BigFoot n' Friends

These three hooligans' are fun to draw. I tried to give each character their very own distinct personality and think about how they would react in various scenarios and adventures in a fun way. 

This was inspired by listening to many youtube channels that present stories about cryptids and odd phenomenon. (I do need a break from the news.) Some of the material about these beings can range from curiosity and benevolence to out right terrifying and deadly. I chose to take the material in a whimsical fun way that is reminiscent of the amazing old Warner Brothers cartoons from the distant past. So no disrespect to anyone's experience is intended. 

If you want get a book for yourself or any of my other titles from Twin Pine Productions please check out your local amazon. 

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Twin-Pine-Productions/author/B0DSPWDK2B?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_3&qid=1758520906&sr=1-3&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

This isn't everyone and in no particular order, but I wanted to include a list of links for some of the channel hosts and those that have shared their stories that have inspired the artwork. Thankyou

Cryptids Canada: Check out the animation I did of these characters on her Channel.
https://www.youtube.com/@cryptidscanada6884/videos

Sasquatch Chronicles:
https://www.youtube.com/@SasquatchChronicles/videos

Buckeye Bigfoot:
https://www.youtube.com/@BuckeyeBigfoot/videos

Dixie Cryptid:
https://www.youtube.com/@DixieCryptid/videos

The Inbetween:
https://www.youtube.com/@TheInBetweenTales/videos

Vic Cundiff:  Dogman Encounters and My Bigfoot Sightings:
https://www.youtube.com/@DogmanEncounters/videos
https://www.youtube.com/@mybigfootsighting/videos

How to Hunt (Steve has amazing cinematography of animals and nature on a side note):
https://www.youtube.com/@proguide66/videos

David Paulides Can/Am missing 411- Bigfoot playlist and Missing people:
Note: David has some great documentaries and books on the subjects listed above at his webpage.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTlMjWa5VXHsq5xVm8hW4C9iwLbfw-zZr
https://www.youtube.com/@canammissingproject/videos

Cabin in the Woods:
https://www.youtube.com/@cabininthewoods517/videos

What Lurks Beneath:
https://www.youtube.com/@WhatLurksBeneath/videos

John Allen - Mr. Ballen- The Strange Dark and Mysterious:
Check out the Mr. Ballen Graphic Novels as well- really great stuff. 
https://www.youtube.com/@MrBallen/videos

Coast to Coast:
https://www.youtube.com/@COASTTOCOASTAMOFFICIAL/videos

ThinkerThunker
https://www.youtube.com/@ThinkerThunker/videos

The Critical Drinker

I get a kick out of The Critical Drinker and his caustic Scottish humor. He gives his honest reviews from the perspective of someone that genuinely loves movies and wants to see the best films and stories told. For the films that The Drinker does feel fall short of the quality mark,  he does offer constructive suggestions on how to improve upon them from a writers perspective. I have observed that he also engages with his audience and colleagues in a genuinely decent respectful sincere way. He maybe crusty and drunk, but I reckon he's a really good guy.  He must be, he likes dogs.

During downtime between jobs, I try and explore things with TVPaint and different aspects of animation. So I thought about doing a comical animated shot of The Drinker. The character design is mostly mine with a little input by my colleague Tim Watts (check out the his stop motion short film "the Big Story" and Spittin' Image caricatures).

My buddy FX Animator Raymond Pang did a tone suggestion on one drawing of the Drinker. I Then asked another friend Animator Seti Erfan if she could help me by doing a one frame shadow set up  based on Ray's image following the Robert Valley tone technique. With that guide I then animated the tone shadows for the entire shot.  I can tell you the whole procedure is a massive complex pain in the backside. In short, its multi layers of FX work to keep track of per drawing.

It's so important to keep learning the various aspects in any business so you can understand and empathize with colleagues down the pipeline. From all my past 2-D animation experience, I have a huge respect to the animation assisting teams.  Especially the crews that work on Robert Valley's jobs doing these difficult tone FX shadows under extremely challenging deadlines.

Thanks to Editor Daniel Budin for his SFX suggestions.

Check out the Critical Drinker's youtube channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/@TheCriticalDrinker/videos

Click on the link below to see the animation:

The History Squad

I really enjoy Historical Education and I happened upon the History Squad YouTube channel sometime ago. I binged watched episodes and it quickly became a favorite channel that I have been following ever since. It's hosted by Kevin Hicks and edited by his wife Julie.

Kevin has a really interesting and engaging way of relaying historical events, individuals and even some of his own adventures from the past. He uses props, models and location walk throughs to make his educational lessons really retainable. And wow, can he ever shoot a longbow.

I've got to know Kevin and his wife Julie over some time, and we have had some great discussions One of our chats lead to some artwork for the History Squad channel which I was very happy to do.

Check out the History Squad here:

https://www.youtube.com/@thehistorysquad/videos

The Metatron

The Metatron has a great History Channel on YouTube with very well presented and insightful Historical content that I enjoy listening to. Some people agree with him, some people don't. Regardless, he does encourage a respectful discourse which is a good thing. One of the things in his videos I do find amusing is his use of the term "Muppet". So here is the resulting bit of animation of the "Number one Muppet." 

Thanks to Gary Dunn for his design suggestions.

Click the image to check out the animation:

Link to his channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@Metatronrealhistory

Love, Death + Robots Vol 4: The 400 Boys

Blur Studios asked Robert back to direct this episode of the LD+R series. I have worked for Rob off and on for over 20 yrs now, and I can say a lot of complimentary things about the guy.  One of the most outstanding things I've noted these past decades is his loyalty to the crew. On Rob's productions, he has a preferred group of hard working skilled individuals he continues to call back. The schedules might be challenging, but its a good work environment with solid folks.

Recently I was working on some personal animation and I wanted to apply some of the techniques of tones and highlights that Robert uses on his productions. So I asked Seti Erfan (who did some great animated shots on 400 boys) to help me with a one frame tone set up on my own work. On past jobs I directed, I'm used to one tone, one highlight and occasionally 2 tones/highlights on jobs incorporating animation and live action. When I got my animation file back from Seti and reviewed her instructions, I was blown away, as I had no idea the complexity of this technique. Its extensive, multiple layers of tones and some highlights per character, per frame. 

Robert is quite particular on how things look in the end, and what the Animation Assistants do on all these jobs to get the desired "Robert Valley Look" is amazing. Especially on how fast they do it. Sending so much respect to everyone in that department.

I'll post some stills of my shots in the future.

Bond, James Bond

Who was the best iteration of James Bond? Well it's the one you like the best. I was introduced to 007 when I was a kid  by my mom, so I grew up with Sean Connery and Roger Moore. But I think all the actors brought there own flare to the role, and they did the best they could with the scripts given.

This Bond opening sequence was inspired by Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan. I wanted to mess about and educate myself on applying animation to multiple camera layers, mattes and fades with TVpaint. 

Click on the link if you want to see the animation: (click on the lower right to see it full screen)

Dr. Squatch

While searching for things to listen to while I'm working,  The Dr. Squatch adverts would pop. I thought, ok that's a fun logo, which inspired the rough animation below.

Click the image to watch: