More Dead Ringo images are up on the Ringo series tumblr
Archive for the Graphics Category
Dead Ringo Episode 5 images
Posted in Dead Ringo, Graphics on May 3, 2012 by eddieWhen Magoo Flew, UPA cartoons on DVD!
Posted in Books, Graphics, Inspiration with tags jolly frolics, UPA on April 7, 2012 by liliIt has been such a blast reading When Magoo Flew – a new book on the history of UPA animation studios – by Adam Abraham. What’s more, I am so thankful that many of the cartoons mentioned in this book are on YouTube, so I was able to watch what I was reading about at the same time, and I am even more thankful that I could attend last week’s 3 hour screening at LACMA of UPA films on 35mm!!! My all-time favorite – Rooty Toot Toot – looked amazing, and so did the cartoons I had been dying to see that are not (yet) on YouTube, like Ballet Oop, which is essentially an animated (parody of a) classical ballet class with very cool stylized character posing and layouts.
It’s so exciting that these UPA cartoons are finally on DVD!
I am working my way through the UPA Jolly Frolics 3-DVD Set this month… and loving all the stunning modern visuals and jazzy soundtracks.
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I am currently sort of fascinated by the Ham half of the Ham & Hattie cartoons which are so-bad-they’re-good. They are very much products of their time, with silly cultural stereotypes… (Interesting too, that most of these 50’s cartoons feature outsider-teenagers, doctors and psychiatrists…)
Hamilton Ham appears in Jamaica Daddy, a calypso-ish musical number about having more BA-BEES to PER-PET-CHUATE the FAM-LEE. Is it just me or do these Jamaicans look like Mexican caricatures? :)
Saganuki is a story of a woodcutter boy who wants to become a Samurai warrior. There is a Japanese singing accent and one hears “Ah-So!” quite often.
Dino’s Serenade … in which Hamilton Ham goes Italian.
More screengrabs…
From The Jaywalker (On YouTube)
Baby Boogie – love the layouts and colors!
Gerald McBoing McBoing on Planet Moo – which is actually a pretty bizarre story…
More screengrabs coming soon to my flickr set…
Related Links:
The wonderful world of Yōkai
Posted in Dead Ringo, Graphics, Inspiration with tags Dead Ringo on March 23, 2012 by liliHyakumonogatari Kaidankai – “a site dedicated to bringing you authentic, translated Japanese ghost stories, kaidan, yokai and yurei, kappa and tengu, and other weird tales.”
Atelier CroMagnon. How cute are these! (and a blog which unfortunately, I can’t understand) *Google-Translated to English HERE*
akaname
bura bura
The Fantastic Shigeru Mizuki English Language Resource Page (Everyone knows I love Gegege No Kitaro)
Flickr set: Pages from a Shigeru Mizuki book that I picked up in Japan.
Of course, all this also serves as inspiration and research for our Dead Ringo series.
Inspiration: Guy Peellaert’s comics
Posted in Graphics, Inspiration on March 19, 2012 by lili
Last year, when I first saw Guy Peellaert‘s comic strip panels in the French film Jeu De Massacre (1966), I realized that I had used these same images years ago as my desktop wallpaper but at the time, had no idea where they were from and who they were by.
And so I Googled for more Peellaert comic strip imagery, and learned about The Adventures of Jodelle and Pravda – the two ‘erotic’ pop-art comics that he produced in the late 60’s before he became famous for Rock Dreams. See my flickr set.
For months, I searched for these out of print comic books and the few copies of Jodelle on Amazon were going for close to $100. Imagine how thrilled I was last week, when I found a first edition copy for $16! The Jodelle story itself is kinda silly… the characters inhabit a “Roman” Space Age world with horse-drawn convertibles, naked/topless spy-girls, naked soldiers, and a few vampires. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the minimalistic yet dynamic style and the loud bright colors. Lots of hot pinks and oranges, reds and yellows.
I haven’t been able to locate a copy of Pravda but the great news is that Fantagraphics will be reprinting both of these books later THIS YEAR! I cannot wait.
British Comics
Posted in Graphics, Inspiration on November 14, 2010 by eddieApologies for the lack of updates. We’re still working away on different projects…the ‘Dead Ringo’ pilot is finished, there are some ‘Mad Moments’ for Warner Bros Animation being done, and a self-produced series taking shape (which we don’t want to give away just yet!)…plus I am also swept up in the whirlwind of raising a 15 month hellcat-masquerading-as a toddler which is occupying my every waking (and sleeping) moment! Lili is also swamped with Doggie Drawing commissions, and has just put out her excellent ‘Boogie On scooters’ calendar for 2011.
To compensate for the lack of original material we can show, I thought I’d post some artwork by the late, great, Ken Reid which I am currently taking inspiration from. I grew up reading Ken’s work every week as a kid growing up in England, and I spent many hours trying to draw like him. Out of all the artists working in English comics, Ken drew the most twisted, grotesque, barmy characters by far. Here’s a sample of his inspired lunacy. More to come :)
I love animation, but after growing up reading Ken’s strips – these and others like Jinx, Jasper The Grasper, Faceache, Big Head & Thick Head (no, there wasn’t a lot of subtlety :) – I’ve always felt that no-one has come close to his anarchic sense of design and action.
(Images pilfered, half-inched, and swiped from a bunch of excellent Brit Comic blogs: Lew Stringer’s, Peter Gray’s, Comics UK!)
Ninja, Ninja, Ninja!
Posted in blogging, Graphics, Inspiration on July 7, 2009 by eddie
Speaking of Ninjas (which we were two posts ago). our longtime friend and colleague Keith Rainville (‘From Parts Unknown’ magazine, and Los Campeones scriptwriter) has released the awesome-est collection of everything Ninja on the planet; Vintage Ninja.net
As with his work documenting Lucha Libre, this is a fantastic one-stop resource for everything Ninja. There’s also a section on Books and Manga with cool art like this…
Mexicanos in Space!
Posted in Graphics, Inspiration with tags astronauts, space travel on June 25, 2009 by liliRuth Livier (who voiced Sorpresa in our Los Campeones movie) sent this link today: FINAL FRONTIER MY FRIENDS
This August there will be Two Latino astronauts going on the space mission, Jose Hernandez – a Mexican National from Michoacan, who studied at UC Santa Barbara and Daniel Olivas – From El Paso, TX.
We think it’s pretty cool. Everyone should go to space. Everyone!
On a related “space” theme, check out der onnder’s astonishing Flickr collection of space stamps from around the globe.
Also on Flickr, Dustin Weant‘s Otto photos put a smile on my face.
And of course how could I not mention Cosmic Baby aka Taikonaut 1?
More ‘Bande Dessinee’
Posted in Books, Graphics, Inspiration on June 21, 2009 by eddie
- Tintin by the great Serge Clerc
A new project I am developing has me going back to my Tintin books. I’ve never understand why the estate of Herge refused to let anyone continue the series after Herge’s death (although they will release countless rehashes of existing work in all manner of gimmicky format, and allow the film rights to go to – shudder – Spielberg), especially as there are other Belgian and French artists who could have kickstarted Tintin for a new millenium. Here’s a few interpretations…
- An amazing interpretation by Serge Clerc
Tintin by Yves Chaland
Fifi Lapin
Posted in blogging, Graphics on June 20, 2009 by lili
Now for a totally different style…
As part of our character design process, and especially for one of our current projects, we like to look to books, magazines and the internet for clothing reference. We try to stay away from that generic “t-shirt, jeans and baseball cap” look that defines almost every animated teenage boy. We like to make the girls look like they were dressed by interesting girls :)
There is something about these illustrations that makes the Fifi Lapin blog addictive. I don’t even read the text, I don’t follow haute couture, I am generally not into kawaii/cutesie designs (I am very specific about the cute things that I like) and Fifi Lapin’s flat, expressionless ‘Hello-Kittyesque’ bunny-ness has nothing to do with it. It’s not even about the clothing styles.
I don’t know what it is. I think I just love the whole idea of a fashionista rabbit. (Maybe it’s sort of like being into dressed-up Blythe dolls). I find the whole project fun and whimsical. I like the way the artist interprets the fabric shapes, textures and colors.
Via: Fifi Lapin’s Flickr where there are lots more photos and illustrations.
Yves Chaland
Posted in Books, Graphics, Inspiration with tags Chaland on June 20, 2009 by eddieThe great Belgian artist now has an official website. It’s all in French, but there’s a great pictorial listing of all Chaland’s published work.
Though Chaland died in 1990 aged only 33, he left a vast and amazing body of work. Here is his take on the classic ‘Spirou’ cartoon
Fwak! Blog 