Cartoonist Jeffery Brown (jeffreybrowncomics.com) has a new book called Darth Vader and Son, which the trailer above promotes. I wanted to post the trailer here at MotionComicMagic.com since it’s a great example of taking existing art from a book and re-purposes it for animation, plus it’s really cool.
What if Darth Vader took an active role in raising his son? In this hilarious and sweet comic reimagining, Darth Vader is a dad like any other—except with all the baggage of being the Dark Lord of the Sith. Celebrated artist Jeffrey Brown’s delightful illustrations give classic Star Wars® moments a fresh twist, presenting the trials and joys of parenting through the lens of a galaxy far, far away. Life lessons include lightsaber batting practice, using the Force to raid the cookie jar, Take Your Child to Work Day on the Death Star (“Er, he looks just like you, Lord Vader!”), and the special bond shared between any father and son.
Jeffrey Brown is the author of numerous graphic novels and comics, including Cat Getting Out of a Bag and Cats Are Weird. A lifelong Star Wars fan, he lives in Chicago with his wife and five-year-old son.
Plus: You can see the artwork for the book at the Cartoon Art Museum this summer (in San Francisco) April 28 – August 5, 2012!
…the 18-piece exhibition Darth Vader and Son, featuring artwork by award-winning cartoonist Jeffrey Brown. This exhibit opens on Saturday, April 28. Brown will sign copies of his book at the Cartoon Art Museum on Thursday, May 17, 2012 from 7:00-9:00pm.
A post on re-purposing comics and illustration into animation
Time for some new art. It’s been a while since I posted anything here on the blog and I thought it was about time. Here is a bird that I drew in ink and then colored in Photoshop.
This is a drawing I did in one of my cartooning classes that I teach where I was showing the kids how I inked a drawing over blue pencil lines. For the inking I used both a brush pen and some sharpies of different widths. I also liked the art enough to give is some photoshop coloring as well.
I know it’s kinda of weird to see a redheaded white rabbit, but I thought it was funny. He has a lot of personality and I like that.
Hey all, here it is the last of the CAM-JAM 2011 events I am organizing with the Bookstore at the Cartoon Art Museum and inkDrinkDraw San Francisco. The events this year have really been quite fantastic with the final results being Animation and Paper Toy Monsters! But for this one we will be using the inspiration of the new Wizard of Oz Comic exhibit at the museum to draw our version of the iconic characters as well as having a Cartoonist Boutique! The Cartoonist Boutique will allow museum guests to buy work directly from the artists as well as get customized Holiday Cards and Mini-Buttons. (more info below the poster image)
WHEN: Saturday December 3rd. 2011 12 noon to 5pm
WERE: Cartoon Art Museum – 655 Mission St. San Francisco CA
COST: FREE with admission to the museum
On Saturday December 3rd, 2011 the Bookstore at the Cartoon Art Museum and InkDrinkDraw San Francisco will present the Holiday Cam-Jam and Cartoonist Art Boutique. The Cam-Jams are a series of artist collaborative events that happen a few times of year, but this December a new element is added…our Art Boutique.
Guests visiting the museum will have the chance to watch artist creating work inspired both by the winter holidays as well as the new Wizard of Oz comic exhibit. A selection of great holiday gifts will be for sale directly from their creators including:
- The premier of the first anthology from InkDrinkDraw SF
- One-of-a-kind Holiday Cards and buttons made while you wait
- Personalized comic books, prints, cards and more!
Another bonus is the artist-in-residence Kraig Rasmussen (www.monkeygong.com) will be located in the museum’s lobby signing his books and demonstrating how he creates his work from 1pm to 3pm.
So come on down between 12 noon and 5:00 pm and check out the current exhibits (Archie 70th and Wizard of Oz) while meeting some very talented artists and celebrate the season cartoon-style.
ARTIST: Artist wishing to participate in the CAM-Jam can sign-up by contacting me at the links below or showing up at the day of the event. Participating artist get free admission into the museum.
Artist wishing to sell some of their home grown items need to contact me by December 2nd, 2011.
We will be making custom cards and buttons to sell to guests, but a donation for materials will be required with a sale.
At one of the locations I teach cartooning we painted mini pumpkins, which I had never done. It was surprisingly easy and they came out pretty great I think.
This short animation was created as part of the 3rd year of CAM-JAM artist events at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco CA. Produced on Sun May 22, 2011 in 6 hours for the art and then composited in After Effects later. Each event is an art jam with a different theme, from comics about tiki’s to tarot cards to paper toy monsters.
- The event started with some warm-up animation drawn on a white board (purchased at Daiso America store) and filmed with a iStopMotion.
- Then each artist started drawing a sequence of animation which were then were strung together thanks to some storyboarding by Rick Lucey. The mini animation drawings were composited in Adobe After Effects.
Take a look…
You can see an announcement and find out what our goals were HERE
So, for my first post on the San Diego Comic-Con 2011 (SDCC) I thought I would post some pictures and talk about an exciting trend that, to me seems to be altering the convention forever.
These pictures are from my first day in San Diego, Wen July 20, 2011. The convention was going to kick of with it’s Wednesday Preview Night and I had arrived early enough to sight see and take some time to explore. I arrived at where I was staying in the Gas Lamp district and the first thing I saw was this…
note: click on the images to see a bigger version at Flickr.com
At the top of the building is an inflatable of two of the most popular animated characters on TV today, Jake the morphing dog and Finn a funny kid with a hat with bear ears from Adventure Time! They are best friends and live in the land of Ooo where they have adventures fighting monsters and rescuing princesses. The show is one of the best things on TV today and it’s fresh and original and attracts fans of all ages. I am myself a big fan.
Let me take a few steps back to the last time I was at the SDCC, in 2009. One of the new things that year was that the Sci-Fi Channel (SyFi) had partnered with a local restaurant a block from the convention center to transform the business into Cafe Diem from the series TV Eureka. That meant that instead of having a big booth in the convention center, they choose to basically have a restaurant as their temporary home. That meant that they were not dictated by the rules and hours at the convention center and the business they partnered with stood out even more then they would with out the new branding. CLICK HERE to see what it looked like this year.
The idea of breaking out of the convention center into downtown was so cool and different…fast forward to this Summer, 2011. Now there are many of these temporary pop-up businesses that have skipped the convention center and partnered with local businesses. This year there was the 3rd year for SyFi Channel joined by Spike TV, Conan O’Brian, South Park/Comedy Central, EA Games, some Marvel monster truck thing, a stand alone video game convention and more. But there are two pop-up businesses that stood out to me…
The characters above were part of Cartoon Network’s take over Ciro’s Pizza to the hit show Adventure Time. Outside you are meant with graphics that feature a graphic of Lady Rainacorn (a magical creature and girlfriend of Jake the Dog) and an inflatable candy person (the Candy Kingdom is a major location in the show). Inside all the walls were covered with a digitally printed mural of the locations and characters and enhanced with colored lighting and TV’s played clips from the show as well as interviews with the creators and fans. Here on the walls we see images of the snowy kingdom of the evil Ice King bathed in blue and purple lighting by the Soda Machines and then transitioning to more bright and sunny lighting at Finn and Jake’s tree house and over to the Candy Kingdom.
And to even stand out more, they had a group of young guys who were dressed as Finn and passing out tokens for a free slice of Pizza and a Drink from 2pm to 4pm every day of the con, how cool is that.
And they also have a parade of characters from the show twice a day for a meet and greet.
Most of this would have been impossible to do in the crowded convention center, but this temporary business was one of the stand-out elements of the event.
Another of the standout elements of the SDCC was Trickster, a pop-up store featuring the art, comics and other goodies by some of the hottest artists today. The Trickster was set-up by a group of artist frustrated with the heavy movie/TV heavy attention at the convention and wanted to focus instead on art and artists. Inside a converted wine shop there was a FREE retail space filled with drool worthy merchandise and room for small classes that cost extra. At night they had live models, drinking and partying and someone outside was selling sushi. Words can not explain the energy in the place. Here are some photos at a quieter moment on Wednesday before the crowds invaded.
During the convention they had great artist signing books and meeting and greeting peers and fans alike. HP was on hand to print out files for free and the publisher of the Trickster hardcover book was on hand to discuss printing services. Simply an amazing achievement and possibly a game changer for the identity of the convention.
So, the question on my mind is where will this trend of pop-up businesses for the convention go next. I can clearly see it being doubled by next year as some of the biggest players forgo the convention center for a more visible spaces in the Gas Lamp district. That is good since there will be more room in the hall for some that could not get a space and the big companies can take their brand to new levels on the outside. We’ll see what happens in July 2012.
Cartoon Art Museum Classes:
Cartoon BOOT Camp – Summer 2011
June Cartooning Classes: Monday through Friday, 2:00pm – 4:00pm
Cost: $100 per week for Cartoon Art Museum members, $135 for non-members
It’s time for our sixth annual Summer Cartooning Classes! Cartoonist Brian Kolm will teach students how to storyboard, the basics of traditional animation and stop motion, and how to create their own cartoon characters, super heroes and more!
Ages: Intermediate level artists from 10-14 years old.
Time: All sessions run Monday through Friday from 2:00PM to 4:00 PM at the Cartoon Art Museum
(For past students: please note the time of these classes is different.)
Number of students: The class size is limited to no more than 14 students. The class is filled on a first come, first served basis.
Cost*: $100 per week for CAM members, $135 non-members – per student for each session. Fees must be paid in full to secure a seat in the class.
Sign up as a member and save! ( http://cartoonart.org/join-support/membership/ )
Supplies: Basic Drawing Materials will be provided. Students are welcome to bring in their personal sketchbooks and materials.
To enroll: click on the links below for each class you are signing up for. Online reservations are sponsored by Guestlist.
Please also fill out and submit the waiver and emergency contact form. Mail or hand-deliver the completed waiver and emergency form to: Cartoon Art Museum; 655 Mission Street; San Francisco, CA 94105 attn: Cartoon Boot Camp, email to: office@cartoonart.org or fax to: 415-243-8666. For any questions, please call: 415-227-8666 x300.
*Cancellation: All participants must be pre-paid prior to the first day of the session. Full refunds given with 2 weeks cancellation notice prior to the first day of the session. 50% refund given within 7 to 13 days of the first day of the session. No refunds given within 6 days prior to the first day of the session.
Stop motion is one of the earliest animation techniques, but it remains one of the most vibrant and challenging forms of animation. Films like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, Wallace and Gromit, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Chicken Run and James and the Giant Peach have led to a resurgence in this amazing genre. This class will explore the basics of stop motion films, and teams of students will create their own short animation as a final project.
Skills featured: Teamwork, Frame by Frame Animation, Digital Video Editing, Storytelling
Samples created by previous classes can be seen here:
Great stories begin with great characters! Through storytelling and design techniques, students will create their own original characters, developing the character’s personality and appearance, resulting in a final piece of presentation-ready artwork.
Skills featured: Drawing, Basic Anatomy, 3d Visualization, Storytelling, Penciling, Inking
Storyboards have been used since the early days of animation, evolving into a way to pre-visualize a film before time and money was spent on a project. Animatics combine storyboards with sound to create a “real time” film.
This class will teach the art of pre-visualizing a film project through the storyboard stage. Teams of students will visualize a short scene with pre-recorded audio.
Samples created by last year’s class can be seen here:
Skills featured: Teamwork, Storytelling, Digital Video Editing
