Wow

There are very few times in your career when you look at your work and are at a loss for words:

Six Scoops Sketch: "Racing Otter"

Welcome back to another edition of Six Scoops Sketch! This time we even got our pal Ghostbot clutch hitter Kris Toscanini and Happy Tree pals Ken Pontac and Kenn Navarro to join in the madness.






Alan
















Brad
















Roque
















Kris
















Ken
















Kenn

Happy Tree Friends False Alarm

Our lovable pals, the Happy Tree Friends have snuggled their way on to Xbox Live via a new video game by SEGA.

We were lucky enough to animate the opening and closing cut scene of the game. It's always a pleasure working with the Mondo Media and the fine folks at Mondo Studios.







Here's the opening sequence via the magic of the internet. Enjoy!

I wish I could draw

Feast your eyes on the work of Concept Art House.

From their company bio:

"Concept Art House LLC is founded by industry veterans James Zhang (www.jzconcepts.com) and Scott Chou. The company HQ is based out of San Francisco, California with a full production art studio in Shanghai, PRC. The core founders have over 20 years of collective industry experience with clients including Blizzard, Hasbro, LucasArts, LucasFilm, Electronic Arts, Miramax, Midway, Factor 5, Wizards of the Coast, Upperdeck Entertainment, 2Kgames, Brady Games, Paizo Publishing, Interserv International, and numerous others."

Our friend, James Zhang is founder and fearless leader and his talent speaks for itself. His team is a prime example of how to kick butt and take names:

We're planning on hanging out with James a lot more so that eventually some of that talent rubs off on us.

Well one can hope...

No More Kings Video!

Since November, we've been working with bonafide rockstar Pete Mitchell, front man for the band No More Kings. He contacted us out of the blue to work on an animated music video for their newest single "Michael (Jump In)".

After listening to their dang catchy music and seeing their first video "Sweep the Leg" (directed by Billy Zabka), we knew we had to work with Pete so the wheels of production were set in motion.

This video was such a fun project to work on since the song was so awesome (a big deal since we'd be hearing it over and over again) and the design and animation of the world was so charming to create. The best part was that in the middle of production, Pete came up to visit us (along with Jordan and Tori from Astonish) so that we could meet in person and he could see how we worked. We instantly hit it off and we all hope that we can keep working with each other on many more projects.

Pete started his own blog that he'll be updating frequently about the whole production process. Go check it out. We're planning on blogging about our own tidbits of insight each week as well. In the meantime, enjoy!

via YouTube
via MySpace
via KoldCast (in HD)

2008

I've been itching to break out the ole paints since I can't even remember. In this day and age of digital doodads and unlimited undos ("Ctrl + Z you have saved me yet again..."), it's hard for me to commit to exposing how bad of an artist I am when faced with the nakedness of real media. I'm a perfectiocrastinator. What can I say.

But this Christmas, I decided that I wanted to give something special to the twin-lings of my friend Shanth. This guy has literally berated me to keep painting since we stepped out of college. So who better to be at the receiving end of my first bumbling attempts than his family (sorry, guys...).

I wasn't totally ready to let go of my digital crutches so I did a couple of quick sketches on my Cintiq. I didn't want to do anything too complicated on my first go so I busted these out pretty fast and simple.

His daughter loves Curious George.

His son loves Thomas the Tank Engine.

I have to say painting again was amazing. Nothing can compare to the feeling of applying pure pigment on paper with a brush. Sometimes I feel like digital painting is like drawing with ice skates on. There's a tactile disconnect and I always reach my end goal with a million steps of trial and error. Painting forces me to commit to my imperfect process and it kicks my butt when it comes to color theory (I always gravitate towards "mud" as one of my staple colors).

Gouache, 5" x 7"

I kind of botched the composition on the yellow hat. One of those happy mistakes I guess.

Gouache, 7" x 5"

All in all, I was pretty happy with how they turned out (I think I was just more excited by the fact that I actually finished two paintings). There's also this weird sense of satisfaction knowing that my friend's kids will have the only originals. Makes it more special I guess, in this day and age of mass reproduction.

Needless to say, I've caught the bug (darn you, Shanth!). I'm going to try and keep it up. Hopefully I'll be done with two more before next Christmas...

Happy Holidays!

Lara Croft + Jim Lee = Nerd Heaven

That's right, the gods of Nerd Yore have smiled upon us and teamed up two icons of the comic world. Recently, Gametap launched a new internet mini-series entitled "Tomb Raider: Re/Visioned" to celebrate 10 years of the Tomb Raider franchise. Each episode is a different animated version of Lara as reimagined by various artists including Peter Chung, Cully Hamner, and Louie Del Carmen.

Episode 10:"A Complicated Woman" was designed by Jim Lee and written by Christos N. Gage. We had the privilege of being asked to work with the team at Wildstorm to bring this vision to life. This was a dream come true considering we are all big fans of Jim Lee's work (especially those of us who bought multiple sealed copies of his comics in the 90's). Needless to say, our collective Ghostbot jaw hit the ground when we saw all the artwork that came from Wildstorm. Those guys can draw and Lara Croft was no exception.

Animating something in Flash that is as detailed and complicated as comic art was a unique challenge, yet I think we were blinded by the excitement of being able to work on a project with such a legend in the comic world. Hopefully there will be more opportunities like this in the future!

You can watch the full short HERE (you have to navigate around the menu a little bit to find it).

Six Scoops Sketch: "Rabbit Ogre"

Brad






















Alan

















Roque

Duck Amuck DS arrives with bonus points!

There's been all sorts of positive buzz for the release of Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck DS, A game we did animation for the masterminds at WayForward.

Here's some kind words from the Variety regarding our game.

Here's a great interview with our pals from Way Forward at Newsweek. They've always been extremely gracious at giving us props when it comes to the animation.

And my favorite quote from the folks at IGN: "Did someone channel the spirits of Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese? The designers get the feel of the target 'toon spot on with classic Golden Age animation and humor."

As I've finally snagged my very own copy from the local Game Stop, it's a rush to see all the work we put into Daffy on that cool little DS screen. The interactivity and fun of poking and torturing Daffy is truly unique on the platform. Enough listening to me, just go out there and get one!

Also, if your fingers don't break on Duck Amuck DS make sure to grab WayForward's other soon to be mega hit Contra 4 strikes on 11/13/07

Special thanks to MTV, Cartoon Brew and DS Fanboy for the buzz.

Auction for Alzheimers

This weekend, the fine folks at Maverix Studios are holding an art auction to raise funds to help the Alzheimer's Association. It is from 6-9pm this Saturday the 29th, at Maverix Studios: 1717 17th Street in San Francisco. Tons of art donated by great artists will be up for auction. There's no pressure to bid, just come and enjoy art with good company. It should be a lot of fun.

Here's a small sampling of the glory that awaits courtesy of power house Jamie Baker:






















ps. thanks Rhode for the info!

Six Scoops Sketch: "Questionable Nurse"

Hot off the heels of Plump Mayor is the mysterious and enigmatic Questionable Nurse. What is she thinking? What are her motives? Most importantly, what the heck is she doing with that giant freakin needle?? Time to switch to a PPO.....










Brad























Alan


















Roque