Some rough sketches

Here is a little development I did recently, for a pilot show. A rough sketch of some western desperados- COWboys...get it?

A horse...



And a couple incidental townsfolk, who've just discovered the joys of ice cubes and rubber bands.



Thanks for lookin'- Y'all come back, now!

Galactimus

Here's another drawing from my early days at Nick. In this episode of FOP, Timmy had to become a super-villain (an obvious spoof of Marvel's Calactus") in order to get some quality time with his mom & dad, who had become super-heroes. I thought it would be a good chance to slip in some comic-booky style, but I didn't know if the art director at the time (Bob Boyle) would go for it. He did! Here you go, Ben.


Here he is, frozen in ice- the rough, and then the finished model:



And this is about as randy as things are likely to get on this blog:

On The Air!

Well- One of the hi-lights of the year for ME was the fulfillment of two personal life ambitions: To write and direct a radio play, and to sing & play with a red-hot jazz band. In May, I directed an original show called "On The Air!", with local theatre group The Steppingstone Players. Frank Rocco assisted with the writing, and Dan "Soybean" Sawyer did the musical arrangements, and directed the band. The show was a big hit, thanks to a terrific cast, and an amazing band. I'm only a pseudo-musician (at best), but since it was my show, I got to play ukulele and sing a little bit. What a thrill! Here are some shots of the band and cast, from one of out last rehearsals- this is one or two nights before we opened, and costumes were about 65-70% at this point. I'm in the porkpie hat, and that
s Soybean at the keyboards & banjo-uke-



"SOYBEAN, AND HIS RED-HOT VEGANS"

"SWASH-BUCKLING ADVENTURE!"

The Dread John Flintlock, and son.



Allan Hunt (as Desmond LeRoi), advises Matt Rosell (as Jimmy).

Ivan scats.

Soybean wows listeners with his Über-chops, on his Gibson banjo-uke.

The Very First Noel & The Unflappable Cheneys

I didn't draw this, but I'm in this picture (twice)!

Okay, so I've been privileged to be involved with some cool projects in the 14+ years since I moved to California to make my fortune in animation (actually, I initially moved out here to stake my claim in the great Gold Rush, but quickly learned I'd missed the boat on that one), but THIS project takes the cake!!

About seven years ago, good friends Yarrow and Carrie Cheney (they're good friends to me- they're married to each other) got this cockamamie idea, that they wanted to make a 3-D animated film, about the Journey of the Three Wise Men to the Nativity. The cockamamie part is they wanted to do it themselves, that is to say, without outside interference. and without target demographics, focus testing, backward ball-caps, and without being told that baby Jesus needs "more attitude", or the suggestion that- in the interest of selling toys- couldn't the Wise Men travel on skateboards instead?

Well, suffice it to say, that seven years later, through sheer, unwavering determination, and many leaps of faith, the Cheneys and their support team (led by Carrie's parents- The ever-stalwart Buells of San Diego) have emerged with a holiday video that is sure to by heralded for all time! (Cue the trumpets). With an all-original script by Carrie, imagine a Christmas special, with the heart and Warmth of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, or A Charlie Brown Christmas, coupled with the beautiful, lush Art direction of ...say...well- Yarrow Cheney!

This movie is a treasure. You should get it. In fact you should do what I'm doing, and get it for everybody on your Christmas list. They'll be your friends forever . I'll go one better- if you have a friend that you'd frankly like to ditch- start by NOT getting them this movie. That should go a long way toward putting a rift between you.

Q: What does this have to do with me, you ask?
A: I'm glad you asked! (Here's the privilege part). I was asked to voice the character of Joseph, and also "The Tall Shepherd" for this special, and my lovely wife Cathy voiced the part of Mary. You might say she was blessed among actresses. What fun! And before you go thinking that I'm promoting this so that Cathy and I can retire from residual income, forget it. To the best of my knowledge- residuals for DVD sales (and cable- This special is airing regularly on DirectTV) are still pretty negligible. I'm pushing this special because it's absolutely delightful, and deserves any exposure it can get.

Q:Didn't you promise in an earlier post that you wouldn't be really wordy on your blog?
A: Uh...yeah..sorry about that, but my enthusiasm for this special predisposes me to effusive rambling.

ANYWAY, watch it. You'll be glad you did.For more, go HERE, or HERE, or buy it HERE.

On-Line Waitress

Here's a character I did for my old boss, Steve Belfer, over at Warner OnLine. All bosses should be as cool as Steve. This was for an online game for....some burger place...Hardee's maybe? RALLY'S, I think! It had to be simple, because it would be really small on the screen. Hope you like it.

Artwork

Artwork! Oh, Yeah! I should probably start posting some drawings... I figure since my blog is new, I can get away with posting OLD STUFF for a while, before I start feeling pressure to generate NEW STUFF for this page, so..

Here's a band I designed for an episode of The Fairly Oddparents, called "Twistory". That was during my early days on the show, and I was surprised to see the episode, and learn that the band was on-screen for about a frame-and-a half, never to be seen again. Things move quickly on that show.

I later did this marker version in Zac Moncrief's sketchbook.

Roosevelt Franklin

Most people I ask don't remember "Roosevelt Franklin's Elementary School"- a semi-regular sequence on Sesame Street, when Sesame Street was worth watching. Well, even I don't remember this black & White footage, but it sure is awesome! I'd like to see Elmo and Baby Bear pull THIS off...

Ernie Gilbert

Hi, everybody! I'd like to say that people have been hounding me to finally start a blog. I'd LIKE to say that, but the truth is, the people I hang with are generally unmotivated, and still aren't entirely convinced that the personal computer is truly here to stay, so... I'm doing this because I think it'll be fun, and of course, will surely make me rich and famous! Well, here goes nothin!