Oootopia: An Artgebraic Tribute to Adventure Time and Hansel & Gretel

I have a confession to make: I’m not a fan of “Adventure Time.” Yes, you read that right. The show doesn’t do anything for me. Oh, I can watch it, alright – seen a couple of episodes, had a few laughs. I’m just not excited enough about it to merit falling out of my chair in anticipation of the newest episode, or forking out 27 bucks for the DVD set.

That being said, why then would a gal like me drive nearly 20 miles to attend the opening reception for Oootopa: An Artgebraic Tribute to Adventure Time last Saturday? Simple, really. Ever been impartial to a show/movie/game/whatehaveyou, yet the design of it somehow grabs you? That’s how I feel about the series. It’s like how I’ve never seen a single episode of “Gurren Lagann,” and yet I can’t stop staring at posters of Yoko Littner and Nia Teppelin. You can’t deny the visual appeal of those characters.

Secondly, some of my favorite artists from the blogosphere were there, such as Brigette Barrager and Vera Brosgol. And while I’m confessing here, here’s another bomb for you: I have a HUGE crush on one of the “Adventure Time” artists. I won’t say who, but he knows who he is because I asked him out at Comic-Con last month. He was a gentleman about it, though, stating his respect for my boldness before turning me down politely. I wondered if running into him at the show would be awkward, but to my pleasant surprise, the meeting was very friendly. One would think I’d be embarrassed to speak of rejection, but quite the opposite. I find it very amusing, really. You know, the “Family Guy” artist in love with the “Adventure Time” artist. Sounds like the makings of a fun story, haha!

The gallery was packed that night, with fans lining up to get autographs from the artists, and an even longer line, outside, that snaked from the front of the building all the way to the back of the bank adjacent to it. My friends and I would have waited for over an hour in that line if it hadn’t been for one of my friend Laura Robinson’s Cartoon Network connections spotting her and letting us in without a hitch. Note to self: bring Laura to all shindigs related to Cartoon Network shows.

The event was almost like a Concept Design Academy reunion. Came in with my Story Development classmate April Connors, and ran into a few other classmates, including Naomi Hicks from Figure Invention. Together, she and I escaped the mad Oootopia crowd for the more humble gathering of Hansel & Gretel gallery-goers upstairs.

Japanese film crew and photographers had their cameras on manga author Junko Mizuno, as she signed autographs for fans, while Morphik had a booth behind her, selling lovely leather bands with Hansel & Gretel charms that could be removed and displayed in the company’s signature black box frame.

When I returned downstairs, I got a little too happy with the camera, so much that I forgot to introduce myself to Rebecca Sugar before I had to leave to meet up with my friends at cha FOR TEA. I wanted to meet her because she’s another person whose art I really appreciate. That, and I came in with Ben Li, who was a classmate of hers at the School of Visual Arts in New York.

At least I got to talk to Andy Ristaino again, the lead character designer, soon-to-be board artist, of “Adventure Time,” and – whoa! – another confession: I like him far more for his personal work than for his work on the show. The real artist whose “Adventure Time”-related work I love the most is Natasha Allegri. I don’t think anybody draws those characters more beautifully than she does.

For more information on Oootopia and Hansel & Gretel, Things To Do In LA’s Jonathan B., whom I saw interviewing a group of cosplayers in front of me while I was waiting in line to get in, wrote these cool articles:

Oootopia: An Artgebraic Tribute to Adventure Time Part 1: Art
Oootopia: An Artgebraic Tribute to Adventure Time Part 2: Fandom
Hansel & Gretel at Gallery Nucleus

For more photos of the event, check out my set on Flickr.

Oootopia: An Artgebraic Tribute to Adventure Time and Hansel & Gretel

Here's a comic I recently made for the Loyolan. It spawned from an NPR broadcast and the sillyness of my boyfriend and I.
I finally learned how to use the noise tool in photoshop appropriately enough to make this 50's-illustration-esque like I wanted. I'm quite happy with it (except for that last awkward pose, but I was done with it by that time).
Suggestions anyone?

Draw over!

Hey all! Thought I'd share a little draw-over I did on a pic from 2008, just after I graduated. I might still take one more pass at it, but I'm pretty happy with how it looks right now.

-JJ

My 220 Animation (boards)

Here is a sneak peak into my animation this semester. I got my team and my story, this weekend is just about finishing that storyboard/animatic and doing the final edits before we get down to the dirty work.

 I'm in charge of boarding the beginning scenes so this is part of that beginning sequence before the good stuff starts to happen....

I don't want to say what the story is (at least not yet) but I'm pretty excited about it and can't wait to see the final result. My team will most definitely ROCK this assignment!

2d animated dinosaur project

hi lmu animation kids (or whoever still checks this blog [web-drifting blog ghosts?]),

My name is Brian Engh and I'm a dude who went to LMU and now I work as a freelance artist/animator. I am currently working with a paleontologist and some other LMU animation alums and former staff on putting together a small spec documentary about reconstructing dinosaurs through animation that will be pitched to several major networks that offer science related programming (Nat Geo, Discovery, Science Channel, PBS etc). The documentary will culminate in a short animated scene depicting a moment in the life of a prehistoric animal, in this case a dinosaur from portugal named Miragaia. You can check out our first pass storyboard, some dinosaur sketches and our mission statement on our production blog here:

Dinosaurs Reanimated Production Blog

As the project develops we will be updating the blog with relevant materials. As we get some animation on the page we will most certainly need help with cleanup, coloring and basic compositing, so anyone who's interested in getting some hands on experience with an interesting traditional 2d/false 3d/after effects hybrid workflow, or anyone who thinks it would be fun help clean up a bunch of dinosaur drawings should read our mission statement and check out the storyboard on our blog and get in touch with me. historian(at)dontmesswithdinosaurs(dot)com

I hope you're all having fun making cartoon movies in college!!!

Tablet Practice

I haven't posted here in a century so I thought now was better than ever especially since I just got my first Wacom tablet a month ago...



And this is the result of summer cartoon watching....and two seasons of Batman Beyond :)



But there's also photoshop and non-fanart tablet practice. I realize there's something about me and drawing kids. I think I just feel more comfortable drawing them in crazy things like tube socks and weird expressions. Or they're easier......I'll go with the former.

Also with this new purchase I'll finally be able to start that art blog, so I'll be doing that on blogger as well.
Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Kael

 

So this is one of my homework assignments for Rad Sechrist's story class at CDA. 

My character's name is Kael but he doesn't remember who he is because of an enchanted mask that accidentally got stuck on his face. All he knows is that he was some sort of assassin. The girl in the shot, Angelie,  is a wannabe wizard who ends up tagging along with him. I'm thinking maybe she was the one who accidentally got the mask stuck on his face.  I dunno. Still a WIP of course. Hope you like. :D

PS. This blog is getting no love! People should post more!