Mr. Zits

Well TV's Kyle, This Zits For you!
A couple of years back I pitched a cartoon storyboard to Frederator called Blackjack & Zits, which was considered funny enough but it was also considered an idea that had been done before. I mean it's basically about a big dumb dog who likes to destroy things and a messed up cat with a broken back and an ill-fitting glass eye.
Approaching the design of the character I started with a series of sketches that culminated with this....
As you can see, the characters were originally called Blackjack & Scratch.
The Scratch name kind of implies that the cat character was always close to meeting his demise. However, I went with the Zits name because it seemed to roll off the tongue better.
As you can see with the sketch above, the character was crudely designed on purpose.
To help get that effect, I drew this sketch with a ballpoint black pen.
The whole idea was to make this character look like a mack truck hit him a couple of hundred times.
Unfortunately, when I went to do a cleaned up drawing of the character, I did a blue ruff and came up with this....

It's not a bad drawing, but it's my habit to want to take the ruffness out of a sketch and slicken up the line. I eventually ditched the idea of doing any clean ups of the character and created all model and storyboard sketches with an Ebony pencil.

Heavies

Well here's a couple of sketches of some heavy set characters. These drawings were done fairly fast and loose with a polychromos blue pencil. You might see some of my influences in the drawings although I didn't intentionally try to ape a particular style. A lot of times when developing a character, I may focus on body shape and body attitude over the basic head features, but in this case, I focused more on the facial expressions in both sets.

Mitchell's Sketchbook: A New Direction

Some friends have suggested that this blog should remain true to it's name and only feature drawings and animation work by yours truly.
Lately, Mitchell's Sketchbook has become a hodgepodge of many things and it's time to refocus it's direction. In the next day or so, I'm going to set up another blog that will take these various clips and things and move this stuff on to the other site.
Sketchbook will continue to feature my drawings, animation and all things related.

Another sketch...

Some of you have been asking me to add more drawings to the blog. So here's a new one of a short angry guy. Actually, it's not that new...it's been sitting by my scanner for weeks.
I'm finally getting around to scanning this stuff and putting it up on the blog.
Look for more over the next couple of days.
This drawing is inspired by the funny little guy from Pink Panther cartoons and Phil from Hercules. Like I said, it's inspired... so in short... it's been Mitchellized.

I'm Back....

Just in time for Flu season.....
Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, new and improved for 2008.

You'll be noticing some major changes to the blog over the next couple of days, including a brand new look.

Some Christmas Memories

Here's some clips of some Christmas movies that I thought were terrific... when I was a kid. Back in the mid '60s, I remember seeing Santa Claus Conquers The Martains, Santa Claus, and The Christmas That Almost Wasn't at Brooklyn theatres where they also showed an assortment of cartoons and gave away prizes as part of a Christmas Matinee. FYI, rumor has it that Santa Claus Conquers The Martains was shot in an old airplane hanger in Mitchell Field, near Roosevelt Field Mall in Uniondale, Long Island, NY.
It's considered one of the worst movies ever made.
I never saw the Magic Christmas Tree.. about a Christmas Tree that talks! I love this trailer opening with a fire engine and a guy mowing the lawn. Now that's real Christmas Spirit! The footage looks like old crappy home movies!
The Christmas That Almost Wasn't looks like a spectacular compared to the others, but it's actually a pretty lackluster film.
Looking back, those memories are still pretty neat, but after watching these clips today I can't help but think that somehow Ed Wood was involved. However, I'm certain you'll enjoy them, but in a much different way.
Merry Christmas I don't think! Hahahahaha! Happy Holidays!

Scrooge McDuck & Money

I'm posting this, mainly because I don't remember ever seeing it before. I've known about the short for years but never thought it was worth watching until cartoonbrew.com made mention of it. Although I liked the Scrooge McDuck character in Mickey's Christmas Carol, I loathed the miserly fellow in Ducktails.
This was because I was never a fan of the latter Disney television product. I always saw Disney Television productions as Bastardized Disney. This tainted my view of old Uncle Scrooge...until now.
Scrooge McDuck & Money was a 16 minute short subject released in 1967 and is pleasantly entertaining. Written by Bill Berg and Directed By Hamilton Luske, it has some nice animation by Art Stevens, Charlie Downs, Julius Svendsen and (mostly in part two) features some cool animation by Ward Kimball. This short, pretty much in the same vein as Donald & The Wheel, is one of Disney's neat Edutainment shorts and was shown in schools for years. I'm pleased to present it here.

Dog and His Master....

Here's some drawings of a cartoon series I was developing for myself.
As you can see, I was deliberately going for a Tex Avery, Hanna/Barbera look with funny looking designs and weird facial expressions. I think this would have worked when Funny Cartoons were appreciated, but sadly, if it can't play like an average live action sitcom, most of the execs wouldn't buy it.
Maybe I'll still produce it as an internet cartoon though...

Hurrah! More Disney Treasures on DVD

If some people didn't take action, these Disney Treasures (pictured left) may have been the last to be released. Fortunately, Disney reversed their decision and decided to release three more Disney collections on December 11th.
From the look of the advance reviews, these three sets are pretty terrific.
The first of the three features another grouping of Donald Duck cartoons from the late 40's-Early 50's. In my humble opinion, these Donald cartoons are fast, violent and probably the funniest of the Donald series. They're great cartoons directed by Jack Hannah with great comic timing. These Duck cartoons will likely sell out fast.
The second collection features Walt Disney's Oswald The Lucky Rabbit. If you asked me a few years ago if Disney would ever release a set of Oswald cartoons from the 20's, I would have thought that you were nuts!
The fact that this set exists is an absolute miracle. Included in this set are a few classic Mickey Mouse Cartoons and The Ub Iwerks feature length documentary by Leslie Iwerks.
And if you're a Disneyland fan like me, the third set is Disneyland: Secrets, Stories and Magic and it's chock full of terrific goodies including vintage Disney TV shows about the park, behind the scenes footage of the construction of Disneyland and a feature length documentary about the history of the park. A rarely seen theatrical film, Disneyland U.S.A. in Cinemascope is alone worth the price for the DVD set.
I believe the retail price for each is $32.99, but I found Best Buy here in New York selling them as a two-fer deal for $40.00! I'm kind of curious if I can get them cheaper if I buy three.
I know this seems like a huge plug, but I think that these Treasures are a great value and I urge all three of you who read this blog to go out a buy a bunch. Give em out to friends and family. Keep some spare sets for yourself when you wear out the others! Use them as coasters!
It's important to support this series if we wish to see more of 'em.
I'm buying a couple hundred myself!