News
December 19th, 2006 | Posted in General
Unless you have been living under a rock the last 18 hours, you have probably heard that Joe Barbera, of Hanna-Barbera animation fame, died yesterday at age 95 from natural causes. Tributes have been flooding animation and cartoon websites and blogs like Cartoon Brew, Drawn! and others. Clearly the man was a well respected legend in the animation business. Having little or no experience in the animation field other than a viewer’s enjoyment of the good stuff, I have next to no personal knowledge of Barbera’s history or contributions to animation as an art form. I think it’s a testament, however, to the longevity of… READ MORE
December 5th, 2006 | Posted in News
Here’s an interesting story from CNN about a new cartoon series Comedy Central has picked up ordered called Lil’ Bush. There are several episodes of about 5 minutes in length on YouTube, like the one linked below. Warning- it’s nasty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYeJEFa-xCA Whether you enjoy the satire or not, the most interesting thing about this show is that is started out as a series of downloadable video clips from a US wireless service called Amp’d Mobile. The company packages video entertainment programming along with it’s mobile phone service. Right now TV and film studios are trying to figure out how to make the internet and cell… READ MORE
December 1st, 2006 | Posted in News
Well, not really, but sort of. Minneapolis has an art college called the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, which is one of only a handful of schools in the country with a full degree and program in cartooning. It’s mostly centered on comic book and graphic storytelling, but also encompasses cartooning in it’s many forms. MCAD was very gracious in hosting an art show and speaking event for our National Cartoonist Society North Central Chapter meeting this fall. Read about the event here and here. During the show’s opening I was asked if I was interested in speaking at the school and/or participating in… READ MORE
November 29th, 2006 | Posted in News
I had no idea the following was going on: FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP Groups Form Illustrators’ Rights Coalition A coalition of U.S. illustrators’ organizations have come together to speak with one voice on behalf of artists’ reprographic rights. That was the message delivered by the Illustrators’ Partnership to the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organizations (IFRRO) which met in conference Oct. 28 ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ” Nov. 2 in Auckland, New Zealand. Representing the coalition were artists Cynthia Turner and Brad Holland of the Illustrators’ Partnership and Terrence Brown, Director of the Society of Illustrators. The twelve groups are: The Illustrators’ Partnership The Association of Medical Illustrators The… READ MORE
November 17th, 2006 | Posted in News
After last week’s elections and the resulting majority of a different party in the House and Senate, I know the biggest question burning in everyone’s mind… how will this affect the proposes Orphan Works legislation? Good question: ________ FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP It’s not yet clear how the post-election power shift in Congress will affect the Orphan Works bill. It’s possible that one, maybe both, of the intellectual property subcommittees will be chaired by lawmakers who have been responsive to the concerns of visual artists. Yet, as legal analyst David Carney writes in the Tech Law Journal, “the orphan works bill “has broad bipartisan support,”… READ MORE
November 7th, 2006 | Posted in General
Now that I am (more or less) caught up in the studio, I can post a report about my trip to the L.A. Comic Con. First, I was very sorry I could not spend at least a few days in L.A. I think that would be a fascinating place to explore. Instead it was a whirlwind visit, flying in at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday and catching a 6:30 p.m flight out on Sunday. That did not leave much time for sightseeing. However when I agreed to attend I knew that unless I did it as a quick visit I would end up regretting the time… READ MORE
November 3rd, 2006 | Posted in MAD Magazine
As I mentioned last week, this Sunday, Nov. 5th I will be appearing at the Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm along with the great Sergio Aragones and writer extraordinaire Mark Evanier…. and David Carradine. If Grasshopper starts to bully me I’ll sick Sergio on him. Nobody messes with Sergio. I’ll have a stack of free MAD magazines to sign while supplies last, and will be doing caricatures and sketches for dirt cheap. Actually I’ll be overcharging, but in L.A. nobody will notice. I’m also going to have a few MAD originals on hand for sale. I… READ MORE
October 23rd, 2006 | Posted in General
I know… I’m too busy to blog today. I had to post this link to a post on the outstanding blog of writer Mark Evanier. I am envious he was actually on hand Saturday evening at the Comic Art Professional Society‘s dinner honoring Jack Davis, which was the subject of this post of mine last week. I wish I could have been there. Follow the first link above to read Mark’s report on the evening. I knew about the secret plans to also honor Sergio, as CAPS president Chad Frye quietly asked for artists to do their version of Groo for a book to be… READ MORE
