My co-workers:
I’ve worked in many studios, but will always have a special fondness for MAVERIX STUDIOS, the place where I first created my own ideas, rather than merely being a cog in someone else’s machine. All other members of the Maverix collective explored their own creative visions too and it was constantly chaotic, nutty & fun, as such stimulating places often are. Studio founder Robert Valley has recently [READ MORE…]
A beloved longtime member of the Bay Area animation community, has finally succumbed to pancreatic cancer after battling it bravely for over 3 years. Phil Robinson will be greatly missed by his loving wife Jennifer, and his many friends from around the world, me amongst them. Phil came to the Bay Area in the early 1980s but I first met [READ MORE…]
I can’t think of any cartoonist that I admire more than the great RONALD SEARLE. Many others feel the same about this superb satirist and stylist, including the 70 PIXAR artists who recently sent him a 91st BIRTHDAY SKETCHBOOK filled with tributes; a project which I was honored (though intimidated) to be included in. It was the one and only [READ MORE…]
Here’s a BIRTHDAY (21st of April!) CARD for Mr Derek Thompson, honoring the fellow who introduced us many years ago; good old FRANKENSTEIN’s monster. It seems appropriate that my friendship with DEREKMONSTER should have begun on a MONSTER MOVIE. Though that project was never finished, I made many great friends on that crew, Derek being one of them. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, [READ MORE…]
This charming gouache painting was just given to me by my pal MATT JONES. It may be a GOODBYE present for my departing the story crew we both worked on together, or perhaps it is a SORRY present, to make amends for the incredibly funny good-bye CARD he also did, depicting me in the depths of tawdriness, which was signed [READ MORE…]
Not so long ago Ronnie organised a re-union lunch for the story team that had worked on UP, where we were finally introduced to THE GOLDEN BOY. It was a very pleasant afternoon, reconnecting with some people I had not seen in ages and a wonderful way to commemorate the project that is definitely the film I am most proud [READ MORE…]
Working at LAIKA Studios in Beautiful Portland has allowed me to meet some wonderful artists. None of whom I had met before, but some who’s work I was already familiar with. VERA BROSGOL is incapable of doing an un-appealing drawing. Beautiful storyboard drawings simply SQUIRT from her fingertips (personally, I have to GRUNT mine out). Not only a bad-ass storyboarder, [READ MORE…]
Years ago, I worked at a studio where a lot of extra-curricular funny drawings were done by the crew. We drew caricatures of eachother, or of people seen on the streets at lunch hour, and we traded goofy doodles about funny things that happened around the studio, in-jokes and other silly stuff, and I joined in all these shenanigans as [READ MORE…]
These days, many artists (even those still in school) have their own web-sites, with links to artists who have influenced them. Hop-scotching around the internet from site to site has been a great source of inspiration for me in recent years. You can see links to artists that I admire on my LINKS page, but some of those who have [READ MORE…]
I just heard some very bad news this morning. Joe Ranft, the original, and many would say the best, “Head of Story” died yesterday in a car accident. It is really very sad indeed. Many of the best animated films of the last few decades bear his stamp. The NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS and TOY STORY, to name some obvious examples. [READ MORE…]