S is for:

I have this ready to go from my alphabet book. This was actually the first one I drew. Good ol’ ‘S’.

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U is for…

More Alphabet Fun.

See also, M if for and P is for -

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Hamburger!

Here’s a little piece I call Hamburger.

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It ain’t funny

Some great videos from entertainment folks. Carl Reiner has some of the best lines.

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Intelligent discussion?

Don’t look for intelligent discussion of issues when elected politicians get by saying ‘liberals’ hate ‘real Americans’. Then deny and LIE about saying it, until a tape recorder is played, and we learn the truth.

“Rep. Robin Hayes (R-N.C.) has conceded that he did tell a North Carolina crowd that “liberals hate real Americans that work and accomplish and achieve and believe in God,” even though he initially denied making such a statement. “

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Searle

What can you say about Ronald Searle? He really is one of the most amazing artists, commercial or otherwise, I can think of. His work seeped into my mind from my early childhood when my dad would rip out anything he could find by Searle from magazines and newspapers. If I close my eyes I can see images he created and I can’t tell you when I saw them exactly, but the images are glued in my mind. Powerful line and wistful watercolor style paint.  He seems a completely original force of cartoon nature. His drawings being at once, simple and broad and at the same time, beautifully rendered and carefully drafted. His work tends to hit me in the gut and mind at the same time. This is a wonderful site dedicated to him. And the blogger recently traveled and interviewed Mr. Searle in France. Enjoy.

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Off Topic Tuesday

Monty Python on Election Night coverage.

“This is exactly like I predicted, except that the Silly Party won.”

Wow. They did this long before 24-7 cable news channels. It’s gotten worse. Both in coverage and the fact we really do have a Silly Party that wins elections! Well, we used to…I hope…

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Sketch Book Weekend

As I mention in the post below, I attended a SCBWI Conference/retreat recently. One thing you get time for is free-form sketching. No internet, no TV, no projects to work on (well, you try and keep the projects at bay). So here’s a set of pages I created one evening and the next morning. I think it’s Picture Day at George Washington Elementary. And yes, the kid top left is so tall, his head got cut out of the picture.

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Oregon SCBWI Conference

I just got back from spending a few days at a SCBWI conference in Silver Falls Oregon. Amazing location, wonderful people, a great way to recharge and gain some new insights into writing and drawing .

Here are a few snapshots. A little bit of Middle Earth right here in the ol’ USA.

one of the cabins at the Silver Falls Conference Center.

Sun starting to set. Flying monkeys on the prowl. Actually, one person did have a close encounter with a bear.

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animation background for new short, Hugh

For the past three years I have slowly (an understatement) been working on a new animated short. I have so little free time that I’m starting to wonder if it will ever get done. I feel confident on the story, the art direction and the design and character design seem to be working.

This is the opening BG for the short. It’s a huge background and we slowly truck to the top of the plateau where we meet our main character, Hugh. This is of course, a greatly reduced version. It was drawn with pencil, but finished digitally in Photoshop and composited in After Effects.

I’ll try and post more of it in progress, but judging by my schedule It’ll take me a year to get the first few scenes animated.

And a close up of said background. That’s a tree, not the main character (but the tree does play a role in the story)

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