Something quotes Lydon

Lately, doodling has become rather frustrating. This is probably the most satisfying thing I've come up with in a week. The creature is quoting a lyric from a song by Public Image Ltd. Lately, I've been into John Lydon lyrics.

Attempted Hair

Actually, I tried drawing The Cure in a different style. Didn't come out that way, but I think its still pretty interesting.

Life Drawing

elephants and flowers

Doodles from a Tattoo Parlor

Summertime is considerably inacitve for animation. At least for me. Until my work restarts and the organizations are up again, I can't really think of anything much to comment on. I'm sure something will come to me at some point. But for now, I'm just going to post some drawings here. Here's something that was done on a visit to a tattoo parlor (not for me, but for a friend of my sister's).

Getting something down

I need to post more drawings.

These were done at the Hubley screening at the MOMA last month.

Desperate Doodle and Paul Driessen

Just desperate to post something.

I've been in hell. Last week I got stomach flu, and then suffered an acute medical reaction, which sent me to the hospital. I would prefer not to discuss it on this blog, however. Let's just say it was frightening, and I am happy I can still talk normally.

What should I post? Well, I have rekindled an interest in Dutch/Canadian animator/filmmaker Paul Driessen. One of my favorite independents, I hope to meet Mr. Driessen someday. He has a wonderful talent in telling very complex ideas in such a simple yet whimsical style. His animation style is very unique and unlike anything else. He accomplishes things I hope to accomplish. Using a very charming and whimsical style to tell stories and ideas that are unique and unusual. Here are two of his films.

The Killing of the Egg


The Boy Who Say The Iceberg


I have lost time and resumed working on my film, Parasite's Delight (as it is still called). I hope to have a couple of finished shots up here in a couple weeks. I worry about my schedule, but Andy London assures me that I have nothing to fear. And seeing how Andy handles these things, I should believe him.
Still I am desperate to do some non-thesis drawing. This was all I can muster up.

Hope to write again next week. Hopefully.

My confession

I have been to two parties this week, and neglected my thesis twice. I was encouraged to go to one, and the other was a special occasion. I will illustrate one with photographs, and the other with doodles.


Drinking and Drawing

It was organized by Lee Rubenstein and Dan Meth. The original basis was to simply drink and then animate, and the animation would reflect your intoxication. Well, it seems the idea changed to simply gathering at a bar and creating an "animjam."

For those who don't know, an "anijam" is an animated piece made up of different segments each done by a different animator. When one animator finishes, the next picks up from the last drawing of the previous. It sounds a little confusing, but once you see one, its really quite simple. I love anijams, as they reflect individual artists in such a settle way. And I've always wanted to be part of one. The jam should be up on the Frederator site next week.














Jessica Plummer's So Long

Jessica Plummer is one of the best animators I know personally. There are many places she can go with her amazing drawing skills. One of those places appears to be Chicago. She is leaving New York for the time being to follow her boyfriend to Chicago, and she held a fond farewell bash (I'm probably making it sound pretty sad, but it wasn't).

I went to catch up with Jessica, as well as a few others, because I am unable to see them for months at a time now, due to my schedule. Even though it was nice to catch up, I ended up keeping my nose buried in my sketchpad, as I normally do. These are a few of the pages I filled up during the night.






And I close with some last minute scratches. I apologize for not having another Gothic mouse. I just needed to get something posted this week.

Drawing during the week.

I've been doing a lot of (non-thesis) drawing lately, which is actually a good thing. It keeps me in better head space.

Just thought I'd post some of them.


A Gothic Mouse. I've been listening to the Cure a lot lately.



I love making lines and hatchings when I doodle.


I work in a film equiptment office. This page was filled up during a slow hour.


Some life drawing that went pretty well.


I think I'll hold off on writing about Hanna Barbera for a while. I've probably said all I need to say.

The World is my Critic ~ First Entry

I thought I might try something, just to keep this blog going.

I recently checked out Dan Pinto's blog, and even though he's a student, he's managed to post a drawing up there practically everyday. I'm only acquainted with Dan through a friend, but I'm very impressed. This gave me an idea.

I will post a drawing up here as often as possible...any drawing, no matter how I feel about it. And I urge whoever reads this blog (no matter how few) to give me some pointers on how to better the drawing. Since I am still a student, criticism is really valuable. I will see how often I can keep this idea going.


The drawing here I did very quickly from a paused frame. The character is (I think) called Oily Cat, from Ralph Bakshi's Mighty Mouse series in the late 1980's (I am starting to discovering it, as well as old Terrytoons). I really like this pose, as the character looks like a performer, yet with a very earnest and appealing expression.

Every time I copy an existing cartoon, I analyze my hands (in a manner of speaking) to see what lines and shapes feel comfortable, and eventually I learn something about how I can better my own animation drawing. And mind you, I do not mean for these drawings to look exactly like the original.

Everyone's a (different) critic

I’m just posting for the sake of posting.

I haven’t been able to post anything lately, because its the beginning of the fall ‘07 semester at Pratt (my last year at Pratt). So its been pretty busy, with all my classes and stuff starting up, including my thesis (I hope to have a title for it soon, because I don’t like referring to it as “the thesis”). It’s got a very good story, although I’m instructed that it needs a little more work. I am hoping to spend this Labor Day weekend working on it. That will include doing some storyboards, some of which I might post after presenting them.

In the meantime, there is Illustration. Some of my friends have already taken the Illustration class, and have done some amazing work. I finally have it this semester. I love looking at the work of different illustrators, among my favorites are Gerald Scarfe and (currently) Ronald Searle.

Here are some drawings for life done during the first Illustration class. As I am sure many know, I am the harshest critic when it comes to my own work. I am going to make an attempt to not voice my own criticism so loudly anymore. Some of these drawings came out pretty good and some didn’t. My dad told me recently that maybe the reason I get so bummed out over my drawing is because they don’t look like the people I admire, most of whom have amazing style. I guess I should take the hint. These drawings are how I draw naturally. Most of them have no artist in mind. Its just me trying to get shapes and gestures down.




I hope to have more coming up soon (for the few of you who are still interested in reading this blog).

Sketchbook Updates

It occurs to me that in my last post, I might have alarmed some of those who read this blog. Do you ever forget how much you enjoy doing something, and later when you have to do it, you forget that its something you enjoy? I, unfortunately have that all the time, and animation is one of those things. I’m just not very good at given myself a strict schedule.

This isn’t a cry for help, but rather its me letting off some steam. I think about animating a lot, especially lately with my thesis schedule approaching. I have an animation table, but its not in a room where I can lay papers all over the place, and leave pencils lying around. Where I am staying this coming semester, I am bringing the table, so its there right from the start.

In the meantime, I figured I show some of my own stuff. My last few posts have mostly been reviews.
A couple nights ago, I went to dinner with my sister and her friends at the restaurant my sister works at. I filled a page with various faces of the restaurant patrons. I used a 0.7 lead mechanical pencil, which is currently my choice tool for random drawing.



Recently, my mind is preoccupied with my thesis. So whenever my sketchbook is opened, I try to put down as much as I can, which is still too little right now. I can only hope more will be established by the middle of September.



My thesis involves characters that are parasites. So I find myself trying to design different specimen. The reason there is a copy of “Stitch” (which I consider to be one of the best character designs in any animated film) is because of the new site put up by animator Chris Sanders. Check out the site: it has sketches that are beautiful and highly imaginative.

Russo ~ A Rat's Monologue

I would like to introduce Russo. He is a cynical street rat with the personality of Lenny Bruce.


Russo is currently the lead character in my current animation assignment. It is basically a monologue of Russo criticizing other rats, and making smart-ass remarks about his own species.



My friend Lee Rubenstein provided the voice-over for me to work with, and did an amazing job. I hope to have it up as soon as it is done.

Wish me luck as I will be spending part of this weekend, and all of next week animating. I've got a lot to cram in as I am intending to also add sound and color to the animation.

Nothing much.

Just thought I'd share some recent doodles. I need to get some real drawing in there somewhere. I may be running out of practice. In the meantime, here's what I have been capable of.


I was watching FOSTER'S HOME FOR IMAGINARY FRIENDS with some friends when I doodled these.


Gerald Scarfe is still in my head. I just received his new book from Amazon, and it is just amazing. I love his work and his drawing style.