TAGIMPORT

Timothy Carey Fans (Marty) Click Headline

2011-11-16T20:26:00.000-08:00

Using a grab from Finger Man which came up in the discussion of Timothy Carey. Good podcast about a unique actor.

Making Comics-Podcast-Nate Simpson-Click Headline

2011-11-14T16:48:00.000-08:00

Rick. If I'm not mistaken Nate's your friend in TAG North. Right? Non Player is discussed. The guys doing "Making Comics" have a lot of good content on their webpage.

My Tuesday sketch early. Ripped from today's headlines!

Zip File of 100 plus Kirby Double Page Spreads

2011-11-10T00:40:00.000-08:00

Click Title for link

Been reading my Showcase anthology of Challengers of the Unknown. Half and half of Kirby and Bob Brown ( Space Ranger) Notice that one panel of the guy giving an outline of the bad guy's goal. Complete game design in one sentence.
The Bob Brown cover art really blew my mind. I saw that and realized that was one of my favorite images of all my comic book reading of that time. Aliens, Giants, exciting angles, great posing. Then the interior. It all came back in a big way. I always loved Space Ranger.
Kirby wins of course.
But he's diluted by all the Wally Wood "improvement" on a lot of the inking. That flying panel is Kirby and Wood. Great poses.

Check out my Labor of Hercules. Taking my phonebook sized Fantastic Four essentials and turning it into a bunch of pages stored in sleeves. Now I can scan at will and get great scans.
Kirby In A Binder

Watch me do 50 Pull Ups

Adobe Flash Meets Its End

2011-11-09T08:35:00.000-08:00

Flash served its purpose for a long time. It brought us a more powerful Web, and helped shift it from its hypertext-based roots to something far more interactive and useful, beginning as early as the late 1990s. And now, Flash's time has officially passed—on mobile devices and otherwise.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2396094,00.asp#fbid=wVKyNx0lD3j

Radius Gif- and Amazing Transparent Man sketches-Click Headline for my Youtube vid showing off the Lulu book arrival

2011-11-05T10:59:00.000-07:00

Watched Edgar Ulmer's Amazing Transparent Man last night. It's about an hour long. Good stuff. Good storytelling

My hula hoop super hero- Radius- as an animated Gif. Bad flames. I backed over my deterioration of the animation by cutting and pasting frames to the animation without thinking.. Kinda still has the effect.
Anyone else remember Tomahawk? I remembered the moment I saw this great line up drawing. Haven't thought of them since I read the last book I saw them in.
And finally...HoopGirl. I have no idea what it means. Or what the red blood platelets might be.

We're On Cold Hard Flash!

2011-11-03T12:44:00.000-07:00

Hey, check it out -- the animated spots Ed and I did for Public Storage are featured today on Cold Hard Flash. Kinda cool to get some of our work up on Aaron Simpson's site, and great PR for Pencil Test Studios. Click on any of the images and it'll take you to the permalink.

Click Headline to Check Out My New Lulu Book-Go To The Link at the Bottom To See My Lulu Tutorial

2011-11-02T01:38:00.000-07:00

The thing below is an old digital painting I made into an animated gif in photoshop. It's only 4 frames right now. I'll probably go back in tonight and pump up the fx and the smoothness

Warming up. Going to do some digital sketching today

Go Here To My Web Page For How I Make A LuLu Book

Website Updates

2011-11-01T11:57:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, sorry I haven't posted in a while, it's been pretty busy at work. Now that it's calmed down a bit, I'm happy to finally announce some long overdue updates to a couple of my websites. First off, we did a big redesign to the Pencil Test Studios website. It's much cleaner looking and has a wider variety of samples for your perusal. Check it out here. And if that's not enough, my illustration rep, Shannon Associates, completely redesigned their site as well. I have few new illustration samples up on my pages, which you can see here, here and here. Tell your friends!

the most popular image....

2011-10-31T15:31:00.000-07:00

After seeing I got 34 hits on this image alone yesterday. Mostly from Indonesia. I looked up the keywords on several search engines and found that 4 of my drawings were in the top 4 rows of the search engines.and the stats show BIG hits over the last 60 days. Guess people are looking.

Rockford Files Sketch

2011-10-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

Occupational hazard, too many guys like this with the question "You Jim Rockford?"

Found this old sketch. Almost finished my new Lulu PDF. It's the reason for running into all the stored art on disc. It's looking good. I'll make it a free download on Lulu. If you want the book, it will probably run about 6 to 8 bucks. Show that off tomorrow.

Drew Freidman - Halloween Album Art

2011-10-28T16:41:00.000-07:00

Click Headline or this
Lot of great Jack Davis art on the Blog.
I found the Roddy MacDowell sound files of the Lovecraft album. Easy as typing in Macdowell reads Lovecraft. Easier for you.

PopCap in Poster

2011-10-26T08:25:00.000-07:00

This looks like a pretty stupid movie, but the poster caught my eye. This is the section of Seattle that PopCap is located in. In fact, our building is in this poster.

Panel by Panel

2011-10-25T23:17:00.000-07:00

A panel from the Bounty Of Zone Z. Formatting stuff for my Lulu book.

Also added some of my Junkyard Dog boards, beautifully formatted into a PDF format by ToonBoob (edit: ha! Toon BOOB. Toon Boom) Storyboard Pro. It's like a nice frame. Makes the art look a lot better.

This Guy, Ryan Heshka, really gets the era of the pulps he is glorifying

new sketch + ps enhancements

2011-10-25T21:09:00.000-07:00

Playing around with Photoshop and my latest sketch

DANGER 5

2011-10-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

DANGER 5- Click for Youtube video
Scott Morse said he wished he had done this. I wish I had done it too. Or at least played Hitler.

Even though the intent is to project solid cheezeball, it's obviously got a ton of money spent on it. Maybe more than would be spent on a conventional bit of storytelling. I think Batman in the 60s was considered too expensive for it's own good.

2011-10-24T14:41:00.000-07:00

1st page of a story?

Caelum Studios - Stuff I'm looking at

2011-10-21T15:06:00.000-07:00

It is fun but painful to go through my old art. I'm going to make a new blog with some of it called "ForFuksSake-ISuk!" Found this from when some of us nuts were sharing a studio.
Mostly I'm going to make myself a new-sequential oriented Lulu book that I'll be using as a submission thing for the CTNexpo. Drop it on a few, hungry for talent, tables.

Custody battle in space. Good shit. With an emphasis on shit. And I'm pretty sure that's zipatone you're looking at there. And no compositing in photoshop of type either. I think we were barely using photoshop when I did this. It was print outs of the type, spraymounted to the page. Very early use of the new found technology using comic sans for a typeface.

Stan Sakai Exhibit

2011-10-20T20:22:00.000-07:00

Stan Sakai's art is at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo. The exhibit, Year of the Rabbit: Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo, has original art work by Stan Sakai as well as the actual comic books, toys based on the characters, and works by other artists featuring Usagi Yojimbo. The exhibit will be there until October 30th. Dan and I saw the exhibit recently and enjoyed it. I wrote a short review about it, and the other exhibits that were there, in my blog.

This weekend we are going to the Tim Burton exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. It should be interesting!

Photoshop Blog I Created - Click Header

2011-10-19T23:14:00.000-07:00

John K was wishing for a good digital inking tool. Prompted me to share all my recent dabbling with paths as a way to do clean line art.

Halloween Audio

My new site

2011-10-18T21:20:00.000-07:00

Seems I needed to update this site with my commercial work. I may have a few NEW leads on work. thus the focus. Its still being worked on hope to finish tonight.

http://bluetigerillustrations.com/

The Worried Bat

2011-10-18T19:49:00.000-07:00

Digital. Lot of working into the surprises of using an inverted mask. A goof.
It's Tuesday!
I think.

For Marty. A Daniel Clowes sketch from my Fantagraphics twitter follow.
"Why should I, Reggie Van Dough, have to wait in line with these commoners."

Tex Avery-41 Model Sheets

2011-10-16T13:59:00.000-07:00

Click Headline to go to the page.
I've zipped them and put them on my domain real estate to make things easier for you. Right Click link - save.
Tex-Avery-Zip-File
The zip is 23.7 meg. Takes a couple of minutes to download off of fatcow. Not a super fast place to park stuff.
Here's that Bulldog I needed Marty...

Another of the Comicrazys pages. Don't you think this guy was a HUGE influence on Gary Larson.

Tex Avery! You bigot!

POD ARTICLE
I bookmarked this as useful info for the comics publisher with a budget...
Lulu, my go to guys, don't make the list.

Okay, smudge marks reduced. What about skid marks?

2011-10-16T11:04:00.000-07:00

Iron Man Mark III helmet

2011-10-15T08:20:00.000-07:00

The Avengers trailer that hit this week inspired me to dust-off something I started last winter, but abandoned after work and other events took priority. Here's Tony Stark's helmet from the first Iron Man movie, modeled in the best hard-surface modeling software on the planet, MoI3D. Actually, the helmet is based more on the concept art by Phil Saunders than the finished sculpt by Miles Teves that became the Stan Winston Studios prop used in the movie. I'm still not happy with how the cheeks of the gold face-plate don't flow into the rest of the head. I think I thought of the solution to that last night while I was sleeping. I'll update later on. Meanwhile, here's a render of the helmet I did in Modo using some of the preset materials and environment probes.

Looking in Archives- Check out how far along I had this story

2011-10-14T21:29:00.000-07:00

I need to get back to it. Ink up a few pages. Or convert it for the web.
Check Out all 15 pages Here
Just noticed I dated each page for the day it was done. Obviously tried to crash through it during a Christmas break in 03, stalled and "finished" 3 months later.

And more. I'm loading up my blog with links to work showing the sequential nature of my brain. Getting ready to crank a reel out . Still stewing on the best presentation notions I currently have.
Shadowpuppets

Lightbox option under Formatting

2011-10-13T15:21:00.000-07:00

I like it. Lets vote.
Lightbox, yes or no?

Ellis , "Here." I mean, "Yes."

50 Haunted House Pictures, You Will Laugh

2011-10-12T20:50:00.000-07:00

The Link. Can Also Click Headline
Hey! The gallery effect is back. Did someone do an edit or is this google experimenting again?
I like the gallery/lightbox function. I hope they keep it.

Hey! A Tuesday Drawing!

2011-10-11T16:27:00.000-07:00

This is a flyer for a company Halloween Party that is happening soon that I recently made.

Jeff Rango's Probably Traveling....

2011-10-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

...and I'm jealous. I never get to go anywhere anymore.

Here's a drawing from when I did: Venice.

I was just beginning to get the hang of those sketchy little people you see striding everywhere in the work of the pros.

And hey--Jimmy's postin'!

been awhile.....

2011-10-11T01:28:00.000-07:00

Heres some more sketches from the book

Recommending a Podcast

2011-10-10T21:35:00.000-07:00

Click Title for link to interview with artist George Coghill. A little back and forth discussion I enjoyed enough to download. I may play it every other day for inspiration on how to think as a freelance artist.

Coghill's Homepage

I'm trying to speed up at cintiq drawing. Doing fun stuff, copying Bruce Timm. One cool thing I've done is add undo to the pen button. Very quick undo's of line strokes.
Just after midnight. So the second Timm copy can count as a Tuesday contribution.

I've been using my tumblr account to post animated gifs. Goofy animations that I just take a couple of minutes to do.

Odesk job ad

2011-10-06T07:52:00.000-07:00

My daily job post emails sent me this one from Odesk. Don't know anything more than what it says. http://www.jobster.com/job/show?jobkey=f52587792f2961d5

Magnuson Park

2011-10-04T21:27:00.000-07:00

Lawn sculpture made with nuclear submarine stabilizing fins by the Lake Washington shore

Dortmunder Doodles

2011-10-04T11:08:00.000-07:00

"Dortmunder looked mostly like a missionary nun who was already among the cannibals and headhunters before realizing she'd lost her faith." GOOD BEHAVIOR

I used Jeff's cool preset brushes to work my way through a tracing of this Dog Character. Nice boil created with this reference PSD of what every brush does. The occasional star is a brush I liked best.

Cloud Dog

2011-10-01T19:32:00.000-07:00

I was walking home yesterday evening, very nice rain clouds on display. One clump had a cartoon aspect that you could make into a character a lot like the drawing you see. It was a leap I made to a more appealing design for my junkyard dog idea that I'm going to turn into a storyboard sample.

Obviously producing iterations now. What do you think. Jut jaw with tooth at the end? I think so.
And please, share a note if you feel like it. About the design. Draw up where it should go to make him more appealing. Jeff R, any mecha notes for hands would be welcome.

This post should also push off the last of the embedded video posts. Lets see how quick the page loads now.

RE: Page load speed. Fast as lightning now.
Found this great reduction of Horse anatomy---Emma Coats

Can't We Remove the Video Bar??

2011-09-30T18:37:00.000-07:00

Yes, remove the video bar.

Its not like they putting up videos of Sticky Jim or Ellis's immortal opus, "The Chin Puppet Movie."

AM i being a party pooper? It just slows down the load-time for our page. Would anyone object if I pulled it? I'd rather have us convert the video area to a revamped blog roll. They have that new style that includes a snapshot of each blog's latest post--it's nifty!

Oh, and here's a drawing to sweeten the deal. I was away since last Thursday, (scant internet access, etc.).

But I was thinking of you.

Peter Chung

2011-09-29T12:26:00.000-07:00

Great looking animatic

Riddick 2 by Chung

Donkey Kong

2011-09-29T08:17:00.000-07:00

This is a sketch for a piece I'm doing for a "Retro Game" art show. I wanted to do something from a game I actually worked on, but I don't suppose anyone but us old timers remember Vectorman.

Doodles These Are

2011-09-28T00:29:00.000-07:00

Copying more Bruce Timm.

Officer Forearms

2011-09-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

Photo from a blog featuring a bunch of shots of the wallstreet protesters. This police officer is manning the barricades.
Look at that rotator muscle in those forarms. You think that's genetics or does he overdo some exercise that gives you big rotators?
When he says if he wants any shit out of "you" , he'll squeeze it out of you, he means it.
Here's another shot of him.

Goldfinger

2011-09-24T23:11:00.000-07:00

Put Netflix streaming on pause to get some tea. Got back and this perfect pose of Gert Frobe was waiting for me. Had to sketch it before I got back to Goldfinger.
His clothes are so perfect and comfy looking. Hanging just right. He looked like a big plush toy.

Space Battleship came out on DVD in Japan

2011-09-23T23:43:00.000-07:00

Back in Jun/July. Up on YouTube with English subtitles in 10 parts

Edit.
Go to 9:20 of this episode and watch the cool ejection-rescue of a girl pilot.
Valkerie-type braking maneuver

Terry O'Quinn - Not

2011-09-22T18:51:00.000-07:00

Bad caricature of Terry O'Quinn I did as I watched a Masters of Sci Fi segment.
Also some rough board layout. I'm going to hammer the 5 panels a little more before I do a digital version. The idea was take the photo of bird feeding and think of a sequence of 5 shots to link to it.

Map Monsters

2011-09-21T22:52:00.000-07:00

Click the headline to see a little slide show of interesting illustrations of monsters placed on historical maps.

Celebrating the Non-Death of the Notorious T.A.G. Blog

2011-09-21T08:33:00.000-07:00

She is elated. As am I.
This would have gone up yesterday, as is proper for a Tuesday-centered blog.

Modified by Tom Moon: As always Marty, your drawings intrigue me, but this time I'm more intrigued by what might be on the reverse side of the paper you drew this on. Photoshop: the latest development in computerized detective work. - Tom

Your Images Never Looked So Good

2011-09-20T23:47:00.000-07:00

Click headline to go to the official announcement about Lightbox being the new norm for Blogspot image viewing.
I like it. I think it is better for potential portfolio uses. Storytelling uses.
I just don't like the strongarm roll out.
Easiest way to get the traditional view, with the higher rez you may have loaded the image with...Right click and chose "view image." There will be a single image as big as what you loaded.

for the Alex Toth fans

2011-09-20T16:09:00.000-07:00

Limited 1962 Synchro-Vox animation. I forgot this was put out on DVD

Add EDIT:
Alex Toth Storyboards

Nerds Go Stag - More detail shots from 1953 World Con

2011-09-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

EDIT: Check out the last photo!! :-P
EDIT: Take that!

The Gallery Effect as a Comics Viewer

2011-09-18T18:36:00.000-07:00

Lot of people moaning about not being asked whether they wanted this lightbox (google app) to impose itself on blogspot. And not getting a button to disable it. They are actually calling it aggressive beta testing.
Google = Arrogance.
Anyway, click the title and then click a cartoon if you want to see what 127 pages of scanned Vaughn Bode cartoons look like viewed in lightbox. I made the blog earlier as one big continuous upload. So now you can get a sense of what a webcomic using this would feel like.

Takes a minute or so to load.

1995 to 2012. The destructive years.

Birthday Bro

2011-09-18T10:37:00.000-07:00

"Sherman, set the Way-Back Machine for San Diego, 1995!!"

El, we celebrated your entry into another year.

Wide shot. Love your shirt, and Vectorman gameplay diagrams on the white board. Would that drink be from the cafe downstairs? I have only the haziest memory of such a place...was it in our building, or down the road?

Photo is from my last day at Bluesky. It's that fun-lovin' Ellis of the 90's!

The worst Movie Poster Art EVER???

2011-09-18T02:06:00.000-07:00

http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=161138&lotNo=53235

The Girls from Thunder Strip (1970).

I came across this gem at Heritage Auctions and my eyes nearly exploded. I thought I had seen some BAD movie poster art but I think this wins the WORST award.

Final Tabulation on Corky contest

2011-09-15T09:09:00.000-07:00

Good job Tom. I'll be very curious how it shakes out.

Hey- I was "interviewed" bu a new blog called animation insider. A fellow named Mike Milo keeps it simple and sends out generic questions you make fascinating by being you. Anyone here want his email info and the questions, he has invited anyone. I did it for whatever self promotional value it had. And to feed the ravening maw of narcissism that can never be truly sated. I put it on my blog so you can have a sneak peek.
Odd that I didn't mention Frazetta. Only the most important person in my decision to be an artist.
Link to my Blog posting of the text Big Head

Big Head

Discovered something strange today

2011-09-14T18:54:00.000-07:00

I was on my sketch blog and was doing some updates in the profile. With the new blogger updates I noticed my Blog stats and took a look. According to Blogger I have had 3700 hits with 11 in the last day. According to the stats most traffic is coming from India and Bulgaria. followed by USA, France, Germany, Philippines. I'm not sure what to make of this because no one leaves a comment.

Strange Love

2011-09-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

Years ago I watched "The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers" and came away with the (not-very-original) idea Van Heflin should have been playing the marmish D.A., and Kirk Douglas should have been the free-wheelin' tough-guy gambler. But I watched it again last week and have to say I was wrong. It's maybe Heflin's best role as a leading man. You'll be amazed to see Douglas looking sooo young.

This doesn't really capture the luggish, lumpen Van Heflin that is forever imprinted on my heart...but it'll have to do.

BONUS UPDATE: I'll make like Ellis and keep adding images to the same post.....

Hounds - Click Headline for new Cintiq

2011-09-11T23:13:00.000-07:00

I sold this painting on EBAy about 6 years ago. I'm looking at material to put into another Lulu book. I enhanced the colors in photoshop.

The new cintiq is basically a drawing table. Set your coffee on it.

Tuesday Doodle.
I'm going to draw every Bruce Timm scrap I have. Because no one channels Kirby in as cool and clean a way. I felt his coolness flowing into me as I copied Poison Ivy.

Reynold Brown - Gi-normous size JPG

2011-09-09T16:12:00.000-07:00

Click headline to get an auction house version of the poster shown.
1948 by 3000

Your next question. Why would I want that? I can't answer that question for you. I wanted it. That's my reasoning.
Tom Moon. Did you know that the year and month we were born, the HUGO awards were also born.

A lot of great minds, boozing it up waiting for us. The huge auction house pic of this photo is how I discovered the HUGO factoid.
Fun to look at the big detailed auction house version.

Forry Ackerman is awarded a HUGO for #1 Fan at this convention. He also makes news by being there with 2 clones. Which is the real Ackerman. The one on the bottom is a known Ackerman from a book signing that same year, 1953.

The Breaking Point (1950)

2011-09-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

Thursday Art Group...

I find John Garfield hard to draw. But he was dang good in this film, which is a more faithful translation of Hemingway's "To Have and Have Not" than Hawk's version (this Garfield version also being Hem's personal fave of all the film adaptations of his books--but then, he might've just been playing irascible because this film got stuffed on release on account of Garfield getting smeared by HUAC.).

It was a dang good movie. Garfield captures the stress of down-n-out like nobody's business.

p.s. Upper lefthand Garfield looks suspiciously like Cap'n Scotty Buncake?

Ramming Speed

2011-09-03T13:29:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone is having a good Labor Day weekend.

That Calls For The Wilhelm Scream

Honey Bear Bakery Regulars

2011-09-02T15:02:00.000-07:00

One is a fan of "The Kids in the Hall", apparently.

Zana said I could show these Off

2011-09-01T23:36:00.000-07:00

Click Headline to go to the blog where I published Zana's shots of me as an axe murderer.

Sculpture of a lion. By maquette sculptor, Damon Bard

Damon Bard Blog

It's good to look at your Google Reader every now and then to keep up with certain Blogs. Here's Shane Glines showing old Frazetta Lancer covers. Not paintings, Frazetta as a model!
Frazetta Model

Old Gouache Sketches

2011-08-31T06:15:00.000-07:00

From way back, but I'd just scanned some of this stuff and thought I'd share it.

Y'know, it's Tuesday and all.

COOL STUFF

2011-08-30T16:59:00.000-07:00

Jonny Quest Opening Titles from Roger D. Evans on Vimeo.

Somebody Field Test This!

2011-08-30T09:38:00.000-07:00

If you count writing as art ...

2011-08-27T13:52:00.000-07:00

Title Is Link.

Earlier this week I recapped "Warehouse 13" during its previous 2.5 seasons. Now along comes my first review ... this for Comics Bulletin. I'll be doing more for them, reviews, maybe commentary. It's fun and like caulk, it fills in the cracks between other stuff.

Got The Paint Brushes Out...

2011-08-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

...and finished an old portrait I found in storage. Oil painting is fun!

I've barely been online the last month.

Cork 61

2011-08-25T17:14:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest! Unfortunately it will also be the last Thursday Cork on the website for awhile. I've run out of finished strips in my cache, so the Cork website is taking a sabbatical until I can replenish the completed cartoons. This won't affect the TAG postings of Cork though. I'll still be uploading here whenever I finish up a new one. You may feel blessed or cursed now.

Auction House- Spawn Of Venus-Wood

2011-08-25T13:37:00.000-07:00

Started my day by downloading very high rez shots of The Spawn Of Venus. My favorite Wally Wood story. Great detail in the scans. I think the bid is at 17 k. That has to have Wood spinning in his grave.

I'll put the scans on my other blog and give you a link. It may not accept the full size. But they'll be big. If you want your own unadulterated copies, go here....
Spawn Of Venus

Okay. My uploads came out 53 percent smaller. 1600 height vs 3000 height. Quite a reduction . So if you want huge , go to the auction house. The ones on my blog are a nice size. Very detailed
As Promised-Spawn Of Venus on my Blog

For The I Pad Owners. Also, a link to the JellyBoy rough script

2011-08-24T13:20:00.000-07:00

Click headline. I really dig that idea for the pen tip. I wish a similar thing was wacom ready.

I'm going to photoshop my head onto Donald's so I can visualize what it would be like to have a mane of flowing hair caught in the breeze.
Today I'm working on my JellyBoy script. It has come together well. By the end of the day I'll have a link to google docs for the first draft.

OK. Here is the rough rough of all the ideas that have settled into text form. A lot of transcription from audio files as well.

ROUGH SCRIPT OF JELLYBOY
If you can make heads or tails of it in this form, feel free to give notes. I'll be whipping it into shape. Mainly calling the shots. Refining dialogue.

Women vs Men

2011-08-22T20:08:00.000-07:00

That breakdown on the female side of the chart may actually be a handy reference to colorblind me.

I thought of a certain Krayonzilla when I read this tweet.

2011-08-22T18:43:00.000-07:00

MeltdownComics Meltdown Comics
by RJRHQ
Looking for resumes from qualified comic shop managers. We're OK w poaching you from your current spot. Subs confidential. Gaston@meltcomics

A chance to relocate to the big city.

JellyBoy

2011-08-22T13:43:00.000-07:00

Something I'm working on today. I want it to be something that shows storytelling and digital sketch power.
I'm also going to submit it to Channel 101.
This unlisted video shows some of the ruminations and visions I have for the "short."
It's actually very well fleshed out.
I'll share the script when I'm done with it today. I'll use this slot to link to the script.
I may need some voice talent help. That might be as easy as calling you on my skype line and having you speak lines while I record you.

Didn't Clyde the Orang use a frying pan as a weapon?

2011-08-20T23:33:00.000-07:00

This fellows face looks like a frying pan. Interesting shapes. I found this guy as I was perusing pictures of BAR, Leonardo DeCaprio's girlfriend. She's got the old Stella Steven's voluptuousness going on. But I knew most of you guys would rather see the ape.

Space Baby Corps HD2 Now On iTunes Store

2011-08-20T10:09:00.000-07:00

Link takes you to the iTunes page ...

Okay ... Retro Activ Games first iPad game is out today and it is called Space Baby Corps HD2. It is known to be addictive and it does have Space Babies in it. They collect candy and deliver it to star gates. The game gets progressively harder (more challenging) the farther along you go. Lots of family fun. Worth checking out. The Android Galaxy tablet version will be uploaded soon, and we're downsizing it to fit well with the iPhone 2 and up, as well as Android phones.

I produced and helped with a few art and programming chores, Jeff Remmer did the art, and Dave Dentt did the programming. The music is by a fabulous musician from Sweden, Joel Eriksson.

How its made (Erasers)

2011-08-19T08:43:00.000-07:00

A follow up to the pencils one

Zoo drawings

2011-08-18T16:56:00.000-07:00

Click on the headline to see a Blog about our Zoo trip! Also, there's another drawing of mine and a couple of other nice drawings to see, too.

Cork 60

2011-08-18T13:17:00.000-07:00

Well, the website has finally caught up to my backlog of finished strips. This strip here is being colored as we speak to get released today. I've got one more that's pencilled that I'll try and finish before next Thursday then it looks like Cork's gonna go on hiatus for awhile. Blame Ellis. It's always because of Ellis.

Ghost Provokers Episode 3 is now online!

2011-08-17T14:26:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Please go check out the latest gag-inducing, buttocks-reducing episode of Ghost Provokers! We're at the historic Warner Grand theater in San Pedro and there's endless minutes of physical damage done unto my person, so why wouldn't you watch? Please let me know what you guys think of it! Oh, and as you watch it, know that the ELLIS GOODSON is in the basement at the time that most of this is being filmed. That should be enough to creep you out right there!

Shiyoon Kim - Tangled Credits

2011-08-17T12:57:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed TANGLED. I guess it gets mixed reviews. I thought it was damn entertaining. It's on Netflix streaming.
The title links to the artist Shiyoon Kim's blog. He did the end credit line art pieces. They caught my eye and I tracked his blog down.

Is there a shout out to Ranjo in these end credits? There's a monkey in a lotus position. Wasn't that Jeff's Torch Tiger character?

Vaugh Bode Scans
I did a dump of all the scans from my 1969 paperback, Deadbone Erotica

Pencils are Made

2011-08-17T12:56:00.000-07:00

Kali shared this on twitter. I was mesmerized. Found my mind running ahead of it as I realized how the operation must unfold.

What If Male Superheroes Posed Like Wonder Woman On The David Finch Justice League Cover?

2011-08-16T12:16:00.000-07:00

Click headline to get to the satire.
It's the same headline wording and art. A waste of time to click for extra info, but you might surf elsewhere once you get to the page.

The web site resents using their band width for hot linking so i downloaded a blog specific jpg. Same thing.

Another Ape Pic

2011-08-12T08:42:00.000-07:00

Here's another picture I took on my recent Zoo visit.

Speaking of Gorillas....

2011-08-11T16:58:00.000-07:00

Here's one with some impressive moves:

Zoo Story

2011-08-11T14:39:00.000-07:00

I've been to the Zoo.
In honor of all the ape lovers out there (I'm looking at you Ellis, Jeff and Ronnie) I have posted this photo that I took at the Zoo this week. Enjoy!

Rango-What's not to like

2011-08-11T00:42:00.000-07:00

Dug that Chameleon Rango. I liked this guy too.

Cork 59

2011-08-10T15:36:00.000-07:00

I realized that I hadn't posted this Cork even though I've had it done for awhile. I'm going to be coloring it tonight for tomorrow's Cork website posting. I've also finished 60 as well. I'm just a lazy cuss.

The Ghost Provokers need YOUR HELP!

2011-08-08T13:45:00.000-07:00

We're trying to raises money to help fund episode three of Ghost Provokers shot at the historic Warner Grand Theater up in San Pedro and we've set up the project on Kickstarter! We have two days left to reach our goal and we're over halfway there. Kickstarter, if you don't know, is a cool place to help get donations for your creative project be it video, film, comics, documentaries, books, what have you. It's a really cool place and depending how much you donate you get cool merchandise or prizes from those soliciting! Stuff like getting your name in the credits, a Ghost Provokers t-shirt, Ghost Provokers DVD's, etc! Small or large donations welcome!

So check out the link and bleed those greenbacks out of your philanthropic veins! You'll also get to see exclusive content from episode 3 that only those who donate can see. Two days to go! If we don't reach our goal we get nothing! So please send around this link to friends who might be interested. If we make more than we asked for it could fund episode four!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1408439259/ghost-provokers-vs-warner-grand-theater

Mad Scientist

2011-08-06T21:40:00.000-07:00

A sketch done with the lovely pencil that Ellis sent me.

Layouts to Keith Freiheit Comic Book Collaboration-1993

2011-08-05T14:06:00.000-07:00

Click Headline to see all of them.

Thought about it after I posted the thing, I bet you a donut, I've uploaded and blogged about these before and forgot about it. I'm losing my mind.

WB to adapt Nonplayer

2011-08-04T15:57:00.000-07:00

Click on the headline for the article. TAG North's very own Nate Simpson's comic Nonplayer has just been picked up by Warner Bros. to be adapted to film. Nate also picked up the Russ Manning most promising talent award at Comic Con 2 weeks ago.

"Don't You Feel Like Anyone Could Sh*t Out A Graphic Novel."

2011-08-04T13:35:00.000-07:00

Click headline to hear Adam Carolla Podcast with Kevin Pereira. At about the 40 minute mark Pereira starts. They talk about the Comic Con and graphic novels. Carolla is a bit anti comic book. But I think he's very funny.

"One step above a placemat."
"The man is made of molten metal."

My Page in the Autism Sketchbook...
I need to track down the real deal. I like how they ganged all my sketches.

Drawing-Hope-

Zana has a bunch of shots of me as a serial killer. Pretty cool. She doesn't want them out yet but shared a few with me. They look great. She has quite a talent and the hardware to go with it. Below is a tight crop of a much larger shot that doesn't give anything away. Grainy good.

Rick-Like

2011-08-03T12:08:00.000-07:00

I thought the Con Sketch reminded me of Rick Schmitz style. Click headline to go to the Telegraph article on the Con and more pictures . 35 in all. Good shots.

Found a bunch of scrap pads in a drawer. Personalized Blue Sky pads. I have JuiJitsu diagrams, warfare and gorilla like cats to record my mind in amber.

Animal Photography

2011-08-01T22:19:00.000-07:00

Click Headline to see some animal photography that tends to the grotesque.

Fishing for Tai ...

2011-07-30T08:48:00.000-07:00

Hi, people of TAG. Through the good graces of Joe Shoopack, I am being considered for a PR position at Sony Online Entertainment, better known as SOE. I am currently putting together a new set of recommendations that includes PR / Marketing bosses I haven't spoken to in literally 15 - 20 years (but they're still out there, subsisting). The person who is shepherding the resume currently is Tai Rodriguez, Senior PR Manager at SOE. Does anyone know anything about her? Knowledge is power, so I am hoping to become more knowledgeable about everything before next week. No detail is too small. I look forward to your postings and will read them avidly.

Did anyone buy this?

2011-07-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

Click headline
Han Solo in Carbonite ice cube trays.

More ComicCon. Mike Carona experiences the Con on mushrooms. He's the guy I noted looked like Marty's sketch at Disneyland. He has a really funny stage play that he and a group perform of the Star Trek episode SPOCK'S BRAIN. They just do it straight. Look it up.

Mile High Comics and Comic Con 2011

2011-07-28T14:46:00.000-07:00

Got his passed on to me and can be found at Mile High Comics

This is a two part email from Chuck at Mile High Comics.

I'll start this year's convention report by mentioning that there is a huge controversy over the decision of the convention committee to completely alter both the price, and the availability, of 4-day passes for next year's show. As I understand it, 4-day passes to this year's show were priced at $105, and were available beginning at last year's preview night. The price has risen to $175 for this 2012, with only 2400 tickets per day being made available at a specially constructed stand in the huge Hyatt hotel next door to the convention center. Pricing considerations aside, the fact that people had to line up in the Hyatt at 6 AM this morning to get next year's passes has some of the most loyal fans of the San Diego convention absolutely livid. I have become quite used to hearing from my fellow comics dealers that they believe that the members of the convention committee categorically ignore their needs, but this is the first year that I have had those same sentiments echoed by members of the general public. Never, ever, have I seen so many angry fans at this convention...

Before you get the wrong impression, I do want you to know that everyone who is at the show appears to be delighted with being here. Their resentment stems solely from the fact that many of them have been supporting the show for a decade, or even longer, and suddenly they are being denied easy access to future tickets. I certainly empathize with their anger, as we comics dealers have been forced to live with a rapidly diminishing role and importance in a convention that we helped to nurture during it's formative years. That having been said, circumstances do evolve, and the San Diego convention that exists today is a unique enterprise that draws in a worldwide audience. It is precisely that intense popularity and resulting demand for tickets that has caused 4-day passes to now sell for upwards of $500 each (!) in the online secondary market. With the convention committee well aware of that secondary market pricing, is it any wonder that they are raising their own prices, and limiting purchases of 4-day tickets to two per person? As sad as this change may be, the simple truth is that there is vastly more demand right now for tickets to the San Diego convention there there is supply. That being the case, it is almost inevitable that ticket prices would rise, and that availability would decline. Sometimes, change sucks...

Before I leave the topic of ticket availability, I do want to once again advocate for extending the length of the San Diego show. Ideally, I would like to see the convention last nine days, covering two weekends and a full week between. Based on current demand, I still see the show completely selling out in both tickets, and booths. Clearly this radical change would require some intense negotiations with the city of San Diego, and more importantly, with other users of the convention center. Huge convention facilities, such as this one, tend to be booked years in advance. Finding a double weekend combo (plus the necessary set-up and break-down days) is absolutely going to require some other users of the San Diego convention center to relinquish their previously reserved dates. Given the incredible amount of money (reportedly estimated at $178 million per year...) that comic-con attendees already bring to San Diego, however, there are enormous incentives for all parties involved to start making whatever deals are necessary to expand the length of the convention. The only real question is whether there is the leadership, and the political will and ability, to bring such a sweeping change to fruition. Barring such an expansion of the dates, I see the current conflicts over tickets and booths as only escalating, and becoming more acrimonious, next year.

Part 2:

The reason for my lengthy preamble is that I am going to reveal to you a primary reason for why the Board of Directors of the San Diego convention decided to jack up 4-day ticket prices for 2012 from $105 (in 2010), to $175 in 2012. Simply put, they desperately need a financial war chest to back up their full-contact negotiations with the City of San Diego. To clarify that statement, it has been widely reported in all manner of news sources over the past few years that the Board of Directors has been threatening to pull the convention out of San Diego. What has not been widely known, however, is that all this bluster has been nothing more than a huge bluff. To this point in time, there has never been a viable financial capability that would have allowed the convention to actually be able to relocate out of San Diego.

To illustrate what I mean by a lack of financial capability, consider for a moment that a great deal of the manpower for this immense convention comes from volunteers, most of whom live in the San Diego region. Expecting them to contribute their time in as generous a fashion if the convention moves to Anaheim or Las Vegas is completely unrealistic. Barring a successful push to find equally talented volunteers in whatever new host city was selected, the Board of Directors would have to hire (and pay) a novice crew completely unfamiliar with comics, and the vagaries of comics fans. Good luck.

Hiring a new workforce aside, there is the necessity of finding a facility with available dates. It has been reported that Anaheim, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles have all sought to lure Comic-Con from San Diego. But, can they provide similar levels of service as compared with San Diego? After decades of completely ignoring the convention, the city now is taking a very active role in helping with critical issues, such as public transportation. As a case in point, a new pedestrian bridge now allows fans to safely cross the very busy roadway that separates the main downtown transit center from the convention center. This has not only eliminated the very dangerous crosswalk situation that existed previously, but also encouraged everyone who lives in town to take the trolley. Traffic congestion near the convention center is thus vastly less than in the past, which is definitely a win-win for everyone.

All of the above having been said, the continuing preeminence of San Diego as the greatest pop culture/comics event in the world is now threatened not only the rapidly expanding New York Comic-Con, but also by a major new media show backed by Disney, being held in Anaheim in August. San Diego needs both more room, and additional days to be able to use in the San Diego convention center, if it wants to have any hope of remaining on top. Only the political leaders of San Diego can grant and/or facilitate either of those two wishes, however, and at least for right now no firm solutions are at hand. It is thus critical to the convention Board of Directors that they actually have the cash on hand to pick up and move, if that becomes the only option.

Returning to the news that I reported yesterday about the annoyance, piqué, and rage being felt by long-time supporters of the convention when they discovered that 4-day advance tickets for the 2012 convention were being restricted to only 2400 per day, and could only be purchased at a special booth being set up in the neighboring Hyatt hotel, the true situation turned out to be even more aggravating than I first believed. A fan who arrived at the Hyatt at 5 AM on Thursday reported to me that he was able to purchase his limit of two passes, but that the hundreds of fans who arrived shortly after 6 AM was sent home empty-handed. Larger families were also struggling to get enough tickets for themselves and their children not only from a financial perspective, but also from sheer availability due to the two ticket limit. As a direct result, I had several fans tell me yesterday that, after many years of attending the convention, that they would never return. With as much as I love this great annual gathering, hearing that bitter news makes me very, very sad.

Not Much Of Anything

2011-07-26T13:50:00.000-07:00

Cool horse. Got some rhythm going.

This was decent. Old enough that the most recent topics were the Wachowski's Speed Racer. But a pretty good look at Anime. And how gradually it has permeated everything. Live action movies as well as cartoons.

I was listening to KOGO and heard that a young mortally wounded man was dropped at Dennys late Tuesday night. They gave the address. I thought, "That's TAG Dennys!" We would have been there 15 years ago. Yeesh.

Sucker Punch=Bad. FF was invented for movies like this.

TAG Dinner Pictures - Post Yours!

2011-07-24T16:33:00.000-07:00

These were the ones I took: KZ

This time I went into Settings, scrolled to the bottom and selected "Updated Editor". It was set on "Old Editor". Now I am ready to post TAG-COMIC CON PICTURES! To save space I made a collage out of a bunch of pictures so there will only be one preview picture.

TAG Dinner Jam Drawing

Test Post

2011-07-24T16:22:00.000-07:00

I haven't been able to post from my PC so I'm trying to post this from my Mac laptop.

Comic Con! Who's going? When shall we meet up?

2011-07-24T08:11:00.000-07:00

I think it's time to start discussing who's going to be at the con and when/where we ought to meet up.

Captain America reviews? Robert Rodriquez talks Frazetta

2011-07-22T10:28:00.000-07:00

How was it? Harry at AICN liked it.
Netflix for me. I may be waiting for Netflix streaming since Netflix changes delivery models in September.

I found Rodriguez talking about Frazetta very interesting.

I guess I can upload images Tom.