America's Favorite Uncle

Q Pop Grand Opening

2011-01-23T18:35:00.000-08:00

This coming Saturday, January 29th from 7-11pm will be the Q-Pop grand opening.

Check out the Q Pop blog for more info.

Please come out and check out the shop and the work in the mini-gallery. There are so many amazing artists that will have pieces in the show. I'm honored to have a piece hanging, but man... there are some heavy hitters that will be along side of me. I'm helping to make them look real good :)

The theme for the show is "What is Q?". Here's a sample from my entry.

Here's the address for people that know about Google.

Q Pop
128 Astronaut E S Onizuka St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Come on out and say hi!

yours truly,
Phil

Twenty Ten

2010-12-12T23:31:00.000-08:00

This year has been insane... on all fronts. It's been a personal roller coaster of crazy life stuff. But I'm not going to bore you with all of the details.

This might be my last post of the year, so I thought I'd hit this one up as a bit of a trifecta.

...

First off; I've been lucky enough to have been Lead Character designer for Adventure Time on Cartoon Network. Our first season finished airing earlier in the year and I couldn't be more ecstatic about it's reception.... I also can't believe that I'll be wrapping design on season 2 this week.

One of the coolest aspects of being part of Adventure Time has been working on the episode title cards. The cartoon title card has been one of my favorite traditions in animation and dates back to the earliest of cartoons. On Adventure Time we decided to try something a little different by trying to visually package each episode with something a bit more pulpy than the actual content of the show. It was definitely a struggle at times, but I think overall they turned out incredibly well. We didn't have much time worked into our day to day to handle the workload that these title cards demanded, but everyone involved really gave their all to make them as great as possible.

Many of them started as thumbnails or concepts by Pen or Pat and just as many were riffed off of exististing pulp art.

I was responsible for laying out 25 of the 26 title cards. Santino laid one out as well, and did a BG for another. They were then handed off to art director Nick Jennings and painted by Paul Linsley and returned for a final polish pass by Nick.

Here are some of my favorite contributions. This was a really fun illustration challenge for me and I had to really try to dive into some type design..... which I still need a lot of practice doing.

This was one of my final layouts for Season 1. This is clearly an homage to Frazetta's "Death Dealer" and was drawn just shortly after his passing. I had a blast with this one. Frazetta's work is boundless with inspiration.

Pen did an awesome thumbnail for this... and I had fun trying my "romantic comedy" type.

The final card for this turned out awesome. My "bed bath and beyond" type was removed... haha

I was really happy with this one. I think Tom Herpich helped me get the final composition nailed.

This one creeps me out all sorts of creep.

Here's a link to the Frederator Flickr page with all of the final cards... boom.

...

Secondly!

It's been a dream come true; I'm teaching Character Design at CalArts! I had my last official class of 1st semester this past Thursday. It was an awesome semester. I've learned so much about what's important to me as a Designer and I'm constantly amazed and inspired by my students. I have a long way to go to tighten up my curriculum, but I think everyone has responded really well first semester.

I would never be there teaching if it hadn't been for some awesome encouragement and well timed recommendations by two uber talented students, Kristen Campbell and MJ "Double Vision" Sandhee (..... go see a doctor dude).

...

Lastly...

I'm slowly in the process of overhauling www.rynda.com. Along side of that, I've opened a web store.

My plan is to add something every month starting in January. To be totally honest, the idea of me trying to sell what I do for me, to people like you, is both completely ridiculous and terrifying. I'm excited to see how it goes.

So yeah.

Thanks for reading. And thanks for sticking with me through ever more infrequent blog posts.

ps...

It's your turn Evan Spiridellis.

APE 2010

2010-10-15T00:33:00.000-07:00

I'll be heading up to APE this weekend. Stop by my table and see me pretend to be totally cool with trying to sell my own art! Ill be at table #703 with the great LFW in the flesh. Ask him about Crocodile Dundee... I'm sure he'll love that. We're also right next to Andy Ristaino, he'll have books, prints, shirts. He'll be slinging some awesome.

Luke will have his killer graphic novel, "Bikini Cowboy". It's spectacular, but copies are limited. So act fast.

I'll have a bunch of prints, along with the release on my 3rd Comic Book Paaarty installment.

Come say hi!

-p

Cat on my keyboard

2010-08-23T00:37:00.001-07:00

hugs,
p

It's been too long....

2010-07-22T01:38:00.000-07:00

I can't believe so much time has past since my last post. I'll get back on it, promise.

I have a ton to talk about on here, but first things first.

This weekend I'll be at the San Diego Comic Convention. I'll have a copies of my new mini comic with me. If you see me, I'll happily give you / trade you one.

I'm pretty proud of this one.

Aaalllsssooooo, I haven't forgotten about the people that wanted my first mini. If you commented last year and asked for one, I'll be sure to send you last year's and this year's for free!

I have some exciting stuff on the horizon and I'll be setting up a web store soon, so you guys can foolishly buy my crap.. haha.

Any way, here's the cover.

cya soon,
p

enough

2010-02-01T23:56:00.000-08:00

happy new february

2010-02-01T00:07:00.000-08:00

I'll get to some real posting soon. Here's a midnight snack.

i've got a headache and I hope i'm not getting sick

2009-12-02T17:44:00.001-08:00

3 Prong Attack

2009-10-08T22:13:00.000-07:00

1st off... and this is unfortunately pretty late notice.. I'm going to have some pieces in a group show tomorrow night at the Buck Wild Gallery in Venice CA. The opening is from 7:30 to 11:00. Come on out if you can. The address is 12804 Venice Blvd.

2nd.... As a lot of you know, a pilot that I had the pleasure of doing some designs for is now up on youtube. It's catching on like a California wildfire and I wanted to make sure to post it here on my blog. Congrats to creator, director, friend Pete Browngardt for this killer cartoon.

3rd... Tom Herpich and I designed a shit ton of Marauders for an upcoming Adventure Time episode called "Boom Boom Mountain". They've all been posted on the AT flickr account and blog. But I thought I'd include some of my contributions to the cast of Marauders we designed... I think this is all of them...

Holding me over

2009-10-04T18:38:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you guys, but I miss me some Sylvain Chomet. Last I heard, his new film, "The Illusionist", is supposed to be released this year. I'm not sure it's still on track for that. There are a few promo stills on the web that you can see if you do some digging.

I've been meaning to post this for a while, but never got to writing the blog post around it. So here's Chomet's short "The Old Lady and the Pigeons" without any of my rambling to go alongside of it. Oh, and it should be noted that Nicolas de Crecy had a big hand in the final look of the short.

La vieille dame et les pigeons
Uploaded by XLanig. - Independent web videos.

and a commercial Chomet directed...

Chomet!!!! Chooommmeeettttt!!!!!

thinking out loud

2009-09-15T02:01:00.000-07:00

S'been a while.

24 Hour Toons

2009-08-01T10:07:00.000-07:00

I designed today's banner for 24 Hour Toons. I'm going to try to contribute something.... but it may be more like a 3 hour toon. We'llll seeeeee.....

Bud Luckey turns 75!

2009-07-28T23:46:00.001-07:00

I just learned on Cartoon Brew that it's Bud Luckey's birthday. Birthdays are cool, and I hope that he has a great one. But what I learned via that post was that Bud Luckey animated and co-wrote the Donny Budd shorts for Sesame Street! These were some of my favorites as a kid and I had pretty much completely forgotten about them. And it all makes sense now. I really enjoyed Pixar's "Boundin" but I could never put a finger on why it felt so familiar to me. But now I know! There is a certain youthfulness and energy in Boundin' that brings me back to some of my favorite shorts from Sesame Street.

Well... here are some of Donny Budd shorts. The drawings are so great in these cartoons. They blow my fan art out of the water.

Happy Birthday Bud! and thanks,
Phil

Back from Comic Con

2009-07-28T00:56:00.000-07:00

Amanda and I are back from our whirlwind/totally under-planned trip to SDCC. I handed out just about all of my mini comics (50 of them!). I'm going to print up a second batch and send them out to whoever would like one. I'll post when they are printed up.

We had a good time and saw some old friends and made some new ones. Thanks to Natasha and her Arizona cartoonist crew for letting us crash at their hotel. Also thanks to Andy for giving us a place to call home on the convention floor. Thanks to Shane Glines for the ridiculously nice compliment. A huge thanks to Bob Boyle for giving us his spare train pass. And thanks to everyone that laughed at my mini comic.

Comic Coooonnnn!!!

2009-07-23T13:58:00.001-07:00

Looks like Mandy and I will be heading down for the con tomorrow. If you see me, ask me for a copy of my mini comic, "Comic Book Paaarty". It's hot of the xerox machine.

If I have any left over I'll try to make them available on the blog.

Also....

Blogger comment moderation always does me wrong. I just accidentally deleted a bunch of newish comments.

Thanks for the kind words, David Gemmill, Dan Krall, Mr. Magoo, and some other people that I can't recall. Sorry about that.

Lunchtime Black and White - Stream

2009-07-14T13:52:00.000-07:00

Lunchtime Black and White - Back

2009-07-06T13:11:00.001-07:00

The Drawing Club

2009-06-08T13:09:00.000-07:00

Here are some of my drawings from "The Drawing Club" last week. I have mixed emotions about drawing from life in this manner, but it could be just my stubbornness. I enjoy the concept of a more relaxed life drawing environment and it allows people to have more fun and experiment more. Buuuttttt... I seem to struggle with having fun at these drawing sessions. I need to relax a little more and just go with the flow. I need to separate the super intense life drawing that I did in Jim McMullan and Stephen Gaffney's classes, and think of this as more of a drawing playground. Don't get me wrong, I'm having fun, but I guess I feel like I should be having even MORE fun. I just don't enjoy it quite as much as those super intense drawing sessions. Even still, I'll keep showing up to The Drawing Club if I can and I appreciate that Bob Kato organizes this night for us artists in Los Angeles.

..and.... John Musker was sitting next to me, I had to make sure my inner geek remained my inner geek.

WATCH CHOWDER

2009-06-01T12:52:00.001-07:00

New epsidoes of Chowder kick off tonight on CN at 8pm. Tune in... keep my friends employed... watch Chowder.

oh and... credit for the illusion image needs to go to Akiyoshi KITAOKA
found via the Optical Illusions and Pictures Blog.

woo!

2009-05-22T19:52:00.001-07:00

***note** That's my propulsion system; Amanda is just coming along for the ride.

Heal

2009-05-21T18:42:00.000-07:00

I like "Plump" more, but I enjoyed the ride.

Lunchtime Black and White - Cigol

2009-05-19T13:31:00.001-07:00

I changed the last panel a few times before posting this. I'm not sure if this is successful or funny or anything.

Plump

2009-05-14T13:00:00.000-07:00

Lunchtime Black and White - Hat

2009-05-12T13:13:00.000-07:00

Peanut butter and jelly and somewhat wild and cloudy brain sparking... I blame the jelly.

¡ESPECIAL! Afternoon Black and White ¡ESPECIAL!

2009-05-05T16:49:00.000-07:00

Lunchtime Black and White - Progess De Mayo

2009-05-05T16:46:00.001-07:00

GORDO!

Lunchtime Black and White - ...in progress

2009-05-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

Freshman

2009-04-30T12:56:00.000-07:00

There's a "Schoolgirl" thread over at The Drawing Board full of super sexy drawings. Here's my contribution.

I haven't been able to get to a "lunch time black and white" this week. But I'm aiming to do one tomorrow. It's been really fun and I don't want to neglect it.
cya!
UP

Adventure Time - Press Ideas

2009-04-23T12:50:00.000-07:00

Here are some the drawings I did as rough ideas for Adventure Time Promo/Press art. This was a really fun challenge and I wish I had the time to do even more. You can see these and some more with some rough color by Nick Jennings here on the Frederator Blog.

Lunchtime Black and White - Magic

2009-04-22T13:52:00.001-07:00

Had some leftover broccoli with pasta, I believe it's a Munson family favorite.

And be sure to check out Amanda's Lunchtime B&W "Magic".

Lunchtime Black and White - Cool Out.

2009-04-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

... welll this one sucks... haha.. I had a seed of an idea when I started, and then it totally went out the window so to speak. Nothing really happens.. which was sort of the idea, after the original plan escaped me... But nothing happening is sort of a bad plan. We'll call this one a visual experiment.. a half baked lunchtime experiment. But I'm definitely having fun attempting to play with the comic language. This has been really fun and a really interesting process.

I think I'm going to stick to a few panels, instead of trying to complete a whole page during my lunch. This was a mad dash from concept, to completion... not something I want to keep doing.

Lunchtime Black and White - Tree

2009-04-16T13:10:00.000-07:00

Accidentally swapped salsalito turkey sandwich, and vanilla yogurt.

*** UPDATE *** my girl decided to get in on the action... here ..and she blew me out of the water!

Lunchtime Black and White - Mornings

2009-04-15T14:31:00.000-07:00

It's official. I'm calling it "Lunchtime Black and White". Whenever I eat lunch at my desk I'll be posting something.... and saving money. Woo!

OBSERVATION

2009-04-14T12:35:00.000-07:00

Some massive inspiration form Amanda, Tom, and TED.

I want to play more games like this. I had a blast.

the sights of Burbank Media Center

2009-04-06T18:05:00.000-07:00

Natasha, Tom, and I saw this tasty April fools treat as we were heading out to lunch. At first I felt bad for her, but in hindsight, I think she may have pulled off one of the most memorable April fools "pranks" ever.

And I'm happy that I wasn't alone in witnessing it.

New Year New

2009-02-13T13:38:00.000-08:00

So the cat is out of the bag.

I'm no longer working on Chowder. I had a great time working on it and learned a whole lot. I'm really proud of the show and am honored that I was able to contribute to it for the last couple of years. But it was time for me to move on.

I've just started full-time on Adventure Time as character designer, and I couldn't be more excited. I really think AT has the potential to really do some amazing things for animation and TV in general. You can watch the pilot here on youtube. But the show is going to be a little different. So I'm excited and nervous for people's reactions.

You can also follow along with some sneak peeks that will be popping up on the Frederator Blog... which is kind of terrifying for me.

Here's a special pose I did that was sent out as part of the test for potential animation studios.

I hope you likey,
Phil

Big Art Weekend For My Big Art Friends

2009-02-06T12:54:00.000-08:00

First off...

Tonight is the opening for my friend Will's show at the Hibbleton Gallery in Fullerton.
If you like "awesome", I think you should go. See more of Will's work on his websites. You won't be disappointed.
-Silhouette Masterpiece Theater website and shop
-Lone Wolf Black Sheep
...

and!

Gallery Nucleus will be hosting a panel with some of the artist's behind Coraline! It's tomorrow, February 7th from 2-4pm , and space is limited. Come and be amazed by Dan Krall's gargantuan height and delicate pen work. Let the enthusiastic and excited Shane Prigmore excite and enthuse you. And listen to the sweet sweet sounds of America's heartland as Shannon Tindle transports you to a land of rolling hills and Kentucky BBQ. Get there early and save me a seat :)

Snotty

2009-01-25T00:13:00.000-08:00

Blogger Lunch Assignment

2008-12-21T23:02:00.000-08:00

I had lunch with some fellow animation bloggers. We had a good time and we left with the assignment of drawing ourselves as unicorns. --- Not my idea--- But you can thank them when you cough up vomit onto your keyboard.. I know I will :)

All joking aside, I had a really good time. It was nice to meet some people that I've known only via the web. This internet thing really is amazing. Who knew that a series of tubes could be so useful and cool. And speaking of useful and cool... BONUS!

sorry,
Phil

Wet Walls

2008-12-16T00:43:00.001-08:00

My roof leaked.

UNDERFIST!

2008-10-11T10:11:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to let everyone know that Maxwell Atom's latest project, "Underfist", will be airing on Cartoon Network tomorrow. I had the pleasure of working with Maxwell early on in the process in doing some rough designs and some little updates to some of the characters from Billy and Mandy. And even cooler than that, one of my animation heroes and great friends, Andy Suriano, got to work on top of some of my scribbles and actually make them look good!

Underfist airs Sunday October 12th at 7pm, and it caps off a Billy and Mandy Marathon that starts at 2pm. Underfist will re-air during the month of october, but as far as I know, this will be the only airing of the movie in widescreen.

Watch it twice!
-up

Parrrtteeeyyy!

2008-09-16T12:38:00.000-07:00

Here's a little something I whipped up for Amanda's and my engagement party.

Oh, and we didn't win the Emmy. Our friends on Camp Lazlo won in our catagory. Congratulations guys!

gotta get back to work,
Phil

WE GOT NOMINATED FOR AN EMMY!!!

2008-07-17T10:43:00.001-07:00

Chowder is nominated for a Primetime Emmy!!

The particular episode is called Burple Nurples. It was written and boarded by Bill Reiss, under the all seeing eye of Carl Greenblatt. It was easily one of my favorite episodes to design. So I couldn't be more excited.

Download it HERE from iTunes. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll spend $1.99.

Wish us luck!

-Phil

Look at what I got....

2008-07-14T13:25:00.000-07:00

Totally awesome.

You're welcome.

-Phil

... seriously though, it's the greatest piece of technology I've ever owned. In second place is the Wii (which, coincidentally, would also make a great illustration).

Vote for "Peanut Butter and Graduation"

2008-07-10T08:31:00.001-07:00

My good friend Greg Condon has a short up on Reel 13 right now. It's called "Peanut Butter and Graduation". The short with the highest votes will be broadcast on PBS this weekend.

Go watch the films.... and vote for Greg! Voting ends at 5pm eastern time. *UPDATE* Voting has ending. Thanks to everyone who voted!

thanks!
Phil

Worm Nose

2008-07-08T14:39:00.000-07:00

This was inspired by the work of Jon Vermilyea. He just updated his website. Go check it.

And the lady on the left feels a lot like one of my favorite characters from Rebecca Sugar's "Pug Davis" comic.

cya,
up

BOOM!

2008-06-14T17:25:00.001-07:00

It's official... I'm the luckiest guy in the world.

-p

Charlatan Ball out tomorrow!

2008-06-10T13:21:00.000-07:00

Andy Suriano's new comic comes out tomorrow, June 11th. Go out to your local comic shop and buy 3! And if you enjoy the first issue, I think you're in for a treat because it gets even better.

Oh... and Hawaii was a blast. I've got some great and exciting news but it deserves a post of it's own.

cya soon,
phil

HAWAAIIIIII !!!!!

2008-05-24T10:23:00.001-07:00

The Bachelorette

2008-05-20T14:32:00.001-07:00

The Neighbors

2008-04-19T18:51:00.000-07:00

So I think I'm going to start playing with short comics that illustrate some of Amanda's and my adventures with suburban life. I have a few ideas jotted down, and they're all based on true events.... so they probably won't actually be that funny or exciting. But I think this will be a nice challenge for me.

Here's a situation that inspired me to actually put one down on (digital) paper.

Yeah, I guess I'm creepy... or haven't quite figured out the rules of the suburbs. Sorry kids.

And yes, we adopted a dog. But there's been some drama in the house with the cats. So the future is totally up in the air.

Warm Ups 2

2008-04-10T18:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry bout the gratuitous "winks". I thought I was on to something... but in the end, I wasn't.

And what's with that guy's hair? Weird.. I think i was on the phone... I should've put the pen down.

Warm Ups 1

2008-04-07T11:46:00.001-07:00

Here are some warm up drawings that I did before a freelance assignment. I have some more that I'll probably post over the next few days.

Self Indulgent Post Lunchtime Scribble Nonsense

2008-03-26T14:32:00.000-07:00

It's all pretty self indulgent... down to the signature. I've been thinking a lot about who I am as an artist and who I want to be. I've been trying to give myself small goals, most of which i don't meet. I'm totally bogged with freelance, so I can't really put the time into my personal work that I would like... but maybe I'm taking on the freelance because I'm just too terrified to really dive in to my own work and develop some of my own ideas. I don't know.... but I do feel like I'm about ready to just go for it... once I get all of this freelance finished.

I showed Jim this drawing and he said "You fill a page like water curling around rocks." Wow. I thought that was a great compliment, and it really describes how I feel when I'm scribbling out a page like this. It becomes a very soothing meditative process for me. I just let things happen and I go with them. What I find interesting about this process for me is that I'm not really thinking about any one big idea or image. The page just seems to grow organically. My dilemma is that I wish I could put the same type of loose energy and spontaneity into something that I've planned for myself, controlling the "flow of the water" around "rocks" that I've planned out. Or maybe I don't have to, maybe I should be happy that these images can just flow out. It's definitely a stress reliever for me.

Justin Wright

2008-03-20T14:51:00.000-07:00

We received really sad news two nights ago about the passing of our friend Justin Wright. Justin is a very close friend of Amanda's and he will be missed.

Before I met Justin, I only knew him as Amanda's friend from Calarts that could compose novellas of text messages in record time and that he was working at Pixar and really really really loved it. We took a trip up to Pixar to see a bunch of friends, Justin being one. We were sitting in the Pixar cafeteria and Amanda smiled brightly as Justin approached to sit down with us. I looked over my shoulder looking for Justin, whom I had never met, and it was plain as day who he was. He approached us and had huge smile and was wearing a Pixar cap, Pixar jacket, Pixar sweatshirt, Pixar basketball sneakers with Pixar shoe lace clips. He did really love being there, and I couldn't help but smile.

And speaking of fashion, the last time I got to really speak to Justin was at Ant and Mich's wedding. Justin had chosen to wear his shoes sans socks. We discussed in quite a lot of detail the pros and cons of going sockless and we came to the conclusion that Justin was just that much more fashion forward than sock clad me.

Any way... Amanda is really the one who should be writing about Justin. They shared a closeness that only the best of friends can have. So the following is from Amanda.

For Justin,

It is so hard for me to put into words how much you
mean to me. Your excitement, energy, numerous artistic
talents and witty sense of humor are only a few of
many wonderful qualities that draws people to you, but
what I learned from you and admire most is the way you
care for those who are important to you. You are
someone who truly understands the meaning of
friendship, and you made that clear to me time after
time. You selflessly helped me through some of my
darkest times and somehow always knew when and how to
make me feel good when I needed it most. You even
lifted my spirits in simple e-mail just a few short
days ago and you probably didn't even know it.

Sometimes I felt like we could communicate without
even having to say a word. (Even though sometimes we
probably shared too many thru the world of text
messaging... haha) We shared a unique bond that only
a few might understand. You are probably the only person
that can make me so angry, yet make me laugh so
happily all in one given moment. I have loved to hate
you and loved to love you since the first time we met.
You have made a true mark on me and as my friend and I
don't know how to begin to show thanks for all the
amazing memories we created. You will always hold a
very special and distinct place in my heart. I love
you my friend, and will miss you here tremendously.

Love,
Amanda

Report from the Trenches @ SVA Feb 21st

2008-02-04T11:19:00.000-08:00

In just a few weeks I'll be sitting on a panel at the School of Visual Arts talking about working in Animation. I'll be joined by Rick Lacy, Albert Pardo, Mike Carlo, and Maudy Tuseth.

I'm sure we'll be talking a lot about our own experiences in and out of SVA. It should be a pretty good event. I don't think it's open to the public, but if you're reading this and are not an SVA student/ alumnus, I'm sure you could find more info about attending the event through SVA's office of career development, 212.592.2370.

By pure coincidence, David Levy has just posted an interesting op-ed about the differences between the NY animation industry and the LA industry. This has really made me think a lot about my experiences on both coasts and how I can communicate some of what I've learned at the discussion panel at SVA. It should be an interesting discussion.

-Phil

wow

2008-02-04T10:05:00.001-08:00

I lost my voice in a matter of minutes and I woke up this morning with a sore throat. It was worth it.

another pinky

2008-01-22T10:30:00.000-08:00

Heading back to NYC...

2008-01-13T21:12:00.000-08:00

I'll be heading back to New York for a week in late February. Myself and a bunch of the jokers I went to school with are going to be doing a "Report from the Trenches" panel at SVA. I'll post more details as the date gets a little closer.

I attached the following image to an email I sent a bunch of friends back east. I was trying to illustrate the joys of letting Amanda and I crash on a couch for a few days.

*Note* Greg is a real person that in the past has thwarted muggers with a bottle of Arizona iced tea, and during college he did wake me up nearly every weekend before going on his weekly breakfast bagel run.

Sorry about the gratuitous use of bg patterns. But I liked how this one emphasized my yelling. Thanks to the Animation Archive, which is where I grabbed the texture from.

it's been a while

2008-01-11T16:06:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T16:00:00.000-07:00

CHOWDER this Friday.... Watch it... my job depends on it.

...'been real busy. be back soon.

2007-10-12T16:41:00.000-07:00

A scene I had to add into a Clay Morrow board.

Rod Scribner draws "Rowdy Runner"

2007-08-07T23:02:00.000-07:00

Sorry that the last post was so ranty folks. I had to get that out of the system. And it's out.

I got some good news yesterday that I'd like to share... I WON A PRIMETIME EMMY!!! HO-LY SHIT! Someone count the hanging chads!!!

It's for (I believe) Outstanding Achievement in Character Design for The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure.

Wow, I just can't believe it. Big thanks to Maxwell Atoms for forcing me to submit designs from the B&M Movie (I didn't want to). Thanks to Marc Perry for kicking my ass and pushing me in new directions, whether I liked it or not. Seriapio Calm, for enduring the ass kicking along with me. And Frank (i'm butchering your last name) Homiski and Brian Smith for making my designs looks so damned pretty on the screen.

Wowoooowoow! This guy's gotta get a tuxedo.

And without further adieu,

Rod Scribner's "Rowdy Runner"

I hope you enjoyed.
-p

Comic-Condescension

2007-08-02T23:12:00.000-07:00

I went down to the Comic Con for a couple of days last week. It was a pretty sweet trip, in hindsight, I wish I had stayed the whole weekend.

I saw some old friends that I hadn't seen in a while and I got to meet some new friends from the good 'ol blogs. But I didn't get to see everyone that I wanted to, so that kinda sucked.

One thing that I did find a little disheartening was the now standard over abundance of artist "sketchbooks". I don't know about you, but this guy's a little tired of them. Don't get me wrong, there are some really talented people putting these together, but I just feel like they could be concentrating that energy into a story, or something of equivalent entertainment value. Bravo to the people that put some care into making their own silkscreen prints, or even nice high quality ink-jet ones. Even when the art may not be something I'm necessarily a fan of, I applaud the effort. I'd gladly spend 20 bucks on a nice print than 10 bucks on a mediocre "sketchbook".

The other thing about these "sketchbooks" that particularly got to me this year was the content. When you study drawings by Bruce Timm, Mike Mignola, Travis Charest, Adam Hughes, Shane Glines, Jim Lee, please do us all a favor and keep those drawings to yourself. I'm all for studying artists that you may admire, but when I can recognize an entire drawing (minus the now unclothed chest) as a study (*read copy), please don't put that drawing into your "sketchbook" and sell it as your own. I couldn't believe it, but I actually saw a few incredibly familiar drawings... drawings I knew as my own, but were processed through someone else's hand and brain. Sort of frankensteined with other parts.

Or maybe it's just amazing coincidence.

Or maybe that means that I've finally arrived. Awesome..... I thought it would feel a little better.... probably just coincidence.

Oh well.

...sorry for the rant,
p

p.s. Potter is done. Now I have no excuse for not updating my links.

more junk

2007-07-22T16:32:00.000-07:00

Here's a page testing out a brush i made in sketchbook pro. Seems to be a pretty slick program.

I just realized that I haven't updated my links in forever. I'll get to it in about another 600 pages.

-up

another drawing

2007-07-09T19:37:00.000-07:00

some self indulgent drawing for a monday.

cya
-p

last 20 at work

2007-06-27T18:00:00.000-07:00

I spent the last 20 minutes at work doing some sketching.

Here's the layer that survived the process. I have no explanation.

booty

2007-06-24T23:46:00.000-07:00

Drawn by me, Uncle P.
Painted by the incredibly tall, Daniel Krall.

extremes

2007-06-15T15:13:00.000-07:00

I've been damn busy. It happens. And it's good.

Since my last post, I bought a house, so that's nuts. I thought about putting a paypal donate button on my blog, I figure it couldn't hurt.

Works been busy, so I don't have any of my own stuff that's worth posting, but here are two drawings of Truffles from an episode of Chowder boarded by Bill Reiss.

I hope you like.

I'll post more eventually.
Phil

What up-dates!?

2007-04-19T00:03:00.000-07:00

I've been unbelievably busy lately, so busy that I had the urge to take time and blog about it. The real truth of the matter is that I've been having so much fun working on my current projects, that I wanted to share some images from them. This "e-collage" I made in iScrapbook...( i just typed that as a joke, but check this out) are some of the drawings sitting on my desktop, analog and digital. And yes, both are a complete mess.

I just feel really lucky to be able to work with some of the coolest people on some of the most fun projects. There's a lot of shit out there, from people to jobs, and I feel really grateful to be where I am, doing what I do (or trying to do in most cases).

...wow...I really feel like an emo-blogger now.

I'm so lame.

oh well.

Something I did for the lady.. (sorry about the foul language mom... i swear I learned it from grandma)

That's it for tonight.

-UP

listening to: Morissey and Joy Division... obviously

stolen time

2007-04-17T17:11:00.000-07:00

Snuck in some doodle time today... this very moment, to be exact.

Thought I should post something.. so here ya go.

I've been super busy lately. I guess that's good.
talk soon,
Phil

oh yeah and... buy Venture Bros Season 2 dvds for the whole family.

King Triceps: a Billy and Mandy design

2007-04-01T23:19:00.000-07:00

Here are some drawings of King Triceps. He was for an episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy entitled "Hey, Water You Doing?". It was boarded by Mr. Ian Wasseluk. Ian likes doing spoof jokes, and Triceps was one of those. He's part King Triton from The Little Mermaid and part Macho Man Randy Savage. It was a fun (and difficult) episode to draw. There were a ton of new characters in this one.

Designing on Billy and Mandy was kind of tricky. The show tends to be a mish-mash of design sensibilties. The characters have a lot of very graphic elements, but also tend to be equally fleshy. I was constantly trying to find my balance of those two things. My attempts, successful or not, were always fun to create. And I really credit Maxwell Atoms for trusting his designers, and allowing us to experiment quite a bit on our own.

At times, this made for some of my most confident drawings, and at other times I felt lost in the woods behind the Oakwoods playing with fire crackers.

The nice thing was that I had quite a bit of reference from previous seasons to refer to when I really got stuck.

...this is sort of a tangent, but....

C.H. mentioned on his blog, the difficulties in breaking down his personal style on Chowder so that us designers could use similar theories. This was and will always be a very effective and direct method of getting into the head and hand of the guy that pretty much did the first set of drawings straight from his gut. But hat I find to be the best way to create designs that match the spirit of a new show is to really look at work that may have influenced the creator/designer. So besides trying to look at every scrap of paper with a drop of the Greenblatt magic, we're looking at a lot of Aragones, Coker Jr., Bradfield, Toriyama, and Scarry. It's been a really fun and educational ride.

... off the tangent...

I just realized that I've posted 2 different sets of mermaid designs from B&M, I swear I don't have a mermaid thing.

well... maybe a little bit,
phil

...and a big thanks to Amanda for making me that sweet "Uncle Phil" stamp you see on those designs.

even more Chowder scraps

2007-03-28T23:36:00.000-07:00

Dear lovely Carl,

I made this picture for you, but you picked a different picture. That's okay. I liked the picture you picked the best. So now, I leave this picture for everyone else to see. Even though they aren't as lovely as you.

see you in gym class,
Phil

Chowder Head

2007-03-22T21:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. The past few weeks have been extremely busy and I'm feeling a little under the weather right now. I did find some time to catch up on my Battlestar Galactica. I suggest that everyone else catch up as well.

Here's a sketch of Chowder that I happen to like. I'm not sure if i still like it after the somewhat self-indulgent photoshop job.

hitting you with the deuces,
Phil

feeling: hot and stuffed up
listening to: a fan and some sniffles

Girl Sketches

2007-03-03T08:54:00.000-08:00

Over at the Meathaus blog, they posted a link to some new images from a REAS (Todd James) gallery show. Todd's work is crazy inspirational to me. His work is full of childish energy filtered through an adults eye. He's one of those guys that really makes it look easy... And he's an incredibly nice guy.

After looking at Todd's work early friday morning, I spent any doodle time during the day to put together this page. There are some moments I like, many I don't. I'm particularly pleased with those red hands and the topless girl on the right side of the page. I definitely enjoyed playing with a red sharpie.

Bomb pops, bloody hammers, Steel Battalion,
Phil

Sunday Chicken

2007-02-25T12:30:00.001-08:00

A chicken for my lady.

Table Scraps

2007-02-12T02:21:00.000-08:00

Here's what you may or may not have seen on my desk that may or may not be for work if you did or didn't stop by my cube last week.

yup,
up

feeling: sleep sauce
listening to: Hatori sauce

mouthing off

2007-02-04T18:20:00.000-08:00

Here's a page of mouth shapes I did for a quick freelance project. The client is developing some products and they're sort of stumped with different ways to go with the character's mouths. They have a few approved designs and asked me to just give them some new mouth ideas.

I love doing freelance like this. I'm given a fairly open ended assignment and have a lot of creative freedom. These jobs don't come along all that often.

So yeah, here's some mouths.... a handful of which i like, a few duds in the mix, but that's okay; they were looking for quantity.

I painted them up just for kicks... Oh the kicks I had.

keep on kicking,
phil

quick sketches

2007-02-01T07:37:00.000-08:00

Here is a quick warm-up page of Groo sketches. And an elf that didn't make the final cut.

late,
phil

Chicken Scratch 02

2007-01-16T19:06:00.000-08:00

Some advice from a guy (not me) worth taking advice from...

2007-01-10T09:08:00.000-08:00

Mr. Maxwell Atoms, creator of "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy", started a blog.... finally. He's posted some advice about getting into the animation industry. I think he stresses a lot of great things (and he mentions me as well). The most recent post, Jan 8th 2007, is about having a strong portfolio, I think that there are a lot of people reading this blog that could really benefit from what he has to say.

Go and read it.

I present: Sparagmos Industries

88 degrees is hot Hot HOT!

2007-01-08T16:08:00.000-08:00

It's January 8th and it's 88 degrees outside today. Its days like these that I miss the seasonal change back in New York. Nothing beats the empty streets of Manhattan after a heavy snowfall. The silence is almost deafening, sounds being muffled by the blanket of snow. It's the only time that the city really sleeps.

... whoa, that was some mushy nonsense right there. And here I am, sweating my balls off, on January 8th in Los Angeles blogging about my NYC snow fantasies.... total crap.

...
And now for everyone's favorite; "Stuff You've Never Seen Before!"

This is the cover for "Patoruzu" issue #108. Drawn by the creator of Patoruzu himself, Dante Quinterno.

This beautifully drawn stip was in "Patoruzu" issue #86. I'm not sure who the artist is, but if anyone knows, please drop a comment. I know I've had some Argentines stop by in the past. Link to larger version.

These pages are from "Libro de Oro Patoruzu: 1961". They're drawn by Eduardo Ferro. Link to larger version.

Enjoy!

contemplating turning on the air conditioner,
Uncle Phil

Happy January 5th!

2007-01-05T09:54:00.000-08:00

December is over, that feels pretty good. It was an incredibly busy month for this guy. How about you?

anyway....

I have some stuff to blog about in the next few weeks, so make sure to check back.... I'm going to attempt to analyze the "spotting of blacks" in one of my favorite Kurtzman comics. Also, I'd like to show you guys some sweet funny animal stuff. As well as announce a project that a friend and I have been trying to organize (slowly).

And maybe I'll post a drawing or 2 of my own...

Here are a few pieces I did as a commission for a Christmas gift. The framing is all photoshop, and I actually haven't seen the pieces printed and framed. I delivered Illustrator files, and I think they were going to be printed fairly large. I hope it all worked out okay.

Who else is dying to get a hold on a Wii?

see ya soon. UP

.. oh yeah.... check out the killer DVD box art Mr. Publick posted for VB season 2. It's tits!

bumped... again..

2006-12-12T09:59:00.000-08:00

I drew this chicken 5 minutes ago.

It's pretty bad, but I had fun with it. I missed some of the real subtlety of true chicken-ness. Oh well. I think, tomorrow for breakfast, I'll try to draw a chicken again.

...

So, I had a pretty spectacular long weekend. Mandy and I took a long deserved vacation, and donated some money to a credit card company of my choosing. We saw some giant trees and took photos with lots of orbs. We drank tropical drinks at a variety of tiki bars and ate way too much food. We got to see old friends and made a few new ones. It was definitely a solid weekend.

I want to send an internet wide thank you to our gracious hosts, Nate and Crystal. You guys are awesome. Thanks again.

...

On a side note, I was reminded that over a year ago I wanted to 'blog' about the differences between a "Pixar Burger" and a "Lucas Burger".

I can't remember all of the intricacies of the essay I wanted to write, but what I do remember is that the "Lucas Burger" won, hands down. It was no contest really. I was told that all of the produce served at the Skywalker Ranch was grown on the grounds and that the meat was farmed locally. I mean, c'mon, how can you compete with that? Plus, that burger was eaten overlooking the majestic "Lake Ewok".

But don't count the chefs at Pixar out yet. They serve up one mean "Pixar Pepperoni Pizza". And we all know how much animators love their cured meats. Right Gweelok?

good morning,
Phil

Sunday Comics 11-14-06

2006-11-14T18:25:00.000-08:00

This past friday marked my last day on "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy". It was an awesome experience, learned a lot, and made a ton of new friends. (I still hate you Alex ....and Mike Diedrich). But that's enough about me. Let's talk about Buddha.

As per cousin Stephen's recommendation I went ahead and picked up the first part of Buddha by Osamu Tezuka. It was going to be my post Billy and Mandy / unemployment treat. The plan was that I was supposed to wait until I finished my last day working on the show, and then I would sit down and blaze through it.

Well, two days before my last day I cracked, sat down and flew though the first 200 pages in one sitting... leaving the remaining 200 pages for my post B&M / unemployment treat.

And a treat it was. The story is really fun, with a great mix of adventure and fantasy. With some pretty serious drama as well. It gets a little strange to read at times because it will change tones so quickly. In one scene you are learning from a doctor that one of the main characters may die, but Tezuka adds a fairly zainy element by changing the design of the doctor 3 times in nearly subsequent panels. He changes from a fairly straight forward doctor design, to the doctor scientist from Astroboy (i think) to a caricature of himself (which, interestingly enough, he actually was a medical doctor). Strange..... I wonder if he was intentionally trying to break up the seriousness of the moment, or maybe on that particular day he was drawing those pages, he felt a little wacky. You know how wacky those Osamu's get.

What I really love about the story is how much it feels like it's borrowing from ancient myth. Yet still keeping the characters fresh. And if it's not actually borrowing, Tezuka has done a wonderful job creating a world that feels huge with beliefs even larger. There are so many things happening and themes to keep track of that at first I thought i would surely have to reread sections out of pure confusion, but never did I feel lost or confused.

I give this book a star on the scale of square to 7. Buy it.. and tell those Amazon's Uncle Phil sent ya.

Oh yeah, and the cartooning is masterful.

-p

Unused Billy and Mandy Design

2006-10-26T21:51:00.000-07:00

This is a design I did (and was not used) for the forthcoming Billy and Mandy feature. I think it's going to air on Cartoon Network sometime next year, and will (if nothing has changed) be available on DVD shortly after it's air-date. It has lots of Fred Willard and some pirate zombies.

I think the design is okay, though it gets a little flat in places, but oh well. It's based off of a Maxwell Atoms board panel and I think i was able to keep most of the feeling he intended. The design in the film is closer to what my art director was thinking and looks a little more serpentine than these.

Daily Sketch

2006-10-18T19:08:00.000-07:00

What started as a normal warm up drawing became something that I would revisit for a few minutes throughout the work day. I think I might keep up with these and try to make a little series out of it. I have so much fun working with just straight brush pen on paper. I feel like I'm ice skating, lot's of clumsiness, a few falls and collisions with walls, and the occasional moment of grace.

fax me,
UP

How is it that mom's chicken soup has super healing powers. Thanks mom.

Billy and Mandy Sketch.

2006-10-01T22:03:00.000-07:00

This sketch came out of a conversation with Mr. C.H. Greenblatt. We were talking about how much we both enjoy Aaron Springer's Billy. I was trying to remember his treatment and did this sketch. They're totally all me, but the influence of Carl's boarding and Aaron's have rubbed off on me a bit. You should really see the way Aaron draws him, it's pretty funny.

I guess I'm writing because I wanted to mention my favorite part of designing a board-driven show. (I think it may also be the hardest part for me personally.) I love getting boards that are full of great cartooning and drawings that are not necessarily "on model" but are definitely in character. Sometimes I feel like as a designer all I'm doing is totally watering down funny drawings by trying to bring them more "on model." I'm supposed to be plus-ing them, but I find that I'm walking a pretty thin line at times. Some days I wish i could just blow up board panels and just clean them up as is. Leaving in all of the oddities that are particular to a specific board artist. I think that kids will still know that Billy is Billy, even if in the first half of the show he looks like Alex's and the second half like Carl's.

I think that one of the most amazing things about animation is that artists can leave such a personal mark. A mark that on some productions is supposed to be ironed and hammered away, into whatever on model / cookie cutter standard designs exist for the show. I know that there are some exceptions. Some shows do embrace stranger drawings more than others, and some may require a more standardized look for whatever reason. I don't even know if I have a point to make, but I guess that I'm just starting to really realize how much I appreciate it when the artist isn't removed from the art.

Or maybe I'm realizing that I want to be a board artist.

I dunno. I'm tired, and miss my cintiq.

-p

feeling: like the Apple Pan did me wrong today. bad apple pan.
listening to: my tivo asking if it can change the channel. good tivo.

***** *.

2006-08-16T20:27:00.000-07:00

The ******* *** pilot I worked on has surfaced (and sunk) over on Myspace Videos. It was a great project to work on, but unfortunately the network gods have passed on it. Maybe through some interweb white magic, it can surface again. The pilot is good, but the additional boards done by both Andy Suriano and Stephen DeStefano really made the show something different. Maybe Stephen can post some of his favorite sequences on his blog (don't think he can anymore).... oh yeah... Stephen has a blog!

real quick- I met Stephen while working on the Venture Bros (literally the day his interview in Draw came out). He was kind enough to give a total n00b like me some pointers, and began schooling me in the ways of the cartoon gods of christmas past. He's a great friend, amazing artist and teacher, and does a world class impersonation of Nien Nunb. Go to his blog.

here's the pilot (here was the pilot)...

and a few of my favorite designs..

i hope ya dig,
UP

what I've been up to

2006-08-09T22:08:00.000-07:00

I've had a crazy month and this is one of the highlights.

photo by C.H. Greenblatt (back row L-R) an Anna Chambers' Proboscis Monkey, a blurry Gweelok, AJ "Nothing but net" Spalinski, your favorite uncle, Randy (Emmy Mug x2) Myers. (middle row L-R) total package Kristina, Little C, Billy. (front row L-R) Stephen of Stefano.

My Grandma (Little C) spent a week with me here in LA. That same week, Pete 'Gweelok' Browngardt, Grandmaster Stephen DeStefano, and myself met with development here at Cartoon Network. Our meeting went well, well enough that we should be busy on some pretty sweet stuff for at least the next few months, and hopefully will eventually lead to even more sweet stuff.

The pitch process was really quite the thrill ride. This was my first experience pitching traditionally and will definitely not be my last. I was lucky to be involved in a development cycle at Nick Jr. in New York. But that experience was much different, and all of our (Mike Oviedo, Rhada Blank, and myself) ideas were submitted on paper. We would receive feedback in person, but we never got to talk through our ideas with the people making notes. It felt cold at times, and the notes tended to contradict themselves, but it was a great learning experience that I was lucky to have... and our show made it fairly far into the process. Oh well....

But yeah... pitching at CN was awesome. Sitting besides Stephen and Pete was great enough, but sitting across from Craig McKracken, Rob Renzetti, Heather Kenyon, and Alex Manugian was the real icing on the cake. A handful of my animation heroes in one room, listening to us talk about know-it-all mechanics, pete's love of older men, the lack of good soap operas, uncles, uncles, and more uncles (coincidence, i swear). My only regret was that Little C wasn't in there with us, but then again, she was pretty busy cooking meatballs. And delicious they were.

Sunday Comics 07-16-06

2006-07-16T15:24:00.000-07:00

You guys sick of Guillermo Divito yet? I'm not. Here are a few originals from my collection / obsession ....

gotta get back to my Sunday,
phil

listening to: a Scandinavian typing an ad to sell his couch in NYC.... anyone need a couch?

feeling: like a million ducks

Anniversary

2006-07-11T22:10:00.000-07:00

July 5th marked my 1 year anniversary in Los Angeles. It's been a wild ride, and I've had the pleasure of meeting some really great people. I miss New York, and the people in it mostly, but my old friends in LA along with some new ones have really helped me make it feel more like home.

Thanks everyone.

pumping the mega-mix,
Uncle Phil

sketch dump 06-20-2006

2006-06-20T07:57:00.000-07:00

Day 8 of 8

I can't believe it. I actually made it through 8 days. Small goals, baby steps, the path to success. Someone buy me an icecreams.

-p

oh, and Andy's t-shirt is being printed at Threadless! Go buy one for the whole family.

Sketch dump 06-19-2006

2006-06-19T18:58:00.000-07:00

sketch dump 06-18-2006

2006-06-18T22:26:00.000-07:00

Day 6 of 8

My first non-post-it drawing of the potential side kick for my Kosmonaut. Some personality is missing, but it was the first.

feeling: sunburnt and sleepy
listening to: the song-like whisper of a new air-conditioner

g'nite,
Phil

sketch dump 06-17-2006

2006-06-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

This lovely lady is actually inspired by a kid I went to high-school with. Between classes he would walk outside of the building in front of a section with large windows. He would collect any birds that had accidentally flown into the window, and take them home to practice his taxidermy.

Last I heard, he is now in Pennsylvania and has a large collection of (live) exotic animals.

saturday,
Phil

sketch dump 06-16-2006

2006-06-16T08:25:00.000-07:00

Ever feel like you're straddling the brink of insanity?

POST-ITS!

feeeling: waxy

sketch dump 06-15-2006

2006-06-15T08:23:00.000-07:00

Day 3.

.... That was a good question Mike. The truth is, I have no clue were my style is going. I'm just making sure I enjoy the ride. I feel like I've definitely come a long way, and that keeps me going. As a designer, I think my greatest strength is my willingness to work in a very wide range of "styles" and aesthetics. This keeps work really fun, but I think that I stumble when it comes to my own work. I find myself asking the question "How should I draw this?" instead of just drawing, and allowing for my stuff to evolve naturally. So yeah, I have no clue where my work is going, and as long as I'm having fun, I really don't care. Both Mike and Albert probably have a better idea than me of where my work's headed, just because you guys know where I've come from (Oral Hi-jinx *cough* *cough*).

see you when I see you,
UP

sketch dump 06-14-2006

2006-06-14T07:52:00.000-07:00

Day 2.

Gotta love post-its.

... And it's my little sister's birthday!

sketch dump 06-13-2006

2006-06-13T22:06:00.000-07:00

I was going to post a bunch of drawings, but I thought I could stretch them out over a few days.... 8 days to be exact.

Day 1.

This is what sketch pages of mine typically look like (...like you care). It's 100% completely unaltered. I find that these drawings are actually less about the "finished" drawing, but more about enjoying the liveliness of brush pen on slick copier paper. Lots of happy accidents occur, and it's a great way for me to experiment with design ideas and different types of mark making.

I also updated my links. They're completely unorganized, but they've been long over-due. The whole blog's going to be a-changing soon, so hold on to your pants.

I'm done. See you tomorrow.

listening to: The Raincoats, Black and White