ONE MORE YETI

So... things have been a bit slow on the Yeti December front of late... This is a quickie I scribbled down;


It seems the interest has faded in this Sasquatchian Hioliday, but I'm fine with that. It was a lot of fun, the best Yeti December to date, and super cool to see so many talented artists contribute.

Thanks so much to everyone who participated
Yeti Decemberists;
Joey Giardina
Gene Hole
Sam Bachman
Tim Heitz
Isaac Orloff
Claire MacKenzie
Ian Andersen
Marqus Bobesich

I'm thinking bout doing this once a month, or every other month. Not 'Yeti' per say, just a themed creature/object/thing designated to a particular month and seein how many drawings we can collectively create. Thoughts?

Would you guys be interested in that?

-Hat

DECEMBER OF YETIS

Sooo... got some new Yeti December stuffs...

This is the first Yeti drawing received via email, from fellow kn8ian Marqus Bobesich. You can see some of his other comics here; http://www.drunkduck.com/Pants_That_Sag/

Another comic hath been submitted, this one from the very talented Ian Andersen. Check out his blog to see all his cartoony goodness;

And lastly more hilarious drawings from Joey Giardina, check out his blog for more funny drawings of this guy;

Hope everyone is having a good Yeti December, I know I am.
Spread the love of the Yeti.

-Hat

YETI DECEMBER---ONE WEEK IN

So one week in, and going strong. Thanks to all who have participated thus far, your work inspires me.

We got a few new doodles;

Below is one of the three drawings Claire MacKenzie, a very talented up-and-comer, did for our cause;


Her other two drawings can be seen here;
Claire's other yeti 1
Claire's other yeti 2

And then we have a second submission from Gene Hole (The Jerk). He also did a whole bunch of yeti scribbles, so click the link to visit his blog and take a peek.


Family issues seem to be a recurring theme in his Yeti depictions... (Nice feet by the way.)

Let's keep this thing rolling, comment on some of your friends blogs, let them know about Yeti December, and let's see how many Yetis we can get drawn.

You guys are awesome

-Hat

ON THE 7TH DAY OF YETI DECEMBER

So, we got two more awesome contributions to Yeti December... from the same person! Isaac Orloff ladies and gentlemen! He's takin yeti December to a whole other lever.

Here was the first drawing he did;

I love this guy, he makes me laugh.
His second submission can be seen over at his blog, along with all his other awesome artwork;
http://orloffillustration.blogspot.com/

I did a little doodle of this yeti who looks more like a sloth, but is actually a yeti, I promise. I kinda like the design, but didn't really figure all the mechanics out... might do some more cleaned up poses later.

So I think I finally learned the true meaning of Yeti December.
It started on a whim, more or less, and then into somewhat of a joke, attempting to see how many people we could actually get to draw yetis. But in doing so, I began to see Yeti December in a new light, a sort of blog-community-building/art exercise. A way to meet new bloggers, see their awesome artwork, and also challenge one's self artistically.

So there you have it, the true meaning of Yeti December... well that and Yeti's are just cool.

-Hat

YETI DECEMBER

Out of the woodwork
in this dark and dreary December
from the ashes of snowflakes
rises a being who's coolness is superseded only by the mystery he is shrouded in

he is, the yeti.

... that was a lot more dramatic than I intended to be. Anywhom, wow, what an awesome response so far to the inaugural Yeti December. Below are the first few snapshots of this elegant and elusive beast.

Joey Giardina's close up encounter with the smiling Sasquatch;

He was also spotted on SRBachman's blog;

Then he went on a date, and apparently made the Mrs. pay for the bill... what A Jerk;

In the heights of the Himalayas comes this rendering of a seemingly gentle yeti captured by the incomparable Tim Heitz;

Thanks too everyone who has participated thus far... This is turning out to be the best Yeti December ever!

Spread the word of this hairy holiday. Let's see how many yetis we can uncover.

-Hat

YAY MORE YETIS

Found some more time at work today to sneak in a couple yetis. This is becoming Yeti December...


If you happen to be in the mood, try drawing a yeti, and leave me a link to your drawing.
Lets start Yeti December off with a bang.

-Hat

YETI SPAGHETTI

You can never draw enough Yetis.
These are a couple little doodles I did during some down time at work today...

mmm think I'm gonna do some more soon... had a lot of fun drawing these guys.

-Hat

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO TITLE THIS POST

As per requested by anonymous on my previous post, here are some more Flapjack boards I cleaned up.

Unfortunately, I didn't actually keep too many copies of the work I did while on the show, so I think this (and the stuff a couple posts down) are all I have.

With that being the case, I thought I'd at least post more of the storyboard test I did.

Note* These were not actually used in production, only from a test I did applying for the position.

 

While rummaging through boxes of piled and packed paper, looking for more Flapjack boards, I came across this piece of artwork from the production of Manny and Khan, not sure if myself or Joey ever posted it, so thought I would;

At the studio they had a wall dedicated to the 'Cartoonstitute' program, where they would pin up artwork from each short. This is the piece we gave them to hang up. The font was drawn by Joey, characters by DanBob Thompson. I'm pretty sure it's the same pose from the spinning logo we used in the short.

-Hat

I AM DB

I just found out that I'm on IMDB...

Josh Lieberman (v)
 
I feel so official. I don't know who made the page, but thank you! Here's a special drawling I made just for you.

Much love 
-Josh Lieberman number 5

MOREMIES

More me's. That drawing I did for the last post is god-awful. Apparently I can only draw on a cintique now.

-Hat

Hmm...

Well... It's been a while blog. I'm sorry for neglecting you. And if it's any consolation,  I've even been ignoring you're younger brother, who is basically still an infant and needs my constant attention.

I wanted to take some time out just to thank everybody. 

And by everybody, I mean you, the person reading this, anyone who is reading this, or anyone who has read anything on this blog before. Over the years, maintaining this blog, I've gotten a lot of cool comments and emails from people. Often we can take simple gestures like this for granted, something as simple as a compliment. However going back through the archived posts here, it was pretty heartwarming to see all the people who have taken the time to express themselves.

So thank you for sharing, sharing your comments, opinions, ideas, and your artwork! Through connecting with fellow bloggers I've been able to see a lot of incredible artwork I would have never seen. Never seen had YOU not taken the time to put it up. So thank you. Thank you for the inspiration.

To return the favor, I offer this rendering of myself.

Don't try and be perfect.

Try and be happy.

If you happen to stumble across this, please leave me a link to your blog! I want to be inspired by you.

Much love 

-Hat

CHECK OUT MY WILLY

I was fortunate enough, a few months back, to have a chance to work on Thurop Van Orman's Flapjack doing storyboard clean-up and revisions for them. It was the first gig I got off of doing a story-test, so the show holds a a special place in my heart. I'm so thankful Thurop gave me an opportunity to work for him, he's an awesome guy with the heart of a whale and the beard of a man whale. One of the first episodes I was given to clean-up was, last nights premier, 'WILLY'.  The episode was quite ambitious, a lot of action, a lot of singing, and... a lot of crowds.

Below; Original rough board and cleaned-up crowd/Willy

Below; Another cleaned-up crowd

Below; I think this is one of the first crowd shots I cleaned up. And it was great because I learnt how to draw every character in the entire Flapjack universe ever. I made photocopies of the colossal crowd at certain points along the way to track the progress,

EDIT; I realized the big crowd shot below wasn't actually from the episode 'Willy!', but a different episode I had been given to clean up.

Original rough board;

Small crowd;

 

One of the great things about working clean-up on the show was forcing myself to draw in a new style. The shapes and proportions of the characters are really wacky, fun and exaggerated, they contain a lot of stylistic properties I'd never really explored. I think we all have certain formulas we instinctively stick to, whether we are aware of it or not, and working on Flapjack was a great way to push myself into new design territories. Thaddeus Couldron is the current character designer on the show, he's an incredible artist.

Medium crowd;

Colossal crowd;

 

I'm not sure if this shot made it into the final episode? I don't have a tv, so didn't have a chance to catch the episode. They probably would've blown their entire budget on this one shot.

I also got my first TV screen credit

I did Manny and Khan before working on Flapjack, which would have technically made that my first screen credit, but who the heck knows when that things ever gonna air...

BUSY BEAVER

Got a lots goin on of late, so thought I'd post some of the recent stuff I've been up to.

Been doing a lot of writing lately, more on the philosophical side of things. Started a new blog dedicated more to the literary lines of labor. Just finished putting together a first collection of essays, one I'm in the process of having self-published. I've put it up on the blog free to download for anyone interested;

humanationessays.blogspot.com

Still busy boarding, hard at work on Madagascar 3. Can't post any of the artwork I've done so far, but got this gem of a picture. Me and some of the board artists stayed late to work the other night, so production ordered diner for us. They put the order in my name. The guy delivered the food and below is a picture of the receipt;

So that was awesome.

I now have a new nickname! By day I'm mild mannered Josh Beaverman, but by night... BEAVERMANNNNN! I'm also in the early stages of development on a new TV pilot with a major network, tentatively titled 'leave it to beaverman'.

I'm really dissapointed none of my friends came up with that when I was growing up. It's so obvious.

Also, now that a whole bunch of the cartoonstitute shorts leaked, I can finally post;

This was a little 'thank you' drawing I made for Derek Dryman. He really helped mentor me and Joey through the making of Manny and Khan, he's an awesome guy and super talented, have you seen Danger Planet!?

And check out the Danger Planet production blog if you havn't.

incredible stuff.

peace out

love in

-hat

MANNY AND KHAN LEAK 2.0

These guys just won't stay dead;

The short I made for Cartoon Network with my good buddy Joey G leaked online again, and this time in high def!

By high def I don't mean the sound is so high you'll go deaf, that was the older leak.

Special shout out to the cartoon cavalry on Toonzone for all your support, you guys are the coolest. It means a lot to know that people who like cartoons like Manny & Khan.

Much love.

POST SCRIPT

No new art stuff to post, so thought I'd start posting some of my writing. This is a spec script I wrote of 'The Office"

download here; The Office Spec Script

It takes place somewhere in the middle of season 2, much prior to Jim and Pam becoming a couple.

TEX BOOKIN'

Been a long time since I posted some artwork. I spend most of the day drawing at the studio, all of which artwork I can't yet post, and tend to work more on writing in my limited spare time. But I thought I'd post a little exercise I did recently. Something I struggle with is handling multiple characters in a panel or in a particular pose in which they all interact. Below is an attempt to understand better the science of posing multiple characters together.
A screen grab from Avery's 'Rural Red Riding Hood'.

First I traced the drawing (one of the greater advantages of having access to a cintique).

The first thing I noticed in studying the pose is the line-of-actions of each character and their respective relationship to each other;

The main focus of the pose (and the gag) is Red Riding Hood kissing the cow. All of the line-of-actions work to create a focal point centered around the smooching skulls of Red and the Cow. Red's upper body leans in towards the Cow, as does the Cow's upper body into her. The wolf, as a secondary character to the pose, enhances the juxtaposing angles by mimicking the Cow's slant and creating an even greater push towards Red. The Wolfs angle leads the eye towards the focus of the pose and draws no attention to himself. Red's legs have the same affect on the pose. By having a parallel angle to that of the Cow and the Wolf it even further helps to push the eye towards the important part of the pose. What we find is 3 repeating angles pushing against 1 angle, creating a clear focal point.

Below; Eyeline
The eyeline of all three characters lie on the same plane, leaving no question as to where you should be looking.

The extraneous limbs of both the Red and the Wolf continue the idea of supporting the main line-of-action by creating a perpendicular angle. It helps lead the eye to the kiss.

When you put all of it together;
Everything either points directly to or enhances the primary action/focus of the pose.
They make it look easy...

Some additional studies;