Mouse in the House

This little guy was inspired by some recent podcasts over at Art & Story Supreme.  Kevin Cross and Mark Rudolph have been discussing their love for the "cartoon modern" style of 1950's animation and design.  It is a style that uses simple shapes and as few lines as possible.  It is much harder to pull off than it sounds!  It is easy to "hide" a bad drawing in lots of lines and shading.  There is no place to hide in the cartoon modern style. 

Huck Finn / Chris Oatley's Artcast

I listen to a ton of podcasts. I have links for some of my favorite art related podcasts in the column to the right under "cool places". Art & Story, Escape from Illustration Island, Ninja Mountain, and Big Illustration Party Time are all great. I'm thankful for all the time and effort the hosts put into these shows. They are entertaining, informative, and inspiring and make the day job go a little faster and feel more productive.

Chris Oatley's Artcast is really great. He has a down-to-earth personality, and an inclusive, genuinely positive attitude. He is building a community of like-minded people through his blog, podcast, and other networking sites. About a month ago, he posted his first assignment.

The assignment consisted of designing a character that combined classic literature with horror. I had a lot of fun playing around with the concept, (I was close to settling on a vampire/Piggy from Lord of the Flies) when the combo of Gillman/Huckleberry Finn crossed my mind. Get it?It's an obvious pun, and I won't be surprised if other Huck Finns show up. (I am excited to see the rest of the submissions!) I wanted my design to have the look and feel of a classic 1950's era Looney Toon, which I think are some of the funniest cartoons of all time.

Part of the assignment was to call the listener line and leave a message about the piece, which I did. Dorkily. Oh well.

I Summon the Pudding Man!: A Post About Context

Sleep and work - You're the WORST! But I need you both -for now. I wish that there was some magical being that granted wishes. I would wish for time. Instead, all I get is the Pudding Man pictured above. He watches me while I sleep and while I work and it's really creeping me out. I can't complain too much because I'm lucky in so many ways. I just wish my time didn't start after 10:00 pm. No work on C.O.W. 151. grrrrr


Speaking of creepy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvkhvUzYKEI
Speaking of recut movie trailers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmkVWuP_sO0

One thing that helps me get through the work day is listening to podcasts. I subscribe to alot of them (they're free!) and I've put links for some of the art related ones in the Cool Places column. Listening to Artcasts help me to stay focused on art even when I can't physically pull out a sheet of paper or pull up a file that I've been working on. They focus on tips and techniques, business and networking, tools and tech, inspiration and so much more.

Some of my favorite non-art related podcasts are:
Horror Etc. http://www.horroretc.com/ Horror Movies
Anything Ghost http://anythingghost.libsyn.com/ "true" ghost stories
Hometown Tales http://hometowntales.blogspot.com/ Tall Tales and Urban Legends
Pseudopod http://pseudopod.org/ Original Horror Fiction
Just One More Book http://www.justonemorebook.com/ All aspects of children's books
Skeptoid http://skeptoid.com/ Critical look at pseudoscience and scams