Who is Rocket Johnson? - Charity Auction

Over on the Animation Nation board, member Dr. Hong, ask members to pass along this notice.

"7.01.2008
CHARITY AUCTION
"Who is Rocket Johnson?" is a 72 page graphic novel anthology being self-published by Walt Disney Animation Studio's Story Artists and Directors. It's an all-ages book in which every artist answers the question: "Who is Rocket Johnson?" It will be sold exclusively at booth 2302 in San Diego (http://www.comic-con.org/) and is a limited edition of 1,000 copies.

I’ve put a copy on Ebay to help support research in finding a cure for Multiple Sclerosis.
The book is signed by all of the Disney artists in the book and also comes with a set of pins we made special for Comic Con. The proceeds from this book will be donated to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (http://www.nationalmssociety.org) to fund cutting-edge research, drive change through advocacy, facilitate professional education, and provide programs and services to help people with MS and their families move their lives forward. The auction will end on Jul-10-2008 at 10:30 a.m. pst.

The auction is located here: item number - 160256489260

Please help us spread the word about the book and the auction!"

It's my total pleasure to pass the word along. It looks like a great book and the auction is a real inspiring action. The ebay auction page includes several interior pages. Here's wishing the best of everything to the creators. I'll be missing the Comic Con this year, so I'll have to have a friend try to pick me up a copy.

Enjoy, and pass the word.

Paul Chadwick's Concrete - Comix Flipz Book

Here's my Dragonfly Comix Flip Book adaptation of a Paul Chadwick's "Concrete" story, "Watching a Sunset". Paul is one of my favorite comic book creators, really deserving of wider recognition. Concrete is Paul's best known work in a long and very creative career. There was talk of a Concrete live action movie at one time, I hope the success of recent comic book-based features jump-starts that project again.

The Dragonfly Concrete Comix Flipz book is adapted from animation I did many moons ago. The original comic story can be seen at the end of the flip book. The original animation is stored on tape somewhere. I'll have to find it and post it sometime. The Concrete Comix Flipz book project, as a licensed product from Dark Horse Comics, got sided track somehow, but I hope to get it on track this year (with the fans help). Leave comments here, and at Paul's blog site (link at right) and the Dark Horse sites, if you want to see this finished.

This project has a long storied history that I'll relate in a future post. For now just enjoy it.

Batman Sketch

Here's a sketch book drawing to welcome this summer's Batman movie and animated DVD. I'm actually looking forward more to the anime styled Gotham Knight DVD than the movie.
Here's the trailer:


I wonder if other Warner Bros. properties will get this "Animatrix" style treatment. I'm not sure if that's a good, or bad, thing. The U.S. shows may come off looking childish and flat in comparison.

Time will tell. Enjoy.

Happy Father Day

Here's wishing everyone a Happy Father's Day (U.S. holiday). I enjoyed a wonderful day with my family. We attended a free concert at the Rochester International Jazz Festival (being held this week) and had a nice dinner out.

Best of all, they give me this cool t-shirt from Threadless.com.

It's getting to be a tradition to get a t-shirt on Father's Day. It's much better than a tie. Last year's was a Snoopy "Joe Cool" shirt that read "Unathletic Dad". I loved and wore it to all their Little League games, just for fun.

Hope all you Dads have a good day, too.

Kung Fu Panda

I saw Kung Fu Panda this last weekend with my whole family, my wife and two boy (10 and 11 years old), and we all loved it. My most pleasant surprise is the was seeing the story co-credit of my friend Cyrus Voris on the big screen. I totally forgot he was doing a "Dreamworks project" a couple of years ago.



Cyrus and I met in the '80 working on his first animation job as story artist and later scriptwriter for the Galaxy Rangers series. He is one of the many great, and talented, friends I made on that project. He's come along way since then. Recently he and his writing partner Ethan Rieff, created and wrote Sleeper Cell, the acclaimed cable series.

Great work, Cyrus.

(On minor note (at least career-wise), Cyrus wrote the dialog for my comic book story "Warrior in the Mist".)


Another added enjoyment in Kung Fu Panda movie was the great the 2D animation in the opening dream sequince and the ending credits. They've both been post on the web. If, Dreamworks does a TV series or direct to DVD, Blu-Ray, follow up, they should use the 2D style with 3D Po wrap-arounds. That would be cool.

Go see Kung Fu Panda. You'll really enjoy.

New Sketch - Doctor Apollo

I just pick up a new sketch book and finally got around to drawing something in it. Doctor Apollo is a original character that's be knocking around my head for a long time. I don't have any great plans for him, but time will tell.

Enjoy.

Warrior in the Mist - Comix Flipz Mirco Flipz book

Here's my Dragonfly Flipz™ Micro Flipz™ book adaptation of my Warrior in the Mist animatic movie. This Dragonfly Comix Flipz™ is the latest version (format) of my Flipz books. The Micro Flipz is about the size of a trading card, 2 1/2 " x 3 1/2", great for custom promotional items. I'm going to do a post, soon, detailing the development of the Dragonfly Flipz™ format. That might help me re-focus on it's core advantage: presenting animators with a book format for their animated shorts and webisodes. Contact me for further info.



In case you missed it here the Warrior in the Mist - Part 1, animatic movie:



This Warrior in the Mist Comix Flipz is available on my Ebay store page (listed at the bottom of this blog page). Buy it now, share it with your friends, and help me keep my Dragonfly Flipz™ project going.

Enjoy.