Nucleus Seminar

I got a chance to get out today and see a seminar at Gallery Nucleus with the gents from the "Ancient Book of Myth and War" (Scott Morse, Don Shank, Nate Wragg, and Don Shank). They talked about their work process and how they came about making the art that's not only in the book but also in the gallery there at Nucleus. They did a great job inspiring all of us. Here's a little Painter experiment I did using the little pen sketches I did during the presentation. Check out the show if you can. It's really great!

Emmy Nomination!

The Daytime Emmy nominations were released today and a short I directed got nominated! It's under a new category for broadband material. Content made specifically for celphones, internet, or other handheld devices. A short we made for Adam Burton's "Billy and Mandy" got the honor. My friends Darrick Bachman wrote it and Nate Funaro was the production manager on it. Can't wait to hit the event with them on June 15th!

UPDATE: Hollywood Reporter article

Fairfield goodies

Leftovers

Just a little leftover design I didn't post on the Fairfield blog. I'll probably continue to post more. I did a lot of work for it. This particular one is one I did at work on my Cintiq. A 100% digital sketch (Photoshop).

Fairfield Short

Due to many circumstances, I've decided to "officially" close the book on the short I was making with a few friends. The film just caused more stress than it relieved. A short like "Fairfield" can't be made the way we were making it. I learned a lot from this venture and know better how to get something like this made. But none the less, a lot of KICK ASS work was done for it and the people who worked on it deserve their credit. Follow the link below

FAIRFIELD BLOG

Magazine Article

I've been published! Well, sort of... A magazine called "Digital Content Producer" was doing an article on doing storyboards digitally and they contacted me at Cartoon Network to ask about Mirage. We supplied them with some art samples from one of the "My Gym Partner's a Monkey" shorts I directed and storyboarded. I guess that image is on the cover. They also have an article on-line about it. Check it out

Fosters Debut

I've been burning the midnight (and weekend) oil on some Foster's freelance and I can finally get the rewards of all my hard work (well, besides the paycheck...) The first episode I storyboarded is going to air this Saturday at 2 and again on Monday at 6:30 (PST). I guess it premiered on Thanksgiving (before the "Good Wilt Hunting" movie), but I missed it! If you are as impatient as I am, then check out the you tube version. Gotta love those hard core fans...

When you storyboard you often don't have any designs to work off of, so sometimes you need to make a pass to have an idea. Below are my roughs for a gang of thugs in this particular episode. After I board the show, then someone much more talented than myself (in this case, it's the amazing Ben Balistreri) takes over and designs the final look for production.

More backs

Elevator Action

Sketchbook entry

CNS storyboard notes

I jump from show to show at work making these shorts, so I really need to be on the ball with a show's style. I end up doing a lot of work at the start so that it makes things go smoother later in the process. I spent some time today studying the storyboarding style of a show here called, "Squirrel Boy". Here's a page of studies I made from watching some episodes.

"The Uninvited" animatic

Darrick Bachman and I wrote the Dracula short that's in the previous post. This here is an animatic of the storyboards I did for it (done entirely in Mirage)...

Billy & Mandy:"Uninvited" & "Party" shorts

Here are the last two Billy birthday shorts! I thought these worked the best of the six.

Billy & Mandy:"Cake" & "Makeover" shorts

They played two of the shorts in a row tonight. Only two more to show! Tune in tomorrow. Those two are my favorite.

Billy & Mandy:"Macaroni Man" short

This guy is making my job easy. He's posted the second short too! It's the POV of Billy's birthday thru his parents.

Billy & Mandy: "Super Myron Brothers" short

Someone posted the first short on You Tube! Here's the first one. Keep an ear out for the monster named Myron, I did the voice...not that you can really tell.

Billy & Mandy Shorts Premiere

Billy Shorts Promo:

THEY'RE ON TV! Finally some of the shorts that I've been directing here at Cartoon Network are seeing the light of day. Apparently CN is showing the first batch of "Billy and Mandy" shorts I directed during a Halloween stunt this week. I guess they're playing a short each night this week at 7pm (I missed tonight's sadly, but I did get the promo).

I thought it would be cool to have all 6 of the shorts centered around one day and each short would be a different perspective on that one event. Darrick Bachman came up with the great idea that it would be on Billy's birthday. They turned out pretty good. Check 'em out if you get a chance.

Comic Con

Why post comic con sketches when everyone else does? I prefer to wait months later to post mine. This dude screams Comic Con. He's got the look down. He was heading to the train, COVERED in various bags full of the weekend's spoils.

Another Train Sketch

Concept Design