Fridge Worthy?

  
      Ah, finally!.  For an artist, not putting pencil to paper for an extended period of time results in a lot of, "Artistic Frustration".  The digital Cintiq is close, but there is nothing like the sensation of the lead of a slightly dulled pencil gliding across the paper.

     This post was supposed to be blogged months ago.  Back in the Spring, there was some question at Fox as to whether or not another season of "American Dad" would be on the menu for the fall roster.  When I heard the news I was telling everyone at work and most people looked at my puzzled and asked, "What do you care?.  You don't work there".  To which I replied, "Maybe not, but somebody does.  Whenever a regularly scheduled show is threatened, all animators, everyone in the industry should band together to keep the show on the air.  It might not be the food on your table, the clothes on your children's backs, or your debts paid; but, it IS someone else's.  We should all care, we should all stand up for each other".

  Complacency will get us into deep trouble one day.

     I can tell you right now, I do care.  I care a lot.  So much in fact that I had planned this picture to be a much larger drawing.  Originally, I desired to draw this on bristol board and to bring with me to the Ottawa ComicCon (which took place in May) with the title boldly printed: "Save American Dad!".  On the back of the drawing I wanted to print one of the addresses of the Head Honchos at Fox so that people would know who to contact if they shared my concern.  My "Master Plan" would have been completed by me waving the sign around when I attended the Patrick Stewart Panel on the Saturday.  Surely, that would get some attention.

     Alas, my "Master Plan" was thwarted by Patrick Stewart's untimely withdrawal from Ottawa's very first ComicCon. Thus, this drawing and all of it's positive intentions remained merely a "good idea", until now.

Post Script:

     For some reason, these projects feel like they draw themselves!.  That I can bring to life the ideas in my head and them execute them with relative ease is fascinating.  I am very pleased at the combination of two of my most favourite genre's of entertainment:  "American Dad!" ~ My absolute favourite of the MacFarlane line up, and "Star Trek"~ which I listened to a couple episodes while drawing this (DS9 as a matter of fact).

     "Star Trek", the most magnificent thing about that show is that you don't necessarily need to watch in order to know what's going on.

The Awesome Night That Almost Happened

Like so many other people in this industry, after work all you want to do is go home and do nothing. Well, this weekend I felt like doing something!. I live only a 15min walk from Scotiabank Place, the HUGE rink where all of the NHL games are held in Ottawa. This past Saturday was supposed to be one of those "BIG Games", between the Boston Bruins and the Ottawa Senators.

I've only ever been to one live Hockey game in my life and thank goodness the Ottawa Senators won that one. This weekend, I really wanted to experience one again. The manic energy and excitement that you experience at a sporting event is so worth the $12 beer. So, I thought that this weekend would be a good time to revisit the rink. The only problem was, no tickets.

I asked a co-worker if they wanted to check out the game with me on Saturday night. Not having any tickets to a sold out game, I thought that we could chance it with a 15min walk to the rink, arrive a little after the game started to see if we could cut a deal with a scalper on some tickets. Some friends of mine who are huge hockey fans told me that sometimes scalpers will sell their tickets off cheap after the game has started to make at least some profit over unsold tickets. However, if this plan fell through, all we had to do was walk back to the car or catch a cab to a pub where we could just sit and watch the game from a bar stool.

My appreciation of the game didn't come until after I moved to Ottawa from London for College. I remember sitting in front of the tv while labeling my final animation assignment while having the playoff game on in the Background. Since I got rid of my cable years ago, I lost touch with the game; but, I wouldn't pass up an opportunity to check one out live or at a local sports bar.

Anyhow, this Saturday I was super excited that I might actually be able to see a game live again. When I asked my friend if that sounded like a good plan the initial answer was, "I have to walk?". My heart sank a little. Then when I asked later if they wanted to come they said, "well, I'm not really into hockey, I don't really follow it", "It's cold out", and "we should do something else together".

It was like I was asking my friend if they wanted to go see Disney on ice. I should have just gone on my own. But, I didn't and drew this instead.

It was the awesome night that almost happened and the Bruins won. Ugh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR2dyaXjJAE

The Next Step...

Okay, so there hasn't been a lot going on my blog since I've moved back to Ottawa. My Supervising job has kicked into high gear and the first couple of weeks have allowed me the pleasure of wrapping them up with a couple shots of rum.

Truth be told, I've been picking the brains of a couple of the top storyboard artists here in the Nation's Capitol, trying to get some tips on how to get started. Some of these guys have worked all over the world and in feature, so, why not?. The studio has generously offered me up one of the storyboarding work stations with cintiq (YAY, I'm just working on a Mac with a tablet), and, on my own time when I have to come in on the weekend to assist the crew, I can start working on my board!.

I'm moving again in a couple weeks, closer to work. I figure that if I have come back to Ottawa to do these things, then I better commit - All or nothing!.

Currently, I'm working on a drawing with the slogan: "I don't work out for my health, I work out for yours". My Director laughed when I told him about it. He insisted that I make the sign and threaten to tap it whenever occasion arises.

I'm super excited to get this dream off the ground. I just hope that my life can arrange and settle in such a way that will allow for the magic to happen in between training my body and a super green crew.

A crew, by the way, I am very proud of. Four out of the six of my crew graduated College for animation in the last 6-9 months, and all of them are incredibly talented and hard working young people (even though I am only 4-8 years and several productions older - I'm starting to feel my age in this young industry). We almost hit our two week deadline of 900 frames/week with my revisions. Outstanding, seeing as most with most of them this is their first REAL series production since graduation. Go team "Sock Monkey in a Fruit Basket"!! (Yes, that is the name I have given my crew and, yes, there is a story behind the name that I will share with you who really want to know).

Anyhow, it's late, and I'm going to watch more BBC Sherlock before I lose consciousness. I just wanted to let all of you out there know that I am working hard, and I need to get used to the production schedule of this new gig, and get myself re-located before you start to see more "OZ". The yellow brick road will lead me back here soon.

Shatner, Stewart, and Seth

This one is for Dad, the English Professor, and lover of Science Fiction.

I got into Star Trek: The Next Generation (ST:TNG) when I was ten. My best friend and her brother were really into it, and I didn't take any interest until my Father told me that he liked Star Trek: The Original Series (ST:TOS). However, he mentioned that he only enjoyed the episodes which were written by science fiction novelists. Dad had no interest in the "Cowboy Planet" or the "Nazi Planet". Dad swore up and down that the series took a massive nose dive when Roddenberry insisted on doing the writing himself.

When I decided to jump into the Star Trek pool, The Next Generation was going into it's last season. Which was bitter sweet for me because I could still watch new episodes, and catch the old ones on reruns; but, the series was coming to an end. Luckily for me, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9) and Star Trek: Voyager (Voyager) were on the horizon, so I could enjoy those from the beginning.

Dad would pretend to sleep in his Lay-Z-Boy while I would watch the various Star Trek series. He would occasionally interject such things as, "Oh, how does it feel to kiss latex?", and "Look at that guy!. He looks as though he ran into a paint shelf". My Mom would tell him to stop making fun of the things I was watching. However, every once in a while he would see an episode he really liked. I remember we were watching "Deja Q", and it was the first episode Dad had ever seen Q (who was, and still is my favorite character aside from Data); of Q he said, "Now, that is a brilliant character".

My Father was very particular about what he watched, and he would fall asleep often, in protest, if he didn't enjoy what the rest of the family was watching. Well, he's gone now, and I miss him. My love of Star Trek carries on and whenever I watch any of the series now, I think of my Dad, in his Lay-Z-Boy, poking fun and occasionally enjoying what we were watching.

Hand Study

Commission from my friend Em.

Shading Studies - Graphite

20hrs



45mins

Life Drawings