THE SIMPSONS NEWS

Worked overtime this Saturday. It wasn’t nice.  We got what we needed done with time to spare though. The show looks great.  I even got an hour to relax on Tuesday before I went home.  Yay!

FAMILY/ART/PODCAST/BLOG

So my sister has commissioned me to design her a logo for her Podcast (www.elsiesyogakula.com) and her business (http://yogeek.me).  She’s a Yoga instructor. She sent me a few example drawings of things that are in the general direction of what she wants, as well as some photos of herself in poses she though I could use. One example was a few very interesting cartoony silhouettes in yoga poses, and the other is of a cartoony Vishnu/Shiva like multi-armed woman with all kinds of devices and things in her hands (no I’m don’t worship these gods, nor does my sister).  My job is to come up with something that has the general idea of the things she sent me without actually copying those things.  Very tricky.

She asked me to do it in “my style”, but, to be honest, I’m not sure what that is.  The “chibi” style I usually do on this blog, and in my upcoming Black Terror Kid comic strip, is not necessarily what I consider “my style”.  It’s just what’s easiest for me to do. My “short hand” if you will.  Does that make it my style?

So I don’t even know if I’m going to use that style for these logos. Although, it might be the first place I start.

So…here I go. The following is the start of my process of figuring out what to do:

So I chose to start designing the logos using  silhouettes. It’s a technique I first saw used in a book called: The Skillful Huntsman. I chose this method because I figured, if the silhouette, by itself, reads well, adding detail would just be icing.  My first attempts above, where my attempt to use my “Chibi” style for the logo.  It wasn’t a good style to use though.  It was too squat and compressed.  In the end, the drawings just look like weird bugs. I quit using the style without refining the drawings.  It would have been a waste of time.

My second attempt was to try a style that was a little like the “Chibi” style, only with more stretched out proportions.  This worked a little better. It was clearer.  Only it looks like the character is juggling.  Also, it was too much like my source material.  I didn’t want to directly copy my reference.  

I chose a standing position to try to make the drawing something a little different than the reference.  The proportions of the figure are much more naturalistic but still very designed.  I think this is closer to the direction I should go. It’s a very clear design. Unfortunately, this doesn’t quite say “Yoga” to me.  I also need more tech and health silhouettes in the hands. I’m going to have to go over this with my sister. She might have an idea as to what direction to go.

This last one is my first attempt at the podcast logo.  It’s based off the photo my sister sent me, which is the same as her site photo.  This was a happy accident.  It just looks like a big brush stroke.  I almost just want to keep it this way.  Still, I might play around with it a bit more. I’ll also try working off the other photo she sent me to see if I can’t do something similar with that.

That’s all I have so far. I’ll post more next time.

ART

Fellow CARTOONISTA, Jim Lujan, has posted up the second part of his John Henry Unicorn trilogy.  The story is basically about a manipulative cult leader that causes mayhem wherever he goes.  It’s a dark comedy Jim wrote, directed, animated, voice acted and wrote the music for.  Jim is a very funny and very nice guy.  His humor stems from taking the things that make odd people odd and exaggerating them. It’s very observational.  His art is very reminiscent of Mike Judge‘s art (creator of Beavis and Butt-head, and King of the Hill), only he drew this way before he ever saw any of Mike Judge‘s early films and Jim‘s drawings are a bit more stylized.

This lastest cartoon took him 2 months to do, off and on, during his free time. He assures me that it only took him this long because he was getting used to his new iMac.  He told me, the next one would be done faster.  This is just amazing to me.  He was able to do a cartoon, by himself, in the same amount of time it takes most artists to draw a comic book.

He makes me want to try it myself.

My favorite part is the wig bit.  That really cracked me up.  The ending was very odd and very silly.

WEBSITES

Tom Bancroft posted this on his Deviant Art News page.  I thought I’d share it here since it’s a good cause:

ART AUCTION on EBay. Former Disney animator and author Tom Bancroft along with Tony Bancroft (yes, he was also a Disney animator, my twin, and directed MULAN) and a friend (Chad Frye) are putting together a huge Ebay art auction for the Hodge family and their son, Matt. Tim Hodge (the dad) is a long time friend (my family has know their’s since our kids where babies!) and Tim is a former Disney storyboard artist and Big Ides Productions director. His son, Matt, a 17-year old senior in high school was in a terrible accident when his car was hit by a train a couple months ago. He is still in a coma because of the head trauma. Their family is in need of financial help. Thus, the art auction.

The plan is to have the auction hit Ebay in about a month (beginning of December). We have sent out notes to some of the biggest names in animation, comic books, comic strips, and illustration for donations. We are getting in great artwork every day! (I met with John Pomoroy yesterday, who contributed a signed animation drawing!)

Please go to our preview site at: [link] to see what has come in so far and keep going back for more and more artwork as it comes in and updates about the auction. I’m counting on all of you to spread the news about this site and auction! Tell all your friends, these will make GREAT CHRISTMAS PRESENTS!

Some of the artists that have donated or have promised to are: J. Scott Campbell, Chris Sanders, John Pomeroy, Drew Struzen, Peter DeSeve, Stephen Silvers, Charles Schutz’s family, Patrick McDonnell, and so many more!

 

BLOG

I was just checking out Paolo Rivera’s blog.  His stuff is so COOL!  Man, the guy rocks.  He has a video of his process HERE.  Here’s a video interview with him:

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