Thursday, January 31, 2013

MO AT MOMA

HEY!

Have I ever mentioned that 
my work is
in the

Okay...
so it's not in the actual 
MUSEUM.

It's in the store:


And 
OKAY...
it's not just 
MY
work.

It's 
really
this
guy's
thing:


But I really
 DID
help make this:


And now they're selling it at 
MOMA
in
NYC!

And to celebrate,
Mr. Willems will be at their 
SOHO store
on February 2nd!
Check it:

To launch the Spring 2013 season of our Soho Children's Events, 
we are excited to be joined by beloved children's author Mo Willems 
who will be presenting an interactive project for children ages 4-8
 based on his new title Don’t let the Pigeon Finish the Activity Book. 
 The event will be held on Saturday, February 2 at 11:00am 
at the lower level MoMA Design Store in Soho 
(81 Spring Street at Crosby Street). 
 We look forward to seeing you and the kids there!

You know I'd love to be there 
to tear up the stage
with Mo 
but don't let that stop you 
from showing up and 
giving Mr. Willems
the love
if you can!











Monday, January 28, 2013

MY ANIMATION DISC

As I've mentioned 
eleventy hundred and five times on this blog,
my first job in animation was at 
Buzzco Associates
back in 1990.


I was only there for less than a year,
but I learned a ton
and met many people who became 
good friends, 
heroes 
and 
mentors.

One of them was a guy named Gordon Bellamy.
He was an assistant animator on the theatrical short
Buzzco was making based on the Rudyard Kipling story,
The Maltese Cat.

Gordon couldn't have been a nicer guy.
He was in his early 50's.
Bright eyed behind little round glasses.
A comforting Southern twang.
Crimson suspenders.
Balding save the anachronistic rat-tail he wore
which gave hint to his musical tastes.

REM
Jesus Jones
Blue Aeroplanes
The English Beat

You know...
the stuff all us college kids 
were listening to at the time.
It was really strange
to have an
'old guy'
introduce me to
(and awesome)

Anyway...
one day while we were working,
this conversation went down:

Gordon:  Hey, Tom.
Me:  Yeah?
Gordon:  You got an animation disc?
Me: Um... no.
Gordon:  Want one?

And I was all like--
Whaaaaaaaaaa?!?!

For those of you unfamiliar,
an animation disc is
the round frame for the glass that goes over a lightbox.
It has specified pegs that registered animation paper fits onto
and can turn to help the animator draw at any angle he or she wants.

Here's an example from the 
Beavis and Butthead years
at J.J. Sedelmaier Productions:


In this day of CGI and Cintiqs,
they're pretty much obsolete.

But back then,
owning an animation disc 
was like having your own car.
(Well, maybe a cheap used car)
They were expensive!

And Gordon was going 
to GIVE me one!
But not just any disc...
 Mr. Bellamy was handing 
his own personal disc down to me!

He had been looking for some 
young up-and-coming kid to give it to the same way
it had been given to him.
And to that person before.

On the back was a piece of tape with all
"the folks who this disc owned previously"

The first was legendary Disney animator 


Whoa...
How cool is THAT?!

The second owner was...

um...

Well...

See...
that piece of tape?
It eventually dried up and crumbled away.
And I don't remember who the 2nd person was.
It makes me sick to my stomach thinking about it.

The third person was Gordon.
so I can't even ask who gave it to him.

And the fourth was
ME!

Here it is today:


The sliding peg bar was gone long before I got it.


The bottom pegs have also gone missing.
They weren't the standard Acme used in my day,
so I had a plastic peg bar taped on the glass.



I can't find pictures of any of my home desks with the disc
except this one...
taken during some late night JJSP project.


The poor thing gets no love these days.
I can't even remember the last time I 
actually animated anything myself.
Even if I did,
odds are it wouldn't be on paper.

What's worse...
there's no enthusiastic young kid for me to hand it down to,
except maybe for nostalgic reasons.

But that's okay.
I think I'd have a hard time parting with it.

Wanna learn more about animation discs?
Wanna see an old desk I worked at?
Of course, you do!

So head on over to Imprint Magazine
and check out
J.J. Sedelmaier's comprehensive post
on animation discs and peg bars.
It's jam-packed with pics of animation gear 
from ages past!
(and my old desk at JJSP!)

And it's all right













Thursday, January 24, 2013

TKG's ANIME-STYLE KND!

TKG is amazing.
TKG makes me happy.
TKG rocks
because TKG made these:


Uh huh.
TKG,
a Japanese artist
has done illustrations depicting a bunch of KND episodes...

ANIME STYLE!!!

Check it:







Um...
Cartoon Network?

We need to talk about doing 
a Japanese version of KND in this style.

LOVE IT!

To see more go 
and click on the pic to 
scroll through all the images.

SUBARASHII, TKG-SAN!
Utsukushii no e desu yo!



Tuesday, January 22, 2013

SONIA AND THE PIGEON

Okay...

Take this adorable 3.5 year old...


Give her this...


And that'll keep her busy for
TEN DAYS!





Our child just finished a 10-day long obsession with one of her Christmas presents.... 
During that time, she watched less TV, her scissor skills skyrocketed, 
her ability to write her own name improved, 
and she discovered that she is pretty darn good at drawing pigeons.  
What is this gift I'm raving about?  
An activity book by Mo Willems called 
 which is related to a hilarious series of picture books 
about an ornery Pigeon with big dreams.


For 
LOTS
more
say 
hi 
to 
Sonia
over 

Thanks for the awesome review!




Monday, January 21, 2013

THANKS FROM THE PRINTLAB!

Wow!
That was a
LONG
holiday season 
for
the mighty 
printlab!


Thanks to everyone who ordered a print
and kept me on my toes 
drawing sooper fun
sketchcards!


Sooper big
congrats go out to 
Madi
for winning the 
KND MICROS
prize we announced 
over


And while the free sketchcard offer is over,
printlab is still open
for business!





Thursday, January 17, 2013

IHAVE4CATZ

Actually...
I don't have any catz.

But Fish Hooks 
co-executive producer/director 
does.

He also has an 
amazing talent for 
caricature 
and uses that sooper power
to make really fun animated gifs
like this:


He posts them on his tumblr page,
the aforementioned
ihave4catz.

Here's some other 
stuff you'll see there:








And there's lots more to love,
ESPECIALLY
if you like
Lady Gaga.
(Bill likes Lady Gaga)

Check out 
ihave4catz
over

And if you like his art,
you oughta buy 
something 
at his
 online store
over







Monday, January 14, 2013

THE FINAL DAYS OF FREE SKETCHCARDS

THIS IS IT!

The last couple days of the
mighty 
printlab's


Many
many
awesome 
sketchcards
have been drawn
for sooper fans like
you...


you...


and YOU and YOU and YOU!
(but I forgot to take pictures of those)

Thursday, January 16th
is the last day 
you can get your free sketchcard
with any 
printlab
order.
Which is pretty awesome.

But what if it got 
AWESOMER?

What if the
THIRD PERSON 
who orders before the 
January 16th deadline
were to get a 
sooper
double 
free
bonus
prize?

Something
like
this:


Uh huh.
That's a sooper rare
no-longer-in-stores
set of KND MICROS
(Miniature Insanely Cool Realistic Operative Spies)

I'll even sign the box.

So if you're lucky...
and you're the third person
to order a print...
it's all yours!

But remember:

• only one sketchcard per customer
so if you already got one...
that's it.

• only one character per card

• you get what you get and you don't get upset

• and unfortunately, we still can't take international orders.
sorry about that.





Thursday, January 10, 2013

CARTOON NETWORK HOLIDAY GIFT

Okay, 
I've got 
TWO
kinds of 
THANKS
to 
Cartoon Network
for this year's sooper cool holiday gift.

The first kind of thanks:

HEARTFELT

Dear Cartoon Network,
Thanks for the 
CN 20th Anniversary Book!


It's BEAUTIFUL
and chock full of 
brilliant interpretations of 
your shows by a face-melting assortment of 
hip, contemporary artists!











Gorgeous
Fun
and
Inspiring!

but it's great to see ALL the pieces in this art book.

So please accept my heartfelt
THANKS
for such a great gift!

My second kind of thanks?

SARCASTIC:

Dear Cartoon Network,
Thanks 
SO MUCH 
for creating a 
20th anniversary art show
with artist's interpretation of all your series...

AND NOT INCLUDING
CODENAME: KIDS NEXT DOOR.

WTF?

(and no Ed, Edd and Eddy, either?)

Annoying
Upsetting
and 
Insulting.

Ugh.






Monday, January 7, 2013

CHRIS BURDEN'S 2x4 TECHNOLOGY

I definitely had to go see
Chris Burden's
METROPOLIS II:


No matter how many times I've see it,
I always wanna see it again.
Obviously it's 2x4 Technology at it's finest...
which the museum's description
neglects to mention:

Chris Burden's Metropolis II is an intense kinetic sculpture, 
modeled after a fast paced, frenetic modern city. 
Steel beams form an eclectic grid interwoven with an elaborate 
system of 18 roadways, including one 6 lane freeway, and HO scale train tracks. 
Miniature cars speed through the city at 240 scale miles per hour; every hour,
 the equivalent of approximately 100,000 cars circulate through the dense network of buildings. 
According to Burden, "The noise, the continuous flow of the trains, 
and the speeding toy cars, produces in the viewer the 
stress of living in a dynamic, active and bustling 21st Century city."

Numbuh Two would be proud!

And needless to say,
kids will sit and watch this forever.
For a more detailed look at this awesome sculpture
go on over
HERE!

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

FREE SKETCHCARD OFFER SOOPER BONUS EXTENDED

SOOPER GIANT 
WOW!


The response to the annual holiday 
free sketchcard offer 
over at the mighty printlab
has been 
OFF THE CHARTS!


So you know what?
Since I've got such a good feeling about 2013... 


Let's get wild...


And extend the 
free sketchcard offer
for another 2 weeks!


That's right!
with any printlab order
you'll get a 
hand-drawn 
sooper original
one-of-a-kind 
sketchcard of the character of your choice
for all kinds of 
FREE.

But there are rules, you know:

• One sketchcard per person
• One character per card
and
• You get what you get and don't get upset

You've got until January 16th, 2013.
For more details...
head on down to the 
printlab
over 

And if you're looking for a taste 
of what an order kinda looks like...

I just got my print in the mail
image
aw ye
image
image
his handwriting is so funky 
image
but then there’s more in the envelope!!! what
image
it’s that keychain!!!!!! wh
image
trading cards??!! with stick-ahs??
oh my god I knew they existED BUT NO ONE TOLD ME THEY’D COME WITH MY PRINT
image
oh my god
www thank’s Mr. Warbuton you’re too nice!!!
!!!!!

Oh... and this one, too:



((OOC: Thanks Mr.Warburton! -Best Christmas EVER!))
((OOC: Wow, I know I don’t make completely out of character posts but wow, I just felt the need to flaunt  share these totally and absolutely Delightful presents my parents got for me today as presents from Mr. Warburtons mighty printlab!!!
image
Seriously, who couldn’t love this absolutely amazing Delightful Children print? :) My parent’s even put it in a fancy frame, haha
image
And then there’s the awesome sketchcard he did of them! That some of you probably already saw on his tumblr, it is now framed too :D
But wait! There is more!!!
image
There’s this super neat p.r.o.f.i.l.e pamphlet chock full of neat facts about the show before it even aired! And a cool m.e.s.s.a.g.e b.o.a.r.d that can hide my evil plans  I mean, silly pointless writing! Eheheh
image
And last but not least, a card pack of KND Trading Cards, and a really awesome keychain of the shows logo, which I would totally put on my backpack if I wasn’t so paranoid that it could fall off ^^;
All in All I consider this Christmas absolutely Delightful~ Seriously people, buy stuff from his printlab, you won’t regret it! :D ))