ON NO! GALLERY SHOW RE-CAP!

As previously threatened, Dan Santat and Mac Barnett's EYEWITNESS REPORTS gallery show and auction preview went off with a big boom!

And for those who showed up, they got the added bonus of not one but TWO shows!

Yup, while EYEWITNESS REPORTS was being shown in the upper reaches of Gallery Nucleus, there was another show for MOONSHINE, an upcoming book featuring the personal work of a whole mess of artists who work at Dreamworks!


I don't need to tell you that these folks are non-stop amazing. Chris Appelhans, Jason Scheier, Samuel Michlap, Nate Wragg... and that's just a couple of the sooper talented artists whose work was shown.

But back to EYEWITNESS REPORTS!

There was a great turn out:


Mr. Santat was on hand to sign books and prints:


And there was, of course, lots of stellar art by folks like...

Well... ME:


Chris Appelhans:


Tony DiTerlizzi:


And Mr. Willems:


And more:





Rockin' right?

Wouldn't it be cool to have a piece from this show hanging in your home?

I can arrange that RIGHT NOW!

See, starting today (Monday, August 23rd), all artwork from the show is gonna be auctioned on Ebay to benefit 826LA

All the information you need is on this poster right here:



Wanna see some more art? Check out this blurb on The Huffington Post!
(WHAT?! No pics of Jarrett Krosoczka's piece? Nor mine? Blasphemy!)

So get those auction shoes on and get ready to bid bid bid!
There's a whole lot of rockin' stuff for sale and it's all for a good cause!

FLIGHT OF THE HAMSTERS!

It takes a LOT of power to keep a KND Treehouse going.

Between the offensive and defensive systems, the 5 story gameroom, the indoor/outdoor waterpark, 24 hour automatic kitchen, Numbuh Two's 2x4 tech lab-- not to mention Numbuh Three's animatronic Rainbow Monkey museum... there needs to be an endless source of energy to make sure everything is up and running at all times.

So what would you use?

Solar energy?
Cold fusion power cells?
Bio-diesel fuel?
A matrix of comatose human beings?

Nope. The KND use something even better.

HAMSTERS!


And yeah, it takes THOUSANDS of them critters, all running on their wheels, to power up the massive KND headquarters. It's rough work, but they're well rewarded and shown much love by Numbuh Three.

But what do they do the lil fellas do when they've get some time off?

They toss each other into the air and see how far they can launch themselves into the next county, that's what they do!


And it's REALLY FUN!
See what this guy has to say about it:


So what? Is 99 cents too much to pay for a game?
Or maybe you don't have an Iphone, Ipad or Ipod Touch?

You can always play it as much as you want, for free, right HERE!

But I'll warn you... it's addictive!

And don't be shy to check out all the other KND games on cartoonnetwork.com while you're at it!

OLD SCHOOL HEAD SPLITTING

Once upon a time not long ago, when people wore pajamas and lived life slow (in 1995) I was working in the lofty tower of J.J. Sedelmaier Productions out in White Plains, NY.

We did a whole lot of commercials there, which for a time seemed to come in batches of three. This worked out well since there were three up-and-coming staff animators champing at the bit to prove themselves. Their names were:

David Wachtenheim
Dean Lennert
and the handsomest of the trio...

ME!

And it's a good thing I had the handsome thing going for me because Dean and Dave were (are) way better animators than I ever would or could be.

Still, it was cool how JJSP would get commercial orders in these 3 spot batches that would allow each of us to take one and run with it.

We each got spots for a line of Converse sneakers.
We each got our own episode of Schoolhouse Rock to direct.
And we each got a spot for Celebrity Cruise Lines designed by none other than the mighty Gary Baseman.

You know... the awesome illustrator who also created Disney's Teacher's Pet?


Now this was the thing about JJSP--

Mr. Sedelmaier (and the rest of us in turn) prided himself on taking an illustrator's style and being as faithful to it as possible.

And I think we did that with these Baseman spots.
See whatcha think of mine over HERE

Do you remember seeing that on TV?!
You do?

LIAR!

You couldn't have seen it because it never aired!!!
I think the guy that owned Celebrity Cruise Lines thought it was a little too creepy, what with all the head-splitting, devil horns and skull melting.

Oh well...

At least we had fun making it 15 years ago...

And just a couple days ago, totally out of the blue, Mr. Baseman posted the pic at the top of this page on Facebook. And imagine my surprise when I saw the soda can with a picture from that spot!!!
So now where do I gets me one of those?!

But while animating the commercial, I did get something way, way better than a soda can.

I got a drawing from Mr. Baseman in my sketchbook:


What? You thought I only recently started pestering folks for drawings?
Maaaaaaan, I been kickin' that for years!

OH NO AT GALLERY NUCLEUS!

Hey, are you going anywhere in mid-August?

Really?
That sounds nice.

Now cancel it.

Because you don't wanna miss this gallery show.

See, sooper pals Dan Santat and Mac Barnett have gathered up the scum and villainy of the art world to create their own eye-witness reports of what REALLY happened in their soon to be Oscar winning picture book OH NO!

All the artwork is gonna be shown at the legendary Gallery Nucleus (along with their corresponding police reports) before the lot goes up on eBay. And what's better, all $$$ made goes to one of my sooper favorite charities, 826LA.

Check the stats:



Wanna see some of the artwork and learn about 826LA?
Yeah, you do.
So check out this video:



Didja catch that glimpse of my drawing at, like 1:23, in there?
Yup... I'm totally honored to be counted among the scum and villainy!

So let me show you what what I did...

First, I doodled up some ideas in my sketchbook:


Then I roughed it out on my computer:


Next, I printed it out and did a test ink by hand:


And then finally, inked it again, and scribbled on some colored pencil and voila:



(The scan kinda uglified the colors... so go to the gallery to see the real thing!)

And here's my police report:



Like I said, all the art will be up on e-bay, so ANYONE can be in it to win it!

But definitely drop by the gallery if you can!
It's gonna be a great show for a great cause!

COMIC CON SKETCH #3

Allow me to introduce you to Derek Kirk Kim.


A while back, while working on KND, Numbuh 440 (aka Alison Wilgus) introduced me to a book called Same Difference and Other Stories by Mr. Kim.



And it was really fun! So I kept track of this guy, reading all his other stuff:

I especially love his online journal:

When I met Mr. Kirk Kim at Comic Con, I DID make it a point to cut a jab about how he rarely updates the journal.
He could have easily jabbed right back and said,

"Oh, I'm sorry I'm not updating to your satisfaction...
I was too busy winning an EISNER AWARD for this:


I think the kids say "OH, SNAP!" to kind of stuff.

And rightly so.
Derek Kirk Kim had JUST won the coveted award the night before!
But big award winner or not, I was gonna get this guy to draw me a pretty picture whether he liked it or not!
And here it is:


BOOM!

How ya like that?

Stick around for more tasty drawings sandwiched into my sketchbook!

COMIC CON SKETCH #2

Do you know Doug TenNapel?


First of all, he created one of the most funny, creative video games of all time:


I mean, even if he did nothing else in his life,
he created Professor Monkey For A Head:


That alone would have been enough for him to be ensconced in the Mr. Warburton pantheon of awesomeness for all eternity.

But no... Mr. TenNapel moved on from there.

He made a show on Nickelodeon called Catscratch:


And he rocked some awesome graphic novels:





What else has he done, you ask?

Well, as of Comic Con 2010, he's drawn in my sketchbook:


YAY!

NO TO OTTAWA!

When I say Ottawa International Animation Festival,
(or the OIAF as we call it on the mean streets of Toon Town)
I want you to say:

AAAAAAW YEAH!!!

Ready?

OTTAWA ANIMATION FESTIVAL!
(or the OIAF as we call it on the mean streets of Toon Town)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW YEAH!

See... Ottawa was the first animation festival I ever went to way back in, like, 1994.
The signal film I had done at J.J. Sedelmaier Productions for the latest ASIFA-EAST animation festival had been accepted to the OIAF so I wasn't just going as some punk-butt film-watching festival attendee...

I WAS GOING AS A FULL-ON PUNK-BUTT DIRECTOR IN COMPETITION!

Woooooooooord.

I had never been to Ottawa before and instantly fell in love with the city's old world charm.


I hung out with lots of good friends...
Made a ton of new ones...
Watched films until my eyes bled...
And, of course, went to a whole lotta really fun parties!

I especially remember going to the closing ceremonies and dreaming that I...
sooper young and excited young animator Mr. Warburton... might one day stride on stage to accept an award.

So can you imagine the smile on my face when, many years later, Codename: Kids Next Door won the prize for Best TV Series For Children not once, but TWO years in a row?!

SWOOOOOOON!!!

But you know what?

Even after having a couple films accepted and a couple big winners, I still get that sooper triple giant thrill when a new film gets accepted.

Like it was my very first time.

So I am pleased, and proud, to announce that the animated version of my picture book, 1000 TIMES NO, will be featured in the 2010 Ottawa Animation Festival.


And while I can't show you the version that's currently airing on Nick Jr.
I can show you the original promo.

I know, I know...

You've all seen it before.

But maybe there's one or two folks who haven't yet.
So for you one or two folks... check it:



Thanks OIAF official selection committee!

I love that you've taken NO for an answer!