SKUNK APE!

Skunk Ape!...some character design samples of a personal project I'm working on.

I've got a bunch of other early designs of various swamp creatures...Including "Old Mama Swamp Thing" and a con artist croc...I'll post more as I get further along.


For now, all you need to know is that this is the LAST Skunk Ape in existance...He's 4000 years old and is an accomplished banjo...ist.


This is the hillbilly child known as Zeek.

More to come.

She-Bear

Typical reaction I get from LA women.

Just a panel from a storyboard I was workin on today that I particularly liked. I had to make some lady types react negatively in a "humerous way" to the dude hitting on them...pff...if there's anything more humerous than vomit, I haven't seen it.

Bears are a lot of fun to draw...throw in a little sass and it's even better....Sassy Bears.

Look at that sassy finger waggle.
"Don't go there she-bear"

Dover-esque BG Character

Today I had to fill up some church pews with a bunch-load of BG Characters.
Where as most animators cringe at the thought of crowd shots, I usually enjoy them. It's a fun opportunity to do some bulk character designing and sneak in whatever bizzare characters you can think of.

I particularly liked this guy who's a drawn-from-memory design based on the villain character from the WB short "The Dover Boys"...I thought it was an appropriate homage seeing as how this particular project is supposed to be in a "WB Style".

Also. Smears are fun.

The Temp

Last week, a short we worked on at 6PH for Jack McBrayer and NBC aired with the season premiere of 30 Rock.

The short was traditionally animated in Flash and cleaned up using traditional methods as well as Flashy methods. The end result was a beautiful little piece of animation that you can watch HERE on Cold Hard Flash.

I particularly love the designs which were a combined effort by my talented buddies, Brock Gallagher and Sah Tantivaranyoo

Above is a little sequence of keys I drew for one of the scenes I worked on.

I don't usually draw cute girls. So this was a pretty fun opportunity.

Work's goin really well and LA's treating me quite nicely.

I know I've been syaing this for a while...But I have a HUGE indie project I've been working on in my spare time that I'll be sharing with you guys soon. Stick around.

PS. Buy the Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs Art of Book...Not only was that movie the best CG animated film I've ever seen, but the Art of Book will make you pee in your pantaloons.

Christopher Miller, Phil Lord, and Carey Yost are my heroes.

It's Not Easy Being Green

Pretty Good...Prettyy...Prettyyyyyy...Pretty Good...

"Can I tell you something about apricots?...You know, 1 in 30 is a good one...It's such a low percentage fruit."

Well, well, well...Look who came crawling back….Me. Don’t worry, I can explain my two month absence. In the last two months I received a full time job offer from Six Point Harness Studios in LA…got my work visa...did all the relocating-across-the-continent-prep stuff and high tailed it to the west coast.

I’ve been working at the new job for 3 weeks now and it’s amazing. We’re working on a great variety of projects. A couple of which will be airing relatively soon, so I’ll keep you posted on that. Not to mention I’m working with a whole crew of amazingly talented people. I love the atmosphere at that studio and I couldn’t be happier to be there.

I’m slowly settling into a routine, which means I can finally tend to my poor neglected blog. I have so much stuff that I’ve accumulated that I need to post, so over the next few weeks I’ll get on that.

Anyways, I know it’s exciting that I’m back but try to curb your enthusiasm…eh? EH? See what I did there? *nudge, nudge* With the th—never mind.

I’ve been anticipating this season of Curb big time. What with the Seinfeld non-reunion reunion. In honour of this momentous occasion here’s a little caricature I did of LD (above and below). It’s pretty flat, but I was just having fun with Larry’s likeness.

Line work.

I mentioned this in my last post. But I've been developing a little indie project that involves a skunk ape...a banjo...a swamp...and some hillbillys.

I have a huge load of developmental work on this that I'll show in a big pitch post.

I have to show this. I don't have a car in LA...so for now these are my wheels.

I love this bike. It's such a smooth ride. Low rider banana seat bike...and get this...the seat is made of veloure...no joke. My ass has never enjoyed a bicycle seat so much.

I couldn't resist.

Anyways. Good to be back. I'll post more stuff this weekend.

COMING SOON!

Banjo playing Skunk-Apes perhaps?

Fish Face, Conan, and the LDs

Here I am. The Job hunt continues. I've wrapped up some freelance stuff and recently I've been trying to make the most of some great opportunities. Right now I'm just waiting to hear if any of them will come to fruition. Cross your fingers for me.
In the mean time…I present to you, quite possibly the ugliest person in Hollywood (above)...

Steve Buscemi. As I was drawing him I started to realize how similar he looks to those old WB caricatures of Peter Lorre.
Although resembling a snaggle-toothed fish, Mr. Buscemi has got to be one of the greatest actors out there. His range is amazing and he's always one of the highlights of whatever film he's in.
He seems to be in the same league as Christopher Walken. He'll act in films at opposite ends of the spectrum. Even if the movie sucks, he still shines.
I tip my hat to you dearest Steve.

Next up. Excuse the roughness of this drawrin'. This one is what I like to call "quick and dirty".
I did it in about 2 minutes Just a real quick doodle of Conan during his monologue.
I always love how boyish he looks from afar, but whenever they get in close, his delicate, fair skin is wrinkled and creased like he’s a couple centuries old.
Personally I love the new Tonight Show. Obviously Conan's had to tone it down a bit because of the earlier time slot but he's still my favourite. He's definitely the most manic of the late night dudes. I'm also looking forward to Leno's return, don't get me wrong. I can definitely relate to Conan's style of humour the most though. Conan's basically a nerd with charisma. That warms my heart.

Plus he wrote some of the BEST Simpsons episodes AND wrote for SNL when it was actually funny...I mean, common.
I've had the pleasure of seeing Conan live when he came to do his show in Toronto...Stompin' Tom was the musical guest...I got so giddy when he pulled out his stompin' board.
And I've also seen Leno and Kimmel live when I was working in LA...I'll admit, they were pretty good too.

Anyways, just some goodies I wanted to share via virtual "show and tell". For those of you who know me….I'm a pop culture junkie and a pack rat. A deadly combo...I hunt, I gather, I collect, I hoard...I basically live on a mountain of junk and hiss at anyone that gets too close. DVDs, books, comics, toys, animation art, old electronics, new electronics...and THESE bad boys. In the past year I've been extremely turned on to Laser Discs.
For those of you who don't know, they're the most beautiful obsolete technology out there.
They were the prehistoric version of DVDs. Huge vinyl record sized discs of uncompressed video and sound. One movie needs to be put on both sides of the disc. Half way through, you have to flip the disc over. So inconvenient that it's charming. The quality is actually better than DVDs...not as good at Blu Ray though.
But still. I love these things. The album art is great and a lot of them have some really cool inserts. They also have special features that you won't find on their DVD counterparts.
I picked up my first few at Amoeba Records in LA. Then found an LD player on Craigslist. Recently I found out that they also sell used LDs at BMV books in Toronto.
My favourite is definitely The Complete Tex Avery Collection.
I'm pretty sure you can't get the FULL collection of his MGM cartoons in any other format.

Imma go watch some toons now. Have a good one.

An Ode to Pants

"My dungarees make them hun-ga-ree."

My cartoony design of Jemaine from The Flight of The Conchords in a few different kinds of pants. This was inspired by the lyrics in their song "Sugalumps".

"All these bitches lookin' at my britches."

"Put em in a trance when I wear track pants."

My line work. It's not perfect. I kept it a little looser than usual. I absolutely love the out stretched foot on the track pants pose. Those huge feet were really fun to draw. My favourite one is for sure the dungarees pose though.

PS. I graduated. As fun as cartooning and animation are, I've absolutely worked my fingers to the bone the last 4 years. Those of you who are also cartoonists and/or animators undoubtedly know that you live and breathe this stuff and it's not just a career, but a lifestyle.

Needless to say, it felt good to finally get that piece of paper that states I can officially and professionally draw boogers and bums.

Congrats to all my peers as well.

More Yogi and a BUM

Some more Yogi...I've had HB on the brain lately...seeing it everywhere. This time I paired Yogi with his arch nemesis for some character interaction. I love when people lead with their tongue when they're about to take a bite outta something...gross but It makes me laugh, so I incorporated that...After I drew it, I paused to figure out what the hell Yogi's even eating. I have no idea what that is...a delicious slice of bread perhaps? a piece of sponge cake? Soylent Green? I don't know, YOU decide. I threw some dry brush on there to gussy it up. I like how it turned out...It's amazing to me how much colour and some fancy brushes validate a drawing. Also, I just love that salmon colour.

I had fun drawing this. Here's my line work and solid colour for those who care to see.

...And my quick and dirty rough.

DUDE!
This was just my clean rough...or rough clean...whatever you wanna call it...Just figuring out the design...Next post I'll show ya the finished version. This is a peek at a little "just-for-fun" Flash project I'm doing. I'm animating a quick scene from my all time favourite movie, The Big Lebowski. The Character and BG style is inspired by Clone High.
My goal with this is to just have fun and see what happens.

Anyways. That's it for now. I'm heading out of the country for the week. So if I disappear from the webber net this week, that's why.

Talk to you soon.

Love: Frank

Demo Reel 2009 (Short Version)

Just a quick updated sample of some of my work, including a few scenes from my 4th year film "The Patsy Pals".

Smarter Than The Average...Cartoonist?

Finally, I'm back. Right now I'm sitting on a ton of studio applications and interviews...so we shall see what happens...I'm not even a month out of Sheridan...So I'll remain patient. I'm definitely ready and excited to start workin on some cartoons though.
Other than that, things have been a little rough around the edges lately but on the plus side I've been drawing a ton and I have a bunch of stuff that I need to post. Yesssss.

First off...Yogi. Freaking. Bear.
I love that big lug. Lately I've been watching a lot of Yogi and Flintstones and recently John K. started a blog dedicated to his "funky" interpretations of HB characters. I love it. The concept of doing a caricature of a cartoon character...It blows my mind. It's a great way to learn as well. Figuring out what makes a character look the way they do and why they have certain design elements, and then having fun with it. So needless to say, I was inspired and did my own take on Yogi Bear.

Below I threw him over a quick and dirty Yogi style BG. don't judge it too harshly, I'm not a BG dude and I did it in about 2 minutes.
Yogi def has my favorite BG style though. Fried egg flowers and sponging. Nothing beats it. All HB stuff has that loose style too it...seems like Yogi especially. Obviously it takes way more skill than it looks...tons of technique, and yet it always looks so spontaneous and fun.

Anyways, next post I've got some more Lebowski stuff for all you achievers.

Observe. He has swiped a pic-a-nic basket.

More Media Coverage

An article was published in the National Post this past Saturday (May 9th) that gave a peek into Sheridan's Animation Industry Day (Click on the copy above to see it up close). I was fortunate enough to be one of the Artists featured in the article, along with Tapan Gandhi, Laura Friesen, and Adi Targownik.

You can check out my scanned copy of the article above or read the online version HERE.

It was written By Adam McDowell. He was a great guy to work with. Rather than just getting a general taste of the day, he was really enthusiastic and involved. He sat down with us, asked some great questions, and then shadowed us for the rest of the day while actively participating in what was going on around him.

I particularly like his description of Tapan...and I quote:

"Slender, boyish Tapan Gandhi's harmless looks conceal a dark sense of humour."

bang on. haha.

My setup wasn't too shabby either:

"Frank Macchia’s thick black glasses and prize fighter’s profile mark him as the likely creator of the old-timey slapstick found in The Patsy Pals."

Don't be fooled, my "prize fighter's profile" is mostly used to chomp down on pizza while drawing and watching cartoons in my underwear all day.

The article also features a classic candid conversation photo of me and Evan Spiridellis of JibJab which is pretty cool.

haha, vanity aside, Adam hit on some great points regarding the state of the industry itself as well as how Sheridan fits into the picture.

Overall, Industry day was much more valuable than I had expected. More than anything, I feel it was a great chance to do some initial networking and add onto the relatively short list of contacts we had going into the day. I was also fortunate enough to score a couple of interviews which was a nice bonus, especially since only about 7 of the 46 studios who attended were interviewing.

Other than all that, I've been getting re-acquainted with some free time doodles and stuff like that. I have a small just-for-fun flash project in the works at the moment that I'll post about this weekend.

CHCH News: Sheridan Animation Industry Day

Busy, Busy.
I was fortunate enough to be chosen for an interview for CHCH news' coverage of Sheridan's Industry Day.
I wasn't expecting them to air any of my work, but I was pleasantly surprised when I saw The Patsy Pals and Evil Stevil doin their thing on the news.
I had to wing it, so hopefully I sounded somewhat intelligent haha
Also! I'm going to be featured in an article about the Sheridan Animation Program on Saturday, May 9th's edition of the National Post.
Check it.

Finish Line

Sorry I haven't been around to update for a while, but as you can imagine, Finishing The Patsy Pals has been top priority. I just finished this past weekend, and man...let me tell you, I have a new found respect and appreciation for anyone who's ever attempted to make an independent short film...and when i say independent, I mean entirely on your own.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I haven't had many people watch the finished product yet. That will be the true test. My goal with this cartoon was to entertain. So if I can get a smile or a chuckle out of you, I'll let out a sigh of relief and know I've done my job.

The second I was done this film I had to pack up and move 4 years worth of accumulated crap out of my apartment. I'm now back at home with mammy and daddy. 4 years of college behind me.

The job hunt begins.

Industry day is on Thursday at the school, so that should start the job hunt off nicely.
Anyways, I've posted just a few screen shots. Once I get settled, I'll write up a nice retrospective and post my film for you webber net dwellers to enjoy.

God bless cartoon violence...

COMING SOON!

What legitimizes a cartoon in today's capitalist society you ask?!?! Pfff...TOYS of course!
(PS. This statement is meant to be tongue in cheek. I'm not really a fat cat, I swear.)

I've collaborated with the incredibly talented Anthony Hrymakowski to bring you Patsy Pals Toys!
He's an amazing sculptor and all around artist who's got a real knack for translating relatively flat and designy cartoon characters into 3 dimensions while maintaining their appeal.
Check out his work by clicking his name above or on my buddies list.

Along with the release of the film, you'll be able to have your very own Patsy Pal to inflict cartoon violence on! Drop an anvil on him, blow him up, or just keep him on display on your desk...any one of those is acceptable.
The image above is just a teaser of what's on the way.

Also! I'm losing my mind putting upwards of 12 hours a day to make this film the very best it can be...and guess what?
10 more days til it's done.
I'm overwhelmed with a sense of excitement and panic after saying that.

See ya in 10 days!

Fancy Pants CG Stuff

This is kind of old, but I figured it’s worth tossing up on here.
This was my very first attempt at animating with Maya (this is just a quick playblast to give you an idea)...I love to draw, and there really is no substitute in my eyes, but I have to admit, I had a lot of fun with this.

It’s kind of interesting…you can tell by the style of animation that I’m typically a 2D guy…pose-to-pose sort of stuff…I love strong poses…Love character layout and really milking some comedic acting out of them…I find that sometimes CG animation becomes too wishy washy…clear definitive poses get lost in a sea of over acting within a pose until everything just blends together…Presto was my fav bit of CG I’ve ever seen and that was more of a pose-to-pose sort of animation style too….Same with Horton…and I just saw a preview for “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” which seemed to have a very bold and cartoony pose-to-pose style of animation too….I tend to prefer that sort of thing.

But anyways, I enjoyed using Maya and once my thesis film is done, I’ll def be tinkering with it some more over the summer.

By the way…I just did the animation…the character model and rig are courtesy of my prof……his name is Rosco…the alien, not my prof...

and of course...the dialogue track is from Dumb and Dumber.

PS…3 more weeks til The Patsy Pals

4 Weeks Left

This is it people...In less than a month, The Patsy Pals will reach completion.

A first edit of the film is due April 9th...ONE DAY before my birthday.

I'm tellin you...after the amount of work I've put into this thing, seeing it finished will be the best B-day present of my life.

Wish me luck in this last big push.

*takes a sip of rockstar*

Yearbook

At the end of every year, Sheridan releases a "flipbook" yearbook in which everyone in the program can submit a page of doodles. I've never submitted a page, but figured since this is my last year...no better time than now.

I gave it a bit of a scrap-booky look to keep it interesting. Threw on some of my fav doodles from the past year.

*EASTER EGG*

The page of text under everything in the bottom right hand corner is one of the pages from the original script for The Patsy Pals.

Figured I'd give it a little nostalgic value.

Lookin forward to gettin a copy and seeing everyone else's stuff.

Nudists

Recently my super talented prodigy blog buddy Brie introduced me to some awesome freebee drawing software called "Open Canvas" It's with out a doubt the best digital drawing tool I've ever used. So simple and intuitive.

Anyways...you can draw WITH people in this program. So FINALLY Brie and I had a little Open Canvas sesh.

The theme? RETRO NUDISTS!

Why you ask? because I haven't done any life drawing at all this semester and I needed some good practice.

Brie and I have a theory that the more unique and unconventional the body...the more beautiful the drawing will be. Kind of a contradiction...but for some reason people with bodies that don't fit into society's definition of "beauty" are a lot more interesting to draw.

However...I may be biased, but this rule seems to only apply to women lol.

Anyways...the results were beautifully grotesque, and again...I really enjoyed drawing with this software...if you dont have it...DOWNLOAD IT...it's free...it's simple to use....Open Canvas.

Be sure to head over to Brie's blog and check out her stuff too. She's one of the best artists I know.

Stink lines....I couldn't resist.