A really fun part about working in this industry...

..is sometimes your friends put you into the shows. I've made it into a few different series, but I just came across this one today. It's from the "Teacher's Pet" movie I worked on. I'm the guy playing with the beach ball, and the one who laughs at me is another board artist from the show, Tina Kugler. She and I were inseparable during that entire production, and I couldn't have survived without her there to laugh and freak out with. I loved working with that entire crew and am glad that most of us have continued to work with each other off an on over the years.

2 early roughs for DVD covers (Season 1)

These were the first two roughs I did when asked to help create the DVD cover for season 1.
I eventually pitched something that was closer to what the original is now, but it lost some of it's punch along the way. Hopefully I'll find those roughs, too someday and post them here.

Family Guy "Blind Ambition" boards

This was the very first work I had done on the show. I boarded the first half of Act 1 (and adjusted/fixed parts on the second half), having so much fun posing out Peter's bowling and adding subtle acting and expressions to all the characters. After I finished my pass (with little to no notes from Seth), we went back and added the Chicken Fight Sequence. That massive insert was an undertaking that required multiple board artists to create, so many of us can take credit for this awesome sequence.
One of my favorite little contributions was to that fight was the sound work I did in the original animatic. It happened just after following Peter and the Chicken as the came down from the train tracks rolling towards at the edge of a cliff. You can here the music and SFX playing at full intensity just until they roll off the cliff. Then, when I cut to an extremely wide shot, with the 2 falling towards a giant cruise ship, I only left a faint/subtle SFX track of them still hitting each other, until the next cut, when the sound came back in at full volume in the interior dining room. It got great laughs in the screening, but was changed in the final sound mix. Of course there were other parts I really enjoyed figuring out and punching up in that fight (Indiana Jones ref, etc.) but that little punch to almost complete silence still makes me smile when I think about it.

click this link for Family Guy _ Blind Ambition boards pt 1

click this link for Family Guy _ Blind Ambition boards pt 2

This clip is ref from the board posted above.

Playing with Hair

Circle into a Square

Phineas and Ferb board - Klimpaloon Ultimatum part 1

During some downtime in-between seasons 1 and 2 of "Brickleberry", I was so happy to find Phineas could use my help back at Disney. Although I helped write on all parts of this episode with my board partner, my 'drawings' were mostly on the following pages: Sc's 1-15, 25-56, 82-107, and 123-139. I had so much fun co-writing this episode and am in love with a lot of the gags I created.

What always happens on a collaborative effort, we share the jokes in each others sections at times. Therefore, one of the bits I still remember us laughing at the most, was when I came up with part of Doofs back story. During his rant, he talks about in the past the public elected a warthog, because they were so fed up with the previous administration. They thought, "What's the worst that could happen???" <Beat-then the answer> "Nepotism!", then the staff is all filled with multiple Warthogs popping in. Uncles, cousins, brothers, it was a real mess... literally." I still remember pitching that and having my partner Patrick bust up laughing. Then we come back from the flashback,and Doof stops mid sentence, looking off screen at Perry... he's not paying attention but rather looking down at his phone. "...Perry...are...are you, TEXTING? While I'm Monologuing??? <beat> How are you even getting signal in here?" Sorry, just so much fun. That show allowed for creativity and was full of "Yes and.." attitude. It's why the show was so entertaining and loved by so many.

This is one of the last boards I got to co-write and draw for Phineas and Ferb.

(My drawings start on page 1, please see above for Sc #'s)
click for part 1 of this board

(My drawings start again at pg. 226)

click for part 2 of this board

(My drawings start again at pg. 317)

click for part 3 of this board

Clarence Board - unfinished rough test

Here's a sample of some unfinished roughs I had done for a "Clarence" test for Cartoon Network. I really loved the first clips I had seen of this show and was excited at the chance to possibly be a part of it. He was such a warm, charming main character with an amazing innocence. The story telling had a fresh take that really hit me so I thought Id take a shot. Although there was no reference for any of the other characters, I thought I'd take a stab at it with what little guidance there was. I had fun playing around with it, and  since I wasn't sure what job I was going to do next, I started the test.  Unfortunately, before I could really fully get into roughing the entire sequence out, I was given the great opportunity to run and produce a new Scooby series at WB.

CLICK THIS TO VIEW PDF

Family Guy board samples from the episode "Barely Legal"

This was one of my favorite episodes I directed while at Family Guy. (Wow, look, actual pencil on paper!) Whether it's the subtle addition of Brian's little tail wagging (pg 17 - I loved to bring him back to a dog every now and then), or Stewie's hop-hop-hopping over to Brian, or just the subtle expressions and head title I gave to each character in these scenes, I loved being trusted to visually punch these hilarious scripts. We didn't just board what was on the page, we found the little moments and acting in-between to bring the characters to life even more. This combined with the timing made this show such a favorite of mine.

click this link for "Barely Legal" board sample

Finally back at it today

Life stepped in over the past few days, so my board test for CLARENCE had to go on pause. I was able to work on it again a little this morning, and can't wait to get back to it again later tonight.
This pic is just a sample of the fun had at the thumbnailing stage. Just energy and thoughts slammed down into the panels so I can move along. I'll go back later and figure out the details and put it more on "model", but I love this part the most. Unfortunately, it's usually that next step that sucks so much of the life out of these... Constantly trying to find that fine line between the two.

FINALLY - started to thumbnail for test.

Life's always busier than I expect it to be, and today was the first time I could actually begin thumbnailing for my Clarence test. Only able to put in a little bit of time and am actually finding the test to be quite challenging. The only reference for these characters is a tiny clip that exists on youtube. The clip shows character moments and wonderful dialog, yet the largest part of this test (not seen at all in my screen grab) deals with fantasy. Kind of an odd choice for a show that has such charming character moments and I'd assume they need to show subtle acting.  ANYWAY- Gonna try and get back onto it tomorrow. Just s sneak peak at my brain working:)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0l7AzEWBkoMRngxWnplZmNNdVU/view?usp=sharing

I'm so excited for this new show!

There's a new show being created at Cartoon Network that I am super excited about. It's called Clarence, and it stars this heart warming, incredibly charming, simple boy who seems as though he's up for anything because he'll find the wonderment in it all. The clip I've seen from this show feels so fresh and wonderful and I guarantee it's one to watch. I've actually just started to play around with this character this morning as I prepare to test for the show. These are just the first few drawings I've created to try and figure him out . This show will definitely be on my playlist.

Double teamed by the Zac(h)'s + thumb drawing for the Nickelodeon short we're working on.

Zach Smith and I passed this guy back and forth during our overseas call on the short last night.  The bluetooth earpiece makes him hip.

 Final settel pose thumbnail for Uncle Buffalo.

Just a little (get it... little) phone doodle from today. He's so boss---y.

Blog title!

Just wanted to give credit where credit is due. I got the idea for my blog title after viewing a blog posted by one of the most talented designers I've eve met. That, plus an old animation magazine cover I saw made it the obvious choice for how to visually represent my past work. Thanks Andy Bialk and Animation Magazine... you're my hero's!

And then there's this guy. Little mini doodle to start the day.

A little post before bed...

Here's a few OUT pages from a short I'm directing and co-writing with Zach Smith at Nickelodeon.

It's been a while.

It's been quite some time since I've posted anything on my blog. Considering the fact that I do not have a website, I might as well use this blog to post some of my work.  Here's some drawings from my sketchbook.

I realize not only do I need to use my sketch book more, but I need to remember to post them somewhere, too.

H is for Hottie

This is a piece I did for an Art Show we had at Fox the other day. It's my second attempt at working with paper, but, I'm learning a HELL of a lot.

One last test

This is an older development piece for an idea that will go nowhere.