Sneaky Critters Show

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. ~
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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

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.
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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!

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

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

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.
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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!