Angus and Teehan

My senior animation project is a short, mostly dialogue-free animated film about two neighbors, Angus Cooke, a stuffy middle-aged intellectual, and Teehan Carter, an effeminate, destructive ten year old boy, who is super in love with Angus for some reason. They both live in pretty much self-contained worlds of loneliness and misunderstandings, and struggle with their lame-ass lives as best they can. Above is the first sketch I ever did of them together, and below are a copy of color schemes that I may use for it. Haven't decided which one yet. Tell me what you think.

Chicken Spheres

Concept art I created for Brad Pearson's art school film "Once In A Lifetime" (2), involving a fictitious fast-food company, Chicken Spheres. In the story, I guess Chicken Spheres (tm) commissions some students at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design to create a new logo for their unscrupulous company, whose only philosophy is to create a perfect sphere of chicken meat for every customer. If it has an edge, it's not a sphere. If it's not a sphere, it's not a chicken sphere. Watch out for the last few logos. they're pretty intense.

Suicide Food

If you're like me, you must agree that there's nothing more weird and pathetic than an animal mascot promoting a meat-eating establishment, especially when the meat that's being eaten is their own. Anthropomorphic salmon urging you to consume seafood, cartoon chickens selling out their brothers and sisters for perhaps just a few more days of sweet life. If there was a restaurant that served humans I would sooner perish with honor than prolong my tortured life by acting as a treasonous jester for my captors, but apparently many, many cartoon animals feel differently. The blog Suicide Food, which I am also adding to my links, is a list of these sad race traitors, it puts their faces up there on the internet for everyone to see so that maybe someday when one of these schmucks is out getting milk or renting a movie on some calm, normal night, BOOM! they get a taste of what they send their poor compadre's to every single fucking day. Justice.

Shapeshifting Owl Freakout

The editing for this video and the presentation of the owl's abilities are almost more hilarious than the owl's talents itself. Oh, wonderful Japanese TV standards. If mother nature gets any cooler we should bomb her.

Sue Barfight Extravaganzo

An illustration for the proposed Mission-Hill style environmental color scheme that I plan to employ in animated projects, like the recent 'A Boy Named Sue'.

A Boy Named Sue Animatic

The animatic for my proposed music video project, set to Johnny Cash's immortal 'A Boy Named Sue'. You can see my original character sketches ovah' here. My Name is Sue! How do you do! Now you gunna die!

High Treason Characters 2008

Re-hashed characters for my High Treason concept, which is now best described as Rupyard Kipling's 'Kim' spy story set in an American High School.
Zach is the main character of the story, a roughly amoral malcontent/picaresque whose only reliable trait is a smattering of greed, lukewarm cowardice, and a distinct pliability when it comes to bribes and especially Eggs Benedict, his favourite food.His only, and possibly best friends are Oz, an insecure white middle class scruffball whose only loves in life are mean girls and his busted up Oldsmobile, and Zoey, a Nancy Drew-class teen detective, looking to solve her 23rd and final case before she graduates and becomes a cultural studies major. Cade and Grady are both senior high school monitors, dedicated to the heady aroma of power and duty. Sydney Dillon is the worst boy in the world, an effortless manipulator and medication addict with a flair for no-holds barred sociopathy, also the villian of the story.

Mysterious Mose-San

Another puppet-type animation short film, this time from the lonely volcanic island of Japan, located somewhere in the Asiatic seas. It's kind of a creepier, Asian answer to Mysterious Mose, done by the techno-pop group Denki Groove, and contains many actual spirits and monsters. The song is the intro for Hakaba Kitaro, an animated series about a one-eyed boy who fucks about with ghosts and stuff.

Character designs circa 2007

my character designs for Space Kelly, my comic about an androgynous space-bandit, Moonhead and Meisner, and High Treason, my concept work for two boarding school friends trapped in a surreal Village, and a high school drama, respectively, and for Teehan and Angus, my senior animation project for school. As of the end of 2007.

Moonhead and Meisner, Diana Sketch

Some sketches I churned out amid the tempest of finals. There's Moonhead and Meisner, best friends from Britain, and a japanese artist friend of mine, of dichao at blogspot. I think she's a comic major, maybe.

That's Mysterious Mose!

A brilliant puppet short film that involves cut out animation, stop motion, and shadow animation! Mark Caballero and Seamus Walsh did this. It's one of the most engaging and encouraging pieces to come out of the animation world in some time. I believe their studio, screen-novelties.com, is working on a lot of exciting stop-motion projects right now, especially in collaboration with the Cartoon Network. The song itself is based on an old-timey ballad about a spooky black man. Go figure.

A Boy Named Sue Character Sheet

The full character sheet for my ' A Boy Named Sue' project.

A Review

a horrible old hag who has no idea about the basic tenets of criticism or youth tries her hand at reviewing the delightful, albeit over-marketed Ellen Page vehicle, Juno. She makes a mess of it, and all over it, resulting in the literary equivalent of one of those videos where the guy tries to skate down a railing and crotches himself. This is collegehumor.com of reviews. I feel guilt, but not regret, for exposing anyone to it.
Phyllis Schlafly reviews Juno

A Boy Named Sue Concept Art

A character sheet for ' A Boy Named Sue', a project I'm storyboarding, and possibly animating in the future. Sue at various ages, his maw and paw, teachers schoolmates and victims, are all here. Overtly based on the Johnny Cash song, about a boy tormented by his father's absence and lack of parental skills. Give it a listen if you haven't already. And shut up.

Pierpoint on Quay

Just a very Miyazaki-influenced sci-fi drawing I forced from my syphilitic fingers.
also, if you have the time, inclination and interest, please read this article on transsexual body image written by a good comrade.
transsexual antinomy Very solid stuff.

The Real Bush

I normally try to steer clear of overt political commentary/humor in my work, both because it totally dates a piece and comes off as compassionless, un-subtle grandstanding. I made the exception here, because I thought i might be able to offer something more than the normal divisive name-calling, I hope I'm right in assuming as much.

Space Kelly Poster

Let's Rocket! (tm)

Space Kelly: Here's A Smirk 3

The final collection of pages from my Space Kelly: Here's A Smirk project.

Space Kelly: Here's A Smirk 2

More pages from the reptile-pitying, whiskey drinking, lady-seducin' (not in this comic) Space Kelly. Is he a boy or a girl? Why is she so angry? Is there another Skywalker? maybe.

Space Kelly: Here's A Smirk

Space Kelly is now an androgynous colony soldier on some Outer Rim Planet, plus a lovable cartoon. Plus a confusing comic project that I did.

Paranoia Agent

Paranoia Agent:
Subversive Anime by Satoshi Kon
The Best There Is!
Enter Li'l Slugger;

George Romero's Dayz of the Dead

In the style of the 80s Romero horror shocker lauded as "The Darkest Day in Horror", comes-
Dayz of the Dead!
Commander Rhodes is an uptight father figure at the head of a ragtag military installation- but what he does count on is- full on wackiness! whether it's confused teen zombie Bub's attempts to shave, Professor Logan's crazy scheme to start Frankenstein monkey farm, or Sarah's dinner of terrible Greek salad, there's only one thing you can be sure of this apocalypse- there's not gonna be one dull moment!

Moonhead and Meisner/ Class sketches

In-class-sketches and the creation of unlikely and untenable creative properties are how i pass my time, very commonly. I hate mondays, but I love lasagna.

Space Kelly and the Voctopoid/ Ghastly Yarns

A one-page Space Kelly comic and a horror comic set at my art school, which, in case you haven't yet guessed, is MCAD, The Minneapolis College of Art and Design. (because apparently those two things are completely different) These are both class projects done under the duress of deadlines, so let's not judge too harshly, eh?

Shipwrecked In Time Poster

A movie poster I did for a friend's Romantic Comedy, Shipwrecked In Time, that features neither epic marine/naval battles or, overtly, the concept of time travel. It's a romantic comedy, stupid.

The Scenic Route 2

The Last two pages of my period comic, 'The Scenic Route'.

The Scenic Route

After deciding to do a period piece, I settled on the oft-mangled prohibition era, and wrote The Scenic Route, partly inspired by Miller's Crossing.