THE MORE THINGS CHANGE...the more they change;)..............

ANIMATOR CIRCA 2009 AD (after drawing)

ANIMATOR CIRCA 1992 BC(before cintiq)

IT STRUCK ME A FEW WEEKS AGO HOW MUCH HAS CHANGED .

EVERYONE IS SO MEDIA SAVVY NOW.....IS THIS GOOD OR BAD?

SOMETIMES IT SEEMS LIKE WE ARE MORE CAUGHT UP WITH THE "ABUSE" OF TECHNOLOGY THAN WE ARE WITH UNDERSTANDING WHY WE NEED TO USE IT IN THE FIRST PLACE.

J;)

SOME FUN STUFF FOR A RAINY THURSDAY..................

ENJOY;)

VASQUEZ

ENJOY!

J.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

TIM BURTON"TRICK OR TREAT"

CONCERTO FOR SUBMACHINE GUN......

BOB KOLAR DESIGN FOR A ZAGREB SHORT WITH THE COOLEST NAME EVER!

ENJOY;)

For Joe Murray............

JUST LINE......................DARN FINE LINE;)

CURRENTLY ENJOYING.........

CURRENTLY ENJOYING.......................

J;)

Great Design is everywhere!

On my Blog I take the approach of Positive Example.

Ranting about the state of the Industry and Design Bankruptcy does nothing for anybody.

Showing Positive examples of Quality work(Subjective of course) is the way to change attitudes about what is good.

My two cents;)

Jason

CURRENTLY ENJOYING...................

ERLBRUCH

STEINBERG

MENDEZ

STEIG

ENJOY!;)

FLAVOURS......influences that were flav "OURS"

When I was in College many moons ago ,I had a pal we will call Hobo Divine.

We spent countless hours in Restaurants,Bookstores or just sitting around at home talking about Art,Cartoons,Music,Painters,Illustrators and Books.

We always took great joy in conversations about what we called "Flavours"

These were the Influences you were digging at the moment in any area as long as it was creative.Nobody ever judged or laughed at something somebody put forward as one of their "Flavours"

As Animation students there was also great power in looking at things that had little or no relation to animation as influences for animation.That way the inspiration or "Flavours "were more unique and felt fresher when they influenced your style.

The great thing was that as we developed as artists we could see the flavours had saturated the work and subtly influenced the style of our friends too.People outside the conversation never had a clue;)

Only we knew for sure that the work had been influenced by something or someone.

It was great fun and a really cool way to find out about Artists you might never have found alone.Here are a couple of Flavours I am currently enjoying that are not unknown to Animation fans.

J;)

SEARLE

MENDEZ

WILSON

WILSON

VIP

MY FRIEND RABBIT chosen for competition at OIAF!

MY FRIEND RABBIT has been chosen for competition in Ottawa for the OIAF 2009 Festival!
The MFR episode "Snowed under" was picked for competition in the TV for kids category.
Nice news from a truly great Festival.
Congrats go out to the entire MY FRIEND RABBIT team!
This series was an great experience and directing it took me on an amazing journey.

The competion is stiff and it's a great honour to be considered amongst the other films in the category! Wish us luck.

Jason;)

HAPPY WARD KIMBALL FOR A CLOUDY WEDNESDAY

SOME "MELODY TIME" KIMBALL TO BRIGHTEN A CLOUDY WEDNESDAY!

ENJOY;)

STEINBERG AND SEMPE FOR FUN.

4 PICS FROM 2 MASTERS OF THE LINE.

ENJOY;)

J.

VANCE GERRY

ANOTHER LITTLE WATERCOLOR OF RATIGAN FROM VANCE GERRY.
ENJOY.

Vance Gerry Memorial Blog.............

Glad to see Ed Gombert has created a blog for Disney Story Great Vance Gerry!

I have long been a fan of this quiet giant of Story at Disney.

IMAGES FOR THE DAY.........................

HUBLEY

BURTON

BARKER

PEET

DEMPSTER

Images for the day...................

Some fun images that sum up a moment in a story.

No real link here other than the pleasing qualityof each;0

Images are Copyright of owners.

J.

ROGER BRADFIELD......I think?

These are two great images by ROGER BRADFIELD who I posted about earlier.

These minimal designs are playful and filled with pleasing color choices and great energy.

J.

SENDAK FOR MONDAY.............

Here is a dummy page illustration for "Where the wild things are"

I LOVE THIS IMAGE MORE THAN THE WILD RUMPUS IN THE FINAL BOOK.

J.

EARLY SENDAK..........

I really like the early work of Maurice sendak.

Enjoy;)

J.

Animators and their Toys.......

WILLIAM JOYCE

LANE SMITH

JOHN KRICFALUSI

DAN YACCARINO

BOB KOLAR


I love collecting these pics of animators/Illustrators workspaces.

Makes me feel better about all the stuff I have laying in my office to inspire.Pics above are property of their respective owners.

J;)

"Threepeet"

3Fun sketches from Bill Peet.

Power of the line....................

FIVE QUICK IMAGE POSTS THAT SHOW POWER ,MOVEMENT, SCALE,OR CHARACTER THROUGH THE LINE.

J;)

SERGE BLOCH IS COOL............

I like the work of Serge Bloch very much.

He is an illustrator, painter and television creator based in Paris.

His work is honest, simple,straight forward, fun and playful.

I like his work most of all because it is not afraid to strip things down to the basics and get to the point.That is something I am am working on with my own work.

I can't tell you how tiring it is to see people on blogs recommend the work of their favorite artists only to discover it is exactly the same in style and technique as the artist promoting it.

I guess I also love the simple approach to drawing pleasing characters.

Serge draws funny with a touch of sweetness.

His books (above) translated well to 3D animation and the monochromatic BG's are really cool!

Check out a facinating making of SAMSAM Series at the address below.......

http://web.samsam.fr/serie-samsam/making-of-serie-samsam/

Enjoy the work of Serge Bloch!

J.

www.mrbiggs.com

I love this guys stuff and his approach to drawing!

He has a chunky stilted quality to his drawings like Marv Newland.

Enjoy his work at www.mrbiggs.com

J.

SOME MORE IMAGES OF PURE LINE........

FUN DESIGNS THAT RELY ONLY ON THE SIMPLE POWER OF THE LINE.

ENJOY.

J

The Line....................

I have been thinking about drawings and the line.

If Ward Kimball's theory that "a drawing that is funny to begin with will be made funnier by animating it"then should we be spending more time with the line and less time with the overused tricks of Photoshop?

If we stripped away the artifice of todays Designs for Animation and looked at what is left would they hold up?

More importantly,How many would serve the story or Animation?

As I pour through blog after blog of designs for animation I am left thinking .....How many hold up as good drawings that stand on their own?

These unique designs above stand up without a drop of color.

Enjoy.

J

Joe Grant

Gotta love these Joe Grant sketches!

Apparently Joe was a mentor to many of the current wave of Animation Directors that includes Pete Docter and Mike Gabriel .

J.

Drawings of Milt Kahl.............................

The more I look at designy /gimmicky stuff that surrounds us in the Industry the more I appreciate these Drawings.

I could stare at these for hours and soak up the genius!

I once read an article where Duncan Marjoribanks the Disney Animator said he tried all the styles as an Animator but in the end he reverted back to the solid Disney style.

I think I finally understand what he meant.

There are Animation Artists out there who will try and sell you on "the blandness of the Disney style"etc,but they never seem to take a shot at Milt;)

Enjoy!

J.

Tim Burton

3 images from the Catalogue for the upcoming MOMA Tim Burton Retrospective!

Rolly Crump

Love these Rolly Crump Imagineering designs!

Rolly was Tim Burton before there was a Tim Burton!

He is alive and well!Check out his work on Google.

Enjoy.

J.

Cartoon Network and the 90's

I have high hopes for Cartoon Network and their Cartoonstitute program!

An incubator of shorts worked so well the first time around and gave CN some of the best shows they have ever produced.

I hope it will reinvigorate the Network now in 2009 and create some new Cartoons that entertain and inspire like the first wave did.

Dexters Lab, Powerpuff Girls and Cow and Chicken seem now like golden age classics!

J.

Cartoon Color.................

CHRIS RECCARDI

MICHAEL LAH

JOHN KRICFALUSI

WARD KIMBALL

UNKNOWN


As I take time away from the board I see all kinds of color approaches in the man made and natural world that inspire me.Then online at night I find things I have saved on my Computer inspiring all over again.Here are 5 I really like for their color use.

All images are property of their respective owners.

Enjoy.

J.

Gahan Wilson............

For years I avoided this master of of the Macabre.
I just didn't get it!
Now I know I was a fool.
His winding line explores more artistic territory per inch than most Cartoonists do in a lifetime.
Enjoy.
J.

Jazz for Sunday.

Just liked this one.

Yes I know the color palette is loud and uses almost every color you could ,but somehow it reminds me of The peir in Santa Monica or Venice beach.

Energetic,brash,bold,vibrant and free.

J.

NO CINTIQUE, NO MAYA, NO PROBLEM!

Currently enjoying this!

Massively appealing imagery with a charming story!

Pick up a copy.

J.

Deceptively simple forms.............

Strong graphic and fun!

something old thats new here.......................

Tom Yohe........Great Cartoonist!

Here are some great designs by a master of animation Tom Yohe.

Tom dominated TV in the seventies with Schoolhouse Rock!

He also helped create a show that changed my life called "Drawing Power"

The show centered centered around an old animator and his young pupil who actually worked on animated cartoons in the studio and showed the results as part of the show.

Nothing had ever been done like that before where the process of film animation was shown as a working job and on Saturday morning TV too!

J.

Friday is here lets have some Bacon!

Francis Bacon that is!

Enjoy!

J;)

Just post stuff you like when you are busy!

5 COMPOSITIONAL MASTERWORKS...........

LIGHT AND SHADE,SILHOUETTE,AND NEGATIVE SPACE.

RADIATING LINES AND CONTRASTING FORMS........

ALL OF EM' 40 TO 50 YEARS AGO AND YET LIGHT YEARS AHEAD OF WHERE WE ARE NOW!

THE IMAGES ARE AMAZING ,THE POINT IS DEPRESSING.

JASON.

A favorite Kurtzman image of mine.

Love the energy in this Snarf cover from a master cartoonist!

J;)

Cordell Barkers new Film..........

This 1 and only image from Cordell Barkers new film has me intrigued.

J;)

Happy New Year!

Rested up over the Holidays and feel nice and refreshed!
Happy New Year everyone!
J;)

I really dig this stuff........

SEMPE GENIUS........

GABRIEL DYNAMICS............

JOHN STANLEY SIMPLICITY................

PANTER APOCALYPSE..........

MILT GROSS MADNESS..........

Cartoonists of the past were slick mofo's....

Charles Addams was a Slick Mofo.....
He looked like Walter Mathau but he dressed and lived like James Bond.....

Jean Jaques Sempe was a French hipster......... Look how he owns this cover......

Peter Arno was a Clean Mofo who dated Movie Starlets and really dressed like this at the office...

He looked more refined than most of the upper crust men he drew so well.........
Now of course that was then and this is now.................

Look how far we have come as cartoonists!

LOVE IN AMSTERDAM........................

NEW DRAWING TO KEEP THE DUST AWAY FROM THIS BLOG.
J.

Cover of my Sketch book

It's finished ....Just wrapping text on the back now.

I have been holding off for too long, scared to commit to a cover that would grab attention.

I am not a Graphic Designer by trade afterall.

I must credit my fellow Canuck and buddy Warren Leonhardt for the great Mad magazine styled text description on the cover!

It's all you WL;)

Hope you like it!

J;)

ROGER BRADFIELD..............

I love the work of Roger Bradfield!
Pure ,deceptively simple work.

Enjoy!
Jason.

MY FRIEND RABBIT WINS AT CARTOONS ON THE BAY FESTIVAL OF ANIMATION!

WE WON!!!!
LAST WEEK "MY FRIEND RABBIT" WON BEST SERIES FOR BAMBINI/PRESCHOOL
AT THE "CARTOONS ON THE BAY" FESTIVAL IN SALERNO ITALY!
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE "MFR" TEAM FOR ALL THEIR HARD WORK!

THERE WERE SOME REALLY GREAT SHOWS AT THE FESTIVAL AND MANY PASSIONATE PEOPLE WHO LOVED ANIMATION AS MUCH AS I DO!

SERIE TV PER BAMBINI
al programma
IL MIO AMICO CONIGLIO
Canada, Nelvana Limited
Capace di dar vita a personaggi semplici, ma ricchi di fascino, che riescono a interagire perfettamente con il pubblico dei più piccoli

Some Character designs.........

Heres a random sampling of some Character Designs.
I'm toying with the idea of using these in my Sketchbook.
Every ten pages or so there would be a single Character to break up the Book format a little bit.

J;)

Things I really really really like....................

Spooky comics............
Deadpan genius..............
Graphic invention.............
Pop culture candy.................
Masterful composition and appeal.

MY FRIEND RABBIT!!!!

This is the Show I have been Directing over the last year and it has turned out better than I could have hoped!An amazing crew and cast and a really fun experience too!We are rating very high on NBC/QUBO in the United states and Treehouse Premieres the Show next week in Canada.

Monday February 25th My friend Rabbit Premieres on Treehouse TV IN Canada.9:00AM

Hope you tune in and watch!

Jason;)

.

The great Jack Kent and his wonderful "King Aroo"

I love King Aroo and the work of Jack Kent it's creator.

The strip ran for 15 years and garnered little fame or fortune but it's creator made some wonderful stuff!

Kent makes it look easy like he is "taking the line for a walk".

The last printed edition was in the late 50's and it all ended in 1965.

I have many wonderful Jack Kent kids books but I wish someone would reprint King Aroo!

Jason;)

A few days off to relax.....................

I spent some time watching some favorites tonight since tommorow is a holiday.

Came across Moonbird on Youtube.....One of the best ever!

Every frame is wonderful and the kids voices fighting are priceless.

J;)

Chuck likes weird heads!!!!

My friend Chuck likes weird heads.
He has books full of old film noir actors and Hollywood extras that would be long forgotten except for their delicious noggins.
I can't remember where this is from but I find it facinating.
What are they thinking?

Jason;)

Christmas Time is here!!!!!!!!!!!!!

John Hubley/Storyboard Inc.

The packages are unwrapped and the Christmas meal is cooked ,eaten and gone..........But there are tiny pieces of wrapping wire and small sharp things laying on the carpet to remind me the holidays are here.......OUCH!

BEST TO ALL OF YOU THIS HOLIDAY SEASON!

RED REDUX.....................FOR FUN.

Who says I don't draw anymore?!!!!!!!

Oldies(From this year) that are going in the Sketchbook...............
And all new Brain Farts to fill this baby out......................

Hey Everybody!

It's been awhile since I posted anything Drawing wise but that does'nt mean I'm not hard at work in the Lab.
I've been purposely not posting so I could keep my Sketches fresh for published consumption.....
A taste might be fun though.

As I get ready to hand this stuff over to the Publisher I realize I might have enough to make the 98 page Book(With Color Cover) he wants instead of 48 pages.

What do you guys think?....Extra thick and full of stuff or a tasty smaller book?


Jason ;)

A COUPLE OF DESIGNS FOR PITCH IDEAS.....

TWO CONCEPTS FOR TWO SEPARATE SHOWS.................
STILL NOODLING WITH BOTH.
JOHN K'S BLOG "ALL KINDS OF STUFF" HAS LIT SOME FIRE UP IN ME AGAIN.......
GOTTA PITCH SOME STUFF TO SOMEBODY?!
BUT WHO????!!!!!!!!

J.

a couple more development ruffs...........

Just trying to keep it fresh on the Blammo Blog.
J;)

YESTERDAYS WARM UPS...............

Here are some Warmups from Yesterday .............

Been sick the last Week or so and busy at Work!

J;)

MORNING WARM UPS FOR THIS WEEK........

As promised here are some Morning Warmups for this Week.
They seem to have a Science Fiction theme running through them and I have no idea why.
Hope ya like em'

As for the big surprise....Here goes.........
I was approached by my Friend, Animator and Animation Book Company Proprietor a few weeks ago.
It seems Mr. Dan Merisanu is about to publish a series of Artist Sketchbooks and was kind enough to ask me to join in on the fun.
So it looks like I have a May deadline to fill 24 Pages double sides with a colour Cover!
Book delivers sometime in July,and other Sketchbooks planned are gonna be cool!
Drop me an Email and let me know what you think.....Would you buy one?What should be in it?
I'm thinking it may be book of Monsters ,Mutations and creepy Folk!
Sound alright?

MrGroh;)

More Development art as Promised..........

Here are a few pieces of Development art from an Unrealized Project.
I pitched this a couple of years ago and with the support of a Studio went to Script stage.
This may seem unusual to write Scripts before being green lit by a Broadcaster but I believe this was done to test the waters.
The studio gave me their support and got behind the Project but the scripts were a test too see if my sense of humour would offend the conservative kids Network.
It did offend for some reason that no one could figure out and it was all over faster than it began!
Enjoy,
J:)

BEARS ON CRACK......Doodles from Yesterday.

I love Drawing Bears!

One of my favorite cartoons of all time is "Rugged bear"a beautifully designed and animated Donald Duck Cartoon Directed by Jack Hannah.
These Cartoons are not my favorite for the Comedy but for the Animation and Color!

The Bear, known as "Humphrey" was most often animated by Bob Carlson who did some of my favorite animation of all time.
Humphrey always played nicely in contrast to Donald and later to J. Audobon Woodlore(the Ranger)
Here are some whacked out looking Bears!
I did several pages of these but Blogger has been acting weird and crashing my PC all day.

Managed to post one Page!
J.

BACK TO THE GARAGE.......

SOME MORE FROM AN EARLIER POST.

MRGROH:)

DUSTIN ' OFF SOME KINFOLK FROM THE OZARKS...

I've been running out of Time to Sketch everyday and when I do find time to doodle the results are not always good.
So, I dusted off a couple of Development Drawings from Projects I've pitched.
Heres the first of the Series..........
I seldom clean anything up anymore(too lazy)so most of my development work is raw, but I like the Energy better that way!
I'll follow up this Week with some more from this Show and then some otherFailed Pitches early next Week.

Thanks to all those who have stopped by to say hello or comment over the last few weeks!
Much appreciated!
Jason:)

MONSTERS AND A STORY......

A few weeks ago I went out to the Garage and moved a few Boxes around looking for god knows what when I came across some old Drawings.
I flipped through pages of stuff and found the sketches above.
I love drawing Monsters more than just about anything and I suddenly remembered doing these and why......
Back in the late 90's I got a call from a Friend who worked at a very large and incredibly successful independent Feature Studio.
"I Can't say much about this, but You wont believe it" he said... "we are working on a Feature about your favorite thing in the whole World"
I paused ...."Burlesque Dancing?"I replied .
"No you idiot!"...."MONSTERS!"
He paused and then continued 'The Fan sites and Media have already leaked that much so I guess you could have already found that much out.....Just thought I would let you know...Catch my drift?"
I poked and prodded through our conversation but he would'nt tell me anymore about the Production and kept insisting that i just send my stuff to the Portfolio review Board at the Studio.
For the next week I sat and worked feverishly to produce some cool Monster Designs but ultimately talked myself out of sending anything away!
The portfolio never went out and years later they sat in a box in a cold garage next to Old VHS Tapes and Hockey equipment......
Oh well!.......
It struck me Yesterday that they are remarkably similar to what that Feature ended up looking like!
Perhaps my Friend knew better than I did, just how well I might have fit into the Production.

Hope you like em'
MRGROH ;)

PG 1 TRANSFORMATION DRAWINGS.....

PG 2

PG 3

One of my favorite Animated Moments is not from Animation at all!Charles Addams did a Cartoon featuring Pugsley Addams drinking from a 1950's Chemistry set and transforming into a hairy wolfboy like Creature!I love every Frame of the Drawings as my Eyes scan over it and it makes me smile every time I see it......like Thumbnails on a Page.... each one delicious!Heres my Attempt to do something like that....P.S The character is one from an earlier Doodle last week that the Smook liked!Thanks to the Smook and Jay Stephens at Monsterama for the kind words and links to my Blog!Hope ya like em'!MrGroh:)

Monday Dec 19th Warmups.........

More Warmups for Monday Morning....

I wanted to say thanks to all of my fellow Blurkers and Bloggers for their kind Words over the last Week or so!

MRGROH:)

Monday December 19th Warm ups..............

Well here are more Warmups straight from my worn down Mars Lumograph 100HB.
I have long been a Fan of the Shamus Culhane Books "Talking Animals and other People" and "Script to Screen"........
He writes about a Technique of working in a "Stream of Conciousness" state, never Erasing and never stopping the Flow.
If a drawing has nothing working throw it off your Desk onto the Floor and keep moving.
This is my attempt at doing just that ......
A couple of minutes a Page, no erasing no overthinking...
Hope ya' like em'

MRGROH:)

MORE WARMUPS FOR WEDNESDAY.........

Wednesday Warmups

Warmups for a Freeeeeeeezing cold day in T.O

Wednesday Warmups..................

MadDogs and Englishmen make for fun scribblin';
J:)

More Warmups from Yesterday................

Ooodles of Doodles....
No Cleans no Color.... just Scribbling as the Smook would say!

J:)

THEN I DREW THIS?!

Another Wolf for the pile!
Who does'nt love a Big Hairy Scribner/Clammpetty Wolf!

OOPS FORGOT LIL' RED!

The other part of the big bad Wolf post!

MrGroh:)

Some more Fairy Tale Concepts (Red riding hood)..........

I have a Friend who is German.
We went to College together.
He was always talking about his Oma and old German Fairy Tales.
He thought they would be good source material for his College films or even characters for Animation Tests.

He had Books filled with of all kinds of weird stuff that was incredibly Scary and funny.......

Little Boys with long Hair and dirty Finger Nails that were eventually set on Fire.......Kids that sat in Cages waiting to be eaten by nearsighted Witches ....(My second favorite Fairy Tale of all time)

Well you get the point!
I started thinking about how he used to say his Oma would scream at him and Discipline him until he cried and then give him a piece of Black Forrest Cake to get him to stop crying!
Fairy tales are kind of like that!


j:)

Tuesday Morning Warmup.................

Another Scientist concept rough.......

MrGroh :)

Time to Play.....Let the drawing begin...........

Let the Drawing begin........
All Roughs,All Pantones ,All Analog..........
Hope ya' like em'....


J.

TIME TO SKETCH...............

I have decided to try something new........
As I look at great blogs like GUR-B and MATT J and MATT C'S I realize what makes them great is the perfect combination of hand drawn Concept Sketch side by side with finished Colour work.
As time permits I'm going to try and post raw Sketches, Doodles and Concepts I do each Morning before work starts.

Hope you like em'
J.