Here’s a few late night sketches done on my Cintiq 12wx, looking at some random photos from a Google image search. Nothing fancy (a little wonky, actually)….just keeping loose.
Looney Tunes on iTunes
Classic Looney Tunes animated shorts are now available for download on iTunes, priced at two for $1.99. Right now if you go to the iTunes store and click on “TV Shows”, you’ll see a box in the middle area of the screen that says “Looney Tunes Studio Just Added”. Click on it and you’ll see 60 classic shorts organized by character (Twenty Bugs Bunny, twenty Daffy Duck, and twenty Porky Pig cartoons). You have to buy them in pairs, but at least you can buy them.
If you are a big fan of Looney Tunes, the best and most comprehensive source of cartoon mayhem is the Looney Tunes Golden Collection on DVD. Five volumes have been released so far with each volume containing over fifty cartoons on four discs, plus commentaries, featurettes, and cartoons from the “vault”. (You can buy them from Amazon.com through my Recommended Resources page.)
At $1.99 for two cartoons, the iTunes option is an inexpensive way to build your own custom library of the “greatest hits” of Warner Brothers animation. And unlike a DVD collection, if you own a video iPod or iPhone you can carry them around with you anywhere.
For you youngin’s who might not be familiar with the Bugs Bunny classics, I highly recommend downloading “The Rabbit of Seville/Rabbit Seasoning” combo on the iTunes Bugs Bunny page. Both were directed by Chuck Jones, and they are two of the funniest cartoons Warner Brothers ever produced.
More Art Blogs
(Illustration by Paul Fricke/Blue Moon Studios. All rights reserved.)
It’s my pleasure to welcome another Minnesota illustrator to the blogosphere! My friend and fellow illustrator Paul Fricke (owner of Blue Moon Studios) has just launched a spanky new version of his website–complete with a daily blog. Paul has been freelancing for over twenty years now. He has a background in comic books (he created the series Trollords and inked several titles for DC comics) and specializes in advertising storyboards. Paul is a multi-talented illustrator with in impressive list of clients including Best Buy, General Mills, Target, Pillsbury, and 3M. On top of that, Paul’s an all-around nice guy. I’ve learned a lot from him. Check out the new Blue Moon Studios website, especially Paul’s new blog.
(Illustration by Charlie Griak. All rights reserved.)
Another talented artist/blogger from the Twin Cities is Charlie Griak. Charlie’s been illustrating professionally for 8 years and his work is jaw-dropping. His past clients include McDonald’s, Microsoft, CNN and Target. Stop by his website and blog for some great eye-candy. I’ve never plugged his work here before, but a mention is long overdue.
New Blog: North Central Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society
I’ve had the privilege of being a member of the National Cartoonists Society for about five years now. Since I live in Minneapolis I belong to the North Central Chapter. Most of the NCS chapters are centered on the coasts, where you can find a high concentration of cartoonists in a relatively small geographical area. Since this is the midwest, our chapter is quite large geographically. It covers a multi-state area from the Rockies east to the Mississippi River and from the Dakotas southward through Oklahoma.
But there’s plenty of talent to go around.
In addition to a website, our chapter now has a blog thanks to the efforts of chapter member and blogger extraordinaire Tom Richmond. Members will be posting their recent work and commenting about, well, whatever cartoonists talk about. I’m looking forward to taking part when I can.
Lately members have been posting artwork from their latest Christmas cards and promotions. Check out the chapter blog here.
“3-2-1 Penguins!” Prop Designs
For last Saturday’s episode of 3-2-1 Penguins! I had the privilege of not only designing the misc. characters but also most of the props (over two dozen!) It was a lot of work for one episode but also a ton of fun. Here’s a sampling:
(All artwork is © copyright Big Idea. All rights reserved.)
This water pump is not really a prop, it’s more like a giant set piece. It’s also the only one I didn’t come up with entirely on my own. It’s based on a rough sketch given to me by the director.
Here’s a detail of the control panel on the side of the water pump.
Some shields for a quick gag. The ship is under attack, the Captain yells, “Raise shields!”. The clueless-but-loveable Kevin hoists these in the air. *Snicker!*
A welding mask worn by Fidgel, the ship’s science officer. The reason it sticks out so far from the front of his head is to allow room for his long beak.
Finally, a laser tag-like device that operates like a party favor. The script called for the filter to be removable.
I’d love to show more, but Big Idea owns all the artwork and they are being very generous as it is by allowing me to display this on my blog.
Don’t forget to watch 3-2-1 Penguins! Saturday mornings on NBC!
My Review Of The New Portable “Sketchbook” Cintiq 12wx
My portable “sketchbook” Cintiq arrived on Tuesday. After my first few hours with it, here are my initial impressions:
Beauty and Brawn. Like other Cintiq’s, this is a quality product with an elegant design. It’s thin but sturdy (although a tad heavier than I thought it would be). You almost think that you could knock it off a table top without doing any damage…although I wouldn’t recommend trying.
Drawing on it feels smooth and natural, just like a regular Cintiq.
Screen Specs. The high-resolution screen displays a crisp image with rich color. It has a wider viewing angle than my laptop screen, which means I can tilt it at different angles and the color shifts just slightly, if at all. Laptop screens are notorious for their shifting color, so this was a pleasant surprise.
If you are a stickler for color, you may not like the Cintiq’s default color settings. I’ve never been able to get my desktop Cintiq to be quite as precise in its color calibration as, say, an Apple cinema display, and my guess is the sketchbook Cintiq also can’t be fine-tuned as precisely as some would like. Although to be fair I haven’t done much research into how to calibrate the new Cintiq. But for general purpose cartooning and illustration the color is still very good.Read More