Mullah Lite...

TOTAL TELEVISION roughs

Here's part of a new project that I've been working on. Classic Media is putting together new volumes of THE UNDERDOG SHOW on DVD. I believe the first volume is due out sometime this Summer. Tony Knight, Classic Media's Creative Director, asked me to do art of the "segment" characters that were part of THE UNDERDOG SHOW. The art will be used on DVD packaging. These characters were created and produced by Total Television Productions. I'm posting the pencil roughs for COMMANDER McBRAGG, KLONDIKE KAT and TOOTER TURTLE. I also did roughs for SAVOIR FARE, KING LEONARDO & ODIE, THE HUNTER and the UNDERDOG villain, OVERCAT. I'll post the finished inked art of all of these characters when I'm done later this week. E-mail me at powsley@flash.net .

We don't need Windows Vista

So Windows Vista is finally here. Wow. Big Wow. Nope, I can't get excited. As I see it, Vista (or more precisely Microsoft) needs us, more than we need it. Pleased to see that Windows XP will be supported until 2011. My laptop will have died by then.

Cartoon of the Month: "Boom Boom"

Our usual monthly recurrence features this time the war-themed "Boom Boom" (1936), in my opinion one of the better Jack King efforts at WB. Most of his output is generally quite weak, while I find this particular one to be sort of entertaining (particularly, I liked the "you're in the army now" bit, with the "SOB" line rendered as the incomprehensible quacking of a duck).
Judge for yourself by watching it!



Yours truly,
mmm...donuts

Fish had their chips?

SYLVESTER & TWEETY

Here's a couple of SYLVESTER & TWEETY pieces. I did the top piece of TWEETY with markers, colored pencils, brush & ink on coquille board. It's based on the Bob Clampett version of TWEETY. The black and white piece of SYLVESTER & TWEETY was done for LOONEY TUNES licensing at Warner Bros. Consumer Products. I inked the pencil art (by Mike Fontanelli) with brush, pen & ink on duralene. Be sure to click each image for a larger view. E-mail me at powsley@flash.net .

Prince Phillip Shoots Fox

Britain's Prince Philip is embroiled in an animal cruelty scandal after an injured fox was left to die in agony during a hunt lead by the royal.

Animal rights groups have called on the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) to investigating the incident which occurred at Sandringham estate, Queen Elizabeth's Norfolk retreat, on Saturday.

Witnesses claim members of the eight-men pheasant hunting party shot the animal twice, leaving it writhing in agony for a few minutes, before clubbing it over the head and stomping on it to "finish it off."

I've finally drawn a cartoon with a horse in it! Mrs Clang is a horse nut, I'm sure she'll be telling where I've gone wrong with the withers, fenders mud flaps or whatever. I know which end the food goes in.

TOP CAT

Here's a TOP CAT piece that I did this past week. "T.C." is 8" x 10"...markers, colored pencils, brush, pen & ink with cel vinyl paint on coquille board. This pose of TOP CAT is based on one that was used in a TOP CAT anti-piracy style guide for Hanna-Barbera licensing. Click on the image to enlarge. E-mail me at powsley@flash.net .

Miserable Duck!

Rightmove in 2057

Thanks to Green Bear from Global House Price Crash, for this.

Mobile Phone Television

Bijou is Back

"Matinee at Bijou" is back!!

They are transferring contents from clean sources to HD, to preserve classic cartoons for all times. I've seen some previes of their work and I AM impressed.
Among their many shorts, there are also some charming rarities, like "The Fire Brigade", a "Doodlebug" cartoon made by Kinex studios in 1925.
More on this soon.

Meanwhile, spend a "Matinee at Bijou" !

Circus Capers

Aaah, here's another of those ugly black & white cartoons that all of you love so much ;-)
This is a Van Beuren cartoon called "Circus Capers" (09/28/1930), and it's quite entertaining one, despite some crudeness in drawings and animation. The main characters are Mickey and Minnie... I beg your pardon, Milton and Rita Mouse, the heroes of many Van Beuren cartoons from the early 1930s. Their resemblance to the more famous mouse couple was so strong that Walt Disney sued Van Beuren studios. Van Beuren was not allowed to use the blatant Mickey Mouse rip-offs anymore, after the court settlement in 1932. so Milton and Rita were sent into the early retirement. Still, in their short career they appeared in some funny pre-code cartoons, and behaved in a way that probably wouldn't be approved by the old Uncle Walt. In fact, I'm using this cartoon to illustrate what kind of outrageous gags and innuendos were allowed in cartoons before the introduction of Hays Code in 1934. It's interesting to note that the strict censorship mellowed again during the World War II years, to the delight of the great directors like Tex Avery, Bob Clampett and
Frank Tashlin. Cartoons from 1943 like "Red Hot Riding Hood" or "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs" couldn't have been made two or three years earlier. Also, a cartoon like "Circus Capers" would be unthinkable after 1934.









































The typical freaky Van Beuren close-up at the end. I love it!