THE SIMPSONS NEWS – So as I Was Walking Through the Fox Studio Lot, I Saw Kevin Smith and…

The Simpsons Quote:

“Fame was like a drug. But what was even more like a drug were the drugs.” ~ Homer

As a kid, I grew up in Burbank and I saw lots of celebrities around town. Working on The Simpsons, I’ve seen my share of celebrities.

When I worked on The Simpsons Movie I saw a few more, to add to my collection.

This time around I saw Kevin Smith and I’ll tell you what happened this week.

You can hear my story  by watching the video or you can read the story below.  It’s the same story either way:

Walking to the Parking Lot I Saw…

I worked on The Simpsons movie on storyboards in the story department. I actually had to drive down to the Fox lot everyday and worked there.

That in itself was a bit of an adventure. There’s so many stories and so many things that happened there, that I can talk about.

So here’s one of them. One really small one so it’s going to be a very short post.

So, we’re in a movie studio, and sometimes actors or celebrities that we’re familiar with, walk around.

One night, a friend of mine and I were leaving. We were headed to our car.

It was nighttime and it was dark.  As we were walking to the parking lot. I happen to look up ahead and see an actor director that I recognized, Kevin Smith.

Now, I’m not one of the these people who like to approach actors or celebrities. It’s just not one of my things. I’m generally, a shy person and I also don’t like to bother people.

But I do get a kick from seeing celebrities,

“Hey, there’s so and so,” then I can say to people, like I am right now, “Hey I saw Kevin Smith.”

The Loud Whisper

So I was walking with my friend and as we were talking I whispered,

“Hey, there’s Kevin Smith.”

He turns to me, “Huh?”

“I said, there’s Kevin Smith,” and as I say this we’re getting closer to him.  He frowns at me,

“What?”

In a loud whisper as start repeating, “Kevin Smith, there’s Kevin Smith, Kevin Smith. Kevin Smith is over there. Kevin Smith.”

“What? I can’t hear what you’re saying,”

So I blurt out, “THERE’S KEVIN SMITH!” and at this point we’re right next to the guy. Of course then he looks right at us. I mean I just yelled out his name.

It was so embarrassing, I didn’t know what to do. I just had to walk with my head down. Trying to cover my face, “don’t mind me, just passing through.”

Uh, Yeah…

It was so ridiculous and so…right out of a Kevin Smith joke.

Yeah, so that’s my story. It’s one of my, “here’s what happened as I was working on The Simpsons movie, anecdotes.”

Has something like this ever happened to you? It’s just embarrassing.

After that I turned to my friend,

“Look what you made me do!” I don’t like calling attention to myself and it was embarrassing and I’m sure Kevin Smith could care less and doesn’t even know it happened and it doesn’t bother him.

But it’s funny and embarrassing at the time. I knew right then that I had a story to tell.

I hope you liked my story.

Please Leave a Comment

If something like this has ever happened to you, let me know.

Share the pain, share the pain!

Pulp Simpsons Continues

I’m still sending “Pulp Simpsons” art on my newsletter.  I’ll be doing it for a while.  There’s a ton of art there.

What is “Pulp Simpsons?” It’s The Simpsons/Pulp Fiction mash up drawing that The Simpsons crew did for fun around the time the movie came out.

If you want to get in on the fun and see the art, opt in to receive my newsletter.  If you do, I’ll send you this week’s e-mail.

Don’t miss out.

WEBSITES – The Art of Draw Fu

Tomorrow I’ll be releasing my book The Art of Draw Fu for free to anyone who has opted in to www.TheDrawingWebsite.com Newsletter.

If you want to receive your copy, opt in and you’ll be one of the first people to get one.

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.

THE SIMPSONS NEWS – Is it REALLY How the Pros Draw The Simpsons?

The Simpsons Quote:

“Facts are meaningless. You can use facts to prove anything that’s even remotely true.” – Homer Simpson

Have you seen the book: “The Simpsons Handbook: Secret Tips from the Pros”?  Have looked at it and said, is it REALLY Secret Tips from the Pros?

I mean, why would they print a book that ACTUALLY taught you to draw The Simpsons? These books are always drawn by people who have to relation to the Pros who work on the show right?

That’s what I’m going to talk about this week.  IS the info in, “The Simpsons Handbook: Secret Tips from the Pros” really how the artists on the show, draw the characters?

You can either watch the video or read the post.  The info is the same.

Head up, all links to the book on this post are affiliate links.

And don’t forget to look further down into the blog to see the Pulp Fiction/Simpsons mash up drawings and the Simpsonized Doctor Who art. I’m also offering some free drawing couching. For more on that see below:

Is it True?

I happen to know that, “The Simpsons Handbook: Secret Tips from the Pros,” the part where it says, “Secret Tips from the Pros,” is TRUE.

What you get in the book is actually information on how the draw the characters on the show from actual Simpsons artists. They actually hired some of my friends. For example, the book says, character art by:

• Erick Tran
• Joe Wack
• Paul Wee
• Mike B. Anderson
• Shawn Cashman
• Liz Climo
• Jonathan Gebhart
• Rob Oliver

All these people that I’m naming are they’re ALL coworkers.  I mean, it’s ridiculous…these are my friends right?

It’s weird, because if you really want to know how to draw the characters for real, this book tells you how to do it.

But You Don’t Have to Take MY Word For It

Don’t take my word for it okay, I’m going to prove it to you.

So using the hand outs that we get, I’ll show you.  It’s an old hand out and we’ve updated some of this stuff but I’m going to use it as an example.

Now, so I don’t get in trouble, I’m only going to show you small parts of the hand out sheets.  Here we go:

See that lumps there? Okay.

The light bulb body.

The three cups long that his arm is.

Okay so that’s from our official how to draw hand outs that we get as artists.

Now I’m going to show you what’s in the book under Homer:

See there? The lumps for the hair:

The light bulb body.

The Three cups long that his arm is.

The Big Difference

In the book, it’s as if they took all that stuff we’ve got in the hand outs and cleaned them up. You saw how rough and unorganized the info was in the hand outs.

We’ve pretty much replaced a lot of what we hand out to new artists, with scanned sheets of this book.  It’s a cleaner version of what is in our old hand outs.

Our old hand outs where unorganized and rough. Even for professionals it got really confusing so we’re using the book now. If fact, the book expands upon many of the concepts for drawing the characters. It’s really handy.

All the new artist, they pick u the book or see the scans of the some of the pages from the book so that they can learn to draw the characters.

The Reason I’m Even Bringing This Up

IF you want to know what we know about drawing the characters, then “The Simpsons Handbook: Secret Tips from the Pros,” is what you need. It was drawn by us, who work on the show. This is what we do. This is us.

I just thought I’d bring this up and talk about this book.

A lot of people talk about this book, have seen the book and it’s almost like a joke,

“Hey look at this. How to draw the Simpsons. Heh heh heh yeah right,” no, this is REALLY how we draw the characters.

There was a coworker who was brand new and he came in and as a joke, he showed me the book,

“Hey look, I got this book. But I’m not going to use it. I just got it because I was curious and I thought it was interesting,” and I turned to  him,

“Why aren’t you going to use it? This is pretty much what they’re going to give you to draw from anyway,” and his eyes get all wide,

“REALLY? I thought that was joke.”

“No, look at the artist credited in the book. The art is from us.”

How Valuable is to You?

The book, if you purchase it, is $39.00.  You can probably get it cheaper at Amazon.

I think it just comes down to what it’s worth to you. If you really want know how to draw the characters the way we do it on the show, then it’s really a good deal.

So What Can You do With This Info?

On this week’s email, I sent out the first of many Simpsons and Pulp Fiction mash up drawings.  See what we artists do behind the scenes with our ability to draw Simpsons characters.

Here’s a small sample:

Want more? I’ll send you this week’s email if you opt in to receive e-mails before next Thursday.  The longer you wait the more you miss out on.

WEBSITE – Do You Want Free Drawing Coaching From Me?

I’ve been talking a lot about having mentors and friends that can help you improve your drawings. Sometimes, circumstances don’t allow this to happen. Because of this, I thought perhaps I could offer my services, as part of my services from www.TheDrawingWebsite.com

Sometimes you need someone to go over your stuff so you can see your work in a new way. It helps you improve quicker. This is what helped me get better faster. This is STILL the fastest way for me to get better.

I want to do that for you, I want to help you that way. I just couldn’t figure out a way that would make it as easy for everyone involved as possible, until last week.

This is what I came up with. You tell me what you think.

To Do That, Send Me Your Art

I’m going to accept TEN people’s work. That means, ten people will send me a drawing, and I’m going to go over it. Give you tips and advise. Tell you what to should look out for and what you should work on.

There is no draw back to doing this. You send me your drawing and I basically give you a FREE lesson on how YOU can improve your skills via e-mail. No video, just drawing over your stuff with commentary written on it.

Where do you send the drawing? What are the conditions?

If you’re interested to know this and more, CLICK HERE.

You find out the information you need to know, but act fast because the offer will only last for two weeks from this post.

THE SIMPSONS NEWS – Doctor Who Simpsonized

And speaking of Simpsons mash ups, I found this on the internet and thought it was sooo AWESOME!

I’d TOTALLY watch this episode.  It’s REALLY difficult to Simpsonize someone and still capture the right likeness.  I can’t believe what a good job this artist did.

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.

THE SIMPSONS NEWS – Artists and the Value of Learning to Market Yourself.

Simpsons Quote:

Homer: (places a dollar on the counter) I’d like a colossal donut, please. Just like the one on the sign. (Homer is given a regular-sized donut.) D’oh, nuts! That’s false advertising!

How often do you hear an artist talk about marketing?

When does it come up in a drawing class? What art school has a special class dedicated to Direct Marketing?

Is it even part of the artist’s radar? Do we even consider it to be a valuable skill or does marketing have a negative connotation?

I’m going to explore this topic this week. I’ve come to believe it’s an essential part of an artist’s skill set and I’ll explain why below.

You can either watch the video or read the post. They both say pretty much the same thing:

Marketing

I was never taught marketing.  Not in any art class I took. It wasn’t ever mentioned. I don’t know any artist who was taught marketing in any art school they went to.

I’ve been learning a lot about marketing recently. I’ve come to the realization that everyone who draws…well, not just those who draw, EVERYBODY, period, should learn marketing.

Why?

Because, we’re ALL selling something.

Any person that’s gone to a job interview to get a job for any reason, is selling something. That something is YOURSELF.

You’re Already a Marketer

When you go to a job interview, what are you doing? What’s a job interview?

It’s a “pitch session.” A “pitch session” of YOU. You’re pitching yourself, your service, as someone who has what they need.

What’s a resume? It’s “testimonials’ of your past work, right? It’s proof that your worthy to have the job. It’s “social proof” that you’ve got experience.

Marketing is the same thing. It’s pitching a service, pitching a good, pitching something of value to someone. A value you exchange for equal value, in the form of money.

Marketing in the purest sense is getting the word out, that you have a service that will help other with what they need.

Direct Marketing

When I talk about marketing, I’m not talking about any kind of marketing. I’m talking specifically about Direct Marketing.

Direct Marketing is a different kind of marketing. It’s not like Brand Marketing. It’s not like having a billboard with a Santa Clause drinking a coke or someone on TV eating a burger. That’s not what I’m talking about.

Direct making is getting your potential customer to directly respond to your ad. When you put an ad somewhere, you get a direct measurable result.

When you put money into a Direct Marketing ad, it results in getting a client. The ad you use gives information that allows your client to contact you for your service.  That way, if you spend money, say, in a newspaper ad. The amount of money you spent on the ad pays itself back through the clients it brings in and may even bring MORE money than you spent on the ad.

This response marketing, is measurable.

Brand Marketing is far more difficult to measure. There’s no real way to measure if anyone will buy your burger or drink you soft drink, just because you put an ad up with your drink in it without some way to track an actionable response.

Big companies do this because they have enough money to throw at Brand Marketing. As artists we can’t afford to be wasting our money this way. We need results from any marketing you may pay for. You want something you can measurable results from.

Avoid “Hope Marketing”

There are many forms of Direct Marketing. There are also many sources to learn about Direct Marketing. I highly recommend you seek them out and learn these things.

Without it, what will happen is, you’ll put your portfolio online and you’ll sit and think that by taking that action people will magically go to your site and give you work.

Not going to happen. It’s what Direct Marketers call “Hope Marketing.” You don’t want. You don’t want to put yourself out there and “hope” someone sees your work and gives you a job.

You want them to come to you because you’ve gone out of your way to show them what you can do for them.

Direct Marketing should never be about you. It should always be about what your service can provide for other people. For you potential clients.

It’s about them first, “here’s what you’re having problems with, I can help you with that.”

That’s what Direct Marketing is all about.

I advice everyone, but specifically you artists, freelancers, animators whatever your in, to learn this. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got a good job in a studio or a steady job.

Learn it. I guarantee, it will help you no matter what your circumstances. It’s a very important skill set, to hone, learn, and have.

I hope this has given you some food for thought. I may be writing more in depth about this in the future.

Simpsons Crew Christmas Cards

If you like or dislike what you’ve read here, please leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you. If you have anything to add, even more so.

This week, in my newsletter, I sent some examples of Simpsons Christmas cards that my co-workers handed out this year. They’re all very cool and Simpsons related.  This is the kind of unique item, you’ll never see in stores…or anywhere.

If you’d like to receive a copy of this e-mail, opt in below before next Thursday and I’ll send to you.

Have a Merry Christmas.

THE DRAWING WEBSITE- Formulas – An Introduction to Drawing Shorthand

Yesterday I managed to get my latest Drawing Website post up on my site.

It was the closest I’ve ever come to not meeting the post deadline. I honestly thought I was going to upload it later in the week.

There were so many false starts, so many useless and unused drawings.

It took me a while to even wrap my head around exactly what part of my topic I was suppose to focus on.  I was in a panic about it.

I then, simply sat down in a quite place and began to write.  The post took shape, I knew exactly the artwork that was needed to illustrate my points and I cranked away at them the next day, whenever I had a chance.

Once the artwork was done, I wrote a second draft of the post and it was ready to go.

So here is it, just for you. I hope you like what I wrote:

Formulas – An Introduction to Drawing Shorthand

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.