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.

Who's this Jim Lujan character? Security!!!

The Animation GetDown at Geeks Comics in Whittier California was a total blast We had a full house and the cartoons were awesome! I’d like to thank the following people for helping make the 2010 Geeks Animation Getdown making the Animation Get Down a sucess, Jim Lujan, Gracialla Rodriguez,  Steve Sievers, Dahveed, Scott Essman, Kevin Cross,   Nuvein Foundation for Literature and the Arts
Enrique Diaz and Renato Aguirre. Who I believe has the coolest last name I’ve ever Heard.  I’m Just sayin’.

Sal Felix the owner of Geeks Comics.

Sal Felix the the owner of GEEKS Comics provided us with the wonderful venue and refreshments!, Geeks Comics the best place to scratch your comic book itch! 6747 Greenleaf Ave. Suite A ,Whittier, CA 90601. 562 – 696 – 9393

My lovely Wife Hortencia completes me.

My wife the lovely and vivacious Hortencia Aguirre for providing candy grab bags for the audience and her expert photography service!

Thanks to my Brother Ricardo for showing up!  Is it just me or do we look like….

This means something.

I’d also like to thank everyone who attended the show.

What should mindset as an artist be?

I say you need to be  enthusiastic, passionate and dedicated. Most importantly you must have the love. If you don’t love drawing, I mean really LOVE IT!  You won’t last.  Sorry. Look, creating art is hard.  You must love your art enough to  get through the tough times.

In the art world you’ll encounter mainly 2 types of negative people. Douche Nozzles and Dumb Asses.   How do you spot who is  a  “Douche Nozzle” and who is the “Dumb Ass”  depends on who you ask. One person’s “Douche Nozzle” might be another person’s “Dumb Ass”.

It sometimes happens that when a person disagrees with us,  we want to label them either an uppity “Douche Nozzle” or a Lowly “Dumb Ass”. They are too stupid to see things “our way”. Or, they are too stubborn and “uptight” because they refuse to appreciate something we admire. But are these people really a Douche Nozzle or a Dumb Ass?

Everyone entitled to an opinion.

It’s how you express it.  Be polite and gracious that’s all.

How to hold your pencil when you draw.

Kimon Nicolaïdes

Some useful pencil wrangling tips!

2 Books  that are Man vs. Art required reading.

1. The Natural Way to Draw by Kimon Nicolaïdes

THEE BOOK!

This is a must for anyone serious on learning how to learn to draw.  Get it? This book teaches you how to approach your study of drawing. This book is a solid beginning and only for for the dedicated. NO POSERS! Do the  exercises, the best you can but more importantly draw. Draw everyday. Some will complain, “Awe man it will take me years to do this!” What do you plan on retiring your pencil the day you learn how to draw? It doesn’t take years, it takes a lifetime of hard work to learn how to learn to draw.
Chuck Jones followed it, as well as Shamus Culhane who wrote the next book.

2.  Animation from script to screen by Shamus Culhane

No. B.S. approach to making cartoons!

During my internship at Walt Disney Feature Animation in 1994 my first Animation Mentor Dave Zaboski recommended this book by Shamus Culhane, and it was a blast!  Shamus animated the famous  Pluto and the Flypaper sequence  and  “Honest John” Foulfellow the fox and Gideon the dopey cat on Pinnochio.  He worked at Warners and UPA and is considered a master. He makes it possible to learn animation from a book. Covering every aspect of film animation, from basic mechanics to giving creativity full play, and including writing, recording, acting, dialogue-even how to mange an animation studio of one’s own, Culhane fulfills the promise of his title-”from script to screen. This book contains more than 130 illustrations, graphic exercises,  and  sketches for an honest  hands-on experience for the novice.

Man vs. Art animated promotional video.