MACHINARIUM

I don't like Starbucks.
But Mrs. Warburton does.
So sometimes  I walk around the corner, take a deep breath, go inside and order her a  decaf Americano one pump toffee nut little room.
Once, whilst waiting amongst the fussy rabble ("I asked for only 4/27th percent soy chai foam in my cup!) I picked up this:

Machinarium is an old point and click game. I played the demo ages ago and really liked it.
It's beautifully designed, has clever, eclectic gameplay and sooper fantastic sound.
So I figured, hey... FREE! (thanks starbucks)
Like I said... the game is real purdy:

If you wanna see more,

check out the official trailer:

I finished the game the other day  and walked away really happy. Although I totally had to cheat a couple times to get past places I was stuck. I hate using walkthroughs but I don't think I could have finished without sneaking a peek.
I think I might try  some of Amanita Designs other games!

ON THE SET OF OPERATION INTERVIEWS

I've posted a couple of these before...

but here are bunch more

behind the scenes

pics from

the live-action 

sequences

of

OPERATION INTERVIEWS

We shot it on the

Curious Pictures soundstage:

KND Post Production Supervisor

and Best Boy

Oren Kaunfer

helped set things up:

KND Line Producer

Bruce Knapp

worked behind the camera:

Me and the

superlative

Fran Jaye

going over script stuff:

Sooper fun

Sonnie Brown

(aka Numbuh Three)

was all like:

Dave Courter, Perry and I,

hypnotized by a performance of a lifetime:

Ric Stoneback

killed it

as

Numbuh Two:

And lastly,

Curt Hostetter 

played an

uncannily intelligent

Numbuh Four:

If you haven't read it already,

there are some pretty good

INTERVIEWS

anecdotes in

THIS

old post.

WATCHIN' 1000 TIMES NO PAINT DRY

Before I laid into the

final artwork for

my picture book

1000 TIMES NO

I spent a

LOT

of time 

experimenting

with watercolor.

Different paints...

Different papers...

Laying down a wash...

Then inking on top of it

and 

vice

versa

et al

et

cetera.

Here are a bunch of random

paint experiments

that happened.

They're not that far off from what

the book ended up looking like. 

But there are some fun notes

and I love seeing any art with 

paint splotches along the edges.

Ugh.

I wanna do 

another picture book

now.

VALKYRIES

DUDE!

Remember when we were hangin' out after that big 

Dungeons and Dragons campaign 

talkin' about

how cool Valkyries are?!

...

...

No?

C'mon

You know...

the jets/spaceship/fighters

from

MACROSS

aka

ROBOTECH!

(also called Veritechs)

NOW

you remember,

right?!

If not,

here's a great primer

for you to study:

It's a book

compiling the paintings 

of Japanese artist

Tenjin Hidetaka:

He's an amazing mechanical illustrator

specializing in

giant robots

and

sooper cool spaceships!

The book is filled with art he's done for

plastic model kits,

DVD's

and

videogames:

 I'm usually not a fan of 

sooper realistic

mechanical illustration

but it's really cool

how Hidetaka-san makes

Macross seem so 

REAL!

I always have 

fun browsing through this book--

I just wish my Japanese were better!

You can get it here if you're interested,

but it's kind of stoopid

expensive:

BONUS:

While digging up pics for this post 

I found this 

sketch

Hidetaka-sama

did for 

someone:

GAH!

I WANT ONE!

COMICS WITH CAVALLARO

As you can see, 

Mike Cavallaro 

rocks:

Sure,

you might know him

as a 

musician

or an amazing

KND background painter:

But his main

passion is

COMICS.

He writes comics.

He draws comics.

He publishes comics.

He sells comics.

And most of all

he's a 

FAN

of comics.

He's even been nominated for an

Eisner Award.

So when Mike Cavallaro

talks about comics.

You oughta listen.

AND HERE"S YOUR CHANCE!

He's gonna be at the 

Society of Illustrators

 in NYC

on

February 25th

presenting

THE REBIRTH OF THE AMERICAN COMIC BOOK

Comics fan, cartoonist, self-publisher, web comicker, and retailer Mike Cavallaro serves up his "eyewitness report" on the creative resurgence of The American comic book and graphic novel.

Beginning in the 1980's and continuing to present day, Mike will describe his own journey through various corners of the field, including a look into the creative process behind his

critically-acclaimed comics.

If you're in NYC on the 25th

BE THERE!

For more information take a trip over

HERE