Also, I had a great time in Ottawa at the Animation Festival with the Augenblick crew, and it was great seeing old friends again. See you around NYC or next year in Ottawa, everyone!
Sep 26, 2011
Even more Ugly Americans: 'Wail Street' storyboards
I only did storyboard revision for this episode, and the shots were ultimately replaced by Mark's Life Improve-matorium fantasy. Originally, Mark was going to be tempted by a perfect suburban family life with Callie, but it made sense to replace it with something a little less intimate, in the grand scheme of the show. But it was also adorable, I didn't want to let the designs of the little Mark and Callie kiddies die, so here they are.
Also, I had a great time in Ottawa at the Animation Festival with the Augenblick crew, and it was great seeing old friends again. See you around NYC or next year in Ottawa, everyone!
Also, I had a great time in Ottawa at the Animation Festival with the Augenblick crew, and it was great seeing old friends again. See you around NYC or next year in Ottawa, everyone!
Jul 19, 2011
More Ugly Americans
Several more animatic stills from Ugly Americans episode 'Ride Me to Hell'.
It kind of got lost in the editing process but Twayne was supposed to be REALLY drunk.
"Here's to the ladies!"
And then the rest of my work for the week got chopped out. Callie leaves the party and calls Mark to voice her worries over replacing her dad and 'taking the snake'. Mark is in Hollywood, in Heather Locklear's dressing room, getting ready to perform in Grimes' "ending" as Jimmy.
Callie calls Mark from the coatroom.
Mark picks up in L.A.
"Tomorrow I'm gonna have to swallow a giant snake, which is gonna totally suck."
Mark tries to encourage Callie, but the conversation is cut short by Grimes.
It kind of got lost in the editing process but Twayne was supposed to be REALLY drunk.
"Here's to the ladies!"
And then the rest of my work for the week got chopped out. Callie leaves the party and calls Mark to voice her worries over replacing her dad and 'taking the snake'. Mark is in Hollywood, in Heather Locklear's dressing room, getting ready to perform in Grimes' "ending" as Jimmy.
Callie calls Mark from the coatroom.
Mark picks up in L.A.
"Tomorrow I'm gonna have to swallow a giant snake, which is gonna totally suck."
Mark tries to encourage Callie, but the conversation is cut short by Grimes.
Jul 18, 2011
Ugly Americans Animatics
Storyboard/Animatics from Ugly Americans episode 'Ride Me to Hell'
Mark encourages Callie about her presentation.
Cut. "Go play that game of catch that I never could."
"While I was touching my penis just now, you were touching my heart."
Randall's boxed in as a porno director.
Originally Callie made an angry exit.
And then Randall tenderly held Mark.
Aldermach gets ready to show Callie what taking over for him as CEO of Hell entails. This entire sequence was supposed to be a parody of a scene in Poltergeist II where Craig T. Nelson coughs up some kind of worm monster.
More Poltergeist II inspiration.
More Poltergeist II.
Aldermach shrinks when he coughs up the demon snake.
"To replace me you're gonna have to swallow this thing."
Driving to L.A. (also known as Hell apparently). A rare background design of mine.
Cut: A moment of pure disdain for the common hipster in downtown L.A. Another background design of mine, but it was not to be.
You can see my thumbnails in a couple of the images. Ohhh welllll.
More to come soon.
Mark encourages Callie about her presentation.
Cut. "Go play that game of catch that I never could."
"While I was touching my penis just now, you were touching my heart."
Randall's boxed in as a porno director.
Originally Callie made an angry exit.
And then Randall tenderly held Mark.
Aldermach gets ready to show Callie what taking over for him as CEO of Hell entails. This entire sequence was supposed to be a parody of a scene in Poltergeist II where Craig T. Nelson coughs up some kind of worm monster.
More Poltergeist II inspiration.
More Poltergeist II.
Aldermach shrinks when he coughs up the demon snake.
"To replace me you're gonna have to swallow this thing."
Driving to L.A. (also known as Hell apparently). A rare background design of mine.
Cut: A moment of pure disdain for the common hipster in downtown L.A. Another background design of mine, but it was not to be.
You can see my thumbnails in a couple of the images. Ohhh welllll.
More to come soon.
Mar 12, 2011
What's goin' on
I've been working on season 2 of Ugly Americans at Augenblick Studios lately, after getting the chance to work on season 1B last year. The new episodes will air on Comedy Central in June. YOU should consider watching, the new episodes are already shaping up to be pretty crazy.
In my non-employed time I've been working on some personal projects, including my Aztec graphic novel and another smaller comic project that is, for the time being, called Cupcake Captive, about a pornstar who decides to become a samurai.
Here's some Cupcake Captive stuff.
I'm hoping that Cupcake Captive gets me warmed up for my Aztec project, which is going to include a larger cast of main characters now instead of focusing only on the twins. They're still in there though.
The twins, around the time of the main plot and younger.
Here are some secondary and main cast characters. At the top left there's some deity impersonators, and the guys with feathers on their heads are musicians. Bottom left is two different possibilities for Malinche, Cortes' translator and mistress.
And some characters who might eventually be specific people but right now are mostly just miscellaneous possibilities, except for the guy with the beard, who might eventually be Bernal Diaz, one of Cortes' conquistadors who wrote an eyewitness account of the invasion. The guys with all the padding are ball players, who I'm planning on making pretty similar to high school football jocks. There's a weirdly analogous aspect to the Aztec ballgames and high school football, with the prep school competing against the 'public' school.
And here are just some people from the subway. Note that most of them are turned away from me. That's because I'm creepy and only draw people when they aren't watching me.
In my non-employed time I've been working on some personal projects, including my Aztec graphic novel and another smaller comic project that is, for the time being, called Cupcake Captive, about a pornstar who decides to become a samurai.
Here's some Cupcake Captive stuff.
I'm hoping that Cupcake Captive gets me warmed up for my Aztec project, which is going to include a larger cast of main characters now instead of focusing only on the twins. They're still in there though.
The twins, around the time of the main plot and younger.
Here are some secondary and main cast characters. At the top left there's some deity impersonators, and the guys with feathers on their heads are musicians. Bottom left is two different possibilities for Malinche, Cortes' translator and mistress.
And some characters who might eventually be specific people but right now are mostly just miscellaneous possibilities, except for the guy with the beard, who might eventually be Bernal Diaz, one of Cortes' conquistadors who wrote an eyewitness account of the invasion. The guys with all the padding are ball players, who I'm planning on making pretty similar to high school football jocks. There's a weirdly analogous aspect to the Aztec ballgames and high school football, with the prep school competing against the 'public' school.
And here are just some people from the subway. Note that most of them are turned away from me. That's because I'm creepy and only draw people when they aren't watching me.
Dec 18, 2010
My Christmas Present to You: COOKIES
I made cookies today to send to friends and loved ones, and the post office closed an hour early so I didn't get to send them. DANG! So instead I'm going to post the super-fancy photo-illustrated recipe.
These are very lamely and nerdily inspired by all of the research I've been doing on Aztecs lately. They're chocolate-chip sandwich cookies with a little bit of chipotle powder in them so they're a little spicy, and the frosting to sandwich them is honey-vanilla-cinnamon buttercream. These are also good without the frosting if it's not your thing.
INGREDIENTS & INSTRUCTIONS
Cookies:
1 1/2 c. + 1 Tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8-1/4 tsp. ground chipotle (for less spice use cayenne pepper or more ginger)
1 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened slightly
1/2 c. brown suger, packed
1/4 c. honey
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla extract
~7 oz. chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate mini-chunks)
~1/4 c. granulated sugar
In a medium bowl (save your big bowl) combine the flour, ginger, cinnamon, chipotle, cocoa, and baking powder.
In your big bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar until it's evenly mixed and fluffy. Add the honey and vanilla and beat until combined.
In a small bowl (or even a shot glass or something), dissolve the baking soda in 1 1/2 tsp. boiling water. I just microwave some water in a coffee mug for 2-3 minutes to get it pretty hot.
Beat half of the flour mix into the butter mix, then beat in the baking soda mix, then beat in the rest of the flour mix. If the mix is going to be too dry and crumbly to roll into balls, add a little more soft or melted butter.
Add the chocolate chips and refrigerate the dough for about half an hour.
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper. Roll the dough into 1"-2" balls depending on how big you want your cookies to be. Roll the balls in the granulated sugar and flatten slightly on the baking sheets. Because I wanted to make them sandwich cookies I made smaller, flatter cookies.
Bake for 15-20 minutes depending on the size of your cookies. When the surface starts to crack it's a good indicator to take them out. Let them cool before frosting them.
Frosting:
1/2 c. butter or margarine, softened
2 1/2 c. powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar)
3 Tbsp. honey
1 tsp. cinnamon
1-2 tsp. vanilla extract
Cream all of the ingredients together.
To put the frosting on, I cut the corner off of a sandwich baggie to use it as a bootleg piper. Twist the open end of the baggie tightly closed and go to town.
MERRY CHRISTMAS/HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
These are very lamely and nerdily inspired by all of the research I've been doing on Aztecs lately. They're chocolate-chip sandwich cookies with a little bit of chipotle powder in them so they're a little spicy, and the frosting to sandwich them is honey-vanilla-cinnamon buttercream. These are also good without the frosting if it's not your thing.
INGREDIENTS & INSTRUCTIONS
Cookies:
1 1/2 c. + 1 Tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8-1/4 tsp. ground chipotle (for less spice use cayenne pepper or more ginger)
1 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened slightly
1/2 c. brown suger, packed
1/4 c. honey
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla extract
~7 oz. chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate mini-chunks)
~1/4 c. granulated sugar
In a medium bowl (save your big bowl) combine the flour, ginger, cinnamon, chipotle, cocoa, and baking powder.
In your big bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar until it's evenly mixed and fluffy. Add the honey and vanilla and beat until combined.
In a small bowl (or even a shot glass or something), dissolve the baking soda in 1 1/2 tsp. boiling water. I just microwave some water in a coffee mug for 2-3 minutes to get it pretty hot.
Beat half of the flour mix into the butter mix, then beat in the baking soda mix, then beat in the rest of the flour mix. If the mix is going to be too dry and crumbly to roll into balls, add a little more soft or melted butter.
Add the chocolate chips and refrigerate the dough for about half an hour.
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper. Roll the dough into 1"-2" balls depending on how big you want your cookies to be. Roll the balls in the granulated sugar and flatten slightly on the baking sheets. Because I wanted to make them sandwich cookies I made smaller, flatter cookies.
Bake for 15-20 minutes depending on the size of your cookies. When the surface starts to crack it's a good indicator to take them out. Let them cool before frosting them.
Frosting:
1/2 c. butter or margarine, softened
2 1/2 c. powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar)
3 Tbsp. honey
1 tsp. cinnamon
1-2 tsp. vanilla extract
Cream all of the ingredients together.
To put the frosting on, I cut the corner off of a sandwich baggie to use it as a bootleg piper. Twist the open end of the baggie tightly closed and go to town.
MERRY CHRISTMAS/HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Oct 3, 2010
Graphic novel development stuff
I've been working on two graphic novel projects. The one that I've been thinking about since Freshman year, but is currently on hold, is set in India around the War of 1812 and based loosely (very loosely) on the Kalki Purana, a Hindu religious text.
The protagonist and love interest as youths.
The antagonist as a little girl and during the main storyline.
And the other one that I'm working harder on right now is set in the Aztec capital during the Spanish invasion by Cortes and the conquistadors around 1518-1522.
The protagonists are going to be twin girls. Typically when twins were born, the younger one was killed as twins were considered a health hazard for the parents. The twins' mother dies in childbirth and their father has the second twin spared after her death.
The twins' parents on their wedding night.
Their parents a little later on--the twins' birth and their father (waiting to hear about the birth and a little older).
A couple of developmental sketches of the twins themselves, but I don't know if they'll end up looking like this. Lots of different ages represented.
One of the twins wants to participate in politics and the other wants to participate in religion. The political twin has plans to marry a noble and the religious twin plans to be sacrificed as a human representative of the goddess she's a priestess to, Xochiquetzal, the goddess of music, poetry, and everything pleasant. She wants to be sacrificed to join her former companion, a boy who is sacrificed as the god Xochipilli.
Here's Xochipilli.
This is a friend of the religious twin's--she also works as a priestess for Xochiquetzal. Xochiquetzal's priestesses act as consorts to victorious warriors and ball players, who were not allowed to be married due to their professions. They dyed their hair purple, wore yellow makeup, red mouth stain, and chewed gum. This girl's name is Nenextli, 'little doll'.
Here are some more harlots (as they were referred to by the Spanish).
The priestesses of Xochiquetzal were distinguishable from common prostitutes by the turquoise lip plug and ear plugs that they wore, a sign of a higher class citizen.
Some miscellaneous character sketches. A ballplayer, midwife, and Xochipilli's silhouette. To the right of them is a profile of Moctezuma/Montezuma's nephew who wants to take his place as ruler, Cacamatzin. Also, two young girls (I guess?), and one of Moctezuma/Montezuma's daughters that's given to Cortes as a gift.
I'm excited to keep working on the Aztec project right now. Right now the plan is to tell the story in three volumes, with volume I taking place during the year preceding the Spanish arrival in the Mexican capital city, volume II taking place during their stay and the imprisonment of Moctezuma, and volume III taking place during the siege and period following the Spanish conquest. My goal is to capture a feeling of the Spanish as invaders rather than discoverers, and to explore what it would be like to have your established life, with a charted past and supposedly foreseeable and planned future, destroyed and changed so drastically. I also want to try and make a culture and way of life that feels distant and esoteric to us as modern people feel more human and relate-able than we tend to think of it.
The protagonist and love interest as youths.
The antagonist as a little girl and during the main storyline.
And the other one that I'm working harder on right now is set in the Aztec capital during the Spanish invasion by Cortes and the conquistadors around 1518-1522.
The protagonists are going to be twin girls. Typically when twins were born, the younger one was killed as twins were considered a health hazard for the parents. The twins' mother dies in childbirth and their father has the second twin spared after her death.
The twins' parents on their wedding night.
Their parents a little later on--the twins' birth and their father (waiting to hear about the birth and a little older).
A couple of developmental sketches of the twins themselves, but I don't know if they'll end up looking like this. Lots of different ages represented.
One of the twins wants to participate in politics and the other wants to participate in religion. The political twin has plans to marry a noble and the religious twin plans to be sacrificed as a human representative of the goddess she's a priestess to, Xochiquetzal, the goddess of music, poetry, and everything pleasant. She wants to be sacrificed to join her former companion, a boy who is sacrificed as the god Xochipilli.
Here's Xochipilli.
This is a friend of the religious twin's--she also works as a priestess for Xochiquetzal. Xochiquetzal's priestesses act as consorts to victorious warriors and ball players, who were not allowed to be married due to their professions. They dyed their hair purple, wore yellow makeup, red mouth stain, and chewed gum. This girl's name is Nenextli, 'little doll'.
Here are some more harlots (as they were referred to by the Spanish).
The priestesses of Xochiquetzal were distinguishable from common prostitutes by the turquoise lip plug and ear plugs that they wore, a sign of a higher class citizen.
Some miscellaneous character sketches. A ballplayer, midwife, and Xochipilli's silhouette. To the right of them is a profile of Moctezuma/Montezuma's nephew who wants to take his place as ruler, Cacamatzin. Also, two young girls (I guess?), and one of Moctezuma/Montezuma's daughters that's given to Cortes as a gift.
I'm excited to keep working on the Aztec project right now. Right now the plan is to tell the story in three volumes, with volume I taking place during the year preceding the Spanish arrival in the Mexican capital city, volume II taking place during their stay and the imprisonment of Moctezuma, and volume III taking place during the siege and period following the Spanish conquest. My goal is to capture a feeling of the Spanish as invaders rather than discoverers, and to explore what it would be like to have your established life, with a charted past and supposedly foreseeable and planned future, destroyed and changed so drastically. I also want to try and make a culture and way of life that feels distant and esoteric to us as modern people feel more human and relate-able than we tend to think of it.
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