Last night’s “CSiCarly” segment was the first one we did back in May. I started out trying to get a feel for what the animation folks were wanting, so I did a few sample images for them using different levels of line work. Here is an example of the test caricature of David Caruso… the one on the left is more of the look I would do for the magazine, and the one on the right was my idea of simplifying the drawing:

The one on the right was still a little too detailed, especially in the hair… so I tried to simplify even more with Caruso  and the additional characters. The basic process is that I do a single full body image of each main character for the segment, plus do a few key expressions if some are called for. The animators also have a pile of “extra” drawings of generic people I have done with they are basing the “extras” on. Still most of the art is done by the animators, and I think it’s more fair to say my work is a “contribution” to these shorts than it is real character design. They are doing all the heavy lifting.

My main concern was that, by the time I altered my own style to fit in with the animation and the animators did their thing with all the expression and talking and such, not much of my art would be recognizable in the final product. After seeing the premiere episode I thought I could definiately see my work in there… it was a lot of fun to see it on TV.

I’m not sure week to week when I’ll have something in an episode or not, so you’ll just have to stay tuned to the show and see if you can pick out the stuff I contributed to!

The new animated MAD show I’ve been working on debuts on the Cartoon Network tonight at 7:30 Central time. Check it out if you can… if you can’t here is the rerun schedule for the week:

I guess after 200 some odd answered questions people are running out of stuff to think of asking. When (or if) I get some fresh questions concerning cartooning, illustration, freelancing, MAD Magazine or other similar subjects I’ll be happy to answer them as best I can. E-mail me your questions and I’ll try and answer them here!

Last summer I traveled to Cali, Colombia to be a guest speaker at the Salón Internacional de Historietas y Caricaturas Calicomix, their annual cartoon, comics and caricature festival. You can read all about that experience, if you are so inclined, here, here and here. I also took a trip earlier this year to Cuba as part of a cultural exchange between cartoonists. Therefore, I can speak with some experience about the cartoon work being done in Central and South America. Comics and cartoons are there, especially humor comics. I met a lot of amazingly talented cartoonists in Colombia and Cuba. One thing I learned from the experience is that, while there is a lot of great work being done down south, it is (sadly) largely ignored in the U.S. markets.

Some efforts are being made to introduce more Cental/South American cartooning to the U.S. In fact a festival is going on this month here in the U.S. celebrating international humor comics called the BOSTOONS International Humor Festival. being held Sept. 9-12th in Boston, MA. The programming is focused on cartoons and cartoonists from Spanish speaking countries in the Americas. At least two of my new cartoonist friends from Central/South America will be in attendance, Luis Eduardo León (León), from Colombia and Arturo Kemchs from Mexico.

The festival includes a judged competition of work in three different categories, which features over 1,200 submission from 474 artists representing 67 countries. There is a speaking program as well, featuring cartoonists from Cuba, Peru, Chile and Mexico. Many of the talks will be in Spanish only but some are also in English or translated into both.

Here’s a complete listing of the event program:

BOSTOONS International Humor Festival 2010

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9th
8:00 pm: Opening Night: Award Presentations. Variety Show (David Morales, Gian Carlo Buscaglia, Lenguaviva, and Boston Rueda de Casino). Cartoon Expo Inauguration. FREE

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10th

•    10:00 am-7:30 pm: Cartoon Expo open to the public. FREE
•    5:30 -6:30 pm: Lecture/Talk: Raúl de la Nuez, cartoonist, Miami, FL (in Spanish) FREE
•    6:30-7:30 pm: Lecture Talk: Omar Zevallos, cartoonist, Peru (in Spanish) FREE
•    8:00-9:30 pm: First Comedy Night: Duo Humor Sapiens, Cuba/Chile (Spanish); Octavio Rodríguez, Churrisco, Cuba (Spanish); Lenguaviva, Cuba/USA (Spanish-English); Christina Bontempo, USA (English). Admission: $10.00

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11th

•    10:00 am-7:30 pm: Cartoon Expo open to the public. FREE
•    5:30-6:30 pm: Lecture/Talk: Pepe Pelayo/Aramís Quintero, writers, Cuba/Chile (in Spanish). FREE
•    6:30-7:30 pm: Lecture Talk: John Lent, PhD, Temple University (in English). FREE
•    8:00-9:30 pm: Second Comedy Night: Lenguaviva, Cuba/USA (Spanish-English); Christina Bontempo, USA (English); Duo Humor Sapiens, Cuba/Chile (Spanish); Octavio Rodríguez, Churrisco, Cuba (Spanish). Admission: $10.00

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 12th

•    10:00 am-6:30 pm: Cartoon Expo open to the public. FREE
•    4:30-5:30 pm: Lecture/Talk: Angel Boligán, cartoonist, Cuba/Mexico (in Spanish) FREE
•    5:30-6:30 pm: Lecture/Talk: Arturo Kemchs, cartoonist, Mexico (in Spanish). FREE
•    7:00-8:30 pm: Third Comedy Night: Christina Bontempo, USA (English): Lenguaviva, Cuba/USA (Spanish-English); Octavio Rodríguez, Churrisco, Cuba (Spanish); Duo Humor Sapiens, Cuba/Chile (Spanish), Hilary Chaplain, NY. Admission: $10.00

There is an evening comedy program each night as well as the “Expo”, which I take to be a show of some or all of the artwork submitted for the competitions.

Looks to be a ground breaking event. Wish I could have managed to attend, but it just didn’t work out. It would be well worth checking out.

Some time back the lovely and extremely talented Sandra Boynton commissioned me into doing a caricature of “Weird” Al Yankovic for his 50th birthday. I was deleighted to do it because

1. Sandra is one of my favorite cartoonists and a wonderful person, and I was flattered to be asked.

and

2. “Weird” Al is to music what MAD Magazine is to comics, and I’m a longtime admirer of his.

Here’s the complete story if you want more details.

Shortly after Al received the artwork I received an email from him saying how much he loved it and how he was going to frame it for his home. He also said to let him know if I ever was in an area where he was having a show, and he’d get us some tickets and backstage passes.

Gabrielle, Anna and Tom show off their aftershow passes

Last night he played at the Minnesota State Fair, and I took him up on his offer. The Lovely Anna, daughter Gabrielle, son Thomas and I went to the show and met Al afterward.

The show was fantastic and he was a terrific guy, signing autographs for us and posing for some pictures in his trailer. I brought along some prints of a scan of the final artwork I did for him. The following will be framed and hung in the studio somewhere:

His show really was terrific, and I highly recommend seeing him live someday if you get the chance. It’s an evening of belly laughs and great parody with a lot of fantastic music snuck in there… Al is a highly respected musician even if he is better known for his humor. A great showman! Thanks, “Weird” Al!