March, 2013 | Luis' Illustrated Blog

Behind the Scenes of a Simpsons Doritos Commercial

March 28, 2013 in THE SIMPSONS NEWS

THE SIMPSONS NEWS – Behind the Scenes of a Simpsons Doritos Commercial

Simpsons quote:

Homer: D’oh!

Doritors announcer: …ritos

I’ve fully animated on The Simpsons many times during my years on the show. I say this because my job doesn’t require me to animate most of the time.

I spent most of my career on The Simpsons as a Character Layout artist. This is different than being an animator although there is some overlap. If you want to know more about the job of a Character Layout artist, I wrote about HERE.

The first time I was able to full animate for The Simpsons was actually on a Doritos commercial.

To hear the story behind this commercial, you can either watch the video or read the text below. At the bottom of the post, you’ll have a chance to watch the commercial:

Animation Training in Action

The Doritos commercial was directed by Swinton Scott. I had all been layout out before I got it and I was asked to animate every single shot in the commercial.

It was a lot of fun but it was a very challenging thing. I hadn’t done anything like it before. By which I mean, I’d never been paid to animated before. It was a big learning experience.

I through everything I learned about animation up till then into the project. A lot of overlapping action, things stopping at different times, action, movement…it was fun.

The artwork is NOT the best. It was very early on in my career. It wasn’t like I had the best drawing of Homer. I didn’t have the character down as well as I should have, but it was the best I could do at the time.

I found a copy of it on Youtube and I’ve embedded the video below.

Making Things fit Together.

I will say that, there’s a scene in the commercial that used to be two separate shots. When we showed it to Fox we received some notes. One of the notes was to cut out a scene. This forced us to combine the two scenes that book ended the missing scene. The scenes looked identical but they actually were not.

I ended having to animate the scenes into one another. It’s near the end and it’s weird. You’ll see. There’s a scene near the end where the announcer says, “food in the fast lane.” Well, that whole scene used to be two scenes.

You’ll see at the beginning of that shot that Homer kinda morphs a little bit. That’s where I was trying to animate these two scenes together and combine them into one scene.

The Commercial

So if you’re ready to watch it, here you go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jmh_8VJHJ8

What’s your Reaction?

What do you think? Did you ever see this commercial when it went live?

THE SIMPSONS NEWS – The Couch Gag that Wouldn’t Die

So this season seems have been the season of epic Couch Gags.

Most of the Couch Gags I’ve worked on this season have been epic. Like, “mini movie” epic.

I haven’t worked on all of them but I’ve worked on quite a few. Most of the time I don’t mind at all. They’re a lot of fun.

This week though, I came face to face with the Couch Gag that wouldn’t die.

I’m working on revising show 22 of this season. Production approached me to do some overtime revising the storyboards for a Couch Gag that needed to be approved.

I said sure. I fixed the boards really quick and off it went. I continued revising show 22.

Next day, after lunch, I’m told there where notes on the Couch Gag. I needed to fix the board A.S.A.P., so I did. The fixes where kinda elaborate. It took me three times longer to fix than the original notes. Meanwhile, I’m running behind on show 22.

I finish the fixes.

Nope, there are two designs that I need to put in the board. I have to redraw some stuff.

So I change the designs and turn it in. The board is okay, and that was that. The boards are sent to get approved again.

The next day, mid-morning, I get sent a note telling me there’s more fixes. Different fixes.

“GAH!” Why won’t this Couch Gag leave me alone?! (Sigh)

So I fix it. It didn’t take long. It was minor, but it was annoying.

I half expect to get the boards sent back to me again before the day was over…and they were.

More changes were sent to me. Nothing that was even in the original script either. The board just wouldn’t die.

I managed to finish those changes. I hope we don’t get sent more today. Wish me luck.

Now I’m behind on my work and have to make up the time.

At least I’m getting paid overtime.

Oh well, I can’t complain, it’s still a fun job. It can just get annoying sometimes.

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When is the Standard…too Standard?

March 21, 2013 in ART, CATHOLICISM

ART – When is the Standard too Standard?

The Simpsons Quotes:

Bart: What a perfect plan. Now, Roger Myers will tell as just…
Myers: [announcing the studio’s re-opening]
And so when no one could think of a plan to resurect Itchy &
Scratchy, a young boy, a wonderful irrepressible young boy,
took it on his own to solve the problem. He discovered that the
postal service’s Mr. Zip. was just a rip-off of my father’s
stick figure character Manic Mailman.
[crowd murmors]
So the government gave me a _huge_ cash settlement, and Itchy &
Scratchy Studios is back in business.
[engines start up again]
Thanks to you, Lester.
[a Tracey-Ullman-era Bart comes on stage]
Bart: What the hell is going on?
Lisa: I don’t know, but it looks like you might have a little
competition all of a sudden.
Lester: Thanks everybody, but I couldn’t have done all this without the
help of my brainy sister Eliza.
[a Tracey-Ullman-era Lisa joins him]
Lisa: [gasps]

This question was asked to a Facebook group that I’m a part of. It was specifically about two things: Superheroes and Manga:

When is fitting the standard too… standard?

I’ve been looking at some kids’ writings and comics and have thought about familiarity between readers and the border of having something too generic and having something familiar that a reader can be comfortable with.

What comes to mind is when people draw things for Mangas and Comics. In comics, we all love superheroes in outfits, but how long until everyone looks the same or try-hard? Same goes for anime; how long until they all look like schoolgirls or kids who stumbled into a hot-topic?

There are a lot of memes that come into the expectations of our media, so it’s difficult to be really different, yet remain in the comfort zone long enough as to not scare off any prospective audience.

What are your experiences? Thoughts? Things to add?

I LOVE this question and I’ll do my best to answer it in the video below. I also wrote out the answer if you’d rather read it. Either way you get the same info.

I didn’t answer the question thinking I have THE answer, I just wanted to try to give one:

The Sea of Sameness

So Manga has a standard and there’s also genres within Manga. So you’ve got the “school girl” genre, right? And you know there’s a market for the school girl kind of stories. If you want to join in, how are you going to stand out in a sea of sameness?

Same problem with Superheroes. There’s a bunch a guys in tights fighting and they’re all superheroes. How are you going to stand out? Marvel and DC have basically monopolized the market. How do you stand out in a market like that?

Well, I’m no expert, I don’t think I have THE answer. If I did, I’d be doing it and I’d be rich, right? But I’m going to throw out my thoughts on the matter. This is how I would approach the situation.

Okay so here goes:

My Answer

One of the reasons you’re not standing out is because you’re not saying anything new. You’re not taking that genre and saying something new enough.

I understand that the genre exists because people are looking to get specific things within the genre. Specific emotions, a specific experience. Every genre has specific experiences that they draw from that people are attracted to.

YOU have to hit all those beats…but different. It’s like the idea from the book Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need by Blake Snyder:

“What people want is the same but different.” They want to be surprised. They want to get something they didn’t see coming while experiencing the familiar.

I think, the problem is that you’re trying to say the same thing everyone else is saying. You don’t have a voice, you’re not saying ANYTHING. YOU are not in the work. I think that’s really the problem.

I think you can make a successful Superhero story or School girl story if you’re actually saying something of VALUE. That is new, that also fills a NEED.

Search for What you can Uniquely Fill

In order to do that, you have to find out what is MISSING. Then see how YOU can uniquely bring that subject to the table in a way that has not been done or said.

So it the end, it’s not really the genre. It’s about what is missing that you can fill, that you can uniquely say, within the confines of the genre.

You can also do this without being within a genre. You can do this by just finding something unique that you’re interested in talking about. You can start there first and then put the genre on top of it later.

So that’s what I was thinking. That’s my two cents.

What’s YOUR Answer?

What do you think? Am I wrong am I right, am I missing something? Let me know. Seriously, I don’t have THE answer here. I have a possible answer, I have a possible solution.

If you think it’s a good solution, let me know, if you think it’s not, let me know.

It’s a good topic for conversation.

I hope this was something worth thinking about.

Pulp Simpsons

If your still interested in seeing the Pulp Simpsons drawings, I’m sending out five more drawing to my email list this week. Join up and see what you’re missing.

CATHOLICISM – Pope Francis

Viva il Papa!

Hurray! We got a new Pope and I think he rocks!

I’ve been following all the new about him pretty obsessively.

I also like his face. So much so that I got an overwhelming urge to draw him. So here’s my drawing of Pope Francis.

For more comics and stories written by me: COMICS AND STORIES

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I also have a store. Click Here and check it out.

1 Comment »

How Artists can Better Learn to Teach Themselves

March 14, 2013 in ART, COMIC BOOKS, VIDEOS

ART – How Artists can Better Learn to Teach Themselves

The Simpsons Quotes:

So when I took the test, the answers were stuck in my head. It was like a whole different kind of cheating!
– Bart Simpson

When you haven’t got a mentor around, or when you’re the only person you know who draws. When the figure drawing teacher in your class is awful or if there isn’t even a teacher at all, how can you learn?

How do you improve your art when there’s no one who can help?

Today I’m going to write about some possible solutions to this problem, and it really begins with self motivation.

You can watch the video below or read the information on the post below. It’s really the same info either way:

Teaching Yourself, the Skill of Meta-Learning

I’ve become very interested in the last couple of Months over the idea of Meta-Learning. I became aware of it, by reading the book, The 4-Hour Chef by Tim Ferris. The subtitle of the book is, The Simple P ath to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life.

There’s a section in the book called “Meta-Learning” where he brakes down the concept and teaches you how to teach yourself anything. I found this really fascinating.

Why is it important for us as artists to learn this sort of thing?

Well, the things you do when you’re meta-learning are very similar to the things you do when you want to teach somebody to draw.

It teaches you how to break things down, how to study it so you can do so. It helps you break a subject matter down to it’s building blocks. Then find what you really need from those building block and learn from them.

Bite Sized Chunks of Info

If you’re an artist and you don’t have access to anyone that will do that for you and if your going to have to do it yourself, it would be a good idea to learn to do it well. It’s one of the reasons why some art teachers tend to learn more about the subject that they’re teaching, than the students.

They have to break down a subject in such a way, that they can explain it to their students in a way that it can be internalize. Break it down into small size bites so that the students can learn it.

The very process of doing that is a learning experience, and it help you internalize stuff. Once that’s done, you can practice what you’ve broken down over and over.

I recommend you get The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life, just so you can take the first steps into this mindset. This way you can also teach yourself, a better way to draw if you don’t have access to friends that can give you tips, in case you don’t have access to a mentor or to classes.

Above all, Make it Fun

But that’s not the only book I recommend. I also recommend a book by the name of Game Frame: Using Games as a Strategy for Success by Aaron Dignan. The reason I bring this one up is because it puts forth the proposition that games are fun because we are learning something. We’re learning to control a character, or a rules or something.

Part of the fun of playing games is the slow learning process you get when you play the game itself. The best games have this thing called “flow” where they’re teaching you a skill that you don’t know, in such a way that it’s challenging but not frustrating.

If it’s too frustrating you’re not having fun, if it’s too easy you’re not having fun. When you get the right balance, between too frustrating and too easy, that’s when you’re actually learning. That’s when you’re having fun.

Gamify the Process

That’s one of propositions in the book. The book itself is about adding a game layer to life. Trying to find a way to “gamify” your life. That way you can find ways to make things that are dull a game. If you can make things like that fun, then they are motivating.

Motivating yourself is really the tricky part we have to deal with most. Even in the The 4-Hour Chef there was a part about finding incentives for yourself. He called it, setting stakes. Have something be at stake if you don’t complete what you’ve set out to do.

In a game, the stakes are, you don’t want to lose, you’re in a state of flow, you don’t want to stop playing. Like if you play a game of Civilizations you want “one more turn”. Games are really good at doing that. Getting you into that flow.

Melding Ideas

If you want to learn to grab that idea from the book Game Frame and you read The 4-Hour Chef, you can combine the ideas in both books. You might find a way to become a better artist. And you might be motivated to learn a lot of other things too.

And it’s fun. Learning is actually fun.

I just thought I’d bring those up.

I’m gonna be reading another book soon on habits and few other game design books and I might talk about those too. I’m really into this kind of meta-learning thing and I’ve been trying it out in my life.

Comment

How about you? What have you found that helps you learn that can make you better at drawing?

Pulp Simpsons Continues

The Simpsons and Pulp Fiction mash up that us layout artist drew for fun is still being sent off in my newsletter. If you want to see this art, sign up to my newsletter and you’ll get to see the art.

COMIC BOOKS/VIDEOS – Mark Waid on Digital comics

This was posted on Mark Waid’s blog a while ago but I recently became aware of it. I thought I’d share:

For more comics and stories written by me: COMICS AND STORIES If you like what you read, please consider signing up to my rss feed.

I also have a store. Click Here and check it out.

Comments Off on How Artists can Better Learn to Teach Themselves

Full Frontal Naked Bart in a French Commercial

March 7, 2013 in THE SIMPSONS NEWS, WEBSITES

THE SIMPSONS NEWS – Full Frontal Naked Bart in a French Commercial

The Simpsons Quote:

[Comic Book Guy sits at his computer.]

“Hey, what the? Huh, the Internet King. I wonder if he can provide faster nudity.” – Comic Book Guy.

Sometimes, when you work in animation, you end up working a some very strange projects.

Sometimes you end up working on foreign commercials with full frontal cartoon nudity in them.

This happened to me, and I’m going be talking about in this weeks post.

You can watch the video or simply read what I have to say below.

There’s is a link to the commercial I talk about further down the page:

The First Full Frontal Bart

Years ago I worked on a French detergent commercial that used The Simpsons characters.

It’s one of those surprising and strange projects that you’re asked to do. I believe I did character layout on it.

In case you don’t know what Character Layout is, CLICK HERE, I wrote a whole post explaining it. In nutshell, it’s the process where we set up the shots and draw in the acting and the key animation poses of a scene.

Alright, so here’s the interesting thing about this French commercial: It ends with the family naked at the end. At least some of the family. They kinda run off screen before you get to see any of their nakedness. Except for Bart.

It’s the first time that Bart was ever show naked, full frontal. They did it again The Simpsons movie and made a big joke out of it. But that French commercial was the first time they did that naked joke.

The Note From Matt Groening

Now, this was the thing I found interesting. The storyboard artist had drawn Bart, anatomically correct. But you see…man I wish I had some of the artwork so I can show you but I don’t. I did find the video and you can see it below but the thing is, there was this note. I remember the note because, I think I was doing the layout scene or…I don’t remember what it was but, the note was from Matt Groening.

Well Matt Groening didn’t want Bart to be drawn anatomically correct in the way it was drawn in the board. He wanted the drawing to be a little bit more abstract. You’ll see what he looks like in the actual Youtube video. That’s exactly the look that Matt Groening gave us to have Bart look like.

I thought that was very interesting and very funny.

So if you want to see the first full frontal naked appearance of Bart, here you go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-alJVsYhMk&sns=em

Comment

What did you think? Had you ever seen that before?

Pulp Simpsons Continue

I’m still sharing more Pulp Simpson drawing on my newsletter. It’s mash up of Simpsons and Pulp Fiction that the artists on the show just decided to do for fun.

I’m sharing it with my newsletter subscribers. If you want to join in the fun, sign up. If you do so before next Thursday, I’ll send you this weeks’ email.

WEBSITES – The Drawing Website

I just thought I’d remind you that my ART OF DRAW FU pdf is available to download for FREE.

This book is specially written for anyone who thinks you need to be talented to learn to draw.

Click the link below to read what the book is all about and how you can get yourself a free copy. Don’t miss out.

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Luis' Illustrated Blog

Behind the Scenes of a Simpsons Doritos Commercial

THE SIMPSONS NEWS – Behind the Scenes of a Simpsons Doritos Commercial

Animation Training in Action

Making Things fit Together.

The Commercial

What’s your Reaction?

Sign up for, special content that I will NOT post on the blog. Don’t miss out.

THE SIMPSONS NEWS – The Couch Gag that Wouldn’t Die

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Like this:

When is the Standard…too Standard?

ART – When is the Standard too Standard?

The Sea of Sameness

My Answer

Search for What you can Uniquely Fill

What’s YOUR Answer?

Pulp Simpsons

Sign up for, special content that I will NOT post on the blog. Don’t miss out.

CATHOLICISM – Pope Francis

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Like this:

How Artists can Better Learn to Teach Themselves

ART – How Artists can Better Learn to Teach Themselves

Teaching Yourself, the Skill of Meta-Learning

Bite Sized Chunks of Info

Above all, Make it Fun

Gamify the Process

Melding Ideas

Comment

Pulp Simpsons Continues

Sign up for, special content that I will NOT post on the blog. Don’t miss out.

COMIC BOOKS/VIDEOS – Mark Waid on Digital comics

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Like this:

Full Frontal Naked Bart in a French Commercial

THE SIMPSONS NEWS – Full Frontal Naked Bart in a French Commercial

The First Full Frontal Bart

The Note From Matt Groening

Comment

Pulp Simpsons Continue

Sign up for, special content that I will NOT post on the blog. Don’t miss out.

WEBSITES – The Drawing Website

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