Possible Villains for The New Bremen Town Musicians

 I'm playing with the idea of getting the band back together, as if they ever were, and was thinking of possible villains they might confront.

Here's some ideas...

Shakira: The Witch In The White Tower!

 Since  I've remembered this blog I may as well use it for it's intended purpose: shameless self promotion. 

 So, one of the reasons I haven't posted is because I was writing a book.  It's gotten some nice reviews, surprisingly!  And you can get it on Amazon Books, Barnes & Noble, and wherever books are sold.

Here's a picture of author J.R.R.R. Hardison with his copy.  He gave it a five star rating and wrote this splendid review: Reminiscent of the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis, this was an imaginative, engaging fantasy story with a spiritual angle. Bending the powers of nature and magic to her dark will, Shakira--the witch in the white tower--intends to reshape the world to her own specifications. But a prophecy foretells her downfall at the hands of a girl--a niece she never knew she had. Complicating matters, there are not one, but two nieces to be dealt with. Now, teenage twin sisters, Jena and Kat, find their lives turned upside down as they are swept up in their twisted aunt's evil machinations. Full of dark enchantments, exciting battles, intrepid talking animals, rotting zombies, and mysterious spirits, this is an entertaining read. Tons of fun.

Pretty nice huh!  If you can't read the cover very well, here's the cover down below

The rotating mirrors of Shakiras Nekromanteum is fiction but the resonate frequencies amplified to reconstruct matter is based on a real phenomenon called Cymatics. Sound shaping water and metal filings has been demonstrated and documented on film and video. This idea has been suggested as a possible means of moving the giant blocks of Florida’s Coral Castle, or perhaps the Egyptian pyramids. 

 

DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, has a technology known as Voice to Skull allowing voices to be sent and received by unsuspecting persons. They clearly hear unseen spoken messages in their heads much like Shakiras brain altering frequencies. 

 

Hydroponic gardens are producing food without using soil much like Shakira in her hope of gaining control over the planets food production.

 

These ideas and more are explored in the tower of Shakira: The Witch in the White Tower.

Hoggle from the Labyrinth

 Well, it's been a long time since I've posted anything.  I forgot all about this blog.  So, here's a 4" Xmas ornament sculptured in Sculpey and painted in oils of Hoggle the goblin from Jim Henson's movie "The Labyrinth".  There are a zillion, (yes, one zillion, I counted), pipes, keys and pouches on his utility belt.  I crossed his arms to cover many of them so I didn't have to sculpt them, but I noticed he has a severed hand instead of a rabbits foot, and it is making the devil horns sign.  What was Jim telling us?  His vest has a face on the back too, and I suppose it symbolizes that he is two-faced.  He does betray the girl Shara a few times.  Anyway, this is for my daughter Jenah.  She has an obsession with the Goblin King...
 

Owl & Pussycat

 This is a work in progress.  It's a digital sketch for a painting that will be done using acrylics.  These are original character designs of mine for an Illustration for The Owl and the Pussycat from the poem by Edward Lear.  I've started working color, design and compositions digitally before committing to canvas these days.

Latest Paintings...

 I keep forgetting about this blog so I don't post too regularly.  The latest painting I did was a modified copy from an unknown artist I did for a friend who has been on me for years to do.  I flipped the image and removed a figure making a total of 14 people.  I also made it monocromatic and used acrylics because color and oils would have taken for ever to do.  They were happy and that is what matters in the end.

Happy Birthday!...

 I don't keep this blog up consistency, but thought I would include the painting I did for my granddaughters birthday.  She's just turning 11 and is into aquatic life, so I did a painting for her room to celebrate her birthday with an aquatic theme.  It's a bunch of reference material from the internet composed in Photoshop which I transferred to canvas and then painted using acrylic paint.

I'm still getting used to acrylics and approaching it like watercolors. I blocked off the critters using a latex matte and then did a wet wash for the background in blue, then added the critters after removing the mask or matte.  Hope she like it!

Old School Animation Table

 I have this custom made collapsible portable animation stand that I'm not using these days.  Now that everything is digital, my poor drawing table sits idle.  I had it built with two lawn-chair hinges so I could raise and lower it for a comfortable drawing angle.  I added a removable copy stand rostrum for a digital or film camera and used it for pencil tests and full production work.  It's still cool and I have it set up in my office just for kicks right now.

CLAYDREAM..Documentary about Will Vinton

 This is the trailer for the finished film started in 2017 originally called "Welcome to My Daydream " about Will Vinton and his studio.

 CLAYDREAM_Follow link for the Tribeca premiere screening: TODAY Sunday, June 13th @ 4pm pst https://www.tribecafilm.com/films/claydream-2021

This is a still from the documentary of Will and myself discussing a scene

 Will and I discussing a scene

 

Music and Mood in Animation_ The Two Jinn's

 

I made Jinn Jinn Meets Sadiqi over the CoVid lock-down purely as a distraction.  During the making, I fell in love with the scratch track by Ravi Shankar because it captured the playfulness and spirit of what I was trying to do in animation.  As it usually happens, I couldn’t get the rights to use the music in its entirety and had to find free music that fit the flavor and action but it changed the whole level of energy and mood.  It works, and you can see it here: https://vimeo.com/447473057    But, I still missed the Shankar tribute version, so I put this version of the Ravi piece here on my blog just to show how much music can influence the feel of an animated cartoon.  Sorry for the poor quality, (go to the linked version above for better image quality and the alternative sound track), but this way I won’t get any strikes or violations…