. A very annoying feature, but kind of cool if you actually just draw and paint with it. This image was created entirely with a brush of my initials "KM".

Mr Rico

I finally got some time to sit down and take a sketch to a final rendered painting. Here's what I came up with. I also included the initial rough sketch and a sort of "inbetween" sample. Getting used to doing more Painter work. I think I may take the rough sketch in the previous post and render that too. I've been bitten by the rendering bug...

The Captain

Screaming Dude