Since April 15 is usually the day, it seems awfully odd to me to type this today, but 2020’s tax day is finally upon us TODAY. I think ol’ Uncle $crooge here is oblivious to that fact, because no doubt he owes a few sheckels to Uncle Sam.
You know, two cartoonists most influenced me when I was a child. The first was Peanuts creator Charles Schulz. The second was Carl Barks, the man who invented many characters for his Disney comics stories such as Scrooge McDuck, the Beagle Boys, Gyro Gearloose, Magica DeSpell, and the list goes on. He also invented the idea of ol’ Scroogey being able to swim through his three cubic acres of cash as if it was water off a duck’s back.
A little morning swim is good for the pores.
This is my take on a classic pose Barks drew his signature character in many times in many of the 500 stories he did for Disney comics. If you don’t know his work, definitely use some of your tax refund this year to pick up some of the great hardcover reprints that have been published by Fantagraphic Books in the past few years!
I was pleased to find out recently from an article on Indiewire that a movie I worked on five years ago is finally going to be seen here in the States. Netflix has acquired distribution rights to the film Animal Crackers!
Super fun story, character designs by Carter Goodrich, and an amazing cast of John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Ian McKellen, Patrick Warburton, Danny DeVito, Sylvester Stallone, Wallace Shawn (inconceivable!), Raven-Symonè, Gilbert Godfried, and more! Congrats to directors Scott Christian Sava and Tony Bancroft!
To see the article that talks about the Netflix deal, CLICK HERE!
This poster art was created in oil paint by the great illustrator Scott Gustafson!
Oh, and in case you are wondering, my duties were served as the storyboard revisionist for the movie. As an independent film, they had hired storyboard artists from all over the country who each worked from home. I was the in-house guy working with Tony to help make the boards smooth where needed, and changes on the fly as was desired.
It was great fun not only for the project itself, but we worked out of offices at LA Studios, a voice recording studio in Los Angeles. That meant you never knew from day to day who you might bump into in the halls that had come in to record for any number of movie, TV, or gaming studios’ projects. Might have been the most fun three month gig I ever had!
Earlier this year, I received an assignment from Clubhouse Magazine, a magazine for kids published by Focus on the Family. They wanted a boy exercising the old school activity of writing a physical letter to help advertise Clubhouse‘s summer pen pal program for kids!
So, a little watercolor paint and colored pencil later, here it is as seen on the back cover of the May 2020 issue of the magazine, then my own scan of the original art.
I have been working on something over the past five months that I haven’t talked much about publicly, but today is the day to unveil it. The Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles (SILA) asked me to run their annual illustration competition this year, known as Illustration West. This is the 59th consecutive year of this contest, and I am honored that they have entrusted it to me.
So, as the Show Chair of Illustration West 59, I am pleased to announce that today is our launch of the Call For Entries!! Folks around the globe may visit IllustrationWest.org to see our amazing list of judges comprised of award-winning and highly respected leaders of the illustration industry, review the many categories they may enter, and check out the requirements for submissions.
I was also invited by SILA to create this year’s Call For Entries poster, which was thrilling and a little intimidating. I decided to work up a spoof of monster movie posters from the 1950s, setting it firmly in Los Angeles where our contest takes place!
The art is a combination of traditional watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil with a touch of digital for good measure. Click on image to enlarge.
I wanted to give a special shout-out to my buddy Andy Heckathorne for donating his graphic design skills to creating the type for the poster. It lends just the right touch of vintage monster movie nostalgia to the image!
I am absolutely thrilled with the people who agreed to be judges this year. While you can go to the Illustration West website to read all about them and see samples of their work, I’m more than happy to share with you the list right now:
The deadline for our call for entries is October 31, 2020, after which our judges will be busy reviewing the submissions in November, leading to a physical art show in Los Angeles in February 2021 where the winners will be revealed!
My thanks to everyone on our judging committee, and for my fellow SILA board members and staff who have been involved in helping to get the contest this far!
If interested in joining SILA, or just to learn more about this arts organization that was founded in 1953, visit their website si-la.org.
Hope everyone is staying healthy! And much love and thanks to all those healthcare professionals who have been looking out for everyone, often at the risk of their own good health!
Spent some time in my sketchbook this past weekend, and got to thinking of everyone out there trying to keep their distance from each other, and breathe without fear. I figure this is probably a pretty accurate depiction of life in the wild, too.
