Thursday, June 27, 2013

A VISIT TO WB CONSUMER PRODUCTS

A couple weeks ago I went to visit my
good friend
Kathleen Wallis
at Warner Bros
Consumer Products.


She used to run all the 
KND
licensing until 
Cartoon Network
opened up their own division.

Consumer products,
if you didn't know,
is all about
STUFF:

Toys
Shirts
Mugs
Hats
Commemorative plates
Keychains
Tortilla Warmers
Throw pillows
Model kits
Decorative swords
Novelty Ice Cream
YOU NAME IT!

If they can sell it,
they'll make it
because
MONEY!

The lobby was
rockin' it
straight up 
Batman
style:




With lots of Legos:






But in the upstairs lobby
they went
full-on
Man of Steel
and
Looney Tunes:


All this came from a
private collector
who's spent decades 
collecting this stuff:



 I would have taken more pictures
but the
Superman
pogo stick
creeped me out:


Awesome stuff, right?





Friday, June 21, 2013

ERNEST ET CELESTINE

So the other day I went here:


To see this guy:


Talk about this:


To be more specific,
Dreamworks was hosting an
ASIFA HOLLYWOOD 
screening of 
a film by 
French director 
Benjamin Renner
called
Ernest and Celestine.

Based on the books by
the film is about a bear and a mouse 
who become friends,
something unheard of in their
segregated society.

Check out the trailer:

Personally,
I thought it was totally charming:
Beautiful design
(loved the broken line and watercolor textures)
Fluid animation
(great weight to the characters)
Wonderful voice acting
(I can listen to people speak French all day)
and
a cute, silly, fun story
(not saccharine)
(great for kids and adults)
(BUT it has subtitles so unless your kids speak French...)
Definitely check this out 
if you get a chance!
Oh... 
and this is 
coming soon, too:

Monday, June 17, 2013

DON'T PIGEONHOLE MO

Sketchbooks.

I'm always talkin'
about sketchbooks.

About how you oughta be 
filling them up with
drawings
doodles
ideas
notes
thoughts
stuff
scribbles
photos
scraps
musings
clippings
and
just,
you know,
KEEPING
A
SKETCHBOOK!

Because
SKETCHBOOK!

And because they're great places

for future projects
to gestate.

Case in point,
Mr. Mo Willems.
(yeah... him again)

For the last two decades,
Mo has created a mini-sketchbook
that he's printed for friends, family, enemies,
clients, attractive ladies and anyone who asked.

Over the years these sketchbooks have served as a
business
slash
holiday card
slash
 'zine
slash
creative laboratory
slash
overstock warehouse
for all things Mo.

And it was one of these
sketchbooks
that gave birth
to a bird that would eventually
launch Mr. Willems'
semi-successful 
book career:


And now,
since Mo
isn't releasing another book
in the next 
3 hours...

There's
THIS:


All twenty of Mo's
sketchbooks
featured in one big book! 


Actually, I don't have all of them.
But I've got a bunch:


They're a fascinating look into
Mo's creative process.
And a way to see how some of his
experiments later evolved into
books.

Like Pigeon:


And Goldilocks:


And Leonardo:



One of the things I've always
admired about Mo
(aside from his taste in friends)
is how his creative mind never rests.
He's always trying something new.
Challenging himself with:

A looser style:


A simpler aesthetic:


Stamp art:


and commuting penguins:


My favorite part of the book features Mo's 
early cartoon sketchbooks:




Many moons ago,
while looking through Mo's latest book,
my wife expressed great love for this
drawing:


I asked Mo for the original
so I could give it to her as a gift.
And he was nice enough to sell it to me for 
$74,000.


He's still waiting for the check.

Get this book.
There's a lot to
love
learn from
and
admire
in there.












Friday, June 14, 2013

STAY YOUNG IN THE PRINTLAB


You asked for it!

And even if you 
didn't...
you were 
THINKING 
of asking for it.

Either way,
it's 
HERE.

The latest addition to
the mighty 
printlab


Si, seƱor!
By popular demand,
the iconic last image
of the KND finale
OPERATION: INTERVIEWS
has been redrawn
and reproduced
as an 
8.5 x 11
print
on sooper high quality
Arches Aquarelle Rag!

Each one will be inscribed to 
anyone you like by me
and as a 
SOOPER BONUS
each print will have a
hand-drawn 
sooper mini pencil sketch
of one of the KND!

Kinda like this:


Interested?
Then head over to the
and 
take a look
around!


Thursday, June 13, 2013

MR. WARBURTON: FASHION BLOGGER

I am
many 
things:

Artist
Animator
Writer
Director
Producer
Author
Blogger
Ninja
Loudmouth
Nerd
Layabout
and
That Guy Who Walks Really Loud

You may now include
Fashion Blogger
to that list.

I know.
It was only a matter of time.

Because,
you know,
this:


I mean,
obviously,
right?

But
perhaps you didn't know
that the fabulous
MRS. WARBURTON
just so happens to be a 
sooper famous personal stylist.

And sometimes she lets me be seen 
amongst the fashionable people.
Why, just the other night
we went to the opening of
the new flagship store for

We had such a great time that
I wrote about it on her blog
(when she wasn't looking)

Check out 
Madison to Melrose
over

And don't be shy to sign up for her e-mail blasts
to receive all manner of fashion tips.

Some of you could use the help.
(I'm talking to YOU animation artist-type person)

Monday, June 10, 2013

A SKETCHBOOK FROM THE EARLY 90's

In the grand tradition of
trotting out an old sketchbook
to show you 
whilst
I slowly grind away at
my latest,
I give you
THIS:


This pile of pulp started on 
May 28th, 1992


I was two years into my animation career
and sooper busy on the first season of 
Beavis and Butthead
at


I worked alot
and
smoked too much:


I did assistant animation
on this MTV id
by the ultimate


So he drew me this:


I volunteered on
in my free time:



Not sure who this guy was based on:


We always listened to Howard Stern at the studio,
so how surprised was I when
Mr. Sedelmaier brought
and
in for a visit:



Back then
our good friend Lil
opened up a bar called 
Me and my cronies could usually be found there
playing on the darts team.
Working the door.
Playing pinball.
Or just lounging about:


We did a Converse commercial
starring 
Creator
Brandon McKinney 
sketched me this:



Sooper powered 
cartoonist
was kind enough to do 
some scribblin' for me:


I used to wear big bear slippers around the studio.
When I'd take the elevator from the 3rd floor studio 
to the upstairs offices of JJSP
the the guys from the law offices in the building 
would look at me funny:



Old school NYC graffiti artist
Todd James
did some time at
JJSP
and got a hold of my sketchbook
at one the many rooftop parties
at my apartment
on 2nd avenue
between 5th and sixth:




Which reminds me of the time I rocked the bottom 
of a pool in the Hamptons...

WITH MY FACE:



Almost scraped off a nipple, too.
But it made for a lot of
good skechbook fodder:



I bought my first computer,
160mb hard drive, yo!


And then on
September 17, 1994
(almost two and a 1/2 years later)
it was done:


Back then I was working crazy hours
and animating non-stop
so getting through a sketchbook took a lot longer.

I find it fascinating how much time 
I spent drawing myself back then.
I don't do that much these days.

That's the great thing about keeping these
sketchbook/journal/diary
thingies.
They're true time capsules.

I hope you're 
filling up sketchbooks, too!