Ty B. Bear and friends - those are loggerhead turtles

The last few days the opportunity to draw on toned paper has appeared…well…maybe not appeared. The truth of the matter is that at the Art Festival last weekend, I began to draw on toned paper. I couldn’t just sit there with all that art around me and not draw…so the next thing I knew - there was a Ty B. and friends on toned paper.

Then, I was back in my studio drawing on manilla folders- more sketches. They all just kind of grew….and grew…that’s the cool thing about art…

Another group of filmmakers- more play!

Very soon Animation World Network and the Larry’s Toon Institute will be offering a FREE animation workshop!

Above is a demo on Character Head Construction…it speaks for itself. The demo is in response to an email where someone had a question regarding this topic. Enjoy!

Henri stars in the openning sequence of OUR WORLD

Whew! The annual art festival on Tybee Island coupled with their 120 year anniversary celebration as a city has come to a close.

We did very well selling tons of cards and prints - not only my paintings but Ty B. Bear, too! . My orginals did not sell- I kept the prices up there (300-400.00 for a small canvas and over a grand for larger ones). From talking to other artists, I decided to keep the prices to a point where only folks who LOVE the art will buy it.

Well I am back at work - madly rushing about…

AND…in two weeks FREE animation workshops will be presented by yours truly at AWN. It is a six week workshop… and I am finishing the materials for that…more on the workshop later…

On the production side here is another pencil test for THE TRY OUT…

This one was a little trickier because of the bulk of the character and the long head and neck of Tony. Note: what you are seeing stops at his nose…his eyes, forehead and head are above the nose.

In my renewed efforts toward OUR WORLD…a new card has been produced for the festival circuit (pictured above).

More later….

CROSSING THE LINE was headed at a good pace toward completion…when two other films got in the way!

The first is OUR WORLD. This premiered at the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, Germany in October 2005…as the graduation event for the animation classes from the Internationale FilmSchule (IFS). Under the watchful eye of course head and producer, Alexandra Ohlsen, the film enjoyed fruitful stint at a hand full of European film festivals. One part of the film, FOR SALE, won a second place in the student segment of the Hamburg Animation festival.

To recap, the project was an international co-production between myself and the IFS. Animation was produced by students mostly in Germany and one segment was produced in the U.S. During the days leading up to the Cologne premiere, I was working away on my animation in Savannah and then finished the work in Cologne, Germany and in Provence, France. The film was designed like a relay race where everyone would begin with the world and end with the world. The idea was to see what folks had to say about the world. The film is meant to be an on-going project. In fact, I still have 3 sequences that are not in the film and will be added at a later date.

I received my copies of OUR WORLD in February of 2007. The film has created some interest and is experiencing a bit of a rebirth. So…because I want folks to see the film and talk about it and the state of the world! That may all be a bit extreme- and…I think it’s worth a shot. So I am repackaging the film and sending it off to Festivals in the U.S. A friend told me about

WITHOUTABOX.COM and it is a terrific site to assist one in entering festivals. I was told that a participant screened the film out of competition at the Festival in Beijing, China a week and a half ago and it received a standing ovation! Very cool!

This is Tony the star of THE TRYOUT- I wanted a character that is VERY unathletic!

The second film to enter the fray is THE TRY OUT. It is a one gag, football based animated film. It involves a placekicker.
This is just a really fun project that has created itself. I am 3/4 of the way through the animation and hope to have it finished by the end of this month.

A concept drawing from my sketchbook!!!

CROSSING THE LINE will be back in the pipeline in November.

EVEN MORE ANIMATED!

Happy Columbus Day!

Here Ty B. Bear poses by the cliffs in Sorrento, Italy. he even has on his Italian capri pants

In many quarters, this is actually Happy Italian-American Day. I can remember as a cub scout living in South Philly (2 blocks from Pat’s Steaks on 9th Street) - my Den Mother Mom, my brothers and I marched in the Columbus Day parade and footage of us ended up on the local TV news coverage. Of course there was also footage of the old men on the bocce ball court.

So to celebrate everything Italian here are some images from Italy..

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The view from our hotel window EVERY morning at the 7th heaven (English translation). This is ink and watercolor on bark- Canadian Bark

This is the old wall in the old city down by the marina in Sorrento. I drew the ink lines/ steps in first and made notes- then added the watercolor later.

While eating lunch I drew this sketch of the boats. The drawing came out better than the food…our only bad meal in 11 days there.

Now this sketch was during another meal - an excellent meal… at a cafe built on the jetty by the Sea.

Chow!