GETTIN' THERE!

And no.

I ain't tellin'.

THE PLOT THICKENS

Okay,
so I used to make sure the studio was well stocked with
candy during Codename: Kids Next Door:


Is that so wrong?Regardless...
I always loved the gag cartoons by
KND prop designer Robert Kopecky.

HARRY POTTER AND THE KND (part 2)

After my last post,

I remembered that

 just because Codename: Kids Next Door 

has long since kicked the bucket, 

it doesn't mean we don't have any buckets left to kick around.

Specifically this KND popcorn bucket circa 2002:

These were distributed at Loews theaters just before the show premiered.
Imagine what a proud daddy I was when I went to see the very first Harry Potter movie, and everyone's walking around with the KND on their popcorn buckets.

HARRY POTTER AND THE KND

Okay.

So one day I'm walking down the hall

of Curious Pictures.

It's, like, third or fourth season of

Codename: Kids Next Door

and I'm stomping around the studio 

in my usual rush.

When suddenly,

a lowly, unwashed intern

steps into my path.

She jabs a finger in my face

and growls,

You know people at Warner Brothers!

Taken aback,

my usual droll and witty riposte

was reduced to a quizzical, 

"huh?"

You know people at Warner Brothers!

she repeated, her glasses flashing 

and nostrils flaring.

I managed a weak, 

"uh huh?"

Her index finger, 

strengthened from months 

of pressing the copier button,

jabbed into my sternum.

Get us tickets to the world premiere of 

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 

at Radio City Music Hall!

"I wouldn't even know who to ask for something like that!"

I replied cautiously,

(After recently becoming a father,

I had become more concerned 

regarding events that might 

affect my personal welfare)

JUST DO IT!

hissed the intern.

She shoved me backwards with her cast-iron finger

and stormed away.

With the immediate threat gone,

I instantly forgot the request and went about my business.

But later that day I just so happened to get a call from 

the wonderful woman who handled KND's merchandising.

Who worked...

 at Warner Brothers!!!

Here's how the conversation went down:

Soooooooo, if I wanted, let's say... a couple tickets to the 

Harry Potter premiere at Radio City, 

who would I call over there?

Are you serious?

I wouldn't even know who to talk to.

Oh, okay nevermind.

No big deal.

I'll just get killed by an intern

We hung up.

I made sure my will was in order.

And I went on with what might have been my last day on Earth.

A couple hours later,

the phone rang.

It was the merchandising lady again.

Hey, guess what?

I got you guys 20 tickets!

Whoa.

Like...

WHOA!

So after giving the scary intern two tickets,

(and saving one for me)

we raffled the rest off to the KND crew.

And it was 

AWESOME!

The stars were there!

There was free popcorn and soda!

And goody bags!

The only bummer was that since our baby was so new,

Mrs. Warburton couldn't go!

But I think she was just happy I was alive.

And the intern?

Alison Wilgus?

She eventually became a writer on KND.

Told you she was scary.

CLAMANTHA GETS THE PILLOW TREATMENT!

Move it along.

Nothin' to see here.

Just this sooper triple cool

Clamantha pillow:

Carmen Woods 

just 

can't 

stop!

SMELLS LIKE OLD SKETCHBOOK

So while you're waiting for me 

to finish my latest book of sketchiness

why dontcha take a look at

this big fat sandwich

of an old school sketchbook

instead:

Yes, 

I'm proud to say that this one,

circa 1998 to 2000 or so,

earned itself a Caldacott Medal.

And when I say

"earned"

I mean

stole from Mo Willems' office.

Regardless,

this baby is packed

with all sorts of 

late 90's

photos:

Wishes...

and odd doodles...

At this time in my life

I was working as a director on 

Sheep In The Big City:

And all the while I was waiting to see what would happen

with the pilot I had recently made at Cartoon Network.

Something called 

Codename: Kids Next Door.

So the book has a lot of early 

KND ideas in it:

There's even a sketch of Numbuh Two 

by Maxwell Atoms:

And then one day it happened.

KND was greenlit to series.

 I left for a two week vacation 

to Japan the next day:

Production began when I got back.

Here are some rough ideas for the KND's 

snow gear in Operation: ARCTIC:

After a year of having Mr. Willems 

abuse my Sheep drawings,

I didn't feel so bad making 

fun of his KND drawings:

I really like

this early sketch of 

Numbuh One and Lizzie

I did:

But when

supreme storyboard artist 

Guy Moore

drew stuff like this 

I crapped in my pants,

ran home to change,

and then promptly 

crapped my pants again:

Here's an all-mighty ratings report:

Here's an example of a storycard we'd hang on the wall:

The ATT represents 

one of our story types:

ATTACK - The KND are attacking something

DEFENSE - The KND are attacked BY something or someone

BUDDY- Focus is on two characters

TEAM - A story with all 5 characters as a team

SOLO - A story that focuses on one character

We always tried to spread the stories out 

so we didn't get too many of the 

same type too close together.

The other side of the card had a brief synopsis of the story:

I always LOVED how hyper-mega-awesome 

storyboard artist Kim Arndt 

drew the characters:

I could go on and on.

This books is just 

PACKED 

with fun stuff.

Literally:

Look...

I know I say it all the time.

But you should keep a sketchbook.

Seriously.

Just shut up and do it.

You'll be glad you did 

when you dig it out years later.

OFFICIALLY UNOFISHAL FISH HOOKS

Check this out:

I know..

you're all like,

AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

What happened to the main characters of Fish Hooks?!

And I'm all like,

Relaaaaaaaaax.

That's just an early drawing of the gang 

that Fish Hooks creator 

Noah Z. Jones 

did while the show 

was being developed

at Disney.

Cool, right?

I mean, it's

ALWAYS

interesting to see how 

shows gets made.

So wouldn't it be 

BLOCK ROCKIN' 

if there was a place

you could go 

to learn 

all 

about

EVERYTHING 

Fish Hooks?

And wouldn't it be great if it was 

made by the very same people who 

MAKE

Fish Hooks?

Yeah.

So...

BOOM!

It's the 

UNOFFICIAL

OFFICIAL

FISH HOOKS 

FAN PAGE

Set your bookmarks for

AWESOME

and check it out

right

over 

HERE!

GODZILLA vs RODAN!

 One of my sooper pal's kids is turning 5!

And he 

LUUUUUURVES

him some

Godzilla!

So his Dad asked

if I would draw him 

a sooper birthday 

Godzilla 

picture.

Yeah, I will!

So I doodled up something rough on my Cintiq...

Printed it out...

Cleaned it up on my lightbox...

Cleaned it up again in color...

And 

WOOT!!!

there it is...

I also did this for the

gift bag cards:

Happy Birthday, Dashiel!