"UM, WHAT!?"

So, what does THIS:

+ THIS:

Equal?

Apparently THIS:

I just found out I won an Emmy for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation" for Character design!!!

Wow, just two weeks after starting @ Cartoon Network I won an Emmy!? Hehe, okay, okay--it was for Maxwell Atoms' awesome UNDERFIST: "Halloween Bash", which I'd done over two years ago, consequently during that heatwave (--as depicted in that previous post of that time). My sweat is literally infused onto those sheets of 12 field animation paper. The heat was so bad I had foresaken any sort of proper drawing table or apparatus and used my soon-to-be-wive's 'hope chest', which was mere inches away from an air conditioner--the closest to cool I could possibly get. This had been a scary time for me: sort of a "no man's land", half-way point lull in my quest/experiment to stay home and do 'permanent' freelance. This sort of makes it that much more affirming and validating towards time well spent. That being said, I'm so happy and proud of the work I put into that incredible, albeit all-but-forgotten animated special/Billy & Mandy spinoff/pilot. It was a real cartoon--in its truest form and so fun to work on. It was extra special because I not only worked arm and arm with my buddy "Uncle" Phil Rynda, but in some cases, worked directly from development sketches which he had done before me. Plus, he more or less got Adam to hire me--so, thanks Phil! I'd share the Emmy with you, but you already got one! ; )

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

I saw these UNDERFIST: Halloween Special promo pieces up on Adam Burton's blog and thought it would be fun (and totally unwarranted) to post them next to (my) original pencil designs.

WATCH UNDERFIST, YO!

THIS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12th @ 7pm ON CARTOON NETWORK!

This will be the only broadcast in WIDESCREEN, it'll melt your face!
This is it! THE GRIM ADVENTURES OF BILLY AND MANDY "SPINOFF"!!! It's a feature length movie featuring B-character's turned action stars from series creator MAXWELL ATOMS. It's as if the A-Team were comprised of Lenny and Squiggy, and they fought hordes of hades and legions of undead lollipops. It's AWESOME to say the least!

What an amazing gig this was! Being able to work alongside my good friend, "America's Favorite Uncle" PHIL RYNDA , at some points, piggybacking designs: going over his original roughs, then him going back over mine, and then I in turn going over those, and so forth. So. Much. Fun. True, most of these characters existed in some form previously, bought Adam, er, Maxwell Atoms gave us free reign to push these designs and allowed and insisted we create these new forms as if this were their debut. I love nothing more than making shapes work into comedy/action hybrids. Maxwell Atoms was probably my favorite creator to work for (and YES, James Silverman--you were great too!). I hope he gets another job...and hope that he hires me.





Doing "character layouts" like above are some of my favorite things to do. It really gives the folks animating overseas the proper template and map of a scene.




I even snuck "Kirby Dots" into some designs...