Character designer Harald Siepermann has a series of posts on his blog where he shares his character concepts from Disney's TREASURE PLANET and speaks of his ideas for various characters. Fascinating stuff. Scroll down his blog to read all the entries.
It's nice to see work by Spumco friends like Katie Rice, Wil Branca, Robert Cory and John Kricfalusi. Cory is working on SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS now, and his work is shown alongside two other SPONGEBOB contributors: Chris Mitchell and Paul Tibbitt. All three of them have some solid, twisted work in here. Also good to see NY pals like Jim Campbell and Celia Bullwinkel with their own sections, as well as contributions by other well known names like Jim Mahfood, Tomer Hanuka, James Jean and Ralph Bakshi. The whole thing totals 218 black-&-white pages, and sells for a quite affordable $12.95. You will not find a better bargain around. It's printed on-demand by Lulu.com, and the print quality rivals any printed book to be found at the bookstore. Note: I was offered a complimentary copy, but insisted on paying because I want to encourage quality artist-driven projects, and GO FOR THE GOLD is a project most worthy of support.
Here's a photo of me at the CHAPTERS bookstore in Ottawa last week, shortly before my book signing, with copies of both my new books on the shelves. I will try not to keep hyping these projects, but it's rare to have two books debut at the same time. Both THE ANIMATED MOVIE GUIDE and PINK PANTHER: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE should appear in local bookstores near you within the next few weeks - and can be ordered on Amazon.com now.
Swish! After Roy Disney Jr. fouled out with SaveDisney, he has rebounded by purchasing the Harlem Globetrotters. Yup, nothing beats buying a few black people to help a rich white businessman regain his confidence...or something like that. (via The Disney Blog)
Gabe Swarr and I first met Marc Deckter when we had a booth at the San Diego Comic-Con a few years back. When Marc whipped out his sketchbook, we were both immediately taken with the utter uniqueness of his work. Sheer genius or sheer insanity, we wondered? Often times it's one and the same. Marc's latest project, which also happens to be his USC Master's thesis, is called castleBERDskillz.com.
Marc explains the concept: "CastleBERDskillz is a secret magical world inhabited by singing birds, cautious deer and playful bears. It's an interactive environment, so you need to click around and see what you can find! There is no story - it's just a place to visit and explore." The layering of sounds and how those audio elements mesh with the visual environment is truly impressive. It may not be to everybody's taste, but if you enjoy hilarious cartooning that would make any mental institution proud, then you'll easily spend an hour or so exploring castleBERDskillz. A few navigation tips: Multiple clicks will yield different results. Press the space bar and left arrow keys for more variety. To return to the main menu, click on the 'M' on the right side of the screen.
PINK PANTHER BOOK: Ok, I think I have the answer. Apparently, according to my Pink Panther book designer at DK, the U.S. version WILL include a dvd of several DePatie Freleng cartoons.
OTTAWA FEST: Bernard Joaquin went to an Ottawa Animation Festival workshop I was a panelist on - Creating Compelling Characters - and he sketched and posted a portrait of me and co-moderator Ellen Besen on his blog. If anyone else has photos of me (or Amid) in Ottawa - please send them in.
Brew reader Greg Chenoweth writes:
Brew people (and anyone else for that matter) can order the Pink Panther book with the DVD from Amazon's Canadian website: www.amazon.ca. If you have an account set up with Amazon.com in the USA or like Amazon.co.uk in Britain, their account will work with Amazon.ca in Canada or any other Amazon.com website.I'm checking with my editors at DK to confirm if the DVD version will be on sale in the U.S. - but for now, the version with the dvd is definitely available on stores in Canada and online from the Canadian Amazon.com.
By the way, they are selling the PINK PANTHER book in Canada with a dvd of early Pink Panther cartoons attached. I know you can know order the book on Amazon.com and they will ship the book to you immediately. Does anyone out there know if the Amazon.com version has a dvd attached? The publishers told me first, a long time ago, that a dvd would be attached to the book. Months later they said it would not. I will check with DK when I get back to the states. In the meantime, I'd appreciate it if any readers can let me know if the book has shown up in local bookstores - with or without dvds.
Thanks.