Recently my friends the Cartoonistas and myself celebrated the birthday of our good friend Sal Felix the owner of Geeks comics in Whittier California.  It was good times all around!  Literally a cartoon Carnival!

The lovely and vivacious Hortencia, the Man vs. Art, and Sal Felix

The usual Gang of Locos! Los Cartoonistas

A group of escaped cartoon loving lunatics that run around drawing funny pictures!

Back row from L to R John Narcomey, Geo Brawn IV, Javier Hernandez, Luis Escobar. Middle row Man vs. Art Raul Aguirre Jr., Grasiella Rodriguez, Rene, Jose Cabrerra Front Row Michael Aushenker, Jim Lujan

We all busted out self portraits on a big poster board and presented it to Sal!  Part gift, part vain self promotion!  Yipee!

Another Cartoonista shameless promotion!

Here we have a bevy of beauties known as the Cartoonista Groupies!

Pretty ladies to inspire the cartoon madness we put out!

Man Vs. Art busts out an Epic birthday present!

I  unveiled a painting that I made as a gift for Sal.  I really appreciate his generosity towards the Usual Gang of Locos!

The artist unveils his creation!

Sal Felix, The man, the myth!

Sal Felix by Raul Aguirre Jr.

Life imitates art and art imitates life!

This scene from the classic movie Airplane! with Lloyd Bridges inspired this piece.

Looks Like I picked a bad week to quit smokin'!

My version of the gag!

Looks like I picked a bad week to quit reading comics!

Sal takes the Cake!

Cake makes everyone happy!

Moving right along…..

Some tips when sketching in public.

When you are drawing people in public, it’s a good idea to be discreet.  You never know how some folks might react.  Especially the ladies and vain guys.  You know “Metro” guys.   Try to be tactful also.  Save the mean drawings to do at home. And for the love of god, if you are going to let people flip through your sketchbook make sure there isn’t anything in there you don’t wouldn’t show to your mother!

I recently attended a wedding where this lady fell victim to my pen.

A lovely young lady I recently sketched.

Steve Sievers and Dahveed!  the creators of  SUPA PIRATE BOOTY HUNT!

Steve Sievers (l) Dahveed (r)

Some great design work folks! Supa Pirate booty hunt is off da’ chain!  Check out the tattoo some chick got! Now that is what I call FAN DEVOTION!

Supa pirate booty hunt RAWKS!

check out  the animated shenanigands from the warped minds of Steve Sievers and Dahveed creators of Supa pirate Booty Hunt at www.supapiratebootyhunt.com

So keep those pencils sharp and keep those sketchbooks flipping!

Ciao!

Raul

1. No one cares or will ever care as deeply about your art as you do.
2. Only you can make choices that define and propel your art.
3. You know your business best and what’s best for your art.

It’s All About Love

No one else but you takes your art  home and dwells upon it  at dinner, in the evening, during the wee hours of the morning or when you wake up.

It is sheer passion, intensity and  insane drive that separates Artists from hobbyists.  When all is said and done, the artist is the master  of their artwork.

You truly have to “get it” and have it “within you” to succeed in art when it’s “you” who encapsulates the brand.

This takes love, time, dedication and a willingness to look at your art from all angles to improve upon areas that are in need.

A good understanding of the fundamentals of drawing will go a long way in helping you achieve your goals as an artist!

The 5 P’s of drawing.

Proportion:

The ratio between the three dimensions.  It is very important to get proportion correct if you are doing a representational drawing. Even the untrained eye can point out a proportion problem.

Placement:

How large or small and how far away objects are is called Placement.

Perspective:

The point of view the artist has chosen and how it  relates to the horizon line is called perspective.  Once this viewpoint is chosen it must be followed throughout the drawing.  In other words you can only have one viewpoint for your perspective to be correct.

Planes:

Surface appearance as defined by light and shadow.  Every change in tone is a  new plane.  So those closet to the light are the light planes, those farthest away are shadow planes, in between are half-tone planes.

Pattern:

The deliberate arrangement of the tones of your subject.

The Five C’s of Drawing:

Learn It, Love it, Live it.

Conception:

The rough sketch or thumbnail of an Idea.

Construction:

Establishing your forms in space following the model or from knowledge.

Contour:

The outline and edges of forms in space in relation to your POV.

Character:

The sum of all things that distinguish one subject from another.

Consistency:

Having all of your elements working together and following the same direction or logic.  Plus the ability to reproduce successful drawings and knowing why you can.

In the podcast I mentioned some books you might want to get.

How to draw comics the Marvel Way!

This book is a great way to start.  If  you look past Stan Lee’s blabbing, you can really learn alot from John Buscema’s presentation of drawing fundamentals.

Must have book!

The Five C’s of Cinematography.

A great book for Storyboard and Animation  Artists.  It’s old school, but also mandatory for any film maker to know.  Good tips that can be applied to drawing and painting as well!

another must have!

Fun with a pencil by Andrew Loomis.

This is a great fun book that has been out of print for a long time.  If you click the pick you can download a PDF version.

click the pic for a pdf of this cool book!

Remember, practice!  Study your fundamentals! Then practice some more.

One more thing!

Check out my interview on the Ghettomation Podcast with Jim Lujan and Kevin Cross for some more insight to the process of drawing and cartoons!

This time Man vs. Art is on the other side of the microphone!  You’ll dig it! Good times!

Mad Man Raul!

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.

And I do mean anyone.

Yes.  Even a guy like  Bernie Lipshitz.

Bernie Lipshitz Rookie Artist at large.

If you are serious about  learning  how to draw, there are a few things you need right off the bat.

The desire to to learn, education, patience, dedication, and most important of all,

you need  tons and tons of practice!

Before embarking on your lifelong quest to master drawing, you must be aware of  what I  call ” 5 unavoidable truths of being an artist.” If you can’t accept ALL of these, perhaps you should try something other than art.

Let us face up to what to many, is  “un-face-up-to-able.”

UNAVOIDABLE TRUTH  #1

You are going to screw up.

Repeat.  You are going to screw up both royally and often. It’s  part of the process.  Don’t beat yourself up if your drawing of Marylin Monroe looks more like Marylin Manson. Chin up! A good artist  quickly learn to recognize his mistakes and learns from them.

Avoid being too self-critical. No one can be as good as Michelangelo on Monday morning at nine am their first day as an artist! It will take time for you to develop. Which brings us to the next truth.

UNAVOIDABLE TRUTH  #2

You must dedicate a significant part of your time to  practicing how to draw.

People always ask me, “Raul,  how do you get to Disney ?

My answer. ” Practice.”

Every single artist has at least a zillion crappy drawings within him or her. The sooner you get them out of the way or “exorcise” them the better. Get it? I myself am already on my two zillionth one.

UNAVOIDABLE TRUTH  #3

You must learn to accept criticism from EVERYBODY.

Ignore the douche nozzles!

You must learn to accept criticism from EVERYBODY.

Always accept a critique with a smile and a thank you. Even if you think the critic is blind or high.

It’s up to you if you follow up on  the criticism or not.  Arguing with a critic is like arguing with a drunk. Pointless. Use logic not emotion to determine your reaction.  That’s  being a pro.

UNAVOIDABLE TRUTH  #4

Competition between artists is a waste of time.

Don't waste energy on being competitive. Be the best you can be.

You feel jealous towards your artistic rival, your Lex Luthor,  because he just sold a big painting, that you know sucks. A Unicorn running on a rainbow?!!  In outer space?!!! Forget Lex Luthor! What the heck does he have to do with you becoming the best artist you can be?  Competitive behavior is a waste of time.  Use that energy on your projects! Besides, everyone has a different background, as well as tastes,  and visions!  We are all unique and special.  Like little  snowflakes!

UNAVOIDABLE TRUTH  #5

It's not the pencil that makes the drawing.

I hate to break it to you all, but in the early stages of an artist’s career, the quality of the drawing implement has little if nothing to do with the sucess of a drawing.

A rookie will get the same results

whether he uses a chewed up golf pencil he found under the couch.

or the $375.00 Porsche Design P3150 Collection – Black Leather Pencil. That’s right i said a Porsche pencil. It comes down to the skill of the artist weilding the pencil.

I wonder how fast this Porsche pencil can draw?

Eventually you’ll want a couple of decent wire-bound sketchbooks.

A good wire-bound sketchbook is essential for an artist!

This will help you keep organized and most importantly help you chart your progress. At this stage you don’t need anything fancier. In fact I highly recommend you not buy any fancy pencils, pens, paper or leather bound sketchbooks. There will be plenty of time for that later when your Draw FU is stronger. You’ll be too afraid to screw up with the fancy stuff and it WILL affect your drawing.

Speaking of STRONG DRAW FU…

Back in my days at Walt Disney Feature Animation,  a good friend of mine,  The openly Canadian Supervising Animator Mike Surrey used a yellow #2 pencil to animate his scenes.

Here I am with Mike Surrey at the Walt Disney Feature Animation TARZAN Wrap Party

He’s the guy that gave us Timon, Clopin on Hunchback, Terk on Tarzan, Commander Rourke on Atlantis and Buck on Home on the Range. One of the most brilliant animators ever. He was my mentor for the four years prior to my working with Glen Keane.  It was thanks to his teaching and patience that prepared me to be Glen’s assistant.

Mike is a great dude with a killer sense of humor, who was always willing to give me a few minutes to go over my scenes. He taught me how to approach animation with confidence! I found his lively and expressive drawings to be quite an inspiration! Yet he drew these Disney masterpieces with the same pencil you take the SAT with.

Mike Surrey Master Animator!

Here is a recent audio interview  with Disney Animators Mike Surrey and Mark Henn.

PRX  THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG: Disney animators talk to Andrea Chase
http://www.prx.org/pieces/43057-the-princess-and-the-frog-disney-animators-mark-h

Check out the 2D traditional animation demonstration Mike did here!

For those that don’t believe me about Mike’s penchant for Yellow number 2 pencils, check out what he’s drawing with in the vid.

During my 2005 trip to Europe I had an interesting encounter with a rookie or “rook” as I like to call them.

I was befriended by a  German kid thatwas really interested in what I was doing.

The kid ran into  me while I was sketching fellow passengers aboard this ferry on the Aegean Sea. We sat and talked for quite a while.  IT turns out I was the deciding factor in his choosing to become an artist.  I guess announcing his decision to me made it official or something.  BTW His voice wasn’t as dorky as my ” dramatic reenactment.”  But as you all know, here at Man Vs. Art, we like putting extra salsa on the tacos!

GEEKS COMICS PRESENTS:

ANIMATION GETDOWN 2010!

Everyone is invited to Geeks Animation Getdown 2010! I teamed up with my friends and fellow animation artists Jim Lujan, Graciella Rodriguez, and Scott Essman and we are are putting on a show! Sal the Owner of Geeks Comics in Whittier CA, has been kind enough to provide the venue! Once you watch our cartoons, you can’t unwatch them!

Check out the promotional video I made.

Lily Feliciano at The Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood runs a website called Sketch Theater.

They celebrate the process of sketching! Can you believe that?!  So awesome! They invite professional artists and film them from above as they draw. Then they speed up the footage and add some cool music making a performance video out of sketching!

Lily just posted my Postal Elf sketch and I thought I’d share it with the Man vs. Art minions for Christmas!  Because you guys rock and deserve nothing but kick ass stuff!

Great Christmas tune by The Ramones perfectly complements the sketch I made of an elf going completely postal.

Also here is a little animation test I did of a girl dancing.  I used ToonBoom and a Wacom Tablet.  Which turned out to be easier than I thought.  It is myfirst rough pass, but I think it works pretty well.  Now I just need to clean it up and color it!

So sit back with your tequila and bourbon eggnog and enjoy!

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My Channel On Big Contact

But first Geo Brawn IV

In today’s podcast I present you guys with part two of my chat with my friend and esteemed colleague Los Angeles Indy Comic Creator Geo Brawn IV.  We get down to brass tacks about Geo’s technique and approach!I learned for example he uses  Tuxedo Black Acme Bic markers.  A pretty common pen you can pick up at any office supply store for your drawing needs.

Keep it simple with BIC!

BIC Mark-It Permanent Markers, Ultra-Fine Point, Tuxedo Black.
Ideal for small spaces and detailed crafts. Textured rubber grip is engineered for comfort and control. Marks on glass, metal, CD’s, coated paper, photos, plastics. Long cap-off life. Vivid, quick-drying ink resists water.

Holy Crap what a wonderful pen! Too bad it’s gone!

I was a Victim of Circumstance!

It’s a good idea to use a common type of drawing implement. I unfortunately got hooked big time on these wonderful disposable fountain pens from Pentel way back when I was at Film Roman in 2003. These are AWESOME! They give you a consistent Crisp thin line that you can make thicker by applying the slightest pressure.

When I was wrapping my short Hero Heights at Nickelodeon in the summer of 2006 I discovered the pen had been discontinued! The Horror! I couldn’t find them anywhere anymore.

One day I walked into a local Mom ‘n’ Pop Art Supply store near my home in Downey California and asked the guy if he had any of those pens. He opened a drawer and there were like about FIFTY of them! I was happier than a poet on pay day! I bought them all and have been using them since. I’m down to my last dozen or so and need to ween myself off of them like real soon!

So let that be a lesson. Be careful of what tool you choose for drawing. You don’t want to wake up one day and find out they stopped making them.

Anyway……

How about taking a gander at a couple of Olivia’s  beauties!

Sweeeet!

Hellooooo nurse!

The famous Pin Up artist Olivia, who’s wonderful illustrations of beautiful women have been gracing the pages of Playboy and Heavy Metal for years!  Well, as it turns out, she is a big influence on Geo.  I can see why! I mean wow!  Just look at how stunning her pieces are! Wonderfully executed works of art that really capture the beauty of women that we all love so much!

Ahooogah!

Big Guys of the world UNITE!

Geo and I share many things in common. Besides the whole artist writer thing we are both also big intimidating looking dudes with deep voices. We look like fugitives from a Wookie convention. We get crap from people all the time. The cool thing is when we get tired of it we just squash the little runts. Most guys like us are bouncers, cops and hired muscle not artists! So we throw people off everywhere we go. I like that.

Geo by Raul

Remember in the last podcast, we found out people mistake Geo for being Samoan! That’s a group of folks famous for their size and ferocity!

So the next time you a see a huge goon. Be careful. He might draw your picture.

Sheila called.

If you check out the podcast you’ll hear me taking some calls from the audience.  We had a great call from Sheila from West Hollywood.  She runs a “petite” girl’s boutique on Melrose called “The Girly Cue.”

Man what a crazy broad!

What’s on Raul’s desk?

I thought I would share with you guys what I’m currently working on.

First up is a character design for a show I created called Cuddles King of Congo Island.

Meet Dr. Gideon G. Granola.

The Old New Age Guy

Dr. Gideon G. Granola

He’s  the eccentric , some say senile, gazillionaire philanthropist, extreme environmentalist, militant vegan, pacifist, wildlife expert, Dr. G. Gideon Granola.

A relic of the sixties now pushing seventy. His family owns the famous Granola Discount Freight Company and with the profits from said company Dr. Granola funds his crazy expeditions.

And why not? He is after all the world’s top authority in Eco- Biology and officially holds the title ” World’s Oldest Tree Hugger.” If you want proof there is a picture of him at the Smithsonian hugging General Sherman, the world’s oldest and most gigantic Sequoia Redwood, when it was only a sapling! He is into all things hippie and new age and has a strange but very Zen way of looking at stuff.   Meditation is a big part of his life, and he does it often,  both on purpose and otherwise. He goes in and out of “Zen” like trances and after a long,  sometimes uncomfortable pause says…….. “What?”

He is mellow for the most part but gets really really excited about nature! I mean really excited.  He loves nature and everything about it! Even the stuff that could kill you. All the bugs, plants, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals are all equal in his mind. On the other hand if sees someone harming nature  it becomes personal.

His eagerness and spirit have not diminished in his old age. Dr. Granola likes being in the field where he can make things happen, and where his flatulence is less noticeable.

He is forgetful and a little flaky. Did I mention his gold medal in “funny old man Tai Chi?” Its true!

World's oldest tree hugger.

When he announced he would be leading an expedition to find the fabled “Congo Island” everyone laughed and called it folly. But he knew better! Now that he’s found it,  he plans to study and catalog as much of the island’s wonders as he can.  Secretly Dr. Granola is searching for “The Fountain of Youth” Yes that one! He has reason to believe the fountain is on Congo Island and he’s going to find it.

From Fartsy to Artsy. A fine art commission.

This is the charcoal value study for a portrait I have been commissioned to paint. I just finished the drawing last night and am priming my canvas right now.

value study for a portrait commission

Sketching as a performance?! No really I swear!

And here you will find something really really cool that I got involved with  Lily Feliciano at The Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood runs a  Sketch Theater.com. A celebration of the process of sketching! Sketch Theater invites professional artists and films them from above as they draw. Then they speed up the footage and add some cool music making a performance video out of sketching!

Recently I went in to be filmed and Lily just put up my first video!
Check it out!

And now a moment of reflection for the Holidays.

Las posadas by Raul Aguirre Jr.

Each year I make a Christmas card for my wife and I to send out to our friends and family. Here is this year’s card for you Man Vs. Art minions to enjoy. It depicts the Mexican Christmas tradition called Las Posadas or “the inns”

Las Posadas is a yearly neighborhood tradition for Catholic Mexicans that symbolizes the hardship Mary and Joseph endured before finally finding a place to stay where Jesus could be born. From December 16th to the 24th each family in a neighborhood sets up a nativity scene and acting as innkeepers will schedule a night for the Posada to be held at their home. The neighborhood kids portray pilgrims (peregrinos), who seek lodging by going house to house singing a traditional song.

All the pilgrims carry small lit candles in their hands, and two kids carry small statues of Joseph leading a donkey, on which Mary is riding. At each house the resident sings a refusal for lodging until the weary travelers reach the designated site for the party, where Mary and Joseph are finally recognized and allowed to enter.

Once the “innkeepers” let them in, the group of guests come into the home and kneel around the Nativity scene to pray the rosary.Then it’s time for a good old fashioned Christmas hoe down Mexico Style! Children will break open piñatas by striking these colorful paper-maché (traditionally terracotta) objects with sticks while blindfolded to obtain candy hidden inside, and there will be a feast of tamales, buñuelos, and atolé!

Isn’t tradition awesome!

We here at ManVsArt.com would like to wish every single one of you and your loved ones a joyous holiday season and thank you from the bottom of our hears for making Man Vs. Art your choice for art related shenanigans and fun!

Raul and Che.

My Channel On Big Contact

Big Show!! Lots to share.

First up,  I am proud to present part one of my two part chat with local Indy Comic Creator,  Illustrator, and  Samoan Impersonator Geo Brawn IV.

Geo_Brawn_IV being suave.

Here is the initiation ceremony where Geo and Luis Escobar were sworn into the Cartoonistas!

Geo had his hand on a hardcover of Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns and Luis used volume two of the essential Spider-man!

Inside info about Geo’s Epic Vampire tale  The Untold Chronicles!

For thousands of years the stories  have remained untold… until now.   We’re talking serious stuff, with a heavy duty hook.

Bloody hot!

The image above scares the living s*** out of me in a good way!

You gotta check it out!

Godzilla!

Dorky Kong!

King Kong Vs. Godzilla! Oh yeah it's on Kong!

A promo piece for the movie from 1962!

Kong Designed by homeless guys. Still more fun than Peter Jackson's WTF version.

In the Bottom Pic of Kong, what’s going on with the raised leg? Two Knees?  Gotta dig the cheese factor people!

It’s what separates us from the monkeys!  That and the flinging poo thing!

PLUS!!!

• Elvira



The horror Hostess with the Mostest!

• Bruce Lee!

Bruce Lee the man, the myth

• Eli Wallach.  Greatest Mexican Actor who is not Mexican!  Ever.

Tuco Benedito Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez

• Shogun Warriors!

• Tom Hatten!

In Los Angeles during the 70’s and 80’s Tom Hatten hosted a cartoon show called Popeye and Friends, where he showed old toons and drew pictures of the characters!!!  He also hosted “The Family Film Festival” which showcased classic films  with guys like the  Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, and even Jerry Lewis!  Good Times!!!

• A guy named Ariel!

• Cosby!

• Australian d***k wrestling!

• Alan Moore!

• Childhood memories and trauma!

• • 

  That’s right! I got stretch monster as a kid! I was once little! I swear!

  A little holiday fun and memories.

Music and sound effects up the waz!  Almost an hour of fun and insanity all for the price of, well….FREE!  You can’t beat that!

You’ve heard the podcast!!!  You Can’t unhear it!

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H.R Giger loves the dong!

C'mon people. Admit it.....This sucks!

Oh poor Royo. I feel your pain and agony. Let me help you with that sack of money while you climb into your Ferrari.

I am sick of it.

I’ll tell you what, I think it’s all a big scam and frankly I think it sucks.  There was always a dark corner for pasty faced weirdos to draw and paint a guy hanging from the nuts with fish hooks over a pit of demons.  A few dorks with no personality who read into the Sandman a bit too much had their little corner in the art world staked up.  Guess what?  Now these guys have taken over and the worst part is everyone is buying into it.  All of a sudden heroes couldn’t wear brightly colored costumes when fighting the minions of darkness.  Now the heroes are indistinguishable from the minions they fight.  You see it in movies, comics, video games and TV.

Everything is dark and angst ridden.

Why EVERYTHING?!!  Since when did it become uncool to be a good guy?  In the latest Superman movie he’s a dead beat dad stalker!!!! That’s not the big blue boy scout I recall!  If you ask me the world needs more good guys, both in reality as well as fiction.  Back in the early part of this century America and it’s allies fought the darkest emo douche bag of them all.  Adolf Hitler and his Nazi monsters.  They were bad.  Evil.  Even their friggin’ uniforms looked evil man!  Well our grand parents and great grandparents had a real clear cut view in their minds about Good Vs. Evil.  And what it meant to be one or the other.  Why?  Because their culture taught them that the guys in black are evil. There is a clear distinction between the two.  Look at the literature and pop culture of the time.  Flash Gordon, Tarzan, need I go on? If today’s soft, deluded and self centered   knuckleheads were transported to WWII the Nazis would have won. Go ahead send in the hate mail.  You know I’m right.

Today pop culture teaches that there is no good.  Every hero is just one traumatic experience away  from being a psychopath.  In order to defeat evil, good needs to be bad.  It’s deconstructionism, it’s edgy,  it’s LAZY WRITING.  ” Batman  beats  the derelict senseless in order to get the location of the Joker’s Lair.”  Is so much easier to write than perhaps  “Batman relies on detective skills to track down the Joker”  The writer would actually have to come up with an intricate plot that could possibly be interesting.  Nah, I’d rather read 22 pages of Batman pimp slapping a crackhead….again.

Every good guy has to act and look  evil or at least be dark.

Look at the costumes of super heroes in movies today. The only brightness is the gleam from the smile on the studio execs when they cash their paychecks. Everyone is dressed like the Matrix. It’s retarded.

Why was this made?

Wolverine looks tame!  His hair is combed WTF?!!! What is this?  The black leather fetish  convention?

On the other hand….

Look at this Steranko X-men cover.  Brilliant and powerful.  These guys look like good guys and the book looks fun. Look everyone COLOR!!!

Steranko Rules Period.

You gotta love the skull eyeballs.  Pure friggin’ Steranko my friends!

Or look at this exquisite George Perez mega cover!  Now those are super heroes!  Nothing dark and fruity about this!  These are the colors I want to see in film adaptations.  Why is this not possible?  Is Hollywood blind as well as stupid?  With HDTV and all that other hi tech crap this stuff should be pouring out of the screen and assaulting our senses! Nope.  Black leather and muted colors please.

George Perez Rules! I mean look at this!

There are so many other avenues of the human condition yet to be explored by art.  Why have we collectively stopped at angst?  It’s self serving self indulgent crap.  Let’s grow up and see that there is a bigger world out there than vampires dressed in designer outfits.  I dare you!

This is my telling of the legend of La Llorona the Mexican Legend of the wailing woman. I want to share it with you guys here!

I tell the story of La Llorona Man Vs. Art Style while I paint a picture of  her.

La Llorona,

The wailing woman is an ancient legend of my people. It is a cautionary tale handed down thru the ages mostly by spoken word and meant to scare kids to behave  and discourage young ladies from promiscuity.  It is a story of love, devotion, betrayal and murder.  You ‘ll be hard pressed to find a more sordid tale of tragedy and woe than that of this woman known as La Malinche, and later as La Llorona.

I first heard it from my great grandmother Mariquita Aguayo the summer of my seventh year and yet it  still  chills me to this very day.

La Malinche was the noble first-born child of the lord of Paynalaher on the Mexican Gulf Coast Coatzacoalcos, then a “frontier” region between the Aztec Empire to the north and to the  south  the Maya states of the Yucatán Peninsula.  She spoke both Mayan and Aztec  very well and  knew the  customs and and superstitions of them too.  Tragically as do most kingdoms that lie between  two great nations her people had suffered greatly  under the obsidian blade of both super powers for as long as she could remember.   In her twenties her father died and her mother remarried and bore a son.  Now an inconvenient stepchild, the girl was sold to Maya slave-traders.

In 1519 she was given to the Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés who immediately  took a liking to this highly intelligent and victimized young girl.  A girl who later played an active, powerful, and decisive role in the Spanish conquest of Mexico.  She was instrumental to the destruction of The Aztecs and Mayans.  La Malinche  acted as interpreter, adviser,  and intermediary for Hernán Cortés.  She was also a mistress to Cortés and gave birth to his first son, who is considered one of the first Mestizos (people of mixed European and indigenous American ancestry).

Following the native traditions of the nobility she became totally devoted to her man Cortés and basically sold out the Indians to the Spaniards.
She explained Aztec and Mayan superstitions and beliefs to Cortés who used the information to gain the upper hand on the natives. Without her help Cortés and his gold greedy mercenaries would have been crushed. Instead Cortés  the Conquistador was revered as a god!

She  bore him more  children only to be abandoned so that Cortes could marry a Spanish lady. Here we can see in the legend La Llorona’s loss is a metaphor for the Spanish rape of Mexico and the demise of indigenous culture.

Now this where it gets weird. Apparently she went mad and somehow  thought she could win the affections of Cortés if the children were out of the way.  So she did the unthinkable. She drowned the children and then in a total freak out of remorse she  killed herself.

Tut tut! We all know she was not going to get off that easy, was she now? For having betrayed her children as well as the Mexican people, the Gods punished  and damned the hysterical woman to wander, searching for her children along rivers and lakes at night for all eternity.  In some cases, according to the tale, she will kidnap wandering children.

In Mexico today, La Malinche remains iconically potent. She is understood in various and often conflicting aspects, as the embodiment of treachery, the quintessential victim, or simply as symbolic mother of La Raza or aka the new Mexican people. She is often known by the pejorative term “La Chingada” (“the violated one”).

Welcome to the Man Vs. Art Halloween Special!

This is the the blog and podcast that helps you become a better artist!

On Saturday October the 10th I celebrated the release of my new comic book Codename Sparrow at Geeks Comics in Whittier California. I showcased about 25 pieces of original artwork that were used in the development of my comic.

I am thrilled to announce it was a full house!  My lovely wife Hortencia , myself,  and Sal the  owner of Geeks were thrilled to see so many folks there in support of Codename Sparrow!  Friends, Family, and Colleagues lined the shop and made it an eventful event!

Though it was great to see family and friends I had not seen in a long time, I enjoyed talking to the youngsters the most.  Seeing little kids literally soaking their pants with joy over my work was so rewarding!  There wasn’t a dry pamper in the house!  Here is a fumetti I made commemorating the show!

Sal the owner of Geeks Books in Whittier California

Little Kids get a big kick out of Codename Sparrow!

My friends and colleauges showed up to show support!

OK enough of the show.

Let’s get on with the Halloween Special! You can’t have Halloween without……

Halloween is not complete without this cartoon!

One of my absolute favorite Holiday specials  ever in the history of the universe is without a doubt Charles’s Schulz’s It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown  produced on a shoestring budget and against an impossible deadline by the late great José Cuauhtemoc “Bill” Meléndez. To this day nothing comes close to the warmth and charm this cartoon radiates.

My Lunch with Bill Melendez.

I was lucky enough to meet Bill Melendez at his Studio about 5 years ago. A mutual friend arranged for us to have lunch and it was unforgettable! He had stories about how he loved giving Chuck Jones a hard time at Warners in the forties and he told me about the nightmare that the Charlie Brown Christmas special was to make. He said that during production the brass didn’t want real kids cast as the voices, nor did they want the jazzy soundtrack by Vince Guaraldi and most of all the Brass did not want Linus’s speech at the end of the cartoon where he explains the true meaning of Christmas.

Luckily for us, Bill and Schulz fought for those things and gave us such a memorable show. When they were done the Brass at the screening was horrified at the result saying the audience would hate it. I love it when folks like that are proven wrong.

My lunch with Bill went for almost 3 hours and we each downed like three or four martinis. As we stumbled out into the parking lot I managed to get a pic with a cell phone. I cut 90% of my head off, but look at big the smile was on Bill’s face! I hope that when I’m in my late 80’s after such a long career in animation I can smile half as big as Bill!
From there we hopped into Bill’s chauffeured Benz and went to his studio.  I crashed on the couch and got to listen to Bill’s fun stories about his days working with Clampett Avery and Chuck Jones in the infamous Termite terrace.

The Directors from WB Looney Tunes on the steps of Termite Terrace.

The young and very mustached Bill Melendez

Bill Melendez at his work station.

You can see more Melendez stuff here at his own website. Which BTW is really well done!

Check it out the final cover of Codename: Sparrow!

Codename:Sparrow By Raul Aguirre Jr. Cover

Codename Sparrow is about  International Playboy and Gentleman Thief Eddie Torres who is at the top of his game, and  through no fault of his own has it taken away.  Rather than rot in prison he accepts an offer to be a covert operative for a  private “Good Guy” agency called N.E.S.T

The first  story HOT ICE is about Eddie’s Cat Burglar days.  In order for you to really know him I feel it will be necessary to do some stories set in that time.  The second story “ The Name of the Game” is about his early days in the agency more specifically it’s about how he got his cool Codename.  A time when he was transitioning from being a thief to being a covert operative. As an artist and especially writer I found this time to be very juicy!

I hope you do to!

Click on the banner below to find a sneak peak at the first 6 pages of the book.  Plus you can order your very own copy of Codename: Sparrow issue # Zero!

Click the banner to get your own copy of the baddest ass comic book to come out in a long time!

The book I found in my grandparents Attic.

The inside of the great book of silliness!

#8,443 Draw a Puppy arm wrestling a Tyrannosaurus Rex

Today you guys are going to see how a drawing is composed in order to communicate a “gag” or theme the most effectively.   This i s the way I was taught to approach a drawing during my days at Disney.  You start with the most important section of the drawing and work outwards with each element supporting the previous one.  Don’t believe me?  Check out the video!

Transitions in real life are just as interesting. As you will soon read.
I left art school in 1992 and was all ready begin a career in comics.

I was scared away by the over saturated, variant cover, chromium card, gimmicky sea of rip-offs where mediocrity and flashiness were celebrated, and hailed as genius.

Now, I’m going to pick on Mcfarlane, but that’s OK.

He’s a big boy,  I’m sure he’ll be fine in his castle where he laughs at me from atop  a  big pile of money.

spiderman #1 by Mcfarlane

Notice how the vanishing point on the webbing  is Spider-man’s spider sack. Why?

Showing originality and unending imagination! Wow!

Here Spewn, oh I’m sorry.  Spawn looks like he’s trying to push a battleship anchor chain out of his bowels.  Or like my 3 year old nephew Aiden says. “Spawn poops chains.”  Glittery chains I added.

The overdrawn badly crap  even made it’s way into sculpture!

Look!

not just awful. Gawd Awful!

He is easily amused boy! He wears a trenchcoat every day but lives in Phoenix.

“WOW look at all the detail!”

Kent Melton.  Now those are sculptures!

Wow get a load of these! The poses! The expressions! The quality!

Mcfarlane’s work was really all over the place.  Absolutely no planning went into his layouts or pages.  I can prove it.  Look here!

He is easily amused by bad OVERdrawing!

What is Spawn doing on page one? Hovering menacingly 11 inches  off of the ground battling his own cape? Obviously Mr. Baseball wanted to show Spawn hovering above the band Poison  as they menaced a girl atop a pile of rubble in an alley.  Obviously he choked.  But look at the DETAIL!!!

Why did so many of his pages have panel’s like the last two on the top row of page two?  What i s that? Half an eye? Twice?  He didn’ t leave enough room to draw a complete eye people.

Okay and the guy going through a window.  Take a good look.  According to the first page they are outside.  In an alley.  The guy is being thrown through a window outside from the outside? OR is he being thrown into a room?  WTF?  And here’s a classic Mcfarlane CHOKE!  Look at the detail in the broken glass!  It matters not that glass does not shatter in this way, look at that golden brown thing coming through the glass along with punk #1.  Cloth of some sort?  Curtain?  Nope it’s a brown useless blob supposed to indicate force but really was so that the crappy broken glass doesn’t interfere with the line work on the character.  A little planning could have solved it.  NO thanks, Mr. Baseball took the easy and ugly way out.

What do people mean ” Detail?” From what I gather  arbitrary pen scratches that serve no purpose much less define a form equals “detail.”  I can stare at this inadvertent optical illusion panel from Rob Liefeld’s Judgment Day for hours.  Just who is standing in front of who?  Hmm?

I for one saw the emperor had no clothes.  “It’s a cookbook!”  I  screamed to no avail.  Comics had become pointlessly  dark and all of my beloved childhood heroes became gritty blood thirsty psychopaths or got killed and replaced by gritty blood thirsty psychopaths.  I couldn’t argue with Spawn’s numbers.

No critique of comics would be complete without reaming Liefeld right?   It’s like shooting Skrulls in a barrel! So I let Che have a go at it in the podcast.

The following images are visual aids for Che’s bit.

The Talking Che Guevara T-shirt takes a few jabs at Liefeld.

What are those stupid steel fins for? To impale your head?!!

And finally The worst drawing I have ever seen.

What’s up with the hooters CAP?

No wonder Marvel Blew his brains out.

TICE NITS CAPTAIN AMERICA!

Meanwhile Disney had recently put out Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin.

The Beast by my Mentor Glen Keane.

Without hesitation, I went into animation and was immediately hired by Disney at 22.  For reasons of taste as well as safety, it was mandatory that artists wear vests back then.  Instead of action figure collections on our monitors we wore vests.

Here's an old Photograph of me and the gang at Disney back in 1995!

My eight year stint at Disney consumed  my youth and almost cost me my marriage.  Then  in 2002 some suit in a boardroom decided that suits could get a bigger bonus if  American Hand Drawn Animation was done in India. Rather than move to Calcutta, or give up drawing for digital animation,  I went into TV animation and did storyboards and character designs for a bunch of different places.

There it was again another transition.  I was beginning to see the pattern. I remember reading the scripts at these places and thinking how terrible they were.  Written by people with no imagination .  I started writing the story of an ex-thief ‘s  transition into the world of international espionage.  It sat on my shelf, every once in a while I added something new or changed another thing but for the next seven years it was always in the back of my mind.

In 2006 I wrote directed and produced my own short at Nickelodeon called Hero Heights.

An animated homage to comic books.  Since then the animation jobs have been harder to come by and the projects have gotten lamer and lamer. So once again I have been transitioning this time into many different areas.  Comics, Fine Art, Writing and  Development, Web Design, and Podcasting.  I have designed and built my own website studioraul.com as well as my own blog manvsart.com and  I produce the weekly podcast Man Vs. Art about art, animation and comics. Also in this time I have developed almost a dozen properties for animation, comics, videogames and web.  All modular in terms of medium. All super kick ass in terms of kick ass factor.

Finally in 2009 the crappy economy gave me time to finally do my book. This comic is a result of all those years of slaving in animation only to be rewarded by a kick in the balls from the studios and betrayed by a lazy, greedy, halfwit of an assistant.  Here in my own independently published comic book no one is telling me what to write or draw. Also there is no danger of some other knucklehead like my greedy, halfwit of an assistant destroying my work.  I alone decide everything. That way if anything goes wrong I  have only myself to blame.

Codename Sparrow is about a guy at the top of his game who through no fault of his own has it taken away.  Rather than rot in prison he accepts an offer to be a covert operative for a  private “Good Guy” agency. The first  story HOT ICE is about Eddie’s Cat Burglar days.  In order for you to really know him I feel it will be necessary to do some stories set in that time.  The second story “ The Name of the Game” is about his early days in the agency more specifically it’s about how he got his cool Codename.  A time when he was transitioning from being a thief to being a covert operative. As an artist and especially writer I found this time to be very juicy.

RAUL AGUIRRE Jr.  ART SHOW!!

On Saturday October 1oth 2009 Geeks Comics in beautiful uptown Whittier California will be hosting “NIGHT OF THE SPARROW” a solo Art Show and book signing for little ol’ me!  That’s right, I will be celebrating the release of my self published  action adventure romance and espionage comic book  “CODENAME: SPARROW” I’ll be there signing the book and showcasing a gallery of fine drawings and paintings based on the characters in “CODENAME: SPARROW!”  There will be prints for sale as well as original work! So c’mon down and say hi!

Check out the promotional piece I made for the event.

Welcome to part two of Man Vs. Art Episode 007!

You are all in for a treat! Submitted for your enjoyment and animation education is my first Interview on Man Vs. Art! The first of many I hope.  I’ve been on the other side of the mic plenty of times before,  this marks the beginning of my foray into interviewmanship.  Hey I think I invented a word!  I feel like Don King.

Who the @#?!! is Jim Lujan?

He is a  friend, colleague, and all around nut job!  Jim Lujan who was instrumental in getting me to start this blog and Podcast. In fact he demanded it!  He is a very funny fellow with quite a few loose screws in that head, which makes him the perfect candidate  for a career in Cartooning!

I met Jim thanks to networking Maestro  Javier Hernandez the creator of El Muerto, Man Swamp and Demolition Dove! Javier asked me to join his Artist Collective the San Gabriel Valley Cartoonistas.  A secret society bent on world domination through the use of Cartoons, Comics and Animation.  We make public appearances and perform live art all over town with the support of the Nuvein Foundation for Literature and the Arts.

They are a A small non-profit organization in El Monte California that is committed to connecting communities to the arts. Nuvein Foundation’s mission is to raise funds for scholarships for students pursuing a career in the arts and to support those already in the arts. Nuvein is also committed to showcasing the arts through community arts presentations, live performances, and educational programs.

And now I’m involved with them!  God Help us all!

Here is one of Jim’s many films, it’s his latest Called John Henry Unicorn.

If you want more Jim try these links!

Jim’s Blog

Jim’s youtube channel is worth a look.  Set your ass to “Laughed off!”

Jim Lujan and Raul Aguirre jr.

Self inflicted portraits by Jim, a shot of Jim  taunting school children because they can’t drive, a cartoon I made lampooning Luca Brazzi in the Godfather when I was inducted into the Cartoonistas. That’s a tall and elegant Javier Hernandez as the Don, and looking like Sonny is Jim.

Here are a few of the things we  mentioned in the interview.

Ralph Bakshi’s

Coolworld 1992

Wizards 1977

Lord of the Rings

A Touch of Evil opening shot.

Darn Good Flick!

Get your stinkin' paws off me you damn dirty Gringo.

Absolutely Brilliant! Orson Welles as a crooked  fat cop and Charlton Heston plays a MEXICAN!!!  CARAMBA!

It was fun doing and putting together the interview and I hope youfolks enjoy it!

Have an Artful Day!

A  wee bit of news.

recently my wife Hortencia and I attended the Hispanic Outreach Taskforce’s fifth annual Art and Music scholarship benefit at the beautiful Whittier Hills estate of Dr. Richard and Mrs. Rebecca Zapanta.  Yolanda Garcia the owner of the Casita Del Pueblo Gallery in Whittier asked me if I could donate a painting to  the  silent auction she was coordinating at the event.

By the way, the setup was sweet!  There was a live band playing Latin Jazz, complimentary wine donated by Francis Ford Copolla, and lots of ART!

It was a really cool event, except for the frigging’ heat! As everyone knows Los Angeles was completely on fire again and boy in the early afternoon It was so hot, the beads of sweat rolling down my back had beads of sweat rolling down their backs! I did manage to do some sketches in my Moleskin and met a few really cool folks, and lots of ART!

sketchbook pages from my day at the Zapanta Estate.

Sketch #3 from my day at the Zapanta Estate

Sketch # 4 from my day at the Zapanta Estate.

I want to thank Yolanda  for putting together such an awesome benefit! And big thanks Dr. Richard and Mrs. Rebbecca Zapanta for letting a bunch of artists run around their property!

Moving Right Along:What does A fat lady, a DVD, King Taco, Modelo Beer, and Glen Keane have in common?

Today  I’m going to share something really cool that happened to me when I was at Walt Disney Feature Animation.  I was reminded of this  while waiting in line at the local Sam’s club this afternoon.

Which is a story in and of itself as you shall soon read.

There I was getting the essentials, you know? Root beer, smokes,  a set of radial  tires, ninety nine pairs of socks,  a five gallon jar of mustard for me, and  tin of  shortbread cookies for my wife.   In front of me stood what can best be described as a sea manatee in flip flops. A really really really fat lady.  The kind of person that  is easier to jump over than to go around. during a fire. Her cart was jammed full of fatty processed crap food. Loaves of cheese, 3 foot salamis,  a twenty four pack of hams.  Not slices of hams.  Hams! Twenty four whole hams! Plus a  tower of beef patties, half of the pastry aisle,  and like five cases of diet soda to wash it all down. She had two little kids with her.  I am using little to describe their ages okay?  These kids were not little in any way. They were diligently following in mom’s hoof prints.  Chunks off  the old block.

Jabba the Mom  started loading her stuff onto the conveyor belt.  Then she reached behind the forty five can  ravioli fun case and the 2 pack of fire extinguisher sized whipped cream bottles and pulled out a  DVD copy of  Walt Disney’s Treasure Planet. I dunno  probably to feed it to the kids on the ride home.

Then the  clerk  some greasy emo kid with a nose piercing tattoos and haircut that screamed,”My Dad didn’t kick my ass enough!”

said,”Oh wow man Treasure planet that is like so old!  I was a kid when came out! I remember hearing that they like crossed  drawings with computers and stuff. ”

The Fat lady in a voice that somehow sounded like whale song said,

“Really I thought all cartoons were done on computers and stuff  since Disney made  “Shrek.”

I almost flipped out.  There were sooooo many things wrong with this conversation I couldn’t keep count.

But what was I going to do?  Be the total douche and be all,

” Excuse me fine citizens I couldn’t help but over hear you.  I am Animation Man! A super powered being from the second dimension. My duty is to travel the universe at 24 frames per second  creating awareness of animation and correcting misconceptions!  Even the ones that the studios purposely create! Yes my young greasy lad, Treasure Planet  and more specifically Long John Silver was a hybrid character composed of a complex layering of Traditional hand drawn animation and state of the art CGI. Take it from me kid I was there. What’s more I  was instrumental in the creation of that character in more ways than one. Also seven years is not that long and what do you mean was a kid? You are still are a kid. And you my good sea manatee,  Shrek  was made by Dreamworks not Disney  Yes I know it had all the Disney Characters in it, but that’s because the makers of that movie were all bitter Ex-Disney people who wanted  to stick it to the mouse. In the end like all Dreamworks movies it made a couple of guys a ton of money.  None of them artists. And left the public feeling confused and insulted.”

So rather than look like a douche, I put on my Ipod, got a Zeppelin fix,  and proceeded with my consumerism.

Some of the talented folk I worked with on Treasure Planet.

When I got home i got all to thinking about Treasure Planet and all the great folks I got to work with.  Eric Daniels who supervised the CG animation of Long John Silver was so mellow and cool.  Big time Groo The Wanderer fan like me. When I showed him the test I was doing at the time he went bananas and convinced me to show it to Sergio Aragones.  That’s a whole other story though.

SERGIO PABLOS THE MAD SPANIARD!

Then there was Sergio Pablos The Supervising Animator on Dr. Doppler the dog man.  In my honest opinion that chain smoking Spaniard is the Baddest ass Traditional Animator of  my generation.  The amount of care and precision that he would put into his animation was beyond reproach.  Beautifully drawn, appealing and full of character.

T.Dan Hofstedt the most talented and nicest viking I ever met.

T.Dan Hofstedt, This is a cool dude.  Imagine a big mustached viking in a Hawaiian shirt!

He looked like a Viking but was all laid back like a Hawaiian.  In fact that’s where T. Dan was from! Plus he does  Vocals  and plays  both slack-key and lead guitar in a Hawaiian Jazz band called Oahu! How rad is that Bruh?! There were many others, far too many to mention here, but I’ll say this, they were ALL  wonderful people with gobs of talent and skill I feel very fortunate to have been there.

See?! A hoola viking!

Check out his Facebook Pic!  Friggin’ Awesome!

What a Talent! Give it up for T'Dan everyone!

There were many others , far too many to mention here, but I’ll say this, they were ALL wonderful people with gobs of talent and skill. We worked many long hours together and for the most part spent more time with each other than with our families.

Long Ago,in  a time when animation was hand-drawn as well as heartfelt.

I remember fondly. Yes I believe it was spring 2002. Back when  I was working on Treasure Planet with my mentor Glen Keane.   Glen and I had  to work over the weekend  and finish this massive Long John Silver scene  where  Silver and  Jim Hawkins meet for the first time and  quickly try sizing each other up.  Silver is trying to do a few things.  He wants to show off to the kid by putting on some bad ass cooking skills.  But at the same  time a warning  about how dangerous that cybernetic arm can be as well as how masterfully he controls it.  Very subtle but effective display of power.

Glen and Treasure Planet  Directors John Musker and Ron Clemments gave  were cool enough to give me the props in the scene to handle on my own! The veggies, eggs,  and space shrimp were  animated by yours truly!  It may not seem like much, but to me it  was my first time “animating” not following up on a production scene. To a young punk who didn’t go to CalArts  this was epic. Despite the poker face and professionalism I displayed,  I practically wet my pants when they told me I could do it!

Glen needed to key out the last few feet and I needed to finish the keys, draw the breakdowns and inbetweens, not to mention have it shot and ready for the directors Ron Clemments and John Musker first thing Monday morning.  I stayed until 3 am that Friday night before just to have enough work set up for me to come in and spend Saturday and Sunday tying it down.

A first pass animation rough key by Glen Keane. Check out the note Glen LEft me. Now that's trust folks!

This is a rough of a key pose that I did on the scene for Glen

When I came in on Saturday I brought Glen some King Taco carne asada tacos and a six pack of Modelo beer.  He never had the pleasure of Los Angeles’ best tacos and was really grateful!  Plus the three cervezas really hit the spot!  It was nice to sit for minute and relax with my old Jefe!

Modelo Especial The official Beer of Man Vs. Art!

Carne Asada Tacos from King Taco. With Modelo beer is the offical meal of Man Vs. Art.

We went back to work and a few hours  later Glen was ready to leave.  He told me how important it was for me to finish on time and knew I wouldn’t fail.

Come Monday morning that scene was inbetweened, exposed, and shot ready for the Directors to approve it.

When you have a guy like Glen Keane as your mentor and boss, you don’t let him down. And I never did!

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]]> http://manvsart.com/king-taco-with-glen-keane-a-tale-from-the-days-when-animation-was-hand-drawn-and-heartfelt/feed/ 2 2D traditional animation,animation drawings,artistic fulfillment,disney,DRAWING,glen keane,podcast,Sketches What does A fat lady, a DVD, King Taco, Modelo Beer, and Glen Keane have in common? OK boys and girls, this post promises to be a doozy. A  wee bit of news. recently my wife Hortencia and I attended the Hispanic Outreach Taskforce's (http://www.hotoutreach.org/index.html) fifth annual Art and Music scholarship benefit at the beautiful Whittier Hills estate of Dr. Richard and Mrs. Rebecca Zapanta.  Yolanda Garcia the owner of the Casita Del Pueblo Gallery (http://www.casitadelpueblo.com/) in Whittier asked me if I could donate a painting to  the  silent auction she was coordinating at the event. By the way, the setup was sweet!  There was a live band playing Latin Jazz, complimentary wine donated by Francis Ford Copolla, and lots of ART! It was a really cool event, except for the frigging' heat! As everyone knows Los Angeles was completely on fire again and boy in the early afternoon It was so hot, the beads of sweat rolling down my back had beads of sweat rolling down their backs! I did manage to do some sketches in my Moleskin and met a few really cool folks, and lots of ART! I want to thank Yolanda  for putting together such an awesome benefit! And big thanks Dr. Richard and Mrs. Rebbecca Zapanta for letting a bunch of artists run around their property! Moving Right Along:What does A fat lady, a DVD, King Taco, Modelo Beer, and Glen Keane have in common? Today  I'm going to share something really cool that happened to me when I was at Walt Disney Feature Animation.  I was reminded of this  while waiting in line at the local Sam's club this afternoon. Which is a story in and of itself as you shall soon read. There I was getting the essentials, you know? Root beer, smokes,  a set of radial  tires, ninety nine pairs of socks,  a five gallon jar of mustard for me, and  tin of  shortbread cookies for my wife.   In front of me stood what can best be described as a sea manatee in flip flops. A really really really fat lady.  The kind of person that  is easier to jump over than to go around. during a fire. Her cart was jammed full of fatty processed crap food. Loaves of cheese, 3 foot salamis,  a twenty four pack of hams.  Not slices of hams.  Hams! Twenty four whole hams! Plus a  tower of beef patties, half of the pastry aisle,  and like five cases of diet soda to wash it all down. She had two little kids with her.  I am using little to describe their ages okay?  These kids were not little in any way. They were diligently following in mom's hoof prints.  Chunks off  the old block. Jabba the Mom  started loading her stuff onto the conveyor belt.  Then she reached behind the forty five can  ravioli fun case and the 2 pack of fire extinguisher sized whipped cream bottles and pulled out a  DVD copy of  Walt Disney's Treasure Planet. I dunno  probably to feed it to the kids on the ride home. Then the  clerk  some greasy emo kid with a nose piercing tattoos and haircut that screamed,"My Dad didn't kick my ass enough!" said,"Oh wow man Treasure planet that is like so old!  I was a kid when came out! I remember hearing that they like crossed  drawings with computers and stuff. " The Fat lady in a voice that somehow sounded like whale song said, "Really I thought all cartoons were done on computers and stuff  since Disney made  "Shrek." I almost flipped out.  There were sooooo many things wrong with this conversation I couldn't keep count. But what was I going to do?  Be the total douche and be all, " Excuse me fine citizens I couldn't help but over hear you.  I am Animation Man! A super powered being from the second dimension. My duty is to travel the universe at 24 frames per second  creating awareness of animation and correcting misconceptions!  Even the ones that the studios purposely create! Yes my young greasy lad, Treasure Planet  and more specifically Long John Silver was a hybrid character composed of a complex layering of Traditional hand drawn animation and state of the art CGI. Take it from me kid I was there. Raul clean 41:40 http://manvsart.com/how-to-draw-a-pin-up-girl-the-man-vs-art-way/ http://manvsart.com/how-to-draw-a-pin-up-girl-the-man-vs-art-way/#comments Mon, 07 Sep 2009 04:42:04 +0000 Raul http://manvsart.com/?p=336 Okay kids, here is a quick demo of myself drawing a pin-up girl using Autodesk Sketchbook pro and a wacom tablet.  I lost my voice in a Mariachi singing competition so there’s no narration but you’ll be able to follow it I’m sure.

Pretty Girl by Raul aguirre Jr.

Remember when drawing pretty girls less lines and graceful curves are key.  This will be the first in a series that I hope you enjoy!

Until next time!

Have an Artful day!

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for me, and I’d like to share the highlights with you all.

Inside Studio Raul

I was recently interviewed by Ben McCain and Richard  Mcmanus for a feature on Time Warner Cable’s channel 101 CNN.  They came over spent the afternoon in my studio and asked me all sorts of great questions.  They also took time to talk to my wife and my biggest fans the Salgado Brothers!  The  21st century’s answer to the “Sweathogs”  I’ve never had that many people in my studio and let me tell you it was quite fun and exciting to say the least.  I was a little nervous but Ben is really intuitive and right away  put me at ease with some rely insightful questions  about my work.

Here is the video Richard edited and put on youtube in case you don’t catch it on Time Warner CAble.

Inside Studio Raul

Also  I screened some of my animation in  The Edge Of L.A. Comic-Con Animation Fest at the Claremont Packing house 532 W. 1st street Claremeont CA 91711. My friend and fellow artist Jim Lujan put it together with Chris Peterson who runs the Packing House. They did a great job.

Jim Lujan and Graciala Rodriguez listen as Raul Aguirre Jr. extols the virtues of the lap band.

We had a full house of people hungry to see new animation and boy did they get it!

This little girl was brutally honest.

Hortencia and Raul Aguirre at the Edge of LA animation Festival

Jim is a great and SUPER talented guy who cranks out cartoons faster than a Korean Sweatshop!  His cartoons a brilliantly crude and really take on life.  Looking at Jim Lujan’s cartoons is like looking at the world through a cracked lens.  They speak volumes about the insecurity and weakness we all have.  How we give such importance to ourselves that we are blind to real world around us.  Delusion yes that’s what it is.  Disney Animation has been known as “The Illusion of Life.”  Well Jim Lujan Animation is “The Delusion of Life.”  sometimes dark, but always funny. Jim has caricatured Life in Los Angeles by exagerrating things others miss! This is unique solid cliche free stuff people and I highly recommend you check Jim’s youtube channel out and prepare to laugh your ass off!

Prolific animator Jim Lujan and catatonic animator Raul Aguirre Jr.

Graciela Rodriguez a fellow Cartoonista and friend showed some incredibly clever and hilarious cartoons! She has a very unique style and her pacing was spot on!  Crazy Granny she don’t like nothing is FRIGGIN’ funny!  You can see some of her animation here.  and here is her official website.

Russ and Claudia  our friends from La Habra that we had to go to Europe to meet showed up!

Russ and Claudia

My little sis Lily and her man Joe Stoughton  crashed the party and enjoyed the show! It was such a good time! Thanks everybody for being so cool and supportive.

Raul, sister Lily and herman Mighty Joe Stoughton!

But most of all I want to thank my wonderful wife Hortencia who gets me the hook-ups.    I’m very fortunate to have such a beautiful and supportive wife who is willing to do the bulk of the leg work and networking that is necessary for me to display my work. I don’t even worry when Hortencia is on the case. Besides being beautiful, she’s smart , creative, and gets things done.  Thanks to her help I get to maximize my time creating! Did I mention how beautiful she is?

Today I wanted to talk about how artists should handle  interruptions and other annoyances when  working.  Internet, cell phones, TV,  the crappy death metal band next door, Jehovah ’s witnesses,   and jealous talking T-shirts  are all things that can throw you off when you are trying to create your latest masterpiece. The distractions are everywhere and its a wonder we ever get anything done.   I happen to be a pretty mellow and zen guy who takes stuff in stride when things go cuckoo. (Yeah Right!)

Check out the situation  I just went through.

While I was recording the podcast for this episode my assistant the talking Che Guevara T- shirt  snapped.

He has been acting really weird lately. Weirder than usual.  I think  the cheese finally fell off of his cracker.

Enjoy the drama!

And there you have it kids. The Mona Lisa in 32 seconds...now you try it!

I was doing a lecture at the Whittier Library along with Jim Lujan and Javier Hernandez who had set it up. We were talking to kids about drawing and the many ways it can enrich your lives. During which a young lady in the audience mentioned how impressed she was with my work. It turns out she is related to Casita Del Pueblo Gallery owner Yolanda García. My wife Hortencia met up with Yolanda, showed her my portfolio and I was in!

Self inflicted picture. Not bad if I do say so myself.

I’m very fortunate to have such a beautiful and supportive wife who is willing to do the bulk of the leg work and networking that is necessary for me “get my work out there”. She loves my paintings, drawings, and sketches so much that she squirrels all of them away.

Erika Cabrera from Casitia del Pueblo and my wife Ortie taking in the art.

Ortie displays the pieces of her choosing in our home and for the longest time never wanted to sell any of it. She organizes and stores it meticulously. Better than I would! I call her Madame Curator. Though she has found it difficult to part with any of my work, ever since the electroshock therapy and Thorazine treatments she has recently shown signs of improvement. She gave my nephew a post it note that I had doodled a dragon on.

I don’t even worry when Ortie is on the case. Besides being stunningly beautiful, she’s smart, fun, creative, and is the kind of girl that gets things done. Plus she is a dynamite cook and quite the fashionista. I love a lady that enjoys getting dolled up. These days walking in heels is a lost art. Not for my lady.

Thanks to her incredible devotion and support, I get to maximize my time creating! Did I mention how beautiful she is?

Can she light up a room with her smile or what folks?

So here are the three paintings I entered into the show.

The traditional Mexican serenade or serenata.

“Serenata Pa’ mi Chatita.”
(Serenade for my small nosed girl.)
Acrylic on 12X16 canvas board
(A chatita is Mexican slang for a girl with a small or snub nose, always used as an affectionate nickname.)

Pedro Infante sings and makes the ladies swoon.

“Cien Años”
Acrylic on 12X16 canvas board.
a portrait of the legendary Mexican singer and actor Pedro Infante. His song “Cien Años” is considered to be one of the if not the most romantic and beautiful songs ever made.

Eydie Gormay and Los Panchos

“Sabor a Mi.”
Acrylic on 16X20 Stretched Canvas.
In the early sixties Eydie Gormé teamed up with the Mexican Trio Los Panchos and recorded the album, Amor in Spanish. “Sabor a mi” which literally translates to “The taste of me” is one of the signature songs. It is a message to an ex lover saying no matter how far away you are or how much time passes you will always carry “The taste of me” on your lips.

They are currently for sale and on display at Casita del Pueblo 6738 Greenleaf Avenue Whittier CA.

That’s good.  It means you are serious about becoming a better artist.

Well here is your chance.

This is the first in a series of  exercises for you to do.  I dug into the old tome  “10,001 ideas for silly drawings” and found this gem.

Draw Frankenstein’s creature and the Wolf man playing one on one basketball.

Here’s mine.  I did it with Autodesk Sketchbook Pro and my Wacom Tablet on a PC.

So grab your favorite pencil or pen  and a sheet of  paper from your printer and draw your version of the prompt in under ten minutes.

Draw smarter not harder! That’s the way a pro does it!

Raul

Welcome to another episode of Man vs Art.
On today’s show  I am going present a little drawing exercise my eccentric 7th grade Art teacher Mrs.  Smith used to work into the beginning of each class. With this simple 10 minute exercise 4 times a week I guarantee your drawing skills will improve.

Lookin' totally rad in 1985

The year was 1985,

My collar was flipped up on my alligator shirt,

the sleeves rolled up on my members only jacket,

and my pants were cuffed tighter than a Cholo who fit the profile.

Mrs. Smith had a plaque on the wall with the words  “ten minute drawing“  engraved across it.  Every day she attached an index card with a humorous prompt directly below the plaque.

One day it was “Draw a chicken arm wrestling a duck in an old west saloon.”

The next day “Draw a hippo blowing out the candles on his birthday cake aboard a UFO.” and so on.

Fun and imaginative situations the kind you see in kids books.

Everybody in the class groaned about having to do a stupid drawing, everybody that is except me. This was the only part of school that didn’t bore me. I friggin’ LOVED it.

This ten minute drawing did two things.

1. It loosened and warmed up my drawing arm. Which translated to smooth and flowing drawings.  A good drawing is rarely rigid and labored.
2. It also got my creative juices flowing so to speak.  When I began  my “real” drawing there was no lag time.  My brain was already in full creative mode. It was go time!

For an Artist, having your  hand  warmed up and in sync with your brain greatly improves the odds of your next drawing being  good if not awesome.  It  made  me feel confident and prepared for  whatever wacky assignment Mrs. Smith had cooked up for class that day.

I have devised a simple yet effective drawing regimen consisting of a series  10 minute sessions at  least 4times a week .  The goal being to quickly translate themes of varying complexity into a clear drawing. This is an extremely valuable exercise that doesn’t require a lot of time or fancy gear. Just your favorite pen or pencil, any paper you want and the desire to draw better.

It might not be a bad idea to get a sketchbook, and do all of the warm up  drawings in there.  That will certainly help keep you organized and you’ll be able to  chart your progress.

I suggest a moleskin sketchbook.  They are by far the best in terms of quality and their coolness factor is beyond epic.

I am going to make the 10 minute drawing a regular feature on Man Vs. Art. because I need to practice with my Wacom tablet.
Years ago while rummaging in my grandparent’s attic I found an old leather bound book with gilded pages. On the cover in golden script it said “Ten thousand and one silly drawing ideas.”  I am going to take one idea every few days and post it for everyone to try.  Along with it I will post a video demo of myself drawing out the prompt with my Wacom tablet.

Everyone is  encouraged to participate.  The only rule is that you limit yourself to no more than ten minutes. Doing this will condition you to make quick decisions and draw smarter not harder! The way a pro does it!

This will be the first of many posts I make about the trip my wife and I took to Europe in the summer of 2005. I did A LOT of sketching through the entire trip and learned quite a few things about art and about myself. Today I want to present this little pen and ink sketch I did of Le Arc De Triomphe in Paris.

Man Vs. Art and wife visit Le Arc De Triomphe

I agreed to an ENTIRE morning of non stop shopping up and down the Champs-Elyséeswith my wife Hortencia (I call her Ortie for short) on one condition. I got to choose where we had lunch.

Ortie in her natural element doing what she does best. Shopping.

In true geek form I wanted to pay homage to Pulp Fiction by having a " Royale with cheese" at the local McDonalds down the block.

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You know that little voice we all have in our heads that warns us when something is a bad idea? Yeah well at that moment mine was out taking a whizz. Eating at Mcdonald's was a decision that I would soon regret. The fool that I was.

We left Mickey D's and continued down the Champs-Elysées. Ortie stopped to admire a some shoes on display in Boutique's window. All of a sudden I doubled over in McPain with a horrible McCramp in my McStomach followed by an uncontrollable urge to McHurl.

The French consider Americans to be uncultured boors. They don't really like us. And here I am on the verge of committing what the French call a Faux Pas, a social blunder. I was about to "Tarantino" my Royale with cheese all over the sidewalk." I was definitely not "Lovin' it." I made a beeline for the nearest trash can and braced for the imminent onslaught. Then just as quickly as it came, the gut wrenching pain was gone. The royale with cheese had decided to stay put.

I pulled my head out of the trash can and there before me was the perfect view of Le Arc De Triomphe in all its monumental glory. Perfectly framed, complete with a strong light source and no obstructions.

It was perfect! Perfect I tells ya!

The entire morning I had stared at Le Arc de Triomphe with the desire to draw it. I just couldn't find a decent spot to plop down and do it. Now I had this perfect spot to draw from! As an added bonus there was an empty bench right in front of me! Joy!

It was go time!

Half an hour to 45 minutes later I had executed this sketch using pen and ink with  a little wash.

Not bad but it was missing what the french call Je ne sais quoi.

It was okay, but I felt strongly that it needed figure or two in the foreground. Of the dozens of people that walked by me not a single one felt right. I wanted to put someone cool in my drawing.An esteemed representative of Paris you know? Like a wealthy Parisian Dowager walking her poodle,

Hey Frenchie!

Or a scraggly Jean Reno guy leaning on the street lamp and lighting up a smoke.

I don't think he's Janet's brother though.

Isn't Paris supposed to be the friggin' city of romance for crying out loud?! Well, c'mon Paris do your thing!

It was getting late and we had a tight schedule to stick to. But the blasted drawing felt incomplete. I was disappointed and frustrated to say the least. I sighed and muttered as I gathered up my things to leave. That's when the miracle happened.

A big white limousine pulled up. Then a really short French guy in a tweed jacket holding a big camera oompa loompaed his way out of the limo. He looked very stressed and the whole time was chattering a non stop stream of French gibberish (to moi) in that comical "short guy" voice. I considered but quickly dismissed the idea of drawing him. The French ambassador of the lollipop guild just didn't fit in with what I wanted. I could have gone for the obvious Napoleon joke with mini me and Le Arc, but that's too easy. Only posers and hacks go for the easy joke.

Then, just like movie stars arriving to a red carpet event a young Asian newlywed couple stepped out of the limo and right into the empty spot in front of me. I swear this is true!

The groom looked totally GQ in his Tux. And the Bride? Sweet Tonata! Can you say princess? Mr. Frodo was snapping pictures like crazy and I realized they were having their wedding portrait taken with Le Arc De Triomphe as the backdrop. I remember thinking what a cool idea it was.

I couldn't believe what was happening. It almost felt like I had willed them to into existence! I know it sounds silly, but as an artist, feelings like this are very empowering and totally conducive to kicking the quality of your work up a notch! With renewed vigor I grabbed my pen and sketched the newlyweds while Harve Villaichez photographed them.

This is how the final sketch turned out.

The wedding Couple was exactly what I needed in my drawing. They tied everything together nicely.

Folks, I ask you, isn't that the sappiest, most romantic cornball thing ever? I couldn't have asked for a better subject. That was certainly a special moment I captured with my pen and I feel very fortunate to have been at the right place at the right time. I was the second happiest guy in the whole world. The first happiest guy in the world was of course the groom who was grinning from ear to ear the whole time!

It all happened so fast! I wanted to thank them for giving me my "magical Paris moment", But by the time I looked up they were leaving. I watched the Limo slowly pull away from the curb and then disappear into the afternoon Paris traffic forever.

I put my arm around my wife and we walked back to our hotel.

Maybe someday the Asian couple might find this blog or podcast. I'm sure they would love to hear this story as well as see the drawing. Heck I'd give it to them. I'd tell them to consider it a wedding gift. Hey. I just realized Art is the gift that keeps on giving! Ha!

This taught me a valuable lesson. Whether it be good or bad a little luck can make or break a work of art. A poser will always fail to take advantage of things like luck, because he fails to act in time. He spends his time reacting. By then it's too late. It's what makes poser work look lifeless and contrived. In order to properly draw what you see, you need to learn how to "see" first.

A great artist is aware of his surroundings and is always ready to adapt to any sudden change in circumstances. Part of Art's appeal, at least to me is spontaneity.

On that day in Paris years ago Man had accepted Art's challenge, and Man won!
But only with luck.

Thank you Paris France for giving me such a memorable experience.
I hope to come back real soon

Now where is my wine and cheese.

Shameless Plugs!

This Saturday August 8th from 3 to 9 pm I will be exhibiting some new paintings at the Casita Del Pueblo Gallery at
6738 Greenleaf Ave in the city of Whittier California.

I am extending a  VIP invitation to all of my readers and  listeners. There will be food drinks and plenty of art! So come by and say Hi!

FREE ANIMATION FESTIVAL!

Also my good friend and fellow artist Jim Lujan has put together The Edge Of L.A. Comic-Con Animation Fest on Saturday August 15th. at the Claremont Packing house 532 W. 1st street Claremeont CA 91711.

Bring the kids! Admission is Free so be sure to tell the guy that you are a friend of  Man vs. Art and get 1/2 off the price of admission

Following the screenings there will be a Q and A discussion with the creators! So animation students are encouraged to check it out!

You can see more of my work at my official website www.studioraul.com,

Thanks again for joining me and I hope you have an artful day!

Man Vs Art copyright 2009 Raul Aguirre Jr.

MAN VS. ART PODCAST

My Channel On Big Contact

Hi!

I’m so glad you are here. “Where is here?” you ask. Why, here is Man Vs. Art the snazziest art blog on the block and home of the ARTGASM®*!

My name is Raul Aguirre Jr.

Self serving self portrait

In fifteen years as a professional Artist doing Animation, Illustration, private commissions, and my own personal art, I have accumulated a fair amount of art knowledge.  Now I want to give a little back.

I have been documenting my projects for some time and starting this week I’ll be putting them online. Along the way I’ll be giving you some insights and feedback about my process and my opinion about Art. I may even pass you a tip or two and tell you a story. We’ll talk painting, drawing, sketching, technique, supplies, subjects, theory and anything else art related.

Why Man vs. Art? Well, I named it that because I have always had to fight hard to make a living as an artist. Nothing has come easy. By the looks of things I don’t expect that to change anytime soon. But that’s cool.  I like a challenge.  If success had come easily I surely would have taken it for granted and succumbed to complacency like so many of my contemporaries. I refuse to follow trends and trying to fit in is definitely not on my agenda. I just want to make art that satisfies me and if I can help other artists along the way, all the better.

That being said, you amigo, are cordially invited to ride shotgun on my journey down the bumpy road towards artistic fulfillment. When certain things come up, I’ll have tips about handling them. I’ll also be posting some tutorials about things every artist should know. Like “The proper way to hold a pencil so that you can get it to do, what you want it to do.”

I will be posting regularly and as an added bonus each post will include its own audio podcast!

Thanks for dropping by and I hope you come back often!

Raul

*1.ARTGASM® a hyper-link to any art related stuff I have found to be useful, informative or inspiring and I know you will too.