Blah Blah Blah...I drew THIS...Blah Blah Blah... I drew THAT...

Extra bonus thanks to everyone who came out to Kutztown University to hear me blather on and on Friday night! We had a great turnout and lots and lots of great questions. Extra thanks to those who patiently hung out afterwards waiting to get stuff signed, ask career questions, or have me draw some strange furry thing named Norbert. (Apparently Mo's done it, too: see?)



And speaking of drawing... dya have any idea what the most requested sketch of the evening was?


Someone in the audience even asked why, for the love of all that is sooper chunky, were there never any REAL Rainbow Monkey's made?

Answer: Because some people were afraid we'd all drown in the buh-trillion dollars they'd make.

The LEAST requested sketch?

A catapus. Not sure why, but I gave it a a shot.

And one last thing: KU was nice enough to put me up at a new bed and breakfast in town that i think is worth mentioning- the Main Street Inn. Really nice place with really nice people. So if you ever find yourself needing to spend a night in K-town- do it here. But make sure to ask for, no DEMAND, the creme brulee french toast for breakfast. And lunch. And dinner.

(thanks to KU's own Craig Williams for the pics!)

Me in 1986

In honor of my semi-triumphant trip back to Kutztown University, I thought I'd post this picture from my Freshman year.

So why is this event 'semi-triumphant'?

Because after over 20 years I STILL have bad hair.

Regardless, I'll be showing some pretty fun stuff tonight, including:

• The first animated 'films' I did in college shot on sooper grainy Super 8 film and transferamafied to VHS and then digitally transferamated to DVD.
(it's a wonder anyone gave me a job rewatching these things...ugh)
• A clip from "The Maltese Cat', a theatrical short based on the story by Rudyard Kipling and one of the first films I got to work on.
(don't blink or you'll miss the inbetween drawings I did)
• Lots of commercials- some never aired for assorted bizarre reasons!
• A banned episode of Beavis and Butthead!
• "The Tale of Mr. Morton', one of the new Schoolhouse Rock songs I directed.
• My first Cartoon Network pilot 'Kenny and the Chimp'
• The Kids Next Door pilot
• And more, more, more!

What better reason could there possibly be to go Kutztown on a friday night?

Don't answer that.

Representin' PA

For all my people from the streets of Pennsylvania... here's the Morning Call letting ya know I'll be in Kutztown this Friday.

Check it HERE!

If you live nearby... come on out and say HEY so I'm talkin' to more than 9 people (who probably only came to get extra credit anyway). I'll be showing some early embarrassing college films that prove you don't need to be good to get a job, along with assorted highlights from my career including some fun commercials, pilots, and favorite TV episodes.

Be there... or be somewhere else!

KND on Demand!

While KND is NOT currently gracing the airwaves of Cartoon Network, it IS on CN Video, streamin' like there's no tomorrow in all it's magnificent low-res glory! Currently, there are only a couple episodes playing, but they're goodies:

SUPPORT
TAPIOCA
FISHY
OUTBREAK
VIRUS

And they're all 100% free... if you consider having to watch a couple commercials 'free'. Then it's something like 78% free. I gotta check the math on that, though. Regardless, here's the link:

http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/video/

Hopefully they'll get more episodes up soon. I hear they're putting up all 6 seasons of Billy and Mandy!

But if ya got something against commercials, you can always go to iTunes and grab all the episodes of KND season 6 or the sooper huge movie Operation: Zero (STILL one of the big selling movies in the 'Top TV Seasons' category!). They'll cost you a couple bucks per episode, but they look prettier and there ain't no commercials.

So what're ya doin' readin' goofy blogs? Go do yourself some KND watchin'!

It's Pretty Easy...

SKETCHBOOKS

Me love sketchbooks.

Especially these 9x12 Canson jobs with the heavy cardboard covers.

For me they're part diary, part idea factory, part show piece, part time capsule, part therapist, and thing to stuff other things into. Aside from the usual writing and drawing for work, i scribble in what songs i'm listening to, what i'm reading and watching, assorted loose ideas that come to mind and other detritus of life. I also tape in pictures and quotes from books and magazines i'm reading.



And there's this great feeling when I finish one. Like I've got this little piece of my life documented. Sometimes it takes 6 months to fill one... sometimes just a month. Either way, you've got this physical THING that kinda shows what was going through your head at that time in your life.



But there's also this terror when you're starting a new book. Being faced with a big book of empty white pages... so full of possibilities- or stinky drawings that remind you to go back to art school. Hence this page from the new book I started last week:

The Semi-Triumphant Return of Mr. W

For those of you interested in not so interesting Mr. Warburton trivia... a long time ago in a Pennsylvania far, far away I attended Kutztown University- home of the Kutztown Folk Festival, stomping grounds of pop artist Keith Haring, alma mater of football star Andre Reed and place where other random things have happened.

And I hadn't been back there in years- that is until last spring when Mr. Willems called and said he had to attend a librarian's conference at Kutztown. He needed a 'cultural attache' to speak to the natives, show him the local customs, and help him convert American money into root beers. And he asked me if I'd do the honors- mainly because the first 34 people he asked said 'no'.

Regardless, we had a blast! The other authors attending the conference, Eric Rohmann, Christopher Myers and Kate Dicamillo were all AMAZINGLY fun to hang out with and I actually got a little, teeny tiny, maybe choked up a couple times whilst wandering the campus remembering the good 'ol days. I even got to see a bunch of my old professors at a nice reception the President of the University threw for us all (his kids are BIG KND fans!).

And while I was there, one of the professors asked if I'd come back to do a little lecture/film festival/chat in the Fall.

Well, it's the Fall now:


(awesome poster designed by KU student Jared Bischoff!)
So stop on by if yer in Kutztown. And if yer not... there's always the Bieber Bus!
('Remember: If it doesn't say Bieber... it doesn't go to Kutztown')