My Annual Good Friday Post

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Today is Good Friday. As a Christian this is one of the most important days of the year for me, the day we pause to commemorate the torture, crucifixion, and death of Jesus Christ. You may wonder, why would a day like that be called “good?”

Because even though it was a terrible day for Jesus it was a very good day for you and me. How’s that, you ask? Over the course of my career I’ve had the privilege to work on several projects that help explain:

Are You A Good Person? Cartoon

First, here’s an 8-page cartoon Gospel tract I illustrated a few years ago for the ministry of Living Waters. Several million copies have been printed in English and it has been translated into over twenty languages. You can download it for free or purchase printed copies from Living Waters.

[youtube_sc url=TCSUKIhjevo width=430]

Based on the tract’s success, Living Waters also hired me to produce an animated version, which I supervised with the help of two terrific animators (Michael Foster and Chance Dodd). If you like it you can download a free HD version to use however you’d like.

Finally, VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer recently completed a DVD series called “What’s In The Bible?”. I had the privilege of doing some animation and character design work on a few episodes.

Here’s a clip from the episode explaining the meaning of Easter:

[youtube_sc url=DQ7Dc_w_Tl8 width=430]

I don’t make any money or royalties off of these items. I just believe in them and want to share. Thanks for indulging me. Here’s wishing you a very happy Easter filled with smiles and jelly beans!

My Annual Good Friday Post

by

Today is Good Friday. As a Christian this is one of the most important days of the year for me, the day we pause to commemorate the torture, crucifixion, and death of Jesus Christ. Some of you my wonder, why on earth would a day like that be called “good?”

Because even though it was a terrible day for Jesus it was a very good day for you and me. Over the course of my career I’ve been able to work on several projects that help explain that message, and every Good Friday I like to take a moment to share them:

Are You A Good Person? Cartoon

Here’s an 8-page cartoon Gospel tract I illustrated several years ago for the ministry of Living Waters. To date over five million copies have been printed in English and it has been translated into over twenty languages. You can download it for free in multiple languages at www.FreeCartoonTract.com, or you can purchase printed copies from the ministry of Living Waters.

[youtube_sc url=TCSUKIhjevo width=430]

Based on the tract’s success, Living Waters also hired me to produce an animated version, which I supervised with the help of two terrific animators (Michael Foster and Chance Dodd). To date it has received over a half million views on YouTube and has been subtitled into 19 other languages. If you like the video you can download a free HD version to use however you’d like.

[youtube_sc url=i0Ovq73f-xk width=430]

Finally, VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer has recently completed a series of videos called “What’s In The Bible?”. I’ve had the privilege of working on a few of them. Here’s the trailer for Volume 10, which covers the life and ministry of Jesus including his death and resurrection. In this episode I designed a few of the characters and did a smidgen of animation.

Here’s a clip from the episode explaining the meaning of Easter:

[youtube_sc url=DQ7Dc_w_Tl8 width=430]

You can order DVDs or digital downloads from the series at www.whatsinthebible.com. Also, if you subscribe to JellyTelly.com you can stream all episodes of “What’s In The Bible?” to any computer or mobile device.

I don’t make any money or royalties off of these items. I just believe in them and want to share. Thanks for indulging me. Here’s wishing you a very happy Easter filled with peeps and jelly beans!

‘What’s In The Bible?’ Vol. 12 Now Available To Order

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What’s In The Bible? is the latest DVD series from VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer. Volume 12 has just been released, covering the parts of the New Testament written by the Apostle Paul. I got to design the character of Paul and it’s neat to see the animators bring him to life. What’s In The Bible? is a really fun, well-made series for kids and grown-ups alike. You can watch sample clips and order DVDs or digital downloads at whatsinthebible.com.

Saul/Paul Character Design for “What’s In The Bible?”

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For the past couple of years I’ve been doing little bits of animation and/or character design for the DVD series “What’s In The Bible?” from VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer.

Volume 11 has just been released. It covers the book of Acts, explaining what happened after Jesus ascended back into Heaven and how His followers travelled the known world telling others about Him. There are lots of stories including miracles, persecution, imprisonments, and even martyrdom.

Perhaps the most well-known character is Saul, an angry Pharisee who took special delight in chasing down Christians and throwing them in jail. That is, until the day when Jesus appeared to him face-to-face. Saul became a new man, changed his name to Paul, and spent the rest of his life traveling thousands of miles to spread the good news about Jesus. Along the way he also wrote about two-thirds of the New Testament.

My job was to design Paul. Besides looking like he belonged in the same world as the other characters he had to have a face that could look like an intimidating villain at the beginning of the story and a kindly, likable friend by the end of the story. So it was a bit of a challenge. The client also requested that he have a slender build, dark eyebrows, and a goatie.

I started by doing a bunch of thumbnails, searching for the right look:

Paul thumbnailsEventually we settled on the following design:

Paul final design

Here’s the trailer for Episode 11:

[youtube_sc url=rRgqiUTL39w width=430]

And here’s a clip showing Saul’s conversion:

[youtube_sc url=I_7tdhPHcHw width=430]

You can order “What’s In The Bible?” volume 11 either as a DVD or as a digital download at whatsinthebible.com. I don’t get any royalties or kickback if you buy, I just really believe in the project.

 

 

“What’s In The Bible?” Vol. 10 Now Available

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Look what came in the mail!

Recently I posted some character design sketches I did for volume 10 of “What’s In The Bible?”, the new DVD series from Veggietales creator Phil Vischer. Using the regular mixture of puppets, animation, and live-action this two-part DVD covers the time between the Old and New Testaments and then the story of the Gospels – in other words the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. I just got my copy and after watching it for the first time I gotta say I was really pleased with how it turned out. I think I can safely say this is my favorite episode so far.

[youtube_sc url=i0Ovq73f-xk width=430]

Here’s the trailer for Volume 10. If you’ll allow me to play salesman for a moment, you can order physical DVDs or digital downloads at www.whatsinthebible.com. Also, if you subscribe to JellyTelly.com you can stream all episodes of “What’s In The Bible?” to any computer or mobile device.

And no, I don’t earn any royalties or kickbacks from sales of the videos. I just really believe in the project (both it’s content and quality) and I want to help spread the word.