LooseToon

What the hell is SNORFIN?

2010-04-30T22:44:00.003-04:00

TBS has a new animated series premiering in June called "Neighbors From Hell". At Turner Studios, we are animating commercials, promos and shorts advertising the launch of this new series. I've animated and boarded a few of the on-air commercials, but the main project I've been assigned to is a series of shorts for the SNORFIN.com website. The first short we did is online now at www.snorfin.com.

Wait... you don't know what SNORFIN means? Well Satan's new video series will help you learn all about it! Go check it out!

Steve Whitmire Lecture and Workshop at the Center For Puppetry Arts

2010-01-25T23:39:00.010-05:00

My wife Liz and I had the great fortune of attending a once-in-a-lifetime event for any Muppet fan. On January 9th and 16th, Steve Whitmire, the Muppet performer behind Kermit the Frog, Rizzo the Rat, Wembley Fraggle, and many others was giving a lecture and holding workshops to teach the Muppet way of puppetry for video. Having this chance to hear Steve's thoughts on the Muppets, and to watch him work his magic with puppetry was tremendous. It was truly an amazing experience that we will remember always.

There was absolutely no photography, videotaping, or recording of any kind allowed, so what follows here is a combination of mine and Liz's notes having attended the lecture twice, and scribbling and doodling as fast as we could. And there's still so much more that will not come across by just reading these notes. Steve is a very funny and engaging speaking, and he is a fantastic teacher. We learned so much in such a short time, and we laughed and had so much fun puppeteering along side the master.

And be sure to listen to Steve Swanson's excellent "Muppetcast" podcast for so much more coverage of Steve's appearance, including a round table discussion of the lecture with special guests... us!

Muppetcast Episode #146

So, without further ado...

Steve Whitmire: Perspectives “The Sentient Puppet”
The Center for Puppetry Arts
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010

LECTURE - Facts and Theories of the Muppets

What clues indicate consciousness in people? It’s the way they move. And can be they way they don’t move. Muppets are sentient because they move when they have a reason to move. Movement can be subtle or exaggerated, acting or reacting.

Clues to life (How do you instinctually know someone is alive?):
Motivations behind movements. Respond and comprehend. Individual reactions to surroundings. CONSCIOUSNESS!

When Jim Henson was originally going to sell the Muppets to Disney, one of his main reasons for the deal was that he wanted the Muppets to live on forever and have a legacy, and he felt Disney was best at this. He also was going to be assuming a Creative Head position for Disney (much like John Lasseter) and was thinking that he wouldn’t be able to perform Kermit with all of his new responsibilities. So, unbeknownst to Steve Whitmire, he talked with Frank Oz about Steve taking over Kermit. So after Jim’s death this was how they knew that Jim saw the Muppets continuing on without him.

Kermit was such a strong character that when Steve put on the puppet, it was as if he suddenly was supposed to have all the answers. It was as if he were at the center of a wheel with all of the spokes pointing at him.

Puppetry - Manipulating an inanimate object in order to give it the appearance of having movement not inherent to its own mechanism.

Muppets are not the Energizer Bunny. They have an appearance of actual life, an organic existence. They are a conscious inanimate object.

The Anatomy of a Muppet:
The Muppet’s body is the puppeteer’s forearm.
Elbow – Feet
Lower Forearm – Waist
Upper Forearm – Shoulders
Wrist – Neck
Hand – Skull
Fingers - Mouth

Hierarchy of consciousness:
The Triune Brain (3 part brain)
1. Reptilian Brain (Pre-conventional) – Natural functions, breathing, heart beat, fight or flight reaction. Can be associated with the color red. The character Animal fits in this category. Frank Oz described Animal’s motivations as only 3 things: Drums, Sex and Food.
a. Famous psychiatric test for very young children. A paddle is held up with one yellow side and one red side. The child is shown both sides and made to understand that one side is yellow and the other is red. Then the child is shown the yellow side and is asked what color do you see? The child says yellow. Then without changing the paddle is asked what color do I see? The child will still say yellow, as they cannot yet take the point of view of another.

2. Limbic Brain (Conventional, Mammalian) – Form relationships (Communities, Groups, Towns, Nations). Emotions. Care for their young. Solve problems. Can be associated with the color blue. Sam the Eagle falls into this group. Patriotic to a fault. No weirdos. No Canadians.
a. Children experience the “terrible two’s” when they reach this stage. They suddenly “get it” that they are not the only ones who matter and it upsets them.

3. Neo-Mammalian Brain (Neo Cortex or Post-conventional) – Learn abstract thinking, symbols like numbers and letters, form relationships, reason, empathy. Worldview. Can be associated with the color green. Kermit falls into this group. Humans use this brain 85% of the time.

Furthermore:
4. Post, post-conventional brain – Considering all things. A whole universe view.
5. Conflicted brain – Instinctual parts fight with the relationship parts.

Moral development – Your level of morality
Cognitive development – How intellectually smart you are.

States of Consciousness
1. Waking
2. Dreaming (Meditation, realizing you are dreaming within a dream)
3. Deep Sleep (Nothingness)

Big 3 Perspectives: I, WE, and IT.
I – Subjective
WE – Inter subjective
IT – Objective

Each Muppet is a combination of all 3 perspectives at once.
For example:
- Steve and Kermit is “I”. Steve is Kermit, Kermit is Steve. They are one and the same.
- Steve and Kermit are also a “WE”. Steve and Kermit are 2 separate living perspectives.
- Steve and Kermit are also an “IT”. Together they create Kermit as a tool to play characters that are not he. Kermit as an actor playing roles.

Burr Tilstrom referred to his puppets as “the kids”.

Definition of a Muppet:
Each and every Muppet character consists of two differentiated components; A puppet and a performer.

Muppets are real. They are actual, rather than imaginary or fictitious. Unlike animated characters and most fantasy characters, their particular physicality allows them to exist in the real world in exactly the same form as they appear on screen without any imitations of any kind. There are no needs for alternate versions. They can show up anywhere the same as any celebrity. They are physical, not illusory – original rather than imitation.

Muppets can look you in the eye and have a first person conversation about anything. They are never at a loss for words because they respond consistently with the same tangible subjective mentality as any living, breathing individual you might encounter. They are coherent.

Muppets have a point of view, an opinion. They can discuss current events, politics and each other’s good and bad habits in character, both seriously and humor. They fully and lucidly exist both in and out of their on-screen personas.

Muppets have a consistent recollection and memories of events. They can talk with you about something you did together 1 week ago, 1 month ago or 30 years ago. They have consciousness. Muppets cannot be VHS copies. Kermit cannot have 12 different people performing him, each bringing a subtle difference. That would make him 12 different characters. Kermit must have his own life.

Muppets are real individuals and relate to each other and the world with their own individual perspectives. They can’t be duplicated or doubled. There is no project so small or insignificant that the Muppets would not show up fully and originally intact. Kermit must be Kermit in the movies, and at a grocery store opening. The Muppet character must always be genuine, not counterfeit.

Muppets are motivated by real feelings, memories, thoughts and emotions. The fact that they are puppets does not figure into who they are. Who they are is what the Muppets have always been about, first and foremost.

They are not a “what”, but a “who”.

They have always existed as much more than a brand. That explains their ongoing connection to their audience. Frank Oz said, “Muppets are not puppets, they are characters.”

Interesting facts:
Working on the “Dark Crystal” brought more subtle movements in performance to the Muppets as a whole.

The Muppets in the new Disney Parks parade were built 20% larger than normal in order to be more visible. This caused a specific problem with Kermit, as he has no skull per se, only the performer’s hand is inside his head.

Unlike an actor who plays a role temporarily, individual Muppet performers are permanently cast, virtually for life. This is one major part of the Muppet’s success, as that performer can build and enrich that character throughout his/her lifetime.

The performer is responsible for both the voice and the movement of the character – The soul.

Puppeteers are responsible for much more than the normal actor. Puppeteers are performers, casting directors, puppet builders, writers, producers, directors, musicians and publicists.

Two puppeteers performing one character is the pinnacle of performance (right hands Muppets). The two can lock to each other like SMPTE (time code).

The lecture finished with a short montage of Kermit’s development over the years. We started with some clips from “Sam and Friends”, Jim’s first show in Baltimore he created while in college. Here Kermit was very primitive. He wasn’t named Kermit yet – he was just one of the ensemble characters, and he usually appeared in drag. They almost always pre-recorded the audio tracks and lip-synched, or just lip-synched to popular records, particularly Stan Freberg comedy albums. So sometimes Jim’s wife, Jane would perform Kermit. Next we saw a bit with Kermit and Yorik on the Steve Allen show. This was their second national TV appearance lip-synching to “I’ve Grown Accustomed To Your Face”. Here Kermit was progressing but still without his collar or webbed feet. The inside of his mouth and upper palate was very intricate, possibly because of the lack of color TV. Moving on, we saw Kermit singing “It’s Not Easy Being Green” on Sesame Street. Here Jim was singing live while performing, as the lip sync was spot on. He was looking more like the Kermit of today with his collar and feet, but his eyes still weren’t quite focused properly. Kermit had a double collar in this iteration. Next was Kermit in “The Frog Prince”. Kermit still had “broken”, floppy fingers, but he now had much better eye focus and more subtle movement. Then we came to the Muppet Show with Kermit performing “Happy Feet”. Here Kermit was tap dancing with his performance progressing enough to simulate legs and feet on the ground dancing. Kermit’s fingers though were still just floppy fleece. Next was “The Muppet Movie”, where Kermit needed to be more refined and subtle in movement. His fingers were given more structured, human-like form and more mechanical mechanisms were devised to have him playing the banjo. Moving on, we saw Steve’s first performance as Kermit in “Muppet Treasure Island”. Here Kermit was playing the role of Captain Smollett (Kermit as an actor portraying another character. Steve said he was playing Kermit as if he were Patrick Stewart). Finally we saw the most recent performance of Kermit with Tiffany Thornton, a Disney Channel star, singing a Christmas song called “I Believe”.

PUPPETRY WORKSHOP

Each class consisted of twelve participants. Steve talked to the class a bit about the camera, the video monitors and the importance of eye focus. Then each group of three had five minutes of on-camera time to practice eye focus exercises with hands-on instruction from Steve. When you are performing in front of the monitor, the image is backwards, unlike performing in front of a mirror. Basically you are seeing the audience’s point of view from your own point of view. It’s very disconcerting when you do this for the first time. The person to your left in front of the camera is on the right side of you in the monitor’s image. What helps you here with eye focus is to have your puppet looking directly at you. If your puppet’s eyes are looking directly at your own eyes, you got it. The puppet is held as straight as possible at a slight forward angle. Bend your elbow slightly – do not lock your elbow. Hold the puppet close to your body so your shoulder muscles are doing most of the work. You will hurt more and tire faster the further away from you the puppet is.

The puppets were numbered 0-12, with Steve using the #0 puppet. They were all identical, made by him and even signed and copyrighted inside. They were covered in pink Antron fleece, and Steve openly joked about their slightly “naughty” appearance.

For the next exercise, each group returned to the camera and monitor for another five minutes to practice lip-synch. Here Steve talked about how to open the puppet’s mouth correctly while still keeping the puppet’s eyes focused at the camera. We just lip-synched to some well-known nursery rhymes. The goal here is to open the puppet’s mouth by holding your top fingers as steady, and relaxed as possible while opening the lower jaw with the thumb. The camera should not be seeing the upper part of the inside of the mouth. Imagining the puppet’s upper jaw on a table and that it must remain level helps a lot. This is how an actual mouth works. The upper jaw is an extension of your skull and it’s the lower jaw that is on a hinge and moves. Moving the mouth this way helps to keep the puppet’s eyes focused on camera while speaking. Another technique used is the “attack”, which involves moving the hand forward, pivoting at the wrist, and dropping the thumb. The puppet’s head will move forward slightly while the mouth opens to help keep the upper jaw level.

Next we were called up in pairs to lip-synch, with Steve, to some well-known song snippets. There were 6 songs: Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2”, Sheryl Crow’s “Soak Up the Sun”, Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”, Kansas’ “Carry On My Wayward Son”, Bachman Turner Overdrive’s “Takin’ Care of Business”, and “The Time Warp” from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Here we were taught some more subtleties of lip-synch, such as holding the mouth open during a long note, but having the puppet remain alive with subtle moves, and being conscious of the spots for breathing to either have the puppet’s mouth close during a breath or to actually take a breath if the dialogue is slower.

(I went ahead and made my own versions of the 6 song edits we worked with in the class to continue to practice. The songs were edited in such a way as to make each clip last about 1 minute each. I made my versions from memory and I think I got them pretty darn close. I loved the way each song was designed to add just a little something else to the instruction. First was "Another Brick In The Wall" which was pretty straight forward lip sync. Then "Soak Up The Sun" added some longer held notes. Each subsequent song added a little something more for the puppet to do while singing. Check them out here.)

Finally, we went up in groups of six to have a go at all six song clips in a row! This was true Muppet mayhem, trying to have all seven adults with puppets, all trying to stay in frame.

(Coincidentally, the 1/25/2010 episode of the Henson.com podcast actually is a short video describing how the Henson Company puppeteers use monitors to help them perform and gives instructions on how you can do the same thing at home with a television and video camera. This is basically what we did in the workshop, only we had Steve Whitmire live and in person performing with us! Henson.com Podcast for 01/25/2010)

UPDATE - My wife Liz also posted about the workshop on her Puppatoons Blog, and she got quite a comment from none other than veteran Muppeteer Jerry Nelson! I copied the text down below, but go visit Puppatoons to see the real deal.

"What an informative post. All wanna-be puppeteers should see this because Steve has given an encyclopedic amount of information in a succinct and very clear form.
You also deserve credit (and your husband) for being so concise in your reportage.
The only thing I would add to this is that after you have absorbed all this you can properly begin your studies of people and animals.

Good luck to all,
Jerry"

Avery Matthews

2009-07-02T00:30:00.004-04:00

We were fortunate enough last year to be given a chance to animate a pilot for Cartoon Network called "Avery Matthews". I was Lead Animator for the show that was created by Stuart Hill and Rich Ferguson-Hull. The 2D character animation was all done in Flash.

"Avery Matthews" is screening at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA on Friday night July 10th as part of the Georgia Animation on Our Mind: An Animation Screening curated by ASIFA-Atlanta. The screening is presented as part of the 21st Society of Animation Studies Conference, July 10—12, 2009.

Georgia Animation on Our Mind: An Animation Screening
July 10, 2009, 8 p.m.
Rich Theatre of the Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree Street NE

Reserve your free ticket.

Got the "Expandable Post" Thingie Working

2009-02-05T15:12:00.010-05:00

Just testing some functionality. I wanted to get the "Read More... After the jump!" business working.

All of the other codes I was trying kept giving me the "Read More..." link on EVERY post, not just the ones I wanted to use it on.

Well, I finally got it working after following the instructions posted here.

And I figgered I'd post a sketch just to make this little exercise all worth while.

Blobby

2009-01-31T23:42:00.005-05:00

Blobby is a little monster character that started as a doodle on my notebook at work. So, on a slow day I decided to draw him in Flash and build him as a Flash model. After searching the net for a monster-ish sounding sound clip to animate to, I did this quick little animation. As a result, this ended up defining his character as someone with big ideas and who tries hard, but ultimately can't do much without limbs.

I think he'll fit in well as a regular part of Puppatoons, a soon-to-be powerhouse of Internet Puppet and Animation entertainment.

Muppet Performers Dave Goelz and Steve Whitmire at the Atlanta History Center November 16th, 2008

2008-11-19T18:09:00.034-05:00

Wow, an opportunity like this doesn’t come along too often, especially for Muppet fans!

On the weekend of November 15 and 16th at the Atlanta History Center, Muppeteers Dave Goelz, best known for performing Gonzo and Steve Whitmire, performer of Rizzo the Rat and the current performer of Kermit appeared at an intimate (and I do mean intimate) screening of rare Muppet clips, Muppet Show sketches, and a screening of “The Dark Crystal” and “Labyrinth”. It was billed as "Muppets, Music, & Magic: Jim Henson's Legacy".

Muppeteers Steve Whitmire and Dave Goelz at the Atlanta History Center.

We were able to go on Sunday the 16th. My Wife’s friend and her sister came down from Nashville the night before and the four of us headed downtown Sunday morning. The screening started at 12:30 pm with the Harry Belafonte episode of the Muppet Show. This was followed by the “Visual Thinking” skit from Sam and Friends, Jim Henson’s first TV show. Then a portion of an appearance by Jim, Frank Oz, and Don Sahlin on “The Dick Cavett Show” where they demonstrated how a “Whatnot” puppet works. This was followed by an episode of “The Storyteller” called “The Heartless Giant”. Then the lights go up and up to the stage walk Dave and Steve for a casual Q and A session with the audience. It was so special and amazing!

Dave Goelz sits with The Great Gonzo!

Steve Whitmire and Kermit! THE REAL KERMIT!

They answered questions for a good long time. Then Steve went backstage and returned with a big trunk. I was holding my breath. They sit down and Steve reaches into the chest and pulls out Kermit. Holy Mackeral! The ACTUAL KERMIT was right there 10 feet from me! Dave reaches down and pulls out Gonzo. This was an absolute first for me. This was the first time I had ever seen these Muppet superstars in person performing live! They continued to chat and perform for a while, and then Steve packs Kermit away and pulls out Rizzo the Rat. Three Muppet Superstars!! Woohoo!

Dave and Steve take questions from the audience.

They sat and talked and performed and continued to take questions. Then they stood up and demonstrated how they have to hold the puppets over their heads while they perform, how since Steve is a few inches taller than Dave, he has to crouch down while Rizzo and Gonzo are working together.

Gonzo gives Rizzo a hand with his hand.

Steve demonstrating his height compared to Dave's.

Steve explaining the subtle nuances of Rizzo.

All of this was a good 2 plus hours, and then it was time for the screening of “Labyrinth”. We actually took this opportunity to sneak away and take in the Smithsonian Jim Henson exhibit currently at the History Center entitled “Jim Henson’s Fantastic World”. This exhibit is fantastic! It includes many drawings and sketches, storyboards and hand-written scripts, actual Muppets on display, videos of commercials and short films, and clips from Muppet TV shows. And… worth the price of admission alone are life-size recreations of Wilkins and Wontkins from the Wilkin’s Coffee commercials that Jim produced in the 50’s. They are GORGEOUS and I wanted them! Damn… no photos allowed in the exhibit! I couldn’t even take pictures! AAAH!

But, photos were allowed with Dave and Steve at their presentation. And I took a few videos as well!

VIDEO: Dave and Steve hamming it up with Gonzo and Kermit.

VIDEO: Dave and Steve discuss their favorite characters to perform.

VIDEO: Dave and Steve discuss performing problems.

So, we returned to the theater where “Labyrinth” was finishing up. We caught the last 15 minutes or so of the film and afterwards, Dave and Steve came back on stage for another round of questions and answers. This time they sat down right on the edge of the stage for the chat. We didn’t want it to end but apparently THEY wanted to see the Henson exhibit, too! Hehe! They signed autographs and posed for pictures. It was truly amazing and a once-in-a-lifetime thing!

This appearance wasn’t advertised very well and I would say only about 25 people were there on Sunday. I don't know about Saturday. This was fine with me. We had them practically to ourselves for the entire afternoon!

New Sketch

2008-10-24T16:39:00.003-04:00

Here's a new Flash sketch:

New Flash Sketch

2008-08-20T10:19:00.005-04:00

Here's a new drawing I did inked and colored with Flash.

I had some downtime at work, and I've been perusing all of the sketchbooks I brought back from Comic Con, so I started doodling. I'm not the greatest at coming up with poses without a model so I Google searched and found this life drawing online.

I used the pose to do a more cartoony, stylized drawing. Just a doodle on a notebook with a regular ink pen. I took this photo of it with my crappy camera phone in order to get it into Flash to finish up. The finish came out nice, but I always like the sketches better!

Biker Scout Banner

2008-05-26T02:47:00.004-04:00

Here's a little something I whipped up to use as a banner for some of the specific forums relating to my Biker Scout love. I have to use the GIF version:

... but here's the original SWF version:

http://wallofshemp.freeservers.com/ASWCCBanners/scout.htm

Behold......

2008-04-26T01:25:00.002-04:00

My Sideshow Premium Format Biker Scout figure.

Ken Anderson - Disney Family Album

2008-04-14T23:15:00.003-04:00

Walt Disney often referred to Ken Anderson as his "Jack of All Trades." Indeed, over the years, Ken used his masterful skills as architect, artist, animator, storyteller and designer to pioneer many different areas of Disney's broad entertainment spectrum. Always focused on challenge and growth, Ken once said his desire was not so much to achieve, as to "be able to constantly improve."

Among Ken's character creations are the villainous Shere Khan in "The Jungle Book" and the playful dragon, Elliott, in "Pete's Dragon." His impressive roster of Disney credits also include story contributions to "Melody Time," "Cinderella" and "The Jungle Book," while his color styling greatly influenced "Alice in Wonderland." Ken's layouts were pivotal to the staging and design of "Peter Pan" and "Lady and the Tramp," and led to his production design of "Sleeping Beauty," "101 Dalmatians" and "The Aristocats."

Jane Henson in Atlanta!

2008-02-26T22:58:00.004-05:00

Center For Puppetry Arts invites you to...

Look Both Ways & GO

Jane Henson, co-founder of the Muppets and wife of the late Jim Henson, will present a behind-the-scenes look at creating a cultural phenomenon featuring seldom-seen video clips from the Jim Henson Archives. Stay after the presentation for an exclusive showing of Time Piece, the rarely seen Oscar-nominated short film produced, directed and written by Jim Henson.

When: Sat., Feb. 23 @ 8pm
Where: Center For Puppetry Arts, Downstairs Theater
Admission: Free!

Holey mackerel, what an evening!

The night started with a screening of 12 Sesame Street counting films that were all made by Jim Henson. Then Jane was introduced to the intimate crowd of about 250 folks. She talked for a good bit about the early days of meeting Jim at a Puppet class in college, and then working together on Sam and friends.

Then we watched a short documentary called "The Sam and Friends Story". Got to see many early skits, a recording of Jim reading a hand-written script, lots of great behind the scenes action.

Then Jane opened the floor to questions. I don't know if this is news to the long-time Muppet die-hards, but it was news to me. Apparently when Jim and Jane were working together, they were each both engaged to other people! We then watched some early Sam and friends appearances on the Steve Allen show, including the very first Muppet appearance for a national TV audience. Then a hilarious "mock" documentary about the creation of a Wilson's Meats commercial.

Then the presentation was finished with a beautiful tribute video to Jane that was made for her for her 60th birthday. Priceless viewing! I would have given anything for a DVD copy of the evening's presentation!

Jane then left the theater to a reception area with food and drink and met and talked with all who wanted to meet her. We paid our respects and had our photo taken with her. My Wife brought along a rubber duck that Jane signed for her about 20 years ago at a puppetry convention to see if she remembered it. She didn't... hehe. That duck is also signed by Frank Oz, Carrol Spinney and Frank's Dad. Then back to the theater for a screening of Jim Henson's Oscar nominated short "Timepiece".

We then went back to the reception to have some food and mingling some more. We then said goodnight to Jane and thanked her again.

What an unforgettable night!

JibJab Sendables

2007-12-13T14:25:00.001-05:00

Those JibJab guys are awesome! They have holiday cards set up where you can add in your own photos of family and friends, and you star in the cartoons. Like the "elfyourself" website, only better!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Birdman Finale Clips on AdultSwim.com

2007-11-12T22:45:00.001-05:00

I was just looking around in the video section on adultswim.com and discovered that there's loads of clips from the Birdman finale "The Death of Harvey" posted there. So, I'm gonna link to some of them here, and include some riveting commentary relating to my part in their animation.

WE'LL BAG 'EM, YOU TRY 'EM!

This was the first shot I worked on for this episode, and I did 90% of the animation myself. We open on the recently released villians reaking havoc on the city. So, in this one scene I got to animate Magilla Gorilla choking Squiddly Diddly, Speed Demon, the Ant Ape robot from a classic HB Birdman episode, Pa Rugg from the Hillbilly Bears, the little green aliens from the Harvey episode "Shoyu Weenie", Hokey Wolf, plus some garbage cans. There was a lot of fun acting here from Birdgirl, and from Peanut. Some of the funniest stuff we got to do was with Birdgirl's Birdlocator helmet. This is the first shot that we see it in action and it was here where we decided to make it so ridiculously huge. My assistant, Darrell animated the helmet view with the old school vector graphics, and Birdgirl punching out Squiddly. Then I finished up with Birdgirl returning the purse to the Old Lady. Her cigarette was not in the boards, I added that myself.

THE BIRDTEAM RETURNS

This is a great sequence, and not just because I animated most of it myself. Haha! This is the big moment in the episode when Harvey returns to his superhero roots and once again becomes Birdman. And we get to see Peanut for the first time in his Birdboy persona. And of course, Birdgirl as the true Birdgirl. These run cycles were re-purposed and embellished from run cycles that I did for the final shot of the episode "Birdgirl of Guantanamole". I had to slow them down, re-tween them, and re-draw the models for the superhero outfits. My assistant Darrell handled most of the re-drawing of Harvey here, while I did Peanut and Birdgirl. Then new animation was needed to get them out of the cycles and into the held "hero" poses. We then cut to Eliot, the Deadly Duplicator, watching the action from the sidelines through the copy shop window. This bit was also animated by Darrell. Then it's more of my animation of Eliot shouting and gesturing and interacting with the female customer. Eliot is voiced by Lewis Black, and the customer here is voiced by Paget Brewster, the voice of Birdgirl. The clip finishes with some of my favorite animation that I did, X's over-the-top take when he is surprised by Eliot. We had such a tight deadline on this episode and I had originally animated this a bit more straight-forward, thinking more about getting it done fast than it's comedic value, or how good it would look. Thankfully, my director, Rich, had me redo it much more over the top. So, for the remainder of the episode, I made sure I gave each scene the attention it deserved, no matter the deadline. Needless to say, that involved working some 12 hour days for 2 weeks straight, but it was damn-well worth it.

SAVING THE CITY

The action is really kicking into high gear here. I animated the opening 2 shots in this clip. I particularly liked how the profile run cycles turned out and think the shot looks great with the depth of the scrolling backgrounds. I also really enjoyed animating the next scene, Birdman flying up to confront Nitron on the building tops. Even though Nitron was animated in 3D, I still had total control over how I wanted the character to behave and what the final animation looked like. The 3D animation was vector rendered out of Maya and then imported directly into Flash. I then hand-drew the animation of Nitron's bulging muscles. The final bit I animated here was Birdgirl's capture by the Defcon12. Needless to say, it's always fun to animate Birdgirl, and I had a good time drawing her funny face in this shot.

SUPERHERO, DEPRESSION

I include this clip mainly because I had so much fun animating all of the crazy action going on outside the window on the street. Now, where else can you get paid for animating Huckleberry Hound clobbering Squiddly Diddly and Magilla Gorilla with a 2 by 4? I ask you?

Hitchhiking to the Haunted Mansion - MNSSHP 2007

2007-10-22T23:47:00.001-04:00

Here's my big report about our costuming experience at MNSSHP 2007!

Sunday the 14th was our first night in costume. We ended up being very late after a mix up with our lunch dining reservation and we did not arrive at the Party until about 10:30pm. We made a mad dash towards the Mansion and got stuck on the wrong side of the Boo To You Parade in Liberty Square. We sure took some folk's attention away from the parade! We actually got there right when the Haunted Mansion float was passing. After the float passed, we went on to the Mansion and our first ride. It was pretty empty so we asked the Foyer CM if we could wait for the next Stretch Room. He agreed and left us alone to surprise his counterpart CM working the other room. She was quite surprised to find us waiting in the Foyer after resetting her Stretch Room!

We had fun talking with her, and also the other CMs in the Load Area. They took some photos of us with their own cameras, and then we got on the ride. Afterward, a Mansion CM set us up in front of the Mansion and took some photos of us. This is when other party guests started to want pictures with us, and another CM came by and told us we couldn't take photos here. He also was extremely nice about it and took us into the backstage "Servant's Quarters" door and took us right into the Stretch Room to have another ride. We then wandered around Liberty Square until just before Midnight when we returned to the Mansion for our traditional midnight last ride of the evening. We then spent some time outside the Mansion taking separate photos of ourselves with the Mansion gate plaque. Here's me!

Now well after midnight and our slow walk back towards Main Street is when things started to happen for us. Main Street is basically devoid of guests and just the Photopass folks and Cleaning CMs are around. Well, they all immediately stop us in our tracks and insist they take our photo, and insist they jump into some photos themselves!

We had some Photopass pictures taken and the CM in yellow wrote us a slip and said we could get 4 free 8x10s of these photos! So, we head on down to Exposition Hall to get our prints, and the CMs working in here all start to go nuts! So much so that the Manager CM in here insists we have professional studio shots taken in one of their on-site studios! Check out some of this action!

Once again we were given free 5x7s of these shots and we were on our way. One last fun moment happened on our way to the buses. A CM named Steve stops us at the turnstiles and recognized us from last year! It turned out he was our bus driver and drove us in costume from our resort to the Party last year! He radioed and requested a bus for the Bride and the Hitchhiking Ghosts. We had our own bus back to our resort.

After realizing how much time we needed to get in costume and makeup on Sunday, we made sure we got an early start on Thursday. We made it to the bus stop at our resort at around 8pm, and for the first time we were seen by a whole lotta folks at the stop and on the bus. We made quite scene. We were through the turnstiles at 8:30pm and decided to head to Tommorowland. This would be the first time we had ventured to any other area of the Magic Kingdom in costume.

We stopped on the bridge to Tommorowland to take a photo with the Castle and were overrun by other park guests wanting our picture and to get pictures with us. We were honestly stuck there for a good 10 minutes! Then a Dream Squad CM came over basically to see what was happening. I told her we were trying to get to the Peoplemover. She laughed, and then escorted us to the TTA. She asked us where we were from, basic chit-chat during the walk and we said thanks, got on the ride and didn't think much more of it.

We finish the ride and head back down the ramp and there is our Dream Squad CM waiting there for us with a big bag of Halloween candy! She gives us the candy and asks us if we were fans of Space Mountain. We all were of course and she said she wanted to give us a Magic Moment and take us all on a backstage tour of the Space Mountain control tower and then go for a ride! Well, we all took the tour, but our costumes would only allow 2 of us to ride, Pickwick and Prudence. It was awesome, and I wish I talked with Prudence before writing this since she knows our Dream Squad CM's name, while I forget :(.

We then headed on to Fantasyland for a ride on Small World. We were surprised and stopped by a Haunted Mansion CM on her off night there with her family who saw us on Sunday. We talked with her for a bit, then more pictures with guests and we finally got to Small World for a ride.

Then it was off to the Mansion for our first ride of the night. The only disappointing thing about our Mansion rides in costume this year was none of the Mansion CMs we met and became friends with last year were working the parties we went to. But we met some really great new friends this year.

Then it was off to ride Pirates.

On our way back to Liberty Square for our traditional Midnight last ride of the night at the Mansion, we ran into Jesse and Bullseye in Frontierland, and an awesome CM who was playing a creepy Night Watchman near the Riverboat. We also got his contact info and made another new friend this night.

So we once again finished our night as the final riders of the day on the Haunted Mansion. The night was over except for our slow walk back to the main gate. We stopped for many photos, including this one in front of the Hall Of Presidents. This is the best photo we got of our Bride's beating red heart (She had beating heart sound, too!).

And that's about it for our MNSSHP adventures for 2007!

Hope to see you all next year!

Oh... and here we are in our secret identities!

(L-R, Ezra, Phineas, Gus (me), Bride, Pickwick. Prudence is taking the photo!)

"Harry Potter" Stars Visit "Adult Swim"

2007-09-15T09:32:00.001-04:00

On the morning of September 4th, 2007, James and Oliver Phelps, who play Weasley twins Fred and George in the Harry Potter films, visited the offices of "Adult Swim" over at Williams Street in Atlanta. The actors were in town over the Labor Day weekend at Dragon*Con 2007, the huge Atlanta Sci-fi, Fantasy, Comics convention, along with their co-star Matt Lewis (Neville Longbottom). So, on the morning before they were scheduled to head to the airport, an impromptu tour of the Adult Swim studios was put together for the Twins. They looked to be thoroughly enjoying themselves as I and fellow animator Darrell showed up to meet them. They were visiting Adult Swim Senior VP Mike Lazzo when we stumbled across them at William Street. The Twins are fans of Adult Swim, having seen some of the shows on the Bravo Channel in the UK. They didn't know "Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law" though, which is the show we worked on, or "Stroker and Hoop", another of ours, but they were still very pleased to meet us and talked with us for quite a while about the animation process.

They were snapping photos all around the studios, and the above shot is of us posing with a standee of one of our "Birdman" characters "Bear".

We ended up tagging along with their tour for about 10 minutes. It's not often we get to visit Williams Street ourselves, as we work at Turner Studios which is across the highway. They were given huge bags of swag, which included some "Birdman" DVDs as per my request, and then they were on their way.

I'm a big ol' geeky "Potter" fan myself and meeting these two super-nice fellows was a real treat. It's too bad Matt couldn't make the tour. He wanted to, but his schedule didn't allow for it. I did get to meet him at the Con, though. Hopefully there was enough swag in the bag to share.

Tomb Raider "Re/Visioned"

2007-08-31T19:11:00.001-04:00

Turner Studios was recently tasked with production of four Lara Croft Tomb Raider shorts for Gametap.com, part of their ten-part "Re/Visioned" animated anthology series.

This "Re/Visioned" series is best compared to the "Animatrix". It's a group of cartoon shorts with various writers, story ideas, and design styles, with the only common thread between them being Lara Croft as lead character. They are unique in that they don't particularly relate to the original Tomb Raider video game, or to each other for that matter.

I was given the chance to Animation Direct one of the episodes, "Revenge of the Aztec Mummy". This episode is a cartoon romp, more like an episode of Scooby Doo than anything we've seen Lara in before. It was written by Brian Pulido with character designs by David Alvarez. All of the animation was done here in Atlanta at Turner Studios.

There was also a nice write-up about this episode over at Aaron Simpson's Cold Hard Flash, a great Flash animation blog.

The other episodes we did at Turner Studios are "Legacy", which has a great campy, late 60's action cartoon feel, and "Angel Spit - Parts 1 and 2" with a more traditional comic book look. I also did animation for both of these episodes, with the majority of my work on "Legacy".

Go to tombraider.gametap.com to watch these episodes, and the others in the Tomb Raider "Re/Visioned" series.

The Death of Harvey Birdman

2007-07-23T12:53:00.000-04:00

Well, here it is. After 4 fantastic years of working on a show that I loved, the final episode is out there for all to enjoy. We really wanted to kick it up a notch and make sure that Harvey went out in style. I am so proud of the work we did on the series and all the accolades we've received. Enjoy the episode and buy the DVD on the 24th!

Harvey Birdman is dead... long live Harvey Birdman!

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

PART FOUR

The Shemp Meditation Tapes

2007-07-06T20:31:00.000-04:00

Ahhhh, The Shemp Meditation Tapes. A must for any Shemp fan!

I found Shemp Meditation Tape #1 more than 10 years ago, quite by accident. A guy I worked with used to live in Northern New Jersey and was constantly spouting off about this great radio station he used to listen to back home, WFMU. So we looked them up on the web one day, found our way to their online catalog, and discovered this cassette tape for sale called "The Shemp Meditation Tape". The sound clip on the site was hysterical, so I ordered one. Here are the liner notes:

WINDEM SLIME TAPES PRESENT - THE SHEMP MEDITATION TAPE-

Recommended for new age nitwits and chuckleheads alike....scientifically mixed in SHEMP-A-RAMA for your enlightened casaba-banging pleasure. Soar the Horowitz Heavens and become One with Shemp's karma on the "HEEEEE BEEE BEEE BEEE BEEE side. Transhempify your mind and cook your chakras on the life-infirming "AHH HA HA HA HA HA" side. Produced under armed guard for WFMU by Mahavishnu Dave Thespazzyrama in the palatial Spazzintologist Compound.

These outrageous tapes are the brainchild of WFMU DJ Dave "The Spazz" from his "Music to Spazz By" Radio Program. I originally wrote about these tapes over on my Shemp website wallofshemp.com. Imagine my surprise when after about 2 months of having my Wall of Shemp webpage out there for human consumption, I get an e-mail out of the blue from "The Spazz". He told me about his latest Shemp Meditation #2 Tape. Needless to say, I begged him for a copy of it! Thanks again, Dave. Although the second tape is about half as long as the first, I think #2 is even funnier.

Once again, the Shemp Meditation Tapes have entered my life. I just found MP3s of all 4 Shemp Meditation tracks over on WFMU's "Beware of the Blog"! Here's what I found last night. A write-up and MP3s of Meditation Tape #2:

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/05/more_shemp_than.html

And a link to Meditation Tape #1:

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2005/10/the_shemp_medit.html

And a link to purchase the long unpurchasable tapes for you very own. But, with free MP3s available? Still, I bought one... you should too!

http://store.wfmustore.org/shmeta.html

Multimedia message

2007-06-27T19:51:00.001-04:00

Well, I am stuck in the airport again. So to kill some time, I took a walk around the terminal to see if I could spot anything funny. I snapped this photo, although it didn't come out too well. The destination says "TORANTO". More to come... possibly.

Real-Life Herbie

2007-06-02T15:36:00.001-04:00

Ahhh, as a kid this was my dream, to have a real Herbie as my car as an adult. I even went so far as take a white Volkswagon Beetle Matchbox car and add the stripe and number, and I made my own toy Herbie. Well, there's a guy in Georgia who is living my dream! He shows up at various charitable events around town with this beautiful custom Herbie. I'll just have to be content with my photos of it, and my remote-control version.

Freelance - Flash Cartoons for Intel

2007-05-27T02:41:00.002-04:00

Here's some freelance work I recently completed with my buddy Les Harper of Lightbox Studios for Producto Studios out in California. Producto Studios was commissioned by Intel to create this series of Flash cartoons to promote their new processor. Producto wrote the scripts and did the storyboards, created character designs, sound fx, and original music while Lightbox handled the animation. I had a great time helping Les out with the animation on these and I think all 4 of them came out fantastic and look great. Les did the majority of the work, building the Flash models and doing most of the animation himself, but since this is my blog, we'll only be concentrating on my meager contributions. Click the text links to view the cartoons.

Power and Performance - I did the animation of the Weakling.

Wireless Connectivity - I handled the animation of the 2 kids.

Manageability and Security - Animated the Security Guard except for this overhead wide shot where he first wakes up.

Energy and Efficiency - Did the animation for the office worker in her "frazzled" state.

Birdgirl Montage

2007-05-12T11:24:00.003-04:00

Here's a montage of all the Birdgirl scenes I animated for the episode of Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law "Birdgirl of Guantanamole". This episode won an award for "Best Animated TV Series For Adults" at the 2005 Ottawa International Animation Festival. 100% of the animation was done in Flash.

Flash Sketch

2007-02-17T23:57:00.001-05:00

Here's a new sketch I did in Flash based on one of my recent life drawing sessions.

Eric Larson - Disney Family Album

2007-02-14T23:08:00.001-05:00

Over the years, Eric animated on such feature films as, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "Fantasia," "Bambi," "Cinderella," "Alice in Wonderland," "Peter Pan," "Lady and the Tramp," "Sleeping Beauty," "The Jungle Book," as well as nearly 20 shorts and six television specials. Later, he served as a consultant on "The Black Cauldron" and "The Great Mouse Detective."

In the late 1970s, Eric expanded the Studio's Talent Program to find and train new and talented animators from colleges and art schools across the nation. This program, which still exists today, came at a crucial juncture in Disney's history, when many veteran animators were stepping down from their drawing boards. Subsequently, through his close work with young animators, Eric helped preserve the integrity of Disney animation for generations to come.

Woolie Reitherman - Disney Family Album

2007-02-13T08:51:00.001-05:00

Woolie contributed to more than 30 Disney shorts including "Water Babies," "Mickey's Fire Brigade" and "Donald in Mathmagic Land." He also contributed his animation skill to such classic animated features as "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "Cinderella," "Peter Pan," "Lady and the Tramp," "101 Dalmatians," "The Jungle Book," and more.

In 1963, Woolie became the first animator in the history of the company to be given the directorial reins of an entire animated feature, beginning with "The Sword in the Stone." He also directed the cartoon featurette "Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day" which won an Academy Award® in 1969.

After Walt Disney's untimely death in 1966, Woolie helped unify the Studio's stable of egos and talent. As fellow animator Frank Thomas recalls, Woolie was a "very strong leader" during that unsettling time. After nearly 50 years with the Studio, Woolie retired in 1981.

Milt Kahl - Disney Family Album

2007-02-13T00:01:00.001-05:00

In June 1934, Milt applied to The Walt Disney Studios and was hired to work as an assistant animator on such shorts as "Mickey's Circus," "Lonesome Ghosts" and "The Ugly Duckling," which won an Oscar® for Best Animated Short. Over the years, Milt contributed to such Disney features as "Melody Time," "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad," "Cinderella," "Lady and the Tramp," "101 Dalmatians," "The Jungle Book," and "The Rescuers," among others.

Because Milt was so good at his craft, he was often assigned the toughest of Disney tasks: animating human characters, such as Peter Pan, Alice of "Alice in Wonderland" and the Prince in "Sleeping Beauty." He was just as adept at animating animal characters, as well, including Bambi, the snooty Llama in "Saludos Amigos," and Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox and Brer Bear in "Song of the South."

Marc Davis - Disney Family Album

2007-02-12T23:59:00.001-05:00

Marc joined Disney in 1935 as an apprentice animator on "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and moved on to story sketch and character design on "Bambi" and "Victory Through Air Power." Over the years, he animated on such Disney classic features as "Song of the South," "Cinderella" and "Alice in Wonderland," as well as shorts, including "African Diary," "Duck Pimples" and "Toot, Whistle, Plunk, and Boom."

He later transferred to Disney's design and development organization, today known as Walt Disney Imagineering. As one of Disney's original Imagineers, Marc contributed whimsical story and character concepts for such Disneyland attractions as the Enchanted Tiki Room, It's a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion and The Jungle Cruise.

Ollie Johnston - Disney Family Album

2007-02-12T23:56:00.001-05:00

On January 21, 1935, Ollie joined The Walt Disney Studios as an apprentice animator, working on such early Disney shorts as "Mickey's Garden" and "The Tortoise and the Hare," which won an Academy Award® for Best Cartoon. He went on to work as animator and directing animator on more than 24 feature films including, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "Fantasia," "Song of the South," "Cinderella," "Alice in Wonderland," "Lady and the Tramp," and "Sleeping Beauty," among others.

An avid train enthusiast, in his spare time, Ollie created a backyard railroad at his home and was instrumental in helping stir Walt Disney's own personal interest in trains.

Frank Thomas - Disney Family Album

2007-02-12T23:53:00.001-05:00

Over the years, Frank worked on nearly 20 animated features including, "Pinocchio," "Peter Pan," "Sleeping Beauty," "Cinderella," "The Jungle Book," and "101 Dalmatians," as well as numerous shorts. He also accompanied Walt Disney and a select group of artists on a goodwill tour through South America, in 1941, on behalf of the American Government, which inspired the animated features "Saludos Amigos" and "The Three Caballeros."

In his spare time, Frank played piano with the internationally famous "Firehouse Five Plus Two" jazz band, along with fellow Disney artists, including Ward Kimball.

After nearly 45 years with the Studio, Frank retired in 1978. He went on to co-author four books with life-long friend and fellow animator Ollie Johnston, including the definitive "Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life," "Too Funny For Words," "Walt Disney's Bambi: The Story and the Film," and "The Disney Villain." He and Ollie were also the subjects of the 1995 documentary "Frank and Ollie," which chronicles their unique friendship, which began at Stanford, and creative relationship at Disney.

Ward Kimball - Disney Family Album

2007-02-12T23:47:00.001-05:00

Ward Kimball joined The Walt Disney Studios, in 1934, and contributed to most all of its beloved animated features up until his retirement in 1972. Among the many memorable Disney characters he brought to life were Jiminy Cricket in "Pinocchio," Tweedledee and Tweedledum in "Alice in Wonderland" and Lucifer the Cat in "Cinderella."

Ward also directed two Academy Award®-winning short subjects including, "Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom," which was the first CinemaScope cartoon, and "It's Tough to Be a Bird," which featured both live-action and animation combined. During the 1950s, he produced and directed three one-hour space films for the "Disneyland" television show.

Walt's Nine Old Men - Disney Family Album

2007-02-12T23:32:00.003-05:00

I'm currently in the process of posting on Youtube all of the Disney Family Album documentaries relating to Walt Disney's fabled "Nine Old Men". The Disney Family Album series aired on the Disney Channel in the eighties and included documentaries on 7 of the 9. There's much on the net about Frank and Ollie, Marc Davis and Ward Kimball. There's precious little about the remaining five. Milt Kahl, Eric Larson, and Woolie Reitherman all were subjects in the Family Album series and it's a joy to hear from these gentlemen, in their own words right from their own mouths, about their lives and careers. Les Clark and John Lounsbery had passed away before this series.

Each episode is 30 minutes long and is split into 3 parts. Frank's and Marc's were previously posted by someone else, along with parts 2 and 3 of Ward's. I posted the missing part 1 of Ward's, along with the complete 3 parts of Milt's, Woolie's, Ollie's and Eric's.

Ward Kimball

Frank Thomas

Ollie Johnston

Marc Davis

Milt Kahl

Woolie Reitherman

Eric Larson

Another episode I have posted is on Ken Anderson, Disney Art Director, Character Designer, and Imagineer.

Ken Anderson

Enjoy!

Animation Show 3 - Atlanta Screening

2007-02-04T12:09:00.001-05:00

This year's Animation Show was in Atlanta at the Carter Center on Friday and Saturday February 2nd and 3rd. The Show is the brainchild of Mike Judge (of Beavis and Butthead fame) and Don Hertzfeldt.

A group of us from the Studios hit the Friday night showing at 9pm. I wasn't originally keen on attending since I thought last year's show was a bit underwhelming, but Mike Judge was in attendance this time around and was doing a Q&A afterwards, so I went along.

I must say that I really enjoyed this year's show. It was a solid offering of entertaining animation. A few of my favorites: "Dreams and Desires" Directed by Joanna Quinn, "9" Directed by Shane Acker, "Game Over" Directed by Pes, and "Rabbit" Directed by Run Wrake.

So after the show and before Mike Judge's Q&A, they had a quick trivia contest to give away a couple of Animation Show Box Set DVDs. The final question was prefaced with "Now here's a question that no one in any previous city that we have been to has gotten correct". Hmmmm, must be hard. So the question is "In Animation Show 1, we showed a clip from the Disney Short "Mars and Beyond". Who created this short?" which of course I knew the answer was Ward Kimball, even without ever having seen Animation Show 1! So I shout out the answer, but was a split second too late as I hear "WA..." just as I shouted the same! It turned out that the guy who beat me too the punch was my fellow animator Mike who I work with at Turner, so I wasn't too upset. But, the MC was so flabbergasted that TWO people knew the answer, he hooked me up with a poster! Sweet!

Mikey with his DVD and me with my poster! Thanks to Darrell for the photo!

Then Mike Judge came out for a short Q&A, some photos and autographs. It was a really great evening.

Today, I decided to check the Animation Show website to see just which cities they had been to previously and to marvel at them for not knowing this answer. And here they are:

Santa Barbera, CA, Seattle, WA, Boston, MA, Portland, OR, Tucson, AZ, New Brunswick, NJ, New York, NY, San Francisco, CA, San Jose, CA, Berkeley, CA, Hartford, CT and Washington, DC.

For shame!

In Celebration of the Year's "End"

2006-12-29T22:37:00.001-05:00

I know, corny. Still, here are a few of my favorite recent "rear view" life drawing sketches. Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

Moe's Monsters

2006-11-19T22:01:00.001-05:00

These are some Monster characters that my Wife designed for an idea that we had for the Moe's "Burritos for Life" video contest.
She drew them on a napkin while we were eating and talking about the idea. I took that napkin drawing and redrew them in Flash. I kept them as close to the original doodle as I could. Every time I strayed or tried to improve it somehow, they didn't look as good.

Can't improve on perfection.

Original Doodle for 9/27 Flash Rendering

2006-10-27T08:23:00.001-04:00

Well, here it is. I said I would post it later, and if you've been following this Blog at all, that typically meant never. Heh.

Gus Gracey

2006-10-14T23:38:00.001-04:00

My new favorite "Hitchhiking Ghost", Gus Gracey.

Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party 2006

2006-10-09T16:46:00.001-04:00

Wow! That about sums it up completely. We had the most awesome time down in Disneyworld at the Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party on Monday night, October 2nd. There were five of us travelling together for a week at Disney. My Wife Liz and I, my co-worker Darrell and his Wife Regina, and another co-worker Detag.

The Wife and I usually go every year in early October to celebrate our Wedding Anniversary (October 7th) and it usually coincides with the Halloween festivities at the Magic Kingdom. Plus it also happened to be Detag's birthday on the 2nd. So, for the Halloween party on Monday night, the three of us guys were going as the Hitchhiking Ghosts from the Haunted Mansion, and Liz as the Bride. We knew were going to look great, but we had no idea how much we were going to totally ROCK THE HOUSE DOWN!

This is a photo of us that I found online at Flickr.com the first night when we got home from our trip.

We took the Disney bus to the Magic Kingdom from our hotel. The bus was empty except for the driver, who's jaw practically dropped when we got on. We exited the bus and made our way to the front gates and were stopped for a few photo requests (A sign of things to come!) We got to the front gate of the Magic Kingdom around 9:30 pm as it took a good 2 hours to do our makeup and get dressed. As we are going through the turnstiles, the Cast Mambers working there are applauding us! We get in, get our wristbands and start making our way up Main Street to the Mansion in Liberty Square. As we passed City Hall, a Guest Relations manager came out and complemented us very highly on our costumes, and started following us a bit, writing on some paper. He presented us with a free Fastpass to get on any ride without waiting in line and a voucher for 5 free Haunted Mansion Pins. (Again, a sign of things to come!) It worked out great that the "Hallowishes" Fireworks had just started because everyone was watching the fireworks as we were walking up Main Street from behind them. If more people had seen us walking up Main Street, I don't think we would have ever made it to the Mansion.

We made it as far as the Liberty Tree in Liberty Square when we got stopped again for photos. This time they didn't just want photos of us, they wanted photos with us!

After that stop, we finally made it to the Mansion, and after compliments from the Maids and Butlers, we were able to ride. It was so fantastic. We each got into Doom Buggies individually, in the proper order. Darrell as "Phineas" followed by Detag as "Ezra" and me as "Gus", then Liz as the "Bride" along with Gina, who acted as our handler for the evening. She kept water and took photos and was our liason with the Mansion Cast Members.

By the time we were exiting the ride, word had spread amongst all the Mansion Cast Members to get a look at us. We stopped near the ride exit, and that's when everyone wanted to get pictures with us. Parents and kids, Mansion Maids and Butlers... it was insanely cool! There was a line for cryin' out loud! Later, we were taken to some backstage VIP areas of the Mansion and were given lots of insider info about its creation and inner workings. A Cast Member named Nicole was pretty much responsible for all of the wonderful treatment we received that night.

We really made their night for them since Pirates Of The Caribbean is so huge this year, it seemed that every other person there that night was dressed as a Pirate. For us to show up, not only dressed as some of their Haunted Mansion characters, but to go to such extremes and really do them well, so well that we had lines of people waiting to get their pictures with us, and much better than even their own Hitchhikers that appear in the "Boo To You" Parade, we really put some of the spotlight back on to the Mansion, at least for a few hours. I'm glad we could make their night more special because they really made ours fantastic! We actually got to take the final ride of the evening on the Haunted Mansion and took one great big group photo with the four of us and just about every Mansion Cast Member.

Jeff Lange DVD Productions was there to catch our visit to the Mansion. Could we be showing up on his "Trick or Treat 3" DVD?

Well, we are still recovering from the best trip I have ever had to Disney. Many more pictures to come. Heck, I might have to start a separate blog just for the Hitchhikers!

Flash Rendering

2006-09-27T17:59:00.001-04:00

I sketched this out on a piece of note paper this morning and rendered it in Flash. I'll scan and post the original sketch later.

Flash Sketches

2006-09-22T19:17:00.001-04:00

Here's a couple of sketches I did in Flash at work the other day.

New Sketches

2006-09-09T01:27:00.001-04:00

Here's a couple of recent sketches. Both are the result of "I need to draw more, fer cryin' out loud!" So, here's the start of that, and whatdayaknow, you're here to witness it.

I usually start drawing without any idea of what I'm doing, what the pose will be, anything. And these sketches are no exception. I'll be doing more thumbnails for future drawings (hopefully), but these turned out pretty O.K.

The Adult Swim Panel at Dragon*Con

2006-09-03T22:51:00.001-04:00

I forgot how much I hate Dragon*Con! Haha!

My buddy Adam over at GalacticHunter.com posted a photo of the Adult Swim panel in their Dragon*Con Gallery.

Saturday's Adult Swim Panel - The view from the front row.

I'm second from the left in the picture. The other guy in the back row with me there is Brian "Detag" DeTagyos, also an animator on Birdman. The 3 guys in front are Jay Edwards, Dave Willis, and Dana Snyder, the creators of "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" and the voice of Master Shake. We kinda lost space at the table because Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer from the "Venture Brothers" showed up and I didn't know they were going to be there. I knew immediately where most of the audience questions were going! Hell, I'm all fanboy myself over those guys. The Venture Brothers ROCKS!! I did get to talk to them a bit before the panel started.

Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick.
That's part of my face in the upper right, and that's my Wife, Liz's hair and wrist behind Doc.

Funny story... before the panel started I'm in a backstage area, sort of a "Green Room" and we could see the video feed from the main auditorium. So I get a call from Adam letting me know that he's right up front for the talk. So I glance up at the video and I see the back of a head that conspicuously looks like Adam's with a phone to his ear. So I'm telling him "I can see you! I can the see the back of your head!" So he starts looking around and I'm trying to get him to stand up and wave to the camera. It was bizarre... I guess you had to be there.... hehe!

Disneyland 2006

2006-08-18T11:19:00.000-04:00

Here we are out in Anaheim, CA visiting Disneyland! Just landed yesterday afternoon, got to the Hotel, got something to eat, hit the local Target for some necessities, and got down to the park at around 7pm to at least get some Disney fun going on our first day.

We decided to hit California Adventure since we only had about 2 hours before that park closed, and we figured that was about all we would need.

More to come later...

The Uncle Floyd Show

2006-08-14T01:43:00.001-04:00

My lovely Wife, Liz, surprised me to no end on my recent birthday not only with a "Fudgie The Whale" Ice Cream Cake from the Carvel Ice Cream store, but with an awesome gift. A DVD of "The Best of the Uncle Floyd Show". Uncle Floyd was a big part of my teenage years in New Jersey. The show typically started out with Floyd and his puppet pal, Oogie, doing an opening monologue. Check out Oogie in action below:

Castmember Mugsy recollects: "For twenty-five years the Uncle Floyd Show has been entertaining the masses and eradicating the blues, if only for a half hour a day, five days a week, 52 weeks a year. In a place in people's hearts not unlike Johnny Carson, Floyd was welcomed into millions of homes each night. Leading a weird bunch of misfits and even stranger puppet pals, the Floyd program was definitely an exception. It was a show that brought people together when everything else in the world was driving them apart. It was a show that parents could watch with children, husbands with wives. Teenagers would watch in one house and senior citizens in another. A show you might talk about the next day in school or work. Where the signs of status and success meant getting a picture on the wall or even Viewer of The Week!"

Mugsy sadly passed away after battling lung cancer in October 2005.

Floyd is a phenomenal piano player. He would play old-time Dixieland and Vaudeville favorites, songs that you typically had never heard before, but you loved all the same. In 1999, Floyd set the Guinness World Record for Continuous Piano Playing where under the watchful eyes of the Guinness judges, he played he piano for 24 hours and 15 minutes!

I might add that Hugo was a staple on the Floyd Show long before Pee-Wee Herman added "Hugo" to his act. In fact, watching Pee-Wee's original HBO special will remind you quite a bit of the Uncle Floyd Show for some strange reason.

Another of Mugsy's hilarious puppet creations is "Cuppy", a headless baby doll with a paper coffee cup for a head. Click on the clip below to see "Cuppy" in action:

Go find out for yourselves how ingenious and hilarious this local, no-budget television show was.

Thanks, Liz, for bringing Uncle Floyd back to me!

Life Drawing - Full 2 hour session

2006-07-16T11:41:00.000-04:00

Thursday night Life Drawing typically follows the same schedule each week. 30 minutes of 1 minute poses, 30 minutes of 2 minute poses. 15 minute break. 45 minutes of 10, 15, and 20 minute poses. Here is a complete session from 10/20/2005.For my Life Drawing posts from now on, I'm going to attempt to keep things chronological. For myself mostly. I'd like to see if I've made any progress. Har-har!

Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law

2006-07-10T22:59:00.000-04:00

This is a great scene from the Birdman episode called "Harvey's Civvy". Harvey gets hit with a class action lawsuit from former villians that he's maimed or injured in the process of capturing them in his past life as a Superhero. A subplot involved Judge Mentok The Mindtaker, and Prosecuting Attorney, Shado The Brain Thief in a battle of mind control. Here Mentok takes control of the Bailiff, making him dance around the courtroom. The Bailiff's atomic wedgie is courtesy of Shado from the scene just prior. All this to the tune of "Dueling Banjos".

Have I mentioned that Birdman is a dream show on which to work?

Walt Surveys His Kingdom

2006-07-03T09:35:00.000-04:00

This is one of my all time favorite photographs of Walt Disney. Here he is at Disneyland, surveying this amazing creation of his. Early in the morning, pavement still wet from the morning cleaning. No one around. Just the man and his ideas come to life. Awesome.

In October of 2003, my Wife and I took our first ever trip to Disneyland in Anaheim, California. It was my first ever trip to California, period. I had just started my tenure on "Birdman" five months prior and was still freelance. The Job/Money situation was still very much up in the air, so we figured "let's get while the gettin' is good, and go out to Disneyland, at least once in our lives." We went with the expectation that we would never be able to get back there ever again. This would be our one and only shot. We went for 7 days and did nothing else in Califiornia but visit Disneyland, 7 days in a row. It was PHENOMENAL! We went to the Golden Horseshoe everyday for lunch. The performers started to recognize us after a few days and would mention us here and there during their acts. We rode our favorite rides over and over. Each evening we would grab some ice cream and sit on Main Street as if we owned the joint.

So, in the tradition of Walt's photo, here I am, wearing my Cartoon Network shirt, surveying the kingdom that I, along with my Wife, owned for 7 days in the Fall of 2003.

Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law

2006-07-02T20:35:00.000-04:00

Probably one of the best things I get to do as an Animator on a show like Birdman is take a crack at animating a classic Hanna Barbera character, in this case Riccochet Rabbit, and really pay tribute to the cartoons I grew up with and loved as a kid. We have access to all the old wonderful model sheets. We are able to study video and frame grabs of the old shows and base our animation on what the past masters did, but also add our own touches and flair to make the new animation our own. Birdman is an animator's dream job. I've been able to animate Riccochet Rabbit, Shaggy, Speed Buggy, The Galaxy Trio, Morroco Mole, Quick Draw McGraw and Baba Looey among others!

FYI: Riccochet Rabbit appeared in the Birdman episode "X Gets The Crest" and was voiced by Mark Hamill, which added more to my fanboy lunacy since I'm also a big Star Wars fan.

Life Drawing

2006-06-28T22:37:00.000-04:00

Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law

2006-06-15T23:31:00.000-04:00

This still is from a shot that I did for the Birdman episode "Evolutionary War". Harvey defends Captain Caveman's Son, Cavey, Jr. when the local schools ban books that include evolution, therefore threatening Cavey's very existence. Harvey himself wonders about his own place in the evolutionary chain since he is a man, but has wings. This scene is the signature scene of the episode which is a musical number remenicient of "Beauty and the Beast." I got to record a commentary track, along with the rest of the Production Crew for this episode on the Birdman Volume 2 DVD, due out sometime this fall.

Life Drawing

2006-06-15T23:29:00.000-04:00

Duckie

2006-06-11T11:49:00.000-04:00

My Wife collects rubber ducks, and for a while there, we had quite a few filling up the bathtub. She's since moved on to other collecting interests, but still has all of her duckies packed away in the basement. A few of the favorites are still lurking around the house. I still buy her new ones now and again.

I drew this duckie for her.

THE RETURN - A Beatles Tribute Band

2006-06-10T10:03:00.000-04:00

The Return are a FANTASTIC Beatles Tribute Band from Griffin, GA. They play the early Beatles hits, up through the1965 years, thereabouts. They have the accents, the suits, and especially the instruments. My Wife and I stumbled across them at a free concert they were giving at a local shopping mall in Georgia. We were there shopping and on our way out to the car, we heard this fabulous Beatles music drifting through the warm Summer air. Being huge Beatles Fans, we were absolutely hooked and have since gone on to see them play live about about 5 times now, with the most recent show on June 1, 2006 at Screen On The Green, where they played live before a showing of "A Hard Days Night" outdoors on the big screen.

As a dopey fan, I decided to present them with a drawing of themselves in the style of the old Beatles cartoon show from the 60's. They liked it so much, they had T-Shirts made, and are now selling them at their shows. The finished art is presented above, although they had to make a 3-color version for the final shirt. Below is my original doodle.

Check out The Return at www.thereturnonline.com

Personalized Paw Island Sketches 2

2006-06-10T09:33:00.000-04:00

Another "Paw Island" personalized sketch. This one is of Allie the Kitten and her Teddy Mouse, Colby.

Personalized Paw Island Sketches

2006-06-03T17:14:00.000-04:00

From 1999 to 2001, I worked for a start-up children's entertainment company called "Paw Island". Our main focus was on books and on our website, where we had activities, games, cartoons and music based on our core group of characters.

In 2001, we had the idea of offering personalized original sketches (by me) for a fee where I would draw a child's favorite character in either a situation of my choosing, or partaking in whatever the child's hobby or favorite past-time was.

We never got past the 12 test sketches I did, which were all personalized to folks around the old office. Anyway, here's one of those sketches, and I'll be posting the rest in the coming weeks.

Life Drawing

2006-05-31T22:48:00.000-04:00

Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law

2006-05-28T12:17:00.001-04:00

As Lead Animator on Harvey Birdman, I sometimes get to choose which scenes I'd like to animate. This one looked good in the animatic, so I requested it right away... HA!

This scene is from the Birdman episode Birdgirl of Guantanamole. This episode won Best Animated TV Show for Adults at the 2005 Ottawa International Animation Festival. We are particularly proud of this honor since Adult Swim shows aren't typically recognized for their animation artistry, but for their writing. Birdman is a hilarious show... some of the best writing on Adult Swim, and I think we've proven that the animation is pretty darn good, too.

Carousel of Creeps

2006-05-28T11:21:00.001-04:00

This is a fantastic idea that my Wife, Liz, came up with that we've been knocking around for a while now trying to figure out what to do with. I think it would make a fantastic Children's Book. She has come up with all these awesome designs for nightmarish carousel horses, with a poem that goes along with each one. Pictured is my rendering of one my favorite designs of hers.

This one is called "Head Hunter" and here's the poem that goes along with the image: "You might take a ride on Head Hunter instead, She's always in search of that one... perfect... head."

You can see more of Liz's work over at Puppatoons. She's awesome.

2-Minute Gesture Drawings

2006-05-28T11:12:00.001-04:00

These are some 2 minute gesture drawings. I normally don't draw this small on a single page, but after looking through my sketchbooks for drawings to display here, these were some of my favorites. I'm going to have to start drawing smaller from now on.

Thursday Night Life Drawing Sponsored by ASIFA-Atlanta

2006-05-28T11:06:00.001-04:00

Every Thursday night, I attend a Life Drawing class sponsored by ASIFA-Atlanta, the local chapter of the International Animation Society here in Atlanta. $5 for 2 hours is a bargain. It's the most non-work related drawing I do on a regular basis so I thought it would be a good place to start posting some of my artwork.

Welcome

2006-04-16T11:04:00.000-04:00

My name is Steve and I am currently Lead Animator on "Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law" on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. Not sure what I'll be doing here on this blog, but you'll be the first to know.