JaMiE BaKeR: fallout

Looking for something fun to do in the San Francisco area on Halloween night without getting get shot? Then why not attend the MONSTER MOSH at the 12 GALAXIES night club?

This ghoulish extravaganza will be brought to life by the electrifying folks from B-MINUS COMICS (fearsome flyer artwork by B-Minus’ invincible Aaron Farmer) and and co-sponsored by both THE ONION (everyone’s favourite newspaper), and also by THE ISOTOPE (San Francisco’s best comics shop). Mix-music grooves will be spun by Dj SAM SUPA and there will be a rocking live set by TRIPLE COBRA . The hottest zombie sex-symbol in town, the ever glamorous Ms MONSTER (who is currently starring in “The search for the NEXT ELVIRA” on the FOX reality network) Will be hosting the MidNight costume contest. See you there!

Another pic from the Elephant book. This one illustrates the case of an elephant who strayed into the streets of Nairobi, only to be darted and then carted back to the bush. The text was placed over the blank spaces in the composition, on the building and the sky.

This particular illustration was done in a looser style than most of the others, as part of a final push to add some EXTRA art to the book. After I had completed the initial commitment of illustrations, the editor and book designer both felt that there was an imbalance of text to images, as some page-spreads were still lacking illustrations. So, I agreed to do more, but I couldn’t have as much time as I’d devoted to the illustrations already done.

Thankfully, the book already displayed a variety of styles, so a few more done in a faster, looser style wouldn’t stand out too much. I found some of the thumbnails and preparatory sketches I had done early in the project and slapped colour and textures on them to bang out 16 new illustrations in the last few weeks before the printing deadline. I amazed myself at how many I was able to do in that short time, while having fun doing them.

All in all, I did around 60 illustrations for the book, although some were not much more than decorative wall-paper to go under text. Even though they aren’t all “winners” I learned something in doing each of them, and I am actually very happy with quite a few.

I have submitted 5 of my favourite illustrations from Elephants in the News to the Society of Illustrators 50th Annual Show, in the BOOK category. It is the first time I have entered anything like this. The best illustrators in the world will be in competition, so I don’t seriously expect to win anything, but I do hope that at least ONE of my illustrations might be selected for the show in March 2008, which would be an excellent excuse to visit New York.

Frequent visitors to this blog will have noticed that I have Star Wars on the brain at the moment… Here’s a little doodle (3×4 inches) of Princess LEIA done while watching TV last night..

You’ve all no doubt heard of HAN SOLO, but what about his sister; TRUMPET SOLO? (That nugget of internet gold courtesy of CHRIS.)

Some fans of RED SQUADRON made a great, life-sized X-Wing rocket that actually takes off! Not to be outdone, GOLD SQUADRON fans staged their own Y-Wing rocket launch! (Thanks to MICHEAL MAY for these links.)

Behold this neato Darth Vader T-Shirt and also this collection of Star Wars Pixel art. (Sent to me by MR. BKON!)

UPDATE: Here is the FINAL INKED VERSION.

More STAR WARS characters HERE and HERE.

This is a design I drew years ago (in markers pencil and gouache) for a story idea, created by John Hays, about a weirdo San Francisco detective. The project was called THE DICK.

It also illustrates my most recent reading obsession; detectives; hard boiled, soft boiled and scrambled. This fascination came to me by way of the informal paperback exchange in my apartment building. Tenants leave their old books on a mantel shelf in the lobby for others to take, and in doing so I discovered many authors I may not have heard of otherwise.

One neighbour is clearly an avid reader of crime fiction, because I found several mysteries by Tony Hillerman that chronicle investigations by Officer JIM CHEE and Lt. JOE LEAPHORN of the Navajo Tribal Police. Another find was a novel by MC Beaton from her series about HAMISH MACBETH, a small town policeman whose beat is the Scottish Highlands. My next score was Carl Hiassen’s very funny crime novel called SICK PUPPY which follows an outraged environmentalist chasing after corrupt real-estate development in Florida.

But what really got me interested in reading more detective fiction were some books by Robert Crais, featuring smart-alec LA detective ELVIS COLE. Though set in contemporary LA (late 1980s to early 2000s) they are written in the first-person narration I associate with the classic private-eye style. I have read about 7 of the books in this series and due to the funny-tough, sensitive-guy persona of the main character they are very fun to read.

Follow-up reading online lead me to Robert B. Parker and HIS own wise-cracking Boston Private Eye from the 1970s called SPENSER. So far, I have read 4 books about this gourmet cooking, hard punching tough guy with a heart of gold, a character cited as an influence on the Elvis Cole series. Both are tough guys in the private-eye tradition, though neither is hard-boiled all the way through. They have steady girlfriends and their committed relationships make them more than mere lone-wolf private Dicks. Never the less each series has a formula of sorts and I wanted some more variety in my crime-fiction diet…

More research online led me to the Thrilling Detective website; a wonderful resource to find out about writers and characters, learn which series came first, what order books should be read in, find out which writer was influenced by whom and learn what defines a story about a private-eye, as opposed to a police procedural or an amateur sleuth.

After several trips to Green Apple Books I now have a huge stash of 2nd hand crime paperbacks that I am ploughing through… I read a few books by Sara Paretsky featuring tough-gal detective V.I. WARSHAWSKI. Then one of my favourites so far; FLETCH by Gregory McDonald, a very witty and cleverly plotted crime story following the exploits of a wry investigative journalist. Elmore Leonard writes crime fiction full of shady quirky characters and those that we root for straddle the line between “goodie” and baddie”. His style of dialogue is imitated often, and many of his books have been made into movies, such as a very entertaining book I just read called RUM PUNCH (which became JACKIE BROWN).

Generally, I have been working my way backwards in time, so after the modern crime stories I read a few of Ian Fleming’s 1950s pulp novels featuring JAMES BOND, a character who, I think, owes something to the hard-boiled crime stories of 20s 30s and 40s…

…And they were next on my reading list. I caught up with James M. Cain’s classic crime novels DOUBLE INDEMNITY and THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE. These aren’t detective novels, but are part of the ROMANS NOIR tradition where some average sap is tempted to do horrible things for love or money, or both (They were made into classic FILMS NOIR).

I really enjoyed re-reading THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett. Although NOT in first person narration, it is written in a sparse, tight, blunt, yet somehow elegant style that has been imitated ever since the book came out in 1930. It is especially satisfying to read if you live in the same neighbourhood as SAM SPADE, and I do; all the action takes place within blocks of my apartment. I wanted to read other adventures of Sam Spade but to my surprise and disappointment, there were no other stories ever written featuring this iconic character.

Thankfully the same is not true of Raymond Chandler’s creation PHILIP MARLOWE, a hard boiled detective (some would even say THE hard boiled detective) who walked the seedy streets of 1940s and 1950s LA and whose cases spanned 9 novels starting with THE BIG SLEEP. It is no wonder that Raymond Chandler’s style is probably one of the most copied of all time when he has detective Philip Marlowe narrate his cases using lines like these:

“It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window.”

“Even on Central Avenue, not the quietest dressed street in the world, he looked about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food.”

That voice that has been ripped-off, referenced and lampooned so often that the spoofs come to mind while reading the books. When reading Hammett and Chandler, it helps to remember that the lines about deadly blondes, the similes about goons, or the scenes where someone falls through the office-door with a knife in their back and riddled with bullet-holes only to mutter a cryptic clue before dying on the floor, were all NEW when they were written. They somehow remain fresh even today; even if I think of DEAD MEN DON’T WEAR PLAID or a Harvey Kurtzman spoof as I read them, these books are a joy to read.

As a change of pace from gun-toting gum-shoes, and femme fatales, I am now reading Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous creation, SHERLOCK HOLMES in a collection featuring both novel-length adventures and short stories. The elegant Victorian prose of these tales is a great contrast to the hard boiled style, and once again the pleasure of reading transcends the fact that the character has become something of a much lampooned cliché.

Hard to say how long this obsession will last, but if it has legs I still have to read stories by Mickey Spillane, James Ellroy, and Jim Thompson. Not to mention Edgar Allan Poe, the man credited with inventing the crime novel in 1841 with the publication of The MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE. Then I want to read more Raymond Chandler, and Dashielle Hammett’s THE THIN MAN and ALL the FLETCH novels. Oh, and Ross Macdonald’s private eye, LEW ARCHER.

OK, must dash; I have a lot of reading to do!

Since getting my copy of Ralph McQuarrie’s new book I’ve been geeking out hard on Star Wars. So skip this post unless you are prepared to trip down that nerd path with me.

A few nights back, I spent a few hours online trying to track down a few images I had seen years ago. After almost giving up the hunt, I stumbled upon a fantastic online catalogue of pulp magazine covers that contained the first thing I was looking for; a black and white sketch illustration and colour cover from July 1975 issue of ANALOG Magazine:

Both were drawn by John Schoenherr to illustrate a short science fiction story called And Seven Times Never Kill Man written by George R.R. Martin. These crossbow wielding furry alien warriors certainly remind me of one the characters from a blockbuster-hit science fantasy film that came out two years after this issue hit the news stands.

As a kid, Chewbacca was one of my favourite characters and was a rare case of my preferring what appeared in the film over any of Ralph McQuarrie’s early designs, which looked more like a big, bug-eyed lemur. You other Chewie fans out there might enjoy this theory that, when viewed as a whole, the Star Wars films reveal that R2D2 and Chewie are really in control (It’s a long read but interesting and fun).

Another fan has come up with a funny theory that Leia and Luke got busy after the Death Star was destroyed in the first Star Wars movie. Yes! Worth a read, eh? (short, funny read)

Speaking of Luke, fanboys and haters still debate Mark Hamill’s career and argue over his acting chops. Despite what many people say, I think that Mark Hamill is far from being a bad actor. In fact, compared to the relentlessly stiff acting by Samuel Jackson, Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor and many of the other respected actors in the prequels, Hamill’s portrayal of Luke’s growth from whiny farm boy to Jedi Badass is actually one of the better performances in the Star Wars movies… (Bracing for a backlash in my comments section )

More can be found out about the original trilogy actors in the where are they now article including some sad pics showing how the aging process works on fresh young faces….

Look at this history of the screenplay drafts of the original movie, starting with the rough outline written in 1973. Most of these drafts are barely recognisable as the final film, and pretty terrible into the bargain… which I found inspiring in a way; Don’t give up on your idea if it seems shonky at first. Just keep plugging away at it until it works.

The next thing I found during my exhaustive “research” online is a great picture of the Prototype Darth Vader which more closely resembles the original Ralph McQuarrie design. I had never seen this picture or anything like it before. Isn’t the internet wonderful?

And, finally, here is the second image that I went online to search for in the first place; a painting by Syd Mead done way back in 1968 for the book “CONCEPTS” as a promotion for for US STEEL. Does this gizmo remind you of anything? A wicked cool walking vehicle from a 1980 smash-hit science-fantasy film perhaps? It’s even walking around in the snow!

I think it’s time; I need to watch the original three movies again…

When I worked at Colossal Pictures we showed animated series ideas to TV networks every year. One of my pitches was about a magician called KOALA LUMPUR, who I saw as a tiny, mystical problem solver; a cross between Yoda and Mandrake the magician. His action-hero side kick, named Dr DINGO, was a flea-bitten Indiana Jones in a Goodwill pith helmet.

I felt that a duo comprised of a magic detective koala bear and an adventurer/scientist canine could go anywhere and do anything. Between the two of them there would be so many possibilities for funny episodes. Sluething out whodunnits, exploring watchamacallits and fighting a nutty assortment of baddies with an array of dopey invention-thingamajigs. I drew up some pitch-art and wrote out a list of episode ideas and then took the whole lot down to LA and hopped about the room as I explained it all to some network executives. But, as is the case with many a “good meeting” in LA, it ultimately didn’t go anywhere…

Then, few years later, someone in the Colossal Pictures interactive unit found the old pitch materials and thought that this goofy investigative team would be a good basis for a computer game. I knew nothing about computer games back then, or computers either if it comes to that, but I got involved in making a Koala Lumpur game because I thought that it might help get a TV show for the idea (networks are sometimes more interested in ideas that have already been brought to market in some form or other). So we pitched a game called KOALA LUMPUR: MYSTIC MARSUPIAL to a big game company who, lo and behold, actually gave the project a green-light.

After years of working on, and even occasionally directing, all sorts of projects that were dreamed up by other people, it was exciting to finally be directing an idea of my own. I was very pleased that a couple of my best friends were doing the voices for the main characters; Phil Robinson as KOALA and John Stevenson as Dr. DINGO. I had them in mind from the start and their voices were used to pitch the idea in rough assemblies of the game, yet the powers that be intended to replace them with professional actors in the final product… but came around to my way of thinking when they couldn’t find any voices that were better. John and Phil did a fantastic job of bringing each character to life. Koala had a jumbly accent that was part Hindi and part Australian and Dingo sounded like a blustery British colonel.

The timing of the production was unfortunate for two reasons. Firstly, while our game was being made the industry shifted quickly to 3D games, like DOOM, and by the time our 2D game came out it was already yesterday’s news. The second bit of bad luck was that Colossal Pictures filed for bankruptcy in the midst of production. This caused financial and legal rifts between the companies involved and the completion of production was stressful beyond belief. The end-product suffered as a result. It certainly didn’t come out as I had intended it. Anyway, despite all the hardship, the game came out on schedule, retitled “KOALA LUMPUR: JOURNEY TO THE EDGE” by some marketing genius, to mixed reviews and moderate sales in the USA. It sold better in Europe, Germany in particular, for some reason.

Not long after the KOALA LUMPUR game was released, Colossal Pictures finally went bust completely, and after 20 years of business, that great studio closed its doors for good. Suffice it to say that I look back on the project with a mixture of feelings these days. I learned a lot but many of the lessons were cautionary rather than inspirational. I came to realise that I just don’t have the stomach (or the brains, balls or spinal chord) for directing big projects, and it just wasn’t as much fun as I thought it was going to be…

On the other hand, I still smile when I think about the KOALA LUMPUR SHOW I saw in my mind in the first place, directing THAT could be fun… so maybe I haven’t given up on the idea completely….

One of my favourite things to do over the past few years has been to participate in the MAVERIX STUDIOS ART AUCTIONS. They have all been held to raise money for worthy causes, and the satisfaction in being part of one is many-fold. First of all, they are a fantastic prompt to make some original artwork that has nothing to do whatsoever with working for “the man”. Secondly, they are great social gatherings and gallery shows where I can see artwork made by my friends. Thirdly, If I get my check-book out and wield it wisely and boldy, I get to take home some of that inspiring artwork at bargain prices. Fourthly, they are wonderful ways to raise money for charity and the knowledge that I am part of that process creates a rosy glow that lasts for weeks. Lastly, because of all of the points raised above and more factors besides, they are one hell of a lot of fun to attend.

Initially, the choice of beneficiary charities for each auction, and the ensuing preparations, were made by Maverix Studios members themselves, but recently Maverix has been approached by friends to host auctions for charities that they have some connection to. Enrico Casarosa instigated the EMERGENCY auction held earlier this year and this most recent auction was initiated by Esther Pearl and Nate Stanton, and then organised by them and Maverix to raise money for the Alzheimers Association. Amazingly, the preparations for this show were done in a mere 4 weeks and yet the auction raised a staggering $13,842.

You just got walked on by Maverix Studios
Maybe as much as $6,000 of that total was raised in the live-auction. A Maverix Studios auction is silent for most of the 3 hours, whereby bidders write down their bids beneath each art piece. However, Maverix reserves the right to pull a few of the most contested pieces off the wall and use them in the live auction BIG BID BATTLE at the end of the night. So, even though you’ve secured the winning bid on paper, you may be obliged to battle it out even further LIVE. As auctioneer MIKE MURNANE hilariously explained to the first such thwarted paper-bidder, “You thought you’d already won this piece but you just got WALKED ON by Maverix Studios.” Thereafter followed a series of cut-throat bid battles.

The drama and hilarity of the BIG BID BATTLES has become one of my favourite parts of these auctions, and a large part of the reason for that fact is the MIGHTY MIKE MURNANE. Mikey is a natural born button pusher and his skills at goading are nowhere put to better use than at these events. He surely gouged another several thou out of the crowd last Saturday. It is also fitting that Mike be the auctioneer at these shows, seeing as how he was the beneficiary of the very first Maverix Auction held in 2004, to raise money for his eye surgery.

Bidding for FULL QUENCH
I had it in mind to finally secure myself a Rhode Montijo original. Even though I had won a Rhode painting at the very first Maverix auction, I soon after gave that painting to Mike as a gift and have been in dire need of replacement Rhode pic ever since. However, this time around, there a was a giddy frenzy of bidding the likes of which I’d not seen before. I bid on a SWEET Rhode piece in the live auction, battling one-on-one with Bosco, each of us topping each other’s bid by $25, until the price was almost $200 more than the paper bid, which had been held by Bosco. Then Ronnie del Carmen blind-sided BOTH of us; he jacked the bidding up by $75 to $500 (which was my secret top price) and secured the pic for himself!

Ronnie’s bold bidding strategy got a huge round of applause, from Bosco and I no less than anyone else, and I think his boldness set the tone for bids to come, because thereafter bidders really pulled out all the stops. Luis battled Vaughn neck and neck for Patrick Awa’s GUITAR WOLF piece and, with the bidding at around the $750 mark, Luis blew the opposition away by bidding $1000, to a HUGE cheer from the assembled crowd.

Brenda Chapman made the room gasp as she bid against a woman called JUDY, taking the bids from $400 all the way up to the dizzy heights of $3,500, for a beautiful painting by Steve Purcell, who sadly wasn’t there in person and therefore missed out on the massive ego-stoke of seeing two women fighting over him so passionately. The crowd loved the theatre of this battle, and Brenda had a huge smile on her face as the victor, even though she wound up paying a few thousand more for a picture she’d already won on paper.

I have to point out here that even these “high” prices are actually bargains for the quality of the work on auction. A mere fraction of what you would pay at a gallery.

Thwarted for a good cause
Last time I walked home with a huge swag of goodies, whereas this time I was beat out on most of the stuff I bid on. I was tipped to be one of the people to pull the bid-sheets off the wall, and in doing so I wasn’t as able to defend my bids on a few pieces elsewhere in the room, and the last 5 minutes are everything in the silent bidding. However, I was able to win a great print by Sho Murase, and I was very happy with the fact that my donated pieces raised a lot more money than any of my submissions to prior auctions.

Plus, even though I was denied in gaining many of the things that I had wanted, I was happy in the knowledge that I was thwarted for a good cause and my bids had at least forced someone else to pay some extra money to charity in order to be the winner. There are no sad faces at the end of a Maverix Studios auction. And if there was any sense of having to lick my wounds, I took that vibe with me to Mitchell’s Ice Cream and instead licked a chocolate dipped Mexican Chocolate Ice cream, served in a chocolate waffle cone.

Read some more reports of this auction, by Maverix Studios, Ronnie del Carmen, Enrico Casarosa, and Jeff Pidgeon, and also check out Carlos Baena’s PHOTOS (thanks to Carlos, Rhode and Ronnie for the photos seen here).

If you like the idea of this kind of auction but don’t live in the Bay Area, then why not organise an art-auction charity fundraiser for the holiday season this year? Scoop up some of the holiday purchasing budget in your community for a good cause, and walk away with some great artwork that you can give to friends and family over the gift giving season!

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A chronology of the Maverix Studios Auctions:
#1. AUGUST 19TH, 2004: For the Love of MIKE: $6000 raised for Mike Murnane’s eye surgery.

#2. FEBRUARY 4TH 2005: TSUNAMI RELIEF: $22,955.60 raised for the victims of the Asian Tsunami, with donations given to UNICEF, HABITAT FOR HUMANITY and SAVE THE CHILDREN. Participation by 80 artists who donated 220 pieces sold at the auction night and on a follow-up Ebay auction.

#3. NOVEMBER 17TH, 2005. HEAL: $9000 raised for the CHARLOTTE MAXWELL COMPLEMENTARY CLINIC.

#4. DECEMBER 15TH, 2005. EARTHQUAKE RELIEF: $12,000 raised for the victims of the Earthquake in Pakistan and Kashmir, with donations given to the PAKISTAN RED CRESCENT SOCIETY and DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS.

Over $40,000 was raised in 2005 at 3 auctions, and perhaps due to exhaustion there was an auction hiatus in 2006.

#5. MAY 20TH, 2007. EMERGENCY: $13,003 raised for LIFE SUPPORT FOR CIVILIAN WAR VICTIMS

#6. SEPTEMBER 29TH, 2007. $13,842 raised for the ALZHEIMERS SOCIETY.