ART | Luis' Illustrated Blog

Trying to finish up my final Simpsons boards. Finally finished thumbnailing script page 7. Mark Waid goes digital.

April 26, 2012 in ART, BLOGS, COMIC BOOKS, Storyboarding, THE SIMPSONS NEWS

THE SIMPSONS NEWS

So this epic storyboard I’m working on has turned out to be…well…epic. It’s a little over 40 scenes (shots) long but there’s a lot going on in it. I was thinking I’d be done by Friday but I had three meetings with the director and the head director over it and there’s always something that can be done to improve it. I don’t mind, this is the process. How it all works. I especially don’t mind since the changes are all done on the first “rough scribble pass” which makes things easier for me as an artist to change or throw out.

The project has no dialogue and we didn’t know exactly how long it would be, so I also had to time my roughs in order to get an idea for it’s length. It’s a fun project, I must admit. I only wish I didn’t feel so pressured to finish. That said, I WANT to be done by Friday. Hopefully, somehow, I might be able to clean up the whole thing in two days. Whether or not I will succeed is another story.

I might be going on hiatus later than I thought, because of this. Which isn’t horrible, but it will take away time from my commission work.

ART

Speaking of special projects, I’ve finally finished getting passed thumbnailing page 7 of my script. I just forced myself to sit down and really concentrate on getting through it. So far, I’ve thumbnailed out 327 scenes/shots. Far more than I anticipated:

I thought about it for hours before I got to the drawing it and by the time I sat down, I knew what I was going to do. It went by much faster this way. It also helped that I watched a movie with a fight scene that game ideas. I really should have been doing that much more before I sat down to draw the fights. I just didn’t have time to do that since I worked on this stuff during lunch. It would have taken all my time looking at fight in order to get inspired or get ideas. By the time I would be ready to draw, my lunchtime would have been over.

Perhaps, during hiatus or during the weekends I can be home and look at fight scenes I like to see if I can plug in some of what I see into the roughs I’ve already go. It would be much easier to do something like that, now that I have something down, than it was when I was starting from scratch.

In any case, I think the worst is behind me now. There’s still one more battle to thumbnail, but it’s not as physical as the ones I’ve just done. It will hopefully be less of a handful.

COMIC BOOKS/BLOGS

Digital/Web comics are becoming more and more exciting to me. I’ve been getting more and more into them lately. For a long time I hadn’t been very interested in these comics because the quality of the art and storytelling hadn’t really been up to snuff. I really wanted a similar experience reading them as I did reading printed comics. Well, it seems like that’s changed quite a bit the last couple of years. Comics online and “digital only” comics, are just as good now, and sometimes, better than the printed stuff. Part of the reason is that many professional comic creators have started doing Digital work.

The latest of the these is Mark Waid, who wrote KINGDOM COME and SUPERMAN: BIRTHRIGHT among many other things. He decided he was going to start putting out Webcomics. He’s also turned his blog into a “process blog”. Kinda similar to what I do here in my ART sections.

His Digital comics site will go up on May 1st and it’s called THRILLBENT. I’ll let you know what I think about it when it goes live. But right now, I want to call attention to his blog Markwaid.com. Mostly because I like how he’s approaching doing the comics. Though his a professional comic writer, he’s quite frank about how little he knows about writing for digital comics.

Digital comics and comics on the web are a very different monsters than printed comics. What works in print doesn’t necessarily work in the digital medium. So he’s writing about what he learns as he goes. He also writes about the approaches he takes and the experiments he makes. I like to read this stuff because it puts us all in the same boat. Also, he likes some of the approaches to digital comics that I also like. This makes it seem to me, as I read his blog, that we’re on the same page.

Since I’m also going to put a web comic up, when I’m done with my current project, building on what Mark Waid discovers that works or doesn’t work seems like a good idea to me. I’ve been reading his blog with great interest and I’m very curious to see how things pan out for him.

Check it out, if you’re interested in this digital medium.
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My Hiatus is coming, should I accept commissions? Ambrose turns two. Role playing with my kids. Worked on my project.

April 19, 2012 in ART, FAMILY, ROLE PLAYING GAMES, Storyboarding, THE SIMPSONS NEWS

THE SIMPSONS NEWS

On Monday I was told that I would be going on hiatus at the end of the week. Not good news since we haven’t gotten our tax refund yet and I had to pay property tax earlier this month. We’re not doing well financially. Lucky for me, something came up on the episode I’m currently revising that postponed my hiatus.

The episode I’m revising is short, so the writers have added an extra sequence at the end of the show that’s a bit epic. This sequence may or may not be made BUT in order to find out if it will, I have to storyboard it. This has bought me, at least one more week of work.

In the meantime, I get to think up what I will do during my hiatus to perhaps make a little bit more money. I might open myself up for commissions. I’m not too sure if anyone would be interested though. Especially since I will not except any commissions asking me to draw them SIMPSONS drawings. I would get in trouble if I did that.

If I made myself open to accept commissions, would you be interested in getting a drawing from me?

FAMILY

Ambrose’s birthday was Sunday. He became a 2 year old We were planning on doing something small and intimate. Mostly because it would be too much work to do more and because he’s so young, ANYTHING we did for him at this point would seem very exciting for him.

We had made plans to go to our favorite park and have a picnic, just the six of us. Then we’d come back home and invite the cousins over for cake.

Things didn’t quite turn out the way we thought. So many people asked about Ambrose’s birthday and what we were going to do that it turned out a bit bigger than we thought. We had to cancel going to the park because we didn’t want anyone to come and meet us there. We weren’t prepared for a PARTY at the park. We didn’t want to bring all the food and drinks everything that would be involved to throw a party at a park. So instead we got the house ready for the people to simply come over at the last minute.

Well, Ambrose had a blast. He had so much fun with his cousins. He got a few airplane toys and a cool Batmobile toy. He was happy. Like I said, ANYTHING that was new and out of the ordinary that we did for him would be a big deal in his eyes. It was great, and in the end, Alesha and I were very happy how it all turned out.

ROLE PLAYING GAMES/FAMILY

Last week a wrote about playing a role playing game with my kids using RISUS, making it out to be more of a LARP than simply a tabletop game experience. Well, I tested out the game with them this Saturday with great successes. The kids LOVED it. I had Elizabeth and Dante go on an adventure to get back some childrens’ stolen candy from a wicked witch who lived in a scary cave. They had a blast running around and play acting out their adventure. So much fun in fact they wanted to play again immediately after it was done.

The next day we tried it out again. This time, we took it outside to the playground so we had a wider environment to play in. Unfortunately, Dante didn’t want to play once we got to the playground. He just wanted to play at the playground. Elizabeth was very disappointed. I ended up running an adventure for her alone, but without her brother to play off of, she didn’t find it as enjoyable. I’ll try again some other time in a different place and see if we can get the “magic” back from the first game.

ART

I must admit, it’s getting more and more difficult to finish working on my project. I’m so burned out on it right now. I really want to move on to my next project, which is a webcomic. But I’m committed to seeing this through, because I think the finished product will look good. I just don’t know how to finish this any faster than I’m currently doing. It’s a LOT of work coming up with shots. I mean, that’s why it’s a paying job.

This is what I’ve done in the last two weeks:

It doesn’t help that I’m writing this section as I draw it.

I gotta get this darn thing done. I’m so close to getting to the final stages.
For more comic and stories written by me, CLICK HERE.

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Writing this blog is almost a part time job for me. Tips are most welcome.

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THE HUNGER GAMES or BATTLE ROYALE 2. Simpsons special project moves forward. Chris Oatley on pitching you story. Thumbnailing more of script page 7.

March 29, 2012 in ART, BLOGS, Storyboarding, VIDEOS, WRITING

THE SIMPSONS NEWS

Well, it seems that the “special project” I worked on a few weeks back has gotten the green light, so it’s moving forward. I’m currently doing Character Layout work on it. I’m not sure how this is going to effect my revision work next week. I haven’t done Layout in a while and it’s a LOT of work in a very different way than doing boards. I hope I can get my work done by the end of the week, just in case.

In the meantime, at least it seems this thing I’m working on will get seen at some point.

VIDEO/WRITING/BLOGS

Disney artist Chris Oatley from at the Paper Wings podcast has posted a blog post called: How To Lose A Fan In Ten Seconds: The Common Flaws Of A Comic-Con Pitch. It’s a post on how to best pitch your story ideas and the pitfall you should avoid. It also contains this video:

Go to the article to download the pdf of the tips as well as a more organized written version of the info in the video. Also, leave a comment for them if you found his information useful.

MOVIES

My wife Alesha and I got to do something we don’t often get to do now a days, namely, go to the movies. Alesha REALLY wanted to go see THE HUNGER GAMES, which we both enjoyed quite a bit. I wasn’t as gung ho as she was but I went along because she was really excited about it. Neither one of us had read the books but we both thought the premise was interesting. This isn’t to say that the premise was original, especially since there was a Japanese movies, years ago, called BATTLE ROYALE, with a similar premise. But THE HUNGER GAMES was a lot less twisted.

In my mind, what really set THE HUNGER GAMES apart from BATTLE ROYALE was that it wasn’t ABOUT the actual games. It almost felt as if the games themselves where secondary to the set up. This isn’t to say that the games weren’t interesting. It’s just that without taking all the time the movie did in setting up the characters and the universe before showing the games, I don’t think it would have been as good of a movie. In fact, it’s the lack of set up that makes BATTLE ROYALE much less interesting. Also, BATTLE ROYALE was much more gruesome, while HUNGER GAMES, which also dealt with a similar subject matter, didn’t relish in any gore.

I found myself thinking of stories like 1984 and BRAVE NEW WORLD while watching THE HUNGER GAMES. When watching BATTLE ROYALE, I wondered why I was watching it at all. Because of this, I concluded THE HUNGER GAMES was BATTLE ROYALE done right.

I will note one observation that came to me as I watched HUNGER GAMES. Much has been said about the commentary this story makes on society when it comes to materialism, media, and the devaluing of human life. I mean, part of the story is about how a desensitized culture gets together to watch young people kill each other for entertainment. This works very well in book form, since it’s written words on a page, without the reader partaking in the entertainment in the same way the people in the story are. The thing is, I couldn’t help but notice the irony of sitting in a movie theater and paying to see exactly the same entertainment that the these “bad people” where tuning in to watch. As movie goers, we participate in and condone the entertainment put forth by the story as wrong and bad, when we’re entertained by the games ourselves. Because of this, I think the movie adds a extra element of reflection, that the story in book format didn’t.

What do you think? Am I off on this point?

ART

Don’t know what to say here except that I’m slowly narrowing the gap and getting closer to finishing page 7 on my script. I think next week I’ll be “off script”. What I’ll have to board will be something new that I have no script or treatment to work off of. It will be completely off the cuff.

I’m actually excited about it. For now though, here are my latest thumbnails.

For more comic and stories written by me, CLICK HERE.

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Andrew Staton’s TED talk on story. Just cut two big fight scenes from my cartoon.

March 22, 2012 in ART, Storyboarding, THE SIMPSONS NEWS, VIDEOS, WRITING

THE SIMPSONS NEWS

Week two of three revising episode 21’s Act 1 board. I’m so glad I have another week left to finish this board up. The revisions are pretty heavy. I’ve got everything roughed out, it’s just a matter of cleaning everything up for the layout crew to follow.

Meanwhile, in other news, that special project I was working on last week and the week before has gotten approval by some people high up. It’s one step closer to actually being produced. There’s one more step left to get through so it could get green lit. It would be nice if it happens.

ART/WRITING

After a two week break, I finally got back to working on my film. Here’s what I did:

It was good to get back to it again, but I’m SO tired of working on it. I just want this part of the process to be DONE. I took a look at what I still had to thumbnail, and it was a TON. I had two really big fight scenes to do. Too much, far too much. I’ve been questioning myself from the start if all the fighting is really getting me anything. I’m still not sure but I’m sure as heck cutting some it as of right now.

I took a look at what I had written in my Treatment and simply cut two of the fight scenes right out of the film. They will be replaced by one much smaller fight which will, hopefully, have the same key information in it in much less time.

The info I need to convey will be that the demons that give the Sorcerers their power manifests visually when they tax their power, and that Rob’s hammer, knocks the demon out of Sorcerers. That’s what I need to say. As long as that info is there, the rest of the fight can be intense but short.

IF after I’m done with a rough cut of the film, I discover that it needs a longer fight, I’ll see about incorporating some of the original ideas. Otherwise, I will be happy with doing far less work.

Below is the part of my treatment that is now getting cut, in case you were wondering what it would have been like:

Rob is on his knee exhausted. The Female Sorcerer, though exhausted and bruised, sees this as an opportunity. She takes out her last blade. Sprinkles blood on it and throws it. Rob looks up just as she does it. He moves his hammer in the way to block it. The Sorceress splits her hands apart away from each other and the blade splits into two blades. They go around the hammer and stab Rob sinking into his shoulders. As if they were syringes, the blades suck Rob’s blood glowing red. The Sorceress feels the blades grow powerful with the blood and receives new strength from them. The demon that gives her power, manifest around her visibly.

Rob goes to take out the blades but they pull themselves out. The blades attack again and split into four blades when they do. Rob manages to block some but some get through and stab him taking blood. Those that do, multiply as well. Rob runs toward the Sorceress while hitting blades away. He knows, once she’s knocked out, the blades will stop. As he approaches, she throws Blinding Dust from a small cylinder. The dust hits home and blinds Rob. The blades (which are many now) fly up in the air with a gesture from the sorceress and then, with another gestured, rain down on Rob.

Rob reacts as best he could and spins his hammer as fast as he can. The blades bounce of like an umbrella.

As He does this, the Sorceress uses his temporary distraction to try and stab him in the back.

The Raven sees this and squawks out a warning. Rob quickly turns and strikes at the Sorceress. The hammer hits her square on the chest. The manifestation of the demon inside her gets knocked out of her as if IT, not the Sorceress was hit by the blow. It leaves the Sorceress’ body as the Sorceress cries in pain and passes out. The demon seems to evaporate in a silent scream.

A cry from the Other Male Sorcerer, makes Rob turn.The Other Male Sorcerer had just managed to recover, only to see the Sorceress go down.As far as he’s concerned, Rob has gone too far. He knows what Rob has just done to the woman he loves and he will pay and suffer for it. Exhausted as he is, he takes out a vile, opens it, puts some blood in it with an incantation and throws it on the ground. He then pours power out and a mist begins to raise around Rob and himself. The demon that gives him his power physically manifest around him. His fingers grow into talons.

Rob readies himself. He can’t see where his enemy is going to attack from. Suddenly claws flash out of the mist. Rob dodges and blocks the attack. The claws hit a bush behind Rob. It instantly dries up and rots away. The attacks stop. Rob realizes that if the claws hit him, he’s going to die.Seconds later, the attack begins anew, only this time, it seems like the claws are coming from more directions. It’s all Rob can do to stop the attack. Just as suddenly as it began, the attack stops. Rob doesn’t feel so good.The Sorcerer’s voice comes from the mist and needles Rob if he’s feeling okay. Then he informs Rob the mist is rotting his senses and his mind.Looking into the mist, Rob sees the enormous silhouette of the Sorcerer. As if the mist is giving him power. It slips into the mist and he gets attacked by a barrage of claws. It’s all Rob can do not to get touched by them. He manages to just barely survive the attack when it suddenly stops. He can barely stand. He staggers back, hoping to hit a wall. He does. At least with a wall behind him, he knows there won’t be any attacks from behind.The Sorcerer laughs at him and tells him mocking that it won’t help him. He imparts to Rob that not even his Raven can help him out of this.

Rob’s vision is blurring and he’s having trouble thinking. Still, he begins to spin the hammer before him, faster and faster until the mist begins to rustle and move away.

Realizing what’s going on, the Sorcerer decides he needs to finish things off. The Claws come out in all directions at Rob. Rob won’t last without help. He hopes he managed to clear enough mist for his Raven to be able to see him. The Raven flying overhead had been scanning desperately for Rob. He sees the gap he caused and sees the Sorcerer attacking. He swoops down into the mist and attacks The Sorcerer.

Distracted by the bird, the claws stop for a moment. Rob recovers just long enough to hear his bird squawking. He runs in the direction of the sound. The sorcerer realizes he’s coming and attacks but it’s too late. Rob swing the hammer and hits the Sorcerer in the face. The manifestation of the demon that gave the Sorcerer his power reacts as if IT was hit in the face. The demon flies out of the Sorcerer. The Sorcerer screams in pain. The demon evaporates in a silent scream as the Sorcerer falls to the ground. The mist dissipates and goes away. His body suddenly seems to deflate like a balloon and becomes scrawny and weak. The hair covering his face had been knocked out of the way revealing a shriveled ugly face. The other Male Sorcerer sits up, looks at himself, looks at his hands and cries out that he has lost his powers and then begins to sob.

Do you see what I mean about this being a lot of fighting?

VIDEOS/WRITING

Speaking of story and writing, here’s a TED Talks with Pixar writer/director Andrew Staton who also directed the new movie JOHN CARTER, talking about writing by telling us the story of his career in reverse:

For more comic and stories written by me, CLICK HERE.

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Writing this blog is almost a part time job for me. Tips are most welcome.

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New TOWER’S ALCHEMIST cover.

March 15, 2012 in ART, BOOKS, THE SIMPSONS NEWS

THE SIMPSONS NEWS

I finished my work early last week and was put on a special project that may or may not see the light of day. I worked on it all of Friday and all of Monday. I was also put on the new episode I’m going to be working this week. Show 21. I was assigned Act 1 which I began on Tuesday. Then, about midday Tuesday, I had to do a little bit more on the special project before I was able to continue on the Act.

This would really be a problem if it wasn’t for the fact that they’re giving us three weeks instead of two to finish our work on this episode, so I’ve still got time to do my work. I hope I can make the most of the time.

It would also be nice to have that special project see the light of day so I can talk about it at some point.

ART/BOOKS

My wife’s book, THE TOWER’S ALCHEMIST, has a new cover:

Why the change?

Because the original cover had a swastika on it. Unfortunately we didn’t realize that anything with the image of a swastika is illegal in some countries in Europe. This meant that the book didn’t show up in some European sites, and it would be illegal to buy it. So we changed the cover so it was much more internationally friendly.

How do I feel about this after spending so long on the original? I’m alright with it. Enough time has passed that I’m not really bothered by the change. I got just as into creating this cover, as I did the last one. I also made sure that the symbol on the cover had to do with the themes and plot elements in the book. The symbol is actually three alchemical symbols combined.

The center most symbol, the one the looks like a swirly cross, is one, of many, alchemical symbols for silver. Historically, silver has been used by civilizations for it’s germ fighting properties. I put it on the cover because one of the plots in the story is about fighting off an alchemical disease.

The curved symbol with the circles on the end, is one, of many, alchemical symbols for sublimation. Which Alesha suggested because the main character does it so much. I thought it would be appropriate since it’s so unique to alchemists.

Finally, the big “x” looking symbol, is one, of many, symbols for time. This is there because of something that happens in the story that deals with time. But I can’t say exactly what it is because it would be a big spoiler. So read the book and find out.

To start reading the first five chapter for free, CLICK HERE.

The $2.99 Kindle copy of the book:

or…

The hard copy of the book:

For more comic and stories written by me, CLICK HERE.

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Best Animated short oscar winner. Some G.K. Chesterton.

March 1, 2012 in ART, THE SIMPSONS NEWS, VIDEOS

THE SIMPSONS NEWS

Onto show 20 this week. Count down to the end of the season for me. There’s only two more show to work on and the season ends. I’m hoping I can get put on a show as a layout artist or a Story reel artist once I’m done with boards. That way, I don’t go on hiatus.

In the meantime, I’ve got Acts 1 and 3 of show 20 to worry about.

ART

I’m taking a break from thumbnailing my script this week. I just haven’t had the time or energy. I’ve been filling a little drained. I think last weeks big work load did it. So instead here are some sketches from my sketchbook of one of my favorite writers ever, G.K. Chesterton, done with a red color pencil under drawing, Pentel brush pen, colored with Copic grey and black markers and a white Prismacolor pencil for the highlights:

“THE Christian admits that the universe is manifold and even miscellaneous, just as a sane man knows that he is complex. Nay, the really sane man knows that he has a touch of the madman. But the Materialist’s world is quite simple and solid, just as the madman is quite sure he is sane. The Materialist is sure that history has been simply and solely a chain of causation, just as the interesting person before mentioned is quite sure that he is simply and solely a chicken. Materialists and madmen never have doubts.” ~GKC: ‘Orthodoxy.’

“TWICE in my life has an editor told me in so many words that he dared not print what I had written, because it would offend the advertizers in his paper. The presence of such pressure exists everywhere in a more silent and subtle form. But I have a great respect for the honesty of this particular editor; for it was evidently as near to complete honesty as the editor of an important weekly magazine could possibly go. He told the truth about the falsehood he had to tell.” ~GKC: ‘The Outline of Sanity.’

“WHEN learned men begin to use their reason, then I generally discover that they haven’t got any.” ~GKC: ‘Illustrated London News,’ November 7, 1908.

VIDEOS

The video below is this years Oscar winner for the Best Animated Short Category. It’s beautiful. I noticed that the acting on the man is very much in line with the acting you would see Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin do in their silent movies, even down to the sped up looking timing.

It’s also worth noting that there isn’t any dialogue at all in this movie, which really shows how animation is not tide to any voice acting. If you find this film moving, it’s not because of anything a film actor has but rather, it’s all do to how good an actor the ANIMATOR is and how well the story was told. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adzywe9xeIU&feature

For more comic and stories written by me, CLICK HERE.

If you like what you read, please consider signing up to my rss feed.

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Writing this blog is almost a part time job for me. Tips are most welcome.

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Busy work week. My birthday weekend. Started thumbnailing page 7 of my script.

February 23, 2012 in ALESHA'S THOUGHTS, ANSWERING COMMENTS, ART, Storyboarding, THE SIMPSONS NEWS, VIDEO GAMES, VIDEOS

THE SIMPSONS NEWS

The Simpsons party last week really messed me up for the rest of the week. I spent most of last week recovering from lack of sleep. I end up not finishing my assignment last week but I finished it this Tuesday. This put me behind on starting my next assignment. Also, Monday we got the day off. Which is great, except that my schedule doesn’t change to reflect the day off, so this basically means, I’ve lost a day of work.

Fortunately, the other board revisionist I work with got done with his assignment early and helped me finish mine. Overall, it’s been a pretty stressful week.

MY WEEK

Monday was my birthday. I’m 37. It was also President’s Day and I got the day off work. I spent three days celebrating my birthday. Saturday, my parents took the kids out because Alesha had planned to have her brother come over and play some board games with us but he canceled at the last minute. Alesha and I played a few games of Quarriors anyway. We also watched a few movies and generally relaxed and enjoyed each other’s company. It was nice. She made me a cake too, and when my parents brought the kids back, we had some.

On Sunday, my mom had us over to celebrate my birthday over at her house. My cousin’s family came over too and I spent the time relaxing and watching Spider-Man cartoons on Netflix streaming. MY kinda party. We also had stake, that my Compadre, Eduardo, barbequed. It was tasted amazing. Even though he cooked it with an arm in a sling. I was very grateful.

As a present, my mom reserved a copy of the Game of Thrones tv show on DVD for me and my cousin’s family game me a gift certificate to Best Buy. I honestly didn’t expect any presents at all, so it was a pleasant surprise.

Monday, I spent with the kids relaxing. I took them out to play at the playground in the morning and I got caught up on some reading. I also managed to get away for a few hours to go to Best Buy and see what I could get with my certificate. Oddly enough, I’ve conditioned myself to be so conservative with my spending that I didn’t want to spend too much on things that I though I could buy somewhere else cheaper. I left the store with a portable speaker for my iPod so I can listen to it in the car. I found that the devices to plug the iPod to transmit through the car radio where too expensive. I have a bad sound system anyway so it didn’t make a difference where the audio would be coming from. I also left with the DUCKTALES DVD box set. It was a really good deal for 27 episodes of one of my favorite cartoon shows.

When I got home, the kids and I spent the rest of the day watching the shows. They’re SO good and the kids LOVED them.

The best part is I still have plenty of money left over for something else.

I had a good birthday.

VIDEO

This is a fantastic “Filmumentary” of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. It’s the movie BUT it’s also the commentary, film facts, deleted scenes and behind the scenes footage, all at once. It’s fantastic for anyone who is a fan of the film. Check it out:

ART

Started on page 7 of my script. This is the part where Rob has his big dramatic “come back”. To be quite honest, I don’t think I’ve done it justice. I’m not sold on the shots that I’ve come up with. Maybe I’m getting fatigued. I don’t know…well, I can always change it later if I come up with something better.

This is yet another page that has more action than the dialogue on the page shows. Here’s what I got done:

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500th episode party. Sharing my favorite contribution to the show. The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled cut. Catholic Laboratory Podcast

February 16, 2012 in ART, PODCASTS, Storyboarding, THE SIMPSONS NEWS

THE SIMPSONS NEWS Part 1

500th episode party happened this Monday. It was a pain because it was on a Monday. That said, it was fun.

The night started early. The studio became deserted before six o’clock came around. I was here at my desk working. I was waiting for my wife to get to the studio so we could drive to the party. SHE was waiting for my parents to show up to take care of the kids. They were suppose to show up around five but didn’t quite manage to get there till it was nearly six.

She told me she was on her way, and I tried to concentrate on doing work. I did some but I mostly spent the time figuring out the best route to take to the party. Looking in google maps to see how traffic was.

I was a bit anxious because the party started at seven but I knew that by eight o’clock, they would probably start playing the show at the party for all to see. Often there’s a speech before it and I like to hear what is said. On top of that, it was the show I storyboard Act 1 and some of Act 2. I didn’t want to miss my section of the show if we got there late. By the time Alesha would arrive, it would be seven or so.

Well, Alesha got lost on the way over. She knows how to get to the studio but the freeway exit that she’s used to taking to get to the studio, has been closed for months and she doesn’t know an alternative route. I made things worse when she called me for directions, and not knowing exactly where she was, I gave her bad ones. She eventually she found her own way to the studio.

Off we went, taking the route I had chosen. It was a twenty minute drive, and luckily, no traffic. Unfortunately for us, the party took place in the Roosevelt Hotel, in Hollywood Blvd. If you know anything about Hollywood, you know that, that area is a pain in the neck to drive around. We almost immediately began complaining that the party was in Hollywood. Traffic was a mess, we weren’t paying attention to the directions on the invite, and we ended up getting lost. We drove up and down and turned around twice before we finally found the place were where suppose to park.

The clock was ticking. It was almost eight and we where going around in circle in the parking structure, looking for parking. Once we found a spot, we hurried, made our way out and crossed the street by the Mann’s Chinese theater to the Roosevelt were we got our badges to get in and some casino chips. We had missed the first five minutes of the show. We got there almost on time. I was happy enough. I got to see most of my Act. My wife didn’t really see it because she was busy taking pictures of me watching the show.

As soon as my Act was over, we went off to find food. We found it and watched the rest of the episode. It turned out great. I really liked it.

Once the episode was over we walked around and said hi to people.

There were two floors to explore. The first floor had casino tables where people could use their chips to play. The point was to get as many chips as possible, to trade them in for some prizes. Kinda like Chuck E Cheese’s but for adults.

The second floor gave a good view of the first floor, had the food, and had other game rooms. There was a small hall with a bowling alley and booths where you can sit and play Jenga. There was also a place called “The Game Room” where they had a pool table (with clear plastic 500th episode Simpsons balls), a Simpsons pinball machine, a roulette table, Skee ball, pretzels and Cotton Candy. It also had a window with a fantastic view of Hollywood blvd. My wife decided she wanted Cotton Candy and we ate it as we sat at the booth by the window looking down at Hollywood. To be quite honest, sitting there with Alesha relaxing as we watched life on Hollywood Blvd go by, made the hassle of getting to the party worth it.

We talked a for a while. My wife said she was getting tired though and thought we should go. We got up and spoke to some people and I searched for a few people I wanted to talk to but it was much to crowed to really find anyone.

It was around nine thirty around the time we left. We had only really been there a little over an hour and a half. It was a Monday after all. My daughter had school, I had work, my parents needed to go home and we had along drive ahead.

We headed for the door, saying hi to people along the way and we caught a glimpse of Kareem Abdul Jabbar playing poker in one of the tables. My wife took a picture.

We got our door prize on our way out, which was a 500th episode sweatshirt, and headed for the crosswalk to get to our parking lot. As we waited, my wife began to laugh. When I asked her why, she told me she heard someone from the street address the party goers behind us,

“You look like important people, do you have 50 cents?”

Heh…Hollywood.

THE SIMPSONS NEWS Part 2

In other news, many of The Simpsons crew where interviewed for a newpaper article conscerning our favorite contribution to the show. I was among those interviewed.

It starts off like this:

“Behold! The Simpsons‘ 500th episode is upon us! The show, titled “At Long Last Leave,” entails the Simpson family being evicted from Springfield. When Marge and Homer try to sneak back into town, they’re shunned by former neighbors and friends. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange stars as himself, and Alison Krauss sings a special theme song for the landmark moment.

With 23 seasons in the making, the show is bound to bring out the super-fan in countless bloggers who will list, dissect, and debate their choices for best episode, greatest musical guest, and most hilarious Homer quotations. Here, artists, writers, and crew (past and present) talked about their favorite personal contributions to our beloved Simpsons (the show, the Movie, even the comics).

The Simpsons airs its 500th episode on Sun., Feb. 19, 8 p.m. on Fox…”

To continue reading CLICK HERE

Give the article a read, it’s great.

PODCASTS

I was listening to an episode of The Break with Fr. Roderick and he mentioned a podcast called THE CATHOLIC LABORATORY. It’s a podcast that episode by episode, breaks down over a 1000 years of Catholic contributions to science. This podcast directly counters the very idea that faith and science don’t mix. Especially since many priest are the “fathers” of many of the sciences we use today. It’s amazing. I’ve been looking for something like this for a while and hadn’t even realized it. I highly recommend it.

Check it out: CLICK HERE

or simply listen by clicking below:

VIDEO/PODCAST

My friend Raul, the Man vs. Art, recently put out a Man vs. Art episode talking about Richard Williams and his movie, THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER. It’s a tragic story worth listening to. I highly recommend you listen to it (CLICK HERE).

One of the things the show made me aware of is this new version of the movie. So I’ve posted it here as well. THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER: RECOBBLED CUT.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y7vNxGpa7E&feature

ART

Thanks to cutting a major chunk of redundant action, I managed to finish thumbnailing page 6 this week. This leaves me 3 1/2 pages of script to thumbnail. Which is a good feeling.

The big dillemna this week, was trying to figure out how to shoot the enormous monologue Rob has at the end of the page. Not being completely certain, I decided to simply come up with a bunch of random shots. I’ll cut them together in the rough storyboarding stage and see how they play then. There was also the problem of finding the right place to put in the shot where Rob’s Raven wakes up and finds itself next to his hammer. Again, I simply came up with the shots and I’ll edit them in where they fit best:

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Making story choices as I thumbnail my boards. Death of Superman spoof.

February 9, 2012 in ART, Storyboarding, THE SIMPSONS NEWS, VIDEOS

THE SIMPSONS NEWS

I missed a day of work Monday because I had to take my car into the shop. The Check Engine light came on Sunday and there was no way of getting the car checked on that day so I had to wait till Monday. The car was in the shop all day so I missed work. I spent the rest of the week, making up the hours.

I hope to get done with Act 1 by the end of the day. Especially since I’ve also been assigned the Couch Gag.

ART

Sometimes I come into problem as I thumbnail my film which I can’t wait to write about.

Okay so as I was sketching out the thumbnail sketches for page 6 I ran into a choice. I could either continue thumbnailing the fight I had written on my treatment OR I could cut the fight in half and end it quicker. This meant that a whole section of the fight I had written was out. I put a lot of effort into figuring out how the fight would play out. It had a lot of exciting things in it. Also, by reducing the fight, would it be anticlimactic? Would I lose information that I needed to set up for later? I’m not sure.

I thought about it. I reread what I wrote. I decided to cut the fight in half.

Here’s what I thumbnailed:

Below is what I had written in my treatment. This is what I thumbnailed on my script above:

Rob grabs his hot dog, opens his mouth and is about to take a bite. Before he can get to it, he ducks under a Winged Ape’s claw as it tries to snatch his hot dog. He quickly climbs over a bench and hides behind a tree putting it in between him and the Ape. He goes for a bite but finds another Ape behind him who tries to smash him with both it’s fists. Rob moves out of the way and almost drops his hot dog. He then tries dodging a tree that was hurled at his hot dog from an Ape but the plate gets hit off of Robs hand and goes flying through the air. Rob runs after it.

The Viper Creature lunges toward it. Just as it’s about to eat it, Rob snatches it from out of the air and to safety. He lands in front of an ape who hits him hard in the stomach, sending him flying. He lands hard on the ground, almost right back where he started, in between the creatures and the Sorcerers. The plate gets knocked out of his hand when he lands, flies through the air, bounces and lands safely a few yards away, hot dog miraculously still on the plate. Rob sits up.

Here’s what was cut:

Everyone stops to look at the plate. They all turn to look at each other for a beat.

Then chaos.

Rob lunges toward the hod dog. The Female sorcerer throws blades at it only to have them disintegrated by colliding with her companion’s Entropy Orbs. He was also attempting to hit the hot dog. Enough of the blades survived to hit the plate, sending it sliding across the floor. She turns angrily at him. He shrugs apologetically.

The silver ape chases after it. The plate comes to a stop under the legs of the black zombie Ape. It reaches for it. Unable to stop it’s momentum the Silver Ape tackles into the other Ape. The hot dog and plate get knocked into a tree. The Other Male Sorcerer continues throwing orbs.

The Viper creature goes for the hot dog.

Rob runs to the tree and climbs it. the Viper lunges at him. Rob grabs the plated.

The Other Male Sorcerer throws an orb and hits the tree. It begins to disintegrated.

Rob rides the tree down and jumps off as the viper strikes. The viper gets a mouth full of tree.

Rob lands on it’s head and begins sliding down. An Aped comes out of no where and tackles him. from behind. The plate gets knocked out of Robs’s Hand. The Ape reaches for it. Rob pokes it’s eyes and kicks it away from himself. The Ape growls in pain as it lands hard on the ground. Rob goes down hard as well. He stumbles and slides to a halt. The hot dog still on it’s plated only a few feet away.

Why did I cut this second part? Well, because by the time it all ends, he’s in the same place he started. On the floor, hurt, a few feet away from the hot dog. It’s a bit redundant. What I like about the second part is that it shows off some of the Sorcerers’ powers and it make the importance of the hot dog a bit greater. But will that matter in the long run?

I figure, I have four more large fight scenes that need to happen before the end of my film. Reducing one, would speed things up. I really won’t know if my choice was right until I do a rough story reel. I suppose, if it’s needed, I can add it back in.

What do you think? Should I have cut it. Do I gain anything from putting it back?

VIDEOS

Superman is my favorite superhero and there’s a good reason why, but I’m not going into that right now.

That said, I’m not above making fun of him either. Especially since so many people have dropped the ball with him over the years. This little movie makes fun of the Death of Superman storyline that happened in the 90s. It was a pretty lame story so it’s easy to make fun of. At the time, it was difficult to find a well written comic. This parody though, really does a good job a showing HOW bad the story was. The video below, made me laugh SO much. The film stars Elden Henson, Elijah Wood, Mandy Moore, Morgan Krantz and many more. Check it out (WARNING: THE VIDEO CONTAINS BAD LANGUAGE):

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Back on board revisions. Passing a milestone on my project.

February 2, 2012 in ART, THE SIMPSONS NEWS, VIDEOS

THE SIMPSONS NEWS

Back on storyboards this week. I’m working on revising Act 1 of the 18th episode of the season. I watched the storyreel Monday and it really made me laugh. I really like this show. I was really surprised when the director told me there were so many revision in Act one.

Turns out I have a lot work to do. Usually I managed to finish roughing out the fixes on a board in about two days. This one is took me three. The director told me I have this week and next week to finish working on it but I’d rather try to finish as much as I possibly can THIS week. That way I can at least help out with the revisions of Act 3 or 4, even though the director told me they had small rewrites. By tomorrow, I’ll see if I meet my goal tomorrow.

VIDEO

I like Aardman animation. You know, the WALLACE AND GROMIT guys. Well, they did a little short for DC Nation using their CREATURE COMFORTS interview style with DC Superheroes. I thought it was great so here it for you to enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1Ak7ZMIh74&feature

ART

Woo Hoo! I finished thumbnailing page 5! Wow does that feel good. It totally feels like I passed a milestone on my personal project. That was an unexpected amount of work for 1/4 of a page of script. Now I have five more script pages to thumbnail, and I think page 6 is almost as complicated as page 5. Come to think of it, I think every page except the last one is as complicated if not MORE complicated than page 5. I’ve got a LOT of work to do. I hope I feels as good after finishing each one as I did finishing this one:

It’s difficult to tell from my thumbnails but I screwed up some visuals earlier in the script. As written, I had the Lead Sorcerer, take out a sack with a living viper in it and stab it with a knife in order to cast a spell. Well, I accidentally skimmed over that and didn’t draw it. When I realized what I had done I decided to go back and put it in, but as I looked at the shots, I realized it would have slowed things down. I asked myself why it was important to show that. It was simply to show that in order to cast his spells, that Sorcerer had to kill an animal. Well, I wondered if it would be possible to show that same thing more simply somewhere else. The answer was yes. So now, when I thumbnail the camera cutting back to the Lead Sorcerer in the next group of thumbnails, I’ll have the Sorcerer holding a bloody knife in one hand and a bleeding dying viper in the other as he says his dialogue. Hopefully, you can deduce what happened from the visual without having to spell it out. Once I board the shots officially, I’ll see if this plan will work or not.
For more comic and stories written by me, CLICK HERE.

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Writing this blog is almost a part time job for me. Tips are most welcome.

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Luis' Illustrated Blog

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Trying to finish up my final Simpsons boards. Finally finished thumbnailing script page 7. Mark Waid goes digital.

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Andrew Staton’s TED talk on story. Just cut two big fight scenes from my cartoon.

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New TOWER’S ALCHEMIST cover.

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Best Animated short oscar winner. Some G.K. Chesterton.

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Busy work week. My birthday weekend. Started thumbnailing page 7 of my script.

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500th episode party. Sharing my favorite contribution to the show. The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled cut. Catholic Laboratory Podcast

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Making story choices as I thumbnail my boards. Death of Superman spoof.

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Back on board revisions. Passing a milestone on my project.

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