Punch Pants

CTRL+♥+DELETE: Music Video

2012-01-18T15:47:00.000-08:00

We are proud to announce the official CTRL + ♥ + DELETE Music Video! Watch our pals Penny and Presston enjoy some sweet, wholesome fun in the sun.

The catchy song “Yum Yum ” is written and performed by the super-talented Essence. Be sure to visit her site and enjoy her wide range of lovely music.

Also, be sure to check out the latest episodes of CTRL + ♥ + DELETE episodes on YouTube.

Episode 1: Pilot
Episode 2: First Date
Episode 3: Clubbing

Welcome to CTRL+♥+DELETE. A new independent series created by award-winning animation studio Ghostbot.

http://www.controlheartdelete.com
http://www.ghostbot.com

Happy Holidays from Ghostbot!

2011-12-15T15:23:00.000-08:00

CTRL+♥+DELETE Episode 3: Clubbing

2011-11-18T16:51:00.000-08:00

PENNY wants to get her groove on, but can PRESSTON keep up? Watch the tragically cute mayhem unfold!

Welcome to CTRL+♥+DELETE. A new independent series created by award-winning animation studio Ghostbot.

http://www.controlheartdelete.com
http://www.ghostbot.com

Ghostbot named #33 "Fast 100"

2011-11-03T10:16:00.000-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO - November 3, 2011 - Ghostbot announced today its recognition as #33 in San Francisco Business Times' Top 100 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in the Bay Area. Fast 100 is an award for those elite companies that have had the largest revenue growth from 2008 to 2010. Ghostbot experienced a 136.5 percent growth during this period.

The companies recognized range from technology and marketing to media and retail. This accredited list is comprised of both young companies with inspiration to grow and expand as well as mature companies that have been able to not only maintain but thrive in a time of economic hardship. As one of the very few companies to represent the creative field, Ghostbot stands out as a respected business made up of passionate people who love what they do.

An awards ceremony was held on Thursday, October 27th at the Hilton Hotel in downtown San Francisco. The rankings were published in San Francisco Business Times October 28th edition.

About Ghostbot, Inc.

Ghostbot is an independent animation studio formed in 2004 by Alan Lau, Roque Ballesteros, and Brad Rau in San Francisco, CA. Corrine Wong later joined the principal team as Executive Producer and has been integral in spear-heading a high level production pipeline for the studio. With over 50 years of combined experience in the entertainment sector, Ghostbot brings a unique ability to create compelling design and strong visually story telling. Throughout the history of the company, the studio has come to be recognized as one of the premiere creative forces in the animation industry.

Client List: Walt Disney Television, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, “Weird” Al Yankovic/Jive/Sony Music, Esurance, Samsung, Hallmark, Electronic Arts, Mattel, Leap Frog, Adobe, Mondo Media, Film Roman/Starz Media, Laika, Wild Brain, Curious Pictures, Kenwood Group, Machinima, Sanzaru Games, ngmoco:), Madhouse, Ubisoft, Crowdstar, Pocket Gems, Metamoki

Internbot - 02 Project: Steampunk Nutcracker

2011-10-26T09:59:00.000-07:00

As the first days passed at Ghostbot and I learned the mechanics of Flash, Roque came to me with the concept of a design project. The first thought was both daunting and exciting at the scope of the project among my other classes.

Inspired by my Jack and the Beanstalk Cyber Punk/Fantasy designs from my portfolio, Roque came up with a similar project for me to embark on. The project was to pick from a few fairy tales and put it in a different genre. From the Gingerbread man to Three Billy Goats Gruff, one in particular caught my eye.

I chose the Nutcracker. Unbeknownst to Roque, I played both the Nutcracker and Herr Drosselmeyer in two play productions as a child in elementary school! How could I even consider another choice?

Now onto the genre choice: Goth, Techno, Aquatic, Pulp Adventure? In the end, I choose Steampunk; something I've never explored in my own free time. Before even grabbing a pencil and paper, Roque asked me to define the archetypes of the cast, giving each three descriptive adjectives for each character. As well as collecting a massive amount of research of both steampunk and nutcracker images.

Below is my first set of sketches on the initial concept after getting the go ahead from Roque, along with descriptions of each character.

Cast:

The Nutcracker: The lead character of the play and the quiet protagonist of the film. He protects Clara from the evil grasp of the Rat King. Created by Herr Drosselmeyer, this mechanical, steam driven, and stalwart hero leads his steam powered army into battle against the ominous Rat King.

Nutcracker Army: Loyal and steadfast the mechanical steam army follows their leader to the ends of the earth and back.

Clara: A young brilliant woman, who is a mechanical genius, like her Godfather Herr Drosselmeyer. Always interested in her godfather’s work Clara locks herself in her lab tinkering away at new devices… that is until Herr Drosselmeyer stops by on Christmas Eve with a gift.

Herr Drosselmeyer: The mysterious and ominous Godfather of Clara. He is a genius mechanic, creating revolutionary designs in steam engineering. He has a mechanical eye that has yet to be explained. Drosselmeyer considers Clara as his protégé.

The Rat King: A ruthless tyrant and leader of his pirate crew, he has a long standing feud with the Nutcracker. Nothing would bring him more joy then seeing his head on a pike in his throne room. Hei is half rat with an assortment of mechanical devices replacing limbs and organs.

Rat Army: The Rat King’s pirate army is an assortment of ruthless and greedy rats. Scavengers by nature, they replace and enhance their bodies with any assortment of mechanical devices they can get a hold of.

The Rise of Internbot - 02

2011-10-19T09:57:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone my name is Sam Filstrup I'm the intern at Ghostbot. I'm from Concord, California just outside of of San Francisco (Bonus points if you noticed my initials are vaguely similar.).

Like many artists I've spent my head in the books doodling away rather then studying. Which led me to the Academy of Art University in San Francisco where I've been studying as a visual development major with a focus on character design.

Years passed and skills were refined, I've worked tirelessly to bring my skills to the professional level and even though my skills were far greater then before I needed some true work experience under my belt. So I began looking for an internship.

Back in the days of High School I saw this music video of my favorite ska band Five Iron Frenzy, which popped Ghostbot onto my radar. Already aware of there location in the city, I sent out an email. Low and behold by the good graces of the Ghostbot crew I was brought into the studio as their second intern. As the weeks go by I'll be working on cleanup and various other projects, along with a personal project overseen by the Ghostbot crew.

CTRL+♥+DELETE Episode 2: "First Date"

2011-09-08T16:53:00.000-07:00

PRESSTON tries to prevent PENNY from going on a stinker of a date.

Welcome to CTRL+♥+DELETE. A new independent series created by award-winning animation studio Ghostbot.

http://www.controlheartdelete.com
http://www.ghostbot.com

Comic KHHAAAANN

2011-08-03T10:18:00.000-07:00

It is difficult to believe that a little over a week ago, the Ghostbot crew was situated in the thick of the madness that is the San Diego Comic Con. One week later, we still haven't truly recovered, but we're doing out best to muddle through our post-comic con lives anyway.

The Ghostbot booth this year was sandwiched in-between the towering wall of Sony's setup, and an inexplicable bamboo forest (I would provide insight, but it is, as aforementioned, inexplicable.) We spent all four days running mainly on espresso and granola bars and working the booth with the kind of frenzied adrenaline one usually reserved for life threatening situations. And as exhausted as we were at the end of the con, it was SO. TOTALLY. AWESOME.

Our booth revolved around one central and exciting event: the release of Ghostbot's new web series, CONTROL+HEART+DELETE! We had a giant foam cutout of our main character, Presston, for Comic-conners to take photos with. Presston came complete with animated expressions, which totally kicks, except for the fact that he occasionally ruined photos by blinking...

Some other Comic Con highlights included a Nathan Fillion spotting, and seeing the Game of Thrones cast. I even made significant eye contact with Kit Harington (Jon Snow), triggering a wave of emotion somewhere between lovestruck and nausea. We all left the con with some great swag; posters, prints, graphic novels, toys, and even a vial of "Wonderflonium" from a particularly detail oriented Dr. Horrible cosplayer.

All in all, we managed to brave the ordeal more or less intact, and with pictures to boot!

Ghostbot at Comic-Con

2011-07-18T20:05:00.000-07:00

Come see our latest idea at Comic-Con this Wednesday through Sunday!

Date: July 20th – July 24th
Location: San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California
Booth Number: 4532

We hope to see you there!

Weird

2011-07-11T12:55:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time there was a phone call in the studio that went a little something like this:"Weird Al wants to know if you'd like to do a music video for him." (Cue finger-biting and muffled shouts of glee.) There are very few times in your career that you get to collaborate with a legend, so this was a biggie. Al Yankovic is the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter best known for his masterful parodies of pop culture including spoofs on Michael Jackson, Madonna, and most recently Lady Gaga.

The song we were asked to animate to is "Party in the CIA" (Parody of "Party in the U.S.A." by Miley Cyrus). Al really liked Ghostbot's previous work (in the form of Mole in the City and Buddhist Monkey), so once we read his amazing lyrics for the song we knew what kind of direction we wanted to go.

The experience of collaborating with someone whose career has been highly successful and relevant for three decades (and counting) was surreal to say the least. He was extremely nice, professional, and clear with his vision and at the same time really gracious about letting us do what we do - something you don't often experience from people with even half his success. Nothing "weird" at all here, folks. Just an artist who is creating his art graciously and passionately.

You can download "Party in the CIA" hot off the presses HERE from iTunes.

And also download his full album "Alpocalypse" HERE.

Dolby Experience

2011-05-27T16:01:00.000-07:00

How do you visually show an audio experience? That was the challenge presented to us by Dolby Laboratories. Ghostbot was brought in to help craft a short film that showcases new advancements that Dolby is making for audio quality on home computers.

Our solution was to create a visual progression of a character experiencing a wide range of sound that would showcase Dolby’s amazing audio technology. It was also very inspiring to work with people who are as tirelessly dedicated about sound quality as we are with animation quality.

On a side note, any project where there are supersonic jets, underwater volcanic explosions, and planet shattering destruction is considered “good times” in our book.

For more behind the scenes insight, please check out Art Director extraordinaire Roman Laney’s blog.

WonderCon's MercyCorps Donation

2011-04-11T13:56:00.000-07:00

Big thanks to everyone who purchased something from us at WonderCon, which helped us raise money for the relief efforts in Japan. You guys rock!

Ghostbot at WonderCon!

2011-03-30T12:08:00.000-07:00

Ghostbot will be at WonderCon this weekend, Friday April 1st - Sunday April 3rd, at the Moscone Center South in San Francisco. All proceeds will be donated to help those in need from the recent trajedies that struck Japan.

We hope to see you this weekend!

Online Underground Latest Episodes

2011-01-12T13:12:00.000-08:00

The latest episodes are online now!

Watch Episode 6 and Episode 7.

Enjoy!

Happy Holidays from Ghostbot!

2010-12-15T11:43:00.000-08:00

Wishing you a joyous Holiday and prosperous New Year!

Online Underground continued

2010-12-01T10:55:00.000-08:00

More Online Underground episodes available now.

Enjoy!

Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5

Ghostbot Shop: New Products

2010-11-19T14:56:00.000-08:00

We are very excited to announce new products available at our online Ghostbot merchandise shop. There you can find Little Lost Ghost T-Shirts, Little Lost Ghost handbags, Roshambo T-Shirts, and Roshambo Pin Sets.

Store: Ghostbot shop

If you have any questions, feel free to write to us.

Happy shopping!

Ghostbot at CTN this weekend

2010-11-17T13:28:00.000-08:00

We will be LIVE at CTN in Burbank this weekend (November 19-21). Come visit us at booth T-83 in Opportunity Alley if you get the chance!

Check out Ghostbot's CTN reel:

Online Underground

2010-10-20T16:14:00.000-07:00

Ghostbot is animating Online Underground. It’s a new web series from the fine folks at Machinima.

Broadcasting from their makeshift news room, these digital video game "sprites" bring you the latest information from the world of online gaming. Well, they would if they could only get along long enough to complete the show.

Check out episode 1 here.
Check out episode 2 here.

Enjoy!

Ghosbot at A.P.E.

2010-10-07T11:47:00.000-07:00

We hope to see you there!

A.P.E. Party! Saturday, October 16 at 9pm

2010-10-04T15:49:00.000-07:00

Come to the A.P.E. after party at Cinematico! This event takes place after the A.P.E. convention Saturday, October 16th at 9pm. Hosted by Ghostbot, Cinematico, and Maverix.

GHOSTBOT live at CTN

2010-09-22T17:45:00.000-07:00

We're excited about being at CTN (Creative Talent Network) this year! If you are coming down, you can use the code below as a discount for admission:

Here’s the link to register: http://www.ctnanimationexpo.com/register/
Here’s the code: GHOSX10

We hope to see you there!

A Summer of Wisdom and Wonder

2010-08-20T17:31:00.000-07:00

At the end of every summer, our grade school teachers would make us write essays about what we did during our summer vacations. Those were dark and discouraging times in which teachers would gently admonish me for doodling in the margins and encourage me to write something besides “watch cartoons.” Summers later, I find not much has changed… except for the admonishing part.

In addition to doodles and cartoons, this summer was full of action, adventure, and of course, the imparting of knowledge. I did my very best to absorb as much sage wisdom as possible, and learned some valuable life lessons and skills during my summer at Ghostbot:

- Lunch is the most important meal of the day.
- Adding corner shadows makes backgrounds more dynamic.
- Totoro creampuffs, though finicky to make, are well worth the effort.
- Gradients make most things more epic.
- Skywalker Ranch is just as cool as the Wikipedia article says it is.
- The highest destination for tiny post-it notes is storyboarding.
- Animating explosions is infinitely rewarding.
- Nathan Fillion is just as dreamy in person.

Silliness aside though, this truly has been the summer of a lifetime. Coming here was a leap of faith, and the best decision I have ever made. Ghostbot has become my family, and I am so grateful for that. Were this blog an 80’s sitcom, this would be the point at which the studio audience would be cued to “Awww;” and what an appropriately heartfelt awww it would be.

It’s been a pleasure working here, and maintaining the blog. Thank you loyal readers, and with that, I return you to your regularly scheduled Ghostbot bloggers.

Internbot01, signing off.

Conquering the Meat Mountain

Skywalker Ranch

Final Destination Lunch

Totoro magnet :o)

Yeti. Set. Go.

2010-08-18T10:05:00.000-07:00

It’s been awhile since I last updated the blog with regards to my intern animation project. Perhaps it’s simply me being lax, but I’d like to think it’s due to an over abundance of other more exciting things to blog about.

Storyboarding and background designs are complete (thanks to guidance from Alan and Roman, respectively) and the last few weeks have been spent navigating the murky waters of creating assets and animating them.

Learning the Ghostbot animation style has been a fascinating process; a technique at which I have graduated from utterly clueless to a hopeful novice. Each day of animation brings new challenges, and tends to go a little something like this:

Step one: Arrange assets into compositionally pleasing keyframes.
Step two: Get overly excited about the idea of making something move, and forge ahead in-betweening, generally making utter snafus of the original keyframes.
Step three: Wallow in self pity over lack of experience and technique.
Step four: Add unnecessary blinks to make myself feel better.
Step five: This is the point in which Brad swoops in and magicks Flash, imparting animation wisdom and demonstrating how to smooth the aforementioned snafus.
Step six: Feel alternately amazed and inspired, and thank my lucky stars that I decided to major in delayed gratification. I mean. Animation.

Repeat process as necessary until scene is completed and up to Ghostbot snuff.

The scenes I have managed to animate are looking peachy keen, but it’s getting down to the wire, and it appears as though I won’t have time to complete my entire animation while at Ghostbot. I’d like to be an ostrich so I could stick my head in the sand and pretend this isn’t my last week here. But ostriches can’t animate… and aren’t native to San Francisco. So I guess in the long run it’s probably a good thing I’m not an ostrich.

Post Traumatic Comic-Con Disorder

2010-08-04T17:59:00.000-07:00

It’s been a week in a half since Ghostbot’s return from the 2010 San Diego comic-con, and after a week and a half I think it’s safe to say that I’ve sufficiently recovered from the shell shock of comic-con to formulate a blog entry.

I was only prepared enough to know I wasn’t prepared. There was a bedazzled storm trooper, a cross dressing Sailor Moon, and I even got to hug Pikachu. Nathan Fillion walked past our booth and I can say with confidence that had I been struck down by a bolt of lightning at that very moment, I would have died fulfilled. We were stoked that our booth was located right next to the cast of “The Guild," including one of my favorites, Felicia Day. If you haven’t seen “Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog” yet, shame. Just… insurmountable shame.

I spent a majority of my time at the Ghostbot booth alternately hyperventilating that I was mere yards from Felicia and helping to sell merchandise. It was really neat to talk to the people who came to the Ghostbot booth. The most frequent thing I heard: “This stuff is awesome!! Are you the artist??” “Nah… I’m, just the intern…” “Oh. *disappointed face*” After which they usually bought some buttons and got a print signed.

Both nights comic-con was followed by Ghostbot outings for dinner, and I realized partway through our boisterous dinner at P.F. Chang's that we were “that” dinner group…

At the very end of comic-con, as we were trundling out the last of the Ghostbot merchandise, opportunity struck and I had the pleasure of getting to meet Felicia Day; truly the cherry on the sundae of glory and wonderment that is comic-con.

Comic-Con

2010-07-20T12:01:00.000-07:00

The time for Comic-Con is upon us.

See you there!!

Destination: Lunch

2010-07-16T17:31:00.000-07:00

I have mentioned destination lunches before, but the time has come that they really deserve their own blog entry, as well as a little room for explanation. For some, lunch is simply the light midday meal between breakfast and dinner. But as self dubbed “Lunch Guru” Kenn Nevarro says,“lunch isn’t just a meal, lunch is a way of life.”

So far we have had Mediterranean, Vietnamese, Thai, Indian, Mexican, In N Out, Chinese, pizza, sandwiches, and breakfast for lunch. I would be hard pressed to recall every destination lunch that has happened since my arrival at Ghostbot.

For those outside Ghostbot who might not be in the know about the different categories of lunch, we’ve provided a handy dictionary of definitions.

Sad Lunch – Having lunch alone at your desk.

Adventure Lunch – A lunch in which at least one member of the luncheon part has not dined at the chosen destination lunch establishment.

Extreme Lunch – A lunch in which no member of the luncheon party has dined at the chosen destination lunch establishment.

Pity Lunch – When Kenn guilt trips you into going to lunch through various methods of emotional manipulation, such as (but not limited to) whining, sad faces, and irrelevant factors. Eg: “But you have to go out, it’s the second Thursday of the month!” *pout*

Loser Lunch – When, failing emotional manipulation, Kenn still cannot convince anyone to go to lunch with him, and he cries in his car instead of eating lunch.

Betrayal Lunch – When a person breaks away from the group and goes out to lunch alone, or with a smaller secondary lunch party. In the event that the two lunch parties are the same size, Kenn is the tie breaker, and the betrayal party is whichever group does not have Kenn in it.

Danger Lunch – We’ve only speculated on its existence. It hasn’t happened yet. But when it does, we’ll know. And by then it will already be too late.

Today was a surprise pizza birthday lunch :D The cake is a Swedish Princess cake from Schubert's Bakery on Clement Street. It's a white layer cake with raspberry and kirsch custard filling, whipped cream and marzipan icing. Omnomnom!

Yetis Aplenty(s?)

2010-06-29T17:46:00.000-07:00

Coming up with the design for the main character of the Yeti has been
quite the process, but at last Roque and I have settled upon this fellow.
He's doing his best at walking the fine line between bored and
sophisticated.

An hour ago I started storyboarding, and already I have a modest pile of
crumpled up sticky notes to call my own. I have a feeling storyboarding
will be a perpetual struggle to keep my thumbnail Yetis from looking like
Grimace.

I've also been spending a lot of time poring over Nicolas Marlet's work in
the Art of Kung Fu Panda book. Each page affords endless potential for
meditating on one's inadequacies.

It seems borderline reprehensible to post my own work in a blog entry
where his name is also mentioned.

The baby Yeti is as unrelated to the animation as he is adorable.

Setting Sail on the Internship

2010-06-25T18:08:00.001-07:00

Intern project ahoy! I've been hard at work on the concept and character
design for the short animation I'll be creating this summer. Last week
Roque gave me three words (opposite, secret, and balance) with which to
create three different ideas. Working with Kenn Navarro during the
development and pitch process was fantastic. He helped with polishing my
ideas as well as generally demystifying the art of pitching, which was up
until this point, quite shrouded in mystery I assure you.

We chose the story formed from the word secret; a sneak peek into the
everyday life of the middle class working yeti. It is my intent to expose a
softer, more sophisticated side of this tragically misunderstood creature.
The past week has been spent developing the character of the yeti. Roque
has been instrumental in this process; helping to guide my design with
suggestions and examples. There seems to be a veritable cornucopia of
concept art books and insightful handouts accumulating on my desk with
which to draw inspiration and ideas from.

Next week I will begin story-boarding with Alan and working out specific
details with the plot line. More on the intern project soon to follow!

On another exciting note, Ghostbot has invited me to go with them to the
San Diego Comicon. Never did I dream that I would be making a pilgrimage to
this Mecca of nerddom. I've been told to take all my expectations, and
multiply them by 100. One hundred times the level of nerdiness. One
hundred times the amount of undiluted awesome. One hundred times the number of rotund spandex clad Flashes. My thesaurus would explode if it housed an adequate synonym for my level of excitement.

I suppose I should start working on some sort of costume, I would be sorely remiss if I passed up a perfectly good opportunity to wear a cape.

Witty Title...

2010-06-22T18:24:00.000-07:00

Five months ago I casually mentioned to my parents that I was applying for
an internship in San Francisco, stressing the fact that it was unlikely to
happen in order to soothe their fears of having to send their child across
the country. Five months later I found myself more than 3,000 miles from
home, and on my way to meet a company I had only ever conversed with via
speakerphone and email.

As any new intern would, I spent the first few hours fretting whether or
not I was scanning files correctly and trying not to breathe too loudly to
keep from disrupting my coworkers. However, the butterflies and irrational
fears didn’t last long as the Ghostbot crew welcomed me with open arms and
introduced me to a new world of design, animation, and destination lunches.

So far I’ve had the pleasure of arguing whether clerics or paladins are more
powerful (clerics for the win), speculating the merits of chocolate chip
bagels and jamming to Stan Bush’s rock ballad The Touch from the 1986
animated Transformers Movie soundtrack (if you haven’t experienced the
glory, I highly recommend). Oh and work. I’ve done some of that too.

My time has been spent helping with a client project currently in the
works, and pitching three ideas for an animated short I’ll be creating this
summer, more details on that soon to follow. Below are some sketches from
both the client project as well as my animation pitches. These are ones
that didn't make the final cut, but we still think they're dandy and
deserve a home somewhere on the internet.

Deploy...INTERNBOT-01!!

2010-06-18T11:34:00.001-07:00

It's been six years since we started this company and if we had to boil it all down to one main goal, it would be to clone ourselves. Unfortunately, we're still far from reaching that goal so we thought the next best thing would be to get an intern.

I know the value of internships firsthand and my career benefited greatly from gaining that real world experience at such an early stage. Now being on the other side of the fence, I'm happy to be a part of passing on that baton. We've had many inquiries and applications in the past, but we never felt like it was the right time or the right fit. However, recently the stars aligned and thanks to a glowing recommendation from my good friend and artistic inspiration, Shanth Enjeti, we now have our first intern ever.

Elise Fachon joins us all the way from the east coast where she currently is a Film/Animation/Video student at my old alma mater, RISD (whut whuuut...). Besides sorting all our M&Ms into Pantone groupings, Elise will also become a regular Ghost-blogger during her internship. We thought this would be a great way of invigorating our blog (beyond the oh-so-frequent once-a-year posting) as well as give everyone an insider's perspective on what it's like at our humble studio (she's already got some crazy newfangled ideas she's going to talk about that make me feel old).

Anyway, if her first week is any indication of the rest of the summer, it should be a fun time for all. Stay tuned...

SF Spots

2010-06-01T11:53:00.000-07:00

Recently my good friends started their own video content company catered to small businesses called SF Spots. To demonstrate the quality and affordability of videos they could produce, they asked if they could shoot a spot for me that focused on my recent gallery show. As much as I hate seeing myself on camera, I think the whole piece turned out amazing. Check it out and let them know what you think!

63 Bluxome Street - Roque Ballesteros from SF Spots on Vimeo.

Ghostbot on "Storyboard Art"

2010-04-20T21:00:00.001-07:00

Thanks Storyboard Art for a nice interview!

WonderCon 2010

2010-04-05T14:56:00.001-07:00

Ghostbot was at WonderCon 2010. It was a super busy weekend but we managed to capture a few moments on camera:

Setting up...

New Roshambo for the con.... VAMPS!

Brad chatting it up with the fans

Our custom sketches in the Little Lost Ghost book

A sketch for our neighbors at Steam Crow

Roque rocking the custom sketches for fans

Good times

A fan of Esurance wanted a drawing of herself in Erin style

The best furry of the con

This smile makes it all worth it!

Bloody good time....

2010-03-31T11:23:00.000-07:00

D(itto)-DAY!

2010-03-19T10:45:00.000-07:00

I'll post pics up of the art and opening reception soon. Come say hello!

Ditto!

2010-02-23T15:47:00.000-08:00

More info coming soon!

Sayonara 2009!

2009-12-23T16:42:00.000-08:00

Awesome card from our friend and co-worker Jamaica Dyer!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We'll see you guys on the other side!

Purrcasso

2009-11-04T21:39:00.000-08:00

Here at Ghostbot, we're very happy to have donated a few pieces to Purrcasso this year! The event is an art and craft auction that benefits the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society, held Nov 7-8. Check out the Purrcasso site for more information as well as samplings from some of the amazing work being donated.

"Kitty Kitty Kitty Kitty" by Roque:

"Catch Me if You Can" by Brad:

I am super proud to present this next piece in particular, donated by my 7-year old daughter Nadha! She was excited to hear that we were doing paintings to benefit animals in need and absolutely had to join in. Awesome!!

"Miniature Daschund" by Nadha:

APE Peek (4)

2009-10-16T15:55:00.001-07:00

And to top off our week of peeks: Ghostbot Limited Edition Hand Screen Printed Shirts! We had a lot of fun making these so hopefully they will find some good homes. We've got a limited run (because we're slow screen printers) so make sure you grab one while the grabbing is good.

We're super excited to have a table at this year's APE Convention. Please come stop by and say hello! Booth 543

You can also follow our moment-by-moment APE experience on Twitter:

www.twitter.com/ghostbot

Ape Peek (3)

2009-10-15T12:31:00.001-07:00

Coming to Booth 543...

APE Peek (2)

2009-10-14T14:19:00.000-07:00

Coming to Booth 543...

APE Peek (1)

2009-10-13T17:02:00.000-07:00

Coming to Booth 543...

Are you ready?!

2009-07-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

SDCC BOOTH #4203

Follow our daily updates:
www.twitter.com/ghostbot

See you down there!!

Ghostbot Con bound....

2009-07-16T18:48:00.000-07:00

Little Lost Ghost will be making her San Diego debut! We'll be at booth #4203 from 07/22 to 07/26. Come by and say hello!

Masters of the Universe Art show

2009-06-22T15:02:00.000-07:00

Here is some Ghostbot original art from Double Punch's "I HAVE THE POWER" art show:

The art show lasts from June 20 to July 19th at:

Double Punch
1821 Powell St
San Francisco, CA 94133-2809

All art pieces are for sale here.

The Agency

2009-03-31T14:51:00.000-07:00

Last November, we were asked by the Kenwood Group to come up with a teaser opener for the Day 2 Keynote speech of the Adobe MAX 2008 conference.

Kenwood already had a tongue-in-cheek spy/James Bond theme in mind for the whole presentation (called "The Agency") so they wanted us to inject that into the opening. After a few brainstorming sessions, we all agreed that the phenomenal credit sequence of "The Incredibles " would be a great stylistic reference to draw upon because it matched the tone and flare of what we were trying to accomplish.

We started by creating a couple of style frames to try and capture the look and feel of the piece:

Definitely the biggest challenge of this project was the aspect ratio we had to work at. The presentation was taking place in one of the main halls of the convention center and the video was going to be projected on 3 huge HD screens at the back of the stage.

Inside the conference room before the crowds.

Needless to say we've never output anything that big before so it was both a daunting and exciting challenge. One thing the client emphasized was taking advantage of the scale and width of the screens. So as we were laying things out, we tried to plan out sequences that had dramatic horizontal movement. The whole process was like plotting out a mural on a postage stamp.

Backstage it felt like NASA...

The best part was that we got to go to the actual presentation and see our work projected HUGE. Here's a video that was taken by someone in the audience. You can see the scale of the screens. They were so big the whole image couldn't even fit in the shot.

We also created the techy screens that appear at the beginning of the movie as well as the "virtual set" of the headquarters that is behind the speakers.

"Agent" Buntell getting his orders from "The Chief"

Final design for the virtual set

For those of you interested, Adobe posted the whole keynote presentation online, shot with wider lenses and multiple cameras. Our work starts at about 1:43.

Ghostbot Shop

2009-03-06T01:56:00.001-08:00

After our crash course in merchandising for the con, we decided to open up our goods to the rest of the world through the newly launched Ghostbot Shop! Thanks to the magic internet elves, everything we were selling at the con is now available online and hand-shipped out of our humble studio (some products are more limited than others).

Check it out and feel free to email us with questions about any of the products. We're obviously new to this so we just want to make sure anyone who is plunking down money is satisfied (you'll need a Paypal account).

Finally, a lot of people have been asking us what the book looks like on the inside. Here is an exclusive pre-cut preview of some of the spreads:

Mmmmmm...smell the ink...

Con and Beyond

2009-03-04T23:45:00.000-08:00

"When are we going to see the Ghostbot booth at the con?"

That's what we've been asked every year since we started the company. After almost 5 years of making lame excuses, we finally decided that 2009 was going to be the year.

So what were we going to show? That was the big question. All the previous years, we were content with wandering around the floor with the rest of the crowds and spending inordinate amounts of cash on everybody else's stuff. But now that we were going to be on the other side of the table, we knew we had to really think about why we were there.

Aside from our friends and peers in the industry, no one really knows who we are or what we do. It's hard for an independent animation studio to "advertise" to the public without something high profile under your belt. In this day and age, you don't usually get the opportunity to meet your audience face to face. This is why the con is such a great venue. It's a unique mixture of fans, artists, and everyday families all wandering around wide-eyed and looking for cool stuff. Nerddom knows no boundaries.

After some brainstorming we thought what better way to stick our collective necks out there than with an idea that is almost as old as Ghostbot itself. The concept is simple: a character who doesn't fit into her world. Mix in sci-fi, goth, robots, and weird creatures and you have the recipe for a Ghostbot property. Over the past few years, we've tried different avenues to tell her story but none really felt right. So when it came time to plan for the con, we realized we had so much content already developed for this idea that we could produce a bunch of different things to show. However, since the quality of independently produced products has gone up each year, we knew we had to do something special for our first time out. And thus, Little Lost Ghost was born...

Original Painting (Gouache, 8" x 11.5")

Books and Shirts

Prints and Buttons

Not for sale - just the insanity that is our Senior Producer/Caretaker, Corrine

On top of all the Ghostbot madness, we shared the booth with our crazy talented friend and Fellow Ghostbot, Arvin "Sold-Out-By-Noon" Bautista. Arvin was the perfect complement for Ghostbot, knocking everyone's socks off with his self-published comic "Bomb Squad". He sold those things so fast we didn't even get copies. Be sure to check out his blog for a day-by-day recap (and hopefully news on where to buy the next printing - hint, hint).

Meeting everyone and getting the chance to show them what we do was the best part of the con.

Needless to say, we had a blast. We sold some stuff. We met a lot of people. And we drew more sketches in those 3 days than we have drawn in 3 years. The whole experience was completely exhausting and exhilarating at the same time.

But I think it's safe to say, we can't wait to do it again.

Wondercon Peek (4)

2009-02-26T22:17:00.000-08:00

Debuting tomorrow at Booth 415...

Wondercon Peek (3)

2009-02-25T23:43:00.001-08:00

Only at Booth 415...

Wondercon Peek (2)

2009-02-24T13:33:00.001-08:00

Coming to Booth 415...

Wondercon Peek (1)

2009-02-23T18:18:00.001-08:00

Coming to Booth 415...

Booth 415

2009-02-21T00:02:00.000-08:00

Details next week...

Anniversary

2009-01-12T08:39:00.000-08:00

Our friends Louie del Carmen and Octavio Rodriguez just launched their snazzy animation portal Cartoon Mojo! They graciously asked us to submit something and we thought it would be a perfect place to debut our latest short, "Anniversary".

We'll have a more in depth post on the "making of" the short soon. Till then, go check out the site and let them know what you think!

(Cartoon Brew post HERE)

SSSSSPLENDID!

2008-11-19T11:09:00.000-08:00

Rounding up the third installment of Happy Tree Friends Ka-Pow! Series is Splendid's SSSSSuper Squad! When we first sat down with Kenn Navarro (fearless creator of HTF), it was clear, since we were dealing with superheroes, that our main objective was to make this episode epic.

How could you not go epic with this logo?? (courtesy of Dean MacDonald)

Like the Flippy and Buddhist Monkey shorts, we were given a lot of creative latitude to design a new world for Splendid. I decided to try to give the the whole short a classic Hanna Barbera sensibility but with an edge. In reality, what that translated to was lots of crying over designs by masters like Benedict, Kellman, and Crawford.

Here are more snapshots of our step-by-step:

Initial beat sheet from Kenn, Kenn Pontac, and Warren Graff.

My tiny tiny boards.

We had a stellar crew. Many of whom have thrown punches for us before. Check out this all-star cast:

World's Finest Character Layout: Chris Battle

Fantastic BG design: Brad Gake

Uncanny BG color: Leticia Lacy

Invincible Cleanup: Kris Toscanini/Jamaica Dyer

And of course our All Star Animators without whom nothing would have moved: Sam Chi, Tony Cliff, Jayson Thiessen, Joel Reid, Kris Toscanini, and two yahoos named Alan and Brad.

Jim Lively (sound design) and Jerome Rossen (music) took both my ears and injected them with Power Cosmic.

And last but not least, our Ultimate Producer, Corrine Wong took our crazy whirlwind and focused it so that we could punch a mere piece of straw into a giant oak tree.

Couldn't have asked for a better crew or a more fun project. I hope we can do it again.

Excelsior!

TOPPLE!

2008-11-06T20:42:00.000-08:00

Its true, we love the iPhone! So when super hot iPhone game developer ngmoco:) had us come in to help create the art for one of their games, we couldn't resist!

Check out all the fun at topple.ngmoco.com

Big thanks to our hard working crew and all the rockstars at ngmoco:)

A few rough BG concepts

Dysfunctional Square

Stuff We Love: "GHOST HUNTERS"

2008-10-29T09:00:00.000-07:00

Being a Ghostbot and all, I have to admit to having a soft spot for Sci Fi's Ghost Hunters.

If there was a profession that was crazier than animation it has to be ghost hunting. Imagine going to strangers homes and running around in the middle of the night looking for ghosts. That is just asking for trouble!

It reminds me of old ghost stories my brothers would tell to creep me out with when I was little. If you don't believe in ghosts, you can just point and laugh at all the crazy antics the crew goes through to try to uncover them. But every once in a blue moon they do uncover some head scratching stuff that makes you wonder....

Happy Halloween!

HUGS + SNUGGLES

2008-10-13T12:29:00.000-07:00

Youtube

Vimeo

Buddhist Monkey strikes back

2008-09-24T11:28:00.000-07:00

After a 4 year hibernation, our beloved Buddhist Monkey returns to kick kung-fu butt on the new KA-POW Happy Tree Friends series. The featured episode "Three Courses of Death" can be seen at Happy Tree Friends.com. Also, the short is up at you tube for all to enjoy!

Thanks to the awesome crew that helped put it together, and many thanks to the awesome folks at Mondo for working with us on such a fun project.

W.A.R. Journal opens fire

2008-09-07T21:52:00.000-07:00

W.A.R. Journal - Operation: Tiger Bomb is a go! You can see the episode here. Huge thanks go out to our buddies at Mondo Media for enlisting us to do a new take on one of their most popular Happy Tree Friends characters. Hopefully Flippy and his team will make a quick recovery from the medical ward...

KA-POW!

2008-08-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

Little has been known of Flippy's early days with his elite commando squad. Few ears have heard the tales. Few eyes have witnessed the carnage. Now the stories can be told...

Coming Sept. 02 to www.happytreefriends.com

Get Ready...

2008-08-27T11:21:00.000-07:00

A Friday at Ghostbot 2.0

2008-08-22T22:35:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since our first (and last) "day-in-the-life" post. Now that I finally got a new phone that has Bluetooth (noitsnotaniPhonesodontask), it'll be easier for me to post up impromptu photos like these.

10:30 am - ("10:30 am?" you say? Yeah, that's right. We were here at an ungodly hour the night before so you're darn right I'm going to walk in late.) Steps up to the Ghostportal. People who come to visit always get confused as to where our front door is since we have no address label, no signage, nada. We kind of like it that way as long as our paychecks don't get lost...

10:32 am - Walking through the entrance and things are already bustling. We decided to forfeit the idea of a receptionist or a welcoming couch and just cram another artist in there. The wall mirror on the left confirms the sad fact that I'm the last one in this morning.

10:33 am - My desk. Some of the main reasons we started our own company was to A) finally get an L-shaped table to give us enough surface area to work and B) to have a place to display all our toys. Eventually, reason A and reason B will collide and that will be a sad day.

10:40 am - I have my normal routine of settling in that consists of checking email and making the rounds on all my favorite sites and blogs. On the other side of my monitor, I can be sure that Brad is settling in with his latest dose of news on the Raiders and G.I. Joe. Today, it's Destro Mighty Muggs.

10:46 am - Alan's bottle of eye drops and Black Ox Chogokin figure have saved me on more than one occasion. He is also the master of the ambidextrous mouse technique. Take that carpal tunnel!

11:04 am - Since Kris came aboard our in-house Ghostbot team, we've noticed more and more Nightmare Before Christmas paraphernalia and The Cure cds appear around the studio. Not only is she the Queen of Linetool, but she also warms our hearts by making a mean cup of coffee.

11:20 am - Corrine is busy typing 80 words-a-minute either securing our latest bid or crafting a potent Xcel doc that will solve all our problems. The only sound louder than the typing that comes out of her office is the sound of tears when we tell her we're behind schedule.

12:35 pm - Lunchtime already? That's what I get for walking in so late. Fortunately for us on lunch-less days like today, there's a neighborhood deli just a block away. Unfortunately for us, we've haven't had the best service there (ahem...that's right I'm talking about you, mean counter lady...). As a result, we like to call this the "Sad Sack Lunch".

12:47 pm - As I look up from my sandwich, Kyoko gives me the shifty shark eyes. Don't let that yawn fool you. She's got so many tricks up her sleeve that we've had to outfit our trash bins with closed circuit cameras.

2:15 pm - Time for the latest round table review of one of our latest projects. Critiques at Ghostbot are an essential part of our day. Even Kyoko gives her two cents. Plus we all like watching pretty pictures move.

3:20 pm - Usually when the sound of the coffee grinder kicks in. If we have time or we're not lazy, this is when the infamous Six Scoops Sketches happen. This particular day we had to review another confusing contract and conference call our lawyer. We like to call these kind of days our "12 Scoop Days".

6:57 pm - Time to wrap it up and call it a day. The last 3+ hours weren't documented because I needed to catch up on the work I put off by taking the other photos. Oh well, I could always take the work home and come in late the next day...wait a minute...

[Photos taken with a Sony Ericsson W580i]

Happy Tree Friends False Alarm (full episode)

2008-08-14T12:19:00.000-07:00

BEHOLD....The Full Episode of Happy Tree Friends False Alarm is up. As an appetizer, here are some lovely stills from the second half:

You can watch it off the main site, or via the instant magic of You Tube:

We always have a blast revisiting these sweet, wholesome, innocent, non-violent critters. Enjoy!

Stuff We Love: "WONDERFALLS"

2008-07-27T23:05:00.000-07:00

Along with the return of our Six Scoops Sketch, we've started a new sketch project on Punch Pants called "Stuff We Love". It's a celebration of all the things that inspire us at Ghostbot day to day. Of course, most of that stuff is going to be pretty darn geeky but hey, whatever gets the creativity going!

First up is "Wonderfalls". It is one of my favorite short-lived shows created by mastermind Bryan Fuller. Smart, romantic, funny, and wildly creative......it was all too good to be true! Luckily the rumor mill has teased that some of the beloved Wonderfall characters might make a crossover appearance on another one of our Ghostbot favorites "Pushing Daisies". One can dream!

Wow

2008-07-17T10:35:00.000-07:00

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"

2008-07-15T17:11:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-29T01:34:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-03T18:14:00.001-07:00

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!

2008-02-29T15:45:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-04T10:17:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-14T16:43:00.000-08:00

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"

2007-10-31T11:23:00.000-07:00

Brad

Alan

Roque

Duck Amuck DS arrives with bonus points!

2007-10-11T09:53:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-28T19:42:00.000-07:00

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"

2007-09-14T15:02:00.000-07:00

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

Ghostbot reducks Duck Amuck for the DS

2007-09-04T10:55:00.000-07:00

Ghostbot has the immense pleasure to collaborate with developers Wayforward on Duck Amuck DS. Here's the official lowdown:

Published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and developed by WayForward Technologies, Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck lets players wield the Nintendo DS(TM) stylus to irritate, aggravate and infuriate their own Daffy Duck in humorous ways. In the game inspired by the classic Duck Amuck cartoon, players will compete against Daffy through a series of mini-games that range from retro inspired favorites to modern, innovative gameplay interactions, with the goal of driving Daffy's temperature, and his temper, through the roof. Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck will also feature wireless game play allowing players to not only gang up on Daffy as a team but also battle each other in head-to-head competition.

We've received some really nice praise for the animation:

"The animation of Duck Amuck is one of its strong suits. Done by Ghostbot (the same folks who do those Esurance commercials), the movement is all silky smooth and Daffy looks superb."

We also received "the best artistic design in E3" from mega gaming site IGN:

"Daffy animates with such energy and fluidity in this Nintendo DS game, and it's great to see the developers snag animators willing to give that old-school 2D effort. That effort definitely didn't go unnoticed at E3."

This is a personal dream project for me as I've always been a big fan of the classic Looney Tunes cartoons. It is a true honor to bring such a mega-icon like Daffy to life. We tried to keep the animation fluid and respectful to the amazing work of Chuck Jones and the classic Warner Brothers animators. Wayforward and Warner Brothers were awesome to work with as they really gave us a lot of latitude to make the animation as rich as possible. It was certainly a challenge to keep such an obviously traditionally drawn character looking, and moving well in Flash, but luckily we had an AMAZING crew helping us out with the work.

It was also an honor to develop for the red hot Nintendo DS . I have a lot of admiration for Nintendo and how they've been able to really bring gaming to a whole new generation. (My wife loves Brainage to death)

Duck Amuck DS is scheduled to release this October so charge up those DSs!

ps. thanks for the plug Aaron

Six Scoops Sketch: "Plump Mayor"

2007-08-28T17:35:00.000-07:00

Omnipotent Lemon was so powerful, it knocked us into the far flung future of 2007. Now that we've finally recovered from the rigors of time traveling, we've posted some more drawing fun for ya. This tasteful selection of fat politicians are for code breaker Mike Judge. Congrats Mike! These are almost as good as a "no prize".

Brad

Alan

Roque

Day: D

2007-08-03T10:11:00.000-07:00

Before the "magic" (or smell) of Comic Con wears off, here's my last post:

Saturday was what I expected - the most crowded of all the days, the most costumes, the longest lines. I could feel the built up exhaustion and over-saturation from the previous days already taking its toll. That coupled with the weekend frenzy was almost too much, and I knew I probably wouldn't last the whole day.

That being said, I had to wake up early to try and catch the first big screening of the day for NBC's new pilot, Bionic Woman. I had seen a preview online before the con and I was totally intrigued.

Michelle Ryan: the new "Jamie Sommers"

Ryan and executive producer, David Eick (Battlestar Galactica)

A huge draw for nerds everywhere (and rightly so), Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) as "Sarah", the first Bionic Woman. She totally rocked it.

The pilot was pretty good, but not perfect. They had a good cast and I'll definitely tune in when it premieres. We got an extra kick out of seeing Mae Whitman in it (playing Jamie's sister) since we've worked with her before on a previous yet-to-be-aired project.

There was a big Heroes panel later in the day but the Bionic Woman line just pushed me over the edge. I had enough crowds and as much as I wanted to see the entire cast, I had to bow out.

Heroes had a cool setup of Isaac's studio on the con floor, complete with the original paintings used in the show (by comic artist Tim Sale)

Famous floor painting of an exploding New York in the future

"Save the cheerleader, save the world!"

We went to the FUNimation booth for a Happy Tree Friends signing with the gore-monger himself, Kenn Navarro. Last year we worked on the title sequence so Kenn asked us to waste Sharpie markers with him again this con. Despite our bad drawings, the HTF fans were gracious as always.

By this point, I knew my energy was rapidly decreasing so we decided to wander aimlessly around the floor with no agenda. At the same time, I knew this was the last chance to find any last minute gems:

Whaleboy by Patrick Morgan, Ed Acosta, and Taesoo Kim

Gabriele Pennacchioli's Animal Blog

And finally I bought this one original piece painted by Joe Moshier from Conduct Happiness. How cute is this? I didn't get to talk with Joe but buying this was the perfect way to end the con for me.

There's just something about owning a hand-done original that cleans the palette from a 123,000 person Con.

All in all, it was a fun-filled adventure. No matter how many times you go, you can never fully prepare yourself for the unique experience of Comic Con. I can't even imagine what next year will be like...

Day: R

2007-08-02T11:21:00.001-07:00

The last few days of Comic-con sucked me under the surface. The combination of spotty internet service at the hotel, the lack of a mouse (try adjusting images with a laptop trackpad!), and pure exhaustion did me in. So the final two days of my experience will have to catch up now.

Image Comics: The Founders - From L to R (Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Erik Larsen, Jim Valentino, Marc Silvestri, Rob Liefeld, Whilce Portacio)

In 1992, these guys were the rockstars of the comic industry. It was amazing to see them all together again 15 years later. They shared some great stories and insight on what it was like to be the #2 comic company out of the gates (yes, they beat out DC with only 7 titles).

"Chief Tyrol" sighting

There were a lot of toy debuts at the con, but the only one that got me excited enough to snap a picture was this one:

Ashley Wood's "Bertie the Pipebomb" prototype from BigShotToyWorks

Friday was mainly my day to grab the rest of the things I wanted to get before the Saturday onslaught.

Chris Sanders signing my toy

Lauren Faust (Powerpuff Girls, Fosters) just released her new merchandising blitz for her sassy, uber-marketable property, Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls!

Never has the solar system been so fun...

Nabbed this fun freebie from the chaotic Hasbro booth. If I can resist the urge to open it, I'll be a millionaire in the year 2032.

After another full day, we reconvened at Ghostbot Homebase for a breather and to compare what we all bought. Thanks to Alan and Brad, I was greeted by the nerdiest crossover ever:

Transformers Masterpiece Megatron meets the 25th Anniversary G.I. Joe boxset

We capped off the night by heading to a rooftop Disney party where they had video screens all over projecting the Shorty shorts.

We were so distracted we didn't notice that "new" Spock and Stan Lee were there too. Maybe that's a good thing because we would have surely embarrassed ourselves...

Day: E

2007-07-27T00:19:00.000-07:00

I wouldn't have been a day late with this post...HONEST. I was just having problems with my picture uploading account. Anyway, pictures are worth a thousand words. Plus I'm tired as heck. Here's Thursday:

Mob crossing the street

Mob outside the door

Mob on the escalator

Hiyo, Robin!

A con is not a con without Star Wars

Here come the costumes...

"...And I'll form the shoe!"

Only at the con can you see such friendship

Entering Hall H(umongous) for the Paramount Pictures Presentation

Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone bringing the laughs for "Hot Rod"

Sharp-tongued Neil Gaiman talks about "Stardust" and "Beowulf"

J.J. Abrams talks about "Cloverfield" and the upcoming "Star Trek" movie

Jon Favreau premieres awesome footage from "Iron Man". Call me converted!

Spielberg via satellite on the set of "Indiana Jones 4"

Spielberg and Ford looking perfect as Indy (again)

More Indy 4 cast

Spielberg and Ford reveal that Karen Allen will reprise her role as "Marion Ravenwood"

Zachary Quinto from "Heroes"

Momentous announcement that Quinto will be the new "Spock". Trek fans go berserk...

Eerie Vulcan resemblance

Leonard Nimoy says that Quinto's casting is "logical". Trek fans go berserk again...

And now for the schwag:

Italian awesomeness from Luca Tieri

Powerful Kevin Dart and Chris Turnham

One of my favorite purchases from the unbelievable talent, Deanna Marsigliese

Craig McCracken's whimsical sketchbook

Jeff Pidgeon's first self-produced vinyl. How cute is a Happy Beaver...

...with an autographed butt.

And finally, a mind-blowing, limited edition, SDCC exclusive vinyl from Chris Sanders (can't get enough of this guy's work). Genius packaging.

We topped off the night by catching the world premiere of "Superman:Doomsday" which delivered BIG, and then some.

Good full day! I'll catch up on Friday's post tomorrow.

Day: N

2007-07-25T23:48:00.000-07:00

Aha! I actually did it. First blog post to recap Day 1: Preview Night. The cool thing about today is that it's the "lightest" of all the days in terms of crowd. Most of the people who make it to the con this early are industry folk such as ourselves, or hardcore pre-registered 4-day pass holders.

Our flight out of San Francisco was delayed a bit but we knew we were headed in the right direction because we spotted someone wearing the Green Lantern ring and another lady with a tattoo of "The Crow" on her arm. After a few minutes, I got the sneaking suspicion that everyone on our flight was headed to the con.

Our homebase

Great view from our room

After arriving at our sweet hotel (which is only a couple of blocks from the Convention Center), we quickly went to register. You could already feel the wave of people undulating in and out of the Convention Center. I'm always amazed at the diversity of Comic Con attendees - all ages, all shapes and sizes, all walks of life - all ravenously excited to be here.

Before this trip, I was determined to be organized and write down all the panels I wanted to go to and all the stuff I wanted to buy. But once we stepped inside, I was completely thrown off. No matter how much you prepare, you'll never be prepared. I felt claustrophobic on the supposedly "lightest" day by the amount of people already here. I can't even imagine what the next days will be like.

Jamie and Rhode: Buy one get one free

Yes, that's Rosario Dawson. I think she's a comic nerd too underneath that polished Hollywood exterior.

In my dazed state, I only got my bearings to buy two things today:

Chris Sanders' Sketchbook 2

Great glossy stock shows off his amazing drawings in b/w and color

Yes, Shanth, I got you a copy...

Bill Presing's "Belle du Jour"

Bill was selling a few amount of sketchbooks with original book plates. I've been eyeing those for the past week. I think I nabbed one of the last ones... Score!!

Despite the chaos, I'm happy that I at least got a couple of things I really wanted. Good way to get my feet wet. But since I was so off my game, I forgot to take that many photos. I spent half of my time trying to find where I needed to go (I probably would have done better blindfolded).

Hopefully I'll do better tomorrow...

NERDS ASSEMBLE!

2007-07-24T23:37:00.000-07:00

Well, we're off to the 2007 San Diego Comic Con! I missed it last year so I'm rip-roaring to go this time around (still debating whether or not to bring a bigger suitcase...). Many people have asked us whether or not we have a booth to which I calmly reply, "We're NERDS! We gotta roam!!!"

I'm going to attempt (and I use that word lightly) a daily blog posting of our adventures. But if I fail, I'll be sure to give my commentary when we get back... that is, if we survive the tidal wave of nerd.

See you on the other side!

Erin's City

2007-06-03T22:55:00.000-07:00

Esurance has taken over San Francisco. Everywhere I turn these days I see this pink-haired cutey looking over my shoulder:

Outside the Embarcadero

Inside the Embarcadero

At the bus stop

On the side of the bus

Completely covering the bus

Dominating the Jiffy Lube

You gotta give it to the prolific Esurance marketing team - they know how to advertise. With all that MUNI coverage, you'd think they'd insure buses as well...

(If anyone has any other Erin sightings around SF or elsewhere, send us your links!)

Who Shot Joe?

2007-05-06T15:06:00.000-07:00

Episodes 10, 11, and 12 are now live on YouTube! I guess the response to 7, 8, and 9 was favorable enough that Wildbrain decided to post more. Can't complain about that.

Looking back at these episodes I remember I wanted to end the first season with a "Who Shot J.R.?" kind of cliffhanger. There were enough characters that didn't like Joe and they all had motives to shoot him so I figured the mystery would keep everyone guessing (and if there wasn't another season, what a way to end a show!). At one point I wanted to even do a contest to see what everyone's theories were, but that never panned out. However I did get a lot of emails from people saying "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

On a side note, I thought this would be a good time to put up this sweet rendition of Joe from the brush of comic genius Sam Hiti.

(Sam also has an awesome blog called FIST-A-CUFFS "Where drawings are voted to the death and the streets run black with ink." Go check it out. I guarantee you'll love it.) My buddy Arvin Bautista commissioned Sam to draw this for my Christmas present last year. How awesome is that! All I got him was Guitar Hero II...

TOO MANY ROBOTS!

2007-04-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

[Insert standard lame excuses of why we haven't blogged here.]

Now for our newest announcement:

On Friday, April 20th at 7:55 pm one of our most recently completed projects is debuting on the Disney Channel (and if you don't get that channel, you can download it off of iTunes after it airs). TOO MANY ROBOTS! is the brainchild of Attaboy (previously blogged here). We had the privilege of bringing Atta's unique world to life as we (and our amazing crew) handled storyboards, designs, and animation for the short. If anyone knows Attaboy, you know he has a wealth of work to draw from in every medium imaginable so it was fun to be given the job of making his crazy art move.

So check it out and let us know what you think. And give that guy Atta some love! We'll try and post up some or our production art after the premiere...

[Insert standard lame excuse promising future postings that never happen.]

UPDATE (4/24): Haven't seen the show pop up on iTunes yet but you can watch it on the Disney's site HERE.

UPDATE (4/27): TOO MANY ROBOTS! got Boing-Boinged!

UPDATE (4/27): Just saw it's up on iTunes! Go get it!

UPDATE (4/30): Now on Youtube!

Whoops!

2007-03-20T18:17:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the warm replies on the last post, but we "jumped the gun" on our posting. Stay tuned later for more info!

Joe Who?

2007-02-15T12:37:00.000-08:00

We're so slammed (if you didn't notice from our lack of blogging) or else I'd write a more nostalgic post. So in the meantime, I'll cut to the chase:

Joe Paradise is on YouTube (thanks to our friends at Wild Brain)! They put up 3 episodes as a "teaser" to hopefully generate some buzz and gain a new audience. If anything, maybe they'll release the rest of the episodes! So please watch, vote, and comment. And tell that person next you to do the same. Thank you.

UPDATE (2/16): Thanks to Jared for the link on Drawn! and Eric for the link on Channel Frederator!

Heads roll on Spike TV.... Afro hits the air waves!

2007-01-12T09:14:00.000-08:00

Get ready for some serious ass whooping as Afro Samurai has premiered on America’s Spike TV. I haven’t seen this much “head chopping fun” from an anime in a long time. The over-the-top violence level is on par with such hit classics as Ninja Scroll. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart. The overall look is really outstanding. . The layout and animation is very dynamic as well.

Looking at the overall package, it’s clear that a lot of effort and quality was put into Afro Samurai. From the obvious movie star voice casting (Samuel L Frickin Jackson!!!), western music score (RZA) and the high level of animation production (Gonzo), it’s clear they are trying to push the boundaries of animation in America. Thank goodness!

If you don't get Spike TV, check out the show here. All I wanna know is when is the DVD coming out!

Roque puts on the sleeper hold

2006-12-01T22:40:00.000-08:00

Finally we close out this collection of sillyness with Roque’s. Not only did he draw Erin as cutey-cute as can be, he also did a fine caricature of me. Yes, I really do look that sleepy. Ok, time for a nap....zzzzzzzzzz.

Brad's Shave and a Haircut

2006-12-01T09:54:00.000-08:00

We are busy. I’d say we’re super busy. That’s why I find it amazing that Brad was able to pull this outstanding image of Erin off in-between all the deadlines. Brad is in charge of Erin’s “hotness level” at Ghostbot. If she’s hot, odds are he drew it. Thanks pal.

Rhode "Drawing Jitsu" Montijo.. Believe it!

2006-11-30T16:10:00.000-08:00

Although Rhode Montijo didn’t make it to the jamboree, he did manage to find time to hand craft this amazing image of Erin dodging a shadowy helicopter. Thanks buddy. This one really knocked my socks off. It deserves a full snika bah.

Capachow my Damie

2006-11-30T09:48:00.000-08:00

And now for something completely different…. No words need to be said here. I think the picture speaks for itself.

This was masterfully crafted by my main damie Marcus Perez. He is my oldest friend. Which means he’s put up with my s**t more than anyone on this planet. He doesn’t have a website, but he does have a favorite movie. In case you were wondering, "Capachow my Damie" in Pootie-lingo roughly translates to "What's up Friend?"

Bombs Away Navarro

2006-11-29T15:37:00.000-08:00

Watch your back! Kenn Navarro, co-creator of Happy Tree Friends, found time in his way busy schedule to do this awesome image of Erin. I don’t have a B-1 Bomber, but I’m thinking of having this decaled on my fiance’s car. I wonder if she’d mind?

Dynamic Duo from Wiler

2006-11-29T09:10:00.000-08:00

Chris Wiler is next up with a fantastic team up image featuring Erin and the often compared Kim Possible in a shameless duet. Well done sir. Now I’m certain you’re responsible for all those ahem...... “provocative” images on the internet. Seriously though, for more Wiler-ness check out his new website at Renegade Tiki

The Real Dean Shady

2006-11-28T09:40:00.000-08:00

Next up is a drawing by mad man Dean Yuen. If there was ever a zombie invasion, I would make sure to have this guy around for protection. In Dean’s drawing, Erin is rendered in classic “Dean style”. Lots of blood, sweat, and tears went into rendering the highlights and shadows on that booty. Thanks buddy!

I have the best friends....

2006-11-27T09:20:00.000-08:00

On my recent bachelor party my buddies took me hostage for a day/nite on the town. We watched this, ate this, they pitched in and got me this, then we played a whole lot of this. Needless to say it was really a blast and a nice relief from the chaos of wedding preparation and piles of work.

The icing on the cake was each of the nut jobs at the party contributed some fan art of the “other woman” in my life… Erin from the Esurance campaign. These images are so mighty, that I had to share them with you.

First up is an awesome drawing by Arvin Bautista. He’s one of the top animators of Back Bone entertainment and a kick ass comic artist. He also has the mutant power to play any video game really well. If you ever need back up in Halo or Guitar Hero, this guy is it! In Arvin’s drawing, Erin is taking on some of the baddies from one of my favorite spots Lost Reel. She’s sporting a very cool X-Men-esque outfit. HOT!

For more details on how this drawing came to life, check out Arvin's fun filled blog. More soon…..

All news is good news...

2006-11-14T12:22:00.000-08:00

A number of people have clued us in on the "heated" discussion going on right now at Slate.com about the Esurance campaign. Since we obviously have a stake in the matter (not to mention in the middle of another spot right now), we had to peek and see what was up.

Check out the "Discuss" section to see both sides of the debate. There's always that fine line in commercials of selling product vs. trying to make the coolest-darn thing out there. From our perspective, it's just amazing to see how many people have a strong opinion one way or the other. Some of our favorite quotes:

"Why I don't like Erin Esurance: every time the bad guys show up, she runs away! What happens when they finally corner her? I want an insurance company that'll fight for me, not run!"

and

"if we're following the logic of this article, then please explain to me what a red haired clown and a big purple...thing have to do with selling hamburgers. how are pink bunnies related to batteries? why is a british gecko selling car insurance? how does a colonel ensure that i'm getting some quality fried chicken?"

Love it or hate it, a lot of blood, sweat, and tears have gone into the nine spots Ghostbot has been involved with so far. So it's nice to know at the very least we're making an impact on the report card of pop culture.

Even if it's apparently only a C+...

(Another link to the article via Cartoon Brew)

OH YEAH! NO!

2006-11-05T22:51:00.000-08:00

Our friends at Channel Frederator have finally lost their minds and blogged us. The article is proof that they've gone from cutting-edge-cartoon-connoiseurs to just plain crazy. Get some help, guys!

Special thanks to Stephen Levinson for the spotlight!

UPDATE (11/7): Go vote for "Wizard Needs Food Badly" in the "Best Music Video" Category of the Channel Frederator Awards!