CHRIS BATTLE ILLUSTRATION

Q-POP Benefit Art Show!

2012-01-04T17:59:00.000-08:00

On January 14th, I'll be part of a group show at Q-POP in Little Tokyo to benefit Thailand flood relief. Recent flooding in Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia have left thousands dead and 100's of thousands homeless or short on food. Damage has been estimated in the billions. Come down to Q-Pop for a fundraiser/art sale and hang out with friends, enjoy some music and art, and most importantly, help some people in need. Tune in Tokyo will be spinning some great tunes!! More info HERE.

A framed 7 x 17 print of my "VooDoo Love" piece will be up for auction! Bid on some girlie art for a good cause!

Donating artists include:Junko MizunoElizabeth ItoKevin DartTim BiskupAmanda VisellShane GlinesCraig McCrackenLauren FaustAnna ChambersBilly Idol ( yes...THAT Billy IdolShiyoon KimMiles ThompsonPaul Rudish Carey Yostand many more...

...................

Bonus dodo bird doodle.

Buncha Doodles

2011-10-10T01:41:00.000-07:00

Man, DAN VS. is keeping me extra busy these days. Still have time for the occasional doodle, tho.

I forgot to mention...

2011-09-08T12:24:00.001-07:00

... I HAZ A TUMBLR.

It's kind of like a new post....

2011-07-22T00:34:00.000-07:00

Wow, remember when everybody was doing Influence Maps a year ago? ...Yeah, I've been sorta busy. I used to hand in my homework late, too. Here it is anyways. Come back in another year when I'll share a really funny Nyah Cat cartoon.

.............................

Who like cartoons? Who likes FREE cartoons??? Then head on over to the iTunes Store and download the 1st episode of DAN VS. for FREEBIES! The offer's only good 'til 8/03/2011, so if you're reading this in September, you're outta luck.

More DAN VS. Art

2011-05-29T13:00:00.000-07:00

We just started work on season 2 of DAN VS., so what better time to share some more designs from season 1:

I based this Andy Warhol-meets-Mr. Brainwash art celebrity on my old Powerpuff/Sam Jack co-worker Chris Mitchell
This TRON-suited version of a holographic zoetrope
rider didn't make the final cut. Shame... I dug it.
... and of course, the best way to end a blog post is with a monkey in a tuxedo.
(His scene wound up getting cut)
.............................

There's a new interview with me up on Animation Insider, where I spill the beans about what it's like working in the biz.

Check out all the other interviews while you're there; The site focuses on the real artists in the trenches-- Prop artists, background designers, storyboard artists, painters, directors, etc… the blue collar workers of animation -- who make the award winning shows we all love. Learn who they are, what they do, how they got into the biz and why.

Benefit Art Auction for Japan Relief

2011-04-26T19:24:00.000-07:00

This week, I'm holding 2 special benefit auctions on eBay with 100% of the proceeds going to Give2Asia to aid relief work in post-tsunami Japan. They're for 2 additional Tron Quorra prints like the ones sold at Q-Pop's "Help Japan" show out here in L.A. last month.

Since the quickly organized Q-Pop show was unable to offer international sales thru their online store, I decided to offer these extra prints on eBay to allow some of my overseas fans (Some of whom contacted me about their inability to buy the Q-Pop pieces) to get in on the action. The auctions just went live last night, and will end May 1st @ 9:00 PM.

You can bid on the original Blue Faction vers., or the Red Faction variant.
Show your love of TRON & Japan and make a bid!
BTW- Actual prints don't have those logos on 'em; That's just a mock-up.

"DAN VS." Art

2011-03-20T21:40:00.000-07:00

Finally finished work on Season 1 of DAN VS., so now I actually have some
time to share my designs with ya:

Drawing Edo-period Japanese characters is fun!
This trick-or-treater wound up hanging upside down tied up in rope,
so here's your chance to actually see him.

Little Elise, from her traumatic New Mexico childhood flashback.
Chris (Voiced by Canuck Dave Foley) reveals his Canadian ancestry by changing into
a bear when threatened, as "all Canadians are half bear" according to Dan.
Ya can't do a proper Canada show without a Sasquatch appearance.
... and check out the billboard I did for the show!
(Along with my original concept art)
This one's up over the 101 FWY in Hollywood (Where Cahuenga meets Barham)
~~so if you're driving through in the next week or two, keep your eyes peeled!~~
The billboard isn't up anymore, but you can see some coverage of it HERE!

Q POP Help Japan Art Fundraiser

2011-03-14T15:13:00.000-07:00

As you all know, a terrible tragedy has hit Japan. The amount of loss and damage is still not known, but the casualties are now in the thousands.
This is a terrible reminder that disaster can strike at any minute and it's at times like these that we need to let the people of Japan know that their friends around the world will come to their aid and help them in their darkest hour.

A benefit art show has begun at Q-POP in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles featuring works from artists from the L.A. animation and art communities-- RIGHT NOW you can buy artwork that will benefit relief efforts in Japan (80% will go to the International Red Cross and 20% will cover Q-Pop's costs with credit card company charges and staff costs only) with a special auction of remaining artwork on Friday, March 18, 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm.

Q-POP is located at
128 Astronaut E S Onizuka st
Los Angeles Ca 90012
Add this to your Facebook events HERE!

I'm donating 2 prints of my popular TRON Legacy Quorra piece-- One in the standard blue, and a special Sark "Red Faction" variant. Both measure 9 x 16 and sell for $100, and are ~~available NOW!~~ SOLD OUT!

DAN VS. Premieres tonight!

2011-01-01T08:34:00.000-08:00

This weekend you can catch my designs for the new series DAN VS., premiering Saturday, Jan. 1 @ 9:00 PM eastern/6:00 PM Central on The Hub

Dan is an ill-tempered curmudgeon with a major chip on his shoulder... against the entire world. The slightest perceived wrong will set him off on a mission of revenge against his imagined enemies. Dan's friend Chris usually gets roped into going along on said missions, much to the dismay of his wife, Elise (who usually winds up bailing Chris & Dan out of jail)
While the overall look for Dan & Chris were based on creators Dan Mandel & Chris Pearson, Elise had no visual development before the start of production, and we tried a lot of different styles before settling on the final design. Here's a look at a bit of the design process:

Check out this scene of Dan deciding on the latest subject for personal retribution.
His logic can't be beat:

Check back in a few months to see a bunch more of my designs
from the show. SPOILER: Things get weird.

5 years? HOLY SHIT.

2010-12-10T00:59:00.000-08:00

Something sorta big happened last month--
This blog quietly passed the 5 year mark.
It's been a great 5 years-- thanks for bearing with me when things get long between new posts. (It's usually 'cause I'm busy working on new stuff I can't share yet) Let's see what the next 5 bring...
.............................

Sym-Bionic Titan! New ETSY Art!

2010-10-06T00:16:00.000-07:00

Last year while I was busy working on Kick Buttowski, I was able to squeeze in a bit of freelance work for Genndy on his new show, SYM-BIONIC TITAN. Just like the old days, I wound up doing a lot of effects work and lots of military tech-- fun stuff! Here's a small taste:

.............................

I finally added some NEW original art to my long-neglected
Etsy Shop! Snatch one up for yourself while they last!

Character Design Blog Interview

2010-08-16T12:48:00.000-07:00

I was recently interview by The Character Design Blog about my art and career. Included are a bunch of special "process" pieces like the one below that I whipped up for the interview! Check it out by clicking on the picture above or right HERE.

CB iPhone Sketchbook App !!

2010-06-30T23:45:00.000-07:00

**THE FREE DOWNLOAD CODE LOTTERY IS NOW CLOSED AND
ALL WINNERS HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED BY EMAIL.
THANKS FOR PLAYING!**
At long last, my Sketchbook App from Imaginism Studios has finally been released! You can buy it now for only $3 via the iTunes App Store in either iPhone/iPod Touch version or iPad version, and it's available worldwide!

CARTOON BLOCK Interview

2010-05-23T19:55:00.000-07:00

I was recently interviewed by Evan Burse of CARTOON BLOCK as part of their "How To Be an Animator" series, and gave him the lowdown on my career in the biz and also tips to young hopefuls looking to break in. Fueled by lots of coffee and aided by some fancy editing, I sound like I actually know what I'm talking about!

For more artist interviews and drawing tutorials, check out the
CARTOON BLOCK YouTube Channel by clicking on the pic below!

Cut

2010-05-07T00:18:00.001-07:00

... but too cute to be left on the cutting room floor.
(From Kick Buttowski)

2010-03-22T01:29:00.001-07:00

Coming soon to your iPhone.

Sheesh-- It's time for an update, already!!

2010-02-07T21:00:00.000-08:00

The new show I've been working on at Disney for the past year, KICK BUTTOWSKI: SUBURBAN DAREDEVIL, launches Saturday morning February 13th @ 8:30 AM/7:30 Central on Disney XD.

The first episode is now available as a FREE download
in HD at the iTunes Store!
Here's a quick promo clip:

Check out more videos at the official Disney XD YouTube page!
The crew includes artists from Dexter's Laboratory, Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, & Ni Hao Kai-lan! This one's for the kids, so try to have one with you when you tune in.

................................

I recently received a Kreativ Blogger Award. How 'bout that? The super-talented Scott Brothers listed me as one of his favorites, so much thanks to ya, Scott!

As part of the rules for the Kreativ Blogger award, I have to nominate the next 7 Kreativ Bloggers, and then list 7 things about myself that people might find interesting. Okay, here's my nominees:

I call her the best kept secret in animation, but you can just call Brianne Drouhard "Hey You!"
John Struan's SUPERPUNCH blog is full of fun just waiting to be discovered.
Most excellent French girlie artist Xavier Ramonède needs to put out book. Like, now.
My old pal Dan Krall consistently shares killer animation production art and brilliant sketchwork observations of life.
Bob Shea & Lane Smith's Curious Pages blog will provide you with cool children's book illustrations from around the world.
Batman Smells is the best year-round Christmas kitsch/culture/design blog out there.
If you like movies, you owe it to yourself to check out The Art of the Title Sequence blog.

... and 7 things? Okay, you asked for it:

More EL SUPERBEASTO

2009-12-28T02:34:00.000-08:00

Here's super-spy Suzy X taking on a horde of Nazi Zombies.
She doesn't look like this in the film anymore :(...............
There's a scene in the movie where Dr. Satan runs shows off his 27 ex-wives (that he keeps in his walk-in freezer) and lists off the problems with each of them. All I had to go on was the dialogue, and I got to run wild with the visuals:

I think we've all dated at least one of these girls....

Open for business!

2009-12-16T01:48:00.001-08:00

The Official Chris Battle Etsy Shop is now open for business!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ChrisBattle

4 years and counting!

2009-11-10T11:49:00.000-08:00

WTF?!? Where did 4 years go?? Yep, it's true-- back in 2005 I started blogging, and by some minor miracle I've managed to keep it going. (Despite the occasional long delay between posts... thanks for hanging in there.) To celebrate, I've got something special happening. Want to find out what? I've started a Facebook Fan Page to provide more *timely* updates between blog posts, and very soon there'll be something fun going on for FB fans only!

So go ahead and click on the Jawa to become a fan!

At long last-- EL SUPERBEASTO

2009-10-15T12:30:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's right-- The long-in-the-making Rob Zombie cartoon flick I worked on so many years ago, THE HAUNTED WORLD OF EL SUPERBEASTO was finally released last month, so that means I can finally share my artwork from the film with you. (I've been sitting on this stuff for 3 years!)

Robot guy that I am, I got to do all the motorcycle transformation
gags for Murray. Except for the really dirty one--
that was Carey Yost.
Not sure what happened with the final Krongarr that's in the movie;
He looks like he was based on some of my earlier roughs...
Talk about fun: For the first few months my only assignment was to
draw a strip bar full of monsters getting drunk and having lap dances!
Most of this was all rough conceptual stuff; Never got the chance to
flesh 'em out, so you barely see them in the background of the final film.
Blink, and you'll miss these guys:

Dr.Satan's devil slave girl clones got cut early on.

Rob had us sprinkle the movie with in-jokes for his fans,
like Morris Green from "The Devil's Rejects"

Again, I'm not sure what happened to the final Lenny that's seen in the movie; It doesn't look like one of my drawings...
.......................
That's it for now; I've got more ESB stuff to share with you,
so check back later!

Thought Processor Show!

2009-08-25T11:22:00.001-07:00

Heads up: I'm taking part in Phoneticontrol's THOUGHT PROCESSOR group show @ Munky King on Thursday, Sept. 3. Come on down and see fun papercraft art by L.A. area artists and animators like my pals Martin Hsu, Jim Mahfood, and Robert Ryan Cory as we show off our interpretations of SF artist Phoneticontrol's creation. This is the L.A. leg of a multi-city touring show, each featuring local talent. Here's mine, combining chaos and kawaii in one iron-clad package-- "Destroyer":

For sale with each Thought Processor will be an original piece of art by it's respective creator. No funds for big art purchases? No biggie--After the show you can download PDFs of all the TPs from Phoneticontrol's site and build one (or more) for your desktop! See you there...

THOUGHT PROCESSOR L.A. SERIES SHOW
9.3.09 – 9.24.09
Thursday, September 3rd, 7-10pm
Munky King Gallery
7308 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA
Directions are HERE.

Let's contribute to the economy, shall we?

2009-08-04T15:00:00.000-07:00

The GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT DVD is now in stores! Since I'm a cartoony guy, I rarely get the chance to work on action-adventure stuff, but last year I got to have some fun doing designs for all the alien weaponry for DCU's latest animated film:

My guns about to contribute to some serious mayhem.

My contribution is small, but the real draw here is the amazing work of artists like Jose Lopez, LeSean Thomas, and director Lauren Montgomery. Go get it, and while you're at it, get last year's WONDER WOMAN, too; It kicks ass.

My pal Nina Paley's self-produced, multi-national-award-winning film SITA SINGS THE BLUES is finally available on DVD! While you can download the film for free, why not support indie animators like Nina and get a real, tangible record of her solo animated film? Go to Amazon.com and BUY IT!!

... and CORALINE is out on DVD & Blu-Ray, too! A bunch of my pals worked on this, and the results are spectacular. It even comes with a buncha 3D glasses! Buy this one, too.

I'm hard at work on my first ever papercraft art piece for a group show next month, so I should be able to give you all a sneak peek by the end of this month!

Voodoo Love

2009-06-26T15:37:00.000-07:00

This spring I was one of 50 artists worldwide invited to contribute a piece for the Argentine art magazine GÖOO. The theme for the issue was "brujeŕia" (witchcraft), so I came up with this little cautionary tale. Basically, you should be careful how ya treat the ladies, 'cause one of these days you might cross the wrong one. Göoo #7 will be available at göoo's booth this weekend at the MAD 009 Design Festival, held at the Palacio de Congresos, Madrid.

Find out more @ the GÖOO blog!.......................
Here's some of my rough sketches and an almost-final version
before some last minute tweaks:
Originally I had planned on doing a vertical piece, but when I found out the magazine's format called for double-page spreads, I had to change things quickly...
You can probably see where the schoolgirl exploration I posted a few months back came from. Almost there, but not saucy enuff...
Pretty close to the final, but she looked too pleasant... not "wicked"
enough. The doll went through some various versions, too.
Here's a pic of the print version. Maybe next time
I'll do better planning for that double-page spread :P
(Thanks for putting up with the long delay in posting this one.
Had to wait for publication B4 sharing)

Doodle Dump II

2009-05-07T22:58:00.000-07:00

Got super-inspired by my pals' pieces for the Jab Strong Fierce show @ Nucleus a few weeks ago and wound up doing this Cammy sketch.
Yeah, it's Sedusa... AGAIN. So I like drawing a villainess who
wears fishnets and thigh-highs. Sue me.
This one's from the "Running with the Rainbow Unicorn"
episode of THE MIGHTY B
Gnomey doncha know me?

Tease

2009-04-12T21:47:00.000-07:00

Can't share this one with you just yet, but here's a small taste:

What is it? You'll find out next month ;)
.......................
Thought I'd take a moment to plug the upcoming GREEN LANTERN DVD. I only did about 2 seconds worth of work on this one, but I'm DAMN proud to have been a part of another kick-ass production from Bruce Timm & the gang @ WB. The crew includes heavy hitters like LeSean Thomas, Jose Lopez, and director Lauren Montgomery, so be sure to check it out this July!

Higher Education

2009-03-23T21:14:00.000-07:00

When did the school girl look come back in such a big way?
Whatever the answer is, it's still workin'.

Mojo Jojo-a-Gogo

2009-03-02T22:40:00.000-08:00

What was one of the best parts of returning to CN to work on the PPG Anniversary Special? Getting to draw lots of everyone's favorite evil monkey super villain MOJO JOJO!!

.......................
MY FRIENDS ARE AWESOME!
I am not bragging, I just think my friends do indeed RAWK and I want to share their work with you. I'm sure you'll agree once you see it.

My partner in crime on Dexter's & PPG, Andy Bialk, has given in to peer pressure and finally started a BLOG! Check out his awesome designs from MADAGASCAR 2!

Perhaps you've heard of my pal Nina Paley, her self-made film SITA SINGS THE BLUES, and her battle against current copyright law to bring her animated retelling of the Ramayana set to the 1920's jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw to audiences. The good news is that you can now stream SITA HERE or download it HERE.

Check it out; You'll be glad you did!

PUFF it up!!

2009-02-03T23:20:00.000-08:00

Like I said in the last post, the Powerpuff 10th Anniversary Special was done completely at Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank, with nothing going overseas. This time the girls were animated in Flash by the FOSTER'S crew. This lead to some of the most accurate on-screen images of the series-- What we drew wound up 100% faithfully translated to screen.

Here's more comparisons between my original drawings
and the final product: (Clean-up by Erik Elizarrez)
Yes, the original was drawn on Post-Its. (Sharp-eyed viewers will recognize
the 3 cons on the left from the original ep. "Powerpuff Bluff")
It wouldn't be a "special" episode without a giant robot!!
Next post: MOJO JOJO!!!...................................

... and go see CORALINE this weekend, OK?

POWERPUFF GIRLS RULE!

2009-01-18T22:15:00.000-08:00

Naw, that's not an idle boast-- That's the title of the ALL NEW PPG SPECIAL celebrating the girls' 10th anniversary airing Monday, Jan. 19, at 8 p.m. (ET, PT) on Cartoon Network!*

Last spring I returned to CN to work on the special, which was written and directed by creator Craig McCracken, and featured the Art Direction of my fellow OG PPG crew member Sue Mondt, as well as the fine work of SAM JACK/CLONE WARS colorist Leticia Lacy, FOSTER'S vets Ben Balistreri and Shannon Tindle, Shane Prigmore, C. Raggio and more!

This is the first Powerpuff Girls ever animated ENTIRELY at Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank by the Foster's Flash crew, led by Pringle.

Stay tuned, 'cause in the next few weeks I'll be posting some of my designs from the special. Man, it's been tough sitting on these babies for almost a year!

*Yeah, I know it already aired in Europe and Asia, but just go with it, OK?

Can you draw Chris Battle? If so, you could have an exciting career in commercial art!!

2008-12-24T20:32:00.000-08:00

Forget about Tippy the Turtle or Patchy the Pirate-- apparently, the toughest thing an artist can attempt to draw is yours truly. Take a look at what happened when the gang at Cartoon Network set out to capture the uniqueness that is me:

Nobody tried harder to figure out the magic formula
for drawing me than Paul Rudish and Clay Morrow.
Paul's are above and Clay's are below.

Being office mates on Dexter's and PPG placed current Dreamworks hotshot Andy Bialk in a unique position to study me. Here's two takes from him:

Dan Krall has known me the longest of any of the CN gang,
so his is brilliantly savage (and probably the most accurate):

But wait, there's more:
Andy Suriano
Chris Reccardi
Aaron Springer
Mike Stern
(This is back when I had more facial hair.)
Then there's my guest turn on the Powerpuff Girls
thanks to Stef Choi.
I finally wound up taking a crack at it myself a few years ago.

Happy Tree Friends: KA-POW!

2008-11-23T17:25:00.000-08:00

A new HAPPY TREE FRIENDS short from the gang at Ghostbot that I did character layout for is now online. Working from cool new re-designs of HTF's super-squirrel Splendid by Roque Ballesteros, I had the lucky assignment of drawing all the cool action poses that went into this super-powered beatdown. Here's a sampling:

Check out more behind the scenes goodness at the Ghostbot Blog!.......................
BERFDAY!

Can ya believe it's been 3 years since I started this blog?
That's a lot of Post-Its.

Procrastination

2008-11-03T23:46:00.001-08:00

I finally finished this one after finding the original sketch
in an old folder from early last year........................
★★★ VOTE! ★★★

STARBUCKS will give you free coffee and KRISPY KREME will give you a free donut, so you have no excuses!!!

Still alive

2008-10-15T23:22:00.001-07:00

... but a little too busy to post anything of my own, so instead I'll just promote some of my pals' stuff!

The always amazing CHRIS RECCARDI has an exclusive on-line interview with HI-FRUCTOSE Magazine that you must check out. Chris shoots the shit about his lengthy career in the biz working on all your favorite cartoons, and even shares his rough sketches before they become painted masterpieces. Be sure to check out the awesome catfight storyboard sequence from the long-delayed EL SUPERBEASTO!

Okay, so I'm a little late spreading the news, but I sure as hell hope you guys watched the Billy & Mandy spin-off special UNDERFIST over the weekend. Maxwell Atoms and the gang turned out a trick-or-treat bag full of of Halloween cartoon kick-assery featuring the work of rock stars like Andy Suriano, Phil Rynda, and more. Some guy named Carl even did some voicework. You can check out some kick-ass layout art from UNDERFIST by Andy HERE.

Speaking of Andy, you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of his book ART OF ANDY, chock full of Andy's unbelievable cartoon masterworks. Do yourself a favor and go to his blog and order one, or if you're in LA, head over to House of Secrets in Burbank and pick one up. You'll be glad you did.

That Dan Krall guy found time between working on cool stuff like CHOWDER and CORALINE to illustrate a children's book. Way to make the rest of us look lazy. You can pre-order it HERE.

psst... The COMPLETE POWERPUFF GIRLS SERIES is coming to DVD in January 2009. With tons on extras. Pre-order it NOW, whydoncha?
In the meantime, I'm busy working on one of Cartoon Network's new "Cartoonstitute" shorts... involving one of the guys mentioned above. I won't say which, tho. That would be telling.

I am a dirty press whore

2008-08-22T00:03:00.000-07:00

So if you check out the latest issue of Animation Magazine, you can read a multi artist-interview about breaking into the field of animation prop design, where guys like me, Lance Falk, and Darrel Bowen give you the low-down on what it takes to get a job in this biz. If you already have a job, feel free to ignore it; You know what you're doing. To save you $6, I've posted the article below:

"BEE" Bits: Cutting Room Floor

2008-08-07T00:43:00.001-07:00

Here's a bunch of rough designs from the MIGHTY B! While some appear in the finished show, most wound up on the cutting room floor when scripts were rewritten or scenes got cut, so this is your only chance to see 'em...

Abandoned re-design for Portia that Erik Wiese
and I were noodling with at the beginning of the season.

Believe it or not, this isn't the first time I've had to
draw a rabid leprechaun for a show.

... and here's another "process" image. I have no idea what the finished one
looks like-- what episode is this from? I think the board was done by either
Lynne Naylor or Chris Reccardi.

2 Girls & a Monkey

2008-07-07T21:00:00.000-07:00

... and they're actually in color for once! (All done with ad markers and pencil/pen on watercolor paper)

Everyone loves ERIN ESURANCE!
A more finished version of the AAYLA SECURA pic
from a few posts ago.
... and finally, for all you evil monkey lovers out there,
POWERPUFF GIRLS super-villain MOJO JOJO.

1.5 seconds of fame

2008-06-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

I guess these days you know you've made it when you get mentioned on a DVD commentary. Here's a short clip where Genndy (along with Bryan Andrews) gives a little shout-out to yours truly in the commentary track for the "Jack & the Spartans" episode from the SAMURAI JACK Season 2 set:

Here's my designs for the robot monster:

My idea was to have the robo-beast's facial graphics resemble
a Greek vase, with orange graphics on black.

Of course, red and black are always seen as symbolically
representing evil, so they went with that.

Another damn STAR WARS post

2008-05-28T20:50:00.000-07:00

I just realized we've almost hit the half-year mark and I haven't posted a single STAR WARS related drawing in '08. That's gotta violate some sort of animation blogger law, and since I don't want any trouble, here's one of Aayla Secura, the one who got shot in the back by her troops on the gummi mushroom planet in Revenge of the Sith.

Sedusa Post-It

2008-05-17T12:04:00.000-07:00

Wound up drawing this pic of POWERPUFF GIRLS villain Sedusa after doing a few birthday Post-Its for some of my co-workers at Cartoon Network. Ya gotta love a lady villain that wears fishnets and thigh-highs.
...................................
While you're here, be sure to check out my recommendations from Amazon.com on the right; It's an easy way to grab DVDs of some of the shows I've worked on, some of my pals' stuff, and even great inspirational works no artist should be without.

Who wants some MIGHTY B??

2008-05-12T20:32:00.000-07:00

At last, THE MIGHTY B has aired, and I can finally share some of what I've spent over a year working on. A lot of work went into this show, and here's a small example of the extreme attention to detail we in the Character Dept. put into it:

Here's the original storyboard panel of Bessie smelling a dirty diaper.

Here's my first pass at a more on-model Bessie
(on Post-It Note, of course)

...and here she is after tweaks requested by the Character Supervisor.

Now multiply that amount of work by the number of people
it takes to fill the show's San Francisco setting!

Now you can see why I haven't had as much time for fun Post-It Note doodles in the past year ;) To give you an idea of how long it's been, I started work on the show in late 2006 and finished up this February, then started and finished another project, the show finally premiered late last month and now I'm back out there looking for my next gig! Thank god for the down-time; I'm tired.

...................................

Check it out!
You can download
THE MIGHTY B on iTunes
by clicking the picture
on the left or just
click HERE.

Yay! Now can watch
it on your Zune!!!

MIGHTY B Premieres April 26th!

2008-04-15T09:28:00.000-07:00

The wait is almost over: THE MIGHTY B premieres Saturday morning, April 26th at 10:30 AM! We also made the cover of Animation Magazine's May issue, available now at your local newsstand!

Collectively, the MIGHTY B crew is staffed with the people who brought you REN & STIMPY, SPONGEBOB, DEXTER'S LAB, POWERPUFF GIRLS, TEENAGE ROBOT, SAMURAI JACK, CLONE WARS and EL TIGRE, including such heavy-hitters as Emmy winners Seonna Hong and Bryan Arnett(who's artwork graces the cover of the mag), as well as Lynne Naylor, Bill Wray, Louie Del Carmen, Alex Kirwan, Sunil Hall, Jenny Baker and many more! (... and I apparently had something to do with it also)

Be sure to check out the official site for videos and downloads!

Hype Machine

2008-03-20T21:30:00.001-07:00

If you wanna find out more about me than you really wanted to know, I was recently interviewed for the coolest new cartoon blog on the block, CARTOON FUNLAND, a creation of Doktor Viktor Von Kreep, the ghastly ghoul behind the upcoming CREAL KILLERS cartoon art book.

The truth is laid bare for all to see. It gets ugly, but the truth is never pretty, kids. Click on the image above or HERE to read the whole dirty deal.

Rogue's Gallery

2008-03-04T21:24:00.000-08:00

Since everybody really dug the last post, how 'bout another helping of PPG nostalgia? Here's some drawings from an episode where they were looking at photos of their many villains:

(...and I know I posted that Mojo Jojo pic a while back,
but I couldn't break up this set, now, could I?)

Go, girls, go!

2008-02-15T00:41:00.000-08:00

Powerpuff Girls celebrates it's 10-year anniversary this year.
Holy SHIT I'm old.

(New Post-It Note art to commemorate my aging.)

Sneak Peek-O-Rama

2008-02-01T17:25:00.000-08:00

Check out this sneak peek for THE MIGHTY B:

EL SUPERBEASTO Update? No way. (Yes way!)

New screenshots from EL SUPERBEASTO have made their way online courtesy of Mr. Zombie himself, and can be seen in the “Pics” section at the El Superbeasto MySpace page or over HERE. With more ESB stuff hitting the web, in upcoming months I'll be sure to post a bit of my art from the movie. Hang in there!

4 Soren Art Show

2008-01-22T13:03:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday night's 4 SOREN Benefit Art Show at Monkeyhouse Toys was a big success, bringing together some of L.A.'s finest artists and animators for a worthy cause:

Leana & Paul Rudish, Roger Webb, and Amy Keating Rogers (Soren's Mom!).

Brianne Drouhard, my lovely wife Eiko, Mariko Ukai, Leticia Lacy.

Nick the Ring keeps the joint bumpin'.

From FOSTER'S HOME FOR IMAGINARY FRIENDS Director Lauren Faust comes the original pencil cover art for her book Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls.

Special pen & ink drawing of the entire cast of FOSTER'S HOME FOR IMAGINARY FRIENDS by creator Craig McCracken.

Andrew Brandou, brilliant as usual. From his "Hell" half of the "Heaven & Hell" show.

Anna Chambers rocks the plush.

More stunning work from Brianne Drouhard, aka The Best Kept Secret in Animation.

Paul Rudish works out his painterly side on a cardboard canvas.
Is there anything the guy can't do??

The low angle on this Lynne Naylor gal makes her look even leggier than she is already! I think they hung this one up so high just to keep people from trying to walk out the door with it.

Original pen & ink comic strip from DEXTER/PPG alum Chris Savino.

From HI HI PUFFY AMIYUMI Director Shellie Kvilvang.

A fine tradition of cartoon bears continues with this cool ad marker art
from Andy Suriano.

JOHNNY BRAVO creator Van Partible's tribute to ABC's 70's era
Saturday morning PSA's. Watch some of 'em HERE.

My man Joe Orrantia, painting scenes of an older world lost to us modern technlogical types.

Cool pen & ink piece by Mari Inukai. Kawaii!

I don't know this artist, but I like this one :)

...and finally, a picture by some guy.

Some of the art will still be on display until February 3rd and can be viewed online HERE. There's even a closing night party Saturday, February 2nd from 3:00 - 7:00pm, so if you're in the area, you should drop by!

*Check out more pics on Soren's blog!
...................................
MIGHTY DELAYED

I know I've been telling you for the past few months that THE MIGHTY B would premiere in January, and you probably noticed it hasn't aired.... that's 'cause they're bumping the premiere back to Saturday Morning, APRIL 26 @ 9:00 AM. So try not to get too wasted that Friday night so you can wake up early for it.

If you wanna get another sneak peek at the show, check out the giant NICKTOONS: NOT JUST CARTOONS book by Jerry Beck. At the end of the book is a big section on Mighty B, with tons of art from the pilot, along with early pre-production drawings.

Soren Rogers Benefit Art Show

2008-01-09T20:56:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, January 19th, from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM there will be a special benefit art show at Monkeyhouse Toys in Los Angeles to help my friends convert their mininvan for wheelchair use for their son, Soren.

When he was 9 months old, Soren was diagnosed with a seizure disorder called Infantile Spasms. He is now 4 years old, and unfortunately all of his seizures have caused him global developmental delay. Soren needs your help to make the family mini-van wheelchair accessible. Medical insurance doesn't pay for this, and as you can imagine, care for a special needs child is already quite expensive, so a bunch of us are donating our artwork to raise funds. You can read more about Soren HERE. Be sure to click the pic above to see an extra HUGE version of the flyer so you can check out all the artists involved! (Over 40 animators, illustrators, painters, and photographers)

Participating artists include Andrew Brandou, Anna Chambers, Mark Andrews, Lauren Faust, Seonna Hong, Chris Reccardi, Andy Suriano, Paul Rudish, Craig McCracken, and me, too. Here's my contribution:

Yes, you have seen a digital version of this before, but this one is "real", done in ad markers and pencil on watercolor paper. If you're in the area, come on down and see all the cool art.... maybe you can grab something by one of your favorites! If you're out of town, on-line sales will be set up by the night of the show.

...................................
100,000?!?? HOLY CRAP!!!
Sometime at the end of last month, my blog quietly registered it's 100,000th hit, according to the ClustrMaps counter you can see up on the right. (and I only started keeping track in June of 2006.... the blog's been up since Nov 2005) That's crazy. Thanks, guys.... I couldn't have done it without ya! Sheesh... with so many people checking in, I better update more often. It's a new year, so anything could happen. Stay tuned.

New Year, New Post

2007-12-30T00:02:00.000-08:00

Well, sort of. Still spending way too much time working on that upcoming Nickelodeon show to do really new work, so here's some "classic" stuff from DEXTER'S LAB: The one where, as a senile old man, he reminisced (incorrectly) about his days as a secret agent.... in outer space. We set out to do a deliberate parody of the SAMURAI JACK alien bar, which was pretty easy, 'cause most of us worked on that show, too:

I tried to keep these designs loose and super-sketchy....
y'know, keep 'em fresh. All in all, a fun assignment.

Yes, that is the infamous "Jim" character from THE POWERPUFF GIRLS
"Mime For A Change" episode, originally designed by the mighty Craig Kellman,
and based on PPG/DEX background designer Jim Worthy. ....and yes,
that's Gleep/Glorp from THE HERCULOIDS hanging out with him.

Be sure to check out the suspicious characters in the lower right.

I'm not dead, but it feels like it.

2007-12-07T12:06:00.000-08:00

Jeez-- it's been over a month since I last updated this thing. I've become a Deadbeat Blog Dad. SO lame. But not without good reason: It's mainly 'cause I've been working crazy hard on THE MIGHTY B these past few weeks as we gear up for the show's premiere next month, and I am T-I-R-E-D! Seriously. I am a walking coffee zombie.

Wanna see it early? If you buy a copy of the "SpongeBob SquarePants: Atlantis SquarePantis" DVD, you get a free bonus disk of the 1st episode! Pick one up now, or you'll have to wait 'til the January air-date to see it, and nobody likes waiting.

UPDATE: I hear that the bonus DVD is only available at WalMart, so maybe you should just wait for January.

Watch the origins of Amy Poehler's Girl Scout character from
The Upright Citizen's Brigade!
(...and ignore the "Video no longer available" warning. It's there.)
There's art shows happening next month that I will hopefully be a part of if I don't pass out at my desk-- One that I will be in for sure is a special benefit show at MONKEYHOUSE TOYS on January 19th. More info on that next month!

... and in the middle of all this, I almost forgot that last month was my 2-Year Blog Birthday! Holy crap!!! Where does the time go? Click HERE to see what things were like in a more innocent time called 2005.

Sneaky Critters Show

2007-10-23T13:53:00.000-07:00

Monday night was a big night for UK artist Sneaky Raccoon as she celebrated the first "birthday" of her nom de art with the Sneaky Critters art show at Bodhi Gallery. Sending out tiny 4" x 4" canvases, she invited her favorite artists near and far to contribute to the special one-night party. I was one of 'em:

All the pieces got their own tiny easel. How cool is that?

If you were there, you got beer, cake, and goody bags. Lucky!!!

A small sampling of the works of over 30 artists in the show.

When you're the only one without a fully painted piece, you really stick out.

You can check out Sneaky's Flickr set of the whole soirée HERE, and also peep Urban Retro's coverage, too.

~ Photos generously supplied by Sneaky Raccoon. ~
...................................
CHOWDER Premieres next Friday!

My pal Carl Greenblatt's brand new show CHOWDER premieres Friday, November 2 at 7:30 PM! You know Carl's work from SPONGEBOB and BILLY & MANDY, and now he's got his own crazy show that also features the talents of Anna Chambers, Dan Krall, Phil Rynda and more! Click on the picture above to watch a sneak peak of a full episode!

Cartoon Network's red orange-headed step-child first born

2007-10-02T12:30:00.000-07:00

C'mon, Cartoon Network.... where's the love for Dex? Not only was Dexter one of the 1st breakout stars of the "What A Cartoon!" shorts experiment, but he also was nominated for numerous Emmys, and would be the launching pad for future CN hits like Samurai Jack, Clone Wars, Powerpuff Girls, and Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends. Now, not only can you not find it on CN (...only on Boomerang, but it's not available in every market), but it's one of the few CN originals NOT available on DVD.

Now, thanks to Warner Home Video, we DO have a full set of Samurai Jack DVDs, and this year saw the debut of the 1st Powerpuff Girls full-season DVD set. Awesome sets with great extras. But WHERE'S THE DEXTER DVD SET? Some years ago, Columbia House Home Video Club had season sets available, but no longer. A complete series set was produced for a contest winner, but was never made available to the public. (I was lucky enough to find one on eBay) The "Ego Trip" movie was only released on VHS, and never saw a DVD release.

Dexter still has many fans out there who are patiently waiting for a DVD release. C'mon CN/Warner... show your first-born child ya still love him!!!

Here's one of the few episodes I storyboarded. It's not very funny.
...................................
Sneaky Critters Show

Hey, UK bloggers: If you happen to find yourself in London on October 22, check out the SNEAKY CRITTERS group show at Bodhi Gallery in Bricklane. I have a piece in the show and will be sharing wall space with 30 other cool artists like Peskimo, Julie West, Elisa Chavarri, and many more. It's celebrating artist Sneaky Raccoon's "birthday", so there will be cake, beer, and goody bags! It's for ONE NIGHT ONLY, kids-- so make sure you go to the opening or you'll miss out!

EL TIGRE es muy magnífico!

2007-09-19T11:03:00.000-07:00

I was at Comic-Con this year and I didn't even know it.

Well, sort of: Turns out Nickelodeon made some special EL TIGRE posters that used one of my very first drawings for the show; I didn't find out about it until I saw one up on eBay! Here's a breakdown of the process:

Going off the original board by Dave Thomas,
I did my usual Post-It note rough:
Once I had that figured out, I did a tighter pass....
(The shadow tones I added just for this post....
'cause I go the extra mile for you guys.)
Here's the final result, after some fixes by Gabe Swarr, inks by Su Moon, and final color & paint by the man himself, Jorge Gutierrez:

Storytime

2007-09-02T15:33:00.000-07:00

Since I'm too swamped with work to produce some nice artwork for ya to look at, I thought I thought I'd totally steal a great stalling tactic from Lambey, and post some pics from a favorite art book straight from my personal library: Hiyao Miyazki's MONONOKE HIME. No, not a book of the 1997 film, but a story treatment from 1980, published in 1993 as an oversized hardcover storybook. You'll find that instead of the eco-fable of the '97 film, here Miyazaki presents a more familiar tale, this time set in feudal Japan....

A Duke, sperated from his army during battle,
wanders the forest, lost.
He comes across a cave...
... and seeks shelter by the warm fire.
But the cave's occupant returns...
... and prepares to cook the Duke for dinner.
The Duke tells the beast (Mononke) that if he lets him go,
he will give him one of his 3 daughters to take as his wife.
He accepts, and drops the Duke at his castle,
telling him he will return at the next full moon.
The Duke's wife is not happy when she hears of this.
But the Duke had become possessed by an evil spirit,
and his youngest daughter knew this, so he chose her
to go with the beast in order to keep his secret.
The beast returns to claim his bride.

The daugther is obviously not into her new marriage.
The beast tells her if she doesn't get with the program,
he's going to cook her for dinner.
He begins to prepare her for dinner,
expecting her to cry uncle.
... which she doesn't. Turns out he's a softie
and wasn't really going to cook her.
She tells him she must first save her father from the evil spirit,
and if he helps her, she will remain his wife.
A quest begins for a magical object
to fight the evil spirit.
A giant turtle leads the daughter to
the bottom of a lake...
... where a magic mirror lays.
They arrive at the castle, deciding to rest for the night
before confronting her father the next day.
While the beast sleeps, the daughter uses the magic mirror...
... and sees the wicked boy the beast once was.
... and how he awoke one morning cursed.
A friendship has developed.
The daughter wakes early and confronts her father alone.
Using the mirror, she drives the evil spirit from her father...
... but it possesses a suit of armor...
... and attacks them.
The beast, upon waking and discovering the daughter gone,
races to the castle and leaps to protect her from the evil spirit's fire.
When the smoke clears, the evil spirit has been defeated...
... but at a heavy cost.
Her tears resurrect him, or maybe giant cat-beasts
are just naturally tough.
They lived happily ever after.
I like how he stays a cat-monster rather than turn into a handsome prince. I assume that this idea was perhaps abondoned to produce NAUSICAA IN THE VALLEY OF THE WIND instead.(Can anybody out there provide some confirmation?) A great find full of beautiful art. Don't hesitate to grab it if you happen to come across a copy!

Find out more about it HERE. Ja matane!

Bits & Pieces

2007-08-09T10:48:00.000-07:00

Some random stuff floating around on my hard drive:

Go-Go Dancers are for the *secret* project ;)

Here's a little peek into my creative process, from an episode of "The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy", where I lay to rest the idea many people have that I don't do roughs.

A rare self-portrait, done for an interview on
the Frederator Blog.
...................................
How awesome is Lou Romano?
Pretty damn awesome, but you knew that. He just posted a treasue trove of BG color comps he did way back on THE POWERPUFF GIRLS. If you haven't checked out his blog already, swing on by by clicking on the image above!

Lunchbox Gang

2007-07-30T14:04:00.001-07:00

Color comp for a doodle I did a while back.

Girls, Girls, Girls!

2007-07-19T00:06:00.000-07:00

...Because it can't always be about robots and Star Wars.

The girl working the register at the record store will NOT think
what you're buying is cool, no matter how indie your selections are.
Sort of the best-friend-type girl from a movie where the main guy
doesn't realize he really should hook up with her.

Ever had a friend who wouldn't shut up about the girl that got away?
Not somebody he dated, mind you; Just some girl he saw across the bar
and didn't have the nerve to talk to, so now we have to listen to him whine about it.
Man, why do we still hang out with him?

So that was cool

2007-07-03T23:30:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday night was the 2nd (and hopefully annual) Cartoon Network charity auction, and once again, it was big! Check it out:

Finished version of my Pac-Man piece, which sold to someone who's name was too quickly scribbled for me to read.

Brianne is awesome, as always. This piece went to someone with good taste.
Miss Mindy's Pie Bandit
Serapio rocked a cool WINDWAKER Link for his piece.
How awesome is Megan Brain? Pretty damn awesome.
Craig McCracken went old school and actually used zipatone on this one.
Craig Kellman's Tony the Tiger.... a classic done just right.
This lovely Craig Kellman lady went to Shannon Tindle.
One of the driving forces behind the show, Cindy Morrow, of PPG and FOSTER'S fame.
"Saul of the Molemen" creator Craig Lewis, Me, "American Dad" Producer( and SAMURAI JACK alum) Diana Ritchey.
My lovely wife Eiko, Megan Brain, Suzie Vlcek.
Taking a picture with EL TIGRE co-creator Jorge Guiterrez literally stopped him from buying everything in sight.
It wouldn't be a party without Miss Mindy!
Jorge reflects upon his good fortune and love of sugary breakfast cereals.
Not to be outdone, Sandra picked up pieces by Genndy Tartakovsky & Chris Reccardi.

.............................................

...and in the interest of all things iPhone:

iPhone generously supplied by Gabe Swarr.

Finally..... something new

2007-06-19T01:19:00.000-07:00

Work-In-Progress for my piece for the Cartoon Network Auction.

.............................................
Here's some extra Pac-inspired fun from The Go! Team:

.............................................
Here's the postcard image for the upcoming Cartoon Network Auction. Check out all those cool names!

Yes, you do see a Battle in there, but this time it's my lovely wife who is contributing 4 of her handmade necklaces :) You can check out an on-line preview of all the artwork HERE.

CARTOON NETWORK Art Auction: The Sequel

2007-06-03T15:31:00.000-07:00

Since last year's auction was such a big success, Cartoon Network Studios will once again be host to a special art auction to benefit the Family Service Agency of Burbank on Saturday, June 30th. Much like the previous show, up for auction will be a large selection of orginal art by animation artists, production-related art + promo items, and special goodies, all going towards an excellent cause. But this time, you can get involved, too: Donations of artwork (original, printed, or third party) are currently being accepted. Here's your chance to have your artwork hanging next to some of animation's greatest talents! Click on the image below for all the details. If you have any questions about donating art, contact Cindy Morrow at cindy@cmsquared.net

Even if you can't donate any art, please come on down and check out the show! I hope to have something in there, but regardless, I'll be there and so will all your cartoon heroes, so be sure and say howdy. Drinks are on CNS, so let's toss back a few for a good cause!
.............................................
New artwork next time, guys.... promise.

Little Red Book

2007-05-08T12:59:00.000-07:00

For Valentine's this year, I bought my wife a little bound red book.

The idea is that every day she gets a little present in the form of a doodle; Usually done off the top of my head, either right before bed or first thing in the morning. Here's some of the results:

Our little puppy, Coco.

After she was spayed, Coco had to wear the typical cone collar for 2 weeks. I thought she looked like she was wearing the spacesuit helmet from 2001.

During her astronaut phase, Coco's face got really stinky. We couldn't wait for her to heal just so we could give her a bath.

I guess now you know what I was watching when I woke up.

I think repeat viewings of Miyazaki are a must for anyone in animation. It keeps you inspired.

To be continued....

Uhhh... the dog ate my blog post.

2007-04-23T20:19:00.000-07:00

It was recently pointed out to me by one of my disreputable slacker pals that I've been a little absent in posting new stuff. Totally busted. Man, that sucks. Especially 'cause I LOVE giving my friends shit for not updating theirs.

Okay, okay...I've been busting my ass lately on MIGHTY B, leaving little time for bloggy fun, but I don't want to leave you guys without your blogger fix, no matter how meager, so here goes:

Last week saw the premiere of TOO MANY ROBOTS!, part of the Disney Channel's Shorty McShorts' Shorts program. Created by Attaboy and produced by my pals at GHOSTBOT, I did props and character work for this one, which is available for download at the iTunes Music Store as a podcast right HERE.

Check out my MOO Mini-cards! These are too cool. You should get some for yourself. Then when me meet on the street we can trade Moo cards and be Moo buddies. or not.

Here's a few more EL TIGRE pics, too, from the episode with the Titanium Titan:

I'll try to have some TMR! robot silliness ready for next time.
.............................................
Lynne Naylor Art Show!

It's time for another showing of the super-cool art of Lynne Naylor THIS weekend (April 28) at M Modern Gallery in Palm Springs. Her new show, "Teatime", features an all-new collection of lovely ladies enjoying their favorite teas. You can check out an exclusive on-line preview by clicking on the image above. Better yet, head out there and hang from 7:00-10:00 and enjoy the free refreshments and live DJ!

Viva EL TIGRE!

2007-03-25T12:47:00.000-07:00

Finally! I've been sitting on these since last fall waiting for the show to premiere so's I could share some cool EL TIGRE stuff with you. I got to have the really fun job on the show-- doing juicy action poses. Man, this show rocks.

Did you know you can order official EL TIGRE t-shirts at the Nick.com on-line shop? There's 3 cool designs to choose from and they're available in both adult and kid sizes. Click on the pic and go git some ET gear!

Nothing ever really changes

2007-03-14T23:29:00.000-07:00

I had hoped to have more EL TIGRE stuff ready for you to see, but I need to find some time to spruce 'em up a bit before I post them. In their place, here's one more dip into the childhood art bin. Ever notice how you wind up drawing the same things your whole life? Case in point:

A drawing I did of the ALIEN when I was 8 years old. At the time, I was reading a comic book of the movie that had the alien colored wrong, so that's why he's yellow.

Here's a more detailed one from when I was 15. I think I was looking at the original Giger artwork. Kinda lame, like all teenage art.

....and here's one from last year, for something I can't talk about. ;) Shhhhhhhhhh.
.............................................
Ancient Book of Myth & War Show

So everyone knows about THE ANCIENT BOOK OF MYTH AND WAR Art Show/Book Release at Gallery Nucleus Saturday the 24th, right? Of course you do. See you there.

EL TIGRE is almost here!

2007-02-26T21:24:00.000-08:00

Check out the latest issue of ANIMATION MAGAZINE for a cover story on EL TIGRE, featuring cover art from an upcoming episode, as realized by the whole crew of the show, including original pencil art by ME, and additional work by Gabe Swarr and Steve Lambe, among others. Here's my original art for the show, which freeze-frames into a full-clor painting by ol 'Lambey:

The big news? EL TIGRE premieres Saturday Morning March 3rd at 10:30 AM on Nickelodeon, right after SPONGEBOB and right before AVATAR. Grab a bowl of Cap'n Crunch and a hot cup of coffee, settle in, and have fun!

COOL NEWS: The 1st episode is available FOR FREE on iTunes! Just go to the "Free on iTunes" section of the iTunes Store front page and you too can carry EL TIGRE in your pocket!

.............................................
BONUS Cartoon Treasure!

Check out this hidden animation gem from 1963: "Little Prince And Eight Headed Dragon" (Wanpaku Oji No Orochi Taiji) Produced by Toei Animation, it's the film that inspired SAMURAI JACK (Thanks to Chris Mitchell letting Genndy and the crew watch his laserdisc), WINDWAKER, and it's what Disney ripped off for the Pegasus/Hydra sequence in HERCULES.

The guy who posted the trailer above was good enough to put up the entire film in 3 chunks, which can be found HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Childhood Artwork pt. 2: Teenage Anime Explosion

2007-02-15T22:48:00.000-08:00

Okay, as promised, round two from the childhood vaults. Whereas my younger years were filled with STAR WARS and superheroes, with adolescence came anime... (I did these between the ages of 14-16 years)

ROBOTECH changed everything for alot of us kids at the time,
mainly the MACROSS portion of it.

By the time MEGAZONE 23 came out, my robot drawing skills improved a little bit.
(You be the judge.)

Ya can't draw Japanese robots without drawing GUNDAM. It's a law.

MEGAZONE 23 villain BD, 1st as a pen & ink drawing....

....and then on cel. Yeah, really.

For MZ 23 Part II, he got re-designed. SO metro. So '80s, too.

Again, hand-inked and hand-painted cel. This is how you did things before
Photoshop & Illustrator.

Okay... that's enough of that! Sheesh...
NEXT TIME: I finally get to post some EL TIGRE stuff.

.............................................
Kirsten Ulve New York show!!

Hey, all you New York bloggers: Be sure to head on over to Gallery Hanahou to check out my pal Kirsten Ulve's solo show PICTURES YOU WILL LIKE on Friday, February 23. You've seen Kirsten's coolness in tons of magazines and most recently Target, but this is a rare chance to see her gallery work. Head on over after work from 6-9 and show her some love!

Childhood Artwork RULES!!

2007-01-30T23:02:00.000-08:00

How awesome is old childhood artwork? Found a whole box of this stuff while cleaning out the garage last weekend:

Obviously, I still dig Darth Vader alot.

I think at the time I thought Superboy was a kid sidekick to Superman.
I do believe that is Krypto on the bottom.

Bruce Timm has his formula for superheroes, and so did I

Iron Man! You know I'm psyched about the movie.

I think all those letters on the Enterprise confused me at the time,
since I had only recently learned the alphabet.

Funny how once we get older, we spend the rest of our lives trying to recapture the same sense of artistic freedom we had back before we were "professional" doodlers...

Coming soon: THE TEENAGE YEARS.
WARNING: There will be anime.

.............................................
Saturday Morning art show at Nucleus this weekend!

Hey, kids! Be sure to check out the cool new "After These Messages" show this weekend (Feb 10) at Gallery Nucleus! It's gonna be chock full of cool artwork inspired by Saturday morning cartoons from back in the day, done by the animation artists of today! You can see work by my pals Jay, Anna, Brianne, Derrick, Mindy, Mari, Megan, Stef, Ben, Martin, Alex, Elizabeth, & Jeaux. Come on down for free booze 'n' breakfast cereal!!!

New year, new doodles

2007-01-12T00:11:00.000-08:00

Fresh new scribbles, all done on 3x5 Post-Its:

.............................................
The EL TIGRE Site is up!

Check out the mucho official site by clicking on the logo above, or right HERE.

HAPPY HOLI-DAZE!

2006-12-21T23:30:00.000-08:00

Here at the Chris Battle Ilustration corporate HQ, we're so green that we even recycle our old art so that we may provide you, our loyal customer, with guilt-free, eco-friendly holiday greetings!

Have a nice holiday, everyone! ...and don't freeze to death waiting in line for PS3s and Wiis.

New girlie pic + new job = new post

2006-12-05T13:54:00.000-08:00

Here's a little something I cooked up recently. The original rough Post-It sketch went to the lucky guy who won the random pick from the last post.

As I mentioned in the CF interview, I recently started a new job at Nickelodeon doing Character Design on SUPER SCOUT. Though I've done lots of freelance for Nick, this is my first time actually in-house. It should prove to be lots of fun, mainly 'cause the show is gonna be super-cool, I'm working with a bunch of old pals, and also because of this:

OH YEAH!
There's nothing like getting to play with an expensive toy on somebody else's dime. Of course, if my digital skillz don't improve over the course of this show, I deserve a massive kick in the nuts.

Check me out on Channel Frederator!

2006-11-25T11:02:00.000-08:00

I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Channel Frederator's Jeaux Javonsky. Learn all the answers to questions you never really wanted to ask me! Knowledge can be yours with a click on the picture above or right HERE.

You cats all know about Channel Frederator, right? After having such a big impact on cable animation at Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, Fred Seibert decided to do the same for the internet, exposing the world to fresh new cartoons by making them available for download. Be sure to check 'em out! Also, be sure to check out Jeaux's blog All of My Heroes Have Day Jobs and check in on his quest to "attain a sweet Animation Industry Job" (He's off to a good start, doncha think?)

.............................................
THE POSTCARD AND POST-IT DOODLE LOTTERY IS NOW CLOSED.
Thanks to everyone for dropping by; I was surprised by everyone's enthusiasm and sincere desire to own a little bit of my art! The postcards have been mailed out, and that lucky random guy or gal's Post-It drawing is flying it's way to their eager little hands. Maybe someday I should make a small batch of postcard sets for sale to those who are interested. Hmmmm....Stay tuned.

Everybody loves The Mayor!

2006-11-14T22:27:00.000-08:00

Here's a cool statue of the Mayor of Townsville that I got to design for THE POWERPUFF GIRLS MOVIE:

...and here's how it looked in the movie (Just before being blown to bits):

.............................................
Happy Birfday to me!

No, not my actual birthday, but my blog's! Hard to believe, but it's been a little over a year since I started blogging... and man, what a crazy year it's been.(Time flies when you're not regularly updating!) Definitely nice to be part of the art blog explosion.

To celebrate, I'll send a special "J IS FOR JAWA" promo postcard to the first 6 people who post a comment! (One per person, so no multiple posts, kids) ...and ONE random person will receive a special *BONUS* Post-It doodle. So get postin'.... maybe you'll get one.

Hopefully, I'll keep posting enough new stuff to keep all you guys coming back for year 2 :)

.............................................
EL TIGRE Art Show Pics

The EL TIGRE crew's Dia de Los Muertos art show was packed, and it wasn't just for the free-flowin' margartias:

Traditional tribute to everyone's passed family members

There's those Super Muertos Bros.... and, yup, they sold.

Eddie Trigueros' tribute to dead cartoon cats

Steve Lambe, kicking ass.

Phil Rynda, Ian Wasseluk, and Steve Lambe got so drunk they joined the Marines

EL TIGRE creators Jorge Gutierrez & Sandra Equihua also celebrated their anniversary!

Jorge did so much art, one photo isn't enough to contain it!

Sandra shows off her embroidery skills

Miss Mindy, Sandra, and a hatless Rick O'Brien

Mindy and yours truly show off what a good buzz does for you

Super Muerto Brothers!

2006-10-30T18:59:00.000-08:00

Here's two pieces I did for a special Dia de Los Muertos art show featuring works by the EL TIGRE crew. Dia de Los Muertos is the Mexican Day of the Dead celebration, and perhaps the most recognizable image of this holiday is the calaca. Borrowing a page (or maybe a whole chapter) from Pringle, I came up with these guys:

If I can manage to find a local printer in time (I moved last year and don't know where to find jack shit in my new environs), they'll be hanging in the lobby at Nickelodeon in Burbank for Halloween, that other Gringo holiday.

*HOT NEW UPDATE! Thanks to an assist from everybody's pal Lambey, the Brothers Muerto will be on display! Come on down for margaritas, kids!

.............................................
EL TIGRE Sneak Peek now online!

Check out the freshly leaked preview for Jorge Gutierrez & Sandra Equiha's EL TIGRE! I've been doing some work on the series for a few months now, and while I had nothing to do with this promo, you should definitely take a peek at what's gonna be one of the best new cartoons for '07!

.............................................
PS: Many thanks to my NY cartoon pals Diane, Nina, and "Mister" Tom for finding time to hang out while I was in yer fine city!

Animal Farm

2006-10-17T01:09:00.000-07:00

Naw, I'm not gonna get all Orwellian on you; Just thought I'd share a couple of animal designs from XIAOLIN SHOWDOWN:

Sorry, no rabid squirrels this week.

As a bonus, here's some phone doodles I did while I was
on hold with Apple Support last week.

MELTDOWN!

2006-10-09T11:49:00.000-07:00

Tired of looking at the same old post for the past few weeks? So am I. My computer, on the other hand, couldn't care less. Why else would the hard drive fail? That's right-- right in the middle of freelance, my trusty lil' G4 made a nice, whiny pop and shut down for good. A trip to the Apple Store confirmed the worst: my lil' buddy's HD was a goner. While replacing a hard drive is easy, restoring your system from your back-up HD is another thing entirely. Things aren't going smoothly, so don't expect any pretty new artwork for a few more days.

.............................................
YOU MUST GO TO THIS ART SHOW!

Check it out: This weekend, it's time for another cool show by cartoon superstars Chris Reccardi and Lynne Naylor at M MODERN GALLERY in Palm Springs. It all goes down Saturday October 14, from 7:00-10:00 pm, so make the drive out to the desert to see some of the coolest art ever!

XIAOLIN Dim Sum

2006-09-14T14:11:00.000-07:00

After last week's crocodile tease, here's some assorted tasty XIAOLIN SHOWDOWN morsels for all:

Yeah, but what have you done for me lately?

2006-08-27T23:43:00.000-07:00

I'm so dang busy these days, it's hard to find the time to spiff up my artwork to make it blog-worthy. Since most of that stuff is only half-polished, here's a giant prehistoric crocodile from XIOALIN SHOWDOWN to tide you over:

It's hanging out in a deep-sea cavern next to Atlantis, so that's why it's got the glowing eyes 'n' stuff.

.............................................
TOP SECRET!

People sometimes ask me "What are you working on now?" and "When can you post some stuff from EL SUPERBEASTO?" Well, it's like this: I recently finished up work on BEASTO, and it won't be coming out 'til 2007, so in the meantime, I can't post any of the artwork I did for the movie. (They even made us sign papers that specifically mentioned blogs!) Maybe if they put some of my art on the official website, it can be considered "declassified", but not until then, I guess.

....so as I search for that next cool project, I'm doing some work on Jorge Guiterrez & Sandra Equihua's wild new show at Nickelodeon, EL TIGRE. That won't be out until 2007 either, so you can't see any of my stuff for that, too. :(

...I'm also working with the cool cats over at GHOSTBOT on a sooper secret project that I can't even tell you about!

What's next for this kid? As soon as I know, I'll let all of you know....

.............................................

HOW DID I ALMOST MISS THIS ONE?

Giant Robot's sister store GR2 has an awesome Post-It art show, POST DEUX, on display thru September 19. Their walls are covered in tons of the little yellow stickies (Nearly 2,000) featuring the doodles of 32 different artists. Super-cool; Check it out! ....and be sure to stop at Beard Papa for creampuffs before you leave.

I'm a simple man

2006-08-15T08:53:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, it's the simple props that are the most fun:

Even a complex prop like a cop car can be made simple:

......................................................

THE TRUTH ABOUT ANIMATION

This is a quote by a good friend of mine in the biz, who is actually a totally happy, upbeat, successful guy. He is also an awesome cynic. I'm not bitter (for reals!), I just find this too funny, and 100% acurate. Remember, deep inside every cynic is a frustrated optimist. :)

NOTE: This post contains a bad word.

Doodle Dump

2006-07-31T23:38:00.000-07:00

As usual, most of these are all done on 2x3 Post-Its.

I think aliens would enjoy the Japanese athetic.

I don't know what this is about; Maybe that we don't send letters or cards anymore 'cause of e-mail?

Okay, this was done on 4x6

O-yasumi nasai!

Sweat Shop!

2006-07-25T03:12:00.000-07:00

This one's for everyone who went down to Comic-con and got hot 'n' sweaty amongst the nerd herd:

I didn't go myself, but I felt the hot 'n' sweaty out here in the San Fernando Valley as record temperatures blew out power to several lucky areas last Saturday, including our block. For 2 and a half days, 108 degree temperatures turned our home into a lovely mid-century oven. Perfect conditions for attempting to finish the freelance I had under-taken! Trying to work in a crowded, noisy coffee joint (not recommended) led to finally renting a hotel room the 2nd night so I could work and we could actually sleep.

Today, power was restored..... and we had a refridgerator to clean out. So thanks for putting up with the lack of a new post for the *big* weekend. I have a new batch of doodles to post once I clean 'em up a bit, so just be patient...

...and if you didn't go to Comic-con, this is all you missed.

Shady Business

2006-07-12T01:12:00.000-07:00

Nothing too fancy here... just some stuff where I had to do some lighting effects:

Sometimes to draw the lighting effect, ya gotta rework the board drawing. In this case, the Powerpuff Girls are so specific in their posing (Due to their flat, UPA-inspired design) that only those of us who worked on the show since the beginning knew how to pose them correctly. There are often rules as to how a character can be posed in order to work with their unique designs. The PPGs probably gave freelance board artists more headaches than any other show at the time... (other than DEXTER'S LAB)

This is an example of what we would call "Models as layout":

............................................

POWERPUFF Z EPISODES ON YOUTUBE

A weird experience for those of us that worked on the original, but it's pretty cool. You can check out full episodes and more here.

GOIN' APESHIT!

2006-06-28T00:09:00.000-07:00

Here's some more stuff from the BILLY & MANDY episode that featured the "Anime" Billy & Mandy. The little Chim-Chim-esque monkey winds up coming into the "real" world, and eventually goes mano-a-mano with Grim to see who gets to be the kids' new best pal. Oh yeah, they fight John Woo style with household cleaning products. (Don't ask)

...and just in case you're curious to see how those anime-style Billy & Mandy turned out, here ya go:

PEACE OUT, G.

Damn, I'm tired

2006-06-21T01:09:00.000-07:00

I'd like to put up a nice, big post full of pictures, but my nights have been too busy as of late. Next time I'll post more stuff for ya'll to enjoy. In the meantime, please enjoy this quickie drawing.

.............................................

I GOT PRESS!

Check it out: Lat week's Darth Vader post was linked in the Minneapolis CITY PAGES "Morning Blotter" under "Time Wasters". Click on the logo to see for yourself:

That's right, I get listed BEFORE the Brittany Spears quote! Fuck yeah.

Darth Vader: Intergalactic Sad Sack

2006-06-07T11:30:00.000-07:00

Let's face it: Darth Vader sucks. He used to be cool. Ultimate movie bad guy. Icon of evil. Now the new STAR WARS movies show us that he WAS going to be pretty cool, but blew it all & wound up wearing an iron lung for the next 3 movies.

Remember that scene from the 1st STAR WARS where Vader chokes that guy from across the room? We all thought it showed how cool he was, but as adults, we know the real subtext: Vader is the low man on the totem in this boardroom. Face it: If you're the only guy without a chair at the big meeting, you definitely made bad career choices.

Now that we know the root of Vader's problems are mommy issues, and that he killed all his old friends 'cause he was afraid of losing his girl, he DEFINITELY sucks.

......................................................

TOBY BLUTH ART SHOW!

Didn't get enough of Westside art shows at the John K. retrospective? Well head on out to Great American Ink Gallery in Brentwood this Saturday, June 10 from 12-5 to see the work of my friend Toby Bluth, in a special showing of his tribute to Fleischer-era POPEYE and BETTY BOOP. An animation artist & illustrator of the highest caliber, Toby has done work for almost every studio in town (Most recently at Disney as Art Director for THE TIGGER MOVIE and THE THREE MUSKETEERS), and is currently Artistic Director for C.A.A.T. Studios. His amazing watercolor art captures the classic beauty of animation's golden age. Click on Betty to go to the site!

......................................................

EL SUPERBEASTO UPDATE!

The official site just added a bunch of new fun: You can now check out a full image gallery, dowload wallpapers and AIM icons, post to the official EL SUPERBEASTO message boards, plus get the scoop on some major Oscar-nominated voice casting. Check it out at www.elsuperbeasto.com

I am FAKE SHANE

2006-05-29T23:00:00.000-07:00

I wound up drawing this after spending too much time looking at Shane Glines' stuff at his CARTOON RETRO site. Shamelss, yes, and I could never draw like Shane, but when you get inspired, ya just gotta go with whatever vibe got ya there.

By the way, you can now buy Shane's new self-published magnum opus, S CURVES: The Art of Shane Glines at Lulu.com; 400 pages of color hard-cover goodness! Also available from Lulu is Shane's LILLY & FLINCH Sketchbook. Two batches of Shane's amazing illustrations? You know ya gotta have 'em.

(There; Maybe that plug'll make up for me biting Shane's style)

Cat's out of the bag...

2006-05-22T23:26:00.000-07:00

People have been asking what I'm working on these days: Since last fall, I've been doing character designs for Rob Zombie's crazy lil' cartoon movie THE HAUNTED WORLD OF EL SUPERBEASTO. Written by Mr. Zombie & Tom Papa and directed by Mr. Lawrence (of SPONGEBOB fame), this R-rated flick features the work of a bunch of your favorite cartoon pals from REN & STIMPY, DEXTER'S LAB, POWERPUFF GIRLS, SPONGEBOB, CLONE HIGH, and SAMURAI JACK. When will it be out? Your guess is as good as mine, but for now, you can check out character profiles and sign up for future updates at the official site.

There will be monsters. There will be sexy girls. There will be masked mexican wrestlers. There will also be a sexually frustrated transforming robot. ...and that's just for starters.

Doodles Galore!

2006-05-08T11:30:00.000-07:00

What I do when I'm supposed to be working:

These are mainly all done on 2x3 or 1.5x2 inch Post-Its.

.........................................

MINOR UPDATE: Uploaded a higher-res scan so's you can see all the details!

Lil' Hellboy

2006-04-30T22:30:00.000-07:00

My hard drive is full. My new external drive is on it's way. Until then, Photoshop is not my friend. The massive doodle composite will have to wait. Until Amazon saves the day, I offer you Lil' Hellboy. I just picked up the new STRANGE PLACES book, and I've had Hellboy on the brain.

Today I ate Hell Chicken. The proof is here.

.....................................................................

COOL ART SHOW ALERT!

Next Saturday night, May 6th, will be the opening reception for Mari Inukai's show "Syun-ga" (Spring Dreams) at Gallery Nucleus. There will be live music and complimentary sake and otsumami (Oishi!), so get there early!

.....................................................................

MORE ON PPG-Z

I guess alot of people hadn't heard about this yet. It was announced a year ago, but I'm not sure if it's begun airing yet. You can find a fan guide to the early promo footage here. A more updated version is here, but it's in Japanese. Still plenty to see, tho. (Be sure to check out the Quicktime movies!)

Odds 'n' Ends (A mini-update)

2006-04-23T15:37:00.000-07:00

The biggest art show in LA last week? Well, it was probably still the 8-BIT sequel, but it sure didn't seem that way if you were at Cartoon Network for the Fyn Stec Benefit Art Auction. It was LARGE; A huge night filled with plenty of old friends, and almost all of the original CN gang, most of whom hadn't been at the studio for years! Spirited bidding on an overflowing amount of artwork raised $41,131.00 for Fyn! (For more info, check out the latest post at Fyn's blog here.)

I'm in this picture if you look real close.

(Photos totally stolen from the TAG blog)

Many thanks to my pals Craig & Megan Lewis for their very generous winning bid for my piece! Craig has a crazy new cheezy green-screen puppets 'n' costumes Sid & Marty Krofft on acid kinda show coming up later this year on Adult Swim called SAUL OF THE MOLE PEOPLE. You can check out a lil' tease on YouTube right here:

Be sure to pick up the latest issue of JUXTAPOZ. No, it's not because it's got a Tusken Raider on the cover, it's 'cause inside there's a big interview with my pals Chris Reccardi & Lynne Naylor. Run to your local magazine stand or go here for more info.

Here's some new footage of POWERPUFF GIRLS Z that was floating around YouTube:

YAY ME! Last week my lil' blog passed the 10,000 hit mark! (and I've only been keeping track since late January... how many have I actually had since starting the blog back in November??) Since you're my audience, here's what I wanna find out from you:

What do you guys like to see here at Chris Battle Land? I'm trying to keep the mix fresh-- stuff from all of my past shows mixed in with new doodlings & occasional color works. Like the classic stuff? Like newer doodlings? Wanna see more step-by-step "process" posts? Want 20% more Chewbacca, 5% less Rubik the Amazing Cube??? Let me know!

Doodles will be happening next post. Lots of 'em. You were warned.

Art auction for a cause!

2006-04-13T23:55:00.000-07:00

All of you out here in the L.A. area should head over to Cartoon Network in Burbank starting April 17, so you can view and bid on cool artwork by all your favorite cartoon pals (even me) in a special silent auction to benefit a very brave little friend of mine, Fyn Stec. Fyn is fighting liver cancer, and to help his parents with the medical costs, all of us are donating original artwork that will go on exhibit in the lobby of Cartoon Network Studios. On the evening of April 20, you might be the lucky one to take said artwork home after the silent auction! So head on out to Burbank and remember to bid BIG! It's for a good cause. Not in L.A.? You can still place a bid BEFORE the auction begins.

For more information (Dates, times, and an image gallery that will eventually show all 180+ pieces!), click on the picture of Fyn on the right, or check out the blog that's been started so friends and family can stay up to date on Fyn's condition here.

Here's my piece for the show:

(That's right, everyone's favorite...& it can be YOURS!)

UNRELATED TIME-WASTING LINK:
Go here to see a gross old picture of me by Dan Krall
that he was kind enough to post on his blog. (Bastard!)

"XIAOLIN" Warriors

2006-03-31T01:53:00.000-08:00

Here's some ancient warrior spirits I did for XIAOLIN SHOWDOWN. We had no guidelines, only that they be from different cultures & eras in time. Here's some that I came up with:

This was an extra design I didn't have time to finish. Too bad; she's kinda cool.

Any of you XS fans who also like toys (and there might be one or two of you...) should be on the lookout for the new XIAOLIN SHOWDOWN action figures , available at a mega-store near you. Take it from someone who used to draw them, the sculpts are really good, plus they come with cool little accessories.

...and starring Chris Battle as himself

2006-03-23T22:30:00.000-08:00

Cartoon people is funny. Sometimes we get all giddy/bored/drunk and draw our co-workers into the shows. All of our shows for Cartoon Network are chock full of cartoon cameos by their crew members. Witness:

I did some of the storyboards for "Dexter Detention" and as a goof, added a bunch of crew members to this list. The model designer did me one better and stuck me in with the other delinquents.

When an episode of PPG called for a guy who steals some Powerpuff dolls, Stef Choi decided I looked like a criminal & thus my life of cartoon petty thievery began.

Some Post-It Sketches

2006-03-16T22:30:00.000-08:00

Believe it or not, those were actually done for work. (Working on an R-rated feature is a totally different kind of animal...)

I did this doodle a few years ago on a little 1.5" x 2" post-it, and it's been a favorite of mine. One of those few times I committed to laying down straight ink.

Remember, kids: This Saturday night is the opening of THE UNICORN SHOW @ GALLERY NUCLEUS! It'll be a big, cool group show featuring work from a lot of my pals like Tony, Stef, Anna, Brianne, Jay, Jenny, Mari, Megan, and Shannon. They make all your favorite cartoons, so go support them!!!

GIANT ROBOTS!!

2006-03-02T00:15:00.000-08:00

While working on DEXTER'S and PPG, I became known as the go-to-guy for giant robots. (...and if you ever watched those shows, you know there was a LOT of 'em...)

The infamous POWERPUFF DYNAMO

Ya know when these robots do all their cool transformer shit? Someone has to figure out how all that stuff actually works:

For THE POWERPUFF GIRLS MOVIE, I had to design Kaboom Baboon's BaboomBot, which would be realized in CGI. This required WAY more detailed work than usual: Full turns with no cheats, special drawings for the workings of the hands, etc.

Here's the result:

All that hard hand-drawn work probably just went to further the myth that all cartoons are just "done by a computer". *SIGH*

Dan Krall's Blog

2006-03-01T10:52:00.000-08:00

In case you didn't know, this week my pal Dan Krall quietly started up a blog. Don't know the name? You know his work: Aside from designing backgrounds for DEXTER'S LABORATORY and THE POWERPUFF GIRLS, Dan helped Genndy Tartakovsky create the world of SAMURAI JACK, for which he won an Emmy for his Art Direction. After lending his magic to FOSTER'S HOME FOR IMAGINARY FRIENDS, and MY GYM PARTNER'S A MONKEY, he's now working for LAIKA on their upcoming feature CORALINE.

While Dan's website has been around for awhile, this is the first chance you all have to see sketches of his travels near and far. From Budapest to Burbank, Dan can't help but notice the beautiful ugly people out there and share them with us all.

Get yer geek on

2006-02-22T12:30:00.000-08:00

This began as a color study for a marker drawing I was doing for an art trade and turned into... well, this:

The recipient asked for a Paul Rudish style SW pic. Nobody's better at being Paul than Paul, so I went for a Glenn Barr inspired design. (Not that I think I make for a better Glenn)

The TEENAGE ROBLOG

2006-02-17T16:37:00.000-08:00

If you haven't checked it out recently, the good folks over on MY LIFE AS A TEENAGE ROBOT have been posting an avalanche of amazing work on their show blog. The latest post features stunning paintings of Prof. Wakeman's youthful adventures done in an old pulp magazine style.

MLAATR is one of the best designed shows around; Rob, Alex, and the gang definitely created something truly special throughout it's 3 seasons. Sadly, Nick passed on a 4th season, so we'll all have to look elsewhere for our weekly design fix. We can only hope for a DVD set someday...

Last year, Frederator published THE MLAATR SKETCHBOOK, available from Cafe Press. It's chock full of great pencil art from the show. Order one here while you still can!

I like it rough!

2006-02-10T16:30:00.000-08:00

The best part about drawing has gotta be that first, rough blast of creativity. I always wind up doing my initial roughs on little bitty post-it notes and then enlarge the drawing for a final pass to clean it up a bit.

Here's the final product of one of those post-it drawings:

...and just 'cause everybody's pal Lambey is proudly flying his STAR WARS geek flag, I figured I'd to post this one, too:

New Year's Karma

2006-02-02T23:20:00.000-08:00

In the interest of creating some positive karma for myself and also to help out a great bunch of kids, I'm turning my blog over for a moment to my friend Nile. She's got a great local organization to tell all my fellow Los Angeles residents about. Take it away, Nile:

OK, all you cool artist cartoonist people.... please check out Inner City Arts @ http://www.inner-cityarts.org. This is one of the coolest places on the planet. Situated in the heart of Skid Row (downtown LA) it is a place that inner city kids can change their life through art. My friend Kate Park (she is 13) is taking Animation there. Lots of inner city kids got into Cal Arts after spending time at ICA - and their lives were changed forever. Check out the website - but better still GO THERE and check out the place. They will give you a tour. It is AWWWWWESOME!!! And you art farts have so much to offer these kids!

PEACE,
Nile (a friend and fan of Chris Battle)

COCONUT FRED

2006-01-26T22:40:00.000-08:00

One of my more recent gigs was Character Supervisor for Kid's WB's COCONUT FRED'S FRUIT SALAD ISLAND. It was my first time designing for a Flash animated show, and it turned out to be a fun gig! I was able to draw even looser than ever before, eventually developing a style that emulated one of my favorite MAD Magazine artists, Paul Coker Jr., and famed children's book author Jolly Roger Bradfield.

You can check out the work of some my friends/co-conspirators from CF like Matt Danner, Aaron Simpson, Mindy Allen, Tony Candelaria, and Gerald DeJesus by clicking on their names.