Iron Man vs. Bruce Lee

Click on the title for the link. This is a pretty exciting fight, well choreographed! How they managed to find someone who looked and fought so much like Bruce Lee is remarkable, and the CG Iron Man is amazing.

Cluster Cull

The big square guy has a feature abbreviation I noticed in Astro Boy. The old ones. The inner ear being noted with a number "6". Of course flopped if it's on the other side. Then it's a sloppy "d"

Check out some Kruger. Click Header

Cork 49

Here's your Christmas wish... another Cork. And if this was your Christmas wish, you need to get out more.

Art of Libico Maraja

I discovered Libico Maraja work when I got this Gulliver's Travels book at a Sears in the late 60's. I found many other illustrations he did thanks to the Web. Thankfully I discovered MY book a few years ago in my parents garage. Thank god I snagged it as it is only a few things I was able to save from that time. Click on the title to see more of Libico Maraja's work on Flickr. Merry Christmas all. He passed in 1983 but he does have a web presence too.

http://www.libicomaraja.it/index.php?option=com_morfeoshow&task=view&gallery=12&Itemid=88&lang=it

Painting old sketchy stuff

Click title for the link to the ashcan art for Skewered Fairy Tales.

Resemblance Nil

But can you tell who i thought i was sketching at the time?

Cork 48

Hi y'all. Here's anudder one.

Gun Nose Cover Artist Revealed ...

There will still be tweaks, and I'll make 'em from here on out.

The cover artist is Jeff Remmer. He incorporated some of Ellis' comments in this final piece and said that his creative effort really did need that kind of critique. Overall, I believe that, fractured though the composition may be, it captures some of the irreverent spirit that Gun Nose represents. And what the hey ... it's done.

Joe Staton, Joe Rubinstein, Wendy Fouts Broome

And my letters, of course ... Here is a terrific effort by professionals Joe Staton (pencils), Joe Rubinstein (inks), and Wendy Fouts Broome (colors). The comic book is nearly done ... woo hoo!! ... Hopefully ready to send out pitch copies by mid to late January.

I agree with all of Ellis's suggestions, and I think the cover is nicely done, but I would be in favor of a fuller, more dynamic compostition. The shapes on the page don't really activate the space; it's very static. The small female figures make the composition kind of "spotty" and broken up. It would be more interesting to see them interact with the main figure.

I googled the reference picture of Bond that the artist used and found some other Bond posters from that era. I'd like to see something more like this poster used as a basis for the parody. The central figure could still be holding the gun; he could even be wearing his tuxedo in the tub.

Hope I'm not suggesting too radical a change for the artist. It means starting over from scratch, (sorry, to whoever the artist is). What do you think?

The picture I just added (second one down) is an example of retaining the "collage" effect but with the background and compositional shapes used well. I like the slightly stylized cut of Bond's jacket that gives the shape "oomph" and definition. Look and the nice negative space around the figure as it relates to the border. And that negative space is filled with dynamic shapes as well.

Lilio and Stitch-Big Wave special edtion-extra disk

Sketches during the two hour long documentary on the extras disk for Lilo and Stitch. It had so many art discussions and talks and studies, I went straight to Amazon and bought my own copy.

My Notes

Straightened the angle of the cuff. Made the hands less wandering in form. Smaller hand parts here and there. Made the trigger finger go around the trigger. Made the bikini babes bigger, breaking out , overlapping. Moved the nose out over the mouth filtrum a bit. Reduced wrinking on the suit, shot a straighter line down the arm.
Also diminished the drop shadow between mask and flesh.
The biggest thing I'd change about what I did in careless fast mode. Bikini girl on the right, have her just as big, but move her to the right and break out of the circle even more and have the hand not lie under the nose. I'd also drop the art element of the bullet bandoleer as I have done.
Maybe bring the size of the word balloon and the type down just a wild hair.
I like this quite a bit by the way. I like it more than anyone since I got in close to it and thought about it. Great illsutration bits. Nice composition. I like the credits array too,

Gun Nose's Cover Image; PLEASE CRITIQUE ...

Gun Nose's cover ... I'm not going to tell you who did this work, but I do want a thorough wringing out of the art because I will send it (privately) back over to the artist, all the better to make the image stronger. Then, later, I'll post again and tell you who it was by! ...

Not a Tuesday drawing exactly...

This is not really a Tuesday drawing, but it is a something I just posted on my single panel comic blog Nearsighted Comics.  I thought this one would be particularly appropriate to share with a group of artists. 

Cork 47

Hello gentle succubi,
After several months of no new Cork (just before Comic-Con to be exact), here is... well, a new Cork. I've actually completed two new ones and I'll release the next one in a few days. Hope you enjoy it. Just as a reminder, we last left off with Vlad scooting to a stop in front of the

Metropolis poster and muttering, "Porn!" You are now caught up.

Oh so Lazy

But I was actually trying to force myself to do thumbnails that didn't deviate into detail. So that they would stay real close to being symbols stylistically.

Crazy Guy With Shades 'n Beard

Sketch done in Denny's a week or so ago ... strictly outta my head, no reference (on a level, "thank god for that) ...

Tuesday Doodle

Nucleus-Candid Camera

Scott and Zana show up at Nucleus. Greeted by Ranjo. I sneak candid video of the event.
Join us. A composite video of the evening...


I look around at all the creative people...

Animation

Tom. Sorry. I'll make up for it by sharing an important part of the knowledge of how I animated this.

You guys doing your boards may appreciate this if you don't already know it.
I got it from a Derek Thompson Gnomon DVD called Conceptual Storyboarding.
How to use layer comps to let you do animatics or storyboards with single PSD layered files.
I think the attachment is all the tutorial reference you need for your own experiments.
A layer comp is just you deciding what you want to SHOW in a PSD, multi-layer file at any one time. Allowing you to animate elements over the same background. Then export those comps any way you want them. Jpgs , a PDF, whatever the options are under that script menu.
Hope you find this fun. Made me want to do a short subject with one PSD when i first saw it.

Art show Gallery Nucleus

So I have a five pieces in this show called the "Super Big Micro Galley Show" at the Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra. It all started from a show we've been having at Disney. All of the pieces are no bigger than 6x6 inches thus the name "Micro Gallery." The opening is tonight and runs until January 4th. I'll post pics from the pics later tonight. I think Ellis and Scott will be showing up. Right guys???

Darth Naga vs. The Naga Viper

Probably should click on the link and watch it on Youtube.

Community Stop Motion Christmas Special

Hey guys, check out the stop motion Christmas special I worked on for the NBC show Community. It airs tonight, Thursday, December 9th at 8/7c. The episode is called "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" and the basic idea is that one of the characters becomes delusional and wakes up one day to discover his entire world is stop motion animated like an old Christmas special. Here are some clips:

http://www.animateclay.com/index.php/news/262-community-holiday-episode

Another Image from the "Giant Robot Takes a Walk" Saga

5 minutes of Space Battleship Yamato

'Space Battleship Yamato' Tops Japan Box Office

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/space-battleship-yamato-tops-japan-57265

The latest "Harry Potter" film drops down to the second spot.

TOKYO -- The new live-action Space Battleship Yamato has cruised to the top of the box office, sinking Harry Potter down to the No. 2 spot with a take of almost 1 billion yen ($12 million) in the first five days since its Dec. 1 release.

The big screen version of the classic 1974 anime stars Takuya Kimura and has already been sold to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, France and Germany, with negotiations in progress for a U.S. release.

New vid at the bottom

ADDED THIS TOO. I may not like the truncated/altered version of this story but the more I see, it blows my mind. I love this show.

Released in Japan the other day.

Sitting In Meetings, Everyone Looks So Excited

Pencil Debris

Testing my scanner

Well, I got a new computer. Bit the bullet and got a Dell studio XPS 9100. It's a beast to what I'm use to. A 2003/04 Dell. I'm in heaven. Had my issues of dealing going from XP to Win7. Plus the software reinstalls and their quirks. Anyway. 1tb HD, 9GB of memory, 2.80ghz processor. ATI Radeon HD 5870, 1 GB GRAPHICS CARD. Just downloaded the scanner driver and was testing it out. It's like a NEW scanner...SUPER fast.

Out with the OLD, In with the NEW

NEW....The Beast

THE OLD DINOSAUR

One of Those Giant Chess Games in Lake Forest Third Place Commons

As seen on FB, should be bigger here.

Crok- First Ink with Manga Studio

 

The inking is manga studio. First one. I like it. I just need to do more. It's easy.

My output settings are screwy. Way too un aliased

DOK HOME

OK, sorry I've been absent a while, but last night I had a dream that I walked into Neiman Marcus and they had a very large display advertising a line of wooden furniture. Lots of dining tables, desks and chairs, all in satisfyingly clean, modern style, but with one jarring attribute: the wood looked randomly patterned by a sort of suturing. This scarring was of wood, but textured between a vine and a real scar, and it seemed to function the same way--as though different pieces of wood had been joined together in some kind of unnatural natural process.

I loved the "brand"--like a Vienna Secessionist script....

Each table also wore a brand (a literal brand, born of fiery iron, like cowboys to a steer's rear end), and it said "Dok home" (except with umlauts but I'm not bothering to find the umlaut key).

Dok?

Yes, our Dok. In my dream he'd created a home line.

And the display was interesting--they'd stacked his tables and chairs in an elegant tower that reached maybe forty feet into the air.

Dok, tell me this is true.