Today several new animated DVDs are hitting the store shelves. Time to add to your collections:
Pixar Short Films Collection – Volume 1
Ratatouille
At one time there were reports that a 2-disc special edition of Disney/Pixar’s Cars would also be released today, but instead there is just a one-disc version
Other DVD animated curiosities released today include Opus N’ Bill in a Wish for Wings That Work
Also, don’t forget to check out Looney Tunes – Golden Collection, Volume Five
Last night I returned from a whirlwind weekend in Kansas City for the annual meeting of the North Central Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society. It was a long drive back to Minneapolis (our chapter covers a very large geographical area), but it was well worth the trip.
About thirty-five professional cartoonists, illustrators, and Flash animators took part in the fun. Since Hallmark is headquartered in Kansas City we were privileged to have four of Hallmark’s artist give presentations: Stacey Lamb (whose presentation I unfortunately missed); David Mowder (a prolific licensing artist); John Wagner (creator of Maxine); and Bob Holt (creator of Hoops and Yoyo). It was really inspiring to see so many talented folks showing us their artwork and discussing their process. It really jazzed me up.
The presentations were followed with a fancy dinner capped of with a talk by Lee Salem (President and Editor of Universal Press Syndicate). Mr. Salem spoke on issues related to editorial cartooning and the controversies the cartoons can create.
Earlier this year Bill Amend (creator of FoxTrot) was awarded the Rueben, NCS’s annual award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year. This was the first time a member of our chapter has received such a high honer. To show our appreciation, Oliver Christianson presented Amend with our own award, the Golden Slide Rule.
The NCS is not only loaded with talented artists, but they are a lot of fun to hang out with. It’s really neat to meet the faces behind the talent, kick back, and talk shop. Here’s a few pics I snapped of various members:
Bucky Jones and Ken Alvine. Two of the nicest goofballs you will ever meet.
Chris Grine and Ted Goff. Chris was recently nominated for an Eisner award for his book Chickenhare. Ted won a Silver T-Square award from the NCS in 2001.
Dave Mowder, licensing artist at Hallmark. Dave is a very talented artist and a whiz at backgrounds. His presentation was super inspiring. If you buy a greeting card featuring Disney characters, or a Looney Tunes Christmas ornament, there’s a good chance that Dave was involved with it.
MAD Magazine artist Tom Richmond proudly displays a t-shirt he won at the raffle. Tom has taken weight lifting to a whole new level. That t-shirt is size XXXL.
A few chapter members kick back and debate the deep social issues of our time such as “Which flavor of Pop Tarts is the best?” (I vote cherry.)
One of the highlights for me was the raffle. Each year artists donate sketches, artwork, books, t-shirts, etc. to be raffled off as a fundraiser. This year I had meant to sketch something for the raffle, but life just got too busy. Since I felt bad for not contributing, I purchased a few extra tickets instead. I must have purchased too many, because I walked off with a LOT of loot. I had the winning ticket a total of eight times, but after the fourth win I stopped taking the prizes and told them to draw again. I felt bad that I was winning all this great stuff and wanted to spread it around a bit.
The prize I’m most excited about was this page of original artwork for MAD Magazine, signed by Tom Richmond. I’m not a huge fan of MAD but they have some amazing artists, including Tom. His work is incredible. This page is from a parody of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”. Besides being inspiring to look at, my wife loves the show, so this will definitely be framed and hung in my studio.
I also won a matted print of this editorial cartoon by Pullitzer-Prize winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes. The cartoon has something to do with the Scooter Libby controversy, which I know nothing about. When I got back to my hotel room I did some Googling to try and learn about it. I read several pages and I still don’t get it. But I like Telnaes’ clean, simple line style. No disrespect meant to Dick Cheney, but that’s one of the best caricatures of him I’ve ever seen.
I also won a signed copy of Chickenhare: The House of Klaus by chapter member Chris Grine. I don’t know anything about Chickenhare (published by Dark Horse), but it was nominated for an Eisner. I really like Grine’s style, espcially his use of blacks, and am hoping I can find time to browse the book soon.
Finally, I also won a copy of MAD Magazine signed by Tom Richmond, in which he illustrated parodies of several popular commercials. More about it here.
Overall the event was a great success and I had a wonderful time. I’m very grateful to be a member of the National Cartoonists Society. Being in a group with such talented and professional people is truly humbling, and it inspires me to keep raising the bar on my own work and career.
I’ve added three magazines to my Recommended Resources link at Amazon.com.
Communication Arts is a quality art magazine for creatives. It’s an expensive magazine printed on thick glossy paper, but it has a lot of good content. Several issues are themed around “annuals” (Design Annual, Illustration Annual, Photography Annual, etc.) which means that a big chunk of those issues contains the latest and greatest work being done in that media (at least, as judged by the editors). Lots of good content in the articles too.Read More
Before getting into today’s post, I want to thank the guys over at Drawn! for graciously writing a little blurb about my Schoolism.com posts on October 20. That day I got a lot of visitors to this site–over 3,700–and the following day my blog made #61 in the top 100 WordPress blogs for that day. Muchos Gracias, guys! And thanks to all you new readers who’ve been sticking around since.
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Yesterday my copy of Leopard, Apple’s new operating system, arrived in the mail. (I ordered from Amazon.com and saved a few bucks. Their single-user version is $20 cheaper than Apple’s retail price and the family-license version is $10 cheaper. Plus free shipping.) After reading thoughts about the upgrade from the talented and prolific Tom Richmond, I thought I’d post my own experiences.
Upgrading your entire operating system is always a big project, and there are bound to be a few glitches. Most glitches are usually ironed out within a few months of the software’s release, but early adapters take the brunt of it. Since Leopard is only a few days old I knew I’d run into some bugs, but I never expected to run into as many problems as I did.Read More
At the moment I’m under the pile with five freelance projects. I’m doing turnarounds and mouth charts for an upcoming episode of 3-2-1 Penguins!, I’m creating some spot illustrations for a website, I’m designing a character for a popular food product (can’t say what yet), I’m illustrating some Spanish curriculum, and I’m getting started on a set of Bible flashcards. So, my apologies but there’s no post today.
However, I’ve also got some fun stuff in the works. I’m writing a post about the animation and posing in The Jungle Book. I’m also doing some research on the best websites for a freelance illustrator to advertise, which should be helpful to you other freelancers out there. So there’s some hearty stuff a-comin’!
In the mean time, check out some of the great Art Blogs listed off to the left. Super inspirational stuff!
Here’s a re-post from way back when my blog was only a couple of months old.
(Turtle artwork by Guy Francis)
Like a lot of artists, I get challenged and inspired by drooling over the work of other artists (like the ones listed to the right, for example). One of the best ways for me to keep that inspiration going is to create a screen saver of their work. That way, any time I need an inspirational kick all I have to do is look up from my drawing board and watch my computer screen for a few minutes.
Here’s how to create your own screen saver on a Mac with Safari. It’s super-simple.
First, start collecting inspirational goodies:
1. Create a folder (anywhere on your computer) to store all the images. I named mine “Other Artists”. (Within the folder I have the artwork organized into more folders by artist’s name, but that’s optional.)
2. In Safari’s Preferences, click on the “Save Downloaded Files to” drop-down menu and select the “Other Artists” folder.
3. When you find a super-cool piece of art, control-click and select ‘Save Image to “Other Artists'”.
Then, set up your screen saver:
1. Open System Preferences and click the “Desktop & Screen Saver” icon.
2. Click on the Screen Saver tab.
3. Under the “screen savers” list at left, scroll down and select “Choose Folder”.
4. Locate the “Other Artists” folder and click “Choose”.
5. Adjust your other screen saver settings to your liking, then quit System Preferences.
That’s all there is to it! I hope I’m not violating any copyright laws by downloading other people’s work, but I figure if someone posts their art online for me to view on my personal computer, it must be ok for me to use that art elsewhere on my personal computer…as long as it stays on my private computer screen. But if I’m mistaken on that, I’d welcome anyone correcting me.
