Cartoon Funland Mixer!

Hey cartoon heads!
It's been a very long time since I've posted anything. Things have been super busy with fatherhood, and directing/co-producing my animated Halloween special MONSTROVILLE.

I've also been organizing Cartoon Funland's first official animation community mixer at the famous N. Hollywood based audio post production house Salami Studios on Thursday June 25th from 7:30pm-10pm.

Sponsors include Animation Magazine and Hansen's Natural. There will also be free copies of Animation Magazine, fun giveaway's, and gourmet catering by A Chef for All Seasons.

If you're an artist, animator, director, producer, voice actor, writer etc., interested in attending, and being added to the guest list drop me email at vonkreep1313@yahoo.com.

Hope to see you there!
Von Kreep

Super* MARKET- MARCH SHOW AT MELTDOWN!

Hey animation & comic book nerds!
A few day's ago I recieved an email from Gaston, owner of Meltdown Comics &
Collectibles in Hollywood. Their quarterly "Super* MARKET SHOW" event that brings comic book creators and publishers together with fans is a the end of this month.

This show will focus on comic book makers who work in the animation industry. It's on
Sunday, March 30th, 2008 from 12noon-6pm at Meltdown 7522 Sunset Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90046. It's free to get in, there's going to be lots of exhibitors, and booze!
There's still some table space left ($35.00 a 6 ft table.) if you're an animation artist and are interested in becoming an exhibitor at this March show. But they warned me that time is short!


If you would like to book your space, or need more info visit Meltdown Comics
to contact them directly. They also have a MYSPACE page you can check out!

Chris Battle, Confessions of a Animation Monkey

Over the last year or so I've been fortunate enough to know television animation character designer Chris Battle. Chris is one of those cool down-to-earth guys and I've admired his work for a long time. I’ve wanted to pick his brain for awhile now and recently he took the time out to answer some of my questions.

Enjoy!

Cartoon Funland: Tell us about yourself—who you are, etc.?

Chris Battle: I'm Chris Battle and I'm a Character Designer working in television animation.

Cartoon Funland: What made you become a Character Designer?

Chris Battle: A lifetime of drawing combined with a lifelong love of cartoons, comic books, and comic strips collided with the 90's animation boom and I wound up with an 8-year old's dream job.

Cartoon Funland: What sort of things (art, cartoons, movies, music, books) gives you inspiration or are you influenced by?

Chris Battle: Cartoons, comic books, film, video games, graphic design, toys, urban vinyl, artist blogs and sites ... everything! Inspiration is everywhere.

Cartoon Funland: How do you go about designing a character—what's the process, from beginning to end?


Chris Battle: Usually it starts with a script or outline and a discussion with the Director about what they want for the character. Then you do some thumbnails and character exploration. Depending on the Director/Supervising Artist's reaction, you might move forward to a final design or back to the drawing board. After that, you'll draw turnarounds and assorted poses. Then it goes off to a Clean-Up and Color Key, where it becomes a "real" character ready to be animated.


Cartoon Funland: What techniques and programs do you use when creating?

Chris Battle: Post-It Notes are my favorite medium these days. After that, Photoshop is a must.



Cartoon Funland: How did you get involved with Rob Zombie's THE HAUNTED WORLD OF EL SUPERBEASTO? What was the experience like, how much freedom did you have, what sort of things did you look at for inspiration, and what where your favorite characters to work on?

Chris Battle: After the usual end-of-season layoffs, it was time to find a new job. I heard some of my of my pals from my POWERPUFF GIRLS/SAMURAI JACK days were working on something cool and gave them a call. After meeting with the Director and Producer, they dug my stuff and my friends' recommendations did the rest.

I had a surprising amount of freedom on ESB. With a whole world of monsters and ghouls to populate, they just let me go wild and I had a lot of fun doing it.

For inspiration, we always looked to old monster movies to get the details right. Be on the lookout for cameos by your favorite creeps when it finally comes out. As for my favorites, I can't say who they are, 'cause we still can't talk about specifics before it's released!

Cartoon Funland: You recently wrapped up work on THE MIGHTY B over at Nick. What's that like?

It was tough!! All first seasons are usually crazy, since you're creating everything from scratch. I'm curretly back at Cartoon Network, working on something cool that I'm not sure I can talk about yet.

Cartoon Funland: What's your favorite project to date and why?


Chris Battle: Without a doubt, my 7-year stretch at Hanna-Barbera/Cartoon Network, where I worked on DEXTER'S LABORATORY, POWERPUFF GIRLS, and SAMURAI JACK. Truly amazing shows that I'm personally very proud to have been a part of, working alongside some of the greatest talent this industry has to offer, who I'm now happy to call my friends.


Cartoon Funland: Do you have any personal projects that you would like to work on?

Chris Battle: Cool shows with good pals that I hope will happen one day if the network execs say "yes."

Cartoon Funland: What is it about being involved in art shows that you like?

Chris Battle: It's great to be able to see everyone's personal stuff that they do in their off time ... even better to have your stuff hanging up next to theirs! Plus, it's always a good excuse for a party.

Cartoon Funland: What are your favorite cartoons when it comes to style, art direction, writing, etc.?

Chris Battle: I mainly respond to everything with a strong visual style that is, above all else, entertaining: EL TIGRE, CHOWDER, FOSTER'S, SPONGEBOB, MY LIFE AS A TEENAGE ROBOT, Genndy's CLONE WARS, all of Warner Bros.' DC superheroes shows (the Bruce Timm-verse, TEEN TITANS, THE BATMAN, etc). Hiyao Miyazaki is an animation god. As for lifetime favorites, ya can't beat Looney Tunes. I also have a soft spot for early Hanna-Barbera (Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, etc.).

Cartoon Funland: For those aspiring artists out there, what sort of advice can you give them?

Chris Battle: You gotta make a living somehow, so you might as well make it doing something you love, right? Keep drawing/painting/sculpting/animating. Learn the basics, hone your skills, and then get it out there ... be it on a blog or portfolio site like deviantART, or YouTube, or a self-published 'zine. Keep at it!! If you want it bad enough, work for it. It's definitely worth it.

For more of Chris's character designs and Post-It Note art please visit his blog Chris Battle Illustration!

Joe Orrantia Art Show!

Hey kiddies!
My new pal animation artist Joe Orrantia and his wife Jen Calbi are having a group art show called "Selections from the Offices of The J4 Workshop" at Monkeyhouse Toys & Art Gallery March 22nd-April 6th 2008. The opening reception is this coming Saturday March 22nd from 4-8pm.

If you're free, stop on by and check out all of their out of this world visual goodies!

Be sure to visit Joe's blog Cosmonuts for more info, and to see more of his artwork!

The Wonderful Wacky World of Chris Garbutt

Recently, I spoke with London-based artist Chris Garbutt, known for his stylized character designs and background work on the French produced animated series Robotboy. Enjoy this first of many Cartoon Funland interviews!

Von Kreep

Cartoon Funland: Can you tell us about yourself? Who you are you etc.?

Chris Garbutt: I was raised by wild Guinea Pigs in the tropical jungles of Yorkshire in the North of England. I ran away to London in 1999 seeking fame and fortune drawing funny pictures with my fellow guff peddler Dave Needham. I made my own pilot with Dave, Good Kid Bad Kid for the Cartoon Network back in 2002, and a couple of years later, art directed the first season of CN’s Robotboy in Paris, France, again alongside Dave. I’ve also bandied my wares on a variety of projects from Mr. Bean the Animated Series and Stressed Eric to cartoon pop-band the Gorillaz. More recently I spent a year working for Mike Moon at Disney TV L.A. in their Development Department. I’m currently working at the Cartoon Network, London, in their new Development Studio. This involves writing, designing, storyboarding and putting together the whole package for new TV shows to be pitched and hopefully get picked up! I also masquerade as an illustrator doing kids books, editorial, advertising and anything that allows me to pollute the world with my silly doodles.
Cartoon Funland: What made you become an animation artist?

Chris Garbutt: I fell in love with animation after watching Looney Tunes, Tex Avery, Disney, Tom and Jerry and numerous other Hanna-Barbera creations. Then Ren & Stimpy, The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter’s Lab and The Simpsons inspired me to try and do it myself. I’ve always doodled comics and cartoons since I was very young and it was all I ever wanted to do.

Cartoon Funland: What sort of things (art, cartoons, movies, music, books) give you inspiration or are you influenced by?

Chris Garbutt: Cartoons, art, books, films, TV, music, places … pretty much anything, really. I like to keep my eyes and ears open and consume all there is on offer.

Cartoon Funland: How do you go about designing a character and a background? What's the process from beginning to end?

Chris Garbutt: I generally start with a scribbly rough, doodling on whatever’s at hand. Then I scan it in and goof around with it in the computer. We’ve got Cintiqs at work too so I’ve been playing with them, drawing directly into the computer. It’s fun messing around with the different brushes. At the end of the day, there isn’t really a practical set-in-stone process that I always follow, but one thing that is, and always should be, at the forefront of the mind when designing characters or backgrounds is the story. It is important for it to look good BUT it’s all about serving the story.

Cartoon Funland: When it comes to designing a character or creating a background which one is your favorite and why?


Chris Garbutt: They’re both great fun, I don’t really prefer one over the other. It’s best when you have the opportunity to do both in tandem because each element should always be designed in close consideration with the other.

Cartoon Funland: What techniques do you use when creating artwork? Chris Garbutt: Pens, pencils, Post-its, a tongue sticking out, blood, sweat, tears and beer.

Cartoon Funland: How did the Flash pilot for Good Kid Bad Kid that your and Dave Needham made for the Cartoon Network come about?

Chris Garbutt: I came up with the characters back in 1999 and put together a bunch of designs and a test piece of animation. Then I moved to London later that year and Dave Needham and I managed to get ourselves into the Cartoon Network to pitch a few ideas, GKBK being one of them. Nothing much happened for a few years until a development executive, Daniel Lennard, got in touch, expressing an interest in GKBK. We were paired up with some writers, made a four minute flash pilot at Richard Purdum Productions in London with some very talented animators and put together a bible. Unfortunately it didn’t go any further but it was a great experience.

Cartoon Funland: Can you tell me about your pitches? What was the process like?

Chris Garbutt: The pitching process that we did for the last round of shows at CN was to first of all put together a mini bible introducing the show and the characters. This would involve a handful of rough visuals, a handful of story synopses and one worked-up story outline about three pages long. Then once one of those projects is picked up for further development we put together a full color bible with a much more fleshed out description of the show and characters and about six story synopses, hopefully showing how the show could potentially work over 52 episodes. We also put together an 11 minute super-animatic from the story outline. It’s quite a bit more advanced than a production animatic with recorded dialogue, scored music, sound effects, limited to full animation and on some occasions, fully realized color segments. Once finished, all of this is paraded in front of the relevant bigwig-decision-makers and its future is determined! I’m constantly learning the process of pitching and the shiniest pearl of wisdom I’ve unearthed so far (and it’s really the most obvious) is the importance of creating interesting, lovable characters and strong funny stories. Fancy designs don’t mean anything unless you have those elements sorted out first.
Cartoon Funland: What's your favorite project or projects to date and why?

Chris Garbutt: It would probably be Robotboy because the whole experience was such a challenge. I was working in a completely different country, surrounded by a different language and culture. And being one of the Art Directors gave me the chance to lead a team of really talented French artists. It was also great to work with the Director, Charlie Bean, and learn from all his experience working on incredible projects such as Ren & Stimpy, Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack and Dexter’s.

Cartoon Funland: Do you have any personal projects that you’re currently working on?

Chris Garbutt: There's a bunch of TV series stuff I’m developing with the Cartoon Network. But unfortunately I can’t really talk about them because it’s all in development and I’m probably not allowed, sorry. Cartoon Funland: What are your favorite cartoons (film & TV) when it comes to style, art direction, writing, etc.?

Chris Garbutt: That’s a difficult one, there’s so much out there. I’ve always loved Looney Tunes and Tex Avery for their pure energy and silliness (and they’re all so beautiful to look at too). Pretty much everything Ward Kimball touched also has that appeal. And of course Ren & Stimpy, Powerpuff, Dexter’s and Samurai Jack were all a revelation in fun cartoony storytelling and beautifully stylized visuals. Pixar has brought back quality to the big screen and watching Brad Bird and his team is a masterclass in storytelling. Then there’s Studio Ghibli, Sponge Bob, The Simpsons, Hanna-Barbera, South Park, Chorlton and the Wheelies and anything that falls out of the geniusly retarded mind of Aaron Springer … the list goes on. Also, more recently, Pendleton Ward's Adventure Time and C. H. Greenblatt’s Chowder are both great fun, Brad Neely's work is shit-your-pants funny and keep an eye out for Thurop Van Orman's Flapjack, it's fantastic!

Cartoon Funland: For those aspiring artists out there, what sort of advice can you give them?

Chris Garbutt: Learn to draw, learn to write and never stop learning. Draw all the time and write all the time. Run into the world, observe everything, lap it all up and then shout about it in your own voice.

To see more of Chris's work, visit his blog Visual Phooey right now!

Powerpuff Girls Anniversary

The 10 Anniversary of Craig McCracken's Powerpuff Girls is coming up this year, and Chris Battle just posted this awesome Post-it Note art on his blog.

Holy crap, I'm starting to feel like an old fart.

Creepy Crawlers Invade Nucleus!

Last night was the opening for A Band of Bugs show at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, CA.
The show features some amazing traditional paintings, and sculptures by artists including; Pixar's Lou Romano & Don Shank, Alex Kirwan, Megan Brain, Amanda Visell, and Anna Chambers.

I included above a neato snap shot of my fiancee Kup Kake, and myself with Mr. Romano.
Thanks again Lou, it was a pleasure finally getting a chance to meet you!





If you didn't get a chance to see the show, it'll be on display until March 3rd.