3D-JP

As rumored and promised, here are the dramatic snapshots of the one-of-a-kind Joe Paradise maquette. These photos were taken by the same amazing artist who sculpted the piece, previously mentioned Heiko Drengenberg. This is by far the most amazing three-dimensional realization I've seen of my design. How Heiko made it work from all angles is beyond me. Beautiful technique, beautiful posing, beautiful attention to detail (check out the hair!). Why this was never mass-produced is beyond me. But just see for yourself:

(sorry for the lame-o watermarks but it's too precious to let slide...)

Wondercon Shwag

This weekend we strapped on our geek hats, put on our dork socks, polished the gomer glasses and dove into the 2005 Wondercon at the SF Moscone Center. After experiencing San Diego Comic Con last year, Wondercon doesn’t hold a candle (think 1/20th the size). But it was still fun to revel in the nerddom. Comic conventions breed such a unique culture and even though I’ve been reading comics most of my life, I still can’t get over the people who attend. There were overweight Stormtroopers (standard, snow, and biker), Narutos of all ages, and my favorite - a mid-forties, African American, female Jedi (lightsaber and all). Not to mention special appearances by Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), Richard Hatch (Starbuck Apollo), Margot Kidder (Lois Lane), and the actor who played the “big dumb super villain” in Superman 2 (Jack O'Halloran).

My favorite part of these conventions is picking up books that you wouldn’t normally find in your average comic store. I was pretty controlled once I left the Stuart Ng Books section… Here’s what I nabbed:

• Glen Murakami’s SUNDAY GIRL - Murakami has worked on some of the best animated comic shows out there (Batman, Superman, Teen Titans). This is his third collection of drawings (if I ever find the first two, I'm sold). Beautiful.

• THE GOLDEN TREASURY OF MYTHS AND LEGENDS (illustrated by the Provensens) - one of my greatest joys is finding out-of-print books like this one.

• DRAWERS 2.0 by Claire Wendling - this phenomenal French artist just cannot draw bad. If you’re not familiar with her work, I’d say she’s a Euro-cross between Klimt, Frazetta, Mignola, and freaking good drawing skills.

Now I can’t wait for San Diego…

Ugly Post-Its

Here at Ghostbot, we've gotten into the habit of drawing our storyboards on tiny 1 and 3/8 inch by 1 and 7/8 inch post-its. We found that it is an easy way of getting longer format work done. The pencil mileage on a tiny post-it is a lot less than a giant 12 field sheet of paper. Also it forces us to keep our compositions simple and clear. During down time (or brain farts), I found myself sketching these ugly mugs on those tiny post-its.

Asteroid Belt

My son is studying the Solar System in 2nd Grade. The other day he showed me he would finally try his Daddy's "rough style" of drawing and came up with this gem. The solar system rules.

Random Joe Sketch

I've been getting a number of requests on this blog about the whereabouts of Joe Paradise. Thanks to everyone who still holds a candle for the show! I recently ran across this old sketch that my pal Heiko Drengenberg, one of the animators from Season 2, did for fun. This sketch was part of a running gag the team had playing on Joe's name. I have a whole box worth of "never-before-seen" stuff so hopefully I'll be able to share more with you guys soon!

Algorithmics Model Sheet

Here is one of the funnest projects we had the pleasure of working on at Leap Frog. These 4 kids (Yuko, Ato, Sam, and Tomas) are the Algorithmics! They are a world-music band that rocks out all over the planet.

We all had some blame in designing these kids, but when it came to full production on the game, Brad Rau directed it to victory. The producers on it were Patty Liu and Jason Haber. It's out in the stores now. More to come!

Incredible Auction

The Maverix auction was a blast. Lots of amazing talent and lots of amazing art. Three cheers to the peeps at Maverix for putting on a fantastic show.

Alas... I couldn't afford that sassy Incredibles poster signed by the Pixar crew, but I did manage to get a deal on this lovely art done by up and coming super star Justin Lee. He is the 7 yr old son of one of my mentors Steward Lee (the guy who stopped me from making bad inbetweens for the rest of my life). Check out some of Stew's stuff here. It'll punch you in the face... literally!

Tsunami Relief Art Auction

The mighty and magnificent Maverix Studios is holding an all-star art show to support the tsunami relief. This image is done by animation powerhouse Ed Bell. It is one of many amazing pieces of art on auction. Here is the general info:

Maverix Studios1717 Seventeenth St. #108,
San Francisco,CA(415) 522 1717
Starts at 7pm and the bidding closes at 10pm.

For more details you can check out the Maverix blog here !

See you there.

ROAAAAAAAAARRR!

Long live Chewy!