warburtonlabs

JOHN SCALZI'S LIST

2012-01-26T07:00:00.000-08:00

I assume you've heard by now.

That I,
Mr. Warburton,
like,
TOTALLY
made the list.

Uh huh.

The List of Awesome People Who Are Awesomely Awesome.

Specifically...

JOHN SCALZI's

List of

Awesome People

Who Are

Awesomely

Awesome.

Yeah...

THAT John Scalzi.

Who would have ever thought a kid
from the mean streets of
Ambler, PA would make the list?

I DID have a little help, though.
Firstly, Cheryl Willems,
(Mo Willems' better two thirds)
who turned me on to Mr. Scalzi's books.

And secondly,
Athena Scalzi
(daughter of Mr. Scalzi)
who just so happens to be a sooper triple giant mega KND fan
and helped orchestrated a mutually awesome trade of swag.

What did I get in the deal?

Oh, just THIS:

YES!
A signed and numbered special edition!
And somehow, I got just the right numbuh:

And a VERY nice inscription:

Wanna see one of the things I sent out Scalzi way?

Check out the post on his WHATEVER blog.
Which, BTW...
you should be reading every day anyway.
It's THAT good.
(You should be reading his books, too)
(Seriously.)

So in closing,
Thanks Cheryl...
Thanks Athena...
And thanks Mr. Scalzi.

For getting me on the list.

STEWIE!

2012-01-23T07:00:00.000-08:00

While digging up that Power Puff Girls drawing I posted last week,
I came across another very postable sketch,
Specifically, this one:

Yes, maam.

That's an original drawing of Stewie by
none other than Seth MacFarlane himself.

I met Seth at Hanna Barbera/Cartoon Network/Warner Bros
when I was making Kenny and the Chimp.
He was writing assorted cartoons for these companies,
but in his spare time he was making funny interstitial shorts for
America's Funniest Home Videos.
You know, the show with stuff like this:

Unfortunately, the shorts never got put into AFHV.
Instead, they became their very own show.

Something called...

Family Guy

And you know how that went.

Anyway, when Family Guy was still in it's infancy
and I was back in NYC
my good friend and line producer of both my pilots
Diana Ritchey
(currently, producer on American Dad)
was visiting our small, but microscopic apartment.
Seth happened to be in town, too
so he came over to visit as well.

That's then I locked the door and told him no one
was leaving until he drew me a picture of Stewie.

And
I
Still
GOTS
IT!

THE POWER PUFF GIRLS STILL SAVE THE DAY!

2012-01-19T07:00:00.000-08:00

You know what I love?

Walking into a room and finding my kids watching a REAL cartoon.
Like...

The

Powerpuff

Girls!

The wolf cubs recently found it in the
On Demand section of the cable guide
and can't get enough of the show.

P is even drawing pictures of them.

So imagine the look on the boys' faces when I showed them this:

BOOM!

I mean, PPG was one of the reasons
I wanted a show on Cartoon Network.
(the other being Dexter's Laboratory)
So when I came to LA to make my Kenny and the Chimp pilot,
I went out of my way to meet show creator Craig McCracken.
I even got to go out for root beers with him!
(That's what the TIki Ti reference is about.)
(But as I remember things, it was mostly me with all the animation geek talk.)

Either way, it's been great getting to chat with Craig
here and there over the years.
And these days I get to see him 'round the halls of Disney.
(where he may or may not be working on a sooper secret (awesome) project)

If you haven't watched PPG in a while,
Check it out.
It still ROCKS!

ALL SKETCHBOOKS MUST DIE!

2012-01-16T07:00:00.000-08:00

Yes, they must.

Case in point, my latest monster that just kicked the bucket:

It all started with this title page on October 3rd, 2011:

After that, all manner of things began inhabiting the pages/
Like this creature that lives in my cord/charger/electrical drawer:

Or this Whaledestroyer:

A Cactusssasin:

Tako desu:

Big MacArthur:

note: i found one of the McDonalds Monopoly game pieces and printed the rest from the internets.
If I actually ate at McDonalds my intestines would probably fall out.
Blech!

A deer with handtlers

Lonesome Pines:

Tourists:

Seraphim:

Cat/teacup/jellyfish/whatevers:

Plants, of course:

Big city teeth:

Things in my drink:

And just when I thought it would never end:

It did.
On January 11th, 2012:

I like this sketchbook alot.
This time around I made a conscious effort
to take more time on ideas and
lean into them harder.
Which was fun.

And now it's onto the next one.

How's about you?
I hope you've got a sketchbook
and draw in it whenever you get a chance!

BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD

2012-01-12T07:00:00.000-08:00

By now you've probably heard that these guys are back on TV.

And if you're interested in hearing how
they ever got on TV in the first place,
head on over to CARTOON BREW to read the post
HOW BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD SAVED MY LIFE
by the show's producer, John Andrews.

It's a great window into how the ground-breaking series came about.
But I've got some stories, too.
After all, I was the Production Designer on the first season.
Which pretty much meant that I was the $1.98 version
of show creator Mike Judge.

It was my job to go through all his films, drawing by drawing,
and find out what made him tick.
I got copies of all his sketchbooks and picked apart how he drew his characters.
How he timed his animation.
How he colored his backgrounds.

I then translated these to model sheets that the rest of the production would use to draw the Mike Judge way.
A style that is all at once quirky, naive, inconsistent, and 2043% perfect for it is.
Even so, Mike was always leaning on us to improve upon his drawing.
But J.J. Sedelmaier insisted on keeping Mr. Judge's drawing style
exactly the way it was.
That was part of what made Beavis and Butthead so great.
And personally, I thought Beavis and Butthead WAS great.

At the time, there was nothing like it.
It was primitive.
Yet had a definitive style.
It was crude.
But with a sly intelligence.
It was ugly.
Yet full of character.
And most importantly...

It was ?$%&# funny.

There was nothing on TV like it.
There was also no other production like it.
We were actually animating the show in-house
and digitally coloring and compositing it in LA.
This was virtually unheard of for a TV series
at the time since 99.5% shows were sent overseas.

It was crazy.
No one knew what they were doing.
Things hadn't been done this way before.
But we made it work.
Spectacularly, if I may.

So why not give you some anecdotes regarding that first season?

____________________

We couldn't hire some people on Beavis and Butthead
because they couldn't dumb down their drawing enough.
They were simply TOO good.

I have never had that problem.
__________________

The character design for Daria (who eventually got her own show)
was done by no less than 35 people. Mr. Judge had a very specific idea in his head for how he wanted her to look. Unfortunately it was stuck there.
I must have done 50 designs.
Sooperstar character designer Ben Price probably did another 50.
We kinda looked like this afterwards:

Mike drew a couple roughs we played around with. Still nothing. Virtually everyone in the studio gave it a shot. Mr. Sedelmaier even jumped in. I don't think we ever got an officially approved design. Time just kind of ran out.

_____________________

I contributed to the death of the hair-metal band band Winger.

Yup.
Love me or hate me for it...
Twas me.
Even before Beavis and Butthead, I used to draw myself wearing a Winger shirt when I wanted to make myself look like a dork.
So when the first script with dorky Stuart hit my desk I slapped Winger onto his shirt like,

UNGH!

In general, we weren't allowed to put real band names on shirts
because getting permission to use them was a tedious process.
But when Mr. Judge saw the Stuart design he was all like,

UNGH!

Years later, I heard that Kip Winger was on the Howard Stern show and claimed that a good part of the death of the band
was the Beavis and Butthead thing.

You're welcome.
_____________________

Because Mr. Judge was so busy,
I often sat in the recording studio designing characters
and then slipped them under the door
to the recording booth to get them approved.
_____________________

After the success of the first season, MTV decided to take the plunge and open their own animation studio.
And I had to make a choice.
Go there.
Or stay at Sedelmaier's.
I stayed.
But I kept this:

An original layout complete with Mike Judge post-it revisions.

Love it!

MO IN DA WAPO!

2012-01-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

I'm sure all of you just happened to be reading
The Washington Post this weekend.

And I'm sure you read that nice article about
Mo Willems that was in the Lifestyle Section.

Therefore you saw the quote where I called him a poopyhead.

Or something like that.

To see the actual quote (and more importantly, the rest of the article),
just head on over HERE!

(they might make you do one of those annoying free signy-uppy things.
You can always try BUGMENOT
if you're not into that kinda stuff.)

QUADROPHENIA

2012-01-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you,
but I need to listen to music when I work.

I can't when I'm writing.
It's too distracting.
But when I'm drawing...
the music MUST go on.

And it's no secret that my favorite band is The Who.
But did you know that my favorite album is
QUADROPHENIA?

Yup.
The whole thing.
Every song.

Such drive (5:15, Bellboy).
Such emotion (Love, Reign O'er Me).
Such teenage angst (Cut My Hair, The Real Me)

I never get tired of it.

So how happy was I when I heard that Mr. Townshend was remastering it?
Kinda happy.
I usually don't care for remastered stuff.
I like the music how I remember hearing it.
But the super deluxe edition they were releasing has a big hardcover book,
song by song track notes and all sorts of bonus goodies.

Okay...
I'm in.

Then I heard they were gonna have a listening party at the
Petersen Automotive Museum here in LA.
I guess because they have some Vespa scooters there.
(which were very important in the English Mod movement when Quadrophenia takes place)

So off I went.
And the museum was AMAZING!
(if you like cars)

Me?
Cars kinda make me go "meh".
Still, you can't help but be impressed by the place.

So as I walked around and looked at car after car (after car)
while the remastered songs of Quadrophenia played over the speakers.
But after half an hour I was pretty much done
so I wandered over to the listening area.
Which wasn't much.
Just a bunch of folding chairs around a sooper amazing speaker set-up.
There was a Who concert playing on a DVD,
but it wasn't Quadrophenia so it wasn't quite in sync with what was playing.

To be perfectly honest...
It was kinda lame.

But I couldn't leave.
I was meeting a friend later at the museum across the street.
So I had an idea.

I went back to my car and got my sketchbook.
After all, the Kids Next Door were practically BORN to the strains of Quadrophenia.
And you know what?

I had a GREAT time just sitting there drawing my kids.
It was relaxing and fun!

Another good reason for staying was that they were gonna have a drawing
to win a copy of the remastered edition.
10 of the regular ones and 1 of the super deluxe.
And there was barely anyone at this thing.
So i figured I was a LOCK to win one.

But I didn't.

Fortunately for me, only 3 people showed up to claim their prize.
So they drew again.

And I didn't win again.

Fortunately, 2 people didn't show up to claim their prize that time.
So they drew again. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand...

I didn't win AGAIN!

Ugh.

So I asked for one for Christmas.
(Thanks Mom and Dad)

Anyway...
Here's what I drew while I sat there listening to my favorite album of all time.

Maybe I can finish it if the band tours.

RICE FISHY TREAT!

2012-01-02T07:00:00.001-08:00

Or is that spinach?

Either way, it was the star of our Fish Hooks holiday party.
Awesome job by Production Rockstar Carolyn Roach!

ARMS SHIPMENT

2011-12-29T07:00:00.001-08:00

I always got a kick out of the boxes that shipped KND toys.

THE DELIGHTFUL DOLLS FROM DOWN THE LANE

2011-12-26T07:00:00.000-08:00

Yes...
I think we're all in agreement that it's
a darn shame no
Delightful Children From Down the Lane
plushies or action figures were ever made.

Well, except for these:

Sweet, right?

These were hand-crafted by Tab Leslie,
someone who's been a KND sooper fan
since as long as I can remember!

Yeah... these pretty much rock my world!

Thanks, Tab!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

2011-12-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

MAY YOUR HOLIDAYS BE...

DELIGHTFUL!

2011 ASIFA EAST ANIMATION ART AUCTION SNEAK PEAK #5

2011-12-19T07:00:00.000-08:00

Aw boy!

The ASIFA-EAST Animation Art Auction is tomorrow!

And wouldn't tomorrow be so much more awesome if you won this:

Yes, it would.

So if you live near NYC,
now's the time to get over to the School of Visual Arts
and camp out overnight so you're first in line for the auction.
Not that being first in line gets you anything.
(except frostbite)
It just sounds hardcore.

Have fun and BID HIGH!
All money made goes directly to ASIFA-EAST
to allow them to keep smothering you
with animation awesomeness through the year!

December 20
ASIFA-East Animation Art Auction
7:00 pm SVA Amphitheatre
209 E. 23rd Street, 3rd Floor
NYC

In other news,
if you wanna get something from the printlab
ya better order it ASAN!
(As Soon As NOW!)
All orders made after today won't be shipped until
December 30th!

2011 ASIFA EAST ANIMATION ART AUCTION SNEAK PEAK #4

2011-12-15T07:00:00.000-08:00

This is YOURS!

It's YOUR original Fish Hooks sketch.

It's YOUR original Fish Hooks sketch hand-crafted by creator Noah Z. Jones.

You're not gonna let some sap just take it out of your
grubby little lobster claws, are you?

Then get on down to the auction and
BID ON IT!

TAKE WHAT'S YOURS!

December 20
ASIFA-East Animation Art Auction
7:00 pm SVA Amphitheatre
209 E. 23rd Street, 3rd Floor
NYC

2011 ASIFA EAST ANIMATION ART AUCTION SNEAK PEAK #3

2011-12-12T07:00:00.001-08:00

Do you know Sherm Cohen?

He's the storyboard supervisor on Fish Hooks
who leaves me notes like this:

He's also the face of Bud,
the guy at the beginning of every Fish Hooks episode:

And he's also the guy behind Storyboard Secrets,
which is
the
the
THE
go-to video series for anyone who wants
to become a storyboard rockstar.

Seriously...
this guy eats, drinks, and bleeds storyboards.
And he's worked on a lot of awesome shows in his time.
Like, you know...

Spongebob.

So how awesome is it that he's donated some hard rockin' art
from the Spongebob movie to the ASIFA EAST auction?

Go ahead.
Say it.

"WANT"

For more sooper hot Sherm Cohen action
hit up Cartoon Snap over HERE!

2011 ASIFA EAST ANIMATION ART AUCTION SNEAK PEAK #2

2011-12-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

It's no secret I love me some
Joe Murray art.

And I know you do, too.
That's why you'll be dropping everything to run,
cash or check in hand,
to this year's auction to bid on these:

Yeah...
these sketches he did just for the auction are,
as the kids say,
pretty tight.

But what about THIS:

You are correct.
That IS an original, one-of-a-kind. hand painted title card from Rocko's Modern Life.
How do I know?
Because all of Mr. Murray's items come with a certificate of authenticity.

Yeah...
I know you gotta have one of these.
So be there:

December 20
ASIFA-East Animation Art Auction
7:00 pm SVA Amphitheatre
209 E. 23rd Street, 3rd Floor
NYC

NUMBUH 362 IS IN THE PRINTLAB

2011-12-07T07:00:00.000-08:00

Yup!
A lot of you have been asking for it.
So now you're gonna GET IT!

Rachel T. McKenzie,
aka Numbuh 362,
Supreme Leader of the Global KND.
is making her debut in the mighty printlab!
Just in time for the holidays!

And as an added holiday bonus...
all printlab orders made before January 1st
will include an absolutely totally sooper 100% free
sketchcard of your favorite KND character signed by me,
Mr. Warburton!

For details, get your keister over to the printlab
RIGHT NOW!

VINNIE CAFARELLI

2011-12-05T07:00:00.001-08:00

I got word yesterday that my very first mentor in animation,
Vincent Cafarelli,
has passed away.

A true veteran of New York Animation,
he was the guy who gave me my first job.
(along with Buzzco Associates partners Candy Kugel and Marilyn Kraemer)
I've told you the story of how I got started at Buzzco before,
but I never told you that Buzzco always had champagne around.
This stuff, to be exact.

In the middle of the studio was a mini fridge,
the freezer of which was completely iced over
except for two holes we called the torpedo tubes.
Every day around 5:00pm, Vince would shout:

"TOMOTHY! LOAD TWO!"

That was my call to put two bottles of champagne in the freezer.
Work would carry on for a while
until inevitably another shout would come from the back of the studio:

"TOMOTHY! FIRE ONE!!"

So I'd get some paper cups,
pop open a bottle,
and pour some for everyone in the studio.
It was a great way to end the work day.
But it wasn't over for Vinnie and I yet.

"TOMOTHY! FIRE TWO!"
would occur after everyone else had gone home.
That's when I got to sit at the feet of the master.
We'd park ourselves at the conference table and Vince would say,
"Alright! Today we learn about exposure sheets!"
or
"Let me show ya how to animate a fun walk cycle!"

We often just sat around talking about animation.
He told stories about his days in the business.
About the studios he worked at and the animators he knew.
And we talked alot about my future.
Vinnie always told me I was going to be great.
He always had this crazy faith in me.
I loved him for that.

I was at Buzzco for less than a year.
There wasn't enough work to keep me around.
As I've mentioned before,
animation work is sporadic so you're always moving around.
But I still saw Vince often.
ASIFA-EAST meetings were held at Buzzco every month.
And he'd show up for the occasional party or screening.
Sometimes I'd just stop in to say hi.
(but never often enough, which I always kicked myself for)

Now Vinnie's gone.
He was 81 years old but wasn't sick or anything.
He was just doing what he always did.
Animating.
After work last Thursday
Candy asked Vince if he wanted to hit Veselka for some soup.
He declined and said he was tired.
He went home.
He went to bed.
And never woke up.

I got the news from Candy this morning and have been heartbroken all day.
I've cried 17 times while writing this.
But I know something that'll make me feel a little better.

"Fire one, Vinnie."

I don't wanna put words in the guys mouth,
but I'd like to think that if Vince knew he was leaving us,
his face would have broken into that big Italian grin,
and he would have said the same thing
he said almost every time I saw him:

"WHAT A PARTY!"

Much love, Vince.
I miss you already.

If you want to learn more about the man and his work,
Michael Sporn wrote up a wonderful post over at his blog.
Check it out HERE.

2011 ASIFA EAST AUCTION SNEAK PEAK #1

2011-12-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

Look out, New Yorkers!

The 2011 ASIFA EAST USED ANIMATION ART AUCTION
is set for December 20th!
Sadly it'll be happening without me.

But I can still use my sooper powers to help rustle up some of the awesomest, high biddingest art by some of the rockingest animation folk I run into, can't I?

Take this million dollar baby, for instance:

Yup... only Phineas and Ferb creator Dan Povenmire
can wield a blue sharpie like that.
And this original, one of a kind drawing can be YOURS.

If you've got the mad bidding skills to make it yours, that is.

Keep it locked here for more sneak peaks, ya'll.
I think you'll like whatcha see.

SCRUMDILLY-DO!

2011-11-28T07:00:00.000-08:00

Someone flipped me this nice little review of 1000 TIMES NO
over at a blog called SCRUMDILLY-DO!

Check it out over HERE!

And, as always, you can order a signed copy over YONDER!

The 22nd Children's Illustration Exhibit

2011-11-23T07:00:00.000-08:00

Okay...

Let's say you're a sooper villain.
And you call yourself, I dunno, something like,

THE DE-PICTUREBOOKANATOR!

Because, you know...
You HATE picture books.
Especially people who MAKE them!
(like Jarrett J. Krosoczka... Grrrrrrrr!)

So what should your latest evil plan be?

How's about gathering your evil henchman and
heading out to Northampton, MA
to attack the opening night party for the
Children's Illustration Exhibit at the R. Michelson Gallery?!

GREAT IDEA, right?!

Except that you missed it.

Me?
I was totally there.
It just so happened to fall on the weekend I was visiting Mr. Willems.

And what a night it was!
Mr. Michelson's Gallery, in the heart of Northampton, is stunning.
Built in an old bank building with ultra high ceilings
and lots of nooks and crannies,
it is THE go-to place to see the work of local artists that have reached a worldwide audience.
And it specializes in picture book artists!
I'm talkin' folks like:

Eric Carle
Kadir Nelson
Tony DiTerlizzi
Barry Moser
Rebecca Guay
Scott Fischer
Mo Willems
(who's work showed in the old bank vault)

and honored guest of the evening:

Jules Feiffer!

A lot of those people were on-hand that evening, too.
In fact, here's a picture of all the folks who were there that have a published picture book:

(check out the R. Michelson Gallery's Facebook page to see who (most of) these people are!)
(that's me in the back)

It was a really fun night, hanging out with old friends and new!

If you're ever in Northampton,
you should stop by the R. Michelson Gallery.

Unless you're a sooper villain who hates picture books, that is.

A VISIT TO KNUFFLE MANOR

2011-11-21T07:00:00.000-08:00

You know that secret project me and Mo Willems have been working on?

Well, this post isn't about that.

It's about a new one.
(Although I assure you the first one is totally rockin' the casbah)

This new project required a trip to Knuffle Manor
for some serious brainstorming
so I hopped on the Warburton Laboratories Inc corporate jet
and made my way to Northampton, Massachusetts.

We had an amazing time kicking around stories, characters and ideas.
But what were we gonna do?
Sit around WORKING all weekend?

Ew.

Fortunately there was plenty to do that weekend,
like visiting the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art!

I wasn't gonna miss a chance to see Mo's first
soopergiantbig metal sculpture in person:

The sculpture was great, but kinda paled in comparison to the fact that
my book was on prominent display in the gift shop:

And NO... i didn't sneak some copies in and put them there!
They were like that when I arrived, thank you.

While there, we stopped in to see the legendary Jules Pfieffer,
whose work the gallery had a big show for.

He was also in town to be honored at the R. Michelson Gallery's 22nd Annual Children's Illustration Show.
But more on that in the next post.

I'm a couple episodes behind on watching The Walking Dead!

XIAOLIN SHOWDOWN

2011-11-17T07:00:00.000-08:00

I always liked this show when it was running on WB.
Great designs.
Awesome action.
And funny, too.

So I was excited to meet Christy Hui, the creator of the show.
We were introduced by our mutual voice director
(the mighty Collette "Sunderwoman" Sunderman)
and met in Santa Monica for some Japanese food and animation talk.

Joined by her fiance, we talked about our respective shows...
the networks they were on...
the artists we worked with...
our top secret future projects...
and why some people like uni and other don't.

(I don't)

And then the sketchbook came out.
Christy protested fiercely,
claiming to be a writer and not an artist.

So I told her to write something.

And look what I got:

Not an artist, eh?
I think it's pretty rockin'.

Anyway... we had an AWESOME evening and
hopefully we'll do it again some time!
In the meantime, keep an eye out for her latest project that's in the pipeline.

It's gonna be fun!

THERE IS ANOTHER!

2011-11-14T07:00:00.000-08:00

Remember when I posted my 7 year old son's sketchbook over HERE!

It was BRILLIANT, right?!

But guess what...
There is another.
A 4 year old.
And he, too, wields the power of sketchiness!

As you can see, K went with an unadorned,
right-out-of-the-store look for his cover.

It's clearly his comment on the crass commercialism
that's infected the current zeitgeist.

I think this piece will be important 25 years from now:

Brad and Angelina wanted to buy this for some outrageous sum
but K hated the idea of his art rotting away in one of their mansions,
unseen by the people.

Demi-European Macro-Politics is a frequent subject of K's:

You know, I appreciate Byzantine whimsy as much as the next guy,
but even I agree this one's kinda too much.

Pretentious?
Or poignant?
You decide.

This was done the day after being put to bed early for throwing
hot dog bits at his brother.
You can really see where rage meets shame.

Whatever...
Even I don't get this one:

Ethical nihilism, I know.
But he's FOUR, for crying out loud.

Man's ability to create lunch...
and destroy it.

I apologize for this. Who would think a 4 year old has such a filthy mind?
But all art is filthy in it's own way.

War.
What IS it good for?

I know, right?
K makes me feel my sketchbooks are no better than the
mushy, woody pulp they were created from.

But that's why I keep trying.

Regardless, it's never too early to get your kid drawing, is it?
Get 'em a sketchbook and get 'em drawing.
Then keep it forever.

SEASON THREE!

2011-11-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

The official word came in yesterday:

FISH HOOKS

IS

GREENLIT

TO

SEASON THREE!

And considering season two just started
airing on the Disney Channel,
that means there's a LOT more
Fish Hooks fun coming your way!

What's that?
Nice sweaters, you say?
Mustard yellow.
Big M on the front.
Marauders logo on the back.
One of our designers found them in a thrift store
and bought them for the crew.

Ya jealous.

CONGRATS to the entire crew for getting us here.
You guys rule the universe.

INSCRIBIN' IT!

2011-11-07T07:00:00.000-08:00

Sometimes when folks order a copy of
1000 TIMES NO
from the mighty printlab,
they ask for KND characters inscribed inside.

BOOM!

Done.

Why not browse the printlab yourself?
There's lots of rockin' prints with more to come!
(eventually)
Check it

HERE!

SKETCHBOOK JR

2011-11-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

It's kind of embarrasing when your 7 year old son
is rockin' better sketchbooks than you are.

Yeah, both my little maniacs started keeping sketchbooks recently.
The three of us hang out in the home office and doodle before dinner or
in an attempt to delay bedtime.

Just recently P finished his very first book:

So what ended up on its pages?

Bacon, of course:

Batman:

Beyblades:

Spiderman:

Ninjas:

Star Wars weaponry:

Pokemon:

Legos:

Angry Birds:

He liked when I showed him how simple it is to show
different expressions on a face so he did a bunch of his own:

Sometimes he takes stuff he sees in my sketchbook:

And makes it better:

And sometimes he writes stuff that makes you melt:

If you've got kids, why not get them a sketchbook and start doodling together?

S'fun!

GET THAT CANDY!

2011-10-31T07:00:00.000-07:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Now get your costume on
and go get what's yours!
(but watch out for Stickybeard and his candy pirates!)

And why not get in the spirit by
playing an old school KND game:

Check it out over HERE!

Shockwave plug-in required...
although I couldn't get it working on my Safari browser.
Firefox worked fine, tho.

ANIMATIN' (with Dan and Swampy)

2011-10-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder how it's done?

No, I'm not talkin' about how they make
those yummy, teeny-tiny carrots.

I'm talkin' about TV animation, baby!

And rather than listen to me babble on about how
an episode of your favorite show is made,
I'm gonna let Phineas and Ferb creators
Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh
tell ya how it's did:

It's like THAT, ya'll!

THE KND ARE ALRIGHT

2011-10-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a couple evil adult sooper villains are able to
slip past Cartoon Network's defenses
and take Codename: Kids Next Door off the air.

You can't blame them for trying.
The KND are blowing the lid off their plans to trample kid's rights.
Of course they'd wanna shut their message down.

But fear not!
After a way-past-their-bedtime ninja strike,
Numbuh 60 and a crack team of KND operatives
were able to re-take CN's Control Room
and get KND back on the air every
Tuesday thru Friday at 10:00 to 11:00am!

That's a FULL HOUR of Codename: Kids Next Door!
For episode info, check the official schedule over HERE!

KIDS NEXT DOOR RULES!

GOOD ADVICE

2011-10-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

A while back I read an interview with MY LIFE AS A TEENAGE ROBOT creator Rob Renzetti that brilliantly answered a question I'm frequently asked:

What advice would you give to someone looking to sell their own animated creation as a series?

ANSWER:

First decide if having your own show is something you really want. Because the process of making a creator-driven show is an all consuming endeavor. Unless you truly love what you are creating you will never make it through the process. It is a labor of love with the emphasis on the labor.

Now, if you decide that you truly want your own show it becomes a matter of tenacity. You need to show your devotion and energy to those who can make your show a reality. And you will need to show it again and again. It also helps to have some kind of track record in the industry. Work well and hard on other people’s shows. Gain a reputation. If you go in as a rookie, you will need to be much more brilliant and fantastic.

Also be careful of compromising too much at the beginning of the process. You need to know how to adapt and apply criticism without damaging the core of your idea. If their ideas or desires don’t fit with your show then move on. Six weeks or six months down the road their needs will change. What was a rejection may become a green light to go to series.

Dead on.

Why can't I ever say it as perfectly as that?!

The rest of the interview,
conducted by Mr. David Levy and reposted
HERE,
is great, too.

CASTLE CRASHERS!

2011-10-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

The world doesn't even know it happened,
but an epic quest has come to an end.

While you were sleeping safely in your bed,
or watching reruns of The Fall Guy,
me and Maxwell Atoms:

WERE HACKING AND SLASHING OUR WAY
THROUGH AN AMAZING ADVENTURE!

This is us:

I'm the electric guy on the right, obviously.
Mr. Atoms is the Blue Knight with the icy magical powers.

See, whenever we would go out on the town to
discuss matters of great importance,
we'd usually end up back at his secret hideout,
Castle Dreadmore.
(Dubbed 'The Fab Fortress', SECRET HIDEOUTS AND GARDENS, Nov 2005)

Whilst there we'd load up our saved game of CASTLE CRASHERS
and delve further into our seemingly never-ending journey to
save the Princess from the Evil Wizard.

Never heard of Castle Crashers?
Dude.
You're missing out.

At face value, it's nothing new.
Just a basic side-scroller where you hack and slash your way towards increasingly harder boss monsters.

But the devil is in the details here.
Firstly, the game is BEAUTIFUL.
Nothin' fancy.
Just a deliberately hand-drawn 2-D look.
But what STYLE!!!
(by the brilliant Dan Paladin)
The characters, backgrounds and effects are all simply drawn
but have buckets of flavor.
Great silhouettes.
Bold colors.
Snappy animation.
Who needs all that busy, complicated 3-D crap?
Gimme something with STYLE any day of the week.

Secondly, the game has a great sense of humor.
And it's everywhere.
In the character design.
(there's an awesome sock monster boss)
In the game design.
(there's a great volleyball mini-game)
Amongst the backgrounds.
(all your weapons are kept inside a giant, living frog)
In the weaponry.
(you can fight with a chicken stick)
And I can go on.
And on.
And on.

Thirdly, and most important,
the game is FUN.
The levels are fresh and creative.
Not too easy.
Not too hard.
And with plenty of new places to go and different things to kill.

Anyway, Mr. Atoms and I had been playing the game for almost a year.
(I assume it would go faster if we played more than once or twice a month.)
And now it's over.
Just a couple nights ago we beat the big sooper main boss and our epic quest came to an end.
And I'm a little sad.

It's tough to find a game that much fun.

Sooper triple huge thanks to the guys at Behemoth!

I definitely can't wait to play more of their games!

THE RIGHT THING TO DO

2011-10-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

Friends,
I don't need to tell you that our country stands at a crossroads.
The two paths before us lead in opposite directions,
neither one easier than the other.
The first, a road paved with greed and hate, is well trodden.
Those traveling this path care not for those less fortunate.
They see none but their own narrow, biased view of the world and think nothing of disseminating falsehoods and half-truths to get their way.

The other path leads to
THE ASIFA EAST ANIMATION ART AUCTION.

I think you know which road I've chosen.
And I hope you will, too.

It was back in April of 1991 when I went to my first ASIFA-EAST auction.
If you hung around the NYC animation scene back then, you probably remember me as the dashingly handsome, right-out-of-college rookie sensation that Buzzco Associates had the keen foresight to hire.
(Or, as the gawky slob in the Kutztown University sweatshirt who always smelled like stale beer and cigarettes)
I had recently been drafted by the ASIFA-EAST executive board
and was excitedly showing up at every ASIFA event that went down.
And this month, independent animator and ASIFA INTERNATIONAL board member David Ehrlich was running a fundraiser for the group:

Here was the line-up:

Old school, right?
These were FILMS.
By ARTISTS.
No one was trying to pitch a TV series.
Or sell a product.
They weren't making cartoons.
These were people making art.

Were all the films great?
Hell, no.
Some of them were like watching (cel) paint dry in slow motion.
But all of them had a personal point of view.
All of them had style that came from an individual.
And most of those individuals were there in person to talk about their films.

After all the films were shown, everyone got to walk up on stage and check out original artwork from each of the films.
And here's the thing:
Back then there was no digital film making.
Everything was done on paper or cel and shot under a camera.
(with exceptions for techniques like stop motion,
oil on glass, sand animation, etc etc).
So here were original pieces of art created by the artists themselves.
A 12th of a second frozen in time.
An actual piece of the film that you could hang on your wall.
But first you had to win it.
Because each piece of artwork was put up for auction.

Being on the board, I got to help Mr. Ehrlich hand out tickets to the winners, collect money and write up receipts.
I even won a set of 4 pencil roughs of from the 1970's Raggedy Ann feature film drawn by animation legend Tissa David.
It was an amazing evening that made me feel part of a
wonderfully creative community.

Flash forward to an ASIFA-EAST board meeting a couple years later.

The discussion was about raising money.
In order to maintain the lavish lifestyle we board members were accustomed to while still catering to the needs of the NYC animation community,
there would have to be a bit more cash flowing into our coffers.

Thats when, after downing a shovelful of caviar washed down with a delightful 1928 Krug, I idly asked where the ASIFA-EAST auction had gone.
There hadn't been one since the event I described above,
mainly because Mr. Ehrlich had long since moved to New Hampshire and was more involved with the international side of things.
I soon realized all eyes had leveled upon me.
At first I thought everyone was just mesmerized by my stunningly blue eyes.
I soon realized it was the same gaze that hyaenas lower upon wounded antelope.

And so we flash forward again, this time to November of 1995.
The date of the new (and by no means improved) auction.
Dubbed "THE ASIFA-EAST USED ANIMATION ART AUCTION",
it is hosted and auctioneered by none other than myself.
I had spent the previous months herding cats...
I mean...
rounding up artwork from every animator and studio that would talk to me.

The event was an sooper huge success.
(if you don't count my terrible auctioneering)
A wonderful variety of films were shown.
Folks got amazing artwork to take home.
ASIFA-EAST made over $1500 dollars.
And there were NO injuries.

It was later decided that the auction would become a regular event,
but we would only do it every two years due to the grueling nature of trying to get a bunch of artists to get us artwork on a deadline, and to allow for more new films to be made.

Over the years, the auction only seemed to get bigger and betterer.
We sometimes made in excess of $3500!
But with technology changing the way films were made,
there was very little art actually from films.
Digital ink and paint made cels obsolete.
(A loss for fans and collectors but a tremendous win for anyone who ever had to level cel paint)
So instead, we asked animators and show creators for original sketches.
Some folks did even better--
Nickelodeon's Blues Clues was known for making one of a kind, 3-D character art framed in shadow boxes.

So on it went...
Every two years:

The ASIFA-EAST USED ANIMATION ART AUCTION AND BOAT SHOW.

The ASIFA-EAST USED ANIMATION ART AUCTION AND BBQ.

The ASIFA-EAST USED ANIMATION ART AUCTION AND WORST AUCTIONEER CONTEST.

And more.

Artists and studios from every facet of the animation world
have donated to the cause:
Genndy Tartakovsky, Mo Willems, Joe Murray, Blue Sky, Greg Ford, J.J. Sedelmaier, John Dilworth, Craig McCracken,
Buzzco Associates, Lou Romano, Don Hertzfeldt, Michael Sporn, MTV, The Ink Tank... even ME!
The list goes on forever.

So now we flash forward.
This time to present day.
I'm still impossibly handsome.
But I've moved to Los Angeles.
Back in NYC, ASIFA-EAST President for Life David Levy has been violently deposed by the mighty Linda Beck has taken over.
Her sole reason for making the leap from lowly Secretary to President?
To make the auction a yearly event.
Like most evil dictators, she's crazy.
I'd stop her if I could.
But I'm all the way over here in LA.

But you?
You should take advantage of her craziness.
Because this December 20th will be the first of the yearly auctions.
If you've never been to one, this is your chance to see great films, get amazing artwork by your favorite artists, and be part of a creative community.
If you HAVE been to one before, you know how fun it is.
Go again to help support ASIFA-EAST.

Just don't rub it in that I'm not running the show anymore.
I can only be handsome in one place at at time, you know.

This was originally posted on the ASIFA-EAST aNYmator blog after newly crowned president Linda Chittick Beck asked me if I would write a brief history of the auction.

So much for keeping it brief, right?

THIS SKETCHBOOK TOO SHALL PASS

2011-10-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

There goes another.
From early July to late September.
This was one of the larger size sketchbooks
that I occasionally gravitate towards.

So what lies within?

Whaddaya expect...

Eels:

Birds on a rock with a side of squid:

My head on fire:

Numbuh One packin' 2x4 heat:

Feesh:

A drawing by Fish Hooks creator Noah Z. Jones:

Mo feesh:

Weird ice cream:

Dour mushrooms:

Evil potted plants:

Elephants-n-owls:

Yellyfish:

Probe droids:

Ticket lizards:

Ninja bunnies:

Dog collars:

And more evil potted plants:

So...

What's in your sketchbook?

THIS T-SHIRT IS NUMBUH ONE!

2011-10-10T07:00:00.002-07:00

HEADS UP!

KND spies have confirmed there's a new KND shirt at

Check it:

Sweet, right?

Get on over HERE and git one while they're still there for the gettin'.

(and yeah... some dopey adult labelled the shirt as
NumbAh instead of NumbUh.
Ugh!

Good eye, Special Operative Cassidy!

DROPPIN' NAMES LIKE GALILEO DROPPED AN ORANGE

2011-10-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

Since I live in LA, people sometimes ask me if I ever see anyone "famous".

They also ask me why I can't use a fork and knife properly.

But I quickly dodge that question by changing the subject to
whether I've see anyone "famous".
And sometimes I do.
Like last Saturday.

First off, I have the distinct pleasure of living next door to
Stanford Blatch and Mozzie.
If you don't know who they are, they're characters played by actor Willie Garson in SEX IN THE CITY and WHITE COLLAR, respectively.

Willie rocks pretty hard and his son Nathen and my little vikings get together all the time to rock even harder.
(And louder.)

So while Willie and I were on the front lawn
discussing important topics of the day...
(car repairs, dead opossums, who's lightsaber is in who's yard)
who should walk by with her baby girl than singer/songwriter Lisa Loeb?

Willie knows her well, but neither of us knew she lived in the neighborhood.
So we hung out and talked for a while.
She's sooper nice and has a new picture book coming out soon.

Then it was off to a birthday party for our good friend Jon Stern.

He's a big shot comedy producer and works with most of the guys from ye olde comedy troupe, THE STATE.
Nowadays they're making stuff like Adult Swim's CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL, NTSF and WAINY DAYS.
The fabulous Mrs. Warburton and Jon's wife met in NYC when they were both pregnant with first kids.
And then we both ended up moving to LA around the same time and live around the corner from each other.

The usual comedy rabble was at the party.
Folks like Ken Marino:

And Rob Huebel:

Hanging out with these people is, obviously, always good for a laugh.

So then after THAT party, it was off to ANOTHER party.

This one for the National Cartoonist's Society.

Hilary Price, creator of the comic strip RHYMES WITH ORANGE (and fellow Mo Willems sooper pal) invited me to come.

Hosted by cartoonist and former Simpsons and Seinfeld writer Tom Gammill, it was an AMAZING party!

Beautiful house, great food, plenty of root beers and, of course...

The place was lousy with cartoonists:

Robb Armstrong, creator of comic strip Jump Start:

Mell Lazarus, creator of comic strips like Momma and Miss Peach:

Illustrator Carol Lay:

Simpsons creator Matt Groening:

Penn Ward, creator of Adventure Time:

And one of the guys instrumental in animating the Simpsons since day one, David Silverman:

Mr. Silverman and I talked about animation for a long time.
And since he was so involved with the Simpsons, I told him THIS STORY.

And guess what?
He admitted to being the guy who did it.

Jerk.

But we laughed about it and had a good time talking shop.

Anyway, I met a ton of really great, really nice, and REALLY talented people.
The National Cartoonist Society really put on a great show and I definitely want to go to more of their events.

I'm just bummed I didn't bring my sketchbook.
Not that that stopped me from getting a drawing or two:

One by Carol Lay
(with offensive word crossed out by my son)

And the other by Hilary Price:

So that was my Saturday.

Tough life, right?

ANOTHER VINTAGE SKETCHBOOK

2011-10-03T07:00:00.001-07:00

I'm juuuuuuuuust about done my latest sketchbook.
But before we talk about that
I thought we'd take a stroll through the laboratory archives
and dust an older tome of sketchiness off the shelves.

From say perhaps... 1992-1994?

As the title page below states
(quite (overly) dramatically),
this was my tenth sketchbook since I started keeping them in high school.

At this point in my life, I was two years into my animation career and had recently been hired as the first staff artist at the mighty
J.J. Sedelmaier Productions.

Back then I usually had no idea what to draw,
(still don't)
so I drew myself in situations that probably didn't really happen:

I also drew about real-life situations,
like when I dove into a pool and shredded my nose and chin
on the stucco-surfaced bottom,
nearly losing a nipple in the process:

I got a lot of sketch mileage out of that disfigurement.

Wait...
What's that?

Why, YES!
I DID make other people draw in this sketchbook,
usually folks I ended up doing projects with at JJSP.
Like for instance:

Brandon McKinney:

Craig Yoe :

Stuttering John and Gary from the Howard Stern Show:

Gary Leib:

This sketchbook didn't get done too fast.
In those days I was working some massive hours so I didn't get to doodle all that much.
But a couple years later it got finished:

I liked that sketchbook alot.
I don't always like 'em.
But this one was fun!

BIG FEET

2011-09-29T07:00:00.001-07:00

I'm often asked why my characters have such big feet.
Characters like...

Kenny:

The Kids Next Door:

Noah:

Me:

Well, you know what they say.
Big feet...
GREAT taste in music.

Yup... it was because of this:

I dunno what it was,
but after I saw this album cover
(by John Holmstrom and Gus McDonald)
I just couldn't draw small feet anymore.

Something about the proportions...
The grounding of the characters...
The balance...

It just felt so RIGHT!

It didn't hurt that the album was straight up awesome, too!

So THAT'S why, since high school, I always draw big feet!

KND IN TORQUAY

2011-09-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

After my recent post regarding
KND spies finding KND awesomeness is Argentina,
another KND operative (codename:Phil E. Thompson) left a comment regarding a different KND siting:

It's not just Argentina where you'll find the Kids Next Door....

I was on holiday in Torquay in late July, and decided to go to the Babbacombe Model Village nearby. In a building that appears when you first enter the village, there is a scenic display of a Victorian village in Winter near a 4D Theatre. Around the back of the display is a selection of models, including Chowder, Billy & Mandy and, of course, the Kids Next Door!

I got my sister to take a photo of the model, and here it is:

NIIIIIICE!

I never expected to see a 3-D representation of this drawing:

And in case you're not sure where Torquay is,
KND satellite control has provided this handy map of England for you.

Thanks, Mr. Thompson!

ANIMATION BLOGS ON A ROLL

2011-09-22T07:00:00.001-07:00

So you say you like animation?

And you say you like READING about animation?

And you also say
(because you never shut up)
that you love reading BLOGS about animation?

Well, you're talking WAY TOO LOUD because Mr. David Levy heard you all the way out in NYC.

Yeah, THAT David Levy.
The former ASIFA-EAST President-For-Life who, like all evil dictators, eventually find themselves run out of office on a rail.

Not that I had anything to do with it.
Because I love the guy.
How could I NOT when he puts together a list of animation blogs he likes and says this about mine:

The overgrown kid known as Mr. Warburton has achieved a lot in his 20-year (and counting) career (note the page above from his first job hunt journal heralding his hire at Buzzco). Once the poster child of NY animation success (going from employment at studios from Buzzco to J.J. Sedelmaier to creating and producing his own long-running series for Cartoon Network), he has since packed up to reboot his career in L.A., currently supervising retakes for the Disney TV series “Fish Hooks.” Despite his level of achievement, Mr. Warburton’s blog somehow manages to feel like the fresh enthusiastic observations of someone just starting out. This is a man appreciating life working in a field he loves.

First, who's he calling overgrown?

And second, Mr. Levy goes on to mention a blunch of other sooper fun blogs like Pat Smith and Bill Plympton's SCRIBBLE JUNKIES, the prolific FREDERATOR and indie soopuh stars THE RAUCH BROS.

It's a very nice list, but he neglects to mention his own blog ANIMONDAYS,
which is a must for anyone wanting to learn about what it's like being on the front lines of the animation industry.

With all your blathering about how much you heart animation,
it's kind of your duty to check it out over HERE, right?

SO LONG, FRANK G WELLS BUILDING

2011-09-19T07:00:00.001-07:00

It's been a long time coming,
but Walt Disney TV Animation has left the building.

The Frank G. Wells Building that is.
Named after the well-respected former President of the Walt Disney Company,
(who died in a shocking helicopter accident in 1994),
this was where countless TV shows have been produced over the years.

It also houses some of the Disney Archives, costume displays, and one of only three multi-plane cameras that Uncle Walt helped invent to produce lavishly layered shots in films like Pinnochio.

It was also frequently dressed up as locations for many an ABC TV show. In the year plus I've worked there I've seen it transformed into everything from a hospital to a police station to an airport.

Up on the third floor was where the animated magic happened but there just wasn't enough room for all the shows to fit there.

Which is a shame.
Originally, the lot was dedicated to nothing but animation.
It was designed as an inspiring, tree-lined oasis for artists to stroll about when they weren't tied to their desks.

But the Walk Disney company isn't just about animation anymore. It's TV, film, interactive media, sports, ESPN, ABC, blah blah blah.

It's, like, the sooper hugest company in the world.

So we're off to a new(ish) building in Glendale.
Kick Buttowski has already been there a while.
Gravity Falls just moved in.
And we get there today!
It should be great.

But I'm gonna miss the old ghosts of the Main Lot.

I certainly didn't shed a tear emptying my cubicle, though.
Blech.

At least I get an office in the new building.

GETTIN' MY SWAG ON

2011-09-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows I've got swag.

But not everyone knows it's Fish Hooks swag.

Check it:

Uh huh.

That's a Fish Hooks totey backpack-type thingy.

Swag.

And look out:

That's a Fish Hooks mouse pad complete with some kind of liquid inside so Oscar, Bea and Milo can swim around inside.

That swag enough for ya?

Indeed.

CARTOON STYLE

2011-09-12T07:00:00.001-07:00

OKAY...
as if I don't already have to wear SPF eleventy hundred
to shield myself from the awesome stuff I encounter everyday...

This makes me need to reapply.

Perhaps you're familiar with sites like Polyvore?
(and the only reason I am is because Mrs. Warburton
is the sooper most styliest stylist in the universe)

If so, you've seen stuff like this before:

Polyvore lets you cut and paste pictures you find from around the interwebs and put them together to make your own fashiony style-boards.

But what if you were to do that for your favorite cartoon characters?

Like, perhaps, the Kids Next Door?

Um...

AMAZING, right?

But the KND aren't the only ones to get hit with a fashion 911.

There's Gwen from Ben 10:

Jenny from My Life As A Teenage Robot:

Mickey Mouse:

And the character in most need of a new look,
Pikachu:

What a brilliant idea!
Check out the rest over HERE.

ONE PIECE AT A TIME

2011-09-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

Remember that One Piece vs KND drawing I did for Shonen Jump?

Well, the folks over at the One Piece At A Time Blog had some sooper triple
gear three nice things to say about it.

Click on their logo to check it out:

And if you read the comments, there are some thoughts regarding Numbuh 86 standing in for Nami, the Straw Hat's navigator.

I LIKE that idea.

So let's do it:

Thanks One Piece at a Timers!

THE VOICES OF FISH HOOKS!

2011-09-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, you gotta see this.

Just before Comic Con went down the Fish Hooks mobile assault force was sent to Washington DC to blow the minds of the National Press Club.

Fish Hooks creator Noah Z. Jones and Executive Producer Maxwell Atoms laid down a suppressing fire of Fish Hooks clips and explosive Q and A's before dropping THE BUH-BOMB on the assembled crowd.

Actually, three bombs.
I'm talking about
Kyle Massey (voice of Milo)
Chelsea Kane (voice of Bea)
and
Justin Roiland (voice of Oscar)

Check it out:

BA-BOOM!

Take THAT National Press Club!

Dude, I lurves watching voice actors do their thing!

2011-09-05T07:00:00.001-07:00

Oops.

Apparently evil adults hacked into the Printlab and caused some mischief with the top secret code that allows folks to add items to their cart.

And when I say 'items' I mean sooper awesome digital prints made just for you.

But the scientists of warburtonlabs have prevailed in their attempts to thwart these attacks and all is well again.

You may carry on about your business.

I WISH MY JAPANESE WAS BETTER!

2011-09-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

I love finding stuff like this.

A sooper awesome fan in Japan has a sooper awesome blog that's
heavy on the KND.
Especially Numbuh Two!

She goes by the name LonLon.
And she kinda looks like this:

I love her blog, but:

Zannen desu ga, watashi no nihongo wa heta ni narimashita.
Takusan wakarimasen!

In other words, my Japanese has gotten lousy.
But you don't need to understand Japanese to stroll the blog and look at the pretty pictures.

REALLY fun stuff, right?

And there's WAY MORE!

Check out the blog over HERE!

Arigatou Gozaimasu, LonLon-san!
Subarashii yo!

THE KND IN ARGENTINA

2011-08-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

Whilst on a top secret mission in Buenos Aires, Argentina
KND sooper spy Numbuh 4852 happened upon this:

And I was all like,

WHOA!

Turns out it's the entrance to a sooper fun play area in a mall.

Numbuh 4852 would have taken more pictures,
but the evil Los Mucho Guapo Ninos Demasiado were hot on his tail.

I'd love to go see this in person.
Hows about you?

OSCAR MAKES AN IMPRESSION

2011-08-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

Remember when Maxwell Atoms kidnapped me and
made me do a storyboard for Fish Hooks?

That was scary.
But I lived through the experience.
And the storyboard made it's way through the production pipeline much in the same way a poison ivy, toothpaste and metal-shaving burrito
works its way through your digestive system.

But it got DONE!

We put the final touches on it way back in April,
right on the day of THE ROYAL WEDDING!
Which would have been the PERFECT day to air it!

Why?

Find out this Friday, August 26th at 9:15PM!
ONLY on the Disney Channel!

Hope ya like!

ALL HAIL JENNIFER HALE!

2011-08-22T07:00:00.001-07:00

You know Jennifer Hale, right?

Even if you say you don't...

YOU DO.

She's been dubbed the "Queen of Video Games" for the voice work she's done on, like, eleventy thousand video games.

Games like Mass Effect, Metal Gear Solid, Baldur's Gate and Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic.
She's been in EVERYTHING!

Even if you don't play games, you probably know her as the flame-haired, 9000 decibel, boy-hating, Irish Head of KND Decommissioning

NUMBUH 86!

Yeah, Ms. Hale might be the Queen of Videogames,
but she's considered to be quite royal in the world of animation, too.

Not only was she Numbuh 86 (as well as the voice of the KND's computer),
She was Ms. Keane and Princess Morbucks in Powerpuff Girls.
Billy's Mom in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.
Jean Grey in Wolverine and the X-Men.
And a BILLION other roles in a BILLION other things.

Here she is cheerfully shooting me dead after I asked for an even LOUDER take at a KND recording session:

So do you want to learn MORE about Ms. Hale?

Great!

Because there's an article ALL ABOUT HER in this week's New Yorker magazine!

Wanna preview?

Click on the magazine cover below:

FISH HOOKS KEY CHAINS!

2011-08-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

Question:

DANG BOY! Where can I get some a them Fish Hooks keychains?!

Answer:

Get a time machine and go back to the Fish Hooks panel at the 2011 Comic Con where they were giving them out.

They're AWESOME!

And squishy!

(thanks for the pic, Ian!)

COMIC CON FISH HOOKS PANEL!

2011-08-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning got off to a rockin' start at Comic Con 2011!
How could it not?
There was a Fish Hooks panel goin' on!

With precision questions being handed down from our own Sooper Powered Disney Executive/Panel Moderator Jill Sanford, the fans were on the edge of their seats waiting for the star-studded panel's answers.

For example, Fish Hooks creator Noah Z. Jones was on hand to explain how the show got started:

And Chelsea Kane let everyone know what it's like voicing the role of Bea.

Also assembled were Executive Producer Maxwell Atoms, Director Bill Reiss, Atticus Shaffer, (voice of Albert Glass), and Justin Roiland (voice of Oscar).

The room was PACKED with fans who got to watch a clip from the original Fish Hooks pilot along with a full song from the upcoming half hour Fish School Musical season finale!

Which, BTW... RULES!
Don't miss it when it airs this Fall!

But that wasn't all...
The fans also got a taste of Disney Channel's latest upcoming series Gravity Falls by Alex Hirsch (one of the guys who helped develop Fish Hooks and plays the voice of Clamantha!)

So yeah.

AWESOME panel.

And everyone who came to the panel got a free...

Wait...

I'll show you next post.

IT'S PUNCH TIME!

2011-08-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

PUNCHTIME EXPLOSION, THAT IS!

Cartoon Network just sent me a copy of the game!
Now I just gotta find a Nintendo 3DS to play it on.
And when I do I know who I'm playin':

Totally.

PS: Yeah. I know. That ain't Maurice LaMarche doing the voice of Father!
Heresy, right?

But what's that?
You don't have a 3DS, either?
Don't sweat it.
The game is hitting consoles for the 2011 holiday season with even more characters and features.

2011 COMIC CON SKETCHES!

2011-08-08T01:31:00.000-07:00

Okay.
So I told you I got me some pretty drawlings at Comic Con over HERE.
And while I didn't get as many sketches as I usually do...
I did get some pretty darn good stuff.

Like what you ask?

Oh nothin'.

Just this:

Go ahead...
Say it.

OMG Mr. Warburton!
Is that by legendary Mad Magazine artist
SERGIO ARAGONES?!

And I'm all like...

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah...

He's the sooper mostest nice guy in the world and it was an honor to meet him.

Later, on Saturday night me and my cronies parked our butts at the Westin Hotel for a coupla root beers. One of those cronies was soopuhstar Universal Studios Florida caricature artist Casey Bug, who made sure to chronicle all our doings over the weekend.

Like sitting at a table:

Or eating nachos.

Just so you know... The first drawing is, from left to right, me, Bill's friend Gramala, Fish Hooks director Bill Reiss, Fish Hooks creator Noah Z. Jones, Bill's friend Matt and the luxorious Maxwell Atoms.

The other one, obviously, is of me, Mr. Atoms and Noah.

While at the hotel, there were most definitely napkin drawings.
This one by me:

This one by Bill Reiss (probably about me):

So... While wandering the floor of Comic Con I stopped at Rebecca Guay's table to say hi and peruse her bee-yoo-tee-full artworks. And later that night she stopped by our table at the hotel for a root beer and some doodling.

She was getting frustrated drawing the monkey I requested and eventually switched to something "easier"-- like perfectly drawn naked women and horses.
I'm not sure who drew the horse at the top.
But it works for me!

And finally... here's a little something I drew while waiting in line for a churro:

Wait...

I didn't draw that...

I COULDN'T DRAW THAT IF I WAS HELD AT GUNPOINT!!!

In actuality, this masterpiece was done by David Palumbo,
who Rebecca introduced us to.
She told me he did a lot of sci-fi/fantasy cover art so I shoved the sketchbook in his hands and told him to git drawlin'.

Next thing I know the guy whips up awsomosity.

Here... I'll show it to you again.

Wait...

Did I mention that he's the son of Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell?

Dang boy!

You gotta check this guy out.

And have you seen Dan Santat's new moleskine sketch doodle site?
He had a bunch of them at his table at Comic Con.
I mean, don't you wish you owned this drawing?

Yeah, me too. But he sold it before I could get my filthy mitts on it.

So Mr. Santat was nice enough to give me this one:

Incredible, right?

Now if I only knew where the damn thing is.
It completely disappeared from my bag.

I'm thinking that Dan took it back when I wasn't looking.

Or I just stupidly lost it.

Ugh.

I hate me.

But I love hunting for sketches at Comic Con!

KND vs. ONE PIECE IN SHONEN JUMP!

2011-07-30T21:51:00.000-07:00

Okay... remember THIS:

Well, now it's in THIS:

That's right... the Codename: Kids Next Door/One Piece mash-up
I drew actually made it into the
September 2011 issue of Shonen Jump, my sooper most favorite magazine in the universe!
See?

And I'm all like,

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH!!!!!!!!

And in case you didn't know,
we sell copies of this print in the mighty printlab!

So I'm thinkin' we gotta celebrate with a big sale.

Now go check the printlab.

You know you wanna.

And THANKS Shonen Jump!
You guys rule the universe!

2011-07-26T14:00:00.000-07:00

So, yeah.
July 23rd was my birthday.

And you wanna know what one of my favorite presents was?

The sooper nice shout-out I got from Fish Hooks creator
Noah Z. Jones' in his Daily Variety interview!

Check it HERE!

2011 COMIC CON RE-CAP

2011-07-24T20:51:00.000-07:00

Well, there's nothing like celebrating your birthday with
10,000+ fellow nerds is there?

Yup, another Con down and now I've got a year to recover!
I'm gonna need it.

3 solid days of walking 'the floor'...
walking 'round town...
standing 'round talkin'...
walkin' and talkin'...
talkin' and walkin'...
with Christopher Walken.
(not really)

But I loves it.

I love the energy of the whole thing.
I love the discovery.
I love the weirdness.
And I especially love hanging out with old friends and new!

But there's just TOO MUCH to tell you about.
So I'll break it up into a couple specific posts.

In the meantime I'll tell you some of my favorite things
I done and saw this year:

• I took pictures of awesome costumes:

• I took pictures of EVERYTHING in the Lego booth for my little dudes:

• I made a Yu-Gi-Oh card:

• I got to talk to Conan O'Brien in the Warner Brothers booth!
I told him that I helped animate his first show opening and he rattled off the year and the studio!
Sooper nice guy. And very tall.

• I took LOTS of pictures of Fish Hooks creator Noah Z. Jones doing silly things:

• And you KNOW I got me some pretty drawings!

But I'll save them for the next post!

SAN DIEGO COMICON 2011!

2011-07-18T20:42:00.000-07:00

Ah yes...

It's time for the annual running of the nerds.
And you know I'll be smack in the middle of the action as usual!

For those of you who've never had a chance to go
it's not just about comics.
In fact, it's BARELY about comics anymore.
(Hence the the rise of the exciting new TRICKSTER festival that's happening at the same time this year!)

The con is REALLY about entertainment these days.

TV shows
Movies
Gaming
Toys
Books
Nostalgia
You name it.

Me?
I love it all.
But my FAVORITE activity is sneaking up on unsuspecting show creators, artists, and authors that I admire and asking, pleading, and threatening them to draw in my sketchbook!
Can't wait to see who I meet this year!

And I'll DEFINITELY be stopping by the Fish Hooks panel Sunday morning:

SUNDAY, 10:00am, JULY 24: “Fish Hooks” – Creator/executive producer Noah Z. Jones, executive producer Maxwell Atoms, director Bill Reiss and cast including “Dancing with the Stars” finalist Chelsea Kane (“Bea”), Atticus Shaffer (“Albert Glass”) and Justin Roiland (“Oscar”). Fans will also get a sneak peek of Disney Channel’s upcoming animated series “Gravity Falls.”

Autograph sessions with the cast and crew from “Phineas and Ferb” will occur throughout the weekend, and signings for “Kick Buttowski-Suburban Daredevil” and “Fish Hooks” will take place at the “Phineas and Ferb-Disney Channel/DisneyXD” booth preceding each of the respective panels.

I HAVE to go.
Who else is gonna heckle Maxwell Atoms?

LAUREN TOM AND JENNIFER HALE?!

2011-07-14T23:07:00.000-07:00

So whilst taking a break from recording episodes of Fish Hooks,
who do I find lurking about the kitchen of the studio?

Jennifer Hale (Numbuh 86, KND computer)
and
Lauren Tom (Numbuh Three)?!

But I'm still mad at them for not showing up to the
KND VO Mini Reunion lunch!!!

Whatever...

How can I stay mad at these two?
I mean, look at 'em.

JOURNALS

2011-07-14T01:10:00.000-07:00

Last year I
graduated from college.

I think.

It was a long time ago so it's hard to remember.
Regardless, at some point in my life I graduated.

And I was scared poopless.

Sure, I knew I wanted to get into animation.

But

HOW?

Well, first I decided I was gonna try my darndest.
I mean, I was going to try HARD!
I was gonna try EVERY DAY!
And I was going to write down how hard I tried every day so that if I DIDN'T get a job in animation, at least I had proof that I tried my most darndest.

So I started this:

Yup.
I kept a journal of my post-college journey towards a career in animation.
It's a little cringe-worthy to read.
I'm young.
I'm crude.
I'm immature.
Just like now.
Except for the young part.

But here, for your enjoyment, are some choice entries complete with names that late 1980's NYC animation folk might recognize:

And then, after what seemed like an eternity
(but was in truth only a couple months)
IT
happened:

My first job!

Buzzco Associates.
The first time I stopped in they told me they didn't have any positions open.
(Especially not for a rookie straight outta Kutztown University)
But they also said I could stop by whenever I was in town.
To say Hi.
To use the bathroom.
And check if there were any jobs available.
And as you can see from the entries above... I DID!

And it's a good thing I done did that.
Because that's what got me started in this business.

So thanks Candy, Vinnie and Marilyn.
Thanks for taking a chance on some dumb punk kid.

And you know what?
Even after I got the job... I kept writing journals.

I'll show you some of those entries later!

GASP!

2011-07-11T01:06:00.000-07:00

After an awesome two week break,
I'm back at work to start post production on the second season of Fish Hooks!

And coincidentally, did you know that today marks, almost exactamaly, my one year anniversary of working full-time on the show?

Uh huh!

And what a year it's been!

I told you how it started back HERE and now, a year later,
I'm STILL having sooper happy fun times working on the show!

How could I NOT be?

Fish Hooks is a certified sooper big hit!

I get to work on the Disney lot!

I get to work with an AWESOME crew!

I get to laugh my butt off at the crazy hijinx of Oscar, Bea and Milo!

And I get to do it

EVERY DAY!

Thanks to everyone at Disney for making 'work'
something I look forward to every morning!

FORTUNE TELLER

2011-07-08T01:48:00.000-07:00

This was a fun little promo to advertise one of Scholastic's KND books.

My fortune was:

"You'll never figure out how to fold this darn thing."

BEGONE, LATEST SKETCHBOOK!

2011-07-05T18:54:00.000-07:00

HARK!
'Tis that the sound of another sketchbook falling to the deft slash of me pencil?

'Tis!

And this one fought well, it did.
Twas a short fight, though.
Around two months...
But these sketchbooks with thicker, cream colored paper don't share as many pages as their lily-white brethren so it's understandable.

So what lies in this tome with the merry One Piece stickers festooning its front?
Well...

Okay okay... so when I'm bored I draw giant squiddies.
So what else is new?

I also draw a lot of plants:

BIG plants:

The occasional Egyptian god walking his sphinx:

A samurai turtle:

Jellyfish:

Bob-Ombs:

Flaming turkey legs:

Trash:

And Dungeons and Dragons characters:

That's my character up top; Stacey Walker, Texas Ranger,
a surly, overweight teenage Elf whose dad owns Arwë
(the Elvish version of Ikea).
Below that is my version of Gyros, soopuhstar Fish Hooks
character designer Serapio Calm's Warforged Paladin.

What's that?
I haven't told you about the Fish Hooks crews' lunchtime D&D adventures yet?
Hoo boy... that's a whole nerdy post unto itself.

But for now, let's just bury this sketchbook and move on to the next, shall we?

KND MINI REUNION!

2011-06-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

Since I'm on break from Fish Hooks,
I'm using my sooper powers to find awesome things to do.

And what could be awesomer than
grabbing lunch with a couple KND pals?

Going counterclockwise after the dork in the bottom left hand corner:

Ben Diskin (Numbuh One and Two)
Tom Kenny (Knightbrace, The Common Cold and yeah... Spongebob),
Robert "Bobby Vegas" Serda (CN's world famous recording engineer),
Dee Bradley Baker (Numbuh Four, The Toiletnator)
Cree Summer (Numbuh Five) holding her kawaii new baby, Brave!

Not pictured because she took the picture:
Collette "Sunderwoman" Sunderman
(KND voice director)

Yeah... it's not everyone.
No Lauren Tom (Numbuh Three)
No Jennifer Hale (Numbuh 86)
Mo Maurice LaMarche (Father)
No Dave Wittenberg (Numbuh 74.239)
No Candi Milo (Numbuh Two's Gramma)
No Grey Delisle (Gramma Stuffum)

But we'll try to get EVERYONE together some other time.

In the meantime, Ima hold that delicious baby!

RESPECT, SEASON ONE!

2011-06-27T01:09:00.000-07:00

BA-BOOM!

Didja hear that?

That's the sound of the first season of Disney's Fish Hooks being DONE!

Finished!
Over!
Finito!
and
Cooked to perfection!
(or as perfect as we could get it in the time allowed)

Yup... 22 half hours of Bea, Milo and Oscar rockin' your TV set.
And I gotta tell you,
it's been a blast getting to swim in their fish tank.
Know why?

Because of these guys:

No... they're not the long lost Jonas Brothers.

It's Noah Z. Jones, who created Fish Hooks
and Executive Producer Maxwell Atoms, who put together an amazingly talented, hysterically funny crew with
ninja-like fighting skills and sooper model good looks.

He also brought me on...
but everyone makes mistakes.

Still...
Congrats, Fish Hooks crew!
Way to kick some fish butt and take ratings!

So what's next?
Well, I get a two week break before slamming right into
season two post production.

Which is weird.

I've NEVER, in my entire 20+ year career, had a real break.
I've always finished one job on a Friday...
and started a new one on Monday.
Or the job ended and then I spent the next couple weeks
(or months) scrambling to find new work.
Not very relaxing.

But two weeks with the reassurance that season two is waiting for me is nice.
Real nice.

I think I'll go to the beach.

MINECRAFT TREEHOUSE!

2011-06-23T01:42:00.000-07:00

I don't usually play Minecraft.
But when I do...
I build a KND Treehouse.

Actually, I don't play Minecraft at all.
But there's a KND fan who posts on Facepunch.com that does.
And I think this operative's got some pretty awesome taste in architecture.

Rockin' job, Drury!

BLACKWING PENCILS!

2011-06-20T01:08:00.000-07:00

Back before we had all these fancy Cintiqs, tablets and stylus thingies
we used to draw with good old-fashioned pencils!

Yup... PENCILS.
They were these longish pieces of wood with an even
thinner piece of lead inside.
You sharpened one end to a point and then scratched it all over a piece of paper
(which is another discussion entirely)
until you had yourself an honest to goodness real live drawing in your hands.

And the king of these pencil thing-ama-waffles was the Eberhardt Faber BLACKWING!

Half the Pressure, Twice the Speed, baby.

I loved these puppies.

They were like spreading black butter across the paper.
So smooth.
And with just enough jagged texture to make your line interesting.

Yeah, they were a bit smeary.
And nigh impossible to erase.
Especially with that useless eraser it came with.

But that LINE!

I used Blackwings to clean up ALL my drawings back in the day.

And then they were gone.

Just... GONE!

They disappeared from my local art store.
Then they disappeared from EVERY art store.
Rumors spread that Blackwing pencils had been discontinued.
I figured it was just a horrible, mean-spirited lie until I actually called the company and asked if it was true.

It was.

Ugh.
Over the years I found some stray Blackwings here and there.
Mostly just stubs, but I did save one unsharpened Blackwing for posterity.

But recently I've heard rumblings...
Faint voices in the ether whispering about a resurrection.
Could it be?

Aw yeah... They're BACK!

I've got two boxes on the way,
but to be honest, I'm not sure what I'm going to DO with them.
Blackwings are a bit too soft and smeary for sketchbook doodling.
And most of my artwork is done on a Cintiq nowadays.
And who knows... they might not even feel the same as my old friends.

But trust me.
I'll find something to do with 'em!

Welcome back Blackwings!

GO BURGER!

2011-06-16T04:11:00.000-07:00

What's awesome about this picture?

The fact that my placemat made it to the window!

If you're passing by GO Burger on Sunset and Vine here in LA,
stop in and check it out.

And try the “C Cubed” sandwich:
Fried Chicken, Chipotle Ranch, Avocado, Bacon, Lettuce, Red Onion, Tomato

Don't forget the milkshake!
(or at least steal a sip of your kids' when they're not looking!)

DUCKY TWACY ER!

2011-06-13T01:35:00.000-07:00

Question: Did I watch the old
Warner Brothers Cartoons when I was a kid?

Answer: Does Mo Willems sell children's books?!

Wait...
I just answered a question with a question.
So let's ask a different one:

What was I doing when I WASN'T watching the old Warner Brothers Cartoons?

Answer: I was writing MORE Warner Brothers Cartoons!

Yup.
Armed with a typewriter
(there weren't none of yer fancy pants computer machines back then!)
I wrote up the funniest stories I could think up for my favorite TV characters!
And one of my favoritest was Duck Twacy.

Never mind that I had no idea who this spoof was even based on.
I just thought this cartoon was hysterical!
So I typed up new, even BETTERER stories!
Her's one for your reading pleasure:

Awesome, right?!

What?

Whaddaya mean "NO"?

Oh c'mon... I was ELEVEN!

How about this one:

Still no?

Really?

Well, regardless of your (lousy) taste level, here are some scholarly notes on these masterpieces:

• When my Mother read these stories she decided to give me a quick lesson regarding such youthful topics as copyright infringement and plagiarism. But I quickly remedied the situation by grabbing a pencil and hastily changing all the names to Duck Twacer instead of Duck Twacy.
There.
Problem solved.

• In the original short there's a sequence where Duck Twacy is surrounded by villains and he rapidly calls out their names. Pickle Puss! 88 Teeth! Eraser Head ("I'm gonna rub ya out!"), Neon Noodle! etc etc. I had fun making up stories for some of these guys. For instance:

• Using a typewriter was HARD. There was no DELETE button so you had to make sure you were pressing the right key EVERY TIME. I threw out a lot of pages after making too many typos.

• Similarly, please note the fancy way I typed Duck Twacy at the end of the first story. That was high tech stuff back then.

Unfortunately, my writing hasn't really evolved that much over the years.
But thanks for saving this kinda stuff, Mom!

KND COSPLAY?!

2011-06-09T01:15:00.000-07:00

Whatever you're doing...
STOP NOW!

Because KND spies just sent me these from Cosplay.com!
(who knew there was a cosplay.com?)

AWESOME!

B-b-b-but...

Where's Numbuh Two?!

ABOUT YOUR RESUME...

2011-06-06T01:27:00.000-07:00

Yeah, YOUR resume.

I've seen a ton of them over the years.
And you know what?
Most of them are lame.

Plain.
Bland.
Mediocre.
Unappealing.
Flat.
Flavorless.
And
Booooooooooooring.

I mean, seriously.
You're right out of school.
You're an artist.
You're creative.
And you come in with this?

P to the U.

Although,
your portfolio is a buh-million times more important than your resume.
No one in animation really cares what school you went to or what kind of degree you have.
Or if you worked at Kinko's for a summer.
Or if you were in the debate club.
They wanna see if you can really DRAW.
If you have ideas.
If you make cool stuff.

But still...
You gotta come correct with a cool resume that stands out from all the others.
You're right out of school.
You're an artist.
You're creative.

So show it.

There are some pretty fun examples over HERE.
So what's yours gonna look like?

Me?
I still keep mine relatively updated.
You never know when I might get drummed out of the animation business for good.
Check it.

TIM BURTON AT LACMA!

2011-06-01T01:53:00.000-07:00

If I have to give example numbuh 3,456 of why the fabulous Mrs. Warburton
is so fabulous it might be because she got us opening day tickets for the
Tim Burton exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

And I loves me some Tim Burton.

ESPECIALLY
ESPECIALLY
ESPECIALLY
The Nightmare Before Christmas.
After watching it for the first time I immediately ran
to the next theater and watched it again.
And then I spent the next month being bummed out that I'd never come up with something as awesome as that movie.

Yeeeeah... not all of Mr. Burton's movies are rock solid.
But between Nightmare, Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands and many other flights of awesome...
I say the man kicks pretty darn hard.

So how about that exhibit?

Mr. Burton has kept an amazing record of his artistic life,
from his youngest days to his latest movies,
and has kindly hand-picked a HUGE selection to share with his fans.

Sketches, paintings, comics, puppets, costumes,
manuscripts, photos, sculptures...
you name it.
It's here.

Some highlights?
Sure.

• Everything by costume designer Colleen Atwood, especially the Headless Horseman's cape from Sleepy Hollow.

• The puppets and character designs from Corpse Bride.

• The entire Nightmare Before Christmas room. The Hanging Tree puppet was one of my favorites.

• The carousel and wall paintings in the blacklight annex.

• And these guys:

It's a sooper fun and inspiring exhibit and you'd be crazy to miss it.
Personally, I would have killed to go to the opening night party and maybe possibly meet Mr. Burton in person.

Although I kinda did once...
When I stood in line at Barnes and Noble to get him to sign my copy of this:

And he DID!
See?

But believe it or not, that's not my most prized bit of Tim Burton ephemera.
This is:

Si. si, senors and senoritas.

That IS a Jack Skellington head cast from the original mold!
The very first time I went to the Ottawa International Animation festival I met a stop motion animator who had worked at Skellingtom studios and he just so happened to have a couple of these in his pocket.
And for reasons I don't quite remember he was kind enough to give me one!
(perhaps I bought him a couple root beers?)
(or threatened him with my king-fu powers?)
I keep it in the pocket of a fancy schmancy going-out-on-the-town winter coat that I don't get to wear too often.
(especially here in LA)
But when I do wear it,
and reach into the pocket,
I can't help but smile when I find good ol' Jack in there.

FOSTERS HOME FOR NOT IMAGINARY TOYS

2011-05-30T01:28:00.000-07:00

Back when Codename: Kids Next Door was juuuuuuust about to launch,
the promotions people at Cartoon Network decided to make a set of KND vinyl figures to give out as promos.
They were 5 kinds of awesome.

I had boxes and boxes of the things and gave them out to
anyone I crossed paths with.
Now I think I've only got one or two packages left.

Cartoon Network continued to make figures for all their new shows
and they kept getting cooler and coolerer with each new set.
Recently, while rummaging through the lab,
I came across one of my favorites;
Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends.

SO rockin'.

Big ups go to the guy at Cartoon Network who championed this stuff--
sooperstar Ed Murrieta!

And check out this long-ago-blurb about CN's promos over HERE if you're looking for something to do.

REDECORATING

2011-05-26T02:00:00.000-07:00

Ever feel like your living room is...

missing something?

Me, too.

But I think I know what it might be.

Voila!
Decorating done.

I have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with these wall decals.
And I get the distinct feeling they aren't officially licensed
Cartoon Network products either.
But someone's selling them on ebay.
And I thought the pictures were funny.
Especially this one:

Ugh.
Caveat emptor, yo.

LA OBSERVATIONS (part 2)

2011-05-21T17:35:00.000-07:00

Back when I first moved to LA I sketched some of
my more scientific observations in my sketchbook.
(My dad's a scientist so I TOTALLY know science.)

Now that almost two years have past,
I thought it was time to do it again.
For the sake of science.

And as an added bonus I've included these drawings that my two little maniacs have done in their sketchbooks:

Ugh.

They're already better than me.

BOOM!

2011-05-17T01:48:00.000-07:00

I present to you...

PRINTLAB

COUNTING DOWN...

2011-05-15T18:02:00.000-07:00

tick tick tick...

2011-05-15T09:39:00.001-07:00

Almost there...

COUNTING DOWN...

2011-05-14T08:59:00.001-07:00

COUNTING DOWN

2011-05-13T10:16:00.001-07:00

COUNTING DOWN

2011-05-12T02:01:00.000-07:00

Folks ask every once and a while.

So why not do it?

It's not a new series...

And it's not a new book...

But it's worth a countdown:

Keep it locked here.

EVERY SINGLE TIME

2011-05-09T22:25:00.000-07:00

I CAN FLY!

2011-05-05T04:26:00.000-07:00

I pity those without sooper powers.
I really do.

I even pity those with only one or two sooper powers.
Because me?
I have lots.
Like for instance...

THE ABILITY TO MAKE MYSELF ITCHY AT WILL!

THE POWER TO REEEEEEEALLY LIKE PEANUT BUTTER!

SOOPER GIANT FOREHEAD!

HYPER FORGET-A-PERSONS-NAME-RIGHT-AFTER-THEY-INTRODUCE-THEMSELVES POWER!

But my favorite sooper power is my ability to FLY!

What's that?

You think I'm lying?

Well, get yourself a big bowl.
Put your words in it.
Add milk.
And prepare to eat.

Check it:

How about some video proof?

And here's DOCUMENTED proof:

BOOM, SUCKUHS!

What kind of sooper powers do YOU have?

THAT'S GOOD EATIN'

2011-05-01T17:02:00.000-07:00

It's one of the most closely kept secrets of authors.
A taboo subject that no one dares let slip.

Well, no one except ME!

Because I'm about to blow the roof off of what EVERYONE'S been dying to know.
Yeah, you know the question I'm talking about:

WHAT THE HECK DO SOOPER FAMOUS AUTHORS EAT FOR LUNCH?!

Well, I'm here to tell all.
Because I had lunch with a bunch of 'em this weekend.
You see, whenever Mo Willems comes to town,
all sorts of authors and illustrators get together to laugh, joke and eat.
And for some reason they let me come along.

So let's start with Mo:

That's steak and eggs, of course.
Mr. Willems likes to eat them when he's on tour to promote his latest sooper awesome book:

If you were at the LA Times Book Festival this weekend, maybe you got to see him read it!

And if you were sitting next to him at lunch, maybe you'd totally copy him and get steak and eggs, too.
That's what sooperstar author/illustrator Dan Santat did:

Can you blame him?
I don't blame anyone for nothin'(except awesomeness) if they wrote and illustrated this graphic novel:

Lisa Yee's secret lunch habits are a BIG topic of conversation at any party.
So what's the secret to her steak salad?

The answer: NO DRIED CHERRIES!
Lisa Yee don't roll like that.
She rolls like this:

But do you know who DOES roll with the dried cherries?

Marla Frazee.
See?

Marla, who I just met but swear I've met before, is working on a sooper secret new picture book, but you might already know her from this series:

Next up, animator/author/robot/marathon runner Bob Boyle.
You know he writes and draws this:

But did you know he eats THIS:

Yes, non-meat eaters, that there's a veggie burger.

But alas vegetarians, Bob's wife, famed animation background painter Teri Shikasho had a beefy burger.

Me?
I had the house special, Rack of Peep which I did NOT share with Marla.

Paired with a fine root beer, that's some good eatin'.

Jarrett Krosoczka's meals are harder to pin down.
He refused to even show up for fear of his lunch secrets
being leaked to the public.
Smart man.
Because obviously I can't keep a secret.

Next time:

The hard hitting dessert choices of children's literature!

INSIDE THE FISH TANK!

2011-04-27T18:11:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder how all the fishy goodness of FISH HOOKS
makes it to your TV screen?

Me, too.

Fortunately, Fish Hooks creator Noah Z. Jones and
Executive Producer Maxwell Atoms are here to tell us how the magic happens.

It's a good thing they left out the part about me totally ruining EVERYTHING!

Or maybe that just goes without saying.

THE DEATH SKETCHBOOK!

2011-04-21T21:30:00.000-07:00

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...
I was starting a new sketchbook.
I was about to put a sticker on the front when my son suggested I make the sketchbook look like The Death Star instead.

Who am I to argue with a 6 year old?

I know... the resemblance is uncanny.

So...

Unfortunately, most of this sketchbook was taken up by a sooper triple OMG-Darth Vader-Is-Luke's-Father secret book project I've been doing for Hyperion.
And it's huuuuuuuuge.
Like 270 pages huge.
So most of my sketching was working out the pages for that.
And I can't show you any of it.

But there's still some of the usual stuff lurking within.
Like evil potted plants:

Ninjas:

Random avatars:

My wolf cub added the two on the bottom here-- awesome:

A Private (Moby) Dick:

Dinosaurs:

Guitars:

And here are a couple page headers. I try to always do a doodle for the date of the page I'm doing:

And here's a page of doodles I did whilst listening to legendary storyboard overlord Sherm Cohen's weekly class here at Fish Hooks.

Oops.
Almost forgot.

Here's a picture FISH HOOKS creator Noah Z. Jones did of a horse pooping on my head.

So like every other Death Star before it...
This one is finished.

Started December 13, 2010
Finished April 20th, 2011

But what's this?
After buying a couple new sketchbooks
my son absconded with one and built...

A NEW DEATH STAR!

Admiral Ackbar must be pooping calamari.

POSTER POST!

2011-04-21T00:10:00.000-07:00

What's that?

A Fish Hooks poster signed by ALL the voice actors?

Don't mind if I do!

Thanks Disney Casting Dept!

A VINTAGE SKETCHBOOK

2011-04-17T21:18:00.000-07:00

Why, yes.
I HAVE been filling up sketchbooks over the years.

Maybe not quickly.
Maybe not skillfully.
But filled up they get.
(Eventually.)

And while I'm juuuuuuuuuuust about to close the door
on my latest book du jour...
I thought it'd be fun to go down into the cellar and pick out a
fine vintage sketchbook for us to drink from.

Say, perhaps, a heady 1994?

Checking out this sketchbook brought back alot of memories.
These were the days of:

• Working at J.J. Sedelmaier Productions.
• Living in NYC with 3 sooper fun roommates.
• Dating the girl I'd eventually marry.
• And...

Drawing the plant that lived in our bathroom

Clipping stuff out of my girlfriend's fashion magazines:

Creating characters that would eventually end up in TV shows:

And characters that wouldn't:

Drawing LOL Cats:

Working on Schoolhouse Rock:

And FINALLY finishing the sketchbook:

Yikes!
This one took forever to get done.
But it did.
(Eventually.)

Are YOU keeping a sketchbook?
I hope so!

DANCING WITH THE STARS!

2011-04-15T01:57:00.000-07:00

Yes... yes...
The rumours are eleventy hundred percent TRUE!

I, the lithe and graceful Mr. Warburton,
will be replacing Chelsea Kane's dance partner
on Dancing With The Stars.

Need proof?

BAM!

And then I will wake up and be grateful I don't have to actually dance in front of eleventy million people.

And when you're not watching DWTS, make sure to catch Chelsea
as the voice of Bea on FISH HOOKS, okay?

That is all.

GREATEST. PICS. EVERRRRRRR!

2011-04-11T01:33:00.000-07:00

If you check out the comments in this blog, you might have seen someone pointing me in the direction of these pics that sooper fan LIMEY404 created and posted on DeviantArt.

Just be warned...

If you have allergic reactions to mountains of AWESOME being unloaded on your eyeballs these might land you in the hospital.

Ready?

GO:

DISCLAIMER: NO! There is NOT a KND live action movie in the works.
There WAS a long time ago... but it fizzled into the Cartoon Network ether.
These are just pics a rockin' fan 'shopped up.
So don't start jumping up and down about a possible movie.
Although it would be awesome, right?

Triple XL thanks to LIMEY404 and whoever led me to these!
They RULE!

COTTON WARBURTON

2011-04-07T02:39:00.000-07:00

I need to set something straight.

While I'm often referred to as
"The Best Football Player Named Warburton Who Ever Worked at Disney"
I'm sorry to say it's not true.

First of all, I've never played football beyond the occasional gym class or Thanksgiving Turkey Bowl.

Second of all, there's this guy:

As you can see, he had the football skills:

But what about the Disney skills?

Cotton became a successful Hollywood film editor and won an Oscar in 1964 for his work on the box office hit Mary Poppins.

You can read the rest of his bio over here at your leisure.
But in the meantime, please stop calling me
"The Best Football Player Named Warburton Who Ever Worked at Disney".

Thank you.