New Animation: “Are You A Good Person?”

I’m proud to announce the completion of a new animated short film that I produced and co-animated for the ministry of Living Waters. They are perhaps best known as the producers of The Way of the Master, a Christian reality series hosted by Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron:

The cartoon is loosely based on a Gospel tract I illustrated for Living Waters back in 2006, and both are adapted from Ray Comfort’s best-selling book Hell’s Best Kept Secret. I was also inspired by many of the UPA and Disney educational cartoons from the 1950’s. The goal was to communicate a very serious and important message in a fun and entertaining way yet without watering down the content. It was a tough line to walk but I think we pulled it off.

I wrote, designed, produced, and edited the cartoon. The character of Mr. Nice Guy was animated by two very talented and hard-working animators: Michael Foster from Salty Graphics and Chance Dodd via Little Wolf Pictures. They also animated a couple of misc. shots. The rest of the artwork and animation was done by me. Mr. Nice Guy was voiced by Kirk Cameron and the Narrator was voiced by radio pastor David Jeremiah.

This was a giant project that took many months to complete. We ran into a few hurdles and setbacks along the way but the team at Living Waters couldn’t have been more gracious and helpful. They were absolutely a dream client to work with!

Of all the hundreds of projects I’ve worked on to date, this one was the most personal for me and also one of which I am most proud. But then, I’m so closely attached to it that its very hard for me to look at it objectively anymore. Besides, it doesn’t really matter what i think, it’s what the viewer thinks that’s important. So I value your input. I’d be very grateful if you could watch the cartoon (it takes 5 minutes plus a one minute promo at the end). Then, if you are so inclined please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Good Friday Cartoon

Today is Good Friday, the day Christians celebrate the crucifixion of Jesus. A crucifixion seems like an odd thing to celebrate, but it is in fact good news. How’s that, you ask? A couple of years ago I partnered with the ministry of Living Waters to illustrate a short cartoon gospel tract that explains what I mean. For those of you who haven’t had a chance to read it, I invite you to do so. It’s only 8 small pages and to read it online is completely free.

If you are so inclined you can also order printed copies to share with others. I don’t make any royalties, in fact any ministry that wants to download and publish the tract can do so for free. To date over 2.8 million copies of the tract have been printed in English and it has been translated into nine different languages with more on the way. It’s far above and beyond anything I could have imagined. My hope is that it helps many people to get a clear understanding of what Easter and Christianity are really all about.

Have a very happy Easter!

Scratch-N-Sniff

Some freelance projects have tight deadlines. Others move at a slower pace.

Way back in Spring of 2005 I was contacted by a publisher to illustrate a series of children’s books designed to help kids understand various Christian concepts. Since there was no real rush our understanding was that I could set it aside to work on other more urgent projects when necessary. It was nice to have a large project that I could work on at a somewhat relaxed pace, and the client was terrific to work with.

The first book, What Your Nose Shows, was about Creationism (or Intelligent Design, if you will). The author, Ray Comfort, wrote a some rhyming text about the nose and how it’s very existence points to a Creator.

A few months after finishing the first book I was hired to start a second one. Scratch and Sniff was about a cat named Scratch and a dog named Sniff. The lesson had to do with disobedience (sin) and our need for a Savior. We decided it would be fun to make this an actual “scratch and sniff” book, with a different scratchable scent on every page.

Eventually it was decided that since the first book was about the nose, it should also be scratch-and-sniff. So after completing the second book we went back and re-worked the first one to incorporate smells into the story.

Finally, after over a year-and-a-half both books were ready to go to the publisher.

Printing with scratch-and-sniff inks turned out to be a complicated process and resulted in several more delays. Eventually the books were printed overseas and now, nearly three years after the project was begun, the books are finally available for purchase. (Click to buy What Your Nose Shows and Scratch and Sniff).

Here are the covers and a couple of sample pages from each book. They are taken from different parts of each book so the text won’t make sense, but you can get an idea of what the art looks like:

nosecover1.jpg

nose1a.jpg

nose2.jpg

scratchsniffcover.jpg

scratchsniff1.jpg

scratchsniff2.jpg