Background Designs for Comedy Central

TripTank is a new animated anthology show on Comedy Central that combines an array of comedy writers, top notch voice talent, and diverse group of art styles into a half hour of animated sketch humor and weirdness. The team at Clambake Animation took on one of these animated skits "Dick Genie" written by Natalie Hazen and starring Kumail Nanjiani as Genie. For the background art I looked to bring to life a rich, fictional world for our characters to exist in, while at the same time trying to help elevate the story and humor. The background pictured below is the sleazy school janitor's closet where Billy and Genie have an encounter to discuss their plans.

Frank Drebin

A sketch tribute I did yesteray to one of my favorite characters and movie lines of ALL time. Thanks for the laughs Mr. Leslie Nielsen, you will be missed.

Survivor Russell's Hat Is On Fire

And why is his hat blazing other than the fact that Sandra threw it in the fire? Well, he's peeved...and he should be.

While watching tonight's Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains finale I sketched this image of the infamous Russell, who in my opinion is one of the more entertaining for tv contestants they've put on the show. Every Survivor finale tribal council sore losers are in full force, taking their moment on the stand often to berate those who outsmarted them with lots of overly dramatic and patronizing statements (ex. Sue "dying of thirst" monologue, Marcus's "winning at life, that is" laugher, Corinne's "crying over dead pops" speech, etc.) I like to think that the producers purposely direct them to be more confrontational then they might normally be to make for good tv, but Russell had some great moments this season that genuinely must've eaten away at the ego of beaten contestants.

Is Sandra the "best ever" as she proclaimed? Not by a long shot. Going two for two certainly seems like a statistical argument, but let's be real here there's so many styles of play and unpredictable factors in Survivor it is impossible to call one out as the best. It's like saying one guy is the BEST ever at blackjack.

Russell is justified in being peeved by the format of the show...but the show is also designed so weasels like Russell don't win, and that's a good thing too. This is just another instance where a coattail rider rode to the end and then was voted winner basically for being the one who didn't outsmart the jury and make them look like fools on national television. CBS knowing that Sandra was the winner would've edited more Sandra footage to justify her being a winning player, but the fact that they didn't include much must indicate that they didn't have any to work with to begin with. I guess the whole laying low thing is considered a "strategy" too technically, but that's a pretty loose term in this case and an insult to players like Parvati, Boston Rob, JT, and Russell who take the term "strategy" to different levels. If anyone of these final three, Parv was the most deserving to win.

It was a slightly anti-climactic ending to otherwise probably the most entertaining season of Survivor ever!

Animal House Midnight Movie Poster

Be on the lookout for the May issue of EU Jacksonville for this promo for a late night showing of "Animal House" at Jacksonville's 5 Points Theatre. I had a lot of fun with reinterpreting the iconic John Belushi aka "Bluto" Blutarsky in a humorous, contemporary style apart from the ubiquitous "College" sweater image of him. Printed posters should also appear around town so keep your eye out for those as well. I had never actually seen "Animal House" prior to doing the sketches for this assignment but having seen it now I can see why it certainly has cemented its place in American pop culture, essentially setting precedents for college party genre movies that are made even still today.

Michael Moore

Parvati's Manipulative Smile

...was the topic of a lot of airtime on tonight's episode of Survivor and seems to be drawing a lot of ire from tribe mates including the Black Widow and Dragonslayer. I always try to give people benefit of the doubt knowing that reality tv can edit anyone to look likeable or not, but I gotta admit it's very obnoxious so yea, I'm with you on this one Dragonslayer...

Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino

Get OFF my lawn...

Boston Rob Spaces Out for a Moment

On tonight's episode of Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, Boston Rob seemed to have had an unconscious, out of body, and hallucinating experience. With as much time as these folk spend out in the jungle, I'm actually surprised this doesn't happen more often...

Getting the axe tonight was tough gal Stephanie in an awkward and confrontational tribal council. Let's not miss the bigger picture here though. As if Episode 1 wasn't edited already to make her look like a tough gal dislocating her shoulder and popping it back in place, it was late revealed by behind-the-sceners that she in fact did so, and THEN returned to the wrestling challenge. For some reason they edited it so it appeared the dislocation sidelined her for the rest of the match. Tough gal indeed!

Quick sketch...digital.

Adventure Awaits!

Hey look, a non painting or illustration related post! Enjoy this little clip of Celina and me playing the main theme from Pixar's "UP." She told me how to play the piano part for the left hand which I then improvised over to the guitar. The piano is slightly out of tune, not the guitar. In all my years of growing up playing this piano, I think I recall it only being tuned one time. By the way, if you haven't seen the movie I'm really not sure what you're waiting for...it is excellent on so many levels of visual design, storytelling, and everything else.

Happy Birthday To My Sister

A lil' something I drew up for my sister's birthday. We both really like Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

Survivor Tocatin's Coach: The Dragonslayer

Every season of Survivor guarantees a few standout characters, this season's by far being Coach, the self-proclaimed "Dragonslayer." It's been a while since a contestant has been this amusing to watch, though completely unintentional on his part. Even Probst couldn't help laugh along during the season about Coach's wild adventures, constant warrior-related metaphors, and spontaneous quoting of philosophers. But he wasn't a mean-spirited contestant by any means so you couldn't dislike him like you would a villain. You just couldn't tell if this guy was completely full of it or totally full of himself...or both? Either way, he'll go down as one of Survivor's most colorful characters. Coach here is about 5"x5" painted in watercolor.

Update: Received a special request for a Sierra illustration today. Thought I'd give her a triumphant pose in her trademark "black and white stripes" which ironically was the name her tribemates referred to her as on the very first day when they tried to oust her. After that, Sierra became the underdog that I think so many of us could relate to and gave us some memorable moments this season as well. And towards the end there even in the jury I think most of us were living vicariously through her facial expression reactions of "Is this guy for real???" to Coach's Last of the Mohican-ish, warrior ways. This Sierra spot is about 5.5"x2.5" and also in watercolor.

To Not Sketch Would Be Illogical

I went into the new Star Trek movie with very little knowledge about the story and franchise outside of the usual pop culture catchphrases, costumes, and impersonations. I left the theater surprised having seen a very well made film on many levels. It was great to see a high budget summer flick where the amount of CGI (though superb itself) had very little to do with carrying the success of the story and characters.

I know I'm way behind in my knowledge of Star Trek, but I thought the contrasting personalities between Kirk and Spock was engaging. As I started studying the faces to sketch out the two characters from the film, I began to realize they made it a point to cast actors with physically contrasting faces as well. Spock is round and smooth; Kirk is square and angular. Spock sports the trademark thin eyebrows high over the eyes; Kirk has heavy ones that sit low to the eyes. Where Spock has almost no forehead showing, Kirk has a vast forehead. Spock has thin, narrow, puckered lips; Kirk has full upper and lower lips that stretch wider across the face. Spock has a more bulbous prominent nose; Kirk has a thinner one with narrow flaring nostrils. To me it is no coincidence that almost everything about their features are opposites.

Following on the heels of my last Lebron sketch, I was still itching to work with watercolors. And in case I didn't mention already, the movie is excellent...go see it.

Perez Hilton the Hypocrite

Once again a beauty pageant ends and no one has any idea who the winner was. Instead the controversy surrounding Miss California Carrie Prejean and Perez Hilton (real name Mario Lavandeira) and his gay marriage question have taken center stage on the internet. Most people have seen the clip from the pageant but make sure you watch his post video blog rant to truly see what a hypocrite sounds like.

They both stand by their beliefs. Great. Good. That is expected. The DIFFERENCE though is he went on to call her a "dumb bitch," pointing out that he actually intended to use the c-word originally because her answer didn't match what he had hoped. For a drama queen who will pretty much complain about anything if it garners attention for himself, he says she should've said something more politically correct, though I think it's safe to say all that would've changed would be that we'd be hearing an immature internet diatribe about how she cowardly dodged the answer. You cannot expect others to be tolerant of your beliefs and then crash hate down on them when they don't agree with yours.

If any other guy or girl judge had demeaned Miss CA as a "dumb bitch" afterwards they would be destroyed by the public. What gives a person like Mario free license to behave such a way? A guy who wanted so badly to call a contestant the c-word is qualified to judge, of all things, a beauty pageant of women?? At any rate Donald Trump certainly knew what he was doing because people are still talking about his pageant days after it has passed.

Perez is a leech on society that has made a "living" blogging insults on the A-list celebrities he wants so badly to become. In his proud proclamation in his video rant about "I was the Youtube moment!" it is evident he is more concerned about raising awareness about himself than any cause. You don't need to be for or against gay marriage to recognize a hypocritical bigot when you see one.

(The sketch is pencil on paper with digital color.)

Is Christian Bale Malfunctioning?

In my opinion, no. In the newest celebrity rant heard 'round the world, Christian Bale let loose on the director of photography during filming on the set of Terminator: Salvation.  I can only imagine what it must be like to psyche yourself up for a scene (in this case, a very emotionally intense one according to an associate producer) and dive into it only to have someone bumble into it from off camera.

Certainly Bale went a little overboard with the rant, I think no one will argue that. But I'm not going to be so quick to throw him into the Michael Richards pit, that'd be going too far. Alec Baldwin survived his rant, I think Christian Bale will be fine too. If you're curious to read an account of what caused the outburst, go here.

Feb. 6th update - Bale calls into KROQ radio.  There's a little play button near the top of the screen.

Christopher Walken

Christopher Walken! According to IMDB, he always tries to work a jig or dance into his movies. I have noticed he likes to dance...my fav being the Fatboy Slim video for "Weapon of Choice" which this portrait is a reference to. In my opinion one of the most versatile actors out there.   Always plays the convincing creepy guy, unstable guy, funny guy, fatherly guy, etc.  When it comes down to it, isn't that what we all want as artists? Versatility?

"I've got a fever...and the ONLY prescription is more cowbell!"

The "Ugliest" Survivor Ever

So there I was, working on a sketch of George Bush getting a shoe thrown at him when something else hit me. I usually don't go out of my way to be mean, but watching Corinne on tonight's CBS Survivor finale really irked me.

Yea there's been plenty of mean-spirited comments made at other finalists during the final tribal councils before (the pioneer of such comments being Season One's Sue and her infamous "if you were dying of thirst, I wouldn't give you a drink of water" diatribe) but Corinne's sore loser cheap shot at Sugar's dead pop was way out of the realm of being out of line. EVEN more disturbing was the satisfied look on her face after having having let loose her premeditated spiel as if she had accomplished something. EVEN more disturbing than that was her blase attitude on the live reunion show later when Probst asked if she regretted saying anything. He understands filming is stressful and always gives the contestants on the reunion the chance to apologize, laugh about it, and blame it on the game but she just went on making childish excuses. In fact you could tell Probst himself was appalled even behind those gigantic dimples of his.

People like her use the excuse that "I'm just being myself, I say what's on my mind, that's just how it is" and think that they are coming off as strong, independent minds when in reality they are incredibly insecure pitiful human beings. Even looking at the reference pic to do this sketch really started getting to me.

And that concludes MY diatribe.

"Australia" King George Sketch

Last night I watched the new Baz Luhrmann movie "Australia" which I thought was very visually stunning. There was this one character, an aboriginal, nicknamed "King George" who just kept popping up everywhere. He was such a unique looking character after the movie I came home and did this quick digital sketch from memory. I hope I got it right.

And if you saw the movie than you probably also noticed how he always stood like this. The movie really gave the illusion of being in a wild, adventurous, colorful world...it was hard to get back outside to mundane snowy Cleveland.