Even Steven

So..

My hard-drive died.

Nope, didn't back up anything. Well, anything within the last 5 months. I took my laptop to some Mac data recovery place, they're currently anointing it with oils and soon will be sacrificing a chicken on it. I think I'm supposed to bath with it in a pool of fresh virgin blood. If I was still in New York, I know who could get his hands on at least a gallon, but in LA I think I have to settle for the frozen stuff. I'll hopefully hear back on Friday. I'm almost as late as Titanic mail on a freelance gig, but I saw light at the end of the tunnel. Man, I hope they can get my files back. I'm dreading the "dog ate my homework" call.

And then there's the other side.

I found myself on the Cartoon Brew recommended blogs list. I'm dumbfounded, and feel totally honored. So thank you Jerry and Amid for that.

If that wasn't enough, I got linked on Drawn! alongside my great friend Ryan "Seabass" Smith. He was there when Andy almost knocked my front row of teeth out with a bottle of Jack.

I also got to meet the super-nice, super-talented Jorge Gutierrez, whose pilot for Nick looks great (or at least the bit I saw before the DVD exploded). I also met his story supervisor Dave Thomas, but I don't have a fun link for him, but here's Wildbrain, and if you click on TV you can see a clip of the series he created that aired in Europe called "Poochini".

Work on the pilot at WB is going really well. We sent off animation tests to a few studios and should have some animation back in a few weeks. I can't wait to see what we get.

Now my boss is waiting for me to get off his computer so he can check his email and go home.

out,
Uncle Phil

Sunday Comics

Keeping with my addiction to the Argentinean comic Patoruzu. This is from "Libro De Oro Patoruzu 1955." The artist signs "Molas." I don't know much about him (or her, *ahem*) other than the fact that his pages are sweet. I love looking at some of this South American stuff because its really fun to guess what their influences may have been. Molas seems to have a little Milt Gross, Bill Holman, and a dash of Kurtzman as some influences. But what do I know. Anyone have any other insight on this guy (or gal, *ahem*)?



Hey Mikey, could you read this and let me know if it's worth translating?

I have a few more Molas I'll post in the future. I hope ya dig.

-Uncle Phil

Scribbles

Here are a bunch of scribbles. Some were done in front of the T.V. Some were done on scrap paper while working on freelance. Some I don't remember doing. But judging by the very scientific dating method of what piles of rejected drawings they were found in, the oldest is about a month old.

I really wasn't aiming for anything in these drawings, which becomes obvious because the characters (or total lack of) aren't doing much or really emoting anything. But hey, they're just doodles. Or more accurately, they're just internet. (whoa philosophy, as Mike falls off his chair, as Mike disapprovingly chuckles, as Mike pays his "working girl")










If I was smart, I could've stretched these out over a few days. Oh well.

Listening to: my index fingers tripping over my keyboard
Feeling: Excited to start full time tomorrow on a pilot at WB with some incredibly talented people. It's pretty much the reason I moved to LA. Hopefully I can talk about it in the near future.

Sunday Comics

Here are a few pages from a 1943 issue of Patoruzu drawn by Guillermo Divito. I hope you like 'em. If you want to see some more examples of his work check out this pretty sweet post on The Cartoon Retro Forum.





Now I'm going to the beach.

gone,
Phil

some life drawings.

Today (yesterday) I did some volunteering at the ASIFA Animation Archive. I helped Steve "Bigshot" Worth with some scanning of drawings from Ray Patin Studios. He has a ton of stuff in that place, it's going to eventually be an incredible resource. On the walls were drawings from Fleischer Studios. Including some awesome Grim Natwick Betty Boops. I also had the pleasure of watching some old Terrytoons, Fleischer Popeyes, Clampett's Coal Black and Tin Pan Alley Cats, and the zany Harmon-Ising's Swing Wedding. It was a very inspirational day. I'll totally be back there.

Monday night I did some figure drawing in Los Feliz. I haven't gone life drawing for at least 5 months, and that's a pretty big stretch for me. I find a lot of joy working with a model. On Monday I was stiff, disconnected, clumsy, and drew with a total lack of sensitivity. It was great. I'm going to pick up that habit again like a Chinese opium fiend.

Here are two from Monday. I would've posted more, but scanning 18x24 is a bitch... especially on off-white paper.






I also just got a prank call. Pretty sweet. If the prank caller is reading, my answer is "Nope."
-phil

words to live by found in a randomly selected Andre 3000 track: "Motherfuck the wagon, come join the band" (sorry if any of my cousins are reading... but they're still pretty good words to live by)

feeling: alright

listening to: "Decryptated" by Rosa Yemen on N.Y. No Wave ...aaaand the song's over

Sunday Comics on Monday

I thought I'd open this entry with an illustration that, ahem, illustrates how some things just don't change. It was drawn by Rube Goldberg about 80 years ago. I scanned it from "the first nemo annual; Screwball Comics". I picked it up on Ebay and highly recommend it.



One of the new pleasures in my life that Los Angeles has brought to me is owning a car. And with that comes sitting in traffic, buying gas, paying mechanics, and collecting parking tickets. The latter of which I have found to be very good at.

I miss the 6 train. A lot.

...

So, I haven't posted in a while. And believe you me, the complaints have been pouring in; emails, phone calls, blog comments, other peoples blog entries, and a few weeks ago a number of young fans of my blog organized and arrived at my home, costumed (to protect their true identities I'd imagine), asking for candy in an obvious attempt to get me to post more.

I'm on hiatus from Cartoon Network right now (oh yeah.. I totally backed my car into a pole in the CN parking lot. How? I wasn't in my normal spot and I was well too aware of a very attractive woman at her car, and not nearly aware of the pole. Oh well... At least I feel it's a decent excuse.... as I can hear my dad groaning while reading this). Yeah, hiatus; which is a mixed blessing. I'm going to really enjoy having some time for myself, as I was lucky enough to have a full-time job since the day I moved here 4 months ago. I really want to explore some things in my art, most notably being an artist.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about who I am as an artist and who I want to be. I love being a character designer, because I love the challenge of having to wear lots of different stylistic hats. It's this learning process that really fuels my day. But the idea of 'style' particularly 'my style' terrifies me. I don't really think I have a specific look to all of my personal work, and I don't think I want one... yet. Over-thinking about my work, and not actually working on my own stuff has put me into a slump. My drawings have been pretty awful lately, lots of crumpled paper and emptying my digital trash.

I feel like I'm blabbing a little now. (Sorry Al) What I wanted to get to is that I love knowing that I will forever be a student. I had an idea a while ago (that until now have I followed through on) about posting Sunday Comics. Posting stuff that really inspires me. So here's a decent sized batch. And they are specifically some of my favorites to go to when I'm in an artistic slump. So here they are, and thanks for reading or sorry for making you scroll.




First is one of my favorite cartoonists, Carlos Nine. His work blows me away. He's an artist first, and it just so happens that his medium is cartooning. Better than peanut butter in my opinion.



Next is a cover and ad in an issue of Patoruzu. I stumbled across this comic while do research for a show idea I have. I now have a serious addiction to tracking these down and even have a growing collection of originals. The cover is by Eduardo Ferro. The advertisement is by Guillermo Divito. Both artists are regular contributors (at least through 1955) to Patoruzu. The amount of great cartooning in this comic is just stunning, and you'll definitely see more on the Sundays to come.



Chad's work I really enjoy. His drawing's, particularly his covers, are incredibly solid and full of life.



Last is David Mazzuchelli. There are three issues of "Rubber Blanket" and each one is phenomenal. This two-page spread is from a story called "Discovering America". It's probably my current favorite Mazzuchelli story. His color separations are amazing, his story telling is fresh and inspired, and he's one of the best draftsmen in comics, hands down.

-up

mood: sleepy
listening too: the calming mix of hard-drive and ceiling fan

Foot-high Kosmonauts

I'm still behind on some freelance, and I haven't had much time to draw for myself or post anything. I was able to squeeze these drawings out within the last week and I haven't learned to hate them yet. So here you go.





I updated my links, such fun. If you're not on there= Albert, Mikey O, it's because I just don't think you're posting enough. And this is my way of trying to get you to post more. I know that you'll take your exclusion from my links section hard, but you'll pull through...... I hope.

attempting to listen to: Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons by Blonde Redhead, but my Airtunes seems to be very uncooperative.

attempting to feel: comfortable

Therapeutic doodles, girl with fuzzy boots

I've managed to bury myself with freelance work within the last few weeks. I always seem to think I can handle it, then comes a panic attack with the realization that I'm in over my head. Maybe I'll learn a lesson at some point.

I've finally calmed down, and seem to have things under a bit of control.

so, here are some of my "post these when I need something to post archive" drawings.

therapeutic doodles:



and a girl with fuzzy boots:



I hope to have some new stuff up soon.
-p

just to clarify

I just wanted to make note that my first blog entry was intended to be funny... notice the use of the word intended.
I'll try to curb the funny... or attempts at being.

now for two itty-bitty teeny-weeny sketches to accompany this massive blog update:





listening to: at super low volume "I Don't Play" by Kool Keith
feeling: lucky

paperclips and post-its,
Uncle Phil

Daytime post

Here are some development sketches for a project that I'm working on. I'm going for a Fleischer inspired look, though I miss the mark in these. Although I think these were some of my first attempts at bringing a Betty Boop-esque head shape into the design. I'm still not sold on any of these, but I think that I'm getting closer.



I'm amazed at how much appeal Betty can have. If I can capture 1/10th of that feeling I'll be happy.

Here are some more sketches that, like my first blog post, act as a sort of therapy. It was also brought to my attention that some of my more recent personal work has a bit of a depressed feel. And not that I want my blog to be a place to sob (that's what my pillow is for) but it's kind of a true observation. I'm definitely a bit homesick. I've been In Los Angeles for almost three months and it's been a big change from New York City.... I'll go into that on another day. But what I wanted to say, is that my favorite art is the type that is revealing of artist's emotions. So if I'm channeling some of that into my work, I'm pretty happy.

now for the drawings..



in the ears: Biz Markie, "Let Me Turn You On"
in the mind: dire need of a shave

-up

blogtastic

Here I am. Probably the first animation artist ever to start a blog.
Ever.

I had once read that Lotte Reiniger, while making "Prince Achmed", kept a production journal. She would write journal entries and attach discarded pieces of Achmed, then tenderly placed them in a bottle and set them adrift on the Rhine (actually called 'Das Internet' in 1926).

Since then= 'Ziltch'.... Until now...

Maybe other animation artists can follow my Buzz Aldrinian lead.


..my little piece of Achmed

listening to; "Psen" by Funkstorung
mood; groundbreaking

-up