Ribeye the Bullbarian and the Sands of Fate released!

Just for the fun of it, here's a repost of a 3D version of the 'Sands of Fate' cover.

If you happen to have an old pair of the blue and red 3D glasses laying around (hey, doesn't everyone?) then you can see the three-dimensional effect.

The book is finally available for sale. This one is more action-packed, and illustration-filled than the first.

Get the complete details on the book here.

Home Again

My wife and I are back from a short 'extended weekend' trip to Virginia to visit my folks. First we stayed with my mom and had a great time driving around in the beautiful VA countryside with her. Spring was definitely underway, and everything was lush and green- the kind of east coast green I'm no longer used to. It's always great to get back home and to hang out with my mother.

We continued on and visited my Dad in Richmond Virginia. Unfortunately, I'd lost touch with my Dad for quite a few years up until recently when we've gotten connected again. Visiting with him and his wife was quite a thrill.

After a tiring but uneventful flight back to Los Angeles, we're pleasantly re-energized and ready to get back to the work grind, with that extra boost an especially good trip home can manage to produce.

On the home front, it's back to work for me, while my wife enjoys more vacation time. I've got some time coming in July, and I'm still not sure where I'm going yet if I plan a big trip somewhere as I'd like to. Still haven't seen Mike in awhile, but I see that progress on his animated 3D short 'Fireside Chat' starring Ribeye and Cubesteak, is coming along! Be sure and check it out and let us know what you think.

Another week or so, and the second Ribeye book should be available. I loved the look of the proof copies I've seen- I couldn't be happier with the overall look and feel of this book. It came out exactly how we wanted it to... and better.

Toons From Back in the Day

I'm always coming across drawings from projects Mike and I created ages ago. This is a setup we did from a show pitch called 'The Barnyard Avenger' in the early 1990's. Mike designed and drew the characters, I sketched the background. The show was about a young rooster who secretly took it upon himself to protect the barnyard from peril, filling in for his somewhat clueless father who was officially tasked with the job.

Well, a whirlwind week at work is finally winding down and I can regain my sanity for a while. My wife and I are on a plane tomorrow bound for the east coast. I can't wait to see my mom and dad in Virginia! This trip has been long overdue.

Animating away...

Yup, I am animating like a crazy man lately, fully immersing myself in the 3D world. Not saying I'm any good at it of course but I am trying to learn with a passion. Most of my time is being taken up by Maya rendering frames of my film Fireside Chat (the pixelization is due to thecompression needed to play it over the web). It takes generally around 24 hours for my computer to render a 650 frame scene. Sometimes I have to render more than once because something went wrong. Man! I HATE that!
The other day I rendered a scene of Cubesteak saying "C'mon Ribeye, give me something I can sink my teeth into". It took around 12 hours to render that scene and when it was done it looked great except for the fact that the stupid floor didn't render for some reason and it had to be done again. I'm still not sure what went wrong actually. Ahh well, chalk it up to my lack of fundimental knowledge in 3D.

Today I had lunch with a friend of Harry's and mine Bob Arvin who owns 3DBob Productions; a place where Harry and I both used to work. Anyway, he showed me a contraption he bought that let you "point scan" characters into the computer. You can see an example of what I'm talking about here. He said that Pixar does it's modeling this way. I immdeiately went home and started sculpting which is what I'm doing now. My plan is to make a bust of Poltergoose, a character Harry and I created who tells bad joke in a graveyard. He will have a Jackie Mason type voice. I'm really excited about it and will post more as I get stuff done. As Harry said, we haven't really seen eachother in quite some time... but we'll have to get together soon and have some lunch and talk about new projects!

Going back to Virginia

We're getting ready for a trip back to Virginia at the end of this week, to visit my parents. I can't wait! It's always good to get home every now and then- home being Virginia where I grew up. No matter where I go in life, that's always where I consider my original 'home'.

As always, it'll be good to see my folks. With any luck, it won't rain on us while we're home, and I think the possibility of snow has passed us by

Meanwhile, I'm working my way through a very hectic work week in order to get out of Los Angeles by Friday. We'll return next week to a somewhat less hectic work schedule. Hectic though it often is, I enjoy every second!

Today having lunch with some old friends from a studio I used to work at called Klasky Csupo (Rugrats, Wild Thornberrys, etc.)

Also starting the outline of a new book, and finishing up the final drafts of two others. Busy, busy, busy! I haven't seen Mike in awhile, I think he's secluded himself somewhere and is animating new goodies up a storm.