Spartacus Movie Book & Woody Strode

  I just posted a video of the Illustrated Movie book of the Spartacus the classic film form 1960. It has some great production drawings, movie stills, lobby art cards and other good. It is probably out of print, I picked this up at a old book store in Burbank, CA. The new Starz Spartacus: Blood and Sand reminded me of how much I loved the original. My favorite scene is the first fight between Spartacus (Kick Douglas) and Draba (Woody Strode). 


This video to dedicated to Jean Simmons (Varinia), who recently passed ago,  and Woody Strode.

  Woody Strode screen time was brief, but it had a great impact on me as 10 year Black kid watching the film in the theater.   The Draba character was the basic for my Conan-inspired "Blackwolf " (follow the link to the Blackwolf section of my website)website.   I meet Woody Strode one time, purely by chance, he was appearing at a Movie Fan convention at the Beverly Garland Hotel in North Hollywood the weekend I was there just before going to Korea for Universal Exosquad as oversea superviser.  I dropped in on the convention, just to kill time and there was Woody Strode signing autographs and sharing stories about his acting career. I bought the movie still in the video and had Woody sign it.  Then I went back to my room and return with a drawing of my Blackwolf character.  I give Woody the drawing which I signed and thanked him for his inspiration.  I not a big stargazer, but I'm glad a got chance to thank him in person.

  Back in the 1950's and '60's there were very few black action heroes in films.  The quiet Woody Strode played in some of my favorite action movies, Spartacus, The Professionals, with Lee Marvin and Burt Lancaster, and Pork Chop Hill, with Gregory Peck.  He was alway a support character.  One of his best role was in Sergio Leone's Once upon a Time in the West, although he get killed off in the first two minutes of the film, but it was a great two minutes.   I read Woody Strode's autobiography  last year and marvel at his achievements  before entering the acting.  For example, he was one of the first African-American to play professional football, back in the 1930's, long before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball.  I plan to present more of Woody Strode's work in the future.

Enjoy.

Belated Happy Birthday, Sam Woodyard (Jan. 7, 1925 - Sept. 20, 1988)

Here is my annual Happy Birthday wish for my father, the late Sam Woodyard, drummer for the Duke Ellington Band.  His memory lives on, alive and well in the music he loved, Jazz.  Enjoy.

Kung Fu Panda Dragonfly Flipz Video Posted On Youtube

Here's the finished Kung Fu Panda Dragonfly Cinema Flipz™ videoI posted on Youtube.


The cool graphic style of the opening sequence was a real treat and helped make this one of my favorite animated films.  I thought the 2D animation would make a good flip book.  I think of it as a salute to the animation team who are credited on page 2 of the flip book.  I also included an art gallery of the ending credits.  I thought of doing a separate Dragonfly Flipz™ book of the credits but , maybe someday.  Since this is still a "Concept Demo" it is still not for sale ( I keep hoping get these in front of the right eyeballs).  But, I will be sending one to my friend, Cyrus Voris, who was the co-writer of the story.  As a animation geek, I think he'll like it, and I hope you do, too.


Enjoy.

Kung Fu Panda Dragonfly Flipz Preview

  It been a while since my last new Dragonfly Flipz™ Book.   I've been busy securing gainful employment and  I'm happy to say with I've had some success.  So, I'm hoping to get back to produce more Dragonfly Flipz™ book "Concept Demo" samples (not for sale, as always).


  Here's a preview of the next one, the Kung Fu Panda Cinema Flipz™.   I started this after the release of the film last year.   I wanted to do it as a tribute to my friend Cyrus Voris, who was one of the co-writer of the story, and the artists who worked the film.  But, after a couple of rejections of Dragonfly Flipz proposals for other properties, not Kung Fu Panda, I pulled back from doing Concept Demo books.  Now, I'm ready to give it another try.  I've got a couple of Dragonfly Flipz books started, several other flipz book ideas worth doing.

Click on the picture for an enlarged view of the first ten "comic book layout" pages and the first flip book page, and two art gallery pages.  I plan to finish printing the book this week and have a video posted on youtube by next week end.

Enjoy.

Magus Robot Hunter Valiant Comics Party Flyer

  Back in April I posted a Dragonfly Flipz Book video on Youtube of a Valiant Comic Magus the Robot Fighter flip book I made form a unused video promo. I mentioned it was based on a Christmas party invitation Valiant had sent me. Well, I found it in my old files and thought I share it here. The original art by Art Nichols, one of Valiant's core artist.

You can click on the images for a supersized closeup.  Enjoy.

Concrete Motion Comic and Goofy Gold Record Spot

The lazy, hazy, days of summer are over, so it time to post more stuff on youtube and my blog. First up, some old fun videos I find while moving some boxes around the basement.
Concrete Motion Comic


The Concrete Comic book / Video Adaptation (as I called it back then) is something I put together on my old Amiga computer. I figured I'd better dump it to digital file before the tape goes bad.
I pitched this to Paul Chadwick (who has copy of it on VHS) and Dark Horse long before they got into movies. I also used it for one of my Dragonfly Flipz books. I'd like to update and finish it, someday.


Goofy Gold is a old cheesy, novelty record spot I worked on back in the 1970's. Remember 8-Tracks cassettes!! It is funky, but still fun. Basically, I was just created animated scenes, site gags and lame jokes, to match the song clips. These were totally low, low, budget. But, they made tons of money for the record producer, not me. Leave a comment if you remember seeing this, or remember any of the songs.

In both them you see why I never sell myself as a true "animator", but they were fun making. I got other record spots to put up that are just as cheesy. they're good for laugh.

Enjoy

My Demo Reel

Here is my animation Producer / Director Demo reel. Some what dated, but there is still some nice stuff in it. Gargoyles, and Thundercats have been released on DVD, but Ozzy and Drix, and Men in Black, have yet to be released. I'm especially fond of the Nascar Racers series. I still think it looks pretty good for it's time, and better than the new Speed Racer series. There was a lot of great CGI racing action in the show. I'll have pull some more clips to show. The series is now owned by Disney and I doubt if it will be released on DVD. (They have a property call "Cars", you know)

It nice to revisit these shows, but I look forward to moving on to my own projects.

Enjoy