The Engagement Photo! FIRST ONE!

I fell in love with my fiancé at Disneyland.

No joke. It was completely and totally unexpected but for two animation nerds, there couldn’t have been a more perfect first date.

It was in line for the Finding Nemo ride. By the time the ride was over, I realized she was the one. My heart knew before my head and my poor head’s been racing to catch up ever since.

You see, I must make a confession that perhaps only the closest to me may have ever suspected but no one ever really knew and that’s that I had given up. I’d given up on things like fairy tales and true love and magic,….all the things , ironically enough, that led me into my career of choice,…..animation.

As I hit thirty-seven with Forty rearing it’s ugly head, a kind of fateful pragmatism settled upon me. A sort of reverse midlife crisis where instead of breaking away from life, I was convinced that I’d missed it somehow. True love wasn’t always true and wasn’t always love. The type of happiness so lavishly rendered in the animated movies I loved was just "Hollywood Magic"and as I was getting ready to settle into, as Henry Higgins may have put it, “Confirmed old bachelorhood!” and trying to figure out exactly how I was feeling about my dubious new role, I turned around,….and there she was.

When I realized Kelly was the one I wanted to first shout “YAY!” and then ask, “Where the Hell have you been and couldn’t you have stopped to ask directions?” Truthfully, I could have been the one who was late but it’s funnier the other way ;)

So there we were, at the Magic Kingdom, with a jaded former dreamer who didn’t believe in wishing on stars contradicting himself by saying…”we’re both animation nerds so I guess we SHOULD go.”

So we went.

And it was the most perfect date ever. The weather was perfect, the crowds were thin, the lines were short! It was easy, it was effortless, I was more myself than I’d ever felt with anyone. It was just so,….different.

It just fit.

While waiting for Space Mountain to open up, we wandered into The House of Tomorrow, and shortly after that into the living room of tomorrow where a gigantic widescreen TV was playing the restored print of our favorite Disney film of all time,…Sleeping Beauty.

I’d never seen the film so big and beautiful! Every frame a work of art! Kelly and I had the place to ourselves. We settled in on the big leather couch and began to try to one up each other on the films trivia and animation knowledge in general. By the time we were done, we had drawn a crowd, including a few cast members who left there that day a little better informed about the medium that built the park they work in.

Continuing our tour of cloud nine “Disney-style”, we walked right into the Blue Bayou restaurant, without a reservation mind you, for a late dinner,…watching fireflies dance over the heads of the people in the boats,…sailing off to rougher waters and perhaps a glimpse of a pirate or two, (“dead men tell no tales!”).

We ended the night holding hands roaming the back alleys of Roger Rabbit’s Toontown wishing the real world was a lot more Toony and a lot less gloomy. After the lazy train ride back, we caught the fireworks from the parking lot before driving home as I realized that the Magic Kingdom had given me back my magic.

I couldn't have been more surprised,...or delighted.

When Kelly suggested we have our engagement photos taken in LA’s Union Station and in forties period costume, I knew I was marrying the right girl. We arrived with antique suitcases in hand and once we got a good look at ourselves I said, “My God, we look like we stepped out of Who Framed Roger Rabbit!”

We both smiled,….both thinking the same thing at the same time. So there were a few photos we selected for,…alterations.

Not sure how many I’m gonna do but this first one was our proof of concept and it’s a doozie.

When I proposed to Kelly, I told her I wanted to build her a fairy tale one dream at a time. I’m starting with these photos, because I am sensible of how rare it is. What we have together.

As rare as true magic, or fairy dust,….or wishing upon a star.

If you sat through this whole story,…I appreciate you taking the time, and I wish the happiness I’ve been blessed enough to experience upon you a thousand fold, and if you just came to look at the picture,…well , same to you lazy bastards.

I kid because I love.

But seriously, you are a little lazy. ;)

MORE LOONINESS TO COME!

Note: The amazing photography you see in these pics is courtesy of the killer husband and wife team at Callaway/Gable.

Check their stuff out here! http://www.callawaygable.com/

Engagement Photo Progress!

Like anyone but a handful of people even care! LOL!

But SOME do so,.....on I go! ;)

To tell you the truth,....this engagement photo retouching is the only thing Amazing, Colossal, movie or art related I have right now! Busy year and it's not even mid-February yet!

Besides, the whole purpose of this blog is to keep the artistic gears lubed by drawing animation style stuff from my favorite cartoons and films, right?

No better candidate for that than good ol' Roger Rabbit! Besides,....I love drawing these characters. It's good for my tiny fun-starved soul! :p

Now originally it was just supposed to be Roger, Kelly and I in one or two shots,.....but now, as most projects I seem to take on, it is growing beyond my control.

Jessica,(seen above in this test shot), is now appearing in some of the shots as well as Baby Herman,......later on you may see the likes of Benny the Cab, certain Bunnies and Mice,.....a few penguins perhaps and possibly a rogue flying elephant,.....

Can't help it! Sometimes our art grows beyond even the confines of our minds.

Stay tuned for more "loony selections for a bunch of drunken reprobates", as ol' Judge Doom would say.

The Engagement photo shoot story!

So,...

As I understand it,....once a male, (surprisingly even this one), is able to secure a mate, (or in my case stumble accidentally into one), you get married, build a life and, God willing, live happily ever after.
But before one gets married, one must get engaged and apparently along with said engagement, (along with the notoriously expensive ring that's supposed to cost you three months salary according to retailers), comes PHOTOS!
Well, fortunately for me, I'm marrying a woman who is, (and even I cannot believe this), even more of a cartoon and animation nerd than me. She also loves vintage, and she loves to play dress up so when she suggested we get our engagement photos done in downtown LA at the beautiful and historic, (built in 1939), Union Station, I was like,...."Uh,.....okay." ;)
Union station looks like something out of a 1930's Superman serial. It's like walking into another time. Everything Deco and streamline and just astonishing to the eye. One of the few remaining examples of the old Los Angeles. The LA I mourn never having known.
So when we walked into the joint dressed like something out of LA Confidential and dragging vintage luggage and steamer trunk, you can imagine the looks we got.
Now, because I'M a nerd as well, I start to notice, over the course of the shoot, that we bear a striking resemblance to one of our favorite films and I may or may not look like a young, (youngER?), Eddie Valliant.
So every so often, I notice that both Kelly and I are leaving "space" between us in some of the shots. Perhaps an empty chair here,.....some room between us there,..."Space for what?" we may have thought, (as if we weren't onto eachother's game already), while the photographers clicked away. ;)
So with my crappy cell-phone camera photos as a base plate, I did a few "test-shots" just as a proof of concept.
I showed em' to Kelly who immediately authorized me to do more.

...........I think I'm marrying the right girl! LOL!

Now, just so you know,....we're not complete morons. The album and the majority of the photos we have will NOT have animated cartoon characters cavorting through them. They're gonna be straight, (albeit thematic), photos,.....

But there's a few shots,......just a few that scream for,....."additional material". :p

Judge our nerdiness not too harshly, my friends. You know this madness is somewhere in you! I say embrace it.

I shall lead by example,....

Here we see a behind the scenes shot as Kelly "strikes a pose in vintage clothes", just after an enthusiastic friend wandered into the shot.


That is, most definitely NOT all, folks,....

Stay tooned for more,......Looniness.

And that about uses up my bad pun quota for 2011. ;)

......The train to Toontown is boarding! God forgive me,.....Hop on! ;)

The only TRULY scary thing about this Halloween...

...Is my schedule.

It seems to happen every year now that I'm older! There just aren't enough hours in the day and when it comes to my favorite month containing my favorite-est holiday of all time I'm especially bummed because I've got no time to draw and decorate! :(
Now I had a whole slew of illustrations planned for this month. I even briefly entertained the notion of doing a "drawing a day" for the month.
Then I thought I'd do one per week,....showcasing my favorite Halloween movies like Ghostbusters, Nightmare on Elm street, Gremlins, The Addams Family, etc.
But now I'll be lucky to get ONE done so here's a sneak peek at Bette Midler as Winifred "Winnie" Sanderson from the VERY under-rated popcorn Halloween flick Hocus Pocus.

More to come. Maybe I'll even get this thing finished by NEXT Halloween. ;)


Venky.

Tis' the season,...

Well if the department stores can get into the Halloween spirit early, (Hell, I saw Christmas trees up at Lowes yesterday!), so can I!
My favorite religious holiday is fast approaching so to kick off the Halloween 10' season, I revert back to my "go-to" source material,....Ghostbusters!
Here's a little family portrait featuring an uncharacteristically tolerant Peter Venkman and "Slimer", (known to we purists as "Onionhead").
More to come as the 31st races toward us!

:)

It's a jungle out there!

So as promised, (like I really believe any of you were running to the computer saying, "Oh God! When will the next blog post be up? He promised!"), here are some storyboard selects from Disney's The Legend of Tarzan!
I think,...and don't quote me on this,...I think this was from the pilot episode as the camera pulls back from Kala to reveal the rest of the apes. As the family watches, you eventually see Tarzan tree-surf his butt past the group doing his Tarzan thing.
I really, really enjoyed drawing the apes. I loved their varying designs but I still lament that they killed off Kerchack in the film. I mean, it makes sense and it's a great story beat but MAN would I loved to have drawn him! :)
Click on the pic for a bigger image!
More to come later!

A blast from the past,....or perhaps from BEYOND.

Like that joke? See what I did there? That's called being ironic. Now I am in my late thirties, (ugh), and I am of the classification of human male and that means I will exhibit a few behavioral constants while functioning as said male unit.
A few of these include an unhealthy obsession with The Godfather, secretly wanting to be as insane as the cast of Jackass, uncontrolled childish giggles at certain trigger words, (like "poop" and "boobs"), and last but not least, a deep appreciation for Batman.
Nuff' said!
Now I know it's fashionable for others of my kind, (ie: animation/storyboard artists), to participate in the backlash against this Warner House style but I have no problem admitting my absolute adoration of the original Batman: The animated series, ( as well as Superman that came later, and was, to ME a continuation of Donner's characters from the 1978 film).
I don't think there's many of my gender that would disagree that Bruce Timm and his crew, both in look and content, elevated that show to the pinnacle of those characters in their finest form, and hit the industry with a stylistic equivalent of an Atom bomb that, even today, is still spawning imitators and wannabes.
Show's like On leather wings, Clayface: part 2 and Two Face: part 2 and a host of others, blew my mind, ( and Hamill,...GOD Hamill as the Joker!), so much so that if someone came along and told me that if I bludgeoned a kitten by hitting it with a puppy that I would be able to board on the show I would have had to stop and think about it for a second.
Now eventually I DID make it out here and through the simple ebb and flow of the industry I became friends with a LOT of the amazing artists that worked on the original show. So when I got the opportunity to do a freelance board on Batman Beyond I dove at the chance.
Honestly, I wasn't that into Beyond. I watched it peripherally because I loved the original but it was kinda like watching Bewitched with "the other Darren",....it was kinda the same,...but not, (although their Return of the Joker special is an absolute masterpiece).
I wanna say I did this board for Dan Riba, who I remember being a sweetheart of a guy, and I must admit, (somewhat shamefully), that don't remember the name of the episode but I sure as Hell remember the FUN I had DOING it.
I was honored to have been afforded the ever so tiniest of places in the mountain of talent that birthed this whole craze and I think it shows in the work.
Interesting post script to this little story. A short while after I finished this freelance, I was in the comic store with my buddy who recommended me for the gig and Bruce Timm came in. My buddy introduced me as the guy who did the board and to my complete surprise, he commented on having really liked it and that I had done a good job. He left and my buddy turned to me and said, "He hardly ever does that."
I dunno if he was pulling my leg or not but I certainly appreciated the kind words. It was a little cherry on top of the sundae. A nod from the Godfather of Gotham. See that? It always comes back to The Godfather and y'know why?

Cuz I'm a guy. ;)

Thanks fer' lookin'.