MY ART OF THE LION KING BOOK(kind of)

So back in the old days,

when I was a dashing young 

New Yorker

with fire in my eyes

and a penchant for jaywalking,

I used to troll the city's used book stores

for animation books.

It was an

addictive 

treasure hunt.

You could find 

nothing...

or 

EVERYTHING.

One of my all-time 

favorite scores 

was this:

The Art of The Lion King.

Yeah, I know.

It's not rare or nothin'.

It cost $20 instead of the $50 retail.

Which rocked.

But when I started paging through it,

I found this:

Hmmmm...

signatures?

I thought it might have been a present 

for someone

named Jane who

really liked 

The Lion King:

Then I started to recognize some of the names:

Wait a second...

Holy crap...

THIS BOOK IS SIGNED BY

PEOPLE WHO WORKED ON

THE FILM!

And lots of 'em:

Cool, right?

But I've always wondered...

Who is Jane?

How'd the book end up in a 

tiny little used bookstore on 

4th Avenue in the

East Village?

Maybe it was stolen.

I think that's happened in NYC before.

Maybe some of you 

feature animation folk

might know

and/or be able to translate 

some of those signatures.

And if by chance Jane wants her book back,

please tell her to give me a yell.

DISNEY MICRO ART SHOW

Every coupla months

Disney Television Animation

puts on an art show.

There's usually a theme,

like 

self portraits

or 

monsters.

But the latest idea is a little more open.

Everyone has been given a 

teeny

tiny

4x4

canvas

like

this:

And you can

do whatever you want to it:

Paint on it.

Draw on it.

Make a collage

or

I 

dunno...

Zombies.

But then I decided,

Zombies?

meh.

So I did this instead:

When I dropped it off

I got peeksies at what 

some other folks have done!

And I was all like,

whoa.

The show is next Friday the 22nd

and unfortunately, 

for employees only.

But I'll be sure to take lots of pics

to show ya!

And you, too

 will be all like,

whoa.

FISH HOOKS MUSIC VIDEO

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER! But do you know what I did?
I made a music video for FISH HOOKS!
When the Disney  powers-that-be  asked us to create a minute long  fun catchy song, the FISH HOOKS team sat down and  brainstormed ideas.
We REALLY liked the concept of writing a song  based solely on dialogue from the show so we pulled bits and pieces that exemplified each of our fishy characters. After compiling TONS of audio clips, we gave them to composer ANDY STURMER and told him the  theme would be  HEY HEY WHAT WHAT (since HEY and WHAT seem to recur often in the show)
And yup... he came up with a fun catchy minute long song!
Next, editors Ted Supa and Carmen Woods and post productions supervisor  Ryan Burkhard started pulling fun clips we might use. Especially dancing clips.
Armed with all that, Ted and I sat down and cobbled together a rough cut. Sometimes we needed new animation or lip sync to be tweaked, so we called in technical director Darren Clark. And eventually this was born: Sooper fun, right?

SOOPER RARE KND TOYS!

A while back I showed you some pics of

Codename: Kids Next Door

toys

 that 

never

made it to stores.

KidDesigns

did a great job making toys

like this 

Toiletnator

action figure:

These from

Operation: SPACE:

And this awesome

Gramma Stuffum

set:

But wait...

If those toys never got made,

then how'd I get

THIS:

Answer:

WHAT IS EBAY, ALEX?

Totally weird.

Some guy was selling this:

And I won it!

I got never released Gramma Stuffum:

Never released Food Rambo Numbuh Two:

And oddly, 

I also got

three figures from 

this set that 

DID

sell in stores:

THE KND

IN SNOW GEAR!

I got these three,

but with different weapons:

There was no packaging,

and unfortunately,

the set didn't come with

Liver and Onions.

So I assume these are samples 

from the factory that someone

absconded with

and put up for auction.

And I'm glad they did!

They're awesome!

COLFAX FAMILY READING NIGHT 2013

It's that time of year

at my children's school!

Time for 

FAMILY READING NIGHT!

That's where everyone

goes home after school...

puts on their favorite jammies...

comes BACK to school at 5:30...

eats some delicious pizza...

and 

THEN

splits up into different classrooms to

read 

AWESOME BOOKS!

And once again,

I was given the honor of reading to the 

Kindergarten and 1st graders!

This was my third time reading

(here's the first)

(and here's the second)

and

this year me and the kids rocked out to

Mo Willems'

latest Elephant and Piggie

masterwork

LET'S GO FOR A DRIVE!

We also got down with

I'M DIRTY!

by Kate and Jim McMullan:

You can bet there was some

1000 TIMES NO

and

DON'T LET THE PIGEON

FINISH THIS ACTIVITY BOOK

action as well!

I hope your school

has a

FAMILY READING NIGHT,

too!

It's a blast!

PEPPER ANN CHARACTER DESIGN

You

wanna get

a lil 

old school,

with me?

Like 

PEPPER ANN

kinda

old school?

Sure ya do!

So let's go!

First,

for those not up on

ancient

Mr. Warburton

trivia,

I was the lead character designer on

Disney's Pepper Ann.

And it was

FUN!

The show was produced in 

Los Angeles,

but I was in

New York City.

So they'd send me a script,

and a design list like this:

And then I'd get drawin'!

This episode,

THE MERRY LIVES OF PEPPER ANN

was based at a 

Renaissance Fair

so it was a HEAVY show.

Lots of characters in costume.

Here's  a samplin'

of what i done
circa 1998:

After I was done,

I'd fax my drawings to

LA.

Back then,

fax machines used those 

curly rolls of crappy fax paper.

There's be lines and shmutz all over the faxes

and the poor production assistants had

to use white out to clean them up.

Funny coincidence?

One of those production assistants was

Darren Clark,

who is now

our star 

technical director 

on

Fish Hooks!

Good times!

OPERATION: ART SHOW

It only seems right

that I contribute to something called

OPERATION: ART SHOW

I mean, 

after naming over 150

KND episodes

OPERATION: THIS

or

OPERATION: THAT...

to be included

in

OPERATION: ART SHOW

just seems

appropriate.

So what is this event,

you ask?

It's a benefit to support

these guys:

Part of the benefit

will be a silent auction

so some of us

Disney folks

jumped in to help

with some artwork.

Here's what I done:

If you're in the LA area

next month,

stop in at the event:

Sunday March 10th

2pm - 6pm

Hollywood American Legion Post 43

2035 North Highland Ave
Hollywood, CA 90068


$5 Entry, Cash Bar, Free Parking
(Walking Distance Metro Red Line Station)

Meet a K-9 Marine Team!

Many people aren't aware of the role that dogs play in our military. 

 Their superior senses are vital tools in locating people, drugs and explosives; 

and it’s estimated that a single dog saves 150 lives during its career.

 Items like heating and cooling vests & pads for extreme temperatures, 

first aid supplies, beds, not to mention toys and treats are 

essentials that our K-9 troops desperately need. 

Please join us for a very special art show dedicated to providing 

these extraordinary animals with the care they deserve.