What are you drawing?

Hodgepodge Comic #34

2012-02-21T13:03:00.000-08:00

The introduction of Paul's nephew, Martin. Next week's comic has him in it too.

DANGERDOOM

2012-02-16T10:46:00.000-08:00

A drawing of the cartoon character "Danger Mouse" as the MF DOOM / Danger Mouse collaboration, "DANGERDOOM". I want to draw a few more interpretations of DOOM's aliases. At least Madvillain and King Geedorah.

Hodgepodge Comic #33

2012-02-12T21:02:00.000-08:00

I sure do like wordplay.

Ganon

2012-02-10T09:04:00.000-08:00

Another Legend of Zelda character. I think I've got one more in me. Maybe.

The Peanut Butter Banana Breakfast Hot Dog With Honey

2012-02-06T20:39:00.000-08:00

This morning I had a vision of how delicious and practical this meal would be. However, I have not yet tried it, therefore it is hypothetical.

Hodgepodge Comic #32

2012-02-05T17:40:00.000-08:00

I don't like cats. Sorry, Internet.

Hodgepodge Comic #31

2012-02-04T15:37:00.000-08:00

Seth From Above 1979 (and Lizzy too)

2012-01-29T10:40:00.000-08:00

This a self portrait of myself with my wife, Lizzy. It's emulating the cover to the Death From Above 1979 album "You're a Woman, I'm a Machine".

Threadless Design Contest

2012-01-27T16:41:00.000-08:00

This is a design of mine up for voting over at Threadless right now. Here's the link. If you like it, give it a "5" so it will be printed. Thanks!

Hodgepodge Comic #30

2012-01-22T15:53:00.000-08:00

Autobiographical.

Hodgepodge #29

2012-01-21T18:15:00.000-08:00

A special thanks to my wife this week for helping me hone the phrasing in panel 3.

Drinking and Drawing LA

2012-01-06T13:59:00.000-08:00

Myself and a bunch (maybe 50?) of animators made this short in one night a few months ago. I'm sure there were dozens of animators of note that contributed to it, but to name a few, Carlos Ramos, Van Partible, and Pendleton Ward all drew segments. Many thanks to Frederator for putting the whole thing together.

Chancellor Cole, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

2011-12-22T09:31:00.000-08:00

I've been playing a lot of Zelda games recently so I currently have the notion to draw a few of my favorite characters from the series. If you've never seen this one before, his name is Chancellor Cole and he's from The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. There's just something about a guy that wears two top hats.

2 More

2011-12-18T19:48:00.000-08:00

The way the bottom one came about is kind of funny to me. I suppose having my characters be in conversation while staring blankly at a television is my version of Charlie Brown and Linus leaning against their brick wall. That being the case, I started drawing the bottom comic when I quickly realized that I had drawn it before. So, other than new dialog bubbles, it is identical comic #21. I feel a little wrong about that.

Too Vague?

2011-12-17T15:32:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure if I'm being too vague in this joke. Terry is eating Cinnamon Life cereal. Paul says variety is the spice of life. Terry got confused. Get it? I considered actually drawing a box of Life cereal on the table, but I didn't want to hit the reader over the head with the joke.

2 more comics

2011-12-11T17:43:00.001-08:00

I finished 2 comics today. It seems like I'm slowly moving toward (or languishing in) the "talking head" system of gag cartooning. I'm not sure if I'm even opposed to that, I'm just noticing it.

Newspaper Comics Galore

2011-12-09T09:04:00.001-08:00

More comics. Clearly, doing newspaper-style comics has been my main drawing focus recently. If you like to read my blog, but you don't like my comics, I apologize. It'll probably be this way for at least another month.

The first glimpse of Penny

2011-12-05T15:09:00.001-08:00

Hey, look. It's the first appearance of Paul's girlfriend, Penny.

More Comics

2011-12-04T18:22:00.001-08:00

Yes. More comics. If I was to do this one again, I'd make their head shadows hit the wall at more of an angle from the TV. Next time.

The Introduction of Penny

2011-11-26T16:40:00.001-08:00

This week's comic includes the first reference to Paul's girlfriend, Penny. She should be showing up in person soon enough.

Another Hodgepodge Comic

2011-11-24T10:59:00.001-08:00

Eh. I don't like this one much. Drawing Oliver's inverted egg-shaped head is tough to keep consistant. I need to work on that.

Paul The Owl and Veronica Lodge

2011-11-21T20:08:00.001-08:00

I never did understand what Archie saw in Veronica. Betty is clearly the better choice. Paul agrees.

Back to Hodgepodge Comics

2011-11-19T21:08:00.001-08:00

I'm back to doing my old standby, Hodgepodge comics. My new goal is to work within the limitations that I would if I were a daily newspaper strip. That mostly aplies to size (a strict 4" x 11") and content (reaching as wide of an audience as possible).

Nate

2011-11-07T16:26:00.000-08:00

Yes, his eyes are supposed to be that big. It's part of the plot.

Mel

2011-11-07T14:32:00.000-08:00

I am well aware, that Mel looks like kind of a goon. But, I kind of like that about him.

Clair(e)

2011-11-04T13:57:00.000-07:00

I'm working on a comic book right now. I'm sure I'll be posting lots of images from it as they develop. This is some concept art for one of the secondary characters.

Dr. Sketchy's at Titmouse Studios

2011-11-02T07:50:00.000-07:00

I went to my first Dr. Sketchy's session last night at Titmouse Studios. I haven't done any figure drawing in years, so I was super rusty, but it was tons of fun. I'll definitely be going to some more sessions soon.

2 Hoboes Stealing A Pie

2011-10-28T15:30:00.000-07:00

This started as a rejected sketch for the Pie Thieves logo, but I liked it enough that I wanted to see a finished version of it.

Sir Isaac Lime

2011-10-20T19:34:00.000-07:00

I was playing around with different Photoshop brushes at work today, and out came Sir Isaac Lime. I'm vaguely and lackadaisically working on a project involving the Otter Pops at work right now. Will anything ever come of it? Who knows.

Animation Reel 2011

2011-10-09T13:57:00.000-07:00

My first animation reel. I just finished it.

Count Chocula

2011-10-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

Another episode of Childhood Tweets. This one is about Count Chocula. A couple of production sketches are below.

Pie Thieves Logo and Bumper

2011-09-26T13:26:00.000-07:00

This is the logo and the bumper for the production company "Pie Thieves". I did the design and animation, and Scott C. Leeds did the music and effects.

It went through a few different versions before it became a 1930's cartoon fox and dog stealing a pie. At first it was a couple of charming Norman Rockwell-esque hoboes, followed by mischievous turn-of-the-century gentlemen, followed by a 1960's cartoon fox and dog.

The looping background.

Some early sketches and abandoned ideas are below.

Undeniably, The Best Way To Eat A Pop-Tart

2011-09-24T19:51:00.000-07:00

The first of another series of comics I've decided to start. I drew the original sketches 3 months ago, got a really bad stomach flu, and just finished the color version tonight. The original sketches and the photoshop guide I made are below.

The Velvet Mouse Show character redesign

2011-09-23T12:26:00.000-07:00

These are some redesigned versions of the main 4 characters from The Velvet Mouse Show. The Original versions were designed to be reminiscent of 1970's Hanna-Barbera and Filmation cartoons. These designs are much closer to what a consider my own style of depiction. If you've never seen the original character designs, you can check them out here.

Preliminary sketches.

Childhood Tweets 001

2011-09-22T11:10:00.000-07:00

Here's my latest bit of animation. It's the first of a possible series of very brief animated shorts. Basically, I take any tweet with the "#childhood" label, and make a little scene out of it. Scott C. Leeds then scores it and it's done. The plan is to make them as quick as possible. This one took - i don't know - maybe 3 days? I'm not entirely sure.

Here are a couple of pre-production sketches.

More stuff at childhoodtweets.com

1930's-esque Animation Background

2011-08-30T18:22:00.000-07:00

I had to build a looping 1930's era animation background for a logo I'm working on. I'll post more as it comes.

Some pixel art for a "Bad Teacher" game

2011-07-06T17:45:00.000-07:00

I drew and animated a couple of games for the "Bad Teacher" movie website. Both are live now here: www.areyouabadteacher.com .
This was a test frame from early-on.

Threadless Muppet Shirt Contest

2011-06-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a shirt design for a Threadless contest recently. The theme is Muppets and friendship.

If you want to be really nice you can give me a 5 ranking on the website here: http://disney.threadless.com/themuppets/submission/966/
Here's the original sketch. From top-to-bottom, left-to-right, it's Gonzo, Kermit, Fozzie, Dave Goelz, Jim Henson, and Frank Oz.

Woody Redesign

2011-05-30T17:27:00.000-07:00

Today's redesigned character is Woody from Toy Story. This'll probably be my last redesign for a while (probably).

Bullwinkle Redesign

2011-05-21T11:55:00.000-07:00

Here's another character redesign. Bullwinkle this time. I think Woody from Toy Story is next (probably).

Secret Squirrel Redesign

2011-05-04T22:49:00.000-07:00

Last year I thought it would be fun to redesign a different cartoon character every day. It was pretty entertaining, but I quickly realized that (because I was doing so many) I didn't always have enough time to do a quality job. After a couple of weeks I gave up on the whole thing. Looking at them recently though, a few hold up pretty well, so I've decided to ink and paint some of them. This one is Secret Squirrel. More to come (probably).

"In The News" comic #1

2011-04-10T07:58:00.000-07:00

I'm going to start a few different genres of comics. This will give me the opportunity to play around with different depiction styles to match different formats. Here's a "topical" new series called "In The News".

The Latest Velvet Mouse Episode

2011-03-25T17:20:00.000-07:00

Hodgepodge Comic #11

2011-03-13T12:40:00.000-07:00

My wife and I were watching a lot of the Ricky Gervais Show before I drew this one. Cartoon Ricky's laugh heavily influenced Paul's laughing pose.

The Velvet Mouse Show: Lucky's in Love (parts 1-3)

2011-03-09T18:58:00.000-08:00

Here's parts 1 through 3 of the latest storyline. The new part is the last couple minutes, but I've stitched the first 2 parts to the front so it's all a bit more coherent than before.

Dexter / Paul

2011-03-06T22:14:00.000-08:00

I was watching Dexter's Laboratory last night when I realized that Dexter's body shape was very similar to my character Paul's body shape. So I thought I would do a few sketches of Dexter and let it inform some Paul sketches.

The main thing I noticed was how Dexter's head juts over just a bit beyond his body. I like it. I may continue using this for Paul in the future.

Hodgepodge Comic #10

2011-03-05T23:53:00.000-08:00

I tried something new with this week's comic. I started with pencil and painted it with coffee and tea, just like I always have, but then I inked it in Photoshop instead of with real pens. It makes everything pop a bit more, and the revision capabilities were nice. I literally just finished it so I'm still not sure if I really like it or if I'll continue with this system in the coming weeks.

Childhood Tweets logos

2011-03-01T18:55:00.000-08:00

Making some logos for my bosses' twitter page. As with most design work, the one that is simplest and took the least amount of time is the one we used (the 4th one).

retroland.com masthead

2011-02-25T12:56:00.000-08:00

This is the new masthead at retroland.com (a website my bosses run). It was made to evoke a wall mural I did here in the office and an opening credits animation I did for a sitcom pilot.

More Moomin

2011-02-21T00:18:00.000-08:00

I love how strange these panels seem when they are removed from their surrounding story line.

Hodgepodge Comic #7

2011-02-13T22:04:00.000-08:00

I just finished this week's comic. The coloring is much more bold and sloppy than previous weeks'. I really liked how I did that Moomin drawing earlier this week, so I was emulating that a bit. I like the results. I'll probably keep it up.

Moomin

2011-02-12T12:43:00.000-08:00

My wife brought home a bunch of books from work the other day (she's a librarian). And a couple of them were Moomin comic strip compilations. I had never seen a Moomin book before, but I am now deeply engrossed in them. I'm recreating a dozen or so panels that I find particularly interesting. Here is my first attempt. More to come.

The Velvet Mouse Show

2011-02-09T14:18:00.000-08:00

Here's the latest episode I animated for The Velvet Mouse Show. It is part 2 of an ongoing storyline.

More Melvin Monster

2011-02-08T21:51:00.000-08:00

I'm still drawing Melvin Monster. I'm not sure what is so appealing about this comic book, but I love it. I just found out that volume 2 is out now and the third (and final?) volume is out in April. I'm excited.

Hodgepodge Comic #6

2011-02-06T19:30:00.000-08:00

I wasn't sure if I was going to post my comics from my other blog here, but I guess it's what I'm drawing right now so it only makes sense to post them. My other blog is a weekly web-comic called Hodgepodge. It's located at hodgepodgecomics.blogspot.com.
The way I will justify putting my comic up in two places is by including the un-cropped version here along with any commentary I have and the original sketches.

I paint the Hodgepodge comics with beverages. Mostly coffees and teas. As you can see in my test area, this one used black coffee, black currant tea, Tejava iced tea, Tokio green tea, and Arizona green tea. I'm pretty sure I stole the idea of painting with beverages from Marcel Dzama.

Melvin Monster

2011-02-04T07:58:00.000-08:00

I bought a Melvin Monster comic book compilation on a whim, and I'm really glad I did. I'd like to make an animated version of a couple of his strips someday soon.

Dr. X and Max

2011-02-02T18:49:00.000-08:00

Today I'm working on The Velvet Mouse Show. The new episode has Dr. X in it again. He's one of my favorite characters to animate. Everything he does is big and dramatic. Tons of fun. The episode this frame is from should be done by early next week at the latest. It's quickly becoming one of my favorite episodes.

Preston Blair

2011-02-01T22:49:00.000-08:00

Right now I'm doing some Preston Blair studies. I decided a little while ago that it would be fun to redraw Preston Blair's entire "Cartoon Animation" book page by page. Here's one of my favorite sections so far.