Happy Easter everyone! Gather round as I share a glimpse into my life, or at least portions of my life in which this holiday coincided.
As I mentioned before, cartoons were an important part of holidays. Not exactly as important as spending time with extended family or getting presents and pictures taken, but you get the idea? I guess they could be considered the appetizers of the holiday experience. You revel in the excitement and familiarity of some character saving an entire holiday for the world for yet another year, and you eat said celebration’s dinner with a catchy Rankin Bass song in your heart.
There exists a tape back home that would always make it’s way to the VCR around this time. The tape was created back when premium TV networks of the time (like HBO or Disney Channel) would offer free trial periods, where homes that didn’t have the channel could see what was on and be enticed to add it to their cable package. My how far we’ve come.
I was reminded also of Easter, and this video tape recently, when at the end of February, the co-creator of The Berenstain Bears died. The Berenstain Bears Easter Surprise was among the collection. The songs were appealing, some of the designs (props, backgrounds) were fairly elaborate. And let’s face it, the Easter Bunny’s rant, at least the end of it, is a great quote. (7:51 in the second half)
Also included on the tape, was Jim Henson’s Tale of the Bunny Picnic. I could not find a complete English copy online, but if you speak German, you can watch the full version of it on YouTube. As always, you can hardly go wrong with Muppets, and you gotta give it up for the time and effort in creating an entire village of visually distinct rabbits.
Aside from the holiday specials, there were also unrelated episodes of Fraggle Rock and the French cartoon Seabert the Seal. In my brain files of association, these shows are now intrinsically entwined with this holiday.
Between the shows (apparently in a programming block called HBO for Kids), were a couple shorts. My mom said she has in vain searched for these gems online. One was called Bug Jam which featured 3 bugs (2 + a spider) playing in a band until an enraged human tries to break up the fun after humorously inhaling and expelling the spider while napping. The other is a descriptive poem about a cow, narrated by a small child. The Funny Cow, or something similar.
So there you have it, bears, bunnies, bugs, bovines, and environmental extremists (oh and Fraggles) will always remind me of Easter and vice versa. However you celebrate, whether in church or politely declining those spiced jelly beans at Grandma’s house, I hope you too can take a moment to reminisce on your beloved aspect of the holiday.
I feel so bad for not posting much, but I have been too dang busy for my own good? I say that as a question because the things I’ve been occupied with are industry related and always have the chance to help me in my goal.
At the beginning of the month, of course, I went to Dr. Sketchy’s LA, but the model was fidgety (understatement of the year) and I kind of forced myself to go, so basically I’m not as pleased with my work this time around.
Also in that week was the Los Angeles Animation Festival (I think they missed the boat on calling it the LAAF Fest, where the F stands for ‘film’ instead, but that’s just me). I got to meet some animation celebs both widely known and industry known, filmed an interview for Hollywood Today, and endure several misadventures. It started on Wednesday, and concluded the following Sunday, at which point my body totally gave out and I spent most of the day recuperating.
Every other second of my spare time since (when I didn’t have to deal with crummy life things), has been spent on preparing my submission to the Nickelodeon Artist Program, where they sift through thousands of entries and in two rounds of review choose 2 people to take on in an apprenticeship-type role for half a year. As of yesterday my portfolio is awaiting review and I hope I do well. I have been under so much stress, exacerbated by the fact that I did have to spend time doing crummy things like working my regular job, getting a new fridge, and walking 2 miles round trip to a post office that wouldn’t deliver packages to my door like usual. (When I got there the line for pick-up was really long, I’m thinking my mail carrier was being lazy.) Despite all that distraction I managed to finish and I… well I don’t know. I feel good but now it’s the wonder of what the reviewers will say, and what do I do with myself now that I have free time again? More portfolio work is a saafe bet, since I don’t know what round 2 of reviews is.
However, my busy schedule isn’t done just yet. PSYCH!! Last night I went to the LACMA for a special presentation of UPA cartoons, in conjunction with the release of a book on the history of the studio, and a complete collection DVD. For those who aren’t familiar, UPA is the short-lived studio that brought us Mr. Magoo. Along with the studio’s own shorts, there were also played (all on 35mm) cartoons from big name studios who tried to mimic the style, a testament to just how influential the slick, post-war, graphic style was. Speaking of style, tickets to the event also got me into the small installation at the museum which showcased ‘California design’. Much of it was minimalist and geometric, showing heavy leanings to the wonders of the atom and space travel. There was also major influence brought forth by the Latino and Asian communities, as well as other immigrants to Southern California at that time. Architecture at the time focused on wide open, bright areas with few walls dividing rooms, and funky room accents in wild colors or unusual shapes. Literally The Jetsons, sans the technology.
Tonight I expect to be networking with animation peeps at an after party in LA, and tomorrow I might be attending an event where a film I helped work on will be playing. THEN, by April 2nd, I will actually have time to relax.
Sure, I could be posting about something else right now, but dangit this is important, I swear!
On Tuesday, we had the pleasure of drawing a relative newcomer to modeling. She debuted at the 36-hour figure drawing marathon sometime in January. Her name is Gabby and, befitting of her retro moniker, her set and dress embraced the classic pin-up style – curled hair, high-waist garter, and a torpedo-cup bra. We also had her friend Sarah as a guest model for two poses. Both were great models. The crowd, of course, is always a pleasure to work with.
I also think I’m turning a corner in my figure drawing, or at least peeking around said corner. Last month I was told, at the suggestion of one of my new Tit-friends, to try breaking away from putting in the skeleton and just draw. I tried it but was not very confident, some of the anatomy went afoul and went back to my usual method. This time I tried again and I gotta say that myself, and said Tit-friend, were fairly impressed. It’s true sometimes a proportion or angle might be a bit off-model (har), but overall I think they look much more fluid and natural. It also shaved a few seconds off my sketching time, before my usual method resulted in one-armed models or bodies with blank mannequin heads. Now I can focus on more important things, like drawing shoes well. Or better faces. Heh.
My next step, so I’m told, is to not use those Koh-I-Noor pencils (Noooooooo!!!), and experiment with pen or marker. *gulp*
