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An appetizer.
Dearest Minions!
Before we get going on today’s guest, I have a special cartoon my guest found a while ago, and gave me. This made me laugh so hard, milk came out my nose. I wasn’t even drinking milk at the time!
Probably one of Funniest Cartoons I have ever seen!
Here is a film I mentioned at the beginning of the podcast that you guys HAVE to see. The 1965 film The Agony and the Ecstasy directed by Carol Reed, starring Charlton Heston as Michelangelo and Rex Harrison as Pope Julius II. A raging era of titans, popes and princes… of conspiracy and conflict… of turmoil and transgressions… of a man among men… of magnificence!
Pope Julius is eager to leave behind works by which he will be remembered. To this end he muscles Michelangelo into painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. When not on the battlefield, the Pope constantly nags the crap out of Michelangelo to speed up his painful work on the frescoes.
The main Course.
Today I am going to introduce to you a very special friend of mine from way back in my Disney days. His name is Dana Reemes and he is the cat’s pajamas!
I used to stay late at the studio every night and work on my own animation projects. You know me, I’m always trying to better myself. I figured I wasn’t going to be at Disney forever and wanted to take full advantage of my time there. Dana worked nights as well and we became friends.
Professor Dana Reemes.
This is Dana in his study. Animator, Film maker, Egyptologist, Professor, Cartoonist, Published Writer, Explorer, and good buddy!
Earliest work.
Dana’s “Artism” manifested itself at age two. Check out the choo choo!
Comic Resume.
This is Dana’s clever as hell resume he used to get his first animation job at Filmation in 1979. He just walked in and showed them this. He was hired on the spot! No portfolio or nuthin’!
Remember Atomic Sit ups in middle school?
Person 1 is conned into performing “the hardest sit-up ever” an Atomic sit up. Person 1 then lies on their back and are told to cross hands on their chest. Person 2 then holds a towel over the face of person 1 covering the eyes telling him sit up quickly with all his strength when he says to. Meanwhile person 3 has removed their pants and is squatting over person 1′s face with out him knowing. Person 2 then tells person 1 to sit up and quickly removes the towel as soon as the sit up begins. The result has person 1′s nose planted into person 3′s ass.
Here Dana has drawn a gag cartoon showing off a automatic atomic sit-up machine!
Caricature of Dana Reemes by Michael Swafford.
I knew Michael Swafford while I was working on Disney’s Hercules in 1997. Mike supervised the animation of Hermes and was truly one of the most talented animators I had ever seen! I mean look at this caricature of Dana he did! EXCELLENT!
Robert Crumb!
Dana met Robert Crumb in 1969 in the flea bag Miramonte Hotel on Mission Street where Robert was staying at the time. Dana brought his sketchbook and Robert kindly went over it with him! Not only that, Crumb gave some sage advice as well as a Crowquill Penpoint! Believe it or not Dana still has it! Behold!
Minions! I got to hold a pen Crumb gave Dana in 1969!
Robert also handed Dana a gel capsule of high grade LSD called Owsley’s White Lightning.
One of the first underground chemists to mass produce high-quality LSD in the 1960′s was Owsley Stanley. .
Owsley produced his LSD in Los Angeles and once he had a huge batch, he drove to the bay area where he supplied LSD to Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters for their acid tests. Through them he also met the Grateful Dead in 1966 and began supporting them both financially and as a sound man.
Owsley’s best-known acid was “White Lightning” (300,000 doses) made in 1966-1967.
Robert Crumb’s music!
Dana Also turned me on to Robert Crumb’s band “The Cheap Suit Serenaders”
They play covers of 1920′s Tin Pan Alley Jazz! Holy cow what find! Highly recommended! A new Man vs. Art favorite!
Here is one of my favorite songs “The Fine Artist Blues” from the album Chasin’ Rainbows.
I dedicate this song to all the Man vs. Art Minions out there!
Thanks Dana for turning me onto these jams! And thanks Robert Crumb for your cartoons and now your music!!
Twinkle Toes Dana the Ballet Pirate!
Okay guys, here are two pics of Dana in a pirate costume from the Sacramento Junior Ballet’s 1962 all-ballet production of Peter Pan! This is how he looked when the teen bathing-beauty nymphets threw his butt in the deep end of the pool. You’ve seen the pictures! You CAN’T unsee them!
My doesn’t he look fierce and manly? ARRRRRRRRR!!!!
Dana’s fave Comics.
Dana really enjoyed Curt Swan’s Lois Lane for it’s elegance and theatrical posing.
Dana Also dug the Italian artists who drew Turok! Son of Stone!
This is beautiful work! Nothing fancy, just good solid drawing! I love these!
Magnus Robot Fighter was another of Dana’s choices!
This is some really good stuff! I love the way he draws the girls! The panel flow is really smooth and each composition is tight!
Filmation!
This is a clean up pencil test of Skeletor from the 1980′s Filmation Cartoon He Man and the Masters of the Universe. My friend Dana Reemes provided the clean up assistant animation on this scene. I just took the photocopies he loaned me, scanned them, and put together this animation test.
Filmation’s early stuff!
Believe it or not Filmation’s first gigs were doing the opening credit sequences for Italian Giallo which were the first sexual thrillers.
Although they did not do the titles for this particular Giallo film, I wanted to share it with you guys because it is just so insanely awesome! Blood and Black Lace Directed by the Great Mario Bava!
Check out the trailer! In bleeding COLOR!
Here are the opening Credits.
The 2010 Geeks Con!
Here is your Man vs. Art probably talking about art. Probably!
Getting some sugar from my babe, The Lovely and Vivacious Hortencia.
Melissa admires the display Hortencia put together for Man vs. Art!
Hortencia did an exceptional job of putting together my display! She matted my prints, bagged the cards and books, and dug up the vertical display things! My stuff looked rad!
Sherm Cohen and I hammed it up big time! It was great to meet him and his wife! Sherm is quite a talented fellow! The poor dude has a bone spur in his foot and hobbled in on crutches! What a trooper! The kids gushed their chonies with his Sponge Bob stuff which looked friggin’ awesome! Get Well Sherm!
John Narcomey is a bigger ham than Sherm and I put together.
The super talented Rafael Navarro is always a stud!
Ted Seko buffed and talented! Dig that sketch guys!
Geo Brawn IV and Nancy. What a nice couple! Love the jewelry Geo! The dark one Geo had the kids gushing their chonies as well, only out of fear!
Javier Hernandez and Jim Lujan, now this is what I call studs!
Geeks Con 2010 was a blast and I can’t wait until next year!
That’s enough for now!
Ciao!
R
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:41:13 — 92.7MB) | Embed
Hola Minions!
Here it is! At long last the eagerly anticipated second part of……
The History of Animation According to me.
But before I get into it I need to let you guys know right from the get go, that this episode of the Man vs. Art Podcast is heavy. I mean really heavy. It clocks in at over 90 minutes. I went balls out on this one kiddos. I started from the 1987 debut of the Simpsons shorts on FOX’s Tracey Ullman show and went all the way to the present day. I made a real effort to touch on as many key moments in cartoon history as I could, with that bombastic fiery passion you all have come to expect from me.
I gushed over the things I love like some sort of braying seal/James Lipton hybrid and I tore into the stuff I hate like a drunken Wolverine slashing into a pack of Ninjas.
In other words, I kept it Raul.
This time it was a little different than part one because this time I was actually there and experienced it first hand for myself as an animation artist. So at times I got a little worked up and perhaps a tad emotional.
FYI, this is a no B.S. zone. Rest assured that I offer the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me Walt.
In producing this episode I learned that there is no free lunch in Animation. Never has been. The first hundred years of modern animation was no picnic! Especially for the Artists.
Producing animation is tough. It takes hard work, devotion, and vision. Even animation that is “phoned in” or “hacked out” requires effort.
Animation has dealt with B.S. and adversity at every turn. But more importantly I learned that the greatest achievements in animation no matter the era, always have the most humble of beginnings.
Do you remember where you were on April 19, 1987? I do. I was watching Animation history being made.
That night was the very first appearance of The Simpsons in a 1:40 minute short interstitial on the Tracey Ullman Show. This little Ghettomation ushered in a new era for cartoons and became one of the biggest most successful animation properties in history.
Don Bluth Corner
Don Bluth Single handedly saved 2D Animation in the early eighties with awesome awesomeness!
Don Bluth’s Space Ace
Don Bluth Draws Kimberly from Space Ace
Notice he is using a yellow Dixon Ticonderoga #2 pencil. It’s no secret Minions! You’ve heard me say it before! The magic pencil is the one you happen to have in your hand.
Here is Don’s youtube channel with some cool animation tutorials!
Disney’s The Black Cauldron 1985
80′s cartoons intro mix!
IMHO the Defenders of the Earth intro was EPIC!
Best Animated Feature Prologue EVER!
Awesome Ghettomation Parody of Saturday morning fun!
Slip and Fail by Jim Lujan
Channel Frederator!
Subscribe Here for Best Free Content on ITunes!
Bloat your IPOD with Channel Frederator’s Cartoon Goodness.
Newest Inductee to the Man vs. Art Pantheon of Awesomeness.
art and text by Mike Garvey
I hereby nominate Benjamin Franklin for the Man vs. Art Pantheon of Awesomeness. He has been one of my biggest heroes for as long as I can remember. Heck, I even named my son after him. My reasons, several, but I’ll keep it to a few. I’ll start with the obvious and then move on to what really makes him great in my book.
His discovery of electricity changed the world as we know it. Steve Jobs has nothing on him. From the light bulb to the internet, electricity may be one of the most important elements in any artist’s toolkit.
Social networking: In 1727 he formed the “Leather Apron Club” (later called “Junto”). Called the Leather Apron Club because of the leather apron he and his fellow printers wore, it was a club that met in tea houses and pubs for the purpose of ‘business, friendship, and conversation’. It became so popular over it’s 30 year span that several spin-off clubs were formed.
He was America’s first cartoonist. His political cartoon “JOIN OR DIE!” (drawn in 1754 in response to the Seven Years War) would become a rally cry during the American Revolution. His cartoon was an inspiration for the people of thirteen colonies to come together and stand against, and amongst, the world’s superpowers of the time. Now that’s the power of art!
He founded the first library in 1731. For the first time ever, access to knowledge, information, poetry, etc. was now available to the general public rather than the few wealthy elite who owned private libraries. Thus enabling everyone, not just the aristocracy, to have an educated voice in the world.
Franklin was so disenchanted by elitist societies of higher learning, that in 1781 when solicited by Royal Academy of Science to submit an essay on his scientific experiments, he responded with a letter which became popularly titled: “Fart Proudly”. The letter discusses scientific means of making farts smell pleasant, and ends with: “…[compared to the practical applications of this discussion, other sciences are] scarcely worth a FART-HING.”
And so, for giving artists the power of lightning to create and unite, for making art that made the little guy feel like a big guy, and for recognizing the importance of every individual in a society, I nominate Benjamin Franklin for the Man vs. Art Pantheon of Awesomeness.
John Narcomey The Man, The Myth!
Indy comic creator and friend of the show John Narcomey had a one man art show at Geeks Comics last weekend and MAn vs. Art was there to check out his gallery and books! That Batman John had on display behind is SICK! I love it!
Geo Brawn IV
was there as well! What a stud! Just in case you are wondering, no He’s not Samoan.
The lovely and vivacious Hortencia looked smokin’ (as always)
I'm a lucky guy.
She makes me look good.
Graciella Rodriguez, Melissa and Hortencia the Geeks Chicas!
John and his soon to be wife Melissa sure make a great couple don’t they?
I gotta give John props on his t-shirt. PURE NARCOMEY!
GEEKS-CON 2010
Everyone is invited!
Javier Hernandez
Tribute gag Promo by
The Che Guevara T-Shirt
click the pic to Jav's Blog!
Last but not least, I am thrilled to announce that the Man vs. Art Podcast is now a proud member of the Visual Artist Podcast Network at visualartistpodcastnetwork.com
