Colorin' the Devil

Last night, while on one of my late night drawing sessions, I drew this really funny picture of a devil. I thought it was good enough to color, so I opened it up in Photoshop. But before I started coloring it, I thought it would be cool to record the whole thing with SnagIt!.

This was sped up to triple speed, so coloring it took about 10-12 minutes of my time. I made this using Windows Movie Maker (God I hate that program), but hopefully by next week all my future movies will be made up nice in iMovie or one of the MacBook's decent movie editing programs. Here's hoping, & enjoy the video!:

The final image:

Bold in Bronze?

Years ago, after Frank Thomas passed away, I came up with an interesting yet crazy thought of how to commemorate the legacy of each of the Nine Old Men: by erecting statues of them. I thought it would be really nice if 9 statues were grouped together in a large open courtyard where people can come & see them. Or they could each be spread out around one of the theme parks or around the Walt Disney Studios Lot, so people would have to go & find each of them individually.

One idea was to have each animator standing with one or two of the characters they brought to life beside them (ex: Eric Larson holding Figaro, John Lounsbery with Ben Ali Gator, Ward Kimball with Jiminy Cricket on his shoulder, etc.). There would be small, weatherproof TV screens around them showcasing some of the scenes they animated. Below the statues, there would be little plaques with their names & a quote of theirs.

Here's an example of a variation of one of the sculpture concepts, this one commemorating Ollie. Pardon the sloppiness, I drew/colored it very quickly.

Like the New Banner?

Well... I became inpatient... so I decided to put the new banner up a few days early. Whattaya' think?

I roughly sketched about 15-20 different thumbnail designs for the new banner until I finally came up with a layout I liked. Some other concepts were the three guys raking/jumping into piles of leaves, walking through the woods & harvesting. I briefly considered doing holiday-themed banners for Halloween (pumpkin carving, trick-or-treating, etc.) or Thanksgiving (turkey dinner, football, etc.), but I decided against those ideas believing I should focus more on fall itself & not the holidays. One idea that I liked a lot was one of Cannibal Chicken catching leaves with his tongue as if they were winter snowflakes, but I scrapped that at the last minute 'cause I couldn't plan it out right on paper.

I finally came up with a concept I liked: pumpkin picking. I then drew a larger rough draft to plan out the composition & poses in the scene. The only difference in the original draft & the final draft up top is that Steve-O was originally the scarecrow instead of Cannibal Chicken, but once I thought of adding the crows at the last minute, I knew Cannibal Chicken would fit better with them. I also added the fence, barn & tied bundles of stalk later on.

Then I began to draw the final draft. The actual drawing is about 10.5" wide & 4.5" high. I first drew it extremely rough in blue pencil to lay out the characters & objects in the scene , then went over it once more in green to pinpoint & clean up the lines. Then I began to ink the drawing:

Here's what it looked like about halfway through the inking process. Notice the light green & blue lines underneath before I erased them later on:

Once the inking was done, I erased all the green & blue pencil lines & shaded the drawing in black Ebony pencil. I like to do that because it gives the drawing a nice sketchy texture underneath the color, almost like an old book illustration:

Then comes the fun part: the color. Surprisingly, it ended up being a lot easier than I thought it would be. The only difficulty I had was coloring the pumpkin patch & the corn & bundles on the left. It ended up consisting of about 15 layers, from the purple & cream sky on the bottom to the shadows on the top.

Overall, I'm very satisfied with the way it came out. There aren't as many noticeable mistakes as the last banner & I think the poses & colors are a bit stronger & more defined here as well. It's definitely an improvement over my summer banner & I'm looking forward to it being the first thing I see when I check my blog for the next few months. I hope you think so to!

More to come soon!

Back Again...

Hiya folks! I just got back from West Palm Beach & although Ol' Tropical Storm Fay stuck around Florida for a while (& apparently still is), the weather was actually a lot sunnier than I expected. Lucky me!

Anyway, continuing where I left off, I'm now in the process of creating a new banner for the blog to commemorate the beginning of the fall season. Now I know most calenders say that Autumn doesn't technically start 'til late September, but I always felt that it started right when school did, so THERE! Take that, Gregorians!

At this point, I'm only up to the rough blue pencil stage of the process, but the inking should go by pretty quick too. The hardest part is the coloring! Sure, Photoshop makes coloring my sketches a cinch, but when you're partially colorblind (only alittle bit) & it takes you a few hours to color all the separate layers, it definitely requires plenty of patience. Boy, all those red, yellow, orange, brown & gold leaves are gonna be a LOAD of fun to color one by one... & I hope I can get that, along with all the other important crap, outta the way by this coming weekend. I'm movin' back to good ol' 318 at SVA this Saturday!

The temporary banner I have up now was cobbled together from a picture I made in response to some of my friends recent "alternate color scheme" pictures. Here's the original:

Oh, & if you miss the old summer banner, don't worry! Here it is!:

By the way, I have plenty of Florida drawings to post (which reminds me, I still haven't posted any of the camping drawings I did a few weeks ago!). Expect those within' the next few days!

& here's a reminder to everyone!... so far I've only gotten 2 great submissions to my companion blog, "DUCK!". The gallery must grow, people! If you want to submit your own ducky piece of original artwork, click on the "DUCK!" link on the right & read the rules. REMEMBER, WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!

Goin' Out Again...

I'm goin' down to not-so-sunny Florida for the next few days to see the folks, so this blog won't be updated 'til I get back on Monday.

In the meantime, enjoy the temporary blog banner I quickly cobbled together & posted above. I'm working on a new banner for the Fall season, which I plan putting up on the first day of September. 'Til then, enjoy Steve-O & his 7 designer colors.

I bid you all 'Adieu'!

Throw Me a 'Bone'...

Before I started at SVA, the only cartoons I really ever saw were Disney's & some of the old cartoons that (used to) air on CN, & the only comics I ever really read were whatever was/is in Newday. Since then, so many different cartoons, films & comics have been introduced to me & have had a great effect on me & my work, along with the many teachers & fellow students I study with every day. While some of the comics I've discovered have been recommended to me by my friends & collegues, a select few have been floating around me forever & I haven't finally recognized them until just recently. One of them was Jeff Smith's Bone series.

For what seemed to be years, I've noticed this cute little white cartoon character popping up from time to time whereever I went. To me, he looked like a cross between Mickey Mouse & a Shmoo. He definitely caught my attention, but I never really had the urge to find out who or what this little guy was or what he was from.

A few weeks ago, my friend Mike Luckas, his girlfriend Sara & I took a day trip back to the city. At one point when we were around St. Marks, we stopped by the Forbidden Planet comic shop. As I browsed through all the different comic books, graphic models & such, I came across that little white guy again on the cover of a book.

Out of sheer curiosity, I bought the book & read it that night when I got back home.

From the very first page, I IMMEDIATELY got hooked on Bone! The characters, the artwork & especially the story pulled me into it & I wanted to find out what was next in store for these little guys. A few days ago, I drove to the nearest Barnes & Noble (about a 20 min. drive) & picked up books 2, 3 & 4, thinking that would last me a few days or so. WRONG! I went through those 3 books in a matter of a few hours. The next day, I drove all the way back to the store & bought the next 4 volumes, & I went through those 4 books that very day!

There's only one more book in the series (Book 9), but unfortunately the store didn't have #9 in stock. Now I'm patiently (yet eagerly) waiting to pick up the final book on Amazon. But sadly, I'll be away from Thursday 'til Monday of next week on a trip down to not-so-sunny Florida, so I'll have to hold out on my Bone fix for nearly a week! AAAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHH!!!!

Still, what can I say about Bone that nobody else has said already?.... Nothing, that's what! I can only say it's such a great series & although I've only discovered it just recently, it's already has influenced me a great deal. Jeff Smith sits right up there with Charles Schulz & Walt Kelly, a truly talented artist indeed.

I now hear that there are plans for a Bone movie in the works. I really hope it's true to the books & Smith has heavy control over the whole thing. Personally, I believe the series would work best as a trilogy (3 books make up 1 film) & I REALLY hope it will be animated traditionally to fit with the style of Smith's drawings. Sure, it COULD be done in CGI or as a live-action/CGI film, but I don't think it would retain the look, feel & style of the books. Here's hoping!

Strangely enough, I noticed how the characters of Fone Bone, Phoney Bone & Smiley Bone are uncannily similar to my characters Randy, Steve-O & Cannibal Chicken. After read a few of the books, I felt like I have unknowingly 'plagarized' Jeff Smith's characters! I really gotta fine tune my character's personalities a bit! That alone inspired me to draw this fun little setup of Steve-O & Phoney Bone facing off. "Who will stand on top: Bird or Bone?"

Thanks for inspirin', Jeff Smith!

A Washboard Bubble Bath

I did this quick little drawing of Steve-O in an old washtub, then thought it was good enough to ink, scan & color. Click on the player below to hear the song he's whistlin' to, sung & played by one of my favorite bands!

Discover Firehouse Five Plus Two!

"CONFOUND THOSE DOVER BOYS!!!"

Earlier today, I re-watched one of Chuck Jones' (if not all of Warner Bros.') greatest cartoons, The Dover Boys (1942). One of my all-time favorites, without a doubt.

I quickly drew, scanned & colored Dan Backslide (the former sneak of Roquefort Hall, coward, bully, cad & thief & arch-enemy of the Dover Boys) just for kicks. God, what a great & funny character! I'd also like to add that to me, Dan Backslide is probably one of Mel Blanc's crowning roles in all the cartoons he was involved in. Every line of dialogue spoken by Dan Backslide is so forced & overplayed, it never fails to make me laugh.

Here's the full cartoon, courtesy of Youtube. Enjoy!:

Hey, I'm on TV!

Well, techically it's online... but who cares, I'm in it!

At the Newgrounds booth, Tom Fulp & Dan Paladin were being interviewed to promote the Castle Crashers video game. While they were being interviewed, myself along with some of my friends/collegues: Chris Zito, Chris "Kirbopher" Niosi, Rina-Chan & a slew of others, are in the background chatting away with eachother. Don't believe me?... See for yourself (courtesy of Gametrailers.com, of course):

To add to the Comic-Con video goodness, here's a video shot & narrated by Chris Zito while at the Newgrounds booth. Watch 'til the very end (you'll find out why):

No, I'm not that scary in real life, although I do eat cameras on occasion.

"I'll teach your grandmother to SUCK EGGS!..."

I was a bit bored yesterday, so I drew some of my favorite expressions & poses from my favorite episode of Ren & Stimpy: "Stimpy's Invention". No matter how many times I watch it, half the time I'm laughing out loud & the other half I'm watching in awe at the animation & the variety of crazy takes Ren makes throughout the cartoon. Thanks, John K!

Some of the poses aren't "pushed" enough & are a bit off, but I rushed so it was inevitable.

Hey... Check out my new blog: DUCK!

No! No! Get out from under your computer, you nitwit! It's just the name of the blog!

The other day while I was drawing a bunch of ducks in my sketchbook, an idea popped inside my head.... I thought "What if there was a blog where anybody can post their own duck drawings all in one place where everyone can come & see them." An Online Duck Art Gallery of sorts. & since nobody was probably gonna do it, I decided to step in & make it myself.

May I present my third blog:

Go spread the word! Send in your duck drawings, scribbles & doodles today! What're you waitin' for?... Go check it out NOW! ...

& don't forget to read the rules.

Oldie but Goodie...

Since this week's Toon Platoon focuses on automobiles, I chose to draw what I think is one of the coolest cars ever produced:

The Ford Model-T. Ain't she a 'beaut'? I'd love to drive an old Model-T... that or one of those fancy older motorcars like in Mr. Toad.

Come on.... a top speed of 45 mph?... 15-20 miles per gallon?.... roughly 800 bucks a pop (back in 1920 dollars)?...what an awesome car! Someday, if I ever have enough money & had a large amount of property upstate somewhere, I'd make small dirt roads all through the woods just to drive one of these babies through 'em every once in a while! Ain't nothin' like a scenic drive through the countryside. Hell, I'd even drive it out on the open road in everyday traffic... that is if I had the insurance to cover it.

Cars these days look like garbage. A lot of them look exactly the same year after year. Model after model. Sure, some cars like the MINI's, Mustangs & VW Beetles look retro, but most of the cars all look either extremely similar to eachother, or are just plain ugly. Just look at the PT Cruiser or the Nissan Cube & you'll see what I mean. The Model-T, & all cars made before the mid-1950's were sharp, classy autos that all looked totally different from one another. Auto-Individuality drives my interests.

& what advanced technology the Model-T had! Automatic start?.... BULL!... crank-starting a motor is the way of the future! 4-Wheel drive... who needs that crap? Power windows?... don't need 'em, 'cause there are no windows on most of them! & you don't need a fancy car alarm either, 'cause you can hear a car like that start from a mile away!

Sure, the car is a rolling metal death trap with no airbags, seat belts, shatter-proof glass, anti-lock brakes, fog lights or ANY real safety features whatsoever.... but it's got a bicycle horn. Come on...you can't beat that!

Aw screw it... here's some backgrounds...

But to make sure I don't spoil too much, I'm only posting the pencil & ink layouts of the backgrounds. Everything'll look a lot nicer when you see them in color.

When I did the Ice Climbers segment for the last film, I did all the backgrounds in Flash & they all looked like trash that was painted in Microsoft Paint. When I came on board for $oopah NIN10Doh!, I knew that I wanted to raise the production values up a bit this time around, so I did nearly all the backgrounds on paper, scanned & colored them in Photoshop & imported them into Flash. Technology....

More to come soon...

"$oopah NIN10Doh!".....

Well, I might as well finally break the news here now, since it's already been announced everywhere else...

Remember NIN10Doh!, Chris Niosi's Newgrounds film I took part in a few months back? Well, the sequel, $oopah NIN10Doh! is coming out very soon & I'm taking part in this one too! Except this time, I'm doing not 1, but 2 segments!

One of my 2 segments is based off the classic Nintendo game Duck Hunt (ducks... of course). Compared to the Ice Climbers segment I animated for the first installment, this one definitely shows some improvement in my work. There should be no mis-colorings, mistakes or hitches whatsoever like in my old segment. There's more color, more characters, more effects & a LOT more violence.

I don't want to spoil too much for you guys, but here's some character designs & things you'll probably see in the final segment. (If only the drawings I did in Flash looked as decent as my pencil drawings). Later on, after the movie is finally up online, I'll link to it from here as well as post some backgrounds I drew for it. I'll let you guys know immediately when it's up.

Goodbye PC... Hello Mac!

I've been a PC user all my life. Over the years, I've learned to get used to PC's & all their drawbacks, & although those cons have held me back, I just would install some new virus protection software & trucked on. But lately, I've been getting really frustrated, sick & tired with my PC & all the trouble it gives me every day. Besides, for all the things I want/need to do like animation, music, voices & movies, the PC has no decent programs for it. I think it's about time I jumped ship & moved on to something better: a Mac!

Although Macs seem to be a completely alien compared to the PC way of things I'm used to, the little time I spent with them at SVA & my friends have made me know enough about them. So I've decided to pick myself up a fancy-schmancy new MacBook Pro sometime within the next few weeks. Plus, I'm gettin "the works". I'm gonna get all the super deluxe programs I need: AfterEffects, a newer version of Flash (I've been using Flash MX, which has been far too outdated), an external hard-drive & maybe I'll pick up a copy of Final Cut Studio if I'm up to it. & luckily, thanks to software like Parallels or Bootcamp, I can transfer some of my PC programs to the Mac, like my Adobe Creative Suite (I hope).

& on top of all that, since I'm an SVA student, everything is discounted dramatically at the school store & I'll save a lot of dough (that is if I buy everything before Sept. 15th). I'm still gonna study up a bit before I go out & buy out the place, but I know I' getting one no matter what! Sure, my wallet may end up completely empty, but it's all for the better.

If anybody out there can tell me about their Mac experience(s) & anything that I should be aware of before I get one? Pros? Cons? Priorities? Is there any programs I should get immediately or ones I should hold out for? What are the best programs for a person like me (art, animation, movie making, audio recording & music compiling)? Thanks!

Much Ado About Inking...

For a long time, I've been trying to find the right pen for me to draw & ink my cartoons with. I've tried numerous markers, brushes & pens, but there always seems to be some sort of hitch.

Years ago, before I was too aware of the wide world of inking pens, I used a regular Sharpie marker. It made thick, dark & consistent lines, but not only did they dry out quickly & go through all my paper, the smell made me go cuckoo. Glad I gave those up.

Then, when I started at SVA, I started to explore & experiment with different pens. Don Duga, my drawing professor, recommended Rapidograph pens. I tried a few of his during class & I kinda liked the feel of them. I shelled out 75 bucks for a set of them. God, did I regret that...

Sure, the pens are ok, if you're an architect who only makes straight lines. I hold pencils & pens at a specific angle, but with the Rapido's, you gotta have them at the EXACT angle or the ink won't go. Also, I particularly prefer to to draw thick, smooth lines, which the Rapido's aren't the right choice for. & worst of all is the maintenance. I cleaned them, rinsed them, refilled them & tried to take really good care of them & I STILL ended up ruining them! 75 bucks out the window.

Currently, I use a Size 1 Pigma Graphic Pen & a Pigma Brush Pen. So far, these are my prime choice pens. The lines are consistent & dark... they move pretty smoothly across the paper... & the Size 1 is the perfect thickness for me. The Brush Pen is great 'cause I can go from really thin to really thick with my lines. Part 6 of my comic was all inked with a Brush pen.

They would be 100% perfect for me, except for one thing: THEY DRY WAY TOO QUICKLY!!! At the rate I draw daily, I average out at 1-1.5 pens a day. I try to use as much as them as I can, but by then the lines break up & become very rough. As for the Brushes (which dry equally as quick), I end up fraying the edges way to quickly. After they get frayed even the slightest, I can no longer go thinner than a Size 1, the lines become fuzzy edged & create double lines. I have to be extra careful with them, or they end up useless & in the trash. & the fact that they are $2-$3 a pop doesn't help much either.

*Can anyone recommend any pens that fit my inking style: thick, smooth & consistent lines? I've heard a lot of good things about the Kuretake Brush Pens, but can anybody give me any first-hand experience with them? Are they durable? Are they easy to fray? Do you have to take as much care for them as a Rapidograph?

Also, can anybody give me any good tips about inking? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

It's about time I posted about all the cool stuff I got at the Comic-Con, isn't it?

---When I first went to the Newgrounds booth, I didn't expect there to be so much hype, but my expectations were completely wrong. The booth was large, spacious & jumping! They had four monitors with 4 Xbox's showcasing a demo-version of the new game Castle Crashers. I stepped up to the screen & played a few rounds, enjoying myself (as well as the company) & had a really great time.

On one of my last few visits to the booth, I decided to get myself a little keepsake from Newgrounds, so I bought this little figurine:

It's a small little posable figurine of the Orange Knight. He came with a base, a removable shield & 4 weapons (a sword, an axe, a mace/club & a dead fish) & a cool case to put him in. I would have gotten a Green one (since green is my favorite color) but since the Orange guy was my first character to play as, I chose him instead. Besides, the knights looks better in orange than green anyway.

Luckily, I got my case signed by Dan Paladin, the creator, art director & lead animator of Castle Crashers (as well as his previous game, Alien Hominid) , whom I briefly met at the Newgrounds party a few nights earlier.

Check out the game when it comes out later this month! It's a load of fun!

---One of the few booths I repeatedly headed back to was Jeff Pidgeon's table at the Red Window Inc. Booth. Being an admirer & knowing his work from his blog & his credits from a majority of the Pixar films as a story artist (which is a job I'd love to have someday), I had to at least say hello. He is a very nice & funny guy who was real fun to talk to.

While I was there, I bought a few things from him, including one of his cool "Happy Beaver" vinyl toys...

...whom I had Jeff sign on his bottom...

...as well as this really cool t-shirt he designed. Hey, I like birds & I like jazz. Double win!

Stationed next to him was another Pixar story artist, Bill Presing. I really do admire his work, especially his simple yet elegant sketches of girls (whistles like a fox). I picked up a copy of his book Belle du jour as well as a DVD of Rex Steele: Nazi Smasher. I'm looking forward to checking out the DVD as soon as I can.

Oh, Bill also signed my book, too:

One last thing I got at the Red Window Booth was a copy of Afterworks 2, a good sized comic collab book featuring a lot of artists & animators from all over the animation community. It's a really cool book & it's worth checking out.

--- As I was walking through the aisles with my friend Chris, he spotted this really cool poster. At first I thought it was a map of Middle-Earth or something like that, but upon closer inspection, I discovered it was something that totally blew my mind!

It's called the "Map of Humanity", where it organizes many well-known cities & locations based on it's emotional &/or moral standing. & not only does it pinpoint real cities, but also fictional ones (ex: Babar's Kingdom, Springfield, Mayberry, etc.). It was put together by an illustrator named James Turner, & I definitely have to give the guy credit for putting the time in effort to creating this map. Click on the image to take a gander!

---- I briefly stopped at the Bill Plympton Booth to see what he was up to. While I was there, I picked up the Animation Show DVD boxset, containing both Volumes 1 & 2.

Bill even signed both DVD cases for me!

----

Here's one of the last things I bought on the trip. I was subliminally persuaded into buying the Sam & Max: Freelance Police DVD after taking a peek at my friend Chris' copy of a Sam & Max book. While I am aware of Sam & Max, I have yet to read any of their books or play their games. I'm definitely gonna check out a bit more on Sam & Max, along with a few other comics I've been interesting in checking out as well.

---- While many things I bought at the Con were spur of the moment surprise buys, some things I was looking forward to far in advance. One of them was:

The book, kinda like the Afterworks book, is a comic collaboration between a few animators & artists from Dreamworks. I learned about this book from Jenny Lerew's blog, Blackwing Diaries (link found on right), who wrote & illustrated the story Point & Shoot.

In conjunction with the release of the book, the artists had a signing at the Dark Horse booth. Being an early bird, I was the first on line for the signing. It was a pleasure finally meeting the likes of Jenny, David Pimental & the others in person, who each signed & drew a little sketch in the book:

Simply awesome... Make sure to buy a copy from Amazon.com or your local comic shop or bookstore!

---- Oh God.... where do I start on this one?...

One of the biggest things I was looking forward to at Comic-Con was Chris Sanders' Kiskaloo booth. It had to be one of my favorite booths at the entire Con! I came back almost twice a day!

I ended up buying one of everything from Chris' booth. I left with a Kiskaloo book, a large "Hammock Girl" poster, a limited-edition Kiskaloo pin, Chris' 2nd Sketchbook, a bunch of free pins & tattoos & finally, the piece de resistance: Chris' "Maile" vinyl figurine (that baby's goin' on top of my animation desk in my studio)!

He also signed my sketchbook!

I wish I had more time to talk with Chris, but he was a very busy guy, not only managing the booth, but working on some new sketches as well. Luckily, he had some really great help helping him keep the booth in order. It's a shame I didn't get any of their names.

---Like Scrambled Ink, this next book was one I was looking forward too getting at the convention:

Who is Rocket Johnson? is another comic collab book made up by Disney artists, with each "story" in the book being each artist's own idea & interpretation of who Rocket Johnson is. Is he/she a superhero... a fighter pilot... an airplane, the list goes on!

While they had a limited-edition copy signed by ALL the artists, it was about $250! Besides, even if I DID wanna ante up to get it, I'd be afraid to even read the damn thing. Luckily, I got he next best thing, a standard copy signed by three of the book's contributors: Steve Anderson, Sam Levine & Chris Ure!

While I was checking out the Rocket Johnson booth, I turned to saw none other than FLOYD NORMAN standin' right next to me!!! I spoke to him for a few minutes & I told him that I definitely wanted to check out his panel that he was having later that day. Unfortunately, I lost complete track of time that day & realized that I missed the panel right when it became too late. It's a crying shame I didn't get to see his panel (in fact, I didn't go to ANY panels this year). It was probably one of my biggest regrets of the entire trip.

----

Another event I was eagerly awaiting to see was to pick up a copy of Ben Balistreri's new book: SEAWEED. I discovered his blog less than two weeks before the Con & I glad I found it when I did! His appealing designs for SEAWEED are the kind of things I really yearn to see in comics, as well as animation. The style of the book is very much like that of many well-known French comics & graphic novels, simply beautiful stuff!

On Sunday, I went to his book signing right before I left the Con. I'm glad I was one of his first visitors to his first ever book signing. I would assume it was a very surreal moment for him. He even sketched out a perfect picture of Poisson the fish in record time!

Make sure to check out SEAWEED! I'm eagerly awaiting for his next SEAWEED book, hopefully coming out soon!

Oh, & while I was at the Stuart NG booth where he was signing at, I also snagged a couple old copies of Animation Blast!

---- What can I saw about Stephen Silver that nobody else has said before? He's one of the best character designers around & I got a chance to meet him & pick up two of his books: Stephen Silver's Sketchbook & The Art of Silver.

The coolest part was he also did a caricature of ME in one of the books! DEAD-ON EXACTLY! Thanks, Steve!

---- To me, there's only really 2 good shows I still watch Cartoon Network for: The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack & Chowder. & luckily, they were both having signings at Comic-Con this year! Lucky me!

While waiting in line for each signing, they gave out a mouse pad promoting Fusion Fall, a new online game on Cartoon Network.com & some neat keychains.

Here's a closer look at the charms:

The signings were a real blast, & I got really cool drawings from the artists & actors:

Capt. K'nuckles drawn & signed by J.G. Quintel

Flapjack drawn & signed by creator Thurop van Orman

Chowder drawn & signed by creator C.H. Greenblatt, Tara Strong (voice of "Truffles) & Dwight Schultz (voice of "Mung-Daal")

"ADVENTURE!"

--- Another big event for me was the book signing of Eric Goldberg's new book: Character Animation Crash Course!

To me, Eric Goldberg has got to be my favorite animator of all time. Just look at his work on the Genie in Aladdin & the 'Rhapsody in Blue'/'Carnival of the Animals' sequences in Fantasia 2000 to see why! He's one of the main reasons I wanted to be an animator in the first place! So I was definitely bustin' out all over knowing that I was finally gonna meet this guy face to face!

I patiently waited in line to buy a copy & again on line to meet Eric. While I was waiting on the signing line, since I was one of the first few people on line, the nice people at the booth gave me a free T-Shirt! SCORE!

I was about third or fourth in line, so I didn't have to wait too long. At last, I finally got to meet & shake hands with him! What a feeling! I told him how inspired I was by his work & that I was training to be an animator too. We talked for about 2 minutes about his flamingo animation, how his wife Susan was doing & his upcoming work on The Princess & the Frog coming out next year. I said goodbye & left the booth, feeling like I was floating in mid-air. I opened my copy of his book & read...

BEST DAY EVER, without a doubt! I hope I get to meet him again someday, but 'til then I gotta work on my animation! Got to get in top cartoon shape! So while I read Eric's book cover to cover, you should do so too. Buy the Character Animation Crash Course NOW!!!

**& speaking of Eric Goldberg, Clay Kaytis of the Animation Podcast just posted part one of his interview with Eric! It's over an hour long.... which means over an hour worth of Goldberg goodness!!! Click on the Animation Podcast button on the upper right & lend an ear!**

Well, that's all I got. But after having to carry it all around San Diego, packing it, having it all shipped home & waiting 'til Monday to get my hands on it again, it was all worth it. Now if only I could find places to put all this stuff.... Make sure to check out all the people's websites & blogs I mentioned using the links on the right!