Aloha from Comic-con?

Every now and then, you get to work on a project that comes together just the way you hope it would. No road blocks, no rejections, and barely any headaches. This rarely happens, and when it does, it kind of gives you hope that for a split-second you somehow knew what you were doing. It also takes working with creative folks who have a ton of enthusiasm and are open to new ideas. For comic-con this year, I got to work with Chris Sanders, of Lilo and Stich fame, on his very first vinyl figurine based on one of his hula girls. My job was to create the packaging for it. I submitted 3 ideas - a tiki hut, a pineapple crate, and a pinapple can (she sits on gigantic pineapple). The last option had a metal pop top and bottom just like a real food can, and a die-cut window for the vinyl. This was the 'anything goes' idea I like to throw in that usually is the priciest and most difficult to make. It's also the one that never gets picked. Guess my surprise when Chris said he wanted to go with it. The vinyl is amazing and I hope the packaging compliments her. It's definitely one of the coolest projects I've had the opportunity to work on. If only every gig was this easy! Hopefully there are more down the road. Be sure to check out Chris' site for updates. This is the final version of the comic-con limited vinyl and its packaging.

That's Incredible!, Part 2

Here's the rest of the posters from the Incredibles series. The bright colors and flat shapes were inspired by the Disneyland attraction posters you see when going through the tunnels at the entrance of the park. Even when I was 6, I remember thinking those things were amazing, so getting to reference them for this project was a thrill in itself.

That's Incredible!

Here's a series of posters I created as a tribute to my favorite tv show growing up - That's Incredible! What's not to like? Unbelievable human feats, mind-bending oddities, rubik's cube-solving f-ers, and the amazing team of John Davidson, Kathie Lee Crosby, and Fran Tarkenton? Vikings QB Fran f-ing Tarkenton??? Without the uni, he looked like a regular dude. But damn was he a gamer! Anyways, For the past 2 Pixar films and 2008's Wall•e, I've gotten the fortunate opportunity to design poster series' for use on products such as apparel, trading cards, giclee prints, etc. Hopefully, they let me continue this with their future films. They are definitely a challenge from concept to completion. They're also the most fun I've ever had at work. The first series was for The Incredibles, my favorite Pixar film. Here's a few of them. Hope you dig 'em!

Summer Catch

With the summer months come sunshine, warm weather, and most importantly - vacations. My most memorable summer vacations involved waking up at the crack of dawn and heading down to the lake for a relaxing full day of fishing with dad. I think i was about 5 or 6 at the time. Rarely did I ever catch anything but it was fun nonetheless. While lazily drifting down the lake, dad would give me wonderful talks about current events, his own chilhood adventures, and how chicks are a pain in the ass. Once I grew older and got bored and frustrated with never catching anything, those fishing trips became a thing of the past. In its place came video games and underage drinking. Now that I'm older, I do think about them often. Everything just seemed so innocent and easy back then. Now I bust my hump everyday fighting traffic, paying bills, and taking all kinds of crap from chicks. Here's a pic of me and my old man during happier times.

More Rats!

& here's the rest of 'em...

Rats!

Here's larger versions of my Ratatouille posters. Once I can find the sketches and reference under my desk o' crap, I'll post the process of how these are created from beginning to end. Enjoy!

Greetings from Yosemite!

My friends Steve, Kelvin, Rich, Boom and I took a hiking/camping trip up to Yosemite over the weekend. As you can see in the photo, the mountains, trees, and lakes are some of the most beautiful and majestic around. You can almost smell the pines can't you? Ignore that funky border above the scenery and the pillow on the bottom left. I'm still trying to figure out Photoshop. Fortunately, I do have a bunch of better photos that I will be posting when I run out of things to watch on tv (How bout that Maury Povich? Paternity tests, teen sluts, makeovers, and fat babies-what's NOT to like?).



In the meantime, here's a photo of me and pretty much all I did the entire trip.

Cousin Kenny, My Idol!

My cousin is a one-man-party and the coolest guy I know. He's always got a beer or some happy smoke close by and he once knocked out a small bear during a camping trip. If anything, he's taught me not to take B.S. from nobody. Last I heard, he's doing a stretch at county. He should be out soon though. I'll keep a few cold ones in the fridge for you cuz!

Happy Holidays Dudes!

In celebration of Christmas being a few days away, here's a little doozy to get you in the holiday spirit. So place another log in the fireplace and snuggle up with your loved ones. Ahh! Now, where the crap are my happy pills?!?!

Aloha from California?

As random as my mom can be, my dad loves sticking to a set schedule. It's a wonder that they get along at all. He's meticulous at everything he does, especially when it comes to his gardening. He's like a cross between Thomas Edison and Al Bundy. I never knew pineapples grew anywhere other than Hawaii, but my dad made it a mission of his to create his very own California pineapples.



My dad got the idea about 7 years ago, and I have no idea how he did it, but through research, experimentation, and a whole lot of patience, my dad was able to grow his very first pineapple 2 years later.



He took me through the process over the weekend and I learned a whole bunch of stuff that I never even considered. The "seed" is actually the top of the previous pineapple. You know, the spiky, leafy, things.



Once the top is soaked and planted, the leaves grow into a huge bush that's about 3 feet high. About 7 months later, a bud forms at the end of a stem above the center of the bush. That bud looks like a miniature pineapple. It then grows for another 5 months til it gets big and orange like the pineapples we're used to seeing. How bizarre is that? If you think about it, that crazy thing grows from the top from the original pineapple. It's like having a baby grow from your hair or something.



The pineapples are now ready to pick! My dad says they're as sweet as any you buy from the supermarket. My mom wouldn't try one if you paid her, she just rolls her eyes. I give my old man a lot of credit for sticking with something for so long and getting it right, despite zero support from the Mrs's. Unfortunately he didn't pass that attitude to me. I sleep all day. His 1 pineapple total from 5 years ago has now ballooned to 26 this year. Way to go dad!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

My mom was nice enough to visit me at the office last week. Here's a picture of her next to one of the Ratatouille posters in the lobby. She looks happy enough and we were having a nice day, but things took a turn for the bizarre about 2 seconds after I shot this. Every now and then, the craziest, far-fetched, and completely random idea will pop into my mom's head. Thank god it's wasn't passed on genetically to me (or was it?). In this case, she decided all of a sudden that she wanted to take the poster with her. I immediately told her that she was completely nuts and I think they'll notice if it's missing. That thing's like 10 feet tall for crying out loud. She responded by lifting the thing off the wall from the bottom to see how it was hung. I had no idea why she wanted it since there is no space in her house to hang it, let alone any way to haul it back with her to San Diego. I stood there stunned. She asked me to help her unhinge it and I thought I was gonna throw up. About 20 minutes later, as I lay motionless on the floor, she fortunately gave up on the idea when she found out we had a Starbucks in the cafeteria. Funny thing is, the sight of my 5' mom trying to wrestle a 10' poster off the wall was worth it alone. I had a good laugh after I got over the terror of it all. What i didn't tell her was that a security camera was pointed right at her the whole time. That's gotta be some ridiculous footage. If anything, it could prove my innocence in court while mom sat in jail for stealing company property. Happy Mother's Day mom!

Play Ball!

Now that the baseball season is in full swing, I thought I'd dig up a little project I completed last season. Being from San Diego, the Dodgers were always our bitter rivals. Mainly cuz they would kick our asses every year. Everything Dodger blue made my stomach turn, but putting that hate aside was easy when they asked me if I wanted to design their mascot. As far as I know, they've never really had a true mascot, so the opportunity was one I could never pass up. I'm also quite the sellout, especially if it involves free seats behind 1st base. That mascot became Ebbett, a trolley that ties in their storied past as the Brooklyn "trolley" Dodgers. Now if they could only find a way to make him into a big, fat suit that runs around at games.

The Fun Team

There are two sides to our creative team at work, character artists and designers. I fall into the latter category. In meetings, I've noticed that the designers like to fold their arms and comment on everything, while the character artists like to quietly look down into their sketchbooks and draw caricatures of EVERYONE in the room. They always seem to have a smirk on their face while doing so. I decided to take a stand and do as the character artists do because frankly, they look like they're having a lot more fun. During a recent meeting, sketchbook in hand, here's what I came up with. I wanted to do something nastier, cuz it seems to be a qualification for a lot of their caricatures, but the two folks pictured have the power to fire me so I played it safe. I discovered that it was waaaaay more fun than having to fold my arms and talk! Oh, and on their coffee breaks, the character artists like to rip on everyone who happens to walk by. I LOVE THESE GUYS!!! By hanging out more and more with them, I hope I get to be a nasty SOB too!..and better at drawing stuff.

RATS!

Every now and then at work, I get the opportunity to design posters for the animated films Pixar and Disney creates. For Ratatouille, we used A.M. Cassandre's vintage french posters as our main inspiration. It's always a surprise where the finished product ends up, and this is definitely no exception. The atrium on the Pixar campus is an amazing and inspiring spot one you step through the main entrance. An immediate sense of creativity flows through that place. With the posters, I'm just glad to be a part of that, even for a few weeks or so. Once the film opens, I'll be sure to post them HUGE so that you can actually see them.

Much thanks to Stephane Kardos, an unbelievably talented artist from our U.K. team, for contributing his amazing posters as well.

Who likes video games?!?!?!

Rich and I will be part of iam8bit group show this tuesday at Gallery 1988. We were able to see a bunch of the pieces on saturday and there's a lot of amazing stuff. And most importantly, there will be beer there!!!! Not just any old beer, FREE beer!!!! See you there!