BLOGGED ARTERY

Halton Blues Society Logo!

2007-06-27T06:38:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts....lot has changed in my life since my last post, but it don't mean I haven't still been busy! I just finished a major logo design for the 'Halton Blues Society'. It's been getting alot of exposure since I completed it, and I was sitting at the traffic lights at the Burlington mall last week, just staring off into space, when I realized I was staring right at this logo on a huge banner hanging across the street from me! HA!

As a designer it's always neat when you see your work turn up in different places! Love when that happens...

Anyways...the idea of this logo was that since many Blues artists name their guitars after women ( BB KING - 'Lucille'etc) the logo should reflect that. It is half guitar and half a woman's head and torso, with her hair flowing down into guitar strings. I feel it looks good, and reads from as distance....this was proven as I said earlier, when I saw it from across the street on a banner!

Here's some merch that we may start selling at some of the festivals we are supporting ( Jeff Healy, Colin James are a few of the bands we're supporting this summer!)

Cheers,

Darin

Star Trek Magazine Issue # 3- Features Darin Bristow's 'Kirk' design

2006-12-26T15:52:00.000-08:00

Folks....this is the LAST posting about my William Shatner 'Eek: the Cat' character design from 1994- I PROMISE!

But hold on...don't go back to ebay just yet...I have REASON to be posting about it! On Newstands today, you will find the official 'Star Trek' fan magazine. In it you will find an entire page devoted to my story of how I finally got Shatner to sign it! It's pretty cool because they actually printed my entire blog posting from back in September '06 and my 'Commander Bzerk' design in full colour AND the 40th anniversary poster I made. Check it out.

***NOTE: This will be the FINAL Shatner Design posting! I've pretty much milked that 12 year old design for all it's worth!

Happy New Year All!

Darin

FLASHBACK FRIDAY!

2006-11-03T18:16:00.000-08:00

Here's a few oldie but goodie Designs I did waaaaaaaaay back in 1996. Hard to belive I've been in this racket for this long! Enjoy!

Q: How are hottie actress Rachel McAdams and I connected?

2006-10-29T11:50:00.000-08:00

A: We are both from London Ontario, and both of us were 2005 Education Week 'Inspiring Excellence' Award winners. Both of our respective schools honoured us with a bronzed medal in recognition of our sucesses.

Here is he actual info I have copied from the site:

Education Week has traditionally been an opportunity to celebrate successes in our schools and in public education. This year, we are taking the opportunity to recognize individuals who exemplify our theme of "Inspiring Excellence". As part of our celebration, schools were asked to identify and honour a past graduate or former staff member and prepare a poster highlighting that individual's accomplishments. The work from schools across our district will be displayed in the Education Centre Atrium during the week of May 2nd - 6th. This exhibit represents a diverse cross-section of outstanding individuals from a variety of fields (business, education, the arts, health, sports, politics, science, community service, etc.).

Here's my poster, and Ms. Rachel McAdams' poster beneath that:

Lord Nelson Public School
Darin Bristow

Central Elgin Collegiate Institute
Rachel McAdams

I'd like to thank my former teachers for this chosing me for this award, and I gladly accept it with pride!

I can FINALLY talk about it! RUBY GLOOM!

2006-10-16T06:50:00.000-07:00

RUBY GLOOM IS HERE!

Friday, October the 13th was the North American premier of "Ruby Gloom", the latest Animated TV series in which I am working on.

It's regular timeslot will be Sunday morning's at 11 a.m. on YTV

This show has been a blast to work on from the very start. I worked on it first as a 3D Promo, and now I am glad to be continuing my work on it serving as the Supervising Technical Director.

We have an amazingly talented crew aboard and the final product sure reflects it.

Check out some of the line-up we've got goin behind the curtain:

Robin Budd ("Gerald McBoing Boing", "Beetlejuice") - Director
Merle Anne Ridley ( "Babar", "Pippi Longstocking" )- Creative Producer
Melissa Graham ( "6Teen", "Jacob Two-Two" ) - Production Co-ordinator
Adrian Thatcher ( "6teen", "Jungle book2" )- Art Director
Brad Coombs ( "6Teen", "Pearl Jam Video: Do the Evolution" ) - Design Supervisor
Kevin Micallef ( "Osmosis Jones", "Little Mermaid 2" ) - Animation Director
Luis Lopez ( "Miss Spider", " Dr.Dolittle" )- Senior Technical Producer
Steve Whitehouse ( "Sam & Max", "Family Dog" ) - Board Artist
Mike Smukavic ( "Ace Ventura", "Sam & Max" ) - Board Artist
Doug Thoms ( "My Dad the Rockstar", " Ace Ventura" ) - Board Artist

AND check this out:

Charlie Bonafacio ("Mulan", "FernGully", Sheridan Animation prof. extraordinaire)- Animator

So give Ruby Gloom, Skullboy, Doom Kitty,Misery, and the rest of the zany cast a visit!

For more info on Ruby Gloom, please visit:

www.ytv.com

http://www.rubygloomtv.com/

Cheers,
D

Charlie Chaplin: Photoshop fun

2006-10-15T11:32:00.000-07:00

It's a Sunday afternoon...feeling kinda lazy...I grabbed a coffee and was reading about the early days of Hollywood. Been on this "old school" kick as of late...watchin alot of Stooges, Buster Keaton, Laurel & Hardy, and Marx Bros.
My friend and fellow old-Hollywood historian buff, Kevin Micallef, loaned me some of his really cool DVD's on the silent era comedians and it's been an education.

Chaplin is Kevin's all time hero, and after rewatching " the Great Dictator", he rightly should be. Amazing film! Here's a Chaplin photoshop tribute done in Photoshop using a neat effect that constructs the contrast of the photo by using 1000's of tiny happy-faces! Perfect idea to use for a vaudville king I thought!

Enjoy!

BETCHA DIDN'T KNOW: W.C.Fields and Charlie Chaplin, the 2 biggest ( and wealthiest) vaudeville stars of their time, both died on Xmas day. Both passed away in 1946 and 1977 respectively.

THE ART OF BLOGGED ARTERY: VOLUME 1

2006-10-05T08:07:00.000-07:00

Coming soon...

Groucho Marx!

2006-09-20T06:30:00.000-07:00

"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception."
-Groucho Marx

"Go, and never darken my towels again."
-Groucho Marx

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. "
-Groucho Marx

"Women should be obscene and not heard."
-Groucho Marx

"Military justice is to justice what military music is to music."
-Groucho Marx

"Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others."
-Groucho Marx

BETCHA DIDN'T KNOW: Groucho died three days after Elvis Presley. Unfortunately, due to the furor over the former's death, the media paid little attention to the passing of this comic genius.

3 Stooges!

2006-09-14T07:58:00.000-07:00

I've always liked the 3 Stooges.... but I mean, who doesn't?? To not like the Stooges is to not have a sense of humour! In 1982 I did my Grade 4 speech on the biography and life of Moe Howard!?? Who does that at age 9??

Those comedy teams of Abbott and Costello, the Marx Bros., The 3 Stooges, Chaplin, and Buster Keaton we're incredible. From an era long past, and duly missed, for our current generations don't really have any comedy teams that came close to these icons.

Anyways, here's a design I did of some of my childhood heroes....done in the style of UPA! I love that clean, crisp, and graphic look of those UPA toons so I thought I'd design them that way. I had so much fun I may do a series of vaudeville legends....next up? Abbott and Costello!

Enjoy!

BETCHA DIDN'T KNOW: Moe's wife, Helen Schonberger, was a cousin of Harry Houdini.

Some colour fun...

2006-09-08T08:12:00.000-07:00

I was just fooling about with a character design in photoshop and one thing I am bad at is not knowing when to stop screwing about with colour choices! I have never coloured up something and said to myself " THAT's IT! THOSE ARE THE BEST COLOURS FOR THIS DESIGN!" I always tweak...and tweak...and tweak...

What do you think?

New Series Idea...

2006-09-06T04:30:00.000-07:00

My '40 Years of Star Trek' poster design.

2006-09-04T11:26:00.000-07:00

I made this and got the famous duo to sign this as well. I'll never forget that Shatner wore a silk shirt just as pink as this poster!

D

Full Circle...An Essay on Perserverance and William Shatner!

2006-09-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

Here's a neat story that kind of brings me full circle in my career. There's a bit of a lengthy set-up to this story so please bear with me.

During my first real animation job as a junior Prop Designer at Nelvana on the 1994-1995 season on 'Eek! the Cat', William Shatner did a guest voice playing himself. The character was named " Commander Bzerk " but it was basically William Shatner Spoofing Capt. Kirk from STAR TREK.

When William Shatner agreed to do Commander Bzerk's voice, he said he would only do it IF he could approve the design of his character. This is usually unheard of as 'Eek!' would regularily have celebrity guests, but usually our Senior Designer would just design the character, get the Director to approve it, and then that would be it! However, Shatner wanted full approval so he asked our whole Design team to take a stab at designing Commander Bzerk! Usually we have just one Character Design artist per show, but our Producer, on Shatner's insistance, had us all take a stab at designing 'Bzerk'. It sounded fun. But as the newly-hired, low man on the totem pole, I knew my design would not be any match for the powerhouse Designer's we had on the team. I KNEW that in order to win, my design would have to have some sort of personal connection to Shatner's life or career in order to stick in his head long enough for him to pick it.

So, being a Star Trek fan, I dug out and re-read a few books I had on Shatner and Star Trek. In one Star Trek book I had found at a garage sale as a kid, I discovered that when Shatner was very young and going to acting school in Ottawa, he was so poor all he could afford was the fruit salad from a department store in Ottawa called "Kresge's". Kresge's was a chain of department stores in Canada that had a diner in the center of the store so you could shop and have lunch. 'Kresge's' turned into 'WoolWorth's' in the early 1970's, then to 'Woolco' in the late 70's, then it became what we all know as 'Walmart'. Apparently Shatner was so poor, he ate this fruit salad everyday for like 4 years and if he " ever see's that damn Kresge's fruit salad ever again I get a violent reaction!".

*NOTE: (For Star Trek fans, the actual book I am referring to is called " Making Star Trek" by Stephen E. Whitfield. It is regarded as one of the most important Star Trek books ever written, and this piece of info about Shatner appears on page 219!)

THAT WAS IT!! That was the 'thing' I needed to incorporate into my design!! THAT WAS THE LITTLE PIECE OF INFO THAT WOULD SET MINE APART! I had never seen that info on Shatner ever printed anywhere again! How many people besides me and William Shatner would even KNOW THIS?! I knew I would not win on the strength of my design alone, but my design along with this personal-piece of info, IT HAD TO WORK!!

The next day, the whole design team got together to view all the designs....I had worked all night perfecting my 'secret weapon'. It was Commander Bzerk holding a plate with a sign in it reading: KRESGE'S FRUIT SALAD! When we laid them all out to view, one of my best friends on the crew, Steve Daye (a helluva Designer in his own right), saw mine and asked what " Kresge's fruit salad" meant. I bullshitted some sort of an answer to him, but he knew me better. He knew it was some sort of a ploy. Before we faxed all the designs to Shatner's people I remember Steve saying " Damn him....Darin's up to something sneaky...and knowing him it will work!"

HE WAS RIGHT

The next day we recieved a fax from Shatner's people that read:

"Mr. Shatner likes the design with the fruit salad!"

IT WORKED!...and Steve didn't talk to me for a week!

I tried with the help of our Producer to get the design autographed by Shatner but no such luck. He was on to bigger and better things. Even when I found out that Mr. Shatner was the Guest Speaker at my 1999 Sheridan Animation Graduation ceremony I tried to get the design signed, but AGAIN no luck. For 12 years I have had this fax and Design of 'Commander Bzerk' sitting around gathering dust in my portfolio...until now...

Ok...now fast forward to present day. 12 years later...Sunday Sept.3rd 2006. Toronto Fan Expo and the 40th Anniversary of Star Trek. William Shatner and Leaonard Nimoy are both showing up to sign autographs for fans...

TAKE A GUESS AS TO WHAT ONE MR. WILLIAM SHATNER WAS GONNA SIGN FOR ME???????

Need I say more! Nelvana's a great company!

2006-08-02T07:37:00.000-07:00

They paid for all our rehearsal time as well! Here's a pic courtesy of Leanna Gosse!

Little off topic....but hey...music is an art form right?

2006-08-01T17:48:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday, July 27th, I got to be Eddie Van Darin for the day! Nelvana held it's 2nd annual 'Nelvanastock' for the second time and I got to show off all my guitar chops on a boat that toured the Toronto harbour filled with 350+ people.
We drank, we danced, we partied, and we jammed like never before!

Here's the last photo as we took the final piece of equipment off the boat after 4 hour concert. My Kramer '5150' guitar kicked and screamed just as I had practiced for weeks prior...truly one of the most memorable experiences of my life....a high like no other!!

Also...a close-up shot of my custom Eddie Van Halen Kramer '5150' replica that I played that day.

Enjoy!

NOT DEAD!....just in production!

2006-06-15T05:29:00.000-07:00

Ok....sorry for the LONG gap between posts! I've been knee deep in Ruby Gloom and just haven't had the time to do ANY extra work. Wait till you see this show when it comes out. Gonna blow the lid off most 2D digital shows. Looks great. The team that we have assembled is like no other. STACKED!

Anyways....I'm back and will try and keep the posts coming. Here's a BG I did for some Development work on the side. It's a game show set for a fictitious TV show called " Win the Dough...or Git the Lard". Hosted by Walt ButtWalt. On this show, when contestants win, they get the fabulous prizes...when the lose....the studio audience goes wild and chants " GIT THE LARD", where then the loser does their walk of shame to the spot where buckets of lard is dumped on them and they are ridiculed! I thought it was a funny idea and whipped up this BG design! Enjoy, and bring on any comments you may have! Thanks to everyone who emailed me while I was away encouraging me to get to work!

Rhythm & Hues...Dr. Dolittle 2

2006-03-06T07:47:00.000-08:00

I found a pic of some film FX I did on the film Dr. Dolittle 2, and thought it would be cool to show and explain the process of replacing animal's mouths digitally. In 2001 I worked in L.A. for a very pretigious film FX company called Rhythm and Hues. They are a great company who treats their staff amazingly well. I really enjoyed my time on this film, and I did about 26 shots on this project in a department called 'Matchmove'. As a Matchmover, we were supplied the raw filmed footage and then, with the corresponding 3D model, we track the motion of the 3D model frame by frame, to the exact motion of what was in the footage. In this case it was a racoon who was going to be talking to Eddie Murphy who was filmed at a previous date and inserted digitally in post. So, a frame at a time, I would take 'marker nodes' in the 3D software and set them on the live action racoon's face based on areas of high contrast. Then flip the frames to see if they would stick, or track to the motion of the racoon. After setting up about 10-12 decent marker nodes, I would then align the 3D model of the racoon's face to the same position as the live-action racoon on frame one, move my marker nodes until they intersected the model I had placed over, and BOOM!...hopefully it would be a perfect match and then the model's mouth could then be animated to the voice. VERY time consuming, and patience-developing work! So next time you see a movie where an actor is added to a 3D set, and his feet slip on the ground, or a shot where an animal talks and the mouth seems to jitter or not look attached properly, this is an example of BAD tracking! The above pic is an example of what you would see in the software as you add markers and fit the model over the live action plate. Top pic, final comp frame with fake mouth...bottom pic, the 3D model.

6th Helping of 3D...Bad guy's TOW TRUCK

2006-03-02T12:32:00.000-08:00

Here's a fun little "2.5D" model I did for a 3D special called "The Santa Cluas Brothers". I call it "2.5D" 'cause it's a 3D Maya model that's very 2D in design style compared to the other realisitc models I have posted here. I really liked that special because I got to model most of the main vehicle models and I even did the logo as well. I have done quite a few logo's over the years, but this one still came out great in terms of working the theme of the show into the words. Enjoy!

5th helping of 3D...BEYBLADE GRIFFOLYON!

2006-02-24T15:43:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the long drought of recent posts... I've been crazy busy! I'm back now, and I thought I'd kick out this Maya model I did for BeyBlade's final end credits where you see each of the 2D characters in 3D rotating. BeyBlade was a huge hit for Nelvana, and this model was really fun to do. I had fun doing it and I really think I found a useful way of creating the look of feathers on his chest...instead of modelling it, I used a fractal bump map that I blurred and tweaked, that when applied, looked just like feathers and rendered fast! Anyways....please keep coming back as I will be adding more stuff soon! Thanks to everyone who was asking me when I would post again, you lit the fire beneath my butt!

Throwback Thursday! A Special Tribute to SMOOK!

2006-02-09T06:25:00.000-08:00

Ok...first off I apologize for the lack of posts...been an insane month! Running 2 different series can be a nightmare! Anyways...I was diggin thru some old design binders of mine on the weekend and came across a whole whack of super-quick post-it sketches by my friend Smook! ( Red Dot Blog). Back in 1997, I was a designer on 'Sam & Max', and Smook was our board artist. Whenever he handed in a board it would contain quick post-it sketches of me. One...then two...then 10...eventually there were complete storylines!! It was hilarious/aggravating! This went on for months until, apparently, I was having a bad day and told him to "draw someone else!" ! Instead of stopping and following my advice, Smook made mt outrage the next storyline in his thumbnails! HAHAHAH. From then on the post-its were always super-fast thumbnails of me gettin angry, blowing up etc etc, and then Mike quitting doing boards. It was hilarious! This post above is an excerpt from a storyline of about 50 post-its of me exploding, Smook quitting boards, and then years later I see him on the street...a shattered man! I know after 10 years Mike will hate me for posting these, but I just had to share them with everyone. They are so loose and quick, and always made me laugh! Don't ever change Smook! ( even though I now have a complex because of you! )

4th Helping of 3D! - MORE NERDLORE!

2006-01-24T05:45:00.000-08:00

Here is another model I did in preparation for a job at Rhythm and Hues in 2001. It actually helped land me an interview, which in turn got me a gig there. Lotta fun and a great place to work. Anyhow, with this model I wanted to design something reminiscent of the famous '2001: A Space Odyssey' ship. Loved that movie as a kid so I thought I'd take a crack at it. I was never truly happy with this model. I ran outta time with it to be honest, and always felt like it was about 80% there. Not sure what else I would have done to enhance or add to it, but a model like this requires about 3 or 4 days of patience due to the amount of detail and geometry. I don't know about you, but most things I design or draw lose my attention if I don't get my initial thought or inspiration out on paper fast. A model like this simply needs more work in terms of mentally 'making' yourself be motivated to push and revisit it...so after 3 days I left it as you see it. Not one of my best...but I thought worth a peek.

Photoshop Fun - Cartoony tree test...

2006-01-23T05:28:00.000-08:00

I woke up yesterday wanting to draw, and thought I'd sketch some tree designs. Dunno why...just felt like doing some tree design tests. Then, after drawing for about 1/2 an hour, I wanted to go more graphic, in terms of style, so I took it to photoshop. I basically treated the tree as a prop. I see Locations designs as basically ' a box with a bunch of prop designs in 'em'! I figure if you can draw props well...then how can you not be a good location designer? I dunno...just my monday morning opinion! Enjoy!

Avocado Boy One sheet Ad.

2006-01-13T13:45:00.000-08:00

An oldie but a goodie...found this as I was going thru some old disc's of mine. Ronnie Ritlin (left) is based on Chris Farley. I had hoped that if this show ever got produced we could get him for the voice, but then he unexpectedly died!!?! Love his movies...

Third helping of 3D...

2006-01-12T13:28:00.000-08:00

As much as I love the graphic cartoony stuff, I have a side of me that loves realistic styles too. But only within Maya. It's about slowing down and paying attention to the smallest of details. Here are a couple examples of some realistic models that I modelled and textured in Maya, for Nelvana's Miss Spider special. I painted all the texture maps in photoshop. No one knows this, but the images in the barn windows is a photo of my room! Technology rules! Copyright Nelvana Ltd.

My Influences...Ken Adams- the 007 designer!

2006-01-09T19:58:00.000-08:00

Not many people know this about me, but I am a HUGE James Bond fan. As a kid I was heavily influenced by 007 in many ways. Now as an adult, I am beginning to recognize just how huge that influence really was. Ken Adams was the production designer on the early Bond films, and really established the look of the series. I have studied his work very closely, and really do try to follow his design methods when it comes to my animation location designs. His style was as follows : Take grandiose-larger-than-life basic shapes, add sweeping archs and angles, a main source of light, great use of shadows, then base it around an oversized animatable main object, usually centre field, within a sparsely detailed stage like setting. A prime example of his work was Blofeld's secret rocket launch base in hollowed out volcano, as seen in " You Only Live Twice". Another great set, in which he was nominated for an OSCAR, was his Liparus Tanker interior set, which was 450 feet long, and housed 3 Nuclear Submarines (The Spy Who Loved Me). Nice design, with a great atmosphere. His Moonraker sets scored him another OSCAR nod for his bigger than life shuttle launch sets ( top 2 pics). Or check out his Dr.No interrogation room (above) which I VERY basic, but very bold in terms of his use of shadow. This one set itself probably influenced me more than any. Enjoy... Check out Ken Adams... it will change the way you view Bond. Now I've just given away all my secrets!

A second helping of 3D!

2006-01-05T08:45:00.000-08:00

Ok...guess since people liked my first 3D posting, here's another! This is the Rescue Heroes Firetruck I did for the 3D movie. This model is rigged to do everything! It can change into a 4x4 monster truck, raise off it's chasis, the doors open, the steering wheel controls the front wheels, the gas/brake pedals work, the body has shocks that work, AND the rear right panel opens to a fully extendable 300 ft. ladder with swivel controls!! Almost took as long to rig it as to build it! I get tired just lookin' at this damn thing!

My first 3D post!

2006-01-05T07:19:00.000-08:00

Hope I don't make this blog "Jump the Shark" by posting some of my 3D work! This is a model I did in my spare time that made it's way into a Nelvana 3D promo. Took a few weeks, as it has over 200 bolts, an engine, work landing gear, and even a detailed interior! So I guess this is where I now say " all work copyright Nelvana LTD."

the Haunting...

2005-12-29T11:51:00.000-08:00

Having lunch right now...thought I'd post this piece I painted after visiting Puppies and Paint's (Casey Mitchum) great blog...

Throwback Thursdays! Part 2

2005-12-29T08:21:00.000-08:00

Kinda hectic week being Xmas and all. Haven't had time to post, and here we are at Throwback Thursday again! Since I got such positive feedback on last weeks' post, I thought I'd paint up one of the other designs I did at the same time I drew the Squirrel. Waaay back in 1996. Still so hard to believe it's been that long. I guess I view my designs as children, I know the exact day and moment they were 'born', and it's hard for me to see them grow up so fast! Anyone else think like me? Or should I lay off the glue sniffing?!?!

Throwback Thursdays!

2005-12-22T08:34:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my first post of a series that I am going to call "Throwback Thursdays" . Each Thursday I will post something I did from WAY back. Whether it be from college, or as a kid, I will let it all hang out! See if I've gotten better...or WORSE! SO... I UNLEASH to YOU....."THROWBACK THURSDAYS!" Enjoy! Hate! Both! You decide! First up: a design I did TEN YEARS AGO for a series called "Angry Beavers". 1996

Ronnie Ritalin's house - Night BG design

2005-12-21T04:59:00.000-08:00

Here's a colour BG design test I whipped up. It is from the show Avocado Boy. Gonna be busy day at work today, but I had a half hour to kill before starting. I gave myself 30 mins MAX to do this. It was going to be a 'day' colour test, but at minute 27 I realized I was outta time, so with some use of layer transparencies, colour screens, and other FX in Photoshop, by minute 30 it became a 'night' test! Sparse...but I think it works!

Stream of consciousness technique...

2005-12-20T05:39:00.000-08:00

I was intrigued after visiting a friend's blog (BLAMMO) yesterday, and reading the post on the " stream of consciousness" drawing technique. It is about keeping the flow of a drawing going, and not stopping to erase or overthink a sketch. I wondered what I would come up with if I took that approach and applied it to a BG design. Here is the result I came up with. I started the BG on the left centre side of the page and just drew without thinking too much! Cool idea BLAMMO!

Another Avocado Boy BG test...

2005-12-19T12:03:00.000-08:00

I can't keep away from doing these colour tests. Here's Ronnie Ritalin's living room in all it's sunny glory!

Double O Dingo - TV series idea...

2005-12-16T07:10:00.000-08:00

Still fleshing it out...but basically it would be a homage to James Bond al la Sean Connery, done in the style of the late 60's Depatie-Freleng Pink Panther cartoons. Dingo's arch enemy is the evil 'Double-Bagit'(top right). A villian so ugly and hideous, his disguise is only a paper bag over his face! As I develop this more, I will post.

Quick daily doodle...

2005-12-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

A warm-up sketch on a crappy, cold day! This drawing comes complete with coffee stain!

Buffalo Bob!!

2005-12-15T13:16:00.000-08:00

I couldn't resist...here's Bob himself. Think Mel from the TV show "Alice"...only slower!

Bob's Buffalo Hut Interior- Close up

2005-12-15T10:02:00.000-08:00

Here's a close-up for a better look!

Avocado Boy BG: Bob's Buffalo Hut Interior

2005-12-15T09:45:00.000-08:00

A few posts back I put up an exterior BG design of 'Bob's Buffalo Hut'. It was from the TV series called "Avocado boy" I co-created with my friend, the very talented Mr. Steve Daye. After visiting his blog site yesterday and seeing his promo art for "The Manly Bee", I was inspired to say the least! I went directly home and dug out this BG I drew in 1997 and slammed it out thru Photoshop! I always wanted to colour this one, but I guess I needed to wait 9 years for the inspiration! Without further rambling...here are a few colour tests for the interior of 'Bob's Buffalo Hut'! Funny what a bottle of Shiraz, an old blues cd, and a computer can do!

World's Greatest Guitarist Series - Eddie Van Halen

2005-12-13T06:09:00.000-08:00

Here on the right is another digital illustration in the series I am doing called " The World's Greatest Guitarists". This is of Eddie Van Halen. I had the pleasure of meeting him at a 1998 autograph session. Funny story: Instead of bringing the cd for him to sign, I did this really cartoony caricature of him (drawing on the left). Eddie flipped when he saw it, then asked ME if he could have a copy. I just stood there as the KING of rock guitar asked ME if he could have one of my drawings!! Then Eddie proceeded to stand up, wave his hand, and a Warner Bros. exec in a 3 piece suit immediatley came running over with his business card for me. I will never forget this either...The KING of rock guitar looks at me and says: "Dude...this rocks! I gotta have this...can you send a copy of this drawing to this man here, and then he'll make sure I get it! THANKS MAN!" And then the photographer took our picture together. I was so stunned that in the photo, you can see I'm not even looking at the damn camera!

World's Greatest Guitarist Series - Billy Gibbons of ZZ TOP

2005-12-12T06:44:00.000-08:00

Here is a digital illustration from a series of posters called " The Worlds' Greatest Guitarists". The idea was to pick a main colour that I felt went with the guitarist, a famous quote they have been known for saying, and combine the 2. I have done other famous guitarists and will post them in future. We start with Billy because, as those of you who know me, he is my favourite guitarist and the reason I picked up the guitar way back in 1987. I had the priveledge to personally meet Mr. Gibbons this Nov. 16th and present him with a copy of this design. Upon him seeing it he drawled in a deep texas tone: " Dude...you have GOT ta surrender one of these ta ME!" I will never forget his face when I gave him his copy. Enjoy...

Various Character Designs - animals

2005-12-07T14:20:00.000-08:00

Here's a bunch of kids' colouring book style animal designs I was playin' with. Rendered up for your satisfaction!

Bumper design sketches page2

2005-12-07T10:54:00.000-08:00

Here are some more character design sketches done off the cuff with marker....gotta love drawin in marker!

Bumper design sketches...

2005-12-05T13:24:00.000-08:00

Here's a few quick designs for a TV channel, where a Boar transitions into a Ram, which is part movie camera. These were used to flesh out just how this would happen once these characters were modelled in 3D. Lotta fun...

Eek! The Cat prop sheet

2005-12-05T11:16:00.000-08:00

Man we had some laughs on this show! Here's a bunch of props I coloured up...hard to belive it's been 12 years!

Manly Bee Props 2

2005-12-02T13:11:00.000-08:00

Some more props from this show. Steve did a great job with this show.

Manly Bee Props 1

2005-12-02T13:08:00.000-08:00

Here are some super fast Manly Bee props I did for my pal Steve Daye! Love this style...fast, easy, downright sleazy!

Jimmy's wine!

2005-12-02T09:17:00.000-08:00

I told ya Garner was a class act....here's the wine he sent me as thanks!

Avocado Boy BG: Earl's house

2005-12-02T08:50:00.000-08:00

This one came out pretty close to what I saw in my noggin too. The character who lives here is an inventor named Earl who resides in a run down railcar, which at some point was a diner, and now serves as his home. It is in front of a scrapyard, which is where he finds the junk to build his crazy inventions out of. The best part is, the former restaurant was named " Early Bird"..but since some letters have burnt out...it only flashes the word "Earl"!

Avocado Boy BG: Bob's Buffalo Hut

2005-12-02T08:28:00.000-08:00

This BG is one of my favs...I love photoshop mainly because I suck at painting and photoshop allows me to QUICKLY correct any mistake I make colourwise. I think I have a *decent* eye when it comes to colour designs, but I am still learning. This BG is important to me because when I did it almost 9 years ago, it was the first one I did that came out as I saw it in my head. Many times since then I have revisited this one in Photoshop, changed things, yet keep coming back to how you see it here. Now I just leave it alone....

more Rockford book art...

2005-12-02T08:22:00.000-08:00

Did I mention how much fun this was? Oh yeah...I did...sorry.
But c'mon...Rockford is the coolest cat!

MY FIRST BOOK COVER!

2005-12-02T08:01:00.000-08:00

This was the coolest gig ever! I was hired to design the front/back covers, and all inside artwork for a 30th Anniversary book on the slickest detective show ever: " The Rockford Files". James Garner himself loved it and signed a bunch of copies for me and included 4 bottles of his personal vinyard wine called " Chateau Jimbo"! It's all downhill now...

Dan Druff and his arch nemesis Cyde Burns...

2005-12-02T07:39:00.000-08:00

Here's a different take on our friend Dan Druff, and a design of Cyde Burns. If the show was to be written in an more adult fashion, I could see it looking this way. The Beavis and Butthead 'boiling' line thing would work well for a show about a flakey sheriff living on someones head!

Series Concept 2 - Moo Thai and Lamb Chop: Ninja's for hire

2005-12-01T12:43:00.000-08:00

Still in development....I saw it as a ridiculous concept, yet drawn and written to be very serious, and overly violent. Almost a barnyard remake of Power Man and Iron Fist....more to come! YEAH BABY!

Headin West..The Headventures of Dan Druff

2005-12-01T11:50:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Chaotic Canvas!!
A showcase of design, animation and all things art! Were thoughts from my head transfer through lead! Thx for stopping by!

Our first post is a promo poster for a animated tv series about a sheriff named Dan Druff, who unbeknownst to him, lives atop a human head!