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:

Mr Ballen - Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories.

I've been listening to Mr. Ballen for some time now.  John really has an engaging way of telling stories and I enjoy listening to him while I'm working. It was around 2022 that I noticed he had a logo representing his content which inspired me to do some rough animation incorporating that design. It's only just recently that I have had some time to have been able to finish off those concepts.

2-D FX animators like the very old school Disney bunch, guys like Michel Gagné and my friend Raymond Pang I've always held a great deal of respect for.  But after messing about with hand drawn FX myself, I now have an even greater admiration for those artists. I'll be keeping to the character stuff from now on.

Speaking of respect, Mr. Ballen who is also a Veteran, gives a lot of support to the Veteran Community, people with mental help concerns and many other groups in need. Such as those affected by violent crimes. Check out the Ballen Foundation:

https://mrballen.foundation/

https://ballenstudios.com/

His YouTube Channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/@MrBallen 

And here is the animation I did with his logo, Thanks to Editor Daniel Budin for adding the SFX.

CanAm Missing Project

David Paulides is a retired police officer that has a great channel highlighting the cases of individuals that have gone missing often under very peculiar circumstances. Dave has published numerous books and produced a few great documentaries on the subject that you can find at his website.

https://missing411.com/

https://www.canammissing.com

https://www.youtube.com/@canammissingproject

I dont get much time to read due to my extremely challenging work schedules. So I very much appreciate the time Dave takes with his presentations talking about these cases so I can listen while im working. In my opinion he really makes a sincere effort to bring factual context and more importantly a face to these missing individuals.

Occasionally Dave will also discuss mental health topics and is a huge advocate for the support of that subject as well. 

He also loves his dog Huck. She inspired this bit of animation based on the MGM Lion and Mary Tyler Moore logos. Her cheeky side eye at the beginning of most of Dave's videos cracks me up.

Click on the image to see the animation:

Conan O'Brien

I've always really liked Conan, he is fearless with his absurdity.  His old school awkward sense of humor I can relate to and his sincere decency towards people I really respect.

I have observed over the years that Conan has the ability to converse with anyone from anywhere in the language of humor. He combine's the interaction with his quick wit and improvisational skills into something fun and entertaining for everyone present... most of the time. I do get a kick when situations really go awry resulting in his deadpan self deprecating look to camera.

This design is my take based on one of Conan's own drawings of himself.

Click on the space below to see some animation incorporating this design with dialogue from Conan's podcast "Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend"

Have a listen to his pod cast if you need some cheer. 

https://teamcoco.com/

Coloring Books

When I worked at various studios I occasionally would do fun drawings of and for coworkers, and if their kids and family stopped by the studio I'd do some drawings for them to color as well. So I thought why not take it step further and do a few proper coloring books.

Here is the Amazon link if you want to check them out: 

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

Thanks to everyone that has supported, Its much appreciated. 

When Hackers Run a Blitz, the NFL Relies on Cisco

This was a job that came in right out of the blue thanks to my friend Alan Barillaro. He recommended me to his friend and colleague Producer Marc Sondheimer, who was looking for someone to supervise the 2d animation and art direct this spot. So after the introductions and me learning about what the job expectations were, I agreed to gather up a small crew to get er done. Robert Milne helped me animate, in fact he did the majority of the shots.  Ron Chevarie and Eleonora Quario to do the animation assisting. There work would create the initial final chalk line look based on my rough art direction. Then the team at Logan.tv took all the completed animation artwork added their backgrounds and pieced it together in the final composite.

This was an enjoyable job for a lot of reasons. The creative team from Cisco were a super nice bunch of folks to work for. I enjoyed the opportunity to try a different artistic look in animation than what I'm used to. Working with talented  animation colleagues is always a win for me. But, one of the best things though, was getting to know and work with Marc.  He's a real professional top notch guy and great to chat with.

Marc actually was a lifesaver, his knowledge of American Football was such an asset to help me out on this job. Hopefully we can work together again in the future.

Here is a link to the 15sec spot:

https://video.cisco.com/detail/videos/latest-videos/video/6361448780112?autoStart=true

Peter and the Wolf

I had worked with Exec-Producer Adriana Piasek-Wanski on a previous job and she kindly invited me to animate on this short based on the character drawings done by Bono of U2. Visually speaking, I thought the hybrid mix of hand drawn animation and the building of background model set pieces is a very cool look. Yes, it has been done before in the past, But this is the sort of creativity I'd like to see more of in animated short films. 

One of the highlights of this job was meeting and working for my supervisor Robert Milne. What an excellent guy, we still have great conversations to this day.