Ribeye and Cubesteak 3D

Work continues on creating 3D versions of our characters. Talented 3D artist Trentity DeWitt out did himself in creating the 3D Ribeye and Cubesteak, based on detailed model sheets drawn by Mike Milo.

Incidentally, 3D characters are usually constructed with their arms extended on a T-form as in these screenshots, because that's the most efficient way to model and 'rig' the character.

These models were built and rigged by Trentity using the 3D program called Maya, which is an industry standard 3D application. Many of the 3D special effects, and full 3D animation you may happen to see in movies and TV is done using Maya.

Being an animator

When I was a young boy my mom wanted me to be an artist. I wasn't always so sure. My mom used to love to tell everyone about when I was 5 and someone asked me what I was going to be when I grew up. My answer was "a clay man in the army".

Now what that is exactly, I'm not quite sure but it was obvious to my mom that I was going to be an artist. It wasn't, however, so obvious to me. In fact I once had the belief that I never wanted to be an artist because I didn't want anyone to be telling me how to draw. I was just going to draw "my own way" and not listen to anyone about how to do it the right way. Kinda stupid when I think back on it.

Still, I kept drawing and never stopped. An old teacher of Harry and mine told us we had to rack up a lot of pencil mileage before we were good at animation and he was right. You can see a smattering of old animation Harry and I made here

We had a ton of fun on these old cartoons and I wouldn't trade it for anything. It's this stuff that helped me on my first job as a Character Layout artist on Tazmania starring the Tazmanian Devil where we used a process called Character Layout which involved blowing up the storyboard and adding subtle nuances and drawing every key frame that you see in the final film. It was like "Animating Lite" and I really loved it. Some shows still use this method such as The Simpsons and King of the Hill. It's one of the reasons the shows are so successful. Quite a few old Warner Bros. cartoons were made employing this method such as Animaniacs, Tiny Toons, Tazmania, Batman the Animated Series to name a few. Disney used this method as well on a few of their shows, primarily Around the World with Timon and Pumbaa and The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show

It's too bad that Character Layout has all but disappeared because it allowed newcomers to learn how a film was made by making you figure out camera moves and staging. Sadly quite a few artists today in the Animation Biz know nothing of these core elements and as such animation suffers with bad cartoons as a result.

Today I work on a show called Xiaolin Showdown and I must say IMHO that it is an exception to bad cartoons. The characters are well designed, the action is first rate and the storyboards are excellent. The Direction is kinda nice but then I'm too partial to really comment on that, as that's my job. ;-)

It runs on Kids WB at 8:30 on Saturdays so check it out if you get the chance. It's a great lil' show!

I love animation and if it wasn't for my mom I might never have even become an artist! Quite often they know a lot more than we think!

Ribeye Fan Art

Ribeye the Bullbarian

Drawn by Melissa Milo, Age 7

 

More Ribeye Fan Drawings HERE.

Jackalopes and New Covers

On Friday I saw the latest animated scenes on our short cartoon for Warner Brothers Animation called 'The Jackalope Boyz'. The project is really coming along! A number of the scenes look particularly good- the character animation is handled very competently, and the final rendered backgrounds are just pure eye-candy.

It's hard to explain what an amazing thing it is: first for Mike and I to  see voice talent create unique voices for the characters we've created, and act out the stories and dialogue we've written. Then to witness everything coming together; animated characters brought to life and a film shaping around a framework of one's own ideas, creation, and writing.  It's all  just an incredible experience.

I'm so fortunate I've been able to see stories and ideas Mike and I have written brought to life this way. We've been very fortunate to have had the experience a number of times, and it never ceases to thrill me.

This weekend I'm tightening up the fifth-draft of 'Sands of Fate' and I'll be firing up the 'presses' to make a very-complete proof version. This 'ARC' version will go out to close family and friends and includes about 95% of Mike's final illustrations, and my layout illustrations standing-in for the rest.

This ARC will have the original 'viper' cover. However, we're re-doing the book's cover for the final release. I received much advisement that the original cover we did was way too violent-looking, and didn't portray the true 'fun and lighthearted' nature of the book itself. I really had to take a step back and come to the conclusion that this advice was correct. A person really does have to take the advice and criticism of others into consideration- that's why I welcome input from others with open arms. I consider myself blessed to have a number of folks whose sage advice I really trust. It ultimately only makes my efforts that much better to weight their input. Ultimately, Mike and I came to an agreement over the original cover design, and we're changing it. I now like our new concept far better than the old. It's one of those things that's a twist on an old adage: if it doesn't kill your project, it will only make it stronger!

Re-Write! Re-Write! Re-Write!

Today I've been going through the latest draft of my current book line-by-line, and word-by-word. Lately I had been thinking, "This book is in pretty good shape!" but as I really tear the guts out of it, I find that there seems to always be something that I could do better. And so it goes: re-write, re-write, re-write. That's got to be some kind of writer's mantra.

I always find myself wondering, no matter what project I'm working on, when and where will that magic moment come when I'm able to sit back and say with confidence, "Okay, it's finished!" and really mean it.

I have days where I think, "Man, I'll never get this exactly the way I want it!" and other days where I'm thinking, "It's in pretty good shape." Today was one of the "Mission Impossible" days. But I'm sure tomorrow my outlook will shift back to "Hey, this is going to work nicely." And so on.

One thing remains a constant however: I enjoy the heck out of writing. It's one endeavor above all others that I want to pursue with the most blood, sweat and toil for the rest of my days. Well... if I can avoid more of the 'blood' sacrifice than the others and still get my writing done, that'll be fine too.

There's nothing quite like finding something you really love so much that despite it being hard, challenging, brain draining, nerve-wracking work, you find that there are few other things on earth you'd rather be doing.

For me, that's the art of writing.

Basically, I love the whole process of putting together a project, and working with Mike on the entire 'package' as a whole. Mike never quite knows how an illustration is going to come out, and finds the end result a surprise even to himself. I'm the same way with envisioning a finished book.

I have something of an image in my mind that I'm shooting for; I can quasi-picture how the finished work will look, feel and read. I'm very much a stickler about final 'look and feel' of a project. I want the finished book to reflect a certain vision I have for the work as a whole. I try my best to remain true to that vision. But despite it all, I won't know for certain what exact souffle this whole crazy recipe of words and art will bake, until that fateful moment when I'm holding the final result in my hands. That finished creation will be familiar work in some sense, yet at the same time a total surprise to me. I always get a major rush at that exact moment I first see the final results. It's as exhilarating as a thousand Christmas mornings put together!

Ye Olden Days

Ahh yes, the good ol' days! Sometimes I simply can't believe how much times have changed- and the ways  my friends and I have changed too over the years. I look at the 'kids' in these old photos and can't believe that was really us!

Mike Milo and Harry McLaughlin in San Francisco, 1990

Mike Milo at his drawing desk in Parsippany, New Jersey in early 1990 just before the big move out west. Mike was probably working on animation for 'Tiny Toon Adventures', or any of the various freelance gigs he had at the time. All around his animation desk are various Zaptoons comic books, model sheets, and artwork from the animated projects we were always working on.

Me at my first 'real' job working for video game company Sierra On-Line in Oakhurst California, 1990. I was just a skinny kid, age 21! I was one of the few (along with Mike) who was the proud owner of a new super-fast 386 PC computer, as compared to the average 286! And that's a Louie Hedgehog 'Bendanimal' made by Mike atop my monitor. I still have it! (Louie that is!) The inscription on his foot reads: (c) 1989 Zaptoons.

 

Right next to me you can see my animation desk- Mike and I were among the  first 'pencil and paper' animators at Sierra. Before the era of scanning and computer manipulating hand-drawn animation, the 'old school' artists animated the game characters pixel by pixel on dirt-slow DOS computers.

More About Bendanimals

As Harry said, I've been making these dolls since the early 70's and it's always been a source of great enjoyment for me. My mom got me started doing them and it was she who coined the phrase "Bendanimals". I would always bug her to get me the new GI JOE with the Kung Fu grip and eventually she got tired of buying me new ones so she told me to go make one myself and that's just what I did. My first one was a werewolf when I was about eleven and man I played that thing into the ground as you can clearly see by it's ratty state. 

The first Bendanimal, the Werewolf, made in the 1970's.

My brother Andy used to chew the feet and eventually they fell off but I kept the thing anyway. What's now ironic about the werewolf (I still have it) is that the hair on his head came off and so just like his creator he is now balding! :-)

I stopped making the Bendanimals for a while and started them up again when I made a Charlie Hippo one around 1989. This one was much beefier and I understood much better how to make the characters and work with the clay and plastic. Unfortunately a week later I was showing it to my girlfriend's friend (who I hated BTW) and she said "EH, I guess that's cool, does it bend?" She bent the leg and it fell off! I was crestfallen because, to me, it was a piece of art and she had just destroyed it. 

Charlie Hippo Bendanimal from 1989.

You can see on the Charlie Bendanimal that he's not wearing pants and that's because he is just balancing on his one good leg. I never did fix him.

Bendanimals are not really repairable due to the process with which they are made. Once I wrap that 30 ft of gauze around the armature wire I can't just unwrap it and fix it. Also because they are so small anyway( 8-10 inches) I sometimes sewed the clothes directly on the Bendanimal. For instance, the Ribeye one has the fur sewn directly onto the armature and gauze so it really can't ever come off. While I was taking a picture of the Ribeye Bendanimal, I was trying to pose his hand and I twisted it the wrong way and it came off! I glued it but it really will never be the same. *sigh* I eventually made over 15 of these lil' guys and all along the way I've refined the process so that I've pretty much got it down pat now. I even made one for my wife's birthday and each time I take a picture or show it someone she reminds me that it is not mine but hers. It was actually my best Charlie as I made four of them.

There are even a few missing ones. I made a huge one once that was over 15 inches tall and over the years it has disappeared. I also made a Louie Hedgehog one and that too has disappeared. Harry has one that I made too that was pretty good. It was a very old Louie hedgehog. Who is Louie Hedgehog you might ask? He was Charlie's very best friend and he was originally based on Louie Armstrong. Eventually he developed into his own character but the one that Harry has, is from the old days.

I think now that I've seen all these lil' things I've made that I might have to make some new ones. I was actually thinking of making some for my daughters. Sort-of 'dress-em-up' smaller versions of themselves. I'm just not sure if I can make them without them being breakable. We'll have to see!

Bendanimals

Mike Milo is not only a great 2D illustrator and animator; he's also an accomplished 3D artist as well. Not just 3D in the computer sense, but character sculpting as well.

Our character Charlie Hippo as a Bendanimal made by Mike in 1993

Since he was a kid, Mike has made these really cool sculpted cartoon action figures he's dubbed 'Bendanimals'. The name is derived from an internal wire armature that allows these sculptures to freely bend, so they can be posed. Only the heads, hands, feet and various accessories are made or rigid clay and plastic- much of the body is a plush mesh of gauze and pillow stuffing.
 
Mike has a whole collection of these creations dating back to the first one he made as a teenager in the early 1970's! It's a sculpture of a Werewolf, and he still has it! 

Bendanimals of Luke and Lester, from a project we sold to Universal Cartoons called 'Cool Patrol'. 
 

Since he can describe the actual process, I asked Mike to give us the low-down on exactly how he creates a Bendanimal: 
 

"The Bendanimals are made of armature wire wrapped with gauze and blanket batting, which is what they use to stuff comforters and pillows. I then dyed the fur and sewed it on each character.
 
The fingers, feet and heads of the characters are made of Sculpy (a baking clay) and then painted to match the fur color. The horns are made of a product called Friendly Plastic."
 

 

Mike has sculpted most of the Zaptoons characters we've created over the years, including Ribeye and Cubesteak. These were sculpted in 1994.

 

Mike remembers an incident that happend while creating 'Bendanimals' just before LA's 1994 Northridge earthquake: "An interesting bit of trivia about the Bullbarians Bendanimals is that I dyed the fur for them the night before the big Northridge Quake. As is common with dyes (I used Rit dye) I had to put it on the stove and heat it up to get it to work properly.
 
Well, by the time I was done dying it was late, so I went to bed and left a crock-pot filled with orange-red dye on the stove to cool. (Note: the color of Ribeye's fur in the photos above.) Around 4 am the earthquake hit. When it was over, Laura and I came out to the kitchen to see the damage and saw red dye ALL over the place. It was on the ceiling, on the floors and carpets! It was all over the appliances and walls! What a mess!"

A character called Captain Cockatoo comes to life.

Early Comics

I've definitely got the bug to start drawing comics again. Just today over lunch, Mike and I were discussing the possibility of doing a Ribeye the Bullbarian comic book. We're both psyched to attempt it! Ironically, we started laying out a Ribeye comic back in 1993, we just never finished it.

I started wanting to draw comic books long before I ever learned how to draw! It's a kick to go back and look at my early efforts. I drew comics from my earliest days, the first dating back to 1977 when I was 9 years old. I still have many of my early comics- my mother has the whole collection.

One of the things that clicked between Mike and I when we met in art school, was the fact that we both had a desire to draw our own comics and write our own music from an early age.

I loved super-hero comics a lot, and wrote and drew adventures to amuse myself and the small readership of classmates and friends I had. Back in the days before affordable PC home-printing, I used to use the library photo-copier as my main 'printing press', and later the presses in my school's communications classes. I was a budding 'publisher' from an early age.

Various issues of 'The Raiders'
One of my favorite series was the adventures of a super-hero group called 'The Raiders'. I drew 72 issues of this comic from September 1982 to July 1986 at the rate of several 16- page issues per week. I used to sell copies for 10, 12 or 15 cents, imitating the price structure of silver age comics that I was a big fan of. I usually drew most of the issues, but many of them were written by my friends, most notably James Fitzgerald who plotted about half of the stories. My next door neighbor and childhood buddy Steven Brown wrote and drew quite a number of comics himself, including a few Raiders adventures.

A stack of Speed Demon issues
My favorite super-hero was the Raiders' leader, a character named Speed Demon. He was popular enough with my tiny readership to spin off his own series of 24 issues. Speed Demon was something of a high-speed acrobat who got by without any real super powers, other than generally being too speedy for his foes to hit. His worst enemy was a sinister criminal syndicate known as C.L.A.W. which was rumored to stand for Criminal Legislative Authority Worldwide, though it was never officially confirmed. C.L.A.W. was always gunning for S.D. and they cropped up every few issues with some new sinister plot.

Sound Wave #1 from May 1986
Another character I really liked drawing was one called 'Sound Wave'. He was a teenage kid who suffered a freak accident while experimenting with a 'hyper-sonic' Hi-Fi stereo system in the garage of his best friend and inventive genius, Arnold. The incident left him with the ability to wield hyper-sonic sound as a weapon. But rather than take on the big time bad guys of the world, I wrote the character with the limitations of a teen stuck in a small city. He was the only 'super-hero' who had to bum rides off his parents to get to a battle, and who had to finish up before dinner time. His foes were mostly the local petty criminals and gang-bangers. Only his friend Arnold shared in his super-secret- and the two of them couldn't wait for Arnold to get his driver's license. All the while Sound Wave aspired to be a 'real' super hero someday, and maybe join The Raiders.

A Rack story from Zap Funnies #23, May 1985
I drew a lot of funny comics also. A favorite of mine was a character called 'Rack'. Rack was a suburban raccoon, and 'Pup-Scout' leader struggling to be a good role model for his young son Rackiddy. Unfortunately, most any lesson he tried to teach his son or the Pup Scout troop, backfired on him with disastrous results.

Ahh well, enough reminiscing, back to writing! By the way, I picked up a bunch more of the new drawings for the Ribeye book from Mike today- they all look GREAT!

Work Proof

I've been interested in book-binding since I was a small kid. I experimented constantly with making my own hardbound and paperback books.


Hand-printed proof copies of my book "Ribeye the Bullbarian and the Jewel of Baloni"
As a writer, I've found that what I've learned over time about do-it-yourself binding has really come in handy. For example, I love to make perfect-bound, trade paperback-sized proof copies of my books at every draft stage.

The benefits for a writer are enormous. First and foremost, you can hand a good-looking perfect-bound copy of your latest manuscripts to your friends/family/co-authors/illustrators/ - anyone whose opinion you'd like, or who is a part of the creative process with you. You stand a far greater chance of them reading a perfect-bound book (and therefore giving you in-depth feedback) than you will just handing them a cumbersome stack of manuscript pages. People may not always tell you, but most folks don't like reading lengthy tomes in other than a book form they're used to.

For myself, I find a proof makes editing and re-writing far easier. I don't know what it is, but reading through your work in actual book form makes mistakes and needed changes just leap off the page- far more than viewing copy on a screen, and more than in just loose manuscript form. Not just copy errors, but actual story element mistakes. It's far better to find all those mistakes in a proof copy, than later in the real published thing. I find it more intuitive to mark up a proof and it's easy to do from anywhere I happen to be. Consolidation of time and effort is a writer's best friend!


A current proof copy of the latest Ribeye book. Note, red lines on every page, margin notes, illustration notes, etc. A proof is a perfect overview of your book in physical form.
And best of all, the process is so ridiculously simple and inexpensive. I use a word processor to format and print my pages correctly, standard inkjet paper, an inkjet printer, and the right kind of glue. I don't need any special book-binding press, nor special tools.

Generally a single black inkjet cartridge at a standard setting will yield about 10 copies of a 200-page (50 sheets x4) book. Consider that I use an Epson printer with cheap knock-off brand cartridges that cost $4 each for black, and you can see that it's quite cost-effective. Print time is roughly 20 minutes for 2 copies of a 200-page book. If a person owns a laser printer, the process is even faster.

The covers are simple to make as well- all one needs is some oversized matte-finish card stock of just the right pound weight, and a paper-cutter to make legal-sized sheets that will go through an inkjet. (Obviously you can't use a 8.5x11" sheet- there's no room for the spine!)


Printing, cutting and gluing your own perfect-bound proofs is far easier than you might think.
I'm thinking of producing a tutorial on the process if anyone is interested. It's easy to do, but there are some pitfalls that I've learned to avoid over the years. One involves cutting. Always make copies in even pairs, for a very simple reason. First off: don't waste time trying to cut the copies yourself. You can take an entire ream of printed copies to the local Kinkos and they'll cut the entire stack for you for a mere 50 cents to $1. However, no cutter in the world will produce two perfect halves! There's almost always a slight overhang of one side or the other. That's why you always print and cut in pairs.

Imagine cutting just one copy. You've got an 8.5x11 stack face up, with the center spread of two facing pages on top. You have the stack cut down the middle, and fold the two cut sections together to form the complete book- only right off you notice a problem- the two halves will almost guaranteed not be perfect. One side will be slightly bigger than another. Even if the difference is only a few millimeters, when you glue the spine, the overhang will cause problems. Look at any perfect-bound book- the spine has to be flat.

The solution is never cut uneven numbers of copies. Cut two at a time. The first copy is laid center to center with the second. Each side of the stack forms its own complete copy. When cut down the center- both copies are perfect. A ream ready to be cut, is always a stack of facing pairs.

Anyway, there are a few other details I'd love to outline in a tutorial at some point- the exact glue to use (took me a lot of trial and error to find the best kind and exactly how to spread it to form a perfect bind) exactly how to make the covers, certain crucial do's and don'ts, etc. None of my techniques require complicated book presses, irons or hot glue guns, or other clunky binding set-ups, and produce very nice results that make a comfortably readable book.


It's all in the spine. Flexible enough to bend properly, yet strong enough to bind.
Currently, I'm getting ready to fire up a run of fourth-draft (near finished) copies of the latest Ribeye book, complete with illustrations. At this stage and as with previous drafts- only my creative partner and illustrator Mike gets a copy. We'll both tear the draft apart, make notes in the margins, x-out passages, jot down changes, whatever- then get together and compare notes. I'll then make the changes to the next (hopefully final) draft. Keep in mind, none of this would work very well without a proof copy to hand off. I'd never expect Mike to bother lugging around a loose manuscript, yet a proof copy of the book is perfect.

When it's at a very final stage, I'll send out proof copies to my close family and friends who I always love to have review my work before the absolute final goes out. My mother in particular, an avid reader and very creative person (whom I get most of my own creativity from!) always has good advice after reading my work. My wife of course always has her set of very good suggestions and changes too. The feedback is invaluable, and I'd feel much worse about sending out a final draft to a publisher before I took all this great feedback into consideration. Readable draft copies make that level of extra feedback possible.

She's Baaaak...!

Things are back to normal around my house, now that my wife is back from her trip to her native Estonia and Eastern Europe. Even though she had a great time, she's happy to be back as weeks of travel can be tiring, and indeed there's no place like home! Tonight we'll go through all the photos she took while there- over 2 gigabytes worth that I've got to transfer from her laptop, and I can hear more about all the details of her trip.

We both went to Finland and Estonia together the year before last, so I can personally relate to traveling in this region.

She brought back so much European stuff and many really nice gifts from our friends and family there. Plus she stuffed her luggage with lots of food we can't get in the states. She knows I have a total sweet-tooth, so she brought me plenty of exotic candy from Estonia, Latvia and Finland!

Tons of Eastern European goodies!
We both love to have publications from the countries we've been, so she bought a wide range of material: art books, music CDs children's books, an illustrated calendar, and even a handful of comic books from the Baltic States. Comics are a more respected form of art in Europe than they are in the states, so there's a broad range of them available. Ironically, it's not so much super-heroes and action comics that are popular there, but a lot of funny animal stuff such as Disney comics that were popular state-side in the 1950's.

Well, back to writing, but now I've got plenty of cool Euro-stuff to distract me!

Ribeye Illustrations

As Harry mentioned in an earlier post I have been feverishly drawing to get the Ribeye illustrations done for the next book and it's really a lot of fun. Even I enjoy watching a drawing come to life and seeing the characters form in front of me. They almost take on a life of their own. I never know what's going to come out of my pencil until I'm done and so I love to draw because it's always a surprise. That may sound weird but it's true.

The cover illustration of the Zaptoons site this week
I have now finished over 25 drawing and there's at least another twenty to go which kinda makes me sad that I'm almost done. Also I know you're thinking that twenty drawings is still a lot to go but for me, that's about two days of work, maybe three so you see, I really am almost done. Still, there's always the next one! Yeah I know it's sick but I can't help it. I'm having way too much fun for one person to have!

The Inspiration of Harold J.

I have known Harry for nearly 20 years now and we have collaborated on many different projects from comics to music to cartoons and now books.

I met Harry in the Fall of 1986 at The Joe Kubert School and he was a skinny teenager and I was a skinny young man. My how things have changed.

The Kubert School had purchased an old mansion as their dorm rooms and it also contained a carriage house on the property which is where Harry lived. I lived in the mansion and we really didn't become friends until the following summer but we did know each other. Harry likes to tell the story of the first time we met.

The story goes that Harry was visiting some friends over a the mansion when he heard this obnoxious noise coming from another room. Loud laughing and a booming voice. It grated on Harry's nerves instantly. Wondering who was making all that racket, he looked around the corner to find this loud-mouthed obnoxious kid with long hair laughing and making way too much noise. He thought to himself "What an annoying guy!"

Funny thing is, shortly we would become best friends although he would still comment from time to time that I was a loud and obnoxious dude and some would say I still am ;-)

Still, Harry and I did find something in common- music and our friendship was sealed when we wanted to make a cartoon and together and decided that we needed music for it.

It was called The Hole Thing and perhaps Harry would be so kind as to post it someday. It mostly consisted of various animals and things coming out of a hole with music. Riveting to say the least. Nevertheless, we enjoyed it and soon we had twelve projects going at once, with none of them ever really being focused on. That was one of the biggest things early on that we had in common was a lack of focus. So much creative energy can sometimes be a distraction and we had huge helpings of it.We had so many irons in the fire we never reawslly could concentrate on one thing at a time. We usded to joke that it was " Making the Happy Meals before the film was done" and to some degree we just recently figured out how to stop that and focus on one thing- Ribeye the Bullbarian.

I remember how Harry showed me these little comics he did while growing up and they fascinated me. No bigger than an index card they were lovingly illustrated and very detailed in their stories. Some were superhero comics and others were about this raccoon aptly named Rack and his son Racky. It was fascinating and I had never seen anyone ever do anything like it before in my life. Harry gave me that belief that we could do anything. Something that is rare. Sure we could make a cartoon! Of course we could write and draw comics! Why not? Doggone right we could write and record songs! He was fearless. I was always amazed by Harry's belief in himself and eventually in me as well.

Over the years I have come to have more confidence in what I am doing by simply hanging out with him and for that I am truly indebted. Just a short conversation with Harold J. inspires the heck out of me and when it's over my mind is swirling with new concepts, ideas and funny little cartoons and characters. Harry brings that out in people.

The future for Zaptoons (named after a stray cat Harry picked up) at this stage looks very bright indeed and I look forward to all of the things we have going. Yes we still have quite a few irons in the fire but as we grow older we've started to learn how to balance them better and I, for one, am just about to burst sometimes with all the creative possibilities the future holds!

Story and Art

More illustration layouts for the new book finished today. Mike is cranking out the finished drawings like wildfire. I'm resisting the urge to post new illustrations on here (you'll just have to wait for the book!) but there's just some really nice new stuff. I'm currently laying out the illustrations for the final chapter.

Ribeye re-united with his kid brother Cubesteak after a harrowing separation.
Since there's a lot of emphasis on illustrating our work, I've had people ask me: "Are the Ribeye adventures picture books"? The answer is no. These are full novels for kids and young adults (and the not-so-young type as well) just that we love to cram them full of illustrations. Though of course any novel uses the reader's imagination as the primary stage, I believe it's also rewarding for the reader to see what some of the crazy cast of characters, outrageous situations, and exotic locales actually look like.

Specifically, I love books that have a nice balance of story and illustration, where the illustration doesn't give the story away, rather keeps you wondering. I turn the page and see the illustration and think, "Wow! I wonder what that's all about? Let me keep reading and find out!"

When I was a kid, I loved books by author William Steig. He always managed to strike that perfect blend of illustrating his stories in a way that made me want to know more, without ever giving anything away. I recently dusted off and re-read his book 'Dominic' which was a childhood favorite.

Another book I've been inspired by recently is Tor Seidler's "A Rat's Tale", with illustrations by Fred Marcellino. The book is just beautifully done. The story is fantastic, and the stunning illustrations compliment the story perfectly.

Great works by others inspire me greatly, and make me aspire to get better and better at what I do. I can only hope to be half as capable as most of the great writers and illustrators out there. Right now, I'm going to get back to the writing grind, and keep striving for better!

Writing and Drawing Away

Whoosh, what a week it's been. I've been pedal to the metal in my writing chores, and I've gotten a huge amount of work completed. The final draft of "Ribeye the Bullbarian and the Sands of Fate" is in great shape. It can finally be told; the next Ribeye book after this I've already outlined. It will be called "Ribeye the Bullbarian Beyond the Great Wall of Chow Mein." More on that later.

Mike is back from Mexico. While he was there, between saving people's lives (it happened!) and relaxing with his family, he managed to do a lot of the drawings for the new Ribeye book. Today I finally got to see them, and let me tell you, this book is going to look fantastic! Mike's outdone himself! All the new characters that are introduced look great, and the new illustrations are top notch. A writer simply can't have it any better, than to have an artist as talented as Mike to work worth!

I'm also plugging away on the layout drawings for the new book. As with comics, I usually draw a rough layout first, and from that Mike does the finished drawing. That's a pattern that has always worked out well for us.

I'm exhausted from days of seemingly non-stop work, but I love it when my creative energies are as focused as they are lately. Leila will finally be back on Sunday, and it won't be soon enough! I've really missed her! Now to get the house cleaned up before she gets back! Nah, it's really not so bad, but I know she's convinced I've wrecked the place having been left up to my own devices for so long.

Well... now that I look around, my writing desk is indeed a jumbled clutter!

Ribeye in 3D

An amazingly talented 3D modeler and animator named Trentity DeWitt is working on 3D models of Ribeye and the cast of characters from our Ribeye books. Mike and I are hoping to eventually make animated 3D cartoons of Ribeye and his Bullbarian Age world.

3D modeling is an extremely complicated process that takes many years to master. Drawing well in 2D is difficult enough, but the thought process behind creating characters that work in full three dimensional form is another whole level of skill altogether.

Ribeye is built by the modeler based on hand-drawn animation model sheets done by Mike. It's hard enough 'sculpting' an accurate 3D version of a 2D character like Ribeye- just getting him to look right on the 'outside' is only half the task!

Beneath the outward appearance of the character, is an inner structure that's incredibly complicated. There are actually 'bones' that control the character's limbs and motion. Beyond that, there are controls that the animator uses to manipulate the character's features, allowing him to talk, blink his eyes, and make facial expressions. All of these inner workings operate based on a given range of computer-coded control that is set up by a skilled 3D modeler.

Creating this internal structure called 'rigging' is an extremely difficult skill to master; it requires a lot of very precise calculation, and knowledge of how to create anatomy that simulates the actual laws of physics. For example- in reality a person cannot twist their leg 180 degrees backward, nor have their arm disappear inside their torso. A 3D model by contrast, can easily break any rule of physics if not given a set of programmed restraints that mimic the real world. Unrestrained, the contortions a character goes through when moved look ridiculous on screen.

When an animator poses the character -like a digital puppet- the inner anatomy as 'rigged' by a good modeler, makes the character move and behave in a way that gives the illusion of true volume, weight and gravity.

It's a fascinating process! I had to the good fortune last year to work on a 3D animated feature film, using the application 3D Max. It was an experience that's hooked me on wanting to do more 3D animation.

Happy 4th!

It's the 4th of July! Time to eat a little too much, hang out with friends and family, watch fireworks, and write books...

Well... as for my agenda, one out of four ain't bad!

There will be none of the usual 4th festivities for me this year... but I will be doing quite a bit of writing today. I'm pleased that the finishing stages of 'Ribeye and the Sands of Fate' are coming along very nicely. All-in-all, I like how things are shaping up with this new book.

I talked to my wife the other day via internet video/phone. (Technology rocks!) She's having a great time in Estonia, but I think she's getting tired of all the travel. She'll be back home next week. I'll sure be happy when she's back, even though I've enjoyed this time to work on my things without interruption.

Thats it from my neck of the woods! Time to shackle myself to the desk again, and get back to my writing.

Happy 4th to all!

On Drawing Comic Books

I miss the days of drawing comics. Mike and I created quite a few comics back in the day. Perhaps one of these days we'll have to seriously consider doing more of them.

Usually we'd start with a layout. That's how I like to write and rough out the details of a comic book story; in layout form. The layout isn't meant to look great, I don't really try to put the characters on model, or polish it at all. It's just to get a basic overview of the story. Here's the layout from a Charlie Hippo comic book from the early 1990's:

Mike takes the layouts, blows them up to the size of a standard comic page and pencils the artwork. Along the way, he refines the character poses and cleans up problems with the layout. The pencils are then inked and lettered to produce the finished page:

Ahh well, so much for comic nostalgia. I'm currently knee-deep in writing chores for our new book, but enjoying every minute. Back into seclusion I go!