Family Guy Pencil Test Animation - Der Kommissar

Hey Folks,

I came across this clip on my computer today.  Back when I was on family guy as a revisionist I got to do some pretty fun pieces of animation.  This bit here was a take off on the Falco video for "Der Kommissar."

I got the video and exports the key poses to use as reference.  The tricky part was to animate the puppet like it was a marionette where the motivation of movement was coming from the strings and not from the character.  I always was marveled when i'd see that in Pinnocho, and here I got to do a little of it myself.  

http://youtu.be/pCfehiAYLIs - Family Guy Clip

http://youtu.be/_w4Xulsjo5I - Falco Video

Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja Rough Animation Using Toon Boom Storyboard Pro

I was working on a scene the other day that had quite a bit of animation in various stages.  I thought it would be fun to share the process. Some of the poses started out extremely rough, almost indiscernible. Movement comes first. You can see how I clarified things and also use the software to reuse or repurpose bits of drawings to make life easier.

Pete Venkman Ghostbusters Collboration

Hi folks!  Long time no post I know.  The pace over at Randy Cunningham has been relentless. Not much time or energy for outside projects.  I did squeeze out some time the other day for a drawing I signed up to do.  It's for a Ghostbusters collaboration that @patrickfedo threw a call out for.  He's a big Ghostbusters nut and I couldn't pass up throwing my pencil in the ring.  I thought I might have had to pass but I had a little extra free time the other night.  I took a few screencaps on my ipad, did the initial sketch on paper, scanned it in and finished it up in Storyboard Pro.

The Summer Ghostbusters came out you couldn't go anywhere without hearing the Ghostbusters song or seeing something about the movie.  I must have played the cassette of the soundtrack hundreds of times. Watched the movie dozens of times when it came on HBO, then VHS, then DVD.  Now it's on Netflix streaming. Back then there wasn't the internet and mobile devices to barrage us with an over saturation of entertainment.  You didn't have the next best thing at your fingertips to distract you from the experience you just had. A movie stayed in the theatre for a few months if it was popular, and Ghostbusters was. Films that were big permeated society for weeks.  Only one or two big movies were out at a time.  

It definitely was something that shaped my view on entertainment and film. Saying it was a big deal to me as a kid would be an understatement.  Few things hold up from childhood and THE BOYS IN GREY more than hold up. They are timeless.

Here's the transcript of the scene from Ghostbusters:

(Carnegie Hall - Outside) 

(Dana and a male Violinist exit the Hall.) 

Dana: I don't know where they get these guest conductors. Someone should tell him that it's not going to do much good to scream at us in German. 

Violinist: Well, I don't think the man is competent to conduct a major symphony orchestra. 

(Dana looks up and spots Peter.) 

Dana: Um, could you wait here a minute? 

Violinist: Uh, sure. 

(Dana walks over to Peter.) 

Dana: Dr. Venkman, this is a surprise. 

Peter: That was a wonderful rehearsal. 

Dana: You heard that? 

Peter: Yes. You're the best one in your row. 

Dana: Oh, thank you. You're good. Most people can't hear me with the whole orchestra playing. 

Peter: Hey, I don't have to take this abuse from you. I've got hundreds of people dying to abuse me. 

Dana: I know. You're a big celebrity now. Do you have some information on my case? 

Peter: (indicating the Violinist) Who's the stiff? 

Dana: The stiff happens to be one of the finest musicians in the world! Now do you have some information for me, please? 

Peter: Sure, but I'd prefer to give it to you in private. 

Dana: Why don't you tell me now? 

Peter: Well, okay. I found the name Zuul for you. (reading off a piece of paper) The name Zuul refers to a demi-god worshipped around 6000 BC by theÖwhat's that word? 

Dana: Hittites. 

Peter: Hittites, the Mesopotamians and the Sumerians. 

Dana: (reading) Zuul was the minion of Gozer. What's Gozer? 

Peter: Gozer was very big in Sumeria. Big guy. 

Dana: Well, what's he doing in my icebox? 

Peter: I'm working on that. If we could get together Thursday night, I'm thinking nine-ish, you know, we could exchange information. 

Dana: I can't see you Thursday, I'm busy! 

Peter: Miss Barrett, you seem to think there is something wrong up here in your mind that says: he enjoys taking his evenings off and spending them with his clients. No. I'm making a special exception in your case. Because... I respect you. It's corny but I respect you as artist. And as a dresser, too! This is a magnificent coordination you have going here today. 

Dana: All right. I'll see you Thursday. 

Peter: I'll bring The Roylance Guide and we'll eat and read! 

(Dana goes back over to the Violinist and they begin to walk off.) 

Violinist: So! Who the hell was that? 

Dana: Just a friend. 

Violinist: A friend? 

Dana: An old friend. 

Peter: (yelling) Right, I'll see you Thursday! I'm sorry I didn't get to meet you, sir! And I'm glad you're feeling much better. You're still very pale, though! A little sun... 

Violinist: What's he do? 

Dana: Oh, he's a scientist. 

Drawing Mcfist

Here's some tips I made during production on how to draw McFist.

Tonight on RANDY CUNNINGHAM: 9TH GRADE NINJA

Attack of the Killer Potatoes  &  Got Stank

All Upcoming Times for Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja

You can also get the show on iTunes for anytime viewin'. 

Here's a poster by Jack Cusumano for the episode I directed entitled House of 1,000 Boogers.

                          




















Poster by Jack Cusumano                                                       Poster by Nico Colaleo

Doug Loves Movies - Date Night

I'm a big fan of Doug Benson's Podcast DOUG LOVES MOVIES. Here's one of his bits from his stand up comedy that I thought made a good comic.

(Click image to enlarge)

http://douglovesmovies.com/

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/doug-loves-movies/id281816774

http://dlm.libsyn.com/

4 U Techies - this was done in Storyboard Pro

Free Comic Book Day story on The Dying Breed Movie Club Meets The Movies Podcast

A few months ago my buddy Chris Mich told me a funny story about him bringing his boys to the Comic Shop for Free Comic Book Day.  I said I had to make that into a comic.  I asked him to record himself telling the story for me to have as reference.  He said he already had recorded it as part of his friend Phil's Podcast.  Phil was about to air that podcast episode, which he also puts images to.  He asked if he could use some of what I was doing.  Awesome, I thought, but he needed it ASAP.  I said - Whatever I had done by that weekend he could use.  It was pretty sparse and rough at that point, but Phil did a great job of cobbling the drawings together to make a nice little bit.

Recently, I have pretty much finished the "Character Pass" of the piece.  I made it an actual little animatic, but plan on putting it in to comic book form.  This week I'm currently trying to figure out what I want to do with the backgrounds.  I used the panel above to test things out.  I'll talk more about the project when I'm done. [All drawn in Toon Boom Storyboard Pro]

In the meantime, check out this "video assist" podcast by Philip C. Congleton ~ With a short story (about 6 minutes in) told by Chris Mich and illustrated by yours truly.

The Dying Breed Movie Club Meets the Movies: Ep. 04 - The Avengers

(Update: I noticed that the front counter's glass wasn't transparent in my original post, I just reposted the image above with the glass correct, so you can see the comics inside.  For you techies: What happened was, in Storyboard Pro,  I MERGED the BG layers in order to save some memory on the panel so the software would run a little smoother.  Only problem was when you merge layers in Storyboard Pro a layer that has the opacity turned down will revert back to 100% when merged.  What I did to fix it and keep it merged was create a new white swatch and lowered the alpha on it, selected the shapes of the glass and clicked the new swatch.  Work-arounds, gotta love 'em)

The Soft Answer - Aptima Comic Strip

Here's the third of the 3 comic strips I did for APTIMA

Click here to see the first one. Or here to see the second one. Or click the Aptima label at the bottom of the post to see them all. Yay!

“We worked with Josh to produce these strips for a proposal about storytelling and the power of narratives to resolve conflicts. Despite tight deadlines, the process and the end product were great.” 
- Kevin Sullivan, Senior Director of Software Engineering, Aptima, Inc.  
 www.aptima.com

4 U techies:  I did this in Storyboard Pro.

Sterilized - Aptima Comic Strip

Here's the second of the 3 comic strips I did for APTIMA

Click here to see the first one. Or click the Aptima tag at the bottom of the post

“We worked with Josh to produce these strips for a proposal about storytelling and the power of narratives to resolve conflicts. Despite tight deadlines, the process and the end product were great.” 
- Kevin Sullivan, Senior Director of Software Engineering, Aptima, Inc.  
 www.aptima.com

4 U techies:  I did this in Storyboard Pro.