WHAT"S OPERA, DOC? Live Concert Version

One of the landmark seven minutes of animation is Chuck Jones' WHAT'S OPERA, DOC? (1957), starring Elmer Fudd, Bugs Bunny and Wagner. We have, I hope, all seen and enjoyed this classic Warner Brothers short (if not, click on the linky above). Only someone who's a genius (Mr. Jones) could wring laughs and maybe even a tear towards the end, out of a heavy Wagnerian opera (with some help from writer Michael Maltese).

Now, it's been brought to the stage, live and in person -- not only once, but twice. And it's a lot of fun. Surely, an episode of SCOOBY DOO or HECKLE AND JECKLE would not -- nay, could not -- be adapted for the stage. Not the case with Bugs & Elmer.

Here's a great, live in-person cabaret version of WHAT'S OPERA DOC that was posted in the fall:



And here is The Springfield Academy of Arts and Academics' version of the classic cartoon, posted last month:

Cartoon Class

Above: the cartoon class graduation photo!

Last Friday was the final day for the cartoon class I've been teaching for the past 6 weeks. The kids -- there were about a dozen -- were grand and fearless artists. We drew a lot! (Just look at the Draw 16o cartoon class exercise!) Some really great kids -- some of whom I may be competing against to get jobs in 10 years!

I decided everyone should have a certificate of achievement or a diploma. Something to remember the class. So, I drew up some sketches:


I like the guy with the irreverent big mouth and tongue.



The reason for the hydrant is that we all draw a fire hydrant in class. A fire hydrant is the perfect example of good cartooning: you take some rectangles and circles and combine them together to easily make this very recognizable object. I also just like drawing fire hydrants.

This was cute, but, frankly, I though it was maybe ...uh .... a bit insulting. Like I said, this class was FULL of great kid cartoonists. Every one of them could draw better than that representative stick figure with his beret and pencil.

I drew up the middle one.


Above is an early draft. Below is the final, color version:

One of the things that the kids were not afraid of was DRAWING. And here, in this little behind the scenes bit, you can see that there is sometimes a lot of drawing that goes on the people do not see. Yes, cartooning is a bit of work. I mean, you have to letter and color and be able to draw on top of all that, dogs and hydrants and everything!

HAWKSHAW THE DETECTIVE by Gus Mager

Ger Apeldoorn shares some HAWKSHAW THE DETECTIVE Sunday strips of the 1920s. It started out as SHERLOCKO, and the supporting cast also had names with "O" at the end. There was even a "Groucho." As Ger points out:

"I guess this is the strip that influenced the Marx Brothers to take fictitious names ending in -o, like Groucho, Harpo, Chico and such."

According to Ron Goulart's THE FUNNIES (1987), the strip was so popular that Groucho Marx did indeed take his stage name from the strip

CRUISIN

Check out this blast from the past. Vintage authentic schwinns with original accessories built by Mr. Cartoon and Danny D for SA Stuidios.

WHAT IS TIME?

One of our friends brought in his boy to get tattooed yesterday. He wanted to get his favorite quote in a custom font along with an hour glass.

DESPICABLE ME Trailer

I've been seeing trailer's for Universal's DESPICABLE ME for what seems like a year and every time I see one, I say, "Boy, I would like to see that movie. I hope it's as good as the trailer." Here's the latest preview and I still say I would like to see it.



Big hat tip to Mark Anderson!

William Steig Lived Here

... And so did John Barrymore and Cary Grant and Margaret Mead and Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Also: my grandparents.

I believe that this video from Daniel Basbus, a NYC Realtor, expounding on "the most charming townhouse located in the heart of the West Village," is the same townhouse that my grandmother (school teacher) and grandfather (jazz musician) rented back in the 1930s. Their apartment was at the top, which was where John Barrymore used to live. The place is close to Washington Square Park, and the speakeasies and the arteests of the Village.

Fun to unexpectedly run across this on YouTube. And I never knew that a cartoonist lived at that same place! And, so far ass I can tell, Steig actually lived there the same time that my grandparents, Phyllis and Francis Lynch, did!

"[New Yorker editor Harold] Ross published sixty of Steig’s drawings in 1932, seventy in 1934. He also permitted Steig to write his own captions, or, rather, to draw his own ideas (the magazine’s usual practice was to buy an idea and assign it to a staff artist). Steig was becoming an insider."

-- Paul La Farge, The Tablet

Steig met many luminaries during this time, including Elizabeth Mead, anthropologist Margaret Mead's sister. They were married in 1936.



When I moved to NYC in the 1980s, finding this building in the West Village was a priority. Sure, many times I'd wished that my grandparents would have bought and kept it! Alas, it was not to be. Soon after my father's birth in Brooklyn's Long Island College Hospital, they moved to Pasadena, California. It would be 50 years before another Lynch would live in the City!

The Art of Jack Davis

Hairy Green Eyeball II has a wonderful selection of great Jack Davis art from (what else?) the book THE ART OF JACK DAVIS.

PASSION

Video: Bruce Blitz Interviews Mort Walker

Bruce Blitz interviews Mort Walker in his Cartoon Museum. So, since the cartoon museum is no longer around, and Bruce mentions that BEETLE BAILEY is 50 years old (it began September 4, 1950), my guess is that this 6 minute bit of video is about ten years old.

Some great conversation here. Did you know that each character in the strip has a certain day? I didn't.

"Beetle's always on Monday; the side characters, like the dog [Otto] or the black character [Lt. Flap] are on Tuesday; Miss Buxley's always on Wednesday .... and it goes on down the line. They have their days."

Mort draws and talks about the process of producing the long running comic strip.



And here's a 2008 video via the Wall Street Journal of Mort talking about being a cartoonist. He talks about the Cartoon Museum as he prepares to send on his collection to OSU's Cartoon Library and Museum.

Jim Ivey Remembers Roy Crane

Jim Ivey's Sunday Comics, a continuing feature at Allan Holtz's Stripper's Guide blog, remembers the 1974 release of WASH TUBBS: THE FIRST ADVENTURE STRIP,

"... just in time for the reopening of The Cartoon Museum in Winter Park ....

"Roy Crane was in his glory! He not only autographed the book, but drew the purchaser a sketch of a favorite character on the flyleaf! He was all smiles that day!"

This is all part of Jim Ivey's recounting of the publication of this seminal reprint book, which he helped put together. Scroll down for Jim Ivey's Adventure in Publishing Part One

SOUL SUNDAY

Beggin You - The Royal Chessmen

TRAILER OF THE WEEK

Here is another classic from the collection.

Video: Roz Chast

Roz Chast (right) and her drawings of a “site specific” chalk wall drawing. On the left: Ann Sheffer, chair of the Betty and Ralph Sheffer Foundation which sponsored the event. Photo by Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com. More photos here, here and here.


New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast talks about why she's a cartoonist and where she gets ideas in this short video from March 26, 2010, in which she addresses a group of kids. This was part of the Westport Arts Center's "DrawOn!" cartoon workshop. Her cartoons, along with the work of R. Crumb, will be on exhibit in a show titled "Divine Comedy" at the Westport Arts Center in Westport, CT beginning April 1, 2010.

Ms. Chast will give the annual Malloy Lecture in the Arts on April 12, 2010. More information here.

No fairytale ending here!

T

This weeks entry into the CCGB contest.

LIVE FROM, LIVE FROM

Here is a short on Jay - Z that I just seen and thought it would dope to get all you guys motivated that are going to be seeing him perform out here in L.A. tonight.

Forrest J. Ackerman Autobiography

Via the Hairy Green Eyeball II blog: an excerpt from Forrest J. Ackerman's autobiography.

Cartoons Drawn by Hef

Via the Potrzebie blog: cartoons by high school aged Hugh Hefner.

Rochester Times: Pothole Contest

Above and below: some cartoons I drew in my sketchbook for submission to the Potholes, Frost Heaves and Sinkholes Contest

This is the time of year, here in New England (and pretty much anywhere else it got freezing cold this winter), when the pothole and the frost heave can change your life: you alter your usual route to the grocery, you get rattled or injured or -- worse yet -- your car gets injured. But, hey, it gives us all something to talk about.




There is a stretch of Governor's Road in Rochester, NH that resembles a roller coaster ride.



Once a year, you can do more than just tell old war stories about killer potholes to the kids around a campfire -- you can win a valuable prize!

The Rochester Times has its annual "Potholes, Frost Heaves and Sinkholes Contest." The winner receives a $75 gift certificate, courtesy of Poulin Auto Country, to go toward a front end alignment.

Contestants send in names and descriptions like The Moon Crater and One Track Mine Field or Spleen Splitter.

The Winner of the Pothole Contest is Dustin Pearce. Congratulations, Dustin! He "experienced a nightmare on a part of Four Rod Road that he called Cracked Axle Cliffs."

My wife entered the poem below, about that roller coaster ride stretch of Governor's Road between Farmington and Rochester. I added some illustrations.

It's the Most Bumpity Time of the Year
(sung to the tune of 'It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year')

It's the most bumpity time of the year –

When at night it's still freezing

But day temps are easing

And spring-time draws near –



It's the most bumpity time of the year.

It's the head-bangiest time of the year –

You tell your war stories

Of guts and of glory;

You veer more than steer –



It's the head-bangiest time of the year.

It's avoid-Governor's-Road time of year –

From Farm Town to Rochest

Please heed my behest

It's a gauntlet of tears!



It's the car-eatingest time of the year.

It's fore-head-thumpity time.

Your car's toast, jumpity time.

It's the most bumpity time of the year.

SPECIAL DELIVERY

We just got our 2010 Pirelli Calander shot by Terry Richardson delivered today.. Here are a couple fliks of whats inside.

JUST A PREVIEW

Here is a ruff sketch of the next piece our boy Rich is adding to his collection..

Stay ToONed for the final.

INK

We have been getting hit up about what tattoos Soulja Boy got over here, or if he got all his work done here. So we thought we would dig through the archives for everyone asking...

FOR THE LOVE OF MONEY

I was looking through the archives of some of the tattoos from the past and thought I would post this one for you, it was inspired by the paper chase.

See You Soon

Above: my tiny travel sketchbook which you may click on to super-size.

I'll away from the blog for a short while. Please go and try that Face-ter or Twitbook or the new Boogle Guzz for your entertainment needs!

I hope to return soon. Please behave yourself. Thank you.

I've never done this before.

Here's first update on this blog for several weeks. Thanks for popping by! I bet some people thought this blog was dead. Well, no, it's not - just not updated as frequently as I'd like it to be. Still it gets very healthy hits. As long time readers might have guessed, this is my entry into this weeks cartoon caption contest, over at the CCGB forum.

SOUL SUNDAY

Here is a Latin Soul record from Ralfi Pagan "Make It With You"
Not many people know he was based out of the Bronx, N.Y. and was of Puerto Rican descent..
However his music along with all of the other artist we feature on
Soul Sundays lives strong here in the streets of L.A.

TRAILER OF THE WEEK

Here is a classic for all you Tarantino fans out there.

Interview: Jerry Dumas

Photo by Anne W. Semmes For The Greenwich Citizen.

Anne W. Semmes, writing for the The Greenwich Citizen, interviews cartoonist Jerry Dumas, who is as busy as ever.

"I'm working just as hard as ever. You've heard that story about turning 80 that goes, 'Hey, Leftie, you're not throwing the ball as hard this spring.' Leftie answers, 'I'm throwing the ball as hard as ever but it's not getting there as fast.' That's my current situation."

Hat tip to my pal Sean Kelly! Thanks, Sean!

METRO PCS

Here is a picture of a canvas that was done for Metro PCS out in Detriot.

Interview: Trade Loeffler

I remember seeing Trade Loeffler's ZIP & LI'L BIT "The Upside Down Me" and being impressed with the story and art. I sent him an email and told him point blank: I am a fan.

We emailed back and forth about his comics and cartoons in general, and slowly found out that we both lived in Brooklyn at the time. After a couple more emails, we realized we lived within a couple of blocks of each other. Since then, we've gotten together for beers and burgers, and become pals.

ZIP & LI'L BIT, the Web comic that he created, began in 2006. They are a series of all-ages friendly adventures of a brother and sister.

2010 brings us his new ZIP & LI'L BIT story, "The Captain's Quest," which began last Sunday. And Trade's first work in print, ZIG AND WIKKI IN "SOMETHING ATE MY HOMEWORK," has just been published by Toon Books.


Above and the below 2 panels: the beginning of the mystery of "The Upside Down Me."

Your ZIP & LI'L BIT stories seem inspired by McCay and Sendak (and maybe a wee bit of Lewis Carroll), who dealt with kids in strange dreams and having to use their wits to resolve their situation. This latest one promises to maybe have some hints of Segar. What cartoonists do you think of when producing ZIP & LI'L BIT?

I've definitely been inspired by all the artists you just mentioned. I would also list all the artists who worked on the old Disney cartoons and movies as having a tremendous influence on Zip and Li'l Bit.

How far ahead do you work? Is the story finished as of now or do you still have to write the ending? What percentage of the art is done before you post the first page on average?

The written portion of The Captain's Quest is finished. Other than the thumbnails I'll draw out as I'm writing, I won't do any artwork until I've got the story figured out. I find that I usually have to re-work my stories quite a few times before I'm happy with them. As far as the artwork goes, now that I've started posting the strip, I'm about ten pages ahead. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep that buffer there for the whole run of the story, but it's tough to keep up sometimes with a job and a kid.

What part is your favorite: the writing or the drawing?

The writing is definitely my favorite. I've always got a good idea of what's going to happen, or what needs to happen in a story, but I never know how it's going to happen. Figuring that out is always surprising to me and that's the funnest part of the whole process I think.


What is your workspace like?

Well, since I live in the city, my workspace is small and cramped. I've got my computer set up in our living room, and my drawing table is actually a dresser from IKEA. It's kind of silly because the surface of the dresser isn't even particularly smooth, so when I'm drawing or inking and I need a line to be nice and clean, I'll have to move the paper so it's over the smooth parts of the dresser. That probably doesn't sound too professional, does it?

What tools do you use when you draw?

I use markers. When I started drawing comics, I tried using those because they were nice and quick and I always told myself that as I got better, I'd switch over to a brush and ink, but those dang pens are so nice and quick for me, I haven't made the switch yet. Someday…

What cartoonists' work do you enjoy buying and reading now?

John Stanley's Thirteen Going on Eighteen is hands down the best comic book I've read lately. Richard Thompson's Cul de Sac strip is awesome! I've gotten my whole family hooked on that one.


Are there any plans for ZIP & LI'L BIT stuff to buy: books, t-shirts?

I wish I could say yes to that, but sadly the answer at this point in time is no.

You illustrated the book ZIG AND WIKKI IN "SOMETHING ATE MY HOMEWORK," which will be out soon from TOON Books. How did you get the gig?

The editor at RAW Junior, Francoise Mouly, had seen Zip and Li'l Bit online and contacted me about doing a book for her TOON Books series, which is a series of comic books created for early readers. The lineup of artists and writers that have created books for the series is amazing, and the books are fantastic. My son who's six years old reads them over and over and over, which is the best endorsement you can give for a kids' book. Can I give a shameless plug for the TOON Books site? Go to: http://www.toonbooks.com/



Was it more challenging working with a writer and editor (Francoise Mouly) on ZIG AND WIKKI than doing your Web comic by yourself?

The big challenge for me was that it was the first time I'd done a lot of things. It was the first book I'd done for print. It was my first time working with an editor. It was my first time collaborating with a writer on a comic. The writer of the ZIG AND WIKKI book is Nadja Spiegelman (who is Francoise and Art's daughter), and the characters she came up with for the story were awesome, which was also challenging because then I had to come up with illustrations that could do justice to Nadja's characters. Overall, I think everyone was really happy with the finished product. I'm definitely proud of how the book turned out. I hope that kids will dig it.

What did it feel like when you saw it on the shelf at your local Rocketship Comic Book Store in Brooklyn?

I don't know if I should say this, but I wasn't as excited as I'd expected. I had finished work on the book awhile ago and had advance copies and all, so when I saw the book in the store, it didn't seem like that big of a deal. Now, if they're all sold out next time I go in the store, I'll be ecstatic.

Above: some behind the scenes images from Trade Loeffler's "Storytelling 101" series.

Your wife is a successful working actress. Do you show her your work in progress?

Yes, I make my wife look at my comics as I'm working on them. Thankfully, she puts up with it and just gives me encouragement.

Will there a fourth ZIP & LI'L BIT? What future projects will there be?

There will definitely be a fourth Zip and Li'l Bit. I started writing it a while back, hit a wall with it, and have now started getting back into it. It's got some great characters that I'm really excited about. I don't know what projects other than that I'll have going on in the future. I've got a really fun twenty page story that doesn't star Zip and Li'l Bit that I've got written, I just don't know when I'll get a chance to do the artwork. If I could quit my job, that'd leave me more time to spend drawing and I could post more comics. Pray for me to win the lottery, will you?