A dog is man’s best friend. Even though Superman is technically an alien, he looks like a man, so the same rule applies.
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Animals Art: Inking Character Designs Random Doodles Sketchbook
Category: Sketchbook
Remember, only YOU can prevent forest fires – not woodland creatures who dress like Boy Scouts. They are utterly powerless in these situations.
Today is Jim Henson’s birthday. He would have been 83. Never had a chance to meet him, but sure have been appreciative of his imagination.
I actually tried getting work at the Jim Henson Company after graduating from university, but alas, never did get hired. At least it led to a visit at the Henson brownstone offices in Manhattan that no longer exist. What a thrill to a kid ready to take on the world, however, my path eventually led to a career in animation instead of puppets.
This ink drawing was worked up in my sketchbook, then scanned and colored in Photoshop.
By the way, back in June during my travels on the east coast of the United States, my mother and I stopped by the campus of the University of Maryland, Jim Henson’s alma mater, where we posed for a picture with him.
Happy Batman Day!!!
When I was working on the Green Eggs and Ham show at Warner Bros., I was chatting with some colleagues who shared an office with each other. Lorenzo Martinez was joking that he and Sarah Arakaki were Batman and Robin, to which Sarah commented that she was Batman in that equation.
I thought that image seemed funny in my head, especially since Sarah is a bit short, and Lorenzo is overly tall. So, when I had a moment, I decided to turn that into a real image. This was the result.
Hopefully you’ll find the image funny on its own merit since you all probably don’t know Lorenzo or Sarah. What you should know about them, though, is that they are brilliant animation layout artists. Those are the people who design the environments – the sets – in animation.
Lorenzo is a veteran going back to films like The Little Mermaid, and more recently was the layout supervisor for the animated sequences of Mary Poppins Returns. Sarah is new to the business with Green Eggs being her first show. She’s got a very bright future ahead of her! Together with Tyler Gentry who I worked with years ago on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, they make up the layout department on Green Eggs & Ham coming soon to a Netflix near you!
While a lot of schools may have started already, that doesn’t mean summer is over. It’s still pretty hot out there, and that heat can really slow down a superhero. There’s a reason Batman only goes out at night.
About that topic of schools starting in August – bleah! School started in my adopted town of Los Angeles back on August 13!!! When I was a kid, I’d still be splashing around in a pool, lake, or lawn sprinkler at that time of year! For me, school always started after Labor Day. (For you folks in other countries, Labor Day is a holiday we have here in the USA in early September.) I’m not sure what the rationale was for starting later, except maybe because most of our schools where I grew up in New Jersey did NOT have air conditioning. Even in early September, it could be toasty, but it would soon cool down as fall encroached upon our summer.
Of course, now I don’t go to school at all. So there!
“You’re going to go through tough times – that’s life. But I say, ‘Nothing happens to you, it happens for you.’ See the positive in negative events.“
– Joel Osteen (1963 – present)
In this case, perhaps obeying the signs is the best plan for self-preservation.
I had some doodle time last month and started out drawing this bear with his mouth wide open without a real plan as to what the scene would really be. It began as an exploration of big curvy shapes with the bear, but then his ravenous appetite needed to be justified. So, thinking back to a bear/rabbit piece I did last year (which you can see by CLICKING HERE), why not revisit that idea in a different way this time, too? So, voila. There you go. A big hulking hungry bear, a poor defenseless rabbit, and a sign to bring it all together in one humorous moment.
So, I hear beards are in these days – IN my sketchbook that is! ZING!
