Now I’m not saying this is the right way, or the only way to sketch the Hulk. This is just my way. The Man vs. Art way.  I am using a Wacom Graphire 3 Tablet and Autodesk Sketchbook Pro.

Again just like the last Demo, this is by no means  a finished piece.  Just a quick sketch with only the pencil tool and eraser tool. No fancy tools or filters or whatever. Just plain good old fashioned drawing and my thought process behind it. Enjoy!

Quick Wacom tablet Sketch of  Hulk.

1938 WALT DISNEY STUDIOS EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK!

I came a cross this old 18 PAGE Disney Studios Employee Handbook from 1938! It’s a brief outline of the Studio’s principal departments and an explanation to artists of its employment policies! The drawings are all  production drawings!

CLICK THE PIC FOR A PDF OF THE BOOKLET!

Get a load of the beautiful pencil sketches!  Look at the appeal and solid draftsmanship! The characters look alive and fun to draw don’t they!

I love this Mickey model! Right before they changed the proportions and eyes to look more “human”. To me this was the pinnacle of Mickey’s awesomeness!

Awesome with Awesome sauce!

This Goofy blows me away!  Everything in each drawing says dork! Look at how the hat follows the line of action!

The ultimate Goofy!

This is some very nice cartooning kids!  Inside the PDF of the booklet you’ll find mostly Snow White stuff and few pieces from their shorts and Silly Symphonies!  This is a great little collection of animation drawings from the Golden Age of Disney Animation!  I suggest you guys practice drawing these pics, and learn from them!

The last page is a flowchart that shows the pecking order at the studio and just how important Walt was to everyday operations! This is unreal!

If you’re hungry for more cartoon knowledge…..

Check out the right hand column under the blue Che’s Recommended  Books button for the official Man vs. Art must have book list! If you don’t have these books, you NEED to get them.

Ciao!

Raul

Hola Minions! Welcome to a hopefully new feature of  Man vs. Art.  I am resurrecting the drawing demonstrations and hope to post one every other week in between podcasts! IF you guys like this sort of stuff, I’ll do more. If you would like to suggest something you want me to draw send me an email to manvsart@manvsart.com!

First up is a pin up girl demo featuring Vampirella. Now I’m not saying this is the right way, or the only way to sketch a pretty girl. This is just my way. The Man vs. Art way.  I am using a Wacom Graphire 3 Tablet and Autodesk Sketchbook Pro.

This is by no means  a finished piece.  Just a quick sketch with only the pencil tool and eraser tool. No fancy tools or filters or whatever. Just plain good old fashioned drawing and my thought process behind it. Enjoy!

quick wacom tablet sketch of a pin up girl

Too much Dana is never enough!

I swear he looks like a Bond Villain.

"Excellent!"

Performing as a Gothic Mentalist at a very private affair. Winter Solstice, 2000.

Some funny stuff from the Dana Reemes Files!

Don’t you guys hate it when this happens?!

For the benefit of the laymen, here is what a clean up artist brings to the table in animation.

An awesome parody of the classic Ripley’s cartoons by madman Dana!

Lureline Weatherly:

a self-portrait.

She is Dana’s first wife and left quite an impression on him!

Ramses II’s Great Royal Wife Nofretari and Dana –Dana is the one on the right.

The Glamorous side of being an Animator.

Filmation also made live action Saturday morning kid shows.  One of them was Space Academy!  When it tanked, the abandoned  sci fi sets were  used to house artist cubicles! Studios will literally shove artist cubicles ANYWHERE!

When I was boy vs. art this stuff was THE BOMB!

File the next two under so horrible they are  great!

Shazam is cool.  Everyone knows that!

This takes the cake! Bigfoot raises an orphan and together they fight CRIME?!!

Will the REAL Ghostbusters please stand up?

Controversy!

While working at Filmation Dana had a ringside seat to the cartoon drama between “The Original Ghostbusters” and “The Real Ghostbusters.”

In 1984  Columbia Pictures released the blockbuster film Ghostbusters.   As they raked in millions  Columbia was clueless to their huge blunder.   Apparently they did not realize the name “Ghost Busters” was taken!  Believe it or not Filmation had already produced a live-action comedy series with that same name in 1975 starring Forest Tucker and Larry Storch.

In 1985 Filmation sued Columbia. As part of the out-of-court settlement, any cartoon based on the Columbia Pictures property could not be called “Ghostbusters.”  That title was reserved for Filmation!  Columbia had to name their cartoon show “The Real Ghostbusters” to directly distinguish it from the Filmation show.

Filmation then proceeded to call their version “The Original Ghostbusters.”

Columbia’s “The Real Ghostbusters was produced by DIC.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

I worked as a clean up  Inbetweener on the Phoebus Unit on  the 1996 Disney production The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  Phoebus was the handsome soldier who falls in love with the Gypsy Esmerelda.  He was interesting to work on thanks to some great rough animation by Russ Edmonds and Dave Brewster  as well as the charming voice performance by Kevin Kline.

But the helmet and sword gave my boss the suave  Brian Clift a hard time.  Anyway,   no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t get the props right.  The sword and helmet always morphed and wiggled.    The  head of the clean up department Vera Lanpher, wisely put Dana on the case!  It turns out Dana has a real knack for metal  props and his sense of  perspective  is razor sharp! Every frame of film that shows Phoebus’s helmet and or sword was done by Dana.

Helmet by Dana Reemes.

Something from the “Q” branch!

Dana owns a custom hand made animation lightbox setup made by the same guy who made the black acrylic animation discs at Disney.  It is beyond awesome! It collapses into a briefcase and comes with top and bottom pegs!  For $300.00 Dana got himself the coolest portable animation table set up I have ever seen.  Hand made in Korea!

Coolest animation lightbox ever!

Dana Reemes: The Filmmaker

NECROMANCE, a sequence from an unfinished feature film by Dana Reemes, is provided here as a public service by ManvsArt.com.  The names of the cast aand  crew have been changed to protect the identify of  some of the most prestigious individuals in the worlds of music, fashion, entertainment and the visual arts.  This film has been recognized for its artistic merit by countless audiences and critics over the years. NECROMANCE is, to put it bluntly, a deathless classic of the cinema.

Ahem!…..

Corrections!

I goofed in the last post a few times when it came to selecting images Dana admires.  So he wrote to me and pointed my mistakes out and offered his solutions. Here I cut and pasted Dana’s emails.  Isn’t he precious?!

Hey Raul, buddy,

It’s Dana “Not Tall” Reemes, here. Know you’re a busy guy, but thought I’d offer another suggestion for Man vs. Art. I think that Swafford’s great caricature would benefit from some judicious cropping; there’s too much negative space around the image. Use the crop tool and pretend you are an art framer. That’s all for now… Back to my writing.

Dear Raul,

Hope all is well. Don’t mean to be a pain in the ass, but thought I’d write. The TUROK material that you have up is not what I found particularly inspirational. I sent you a couple of really magnificent early painted covers by Morris “Moe” Gollub, who incidentally had been an assistant at Disney and was later a very distinguished layout guy and president of the MPSC 839 animator’s union when I joined up. Of course, I didn’t know any of this when I last saw you; Sito came by for an enjoyable visit on Friday and gave me an inscribed, author’s presentation copy of his illuminating book DRAWING THE LINE: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE ANIMATION UNIONS FROM BOSKO TO BART SIMPSON. (You would like this book, as its primary focus is “man vs. art”; artists trying to make a living doing what they like to do best, while having to deal with bullshit all the time from greedy or incompetent employers.) Sito, for his part, had an error in the book, describing the cover paintings that Mo Gollub did for Western Publishing titles like TARZAN and TUROK, SON OF STONE as being for paperback books rather than comic books. Gollub was just a guy like us (only talented) who knocked out those beautiful covers in the late ’50s when he was about your age. It was just something he did on the side as he was basically an animator. As for the interior page art, the examples you have are from the garishly colored Darkhorse reprints of one of the early issues illustrated by Rex Maxon, an old-timer that had done the TARZAN full-color Sunday newspaper strip (back when such strips were a big deal) for years starting in 1930, until it was later taken over by Burne Hogarth and the great Russ Manning (who later did MAGNUS,ROBOT FIGHTER for Western Publishing). Maxon’s Turok work looked old-fashioned at the time and while professional, always appeared to be done in great haste, mostly with brush (it’s faster). The finest draftsman ever to work on TUROK, was Alberto Gioletti (correct spelling, this time) a highly trained Italian, who later went back to Rome and established a well-respected comic book publishing firm. Considering how fast he worked and how little he was paid, his work is of a very high illustrational standard; other artists still use his drawings for reference when doing all manner of things like jungle, rocks, caves, etc. His work was always well-researched and had a real look of verisimilitude. All of the living beings, humans, cave-men, dinosaurs, etc., convey a sense of anatomical conviction. Anyway, it is factually incorrect to say that I liked the “Italian artists” that did TUROK; everyone involved with TUROK over the years was American except for Gioletti. (To complicate matters slightly, Gollub’s great covers were done early on when Rex Maxon was still doing interior page art; some other decent, but second-rate guy did the covers later on when Alberto Gioletti was doing the inside pages.)

One last thing, Sito right away knew the cartoonist who did that “Out of the way, swine, a cartoonist is coming!” panel; it is New York artist Bernard “Hap” Kliban, usually known as B. Kliban, and remembered now mostly for his goofy cartoon cats. He died sometime in the ’90s. You need to give him credit for that panel which so perfectly summarizes the way we cartoonists deal with our perpetually shattered dreams and frustrated aspirations. CARTOONISTS RULE!

B. Kliban

Well, I’m getting back to work on my doctoral dissertation now… Good being back in touch with you.

Your pal,
Dana

Also….

Also, with regard to the MAGNUS material you posted, you should say that this was the work of the great Russ Manning, as some of your fan-boy minions will no doubt know this and wonder at the oversight. Check out the way Manning does Magnus’ girlfriend in the finely-pleated, partly transparent mini-dress–very sexy, yet demure.  Don’t think he ever did the cover art though.

Here’s some random pages of Russ Manning MAGNUS art for you to pick through. Looked really good to me when I was a teenager!

Oh yeah, before I forget!

Also get a load of the latest Ghettomation Podcast! A fun and crazy animation round table discussion I take part in with Jim Lujan and Kevin Cross!

One last thing….

ManvsArt.com’s  Subcommandante  Jim Lujan has just released his first DVD Ghettomation Garden.  If you like stuff that is different, innovative, and funny then this is for you.

The reviews are in!

“I gushed my chonies….in a good way!”

The Che Guevara T-Shirt.

“I couldn’t stop laughing for hours!  And that was just while trying to get the shrink wrap off the DVD case!”

Raul Aguirre Jr.

Total with shipping: $13.00 USD

For less than a 12 pack of Dos Equis! ($13.49)

But just as fun and twice as intoxicating!

Thanks for dropping by!

Ciao.

R.

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

Free swag!

Citizen Sanchez Mini Comic and Official Man Vs. Art Minion Pin!

Attention all Minions!  ManvsArt.com announces the first officially licensed swag!  That’s right, you get one copy of Raul Aguirre Jr’s first mini comic book “Citizen Sanchez!” An eight page trip into the origin of the Citizen Sanchez Saga! You’ll laugh! You’ll cry! You’ll demand your money back even though it was free!  Each book comes signed,numbered, and sealed in a mini bag and board that my wife, the Lovely and Vivacious Hortencia Aguirre put together!

As an added bonus each book comes with an official ManvsArt.com Minion Pin!  Be the envy of your friends by publicly declaring  you are a fearless Man vs. Art Minion and damned proud of it!  All you need to do is subscribe to the Man vs. Art podcast through I-tunes,  email, or any of the other options in the right hand column AND then send Che and me an email containing your mailing address to manvsart@manvsart.com.

Please write SWAG in the subject line.  If you can, please  throw out a review on Itunes for us.  Karma folks!

You guys have really been a wonderful group of listeners and readers that I felt it was time to hook you guys up with something sweet.  Supplies are limited, so act now kiddos!

What have you got to lose? Besides, it's free!

Man vs. Art gets busy!

I recently appeared on the Art&Story podcast in a round table discussion with Jerzy Drozd, Mark Rudolph and Kevin Cross.  These dudes are Comic Fu masters as well as funny as hell.  It was a great show! We talked about writing in the thumbnail stage for comics and storyboarding. Give it a listen you’ll find it MEATY!

Also Jim Lujan and Kevin Cross have invited me to become a co-host on the Ghettomation podcast! The podcast for DIY animators by DIY animators! Wanna hear 3 animators talk about the orgasmic heaven and infernal hell that making animation is? Check out Ghettomation kiddos! In this latest episode we talk about music and the importance it plays in animated cartoons!

You guys have to check out Jim Lujan’s latest film.

New Wave Dentist.

And now the episode 21 podcast notes!

The three types of art.

In a nutshell all art can be placed into three distinct categories.

• Bad Art

  will prompt zero emotional response in the viewer. Like a song you hear in an elevator that goes in one ear and out the other, a picture on a wall that stimulates you the same way as if the wall had been blank, a movie on a plane you force yourself to watch just to kill time. Usually starring Rob Schneider incidentally.

  

  It's going to be a long flight.

• Good Art

Art that produces an emotion that you have felt before; a painting of a lake that reminds you of fishing with your grandpa, a love song that takes you back to the first time you saw your babe.

• Great Art

Art that produces an emotion that you have NEVER felt before. Take for example  Michelangelo’s La Pieta. His depiction of the Virgin Mary cradling the body of her son is so powerful and heart wrenching.  You can really feel the pain and sadness that a parent feels at the loss of a child.

La Pieta by Michelangelo. Agony in marble.

Passion Ration

As many of you know, I am very passionate about art. In fact it gets pointed out to me quite often.  I guess a majority of it stems from my refusal to completely grow up. I may be a big burly manly man.  To which  my friend Javier Hernandez adds Bombastic. I don’t know whether to punch him or hug him for that one.  Which come to think of it, that is probably what he means! But I still have a deep connection to the little punk inside of me that marvels at all things art related that are RAD, and BAD ASS.  Most cartoonists I think have this similar affliction to a certain degree, I mean look at how 99.9% of us have toys and action figures on our desks.

Nothing says "Hey ladies come and get it!" like a good set of desk toys!

Man vs. Art almost becomes Man vs. Ice Tomb!

Here is a series of pics from my trip to Europe in 2005.  I just barely avoided falling through the ice atop a glacier on Mt. Titlis in Switzerland.  Truly a near death experience.  I managed to bang up my leg and I suffered a severe nut crunch as a result. Luckily one of my fellow travelers, a kind Australian Gentleman happened to be a Surgeon. He examined me and made sure I hadn’t done any real damage to my boys.

As payment for the  emergency medical exam he wanted one of my watercolors I had painted of the Greek Isle of Hydros a few days before.

The Man vs. Art Pantheon of Awesomeness welcomes it’s newest inductee…..William Shatner!

Have you studied for your Kobayashi Maru?

William Shatner is the epitome of the artist who never says die!  For over four decades this guy has failed as much as he has  succeeded. He has put out as many stinkers as he has brilliant gems!  What’s more William Shatner has even humiliated himself a few times. But he always bounces back and we still love him!

What makes Shatner awesome is this.  Despite the  failures he has never given up.  Ever since I can remember Shatner has been working!

• bit parts on the Twilight Zone
• commanding the Enterprise in the OG Star Trek series,
• his brilliant musical career. Mr Tambourine man anyone? How about  Lucy in the sky with diamonds?
• TJ HOOKER,
• Rescue 911,
• the Star Trek Movies,
• Tek World,
• Spy Hard
• Over a decade as the priceline.com shill,
• Comedy Central’s Celebrity Roast
• History channel specials
• Critically acclaimed performances on The practice, Boston legal,
• His own talk show for crying out loud!

Some folks like me, admire him, other folks hate him.  You can’t argue with the fact that yes William Shatner is a joke.  But you know what?  I think he is laughing the hardest.  All the way to the friggin’ bank.

William Shatner I welcome you to the Man Vs. Art Pantheon of Awesomeness!

For you are Awesome in every sense of the word.  Or as my friend Luis Escobar puts it, “You are Awesome with Awesome sauce!”

Full of Shatner!

A musical tribute to William Shatner by who else? William Shatner!

Rocketman! Here William Shatner is the first person  to not just sing a song nor act a song but to overact a song!  If that’s at all possible!

William Shatner and Ricardo Montalban?!  Holy crap! That’s like adding chili and cheese to fries!

Phew! That’ll suffice for now!

Ciao!

R.