Scooby-Doo Animation Work

Scooby-Doo! Flashback Friday

I did prop design work on these two direct-to-videos cartoons.

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Musical Art

CD Label Art

Art I created for music CD label for client. I definitely can't sing or play an instrument. However, I was close to pursuing music if not for my mother's impatience.

I was very diligent in practicing my chords. My mother couldn't take it. I came home one day and our piano had mysteriously disappeared.

art copyright 2018 Howard Simpson

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Another Punny Day

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Looney Tunes Comic Book Art

Porky Pig and Donald Duck Comic Book Pages

Pencil art I've done for DC Comics.

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Who Was the First Lead Black Cartoon Character in a Sound Cartoon?

Black History Month

Mickey Mouse appeared in Steamboat Willie in 1928. The cartoon was directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. It was produced in black-and-white by Walt Disney Studios and was released by Celebrity Productions. The cartoon is considered the debut of Mickey Mouse, despite appearing several months earlier in a test screening of Plane Crazy.

This is the first cartoon with synchronized sound, including character sounds and a musical score. Steamboat Willie was the first cartoon to feature a fully post-produced soundtrack which distinguished it from earlier sound cartoons such as Inkwell Studios' Song Car-Tunes (1924–1927) and Van Beuren Studios' Dinner Time (1928).


Before some of you get your panties in a knot. Readers of this blog already know about blacks who passed for white. Go ahead. Check it out and come back. I'll wait.

Back? Yeah, that's right. Just keep looking at the picture below. You'll see it.

See Steamboat Willie and other shorts with this historic black character.

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How Deep Does it Go?

Be careful they are wherever you look. They have their hooks in our childhood. They formed us without  force, guided and lead us to think what they want. Are comic strips funny because we think it is or because they programmed us to what THEY think funny is.

 

Remember... Hail Hydra! 

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R´ha [short movie]

Another amazing animation created by ONE person.

Written - directed - animated by Kaleb Lechowski

http://vimeo.com/57148705

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copyright 2012 H. Simpson.

Urbance Trailer

Check out this animation from Steambot Studios.

This is really well done. Would you like to see this on TV?

http://vimeo.com/56339105

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copyright 2012 H. Simpson.

I'm doing live cartoon portraits at Westfield Century City Mall

Get Yourself Drawn as a Cartoon

Listen up! Hmm.. maybe that should be 'Read up.' No, 'Read across' How about  'Scan this' it's so Babylon 5; futuristic but retro at the same time. I've got it let's start again!

Peep this people! I will be at the SONY store drawing portraits. Yeah, that's what I said, 'SONY has a store?' Oh… you said "He can draw live?" Yes I can and you can stop by and get yourself drawn free! Here's an idea for a holiday gift. Bring a photo of your friend and I'll draw them and you can give that as a gift to your friend! I promise I'll be gentle.

I'll be at Century City

10250 Santa Monica Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90067

on these dates

Thurs  Dec. 13 from 5 to 9 pm

Sat  Dec. 15 from 1 to 5 pm

Please stop by and get yourself drawn as a cartoon character.

Get Manga Studio 5 for $79

Get Manga Studio 5 for $79

Many of the features that were previously only available in the EX version are now available in Manga Studio 5.  A very good tool for drawing comics. Odd though that they don't use the tool to do the illustration for the product packaging. 

You can get it here.

How to do Wonders with Your Shape

Line and form walk hand in hand to create substance.

We start with the cube and sphere. From these primary shapes more complex shapes are given birth: the cylinder, cone, pyramid and hexagon (or more correctly a hexagonal prism). Well really it should be called a polyhedron to account for any number of flat surfaces and straight edges. However it seems mathematicians can't agree on a definition for polyhedra, so you see it gets complicated.

We reduce the problem of drawing by by seeing everything as based on these forms and their relationships to each other.

There are two methods to build form using ovals and rectangles. Of course some mavericks like to combine both. Hmm… are they mavericks or undisciplined? I'm not sure.

Each series of ovals and rectangles help to build masses in proper proportion and relation  to each other. This helps to build a figure or object and give it structure and weight. Then we use line to define the contour and create it as we draw with confidence and s sense of finality.

There are 3 expressions of form: contour only, contrast and using light and shadow.

I'll end this here even though there is so much more to say on this and you should make the study and observation of form a part of your daily routine.

Next… Light and Shadow.

to be continued…

read next - Are Afraid of The Dark?
previous - Are You a Passive Line or a Powerful Line?

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Copyright 2016 H. Simpson

If you are interested in further expanding your knowledge, then I recommend these books.

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Fleischer’s Superman Cartoons 1941-1942

Happy Thanksgiving!

Warners Bros. has given us a real treat!

This week Warner Bros. posted most of the Fleischer Superman cartoons to their You Tube channel.

Warner Bros. has restored them for our viewing pleasure. No more bootleg grainy videos. Even after all these years they are still fun to watch again and again.

I really love these and enjoy the imagination, talent, energy and excitement shown and generated in these cartoons.

Superman

Mechanical Monsters

Terror On The Midway

Read about the history and DVD review of the Warner Bros. release

Here's direct links to all of them.

Superman

Mechanical Monsters 

Billion Dollar Limited 

The Arctic Giant 

The Bulleteers 

The Magnetic Telecope 

Electric Earthquake 

Volcano 

Terror On The Midway

Enjoy!

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copyright 2012 H. Simpson.

SONY VAIO Duo 11 Ultrabook - Good for drawing?

I spent a day with the Sony VAIO Duo 11. Here's my first impression and my first drawings.

The new VAIO line comes installed with ArtRage Studio Pro, so I did some drawings with this. It comes with a digitizer stylus that lets me draw naturally. It is very responsive and feels comfortable in my hand. When the stylus is close to the LCD, the touch sensors automatically turn off so I was able to rest my palm on the screen and draw.

I will have to try it again to check the pressure sensitivity. I don't feel I was getting good thick and thin lines, but that may be due to the fact that I didn't set things correctly.

The Sony stylus comes with the VAIO Duo 11. It is not Wacom technology, it is made by n-trig in Israel. Needs a battery inside.

It only works with the VAIO Duo 11. All the other Sony VAIO touch screens do not support this stylus just finger touch and the same brushes and styluses should work that work on the iPad.

I would say 'Yes, it is good to use for drawing'.

Keep reading and  +1 me. Share with your friends. Please comment. Just create!

copyright 2012 H. Simpson.

Not so great super hero moment

You shouldn't get Batman mad.

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copyright 2012 H. Simpson.

Free Form Panel and Page Design for Comics and Graphic Novels

How to Become a Comic Strip, Comic Book and Graphic Novel Artist

Let's look at a few examples of how to make decisions for a free form designed page based on story, action, anchor image and time progression.

Making decisions based on story.

If you have a very quiet or character driven story, you may decide to use smaller and square panels to make the story feel more intimate.

A story with an epic scale may use larger panels and more horizontal panels to give a sense of grandeur and large vistas.

An action story may have a combination of small panels and large panels to contrast the pedestrian and active or dramatic moments.

© Chris Ware

A nice quiet page of normal events.

© Will Eisner

The last page invokes sadness by designing the page to have the panels represent eyes that seem to be crying.

© Will Eisner

This page is designed to give the readers the sense of looking through the files with the character.

Making decisions based on action and psychological thrillers.

A few different options are available to you.

Use slanted panels where there is action and standard square and rectangles where there is not.

Design the panels to flow with the action.

May use vey haphazard and irregular panels to reflect the chaos or mental state of characters.

art by Joe Madureira
© Marvel Comics 

art by Alex Toth
© DC Comics

© Chris Ware

Awesome page design reflects the mental and emotional state of the character.

Making decisions based on anchor image.

The anchor image is the one image you decide to build your page around to hold it together.

That image can be an active single figure or a close-up. It can also be a dramatic moment and built around a scene.

art by Walt Simonson
© DC Comics

Here the anchor image is the structure. Excellent page design. The structure is designed to be seen first yet it moves your eye to each panel.

Making decisions based on time progression.

This one is the trickiest and where you can be very creative. 

So far I've kept content separate from the design. In this case the design decision to manage time can be altered by the content. As I pointed out earlier film and video are still frames projected at a rapid rate to give the illusion of movement. Panels and gutters are used to give the illusion of time passing. I'll get into this later when I start dealing with content. Page design and panel layout do not decide the content and meaning.

Let's say you decide to use 4 small square panels to condense time. The same 4 square panels can show either:

• quick action
• simultaneous events
• stretch out an action
• no temporal transitions - just a series of cuts to object of attention in the same scene.

The gutters can be widened or condensed to indicate time has passed at different rate between panels. Large gutter means more time has passed between panels. Smaller than normal gutter can indicate a shorter time passage between panels.

© Walt Simonson

Simultaneous events shown.

Now this would seem to be a good time to segue into content and it looks like I have set it up that way, but alas such is not the case.

I still have balloons, captions, sound effects, actions, expressions, symbols, glyphs, feelings and emotions to discuss.

Next… word balloons.

read next - Introduction to Speech Balloons
previous - Review Panels in Comics and Graphic Novels

Keep reading and follow me. If you have found this helpful, please let me know and share with other creators. Are the explanations clear and complete? Feel free to ask me questions.

Remember… Just Create!

If you are interested in further expanding your knowledge, then I recommend these books.

You can support this blog when you purchase a book by clicking the link below, I get a piece of the action and helps me to continue doing this blog. Support an artist today.

copyright 2012 H. Simpson

Review Panels in Comics and Graphic Novels

How to Become a Comic Strip, Comic Book and Graphic Novel Artist

Okay, let's get back on track. Let's review.

art © 2012 H. Simpson

We've been discussing using geometric page layouts called grids to create a visual rhythm and tempo with repetition and variations in panel shape. The variations are used to highlight dramatic moments in the narrative.

Panels frame and contain the content for the reader. The size of the panel can be an indicator of how much time passes. Comics don't have movement to indicate time. But when you think about it no media does have movement. Film, video and animation all have still frames. We are given the illusion of movement by the rapid projection rate.

The eye moves more quickly over smaller panels. Larger panels make the eye linger longer, so it seems  more time is passing.

Now we're going to discuss free form page designs. This means you don't decide to use a grid and every page can have different panel shapes.

The size and number of the panels on the page is decided by:

• Story
• Action
• Anchor Image
• Passage of time

So I'll start breaking this down next time.

to be continued...

read next - Free Form Panel and Page Design for Comics and Graphic Novels
previous - A nice method to do thought balloon lettering.

Keep reading and follow me. If you have found this helpful, please let me know and share with other creators. Are the explanations clear and complete? Feel free to ask me questions.

Remember… Just Create!

If you are interested in further expanding your knowledge, then I recommend these books.

You can support this blog when you purchase a book by clicking the link below, I get a piece of the action and helps me to continue doing this blog. Support an artist today.

copyright 2012 H. Simpson

Panels and More Panels

How to Become a Comic Strip, Comic Book and Graphic Novel Artist

The Horizontal Panel 

This shape most closely fits the normal human field of vision which is 180 degrees. This shape can help to make the reader feel comfortable. This panel shape is good for panorama views also.

The Inset Panel

This is usually used to show a close-up of a detail or to highlight something you don't want the reader to miss.

Best to use a double border to separate it from the surrounding panel to avoid tangents as well as confusing the reader.

The Overlapping Panel

Usually used to make a stronger connection between panels or to really compress time.

Best to use a double border or cut-in to separate it from the surrounding panel to avoid tangents as well as confusing the reader.

Or a nice strong black in one background can separate the the panels. 

I see a hand raised. "What's a tangent?" I'm glad you asked. Let's go off on tangent now to answer that question and then come back to panels and page design.

Be here tomorrow for a visit to Tangent City.

read next - A nice method to do thought balloon lettering.

previous - 69 Grid

Keep reading and follow me. If you have found this helpful, please let me know and share with other creators. Are the explanations clear and complete? Feel free to ask me questions.

Remember… Just Create!

If you are interested in further expanding your knowledge, then I recommend these books.

You can support this blog when you purchase a book by clicking the link below, I get a piece of the action and helps me to continue doing this blog. Support an artist today.

copyright 2012 H. Simpson.

Avengers Movie Review

Avengers Assemble to Entertain

First, let me say that I'm not a purist. I don't feel that a movie of adaptation of comic book characters have to follow the comic exactly. The Christoper Reeve Superman movie set the standard and showed that when you respect the source material and treat the characters as real and not as cardboard cutouts or stereotypes a good movie can be made. Not a good comic book movie, just a good movie.

Great movies started being made with the comic book characters when they started fleshing out the characters and understanding their motivations.

This is what helps make The Avengers a great movie. The individual movies clearly defined the characters and their motivations. Even without seeing those movies, it's clear to the viewer that those motivations are in conflict as the heroes assemble. Helping to give us the obligatory hero vs hero fight,which is handled very well. It's not just tossed in for a hero fight, it actually contributes to the story.

In fact therein lies another reason for the greatness of this movie. Not a single frame is wasted. Every move, every frame, every line contributes to advancing the story or revealing something about the character(s).

The movie opens on an alien world with Loki and an alien (not a Skrull). During the trailers the sound system was pumping. So I know it worked. Yet it was hard to hear clearly in this scene. Were they mumbling? This was the only time the sound was bad and my first disappointment

Then we see a captured Black Widow and the style of the movie is set in this one scene. Drama, action, humor, defined characters, understandable story, good acting and an investment in the characters. The balance is set here and maintained throughout the movie. There are two writers on the movie, but the Whedon style is immediately evident.

My second  and last disappointment was the title sequence. Was this an after thought? After months of pushing a well designed Avengers logo in our face. The title sequence shows a poorly designed logo.

There are payoffs for people who saw all the previous movies, but that's just icing on the cake. It does help at a critical turning point and really makes the audience (as well a the heroes) emotionally invested. The character interaction is amazing and serves to drive the story.

This movie arrives at just the right time. Special effects are at a point where you can't tell they are effects and so don't take you out of the story. As a comic artist I can create destruction on an epic scale. And it doesn't cost a thing. Previously movies couldn't afford to do this. Finally we can see a movie that can create the destruction that is believable in a world populated by superheroes.

The movie is longer than normal at 2 hours and 22 minutes, yet it does not feel long at all. I felt like I could have sat another hour without any seat bottom wiggle.

The Avengers is an awesome, entertaining movie.

(I don't know why Blogger hides the dock, thus forcing me to beg. Sheeesh!) Please use the hidden dock on the right to follow and subscribe to me. I also would like to see your comments. Is this helpful to you? Are the explanations clear and complete?

For my readers in other countries you can now translate this blog from the dock. I know you're out there, so please comment.

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copyright 2012 H. Simpson

IN-GRID

How to Become a Comic Strip, Comic Book and Graphic Novel Artist

The Grid

Good designers use a grid. Great designers know when to break the grid.

A grid helps you to provide patterns and rhythms with your panels, thus creating pacing and manipulating time.

What is a grid? For our purposes it's a system for organizing your panels on the page. You've seen it all your life and you may not even have known it. It's used in newspapers, magazines and web sites. And also comics!  Let's look at the history briefly.

Illustrated manuscripts were first produced by monks during the dawn of the Middle Ages to transcribe sacred text. The grids used here are a combination of vertical and horizontal lines as seen in these examples.

As you can see the grid was flexible and showed variety back then, even as it does now. It is not restrictive, it is liberating. It can allow your visual design sense and storytelling to be very dynamic by allowing you think about content, time and space within a framework. It's easy to be creative when you're free. It's more challenging when you create a cage for yourself.

The grid can be used to control time as well as for psychological and aesthetic effect. It gives you a systematic way to layout your pages and give it consistency and unity.

Jim Steranko's Chandler (1976) was one of the early graphic novels. The others released that year were adaptions or compilations. Chandler was an original work. The cover calls itself a visual novel, while inside it's called a graphic novel. It's not the first graphic novel*, but it is indeed the first illustrated novel to combine comic book panels and text in this way. 

Steranko made a creative decision ahead of time to use this grid.

It would seem to be he painted himself in a corner, however he was very creative with his use of this grid. 

Chandler copyright Jim Steranko

*Gil Kane's Blackmark published in January 1971 is the first graphic novel. The term graphic novel was not in wide use then. Europe had what they called "albums" and manga were in Japan.

to be continued...

read next - 4 Panel Grid
previous - Comic Book and Graphic Novel Panels

Keep reading and follow me. If you have found this helpful, please let me know and share with other creators. Are the explanations clear and complete? Feel free to ask me questions.

Remember… Just Create!

If you are interested in further expanding your knowledge, then I recommend these books.


You can support this blog when you purchase a book by clicking the link below, I get a piece of the action and helps me to continue doing this blog. Support an artist today.

The designer's guide to grid theory

The Grid

15 Reasons Why A Grid Based Approach Will Improve Your Designs

Using Layout Grids Effectively 

copyright 2012 H. Simpson