FRIDAY FREAK: Invasion of the LIZARDMEN!

Today's Friday Freak is brought to you by the 80's! Remember? SNL wasn't funny until Eddie Murphy was hired, parachute pants, and Reagan.
Above is a character/mascot I created for a company called, I kid you not, "Invasion of the LizardMen!"
It was a headshop run by a collection of hippies in Northern New Jersey. No longer in business.
Somehow these people had an almost unlimited funding, due to certain activities, and opened a business that besides selling the usual assortment of bongs and what have you, also sold t-shirts.
They had a state of the art transfer machine that could print any artwork, no matter the medium, onto a shirt.
The largest it could print was 11"x14".
So, I created a wide range of designs for them, and they sold really well.
I would do 10 designs, fax those to the shop, they would make selections or changes, and I would work all night to have them ready for the next day.
I would meet them at diners along Rt. 46, and we would make the "exchange".
I would give them the art, and they would cut the check. Which was always a nice sum, and ALWAYS cleared, not like some clients, who shall remain nameless....for now. : )
Anyhoo, once they gave me a hit of LSD that they wanted a t-shirt for.
It was purple, on a stamp looking thing, really ornate, Purple Haze, I think it was.
( I was in my 20's, and scrambling for every dollar, so just relax..and wait for the end of this story).
Being careful not to touch it, I wrapped it in a napkin and took it home to work.
I took the front cover off of a cassette tape,clear plastic, and taped the hit to it so I could look at it without risking a trip.
Next day I drop it off, again at a diner, and the three of them loved the design. I captured the blotter hit perfectly.
So, they were eating when I handed the hit back to them.
"Keep it," said the owner.
I declined, and the younger guy snatched it out of my hand and went to the bathroom.
I ordered a hamburger basket,(I used to eat red meat back then), and about 30 or so minutes later, the guy came out of the bathroom.
He was white, and sweaty, and his pupils were the size of dimes.
I of course couldn't resist messing with him, as I offered him french fries, by holding up the basket and asking if he wanted some, and then quickly moving the fries into his face, like a 3-D movie.
He jumped out of the booth and landed on the floor laughing. so much that the other customers were pointing.
That's when I left.
Weeks later, the whole place was closed, and everyone busted, except LSD guy. If I remember right, he was picked up on a minor drug charge, but his dad was plugged in some how with the community, so this kid narced on the other two, and he didn't do a day in the clink.
That's one of the problems with drugs. Not everyone you hang out with is a stand up guy.
It was a great freelance gig while it lasted.

Friday Freak: Milt Neil

This week has sure been exciting! My birthday was Tuesday, and the family and I went to my favorite Mexican place to eat....and it was STILL open!
( In my neck of the woods, restaurants open and close quickly).
I was brought on to work with a company I have been trying to get into for years, but more about that later.
Yesterday, as I was riding my bike at the park, I took a nastie header as I was negotiating my way through a herd of small children.
As I was picking rocks out of my road rash, the kids came over to ask if I was ok.
This drawing of Milt Neil is also from my days at the Kubert School, circa 1981.
My only regret is that it's drawn in marker, and every year it seems to spread out a little bit more.
Milt was an old Disney animator, and worked on a lot of cool projects, such as "Fantasia" and "Dur Fuhrer's Face".
The man could draw anything, and he didn't take sh*t from anybody.
He was such a wealth of knowledge. When he would go down the line and help each of us with our assignments, it was amazing, and nerve wracking!
We'd go to the pencil test machine, and he would critique us one by one.
It was during our flag waving tests that he yelled at a guy for copying the flag from the " Timing for Animation" book. He saw instantly when someone was cutting corners.
Once, we were going over one of my scenes, where this depressed dinosaur was sitting on a log, looks up at the viewer, and gulps.
Milt said.." that looks real good, son."
I walked on air the rest of that week.
More often than not, Milt would flip your scene, say that it was getting there, and then motion for you to get out of your seat so he could sit and" show you how to take this further."
Watching him made you realize just how much you didn't know.
When he was finished, he'd get up, clap you on the shoulder, and go to the next guy.
Leaving you with a pile of Milt's animation that he just roughed out as he was talking,20 or 30 pages of key frames, alternate drawings for cycles to break them up, etc., that flipped beautifully, and that you didn't have a chance in hell of duplicating.
I'm not even going to talk about his mastery of pastels.

Curious George

One of my fondest memories is of my dad taking me to the library for the first time.
I was able to check out three books,( I was very young, maybe 5), and " Curious George
Learns the Alphabet" was one of them. I loved this book!
The Man in the Yellow Hat will let George eat a bag of donuts if he learns his ABCs.
So to help George learn, the Man draws animals using the letters as the foundation for each animal.
I still remember "Cc" as a big crab and a little crab.
Here we see George looking at a gay fish. : )

Otterly Cool!

We went to Zoo Atlanta yesterday for Father's Day. Great time! The weather couldn't have been nicer, and the employees at the zoo were some of the friendliest people I have ever seen working a counter.
As we were walking around the exhibits, we came upon this sign. I had worked with an agency in Atlanta a few years back, and had designed this character for them to be used at the Asiatic Otter display.
This sign is above the snack shop.
I did the character in Flash.

Happy Father's Day!

My dad was many things, not to mention a jokester, and a talented craftsman.
He would create all sorts of lawn ornaments. The ones with the spinning wings and stuff.
I would draw the patterns for him, and he would cut them out, paint them, etc.
He also hired some of the more artistic kids in town to help him paint.
So...HAPPY FATHER"S DAY to all you dads out there.

Friday Freak Sergio Argonés

During my first year at the Kubert school, Sergio Argonés came to speak.
One of the greatest people I have ever met. His talk was so funny, as he's telling us about doing cartoons in Mexico and coming to America, barely able to speak English, just really funny stuff.
We were all in the Animation Trailer, ( this was back at the old location on Myrtle Drive. I think it's student housing now), and Joe Kubert was there because he and Sergio were old friends.
Sergio was busting Joe's chops about how expensive the school was because Joe liked to buy new cars.
At the end of his talk, Sergio did sketches for us. I was constantly drawing rats, ( this was before "Secret of Nimh" came out), and I asked him to draw a rat for me.
Look at this sketch. Completely loose, and not over worked, yet he still captured a mood, making the viewer wonder what this rat is up to.
Two more things. One, he whipped this out in less than a minute, without penciling anything, while using a Sharpie.
Two, he did over 100 sketches, in this sort of detail, for everybody there, and not once did he ask for a drawing back because he didn't do a good job and wanted a mulligan.
Not like some of the Prima donnas you run into at some of the comic conventions around the country.
You know who I'm talking about......
On a sad note, during Sergio's talk, a third year student came into the trailer and told us all that Wally Wood had died.

New Jersey's Best #6

When I lived in New Jersey, I used to do some t-shirt design work for WDHA in Dover, NJ.
I can't remember the station manager's name, but he was a good guy.
Anyhow, they would put out an album of home grown rock, with a contest for the album cover that was open to anyone.
I always submitted covers, but never won. The closest I ever came was when my room mate,
Pete Callahan, won with a really cool concept. Imagine a geologist's work station, with a magnifying glass, rock samples, all kinds of stuff.
So for the sixth album, I turned in this idea. I don't have the finished piece, just this rough.
The station called me a few days after I turned this in, and said that if I wanted to be part of the contest, I had to turn in a different cover.
They didn't want this sort of imagery. They liked it, but it was dead in the water.
Oh well....

Brainy Bob

Just a quick sketch of a left over character design.

Finally Friday Freak

Last week I was contacted by a potential client regarding me drawing monsters for a web application. The idea was very cool, and certainly right up my alley.
I gave him my price for the designs, and haven't heard anything yet.
Oh well....it was a fair price, but then again I don't know what his budget was.
All I do know is that if you pay peanuts, you get to work with monkeys.
That being said, I drew up a cute little Cthulhu ( H. P. Lovecraft, great reading!), and this will take us into the weekend.
Have a great one!

The Love Boat

I created this quick animation for the Toronto Animated Image Society.
The parameters of the short were that it had to be :10 seconds in length, and the subject matter was monsters.
I tried to come up with an idea, but I just didn't have the time to create the animation and still make the deadline. ( I did this in an afternoon).
So, I recycled a gag that I did for Dragon Magazine, and punched it up.
This version is actually :30 seconds long. I think this length works better with the storytelling and pacing, without feeling padded.
Click on the Viking ship, and enjoy!