Doodling in a Meeting...

From time to time, my mind starts to wander during meetings. If I'm lucky, I have a pad of paper to catch a glimpse of where my brain travels to.
Then there's the crow at the end. The tip of my pen went for a walk, and this is where she went.


The little Bob the Tomato was drawn by Phil Vischer. When I stopped to talk, he took my pen and added to my gorilla musings.


I just remembered... about three years ago, I did a little sketch of a gorilla (a recurring theme in my work) with a crow (another recurring image) sitting on his shoulder. I had forgotten about it until I was posting these. I should see if I still have it. I think it might make a good story some day.

If you click on these images, they enlarge to almost exactly original size (5x10") depending on the resolution of your monitor.

Alex & the Wasp

For my good friend Alex Scheidler...

(Click to enlarge)

Dream Part 1

The other night I had a pretty vivid dream and I'm still trying to get it all down on paper. It's not a dream that was terribly profound, but it hung with me all the following day. The images aren't as wildly fantastic as Ronnie del Carmen's "Paper Biscuit". And if I weren't in such a hurry to get it all down, the drawings would be better. (As it was, I ignored my family for a few hours over the holidays trying to steal a couple of hours to get what I did into my sketchbook). Hopefully, I'll improve as I finish the narrative (if you can call it a narrative).
The dream is as exactly as I remember it (except it was in color). I will continue it as I finish the drawings.
(You can click on the images to make them bigger)

R.I.P. Pat Morita

I just heard on the news that Pat Morita passed away today. Known best for his role as Mr. Miyagi in "The Karate Kid", Pat also provided the voice for the Emperor in "Mulan". I made a short mockumentary of the Making of Mulan for our wrap party, and our producer, Pam Coats, called in a favor and asked Pat to narrate it and appear as host. He was great! A consumate performer.
The photo above is from our last night of shooting (in front of Disney/MGM's Chinese Theatre). The couple to the right is Krissie and Marten Kaufman. Krissie produced our short video and Marten was my DP (Director of Photography). Actually, this was the night that Marten proposed to Krissie -- on camera -- with Pat's help. He helped us set up the whole thing as a surprise to Krissie. After the last shot, I called "cut" and "wrap", then asked for one more take. Since I had called "wrap" (signaling the end), Pat started throwing a small fit and called for Krissie. Then as he talked things over with her, Marten knelt down behind her. Oh, he wasn't nasty, he just wanted her to clear this up, is this a wrap or not a wrap? What's going on here? After Krissie was good and flustered, and Pat turned her around to see Marten holding the ring.
She played the video for everybody all day the next day at work.
It's nice when sad news can bring back good memories.

What the-??

Worth a thousand words, right? Yeah, I figured this image was better than many of the stories I could write about it. Yes, it's the actual stuffed head (or heads) of a two-headed calf, and yes, I took the photo myself.

The story behind it is this: Way back when I was at Disney, a fellow story artist (Nathan Greno - a brilliant guy) was working on the Western, "Sweating Bullets" (which later was re-written and changed to Disney's last traditionally animated film, "Home on the Range"). Anyway, he wanted some western-themed inspiration to hang in his office. It turned out that he had a friend whose dad had a farm where a two headed calf was born. (Some people have all the connections, right?) Well, the calf didn't live long and he farmer thought it was such a curiosity that he had it mounted for the rest of us to enjoy. So, there you have it.

The Reflex of Giving

This morning I was privileged to lend a hand to Feed Franklin First (http://feedfranklinfirst.org/) along with my son and dad. It's an organization whose primary effort is to distribute food to the needy people of Franklin, Tennessee, especially around the holidays. It's a humbling experience to take food that comes so easy to some of us, and to carry it into homes where people live hand to mouth.

I was glad to share this time with my dad & son. I think it will affect the way we say grace before we have our dinner tomorrow.
Needless to say, the recipients were very grateful. And that's the humbling part. I mean, we volunteered for one morning to help them. But what happens next week? My prayer is not only for these people, but that I would grow into someone who helps out, not out of guilt or duty, but from simply because people need it. I bandage my daughter's knee, not because I get a tax benefit, or because it's Christmas. I give because she needs help. That's the reflex of giving.
The photos were taken at First Missionary Baptist Church, where we loaded up our cars and took bags and boxes of food. Willie Otey (the man in the blue hoodie and baseball hat) did a great job organizing the whole thing. But of course, he's had a lot of practice. He works at this every day. My hat is off to him.

Short Story #3

Mason opened his eyes and it was still completely dark. It wasn't much fun living inside a backpack, but it was far better than his last space under a refrigerator. An elementary backpack rarely gets cleaned, but under a fridge? Never. Mason would spend the better part of his morning coughing up dust bunnies he had inhaled during his sleep. And the only food he ever got was the occasional frozen french fry. Yes, as bad as the backpack was, it was immeasurably better than under the fridge. The biggest downside of the backpack was the lack of privacy. Not inside the confines of the bag itself, no. It was actually the times he was on display, something he was forced to do in exchange for his lodgings. There he would sit in a baby food jar on the short bookshelf beside the window. Then he had to endure the stares and gawking of two or three dozen third graders as they paraded by. Every third or fourth one would have to ask, "What is it?" And the answer would echo in his ears.... "My uncle's appendix."

But one day, came the response, "Cool!". It was Lori Stewart, the girl with the broken glasses. Her socks didn't match today, but Mason didn't care. Somebody thought he was cool.

Mason was in love.

Chuck

Here's a quick sketch of Chuck Vollmer from our Studio morning meeting today at Big Idea. Chuck weighs about 75 pounds soaking wet. He just looked a like he was floating around in his flannel Woolrich shirt.

Old Friends

This photo I took back in 1999 in Silver Springs Florida (Near where "Creature from the Black Lagoon" was filmed... in 3-D). This man was in his 90's and had been visiting the park two or three times a week for 7 years. I think he was on a first name basis with the squirrels.
I've given prints of this as gifts and sold a couple as well. You should have seen all the pizza I bought with the cash.

On a technical side, I used a Hasselblad 501c/m with an 80mm Zeiss lens. The original framing is much looser. I didn't want to step closer and miss (or worse, ruin) the moment between these two, so I had to crop it in the darkroom (when I still had one). Thankfully, the resolution of the medium format negative is high enough to hold up. I even blew this up to a 11x14" print and you can still practically read the time on his watch.
I sold my analog darkroom last year and bought a scanner that will scan negatives in hi-rez. A few months later Kodak announced they are no longer manufacturing black and white paper. (sniff!)

Short Story #2

Lester leaned down to pick up a half dollar he spotted next to the curb. Its shiny silver surface gleamed against the dark mud that had collected in the gutter. "This is my lucky day!" he thought as he noticed the date on the coin. And indeed he was right. He was lucky, especially compared to Warren Satterfield who ran a small deli just two and a half blocks away and had just lost three fingers in the sausage grinder.
Oh, but it really wasn't that unlucky... at least they weren't his fingers.

3 Pigs

Here's a little sketch I did a couple of months ago. There are color versions at www.drawergeeks.com, if you want to see my watercolor skills.
For today's post I really wanted to scan a doodle I did yesterday on the bulletin during church. But wouldn't you know it, I forgot to take a pencil with me. Too bad, the pastor was in rare form. I tried to draw him from memory last night, but I couldn't capture his energy. (I gotta practice that more) Stay tuned for next week.

Accordion Man

I took this outside a shopping mall in Ottawa back in 2000. I put some money in his box in exchange for permission to snap the photo. Judging from his expression, I still don't think he was satisfied with the deal.

Short Story #1

Meanwhile, Carmen sunned himself lazily on the beach in the Tahitian sun. The waves lapped around his legs. Soft music from a phonograph drifted from one of the nearby huts. He had laid there all morning without a care in the world. He didn't even bat an eye when a seagull pecked hungrily at his soft underbelly. He didn't care, because he was a crab and had been dead for two days.