Category Archive: fantasy

Apr
21
2009

‘The Story of the Haunted Mansion’ video podcast on May 1st.

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Hey all, as some of you may remember, I did some fan artwork (HERE) and (HERE) for a fan video podcast, well you will be able to see the final production on May first. The video is a fan history of the famous Disney theme park attraction the Haunted Mansion and will included the voices of Neil Patrick Harris, Corey Burton, Peter Renaday, and Brian Sommer. Patrick’s videos (SEE THEM HERE) are top notch and a lot of fun.

I can’t wait to see how it came out.

“On Friday May 1st, Patrick Hurd presents:

The Story of the Haunted Mansion.

You’ll learn how the wish of one man to provide a loving home for his family, became the nightmare that destroyed one generation after the next.

The 32 minute story is visualized through the art work of over 40 talented artists.

Nearly 300 original pieces of artwork were created exclusively for the story!

The short films voice cast includes actor Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser MD, How I Met Your Mother), Corey Burton (The Haunted Mansion Holiday’s Ghost Host), Peter Renaday (The Ghost Host from the classic 1969 Haunted Mansion LP), and voice guy extraordinaire Brian Sommer!

Find out how your favorite characters came to live and die inside Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion…and the surprising way their stories intertwine.

Visit the Window to the Magic video feed on iTunes on May 1 to download the high quality video for free…

The WindowtotheMagic Videocast (Standard Definition)

Or visit Patrick’s YouTube channel on May 1…

http://www.youtube.com/user/Doombuggy

So you think you know all about the Haunted Mansion…

You don’t know half the story!”

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Mar
18
2009

Artist inspirations on-line.

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It seems that this week there have been a lot of really good posts on comics and art on-line and as always I love to share them with you. Of course I am a huge fan of all these artist and highly recommend checking out their sites and blogs.

Craig Thompson (Goodby Chunky Rice, Blankets) Has posted a page from his comic-in-progress Habibi and showed how he used some scanned sketches into PhotoShop to help figure out a page layout. His work is so amazingly beautiful. Check it out HERE: http://blog.dootdootgarden.com/2009/03/17/overexert/

Pierre Alary has posted another work-in-progress page from his Sindbad comic. http://pierrealary.blogspot.com/2009/03/blog-post.html

Tony DiTerlizzi has posted his progress of creating the third and final cover for his series Beyond the Spiderwick. I love his work. His creature looks like Ursula’s pet eels sort of. Check it out: http://diterlizzi.com/blog/2009/03/18/wyrm-king-cover/

Ruben Procopio posted some of his cover work of The Phantom. I love his rough sketches as well as the finished work. Here: http://maskedavengerstudios.blogspot.com/2009/03/latest-on-phantom.html

Here Steve Rude has posted a video of him inking a comic cover:
Inking Origin Cover #2

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Jan
06
2009

Interesting Posts

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So, instead of posting lots of separate posts with interesting links (and making my blog seem really cluttered), my goal for 2009 is to post them in groups. Sometimes they will have a common theme, but a lot of the time they will not.

Tips for making an animated film (via CartoonBrew.com) “Jim Capobianco, Pixar story artist and director of the short Your Friend the Rat, is nearing the end of production on Leonardo, a personal short of his own. He’s been documenting the production on a production blog at leoanimation.blogspot.com. Last week Jim started a series of blog posts called ” 10 things I’ve learned in making a short film.” The advice in these posts is wonderfully informative and in-depth. Jim openly shares his experiences and offers case-specific examples in every blog entry.” I have been reading Jim’s notes and he gives good advice for any sort of creative project. Really a fun read and his film looks really fun.

Komar & Melamid: The Most Wanted Paintings Artists Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid decided to use market research to find out what kind of paintings that people all over the world liked and the results showed that most people have a lot in common. Check out the results. The artist also did the same experiment with music. I heard about the experiment on the most recent episode of This American Life (88:Numbers – act two).

Mickey Mouse in Mousepotamia The Classic Cartoon blog has posted a rare Mickey Mouse comic strip from 1950 that features a tie in to the then current film release Cinderella and features the mice Jaq and Gus. In the comic they kidnap Mickey and take him to a kingdom of mice who need help dethroning “The Iron Mask.” The art is really great; clean and fresh and looks more like a comic book then a newspaper strip.

Cool web games Try the cool flash web adventure games from Amanita Design. Cleaver with high quality art. I really liked the Quest for the Rest game.

artist Alec Séverin I have seen the work of Belgian artist Alec Séverin before, but did not connect who he was till recently. The work is really really good. This is an artist I want to see more of, but I also found on lambiek.net that “In early 2008, Alex Séverin announced his departure from the comics profession.” So now I am feeling bummed that we might not see anything new from Mr. Séverin. I searched the internet when I saw Al’s drawings of horses on Comic Art Fans and fell in love with the incredible work. Check out HERE, HERE, and HERE. I also really like his tributes to Flash Gordon and Tin-Tin. There is also some art samples, via annoying java script animations, at exposalecseverin.free.fr.

Well, maybe I will be able to meet Mr. Séverin if I visit his home country of Brussels. And if I do I can visit the Belgian Comic Strip Center. I really hope I can make it to Europe in the next few years (and the economy gets better)

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Nov
22
2008

Artist process – Craig Thompson and Manuel Arenas

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Two artist I am very fond of are posting how they draw in their comic.

First off Craig Thompson posts some behind the images from his hit comic GOOD-BYE, CHUNKY RICE which is celebrating it’s tenth anniversary.

European artist Manuel Arenas has been working on a new comic with his character YAXÍN the FAUN. The book is painted in watercolor and looks amazing. Check out his behind the scene images. Manuel has a piece in the Totoro Forest Project show at the Cartoon Art Museum.

You can pick up Craig Thompson’s book at Amazon:

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Sep
12
2008

The Totoro Forest Project at the Cartoon Art Museum

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to-to-ro

The Cartoon Art Museum has a multi-faceted art exhibit coming up starting on September 20th. The show will actually appear in segments with the fist one opening in a week. So by December the show will encompass 1/3 to 1/2 of the museum. The art work was created as part of a fund raiser for the Totoro Forest Project.

Now you might be asking yourself, what’s a Totoro?

Totoro is a mystical forest creature that appeared in the delightful Japanese animated movie by Hayao Miyazaki, my neighbor Totoro. Here is a clip from the movie:

The Totoro Forest Project is an a group who have set out to protect the forest that inspired the movies setting and story. To help raise money many of the artist who have been inspired by the movie and it’s talented director donated original art for an auction that was held at PIXAR animation studios a week ago.

Sayama Forest is one of the most remarkable urban forests in Japan, located just outside of Tokyo. This forest is said to be the inspiration for legendary animated film My Neighbor Totoro. With Japan’s rapid urban development in the 1970s and 1980s, the forest has been diminished to a small fraction of its former self. In 1990, Miyazaki helped set up a national trust, Totoro no Furusato National Fund, to preserve the park and promote awareness of environmental issues.

It is estimated the PIXAR art auction raised about $201,236.00 to protect the forest. Much of the artwork will be on display for the museums show. You can see all of it at the official website, Totoro Forest Project.

I will be teaching the drop-in cartooning class at the Cartoon Art Museum on the same day the show officially opens, Sept 20, 2008 and I am trying to create an art project to tie into the exhibit. My idea is to take a painted blog and turn it into our own version of the Totoro. Here are some experiments I did below, inspired by a kids art lesson where they turned fingerprints into people.

What do you guys think?

As a bonus, here are some short animations made from the art that was part of the fund-raiser…

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Jun
08
2008

Fiend Folio, Tarzan, and John Carter art

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Spiderwick artist Tony DiTerlizzi has posted a cool retooling of a monster from the original D&D Fiend Folio. Tony is an amazing artist and his blog is worth reading, so check them out.

Mr. Door Tree has posted some classic art from books of Tarzan HERE and HERE and John Carter of Mars HERE and HERE.

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Mar
11
2008

The Wizards of Ur

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The Wizards of Ur is a new artist blog that features artists James V. West, A.P. Furtado, Nate Piekos and Chuck Whelon. I will be looking forward to seeing what new stuff these gents produce.

The work below is by Chuck Whelon.

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Feb
15
2008

Creig Flessel graphic

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Flessel card for Phil Frank

I recently did the logo design for the Cartoon Art Museums retrospective of Creig Flessel. I translated his distinctive signature into a vector file and then modified it. I really like how cool this one turned out.

[singlepic=397,320,240,,]

This month, February 2008, Creig Flessel turned 96. To celebrate his life and art, there is a showcases of his work from early superhero comics, comic strips, Playboy Magazine, and beyond. He is the creator of The Sandman from Detective Comics as well as the Shinning Knight, both reside as part of the DC comics universe now. The show does have some ‘adult’ content, but is worth a see. Just be warned if you bring along some young kids.

I find it inspiring that Creig is still drawing, and drawing well this late in his life. If only I can be so lucky.

As a bonus, below is the card Creig created for Phil Frank last year when he was in the hospital. Great drawings and wonderful painting skills too.

 

Flessel card for Phil Frank

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