draw!!

RIP Ronald Searle

2012-01-16T21:22:00.003+11:00

It's a bit of a downer to start the year on, but revered Cartoonist and Illustrator Ronald Searle passed away at the end of last year.
His influence has been felt the world over but aspiring illustrators everywhere.
Plenty of others have said it better, so I'll just post a tribute to one of his best known creations, the "St Trinians" girls

Naughty or Nice?

2011-12-23T13:42:00.002+11:00

A bit of Christmas Cheesecake for the Holiday season.
All the best, and may you all have a safe and Happy New Year's

Sketchdump

2011-12-15T23:29:00.000+11:00

Donald Family Pic

2011-12-15T22:39:00.003+11:00

This one's been on the to-do list for a few months, but I've been a bit busy with fulltime work, freelance and parenthood. My son's kinder teacher and her husband are big Disney fans and asked me a few months ago upon learning that I used to work for the House of Mouse if I could draw them a picture of Donald Duck and his family.
During my time at Disney I never actually drew Donald, the only classic character I touched was Mickey, but hey, I'm up for a challenge. It helps that I've got a nice collection of model packs from my time there and Donald and Daisy were amongst them. What I was surprised to learn was there's very little in the way of model sheets for the nephews.
Anyway, I've finished this pic just in time, as it's my son's last day of kinder for the year tomorrow. This should make a nice Chrissy present.
Here's the rough below for those who're interested. Initially roughed in pencil, then assembled in photoshop and a second pass done, before redrawing in pencil for the final piece. I did a little adjust on Daisy and Donald's heads in the final version above.

Santa's Apprentice experience

2011-11-15T22:55:00.005+11:00

The French-Irish-Australian Animated Christmas movie “Santa’s Apprentice” that I worked on has finally been released.

For me, to work on this film as an Animator was an opportunity to reunite with some of my ex-Disney colleagues and to extend the Christmas spirit for about six months.

The film achieves a hand-drawn animation look with digital software Toon Boom Harmony so that we were creating paperless animation. This was a new experience for the twenty or so of us Animators who were used to animating pencil on paper now drawing directly onto a tablet monitor. I’d used the software previously at ettamogah but not in the same way. It was a great experience and chance to update the skills- no longer did we have to collect all of our drawings and head over to the linetest machine, we could do it instantly at our desks. Repositioning or adjusting drawings was an ease with instant feedback. The transition from traditional to digital was a relatively smooth one with useful tools available to us in the software.

Whilst most of my colleagues were Sydney-based, and I did spend some time in the studio there to acquaint myself with the project, I was able to work from home with a VPN connection and Skype to communicate regularly. Ahh, the wonders of the internet.

The work-from-home experience was a new one for me, well as a fulltime gig anyway- adjusting to the freedom of working my own hours, not having to commute or be in a studio and dealing with the distractions that come from working at home; and all the while still having to meet a quota. Once I set myself a routine, everything fell into place. It was a fun experience to share with my daughter and see her taking an interest in what I was doing. She would come up into my attic in the morning before school and ask and look over what I was working on. She would come up again at the end of the day and see finished scenes and get a great kick out of seeing these drawings I was making come to life before her eyes. That made it such a special experience. Oh, and she never considered it work for me.

Check out more on the film at the official "Santa's Apprentice" website.

Following are a collection of coloured stills and linetest frame grabs from scenes in the film that I animated.

Even more Etta Art

2011-11-07T21:39:00.005+11:00

Back to some artwork posts...
More here from my time at Ettamogah. This is all pre-production artwork from the series "Wakkaville". At the top there is a hero pose of the four main characters which was then inked and coloured and used for promo material.
Following is a bunch of episodic character and prop design artwork done initially for the storyboard artists as they commence boarding their episodes, but also for the character builders and background artists who need to create the assets for each episode prior to animation beginning.

Pink Bundle

2011-10-19T13:02:00.003+11:00

Sorry, been busy with our new addition to post an update (and picture).

Yes, the stork brought us a pink bundle, a little girl, Jade born on September 20 and she is being adored by everyone, particularly her now big brother and sister.

Sorry, no photos to share here- I have facebook and private email for that. It appears though that I've had one rather persistent visitor looking for just that, and if it is who I think it is then she really has no business looking here.

Stork

2011-09-19T13:16:00.001+10:00

The Stork pays us a visit tomorrow. Whether it's a pink bundle or a blue one we haven't much longer to find out.

Santa's Apprentice

2011-09-05T13:12:00.004+10:00

I've just learned that the last animated production I worked on, the Feature film "Santa's Apprentice" has finally announced a release date- November 10, 2011.
I worked on this film as an Animator in Late 2009, early 2010 with a bunch of ex-Disney work-mates and it's great to see our work finally hit cinema screens.
The film came out last Christmas as a French language release (as it was a French co-production) and faired quite well from all reports.
Also, at the Annecy animation festival in France this year, the film won the special UNICEF award.
More about the film here
Check out the teaser trailer here-

I'll discuss it some more shortly...

More Etta Art

2011-08-19T13:12:00.008+10:00

Time for some more Artwork from my time at Ettamogah.
As I have previously mentioned, I was initially hired as a Storyboard Artist on the new series "Wakkaville" which followed the adventures of a young girl relocated from the city to live with her Aunt in a small country town. Basically, a fish-out-of-water story.
Midway through my first board, the Director quit, and I was asked to take the reins. What I had noticed on my board was that a lot of the setting was at best loose, we had about six pieces of concept art for locations for the entire show, and some of these required amendments.
Following is some of the art I created to help lock down key locations within the show.

Business card narrow down

2011-07-27T21:41:00.004+10:00

It's been a while since I've printed personal business cards. Well, the last time I had some done email was unheard of and telephone numbers in Australia consisted of seven numbers instead of eight, and mobiles were a luxury item.
Anyway, the time has come to do a new set and I figured I'd showcase some of my artwork with what the fine folk at Moo can do. I thought I'd go for a selection of ten images and need to narrow down these 15 that I'd settled on.

Wanna help? Thoughts?

Wonder Woman Pin-up

2011-06-30T21:49:00.004+10:00

At last, she's finished.
This piece was going to be for a fanboy exhibition with a comic book theme. Unfortunately from when I heard about the upcoming exhibition to the submission date, I only had a couple of weeks and with fulltime and freelance work, this one fell to the backburner. But I wanted to finish it anyway, so it became a not-so little lunchtime activity.
With the comic theme I thought rather than do an almost literal fan image of a comic book character, I'd give it a bit of a twist and do Wonder Woman in a pin-up style.
This was also an opportunity to try a different technique with rendering in photoshop.
As this was going to be a piece in an exhibition I was going to have a high-res print done on fine art stock. However, if there is sufficient interest from this post I will do a limited run of 16 x 12 prints on the same fine art stock (sans watermark).
Hope you like...

Stitch for Ash

2011-06-24T13:26:00.002+10:00

A girl I work with is apparently a big fan of Stitch from "Lilo and Stitch" and a few days ago after learning I worked on the sequel dashed over to ask for a pic. Despite it being seven years since I worked on the film I'm surprised how well I remember how to draw him. He's a lot of fun too.
This one will become a tattoo...

Here's the couple of roughs I did exploring some ideas and working up to the final image.

Endamogah

2011-06-17T21:52:00.006+10:00

This article from The Age a couple of weeks ago reminded many of us former employees of Leigh O'Brien, CEO of Ettamogah Entertainment that for many, the saga is still not over.
For a number of us union members, last Christmas heralded a double celebration as we received cheques for 80% of our entitlements some fourteen months after being unlawfully "stood down" from our jobs. This constituted a payment of 90% of our entitlements to solicitors acting on our behalf less 10% in legal fees.
But it wasn't without a protracted and frustrating fight. After months of unsuccessfully seeking a resolution through Fair Work following being "stood down" in October 2009 so that the company could sort out story and production issues on its second animated series "Li'l Larikkins", the MEAA took the matter to court with Mr O'Brien agreeing in July 2010 to pay all outstanding entitlements. A premature cheer of celebration rang out from the union. Premature because the stalling that had delayed progress previously continued until a payment of 90% of our entitlements was made in September '10 with the remainder to follow a couple of weeks later. Well, that never happened. Other creditors were lining up and on November 16 the company was placed under external administration. Paperwork sent out to creditors by administrators Hall Chadwick detailed amongst other things a debt of over $6 million, curiously $3 million of which Mr O'Brien claimed he owed himself. Additionally the day beforehand, the company changed its name because of an apparent "breach of licence agreement" despite operating for 11 years and owning the rights to Ken Maynard's cartoons.
In December, the union in light of the amount of creditors chasing unpaid debt conceded that the remaining 10% would not be forthcoming and proceeded to disperse funds held in trust by the solicitors.
On February 2, 2011 following the granting of an extension to prove that the company was indeed financial, creditors met at a hearing with administrators Hall Chadwick and voted to have the company wound up and placed into liquidation.

With the saga now well and truly over for me and given that several episodes of both series have aired on TV thereby nullifying any NDA, and given that there is effectively no company to threaten legal action I thought it about time to share some of the artwork I created during my time there.
I was originally hired back in March of 2008 as a storyboard artist for their new series "Wakkaville" and in my first few weeks, prior to starting any storyboards was asked to create some character artwork.

Sneak peak

2011-05-16T13:33:00.002+10:00

Here's a sneak peak of something I'm working on at the moment for an upcoming exhibition.
More soon...

Oh, and that last post was my 200th post, how about that?

Something really different

2011-04-14T13:11:00.005+10:00

A couple of months ago I was asked to contribute artwork to a rather unusual project. A young Perth boy had passed away from cancer, and as he had been part of a large fundraising campaign a rather large funeral was arranged. I was asked to create some artwork in the style of E.H. Shepard famed for the original "Winnie the Pooh" books, which the boy loved, for a funeral booklet. It was a very tight turnaround, but the family were very happy with the result.

Poised to strike

2011-04-04T13:02:00.002+10:00

And another one... I am planning something here, stay tuned

Water girl

2011-03-31T22:42:00.003+11:00

Here's a pic I did a little while back as a tryout for a freelance job.
The client thought she was a bit too sexy, but I got the gig nonetheless.

Dressed to Kill

2011-03-18T13:00:00.002+11:00

Too much fun.
I decided to spend a bit more time adding colour to this one

Armed and Dangerous

2011-03-09T13:23:00.001+11:00

Another lunchtime doodle with the brush pen and a bit of photoshoppery

Another gun girl

2011-03-08T13:18:00.001+11:00

Another lunchtime doodle with the brush pen

Gun girl

2011-03-04T13:10:00.002+11:00

Stepping away from digital and back to old school traditional drawing, here's a lunchtime doodle with a new Brush pen I picked up on the weekend...

Another Astro

2011-02-25T13:11:00.002+11:00

Well, the last Astroboy was so much fun to draw that I had to do another one, and what self-respecting Astroboy fan can resist a pic with those arse-cannons ablazing.

Banana A-Peel prints

2011-02-23T21:44:00.003+11:00

The other week, a friend at work invited a few of us to participate in an Art Auction she was also involved in to help raise funds for victims of the Queensland and Victorians floods of recent weeks. It's called the "Banana A-Peel" and opens tomorrow Feb 24 at the Old Bar in Fitzroy, Melbourne. Whilst I didn't have time to create anything new for the auction, I suggested a couple of pieces that I'd put up here on the ol' blog. I'd also never had a print done of any of my artwork before, so a little nervously I sent these two images off the print unsure of what I was going to get back.
Well, the result was fabulous...
The photo doesn't really do it justice, so you'll just have to take my word for it, or come along to the auction. They're printed 10x8 on 310gsm fine art stock.
And here they are hand-signed, numbered and framed-
Come along and support a great cause.

Astroboy week

2011-02-22T22:34:00.001+11:00

A former workmate of mine, Tim declared the other day that it was Astroboy week and invited all of his friends to contribute.
I used to love watching this show as a kid.
Here's my effort...

Max

2011-02-20T19:37:00.003+11:00

This is an old pic, it's actually half of the original drawing that featured both of my dogs- two Pomeranians. I had been considering reworking it for this particular occasion, but haven't gotten around to it.
Anyway, I lost this one to kidney failure last month. It came on very quickly and was quite a shock despite him being 14 and a half. It was a very sad time around our house, and I still can't believe he's gone-I keep looking into the back yard expecting to see him trotting about or lying in one of his favourite spots. He was a cheeky bugger and was with me through some bad times, good times and numerous adventures; I'm thankful for the 14 and a half wonderful years of companionship he gave me.

...still alive

2011-02-18T21:23:00.001+11:00

Sorry for the lack of posts, I am still here, just very busy.

Ho ho ho

2010-12-24T20:38:00.001+11:00

A bit of Christmas cheesecake to wish everyone all the best for the festive season and an even better New Year

Astro Yuki

2010-10-26T22:58:00.001+11:00

Finally gotten around to finishing this one.
On a side note, I was very surprised and flattered to receive and email a month or so back from Kevin Dart, creator of the Yuki 7 concept complimenting me on my interpretations of her. I hope this one does justice to the collection.

Something different

2010-09-12T21:58:00.000+10:00

I haven't done anything like this for a while and I've only just received back a copy so I can finally share it. This is a piece I did at the end of last year for my Father-in-law as a present for his birthday. It's of his parents house in Lorne, Victoria on the Great Ocean road. The house was built by his father high up on the hill looking out over the bay and my father-in-law grew up there with his four brothers and sisters. His father passed away a couple of years ago and the once family home, a popular spot particularly during holidays has since been sold. My wife had suggested this as an idea, and it was reinforced earlier in the year after seeing a similar effort done by someone else for another of his siblings.
The original, in pen and ink hangs, framed in pride of place on one of my parents-in-laws walls.

Stealth Yuki

2010-08-31T22:59:00.001+10:00

Another for the Yuki collection

Ranga Nation

2010-08-13T23:54:00.001+10:00

It's taken me a little while to get to do this one, but I couldn't resist doing our new(ish) lady Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Sketch dump

2010-07-29T21:30:00.004+10:00

Haven't quite gotten around to finishing these, but in an effort to keep things ticking over here's some ruffs.
...and a sneak peak of a job I've been working on the last couple of months

Hendrix Pig

2010-07-07T11:47:00.002+10:00

Here's my contribution to Guy and Stacy's brilliant Dueling Banjo Pigs blog

Scooter Yuki

2010-06-30T21:22:00.001+10:00

This is too much fun to quit just now...

Yuki again

2010-06-24T22:33:00.003+10:00

That last pic of Yuki 7 was so much fun I had to do another...

Yuki

2010-04-28T12:50:00.003+10:00

I don't know why I never tried this earlier.
It was quite fun and it's a great concept- Kevin Dart's Yuki 7

Footy Girl

2010-04-27T22:50:00.005+10:00

My daughter has started playing Auskick- a kids version of Aussie rules football- and loves it.
The team colours she's running around in aren't my choice but I've got an uphill battle on my hands there. I haven't seen her run around yet either, but thought I'd have a bit of fun with the idea

Fairy

2010-04-26T22:47:00.002+10:00

Just a bit of a play around with and old rough drawing and photoshop

My Apprentice

2010-04-08T16:15:00.002+10:00

Time for a more positive post
For the past few months I've been working from home on an animated Feature Film. It's been something of a nice safety net post-ettamogah and has also given me the opportunity, even if remotely to work with some of my old friends and colleagues from my time at the Disney Studio in Sydney. I can't say much about the project except that it's a film that will be out later in the year, and at that time I'll be able to show some of my work from it.
In working from home I've been able to see more of my family which has been great, and I've also been able to share what I've been doing on a daily basis with my kids. My daughter in particular has been quite fascinated, climbing up the ladder into my attic where I've been working in the mornings before school and having a look at what I'm doing and wanting to have a go. The project has been done using digital animation software where I've been drawing directly on a tablet monitor which has been interesting. It's left my old Disney animation desk sitting to the side collecting dust, well, except for when my daughter comes up for an inspection. She's been making herself quite at home climbing into a seat and drawing away, even grabbing model sheets from the production to practice on. A junior animator in the making.
Here's her latest effort of the main characters-

Craig's Pissed

2010-03-09T07:16:00.003+11:00

As Artists we've all been there, young and enthusiastic, wanting to make a break for ourselves when we've been asked "If you do this for me [cheap], I'll have loads more work for you" or told "This'll be great exposure/experience for you" and most of us grab these opportunities only to be left with a bad taste in our mouths. I've always wondered why it is that people will gladly fork out the going rate to their mechanic, plumber, accountant, doctor, name your professional; yet when it comes to artwork some people just expect our "God-given" talents to be just handed over, because we can just "do it" despite that no amount of apprenticeship, trade-school or university time will ever bring these peoples abilities anywhere near our levels.
I received a link yesterday that contained a post from CraigsList (a US "trading post" type site) that calls out to every Artist and have decided to share it here. The post itself was quickly flagged and removed by CraigsList users but not before being picked up and reposted on blogs and design newsboards because it captures so perfectly our plight.
So here it is, the gift that keeps on giving.

Post from CraigsList

Every day, there are more and more Craigs List posts seeking “artists” for everything from auto graphics to comic books to corporate logo designs. More people are finding themselves in need of some form of illustrative service.

But what they’re NOT doing, unfortunately, is realizing how rare someone with these particular talents can be.

To those who are “seeking artists”, let me ask you; How many people do you know, personally, with the talent and skill to perform the services you need? A dozen? Five? One? …none?

More than likely, you don’t know any. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be posting on craigslist to find them.

And this is not really a surprise.

In this country, there are almost twice as many neurosurgeons as there are professional illustrators. There are eleven times as many certified mechanics. There are SEVENTY times as many people in the IT field.

So, given that they are less rare, and therefore less in demand, would it make sense to ask your mechanic to work on your car for free? Would you look him in the eye, with a straight face, and tell him that his compensation would be the ability to have his work shown to others as you drive down the street?

Would you offer a neurosurgeon the “opportunity” to add your name to his resume as payment for removing that pesky tumor? (Maybe you could offer him “a few bucks” for “materials”. What a deal!)

Would you be able to seriously even CONSIDER offering your web hosting service the chance to have people see their work, by viewing your website, as their payment for hosting you?

If you answered “yes” to ANY of the above, you’re obviously insane. If you answered “no”, then kudos to you for living in the real world.

But then tell me… why would you think it is okay to live out the same, delusional, ridiculous fantasy when seeking someone whose abilities are even less in supply than these folks?

Graphic artists, illustrators, painters, etc., are skilled tradesmen. As such, to consider them as, or deal with them as, anything less than professionals fully deserving of your respect is both insulting and a bad reflection on you as a sane, reasonable person. In short, it makes you look like a twit.

A few things you need to know;

1. It is not a “great opportunity” for an artist to have his work seen on your car/’zine/website/bedroom wall, etc. It IS a “great opportunity” for YOU to have their work there.

2. It is not clever to seek a “student” or “beginner” in an attempt to get work for free. It’s ignorant and insulting. They may be “students”, but that does not mean they don’t deserve to be paid for their hard work. You were a “student” once, too. Would you have taken that job at McDonalds with no pay, because you were learning essential job skills for the real world? Yes, your proposition it JUST as stupid.

3. The chance to have their name on something that is going to be seen by other people, whether it’s one or one million, is NOT a valid enticement. Neither is the right to add that work to their “portfolio”. They get to do those things ANYWAY, after being paid as they should. It’s not compensation. It’s their right, and it’s a given.

4. Stop thinking that you’re giving them some great chance to work. Once they skip over your silly ad, as they should, the next ad is usually for someone who lives in the real world, and as such, will pay them. There are far more jobs needing these skills than there are people who possess these skills.

5. Students DO need “experience”. But they do NOT need to get it by giving their work away. In fact, this does not even offer them the experience they need. Anyone who will not/can not pay them is obviously the type of person or business they should be ashamed to have on their resume anyway. Do you think professional contractors list the “experience” they got while nailing down a loose step at their grandmother’s house when they were seventeen?

If you your company or gig was worth listing as desired experience, it would be able to pay for the services it received. The only experience they will get doing free work for you is a lesson learned in what kinds of scrubs they should not lower themselves to deal with.

6. (This one is FOR the artists out there, please pay attention.) Some will ask you to “submit work for consideration”. They may even be posing as some sort of “contest”. These are almost always scams. They will take the work submitted by many artists seeking to win the “contest”, or be “chosen” for the gig, and find what they like most. They will then usually have someone who works for them, or someone who works incredibly cheap because they have no originality or talent of their own, reproduce that same work, or even just make slight modifications to it, and claim it as their own. You will NOT be paid, you will NOT win the contest. The only people who win, here, are the underhanded folks who run these ads. This is speculative, or “spec”, work. It’s risky at best, and a complete scam at worst. I urge you to avoid it, completely. For more information on this subject, please visit www.no-spec.com.

So to artists/designers/illustrators looking for work, do everyone a favor, ESPECIALLY yourselves, and avoid people who do not intend to pay you. Whether they are “spec” gigs, or just some guy who wants a free mural on his living room walls. They need you. You do NOT need them.

And for those who are looking for someone to do work for free… please wake up and join the real world. The only thing you’re accomplishing is to insult those with the skills you need. Get a clue.

Stranger than fiction

2010-02-26T12:49:00.004+11:00

They say “the truth is often stranger than fiction” and I had good cause to realise just what that meant last week. In the still on-going Ettamogah saga you simply couldn’t write this next chapter and have it believable if it didn’t actually happen. Myself and three others, all former (yes, “stood-down”) employees of Leigh O’Brien and Ettamogah Entertainment received letters from TressCox Lawyers citing defamatory comments made against Mr O’Brien on our blogs and the now shuttered “Boycott Ettamogah” group on facebook. This is the same Ettamogah Entertainment that has been reported on by The Age here, Inside Film here and here, and Screen Hub here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

After the initial shock and anger, or what one of my fellow recipients calls “The seven stages of What the F…!” I did some reading on the internet about defamation and what you can and can’t say and all that it entails. This particular site had a line from its opening paragraph that I found to be quite pertinent- “In practice its [Defamation Law] main effect is to hinder free speech and protect powerful people from scrutiny.” So here we were in a position where we’d been stood down from our jobs unlawfully and without notice, we’re fighting for our entitlements and the company is being investigated by Fair Work Australia, The MEAA and the ATO and yet in voicing our disgust we were now in trouble.

The letter from TressCox pointed out that “Mr O’Brien is a well known and respected figure” and “enjoys an enviable reputation within the broader business community, and in particular, within the entertainment, animation, hospitality and tourism industries”. The letter proceeded to claim that statements made on this blog “convey imputations which are grossly defamatory of him” and that “these statements have caused [him] much hurt, distress and embarrassment.” Whilst I can’t speak for my fellow stood down colleagues, I will say that as an actual member of the animation industry I wasn’t consulted to give Mr O’Brien a character reference.

Therefore under the threat of a potentially lengthy legal battle with someone who is better equipped to fight it than me, you may notice a bit of editing in the posts below because I, apparently am forbidden to provide my opinion on the matter.

And with that I’ll return to drawing pictures…

The Battle of Brighton

2010-01-18T22:56:00.031+11:00

There's been a battle going on in the Melbourne suburb of Brighton for the last three months, one that should have been resolved by now but, to the frustration of those of us involved, still lingers on due to the unwillingness of the company involved to resolve it. Now, I don't usually write up opinion pieces and prefer to post artwork on this blog partly for the fear of putting my foot in my mouth, however I'm going to hold my silence no more.

This company, Ettamogah Entertainment, in many ways has a goose that lays golden eggs in it's hands. It's a company that owns the rights to the comic art of Ken Maynard who for many years produced a cartoon set around the fictitious "Ettamogah Pub" in outback Australia for the "Australasian Post" magazine. Strangely enough, the first things produced by the company were replica themed pubs and restaurants, the first opening in 1987. Then a couple of years ago, the decision was made to utilise the roots of the license and produce animation based on the style. What a great idea- here's a recognised brand (perhaps a little kitsch, but hey everything old is new again), something any start-up company would no doubt kill for as it would no doubt alleviate the need to source funding; plus there's the potential to divert revenue from the pubs. Now I've worked in animation for nearly twenty years; I've worked for Disney, and I've worked for smaller companies. The biggest obstacle isn't the ideas (well, that's another story), it's the funding. Getting the finance, the pre-sales, the distribution, the money all sorted out in the first place so that you can get the thing made. Disney has its own brand, and out of that branding comes a revenue stream, one that finances the products it makes. Smaller companies have to rely on funding, co-productions, pre-sales and if they're very lucky they may get to work with a recognised brand or style.

Eighteen months ago, this company opened up a brand new, custom built, fitted out studio in Brighton.

And then what did they do?

Well, it all culminated three months ago, when without notice or warning more than half of the staff were told as they were finishing up for the day not to come in the following day, that they were being "stood down"- whatever that was supposed to mean. We weren't being fired, sacked, made redundant or let go, we were still technically regarded as employees of the company but being asked to sit on the sidelines and wait anywhere from approximately 2 to 8 weeks, until the company had sorted out the mess it had gotten itself into, there was a catch though-we just weren't going to be paid. And as it turned out, also for the week and a half preceding this announcement. There'd be weekly updates on the situation they also told us, and what have we received? Sweet bugger all.

But don't just take my word for it; this article hit the local trade press the day after it happened.
Then there was this article from a major Australian paper.
Followed by this again from the trade press.
And ScreenHub have reported on it here, here and here. For those without a subscription, here's a copy of their latest article from last week-

Melbourne Animation Turmoil: battle moves to art

Screen Hub
Monday 11 January, 2010

With the Melbourne animation community buzzing with the matters surrounding Ettamogah, there are many theories about the problem. But nobody will go on record...

The industry knows there is problem. With a maximum of around 120 official staff, very few are actually working. The rest are suspended in limbo, pending promises to return, to bring pay up to date, to deal with the unpaid superannuation.
The other Melbourne animation outfits have been fielding emails for months from Ettamogah staff looking for work.
As of the beginning of December, the company was being advised by "a production consultant". Managing Director Leigh O'Brien was reassuring his staff that entitlements were a priority, and they would be notified about a new structure.
The phrase "production consultant" is code for "completion guarantor."
We know that the MEAA is involved. We know that the Australian Writers' Guild is in there too. We know that a heap of people have discovered good reasons to join a Union.
We also know that Li'l Larrikins is an ambitious 3D animation series, with a presale from Network Ten. The amount is confidential, but the deal has not been put to Screen Australia, where it would be subject to the floor price of $95.000 per half hour.
We understand that Ten has stockpiled enough material that it is not in desperate need of the show to satisfy its content requirements.
Ettamogah has never announced an international presale for Li'l Larrikins. Ettamogah execs hired a booth at MIPCOM and worked hard to create interest in the series.
A hypothetical production of this scale, with around 120 staff, paid a conservative $60k each on average, shooting for twelve months, will cost around $7.2m in wages.
This hypothetical show has a low presale figure of $55,000 in Australia. This hypothetical show will recover its costs solely from international acquisitions.
You can see why the financiers of this show would be concerned. And why such a show might have a cash flow problem.
Any attempts to deal with schedule problems by outsourcing work overseas will ultimately create an income problem - that expenditure is not a qualifying Australian expenditure according to the tax regulations.
Everyone with any internal knowledge of Ettamogah has private theories about the situation. They will inform the thinking of a generation of animators as they build their own projects and companies. Trauma does that to people.
Now, an anonymous cartoonist has arrived on Blogger to publish a series on the workings of a company called Docklands Entertainment.
In the about section, it says

"Sally Quince and Bret Braddock are not real people. They only seem like they might be.
Docklands Entertainment is not a real company. No real company would function like this.
Nobody writes or draws this comic strip. Who would bother?"

You can decide for yourself which company is being parodied.
We will give you one hint - it is neither Channel Seven, which has a studio in Docklands, or the Melbourne Central City Studios, based in Docklands.
Perhaps you too can learn something about the adventure of building a new enterprise. With just a few clicks, you may avoid the suffering that the good folks at Ettamogah are surely enduring.
As Colin South is prepared to say on the record, "It is really sad that this has happened. It is sad that people will always remember the bad stories."
"The guy [Leigh O'Brien] has to take responsibility for what he has done, but there are no books on how to set up a studio, and you have to learn from experience. We made a lot of mistakes at the outset, like everyone else, and at the end of the day, it is the people you want to protect."
"I am really disappointed, particularly in an environment where everyone is looking at co-productions as a solution. A studio which produces internally is helping to create the next generation of designers and board artists and lead animators and production managers. That is the sad part about it, and I do hope they manage to keep going somehow."

How did it all get to this? As the ScreenHub article suggests "there are many theories".
This sort of practise was common in the late 80's and early 90's when animation was having a resurgence. Entrepreneurial types would raise a pile of money, hire a bunch of young, enthusiastic artists trying to get a break into the industry, and try and fly a turkey that would no doubt end up crashing and burning. I know, I got burnt a couple of times early in my career. But I would have thought that sort of reckless abandon was by the wayside now. Apparently not. As it currently stands, the company is still delaying requests to outline a resolution regarding its staff to both the Government watchbody and the union refusing to grant access to staff records.
It's caught out people again trying to make a start in the industry (especially post-Disney) and also those with experience, leaving an oversupply of talent in the local animation community and everyone wondering "Is this cruel mistress of animation actually worth all this torment?"
But, how did this happen? Were there warning signs? Yes, I think there were, and many, and as employees, we chose to ignore them because we figured the company was starting up, having teething problems, the paycheque (at that stage) was coming in, we were doing what we loved, name your excuse.

Now I've never run my own animation company or tried to start one up and as Colin South, who I have known for many years says- there's no textbooks on how to set one up, but I have worked in the animation industry for nearly twenty years now on Feature films and TV series and if I owned the license to a comic strip and decided to create an animated TV series based on it here's what I'd do- For starters, I'd look to hire someone who had a sizeable amount of experience in the animation industry, preferably as a director, but at least a key creative person who had a thorough grasp of the process and what was involved in putting it together. Also, I'd hire a writer who'd had some experience in the market I'd be looking at pitching towards (kids TV), preferably as a lead and I'd hire a producer who'd also had experience in animation to create a budget and a schedule and also to lead the sale of the product. And the easy thing about hiring these people, they get credits on everything they work on and there's a one-stop-spot to verify it.
These three key personnel wouldn't be cheap, but they'd be the key staff and decision makers leading the project. They'd be the people that the production staff when hired, would look to for advice, to have made the decisions to move the production on to completion, people the workers would have faith in. I'd get them to collaborate and come up with a product that suited the market, was well crafted and artistically achievable within a set schedule and budget. You see, the budget/schedule, art and writing are all intertwined. Do some research, ask some questions. Figure out how we're gonna do this. It wouldn't have to be ground-breaking, revolutionary, star trekking stuff, simply a product that was appealing, solid and doable.
As a result of this process I'd then have a collection of artwork depicting the characters and setting in a style that was deemed appropriate and achievable given the budget and schedule. As nice as it would be to have Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel painting, expecting it for the budget of a Marvel comic would probably be asking a lot. I'd also have from the writer what is termed "a Bible"- basically a document which says who all the characters are, their personalities, describes the location, gives a run down of the premise of the series and has a breakdown of the individual episodes. This also would be tailored to suit the artistic style of the show and production method. For example, you wouldn't load up a show that's budgeted as a sit-com with expensive action scenes, masses of crowds or loads of locations.
From this I'd then have the basic pre-production assets to launch into production. Some things may need further development or expanding but this is done at this early stage when costs are low as opposed to when it hits production when the majority of staff are hired and things are considerably more expensive. You see, with animation, it's all about the planning.
And with setting up the studio, again I’d seek input from these three key personnel to create a comfortable, efficient and productive environment. I’d find out what equipment was needed; hardware, software, stationery, whether there was any special requirements. Weigh up cost versus productivity on certain items. Then as needed, I’d hire the relevant, qualified and experienced people to set it up for me.
Seems like common sense doesn't it?
You'd think so...

Happy New Year

2010-01-13T22:04:00.000+11:00

Yeah, I know it's a bit late, but I was on holidays

Endangered Species?

2009-12-04T16:07:00.003+11:00

There's moments in time that cause you to look at the situation going on around you and react in some manner. Be it hunker down and try and ride out the storm, jump on the next boat sailing past or try and find a new boat to set sail on. Either way you find yourself evaluating what you've done, what you're doing and where you want to go; and probably most importantly of all, who'll have you. Yes, a traditional guy like myself can feel like a dinosaur.

One of these moments happened about six weeks ago. The company I was working for let go of most of the staff without much notice at all. Well, I was actually leaving for the day when it happened. I can't exactly say I couldn't see it happening, the storm clouds had been brewing for a while, but a regular paycheque is not something I'm going to knock back so I'd been modestly content to keep working in spite of the unravelling situation.

Who's to blame? I think that there's many factors at work, but my thoughts are apparently liable to get me sued for defamation. Which is unfortunate for all the staff that have been stood down especially leading up to Christmas.

The situation leaves a lot of people scrambling around looking for scraps of work.

It's also a good opportunity to draw another Dinosaur doing something silly.

Right place, wrong time

2009-10-21T13:03:00.001+11:00

Down at the local supermarket, about several billion years too late

Another in 1800 drawing

Princess purge

2009-10-13T22:31:00.003+11:00

A bit of housekeeping...
Here's the roughs for the princesses from the mural I did for my daughter. These were all done fairly small, about 4 inches high, then scanned and enlarged to A3 size to be cleaned up as I've already shown here, here, here, here, here, here and here .
I altered Belle from what I had here in the rough, as in the final composition she was too similarly posed to Aurora who was right next to her.

doodles

2009-10-13T22:25:00.001+11:00

Play around with some ideas...

Gentleman

2009-10-08T22:43:00.001+11:00

another in 1800

2009-09-30T13:50:00.002+10:00

Another crack at the in 1800 exercise. I've missed the last couple.

digital art in photoshop

Mascot concepts 4

2009-09-15T22:58:00.002+10:00

Here's the roughly coloured final concepts for the image makeover for the football club I was working on. Keen eyed Aussie rules football supporters will be able to tell which club it is, and hopefully which players I've tried to capture the likenesses of.

In 1800

2009-09-09T12:54:00.007+10:00

We've started a new blog at work in which we all have to do a picture within half an hour on a set theme. A bit of a drawing exercise to flex our artistic muscles.
Here's my contribution to the first one - "Human kids at the Alien Petting Zoo"

Half an hour is a fair ask...

Oh, and by the way, this is a purely digital image

Disney Marvel merger

2009-09-02T09:32:00.003+10:00

I couldn't help myself.... my comment on the recent buy-out of Marvel by Disney

Mascot concepts 3

2009-08-27T19:47:00.003+10:00

Unfortunately the anthropomorhic quality had almost disappeared by this stage...

Mascot concepts 2

2009-08-25T20:47:00.003+10:00

By this stage the client wanted the footballers to look like superheroes, not only in stance but also their physique. It was a bit of a flashback to high-school days and Marvel (superhero) figure drawing 101. Here they are unadorned...

Mascot concepts 1

2009-08-23T21:18:00.003+10:00

Here's some concept art for a football club image makeover that I worked on last year.

Obviously a lean towards the anthropomorphic side.

More to follow...

Fairy doodles

2009-08-20T21:36:00.002+10:00

Apologies for the lack of posts lately- crunch time and then a well deserved an appreciated break

Me at 100

2009-06-22T14:08:00.000+10:00

Gotta love the smell of a meme on a Monday

Disney Princess Mural

2009-06-18T21:59:00.012+10:00

Finally, it's finished, the Disney Princess mural that I've been working on for my daughter for the past 2-3 months. It's been an interesting process- I've wondered at times what I'd gotten myself into, bending around in funny angles trying to paint sections; but I'm more than happy with the result and so is my daughter.

Here's the process outlined below. Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Rather than do a more traditional wall wrap-around mural like these two here and here than further inspired me to get moving, I opted instead to paint it on my daughter's sliding wardrobe doors. I figured that they would never be obscured, so it would be a great "canvas" for a mural.

Here the doors have been painted with the base coat-

Now the artwork was enlarged to size (the two large pieces are A0 size) and positioned with the linework to be carbon transferred onto the doors-

Me starting with some of the colours. Unlike the previous mentioned murals I didn't think that placing the mural on the bottom half of the doors would result in me cramping myself onto the floor in order to paint the low sections-

More colours done-

The bulk of the colours are now painted-

The whites are now painted-

Filling in the eyes, and now ready for the black-

In order to make life easy on myself I decided to paint the linework with the surface flat-

What a task this proved to be. "OO" paintbrush and thin lines = lots of hours and a sore back-

Nearly there-

First door in place-

Second door in place-

Ta Dah!!! All finished!-

Close on right-hand door-

Close on Tinkerbell at the top of the right-hand door (there's fairy dust coming off her wand also, which unfortunately isn't too visible in the photo)-

Close on Left-hand door-

A very happy little girl with her Princesses-

The aftermath, lots of paint sample pots and a few exhausted brushes-

S is for Snow White

2009-06-05T08:08:00.003+10:00

Here's the last of the official Disney Princesses, Snow White for my daughters mural.
Stay tuned, the mural will be finished shortly...

J is for Jasmine

2009-05-21T21:16:00.002+10:00

Here's the princess all the boys seem to like, Jasmine

B is for Belle

2009-05-13T22:15:00.002+10:00

Another Princess for the mural. It's nearing completion, probably only a couple of weeks to go.

Some inspiration to share

2009-05-05T22:08:00.014+10:00

Here's a collection of Disney animation drawings from the classic golden years of the studio that were assembled for some of us while I was working at the Sydney studio. Fantastic inspiration to just look at constantly. In fact, I have these images with a textured paper backdrop as my wallpaper on my computer at work.

A break ...

2009-04-17T14:58:00.001+10:00

Time to revisit an old drawing exercise...

A is also for Aurora

2009-04-14T22:23:00.003+10:00

I'm a little surprised how few people actually know the name of the title character from "Sleeping Beauty", then again she does have two names.
I love the character design of this film

A is for Ariel

2009-04-06T21:59:00.002+10:00

C is for Cinderella

2009-03-19T21:47:00.006+11:00

Here's the next one in the collection, and the only one I actually drew as part of a production. It's a pity my daughter wasn't a couple of years older as she is mad on Cinderella, and it would've been a great kick to be working on her with my Daughter aware of it all.

T is for Tinkerbell

2009-03-18T20:42:00.005+11:00

Still here, just very busy, and wishing I could post some work stuff, but that'll have to wait.

I've had a little project that I've been toiling over for a little while now. My daughter is a Disney Princess nut, and I had the brainwave (or maybe it was a snap) that I'd paint a mural for her. Then I had the big decision to make- do I go for an "On-model" look or stylise them. Amy's retro Disney Pin-ups were a great tempter to go for the stylised option, and it would certainly be more forgiving. But in the end, with some input from my daughter, I went for the "on-model" version.

What was I thinking? They're really hard, and especially trying to nail one style in a drawing and then move onto the next one. Thankfully I have a good collection of model sheets from my time at Disney, not that I drew many of them. Well, Cinderella was the only one actually.

Anyway, here's my first...

Revisting an old friend...

2009-01-22T22:41:00.002+11:00

A family friend asked me to knock this up for them as they're quite a fan of "The Lion King". It's been quite a while since I've drawn Timon, but gee, it was like putting back on an old glove.

Tram

2009-01-15T08:27:00.002+11:00

Is there little worse than riding packed public transport on a hot and sweaty day and then having to contend with a pair of teenage lovers canoodling right in front of you?

Good cause for justifiable homicide me thinks

Barbeque

2009-01-13T08:04:00.004+11:00

Ahh, gotta love the smell of a barbeque cooking in summer. I got a new one with a roasting hood for Xmas and finally set it up over the weekend.

Happy New Year

2009-01-09T08:58:00.002+11:00

A bit of whimsy to kick the new year off...

"Lucy" animation

2008-10-21T22:09:00.007+11:00

Here's some animation drawings from a short film I worked on late last year/early this year called "Lucy wants to kill herself". No surprises there as to what the story was about huh? Not exactly my "cup-of-tea" so to speak but it was nice to get back to the animation desk after an absence of about 18 months, to flip and roll the drawings. The only thing was, in most of the scenes I had she was either depressed or dying. A friend commented a bit sarcastically, after seeing all my finished scenes "Gee, you must've been fun to live with".

In this scene, she's at the launch of her book doing signings, and after hours of sitting there with no takers, her only customer here handing over a copy of her book is her Mum.

Mel and Kochie

2008-10-14T22:11:00.003+11:00

I entered a caricature competition several weeks ago. The winner is announced this Friday. Here is my entry in both inked form and coloured.
The subject matter was pretty open- it just had to be a famous person, living or dead, Australian or international. I ended up settling for popular breakfast show hosts David Koch and Melissa Doyle

Game character stuff

2008-10-05T21:45:00.005+11:00

Here's my last word on the "Space Chimps" game. These were some animated gif's I created early on in the piece, even before we had seen any animation from the Studio in Vancouver. These were solely based on some concept art that we had received at the start of the production and based on what I had read of the characters personalities from the script. They were a fun little chance to do a bit of animation before anything was done with a 3D model. Essentially templates for standard gaits of the characters that would appear in the game.

Character- Ham walking

Character - Luna walking

2nd version of Luna walking
Character - Titan walking Ham runningHam- branch walkingHam- Branch runningThis was a bit of set dressing for the Temple level of the game. I model up some alien heiroglyphics to be scattered throughout the level and then a prophecy piece as a bit of an in-joke that foretold the story and the space chimps arrival.

Game environments

2008-09-23T22:06:00.008+10:00

Here we go with some more set and prop pieces from "Space Chimps" -the game.

I could discuss a lot of the frustration of working at the company that made this game and the process (more of a lack-of really), but really, what's the point? I'm no longer there, and that's a good thing. It had the potential to be a fun game, despite being a movie tie-in, but due to numerous factors the least of which were a producer who had no idea what he was doing or how to manage people; a game designer whose sole experience was 20 years playing games (that's right, not making them, just playing them- it's like claiming to be an expert on making movies because you've watched them all your life); and a boss who would chime in once every three months with some random off-the-cuff suggestion that was largely irrelevant, I'm suprised it's getting as reasonable a rating as what it is.

For a game that was originally pitched as a non-fighting platformer, it seriously travelled quite far down the path of becoming a combat game. Combat mechanics for example, when not working were not abandoned, discussions were had in which bigger weapons were suggested. The KISS theory was obviously never heard here.

I once likened the making of this game to rocking up at a film set ready to shoot, you've hired the actors and crew, got all the equipment, but have no script.

Game Art

2008-09-09T21:47:00.004+10:00

Here we go with some perhaps long overdue concept art from the game I was working on last year. It's apparently been released now, so officially I can tell all. It's a movie tie-in game with the soon-to-be released animated movie "Space Chimps".
Here's a bunch of character concepts for the Aliens. Some of these were abandoned along the way, others should be in the finished product(I haven't actually seen it myself).

Very Busy

2008-08-07T22:22:00.003+10:00

You'll have to excuse the absenteeism over the last couple of months, I've been very busy indeed. Just when I was getting all revved up to do my own little projects, the guy at work who'd been supervising the development of the animated tv series I had started storyboarding on called it quits and yours truly was tapped on the shoulder to take over the reins and direct the show. It's certainly a very welcome and much appreciated promotion, but one that's been keeping me incredibly busy for the past couple of months now. Reviewing scripts, briefing board artists, reviewing boards, creating concept art and character designs, cutting animatics, and the animation hasn't even started yet. Be careful what you wish for, huh?
No time for the caricatures at the moment unfortunately. Every available portion of time is spent working on this series. Unfortunately I can't let anything out. However, the last couple of projects are out of the bag and I'll get onto posting some of that up shortly...

Movie Legend

2008-06-10T22:09:00.001+10:00

Or rhymes with Squint...

Gandalf

2008-05-30T23:11:00.000+10:00

Onward I forge...

Big Green Monster

2008-05-29T22:13:00.003+10:00

Well, here we are at number 50!!
It was about three months ago now that I started on this little exercise of trying to knock out a caricature a day- mainly during my lunch break. It hasn't quite been that productive(some weeks better than others), what with work demands, changing jobs and family life; but it has been a fun little challenge that has pushed me, kept me on my toes so to speak, and I think helped me develop or refine myself a little further as an artist.
I never actually set myself a goal, and while 50 is a good one, I think I'll keep going just with probably not as much vigour; I have a few other things that I would like to focus, as well as steering this blog back to something of an animation focus.
The only problem with that however, is that animation work is generally in production so long that it can be a year or more before a production is released and showing anything beforehand risks breaking a non-disclosure agreement. That was partly why I started these caricatures in the first place. But, I have a couple of personal animation projects that I would like to forge ahead with, and this may be the forum to start showing some of that. Stay tuned (or tooned).
For those who have been regular visitors, thanks for dropping by, and perhaps leave your thoughts, comments or suggestions.

Cheryl

2008-05-21T13:50:00.002+10:00

Too easy, despite the radical variations in hairstyle

Sci-Fi Guru

2008-05-15T21:50:00.001+10:00

I couldn't do this one and not do a full-body pic. The Emperor might've been more appropriate, but this was still no less fun

The Wolf

2008-05-14T21:53:00.000+10:00

Bishop

2008-05-12T21:52:00.000+10:00

Mr Handsome

2008-05-11T21:43:00.002+10:00

A bit on the tame side, me thinks...

Me as a teenager

2008-05-07T20:26:00.002+10:00

I spotted a great meme on Monday at Drawn.
After seeing Amy's crack at it, and Ward's too, I thought I'd offer up my own take.
A bit of a trip down nostalgia lane. Oh dear!

Last Mohican

2008-05-02T22:34:00.002+10:00

Technically, he was a ring-in...
I liked this movie until someone killed it by repeatedly playing the soundtrack at work years ago.

Kiddo

2008-04-30T22:59:00.003+10:00

It's been a little while since I've done a woman now, so I thought I'd brave it with this one. I also worked out one of the main things that's so hard about trying to capture them- they're hair-styles, they're forever changing...

Hef

2008-04-30T22:57:00.002+10:00

This one doesn't really fit the theme, but he was still a bit of fun and too hard to pass up...

Niles

2008-04-30T22:36:00.004+10:00

Sorry for the absenteeism you regular blog watchers, I've been holidaying in Queensland for the last couple of weeks where it was nice and sunny and warm, only to return to rain and bitter coldness back in Melbourne. That's my excuse anyway...

Answers from a couple of weeks back (do I need to provide them anymore?)
Donkey by another name was Eddie Murphy
Rusty was of course, Russell Crowe
and Randy's Brother was Dennis Quaid

With the formalities over, back to it...

Randy's Brother

2008-04-11T13:38:00.003+10:00

One of my favourite actors...

Rusty

2008-04-08T13:36:00.003+10:00

I'd better watch out for that telephone...

Donkey by another name

2008-04-07T15:31:00.007+10:00

I rather enjoyed last week's efforts, here's the answers...
The Chief was Warren Beatty
Spooky was Christopher Walken
Ultra-cool was Steve McQueen
and Suave was Alec Baldwin

I was looking forward to this one, but I think I missed the mark a bit...

Suave

2008-04-04T13:46:00.002+11:00

Ultra-cool

2008-04-03T16:41:00.003+11:00

Hmm, not so wrapped with this one...

Spooky

2008-04-01T13:40:00.004+11:00

The title says it all...

The Chief

2008-03-31T13:49:00.006+11:00

Wow, it's been a couple of months now since starting these lunchtime caricatures. I think I've refined my approach a bit and seem to be hitting the mark more closely- I feel they're looking better anyway. I haven't exactly done a full two months worth, but it keeps me drawing something that isn't someone else's style.
The last three shouldn't have been too difficult, but here's the answers anyway-
Bruno was Bruce Willis
Snake was Kurt Russell
and Give me a Chevy was Quentin Tarantino

Here's The Man's man himself...

Give me a Chevy

2008-03-28T14:57:00.004+11:00

Snake

2008-03-27T13:25:00.004+11:00

Another tough guy, and a bit of a personal favourite actor.