Man vs Art Episode 25! Candid Interview with Disney Filmation Animation Artist Dana Reemes Part 02.
By Raul | July 5, 2010
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:05:35 — 60.0MB)
At long last! Closure to the Stupefying Dana Reemes interview!
Too much Dana is never enough!
I swear he looks like a Bond Villain.
"Excellent!"
Performing as a Gothic Mentalist at a very private affair. Winter Solstice, 2000.
Some funny stuff from the Dana Reemes Files!
Don’t you guys hate it when this happens?!
For the benefit of the laymen, here is what a clean up artist brings to the table in animation.
An awesome parody of the classic Ripley’s cartoons by madman Dana!
Lureline Weatherly:
a self-portrait.
She is Dana’s first wife and left quite an impression on him!
Ramses II’s Great Royal Wife Nofretari and Dana –Dana is the one on the right.
The Glamorous side of being an Animator.
Filmation also made live action Saturday morning kid shows. One of them was Space Academy! When it tanked, the abandoned sci fi sets were used to house artist cubicles! Studios will literally shove artist cubicles ANYWHERE!
When I was boy vs. art this stuff was THE BOMB!
File the next two under so horrible they are great!
Shazam is cool. Everyone knows that!
This takes the cake! Bigfoot raises an orphan and together they fight CRIME?!!
Will the REAL Ghostbusters please stand up?
Controversy!
While working at Filmation Dana had a ringside seat to the cartoon drama between “The Original Ghostbusters” and “The Real Ghostbusters.”
In 1984 Columbia Pictures released the blockbuster film Ghostbusters. As they raked in millions Columbia was clueless to their huge blunder. Apparently they did not realize the name “Ghost Busters” was taken! Believe it or not Filmation had already produced a live-action comedy series with that same name in 1975 starring Forest Tucker and Larry Storch.
In 1985 Filmation sued Columbia. As part of the out-of-court settlement, any cartoon based on the Columbia Pictures property could not be called “Ghostbusters.” That title was reserved for Filmation! Columbia had to name their cartoon show “The Real Ghostbusters” to directly distinguish it from the Filmation show.
Filmation then proceeded to call their version “The Original Ghostbusters.”
Columbia’s “The Real Ghostbusters was produced by DIC.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
I worked as a clean up Inbetweener on the Phoebus Unit on the 1996 Disney production The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Phoebus was the handsome soldier who falls in love with the Gypsy Esmerelda. He was interesting to work on thanks to some great rough animation by Russ Edmonds and Dave Brewster as well as the charming voice performance by Kevin Kline.
But the helmet and sword gave my boss the suave Brian Clift a hard time. Anyway, no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t get the props right. The sword and helmet always morphed and wiggled. The head of the clean up department Vera Lanpher, wisely put Dana on the case! It turns out Dana has a real knack for metal props and his sense of perspective is razor sharp! Every frame of film that shows Phoebus’s helmet and or sword was done by Dana.
Helmet by Dana Reemes.
Something from the “Q” branch!
Dana owns a custom hand made animation lightbox setup made by the same guy who made the black acrylic animation discs at Disney. It is beyond awesome! It collapses into a briefcase and comes with top and bottom pegs! For $300.00 Dana got himself the coolest portable animation table set up I have ever seen. Hand made in Korea!
Coolest animation lightbox ever!
Dana Reemes: The Filmmaker
NECROMANCE, a sequence from an unfinished feature film by Dana Reemes, is provided here as a public service by ManvsArt.com. The names of the cast aand crew have been changed to protect the identify of some of the most prestigious individuals in the worlds of music, fashion, entertainment and the visual arts. This film has been recognized for its artistic merit by countless audiences and critics over the years. NECROMANCE is, to put it bluntly, a deathless classic of the cinema.
Ahem!…..
Corrections!
I goofed in the last post a few times when it came to selecting images Dana admires. So he wrote to me and pointed my mistakes out and offered his solutions. Here I cut and pasted Dana’s emails. Isn’t he precious?!
Hey Raul, buddy,
It’s Dana “Not Tall” Reemes, here. Know you’re a busy guy, but thought I’d offer another suggestion for Man vs. Art. I think that Swafford’s great caricature would benefit from some judicious cropping; there’s too much negative space around the image. Use the crop tool and pretend you are an art framer. That’s all for now… Back to my writing.
Dear Raul,
Hope all is well. Don’t mean to be a pain in the ass, but thought I’d write. The TUROK material that you have up is not what I found particularly inspirational. I sent you a couple of really magnificent early painted covers by Morris “Moe” Gollub, who incidentally had been an assistant at Disney and was later a very distinguished layout guy and president of the MPSC 839 animator’s union when I joined up. Of course, I didn’t know any of this when I last saw you; Sito came by for an enjoyable visit on Friday and gave me an inscribed, author’s presentation copy of his illuminating book DRAWING THE LINE: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE ANIMATION UNIONS FROM BOSKO TO BART SIMPSON. (You would like this book, as its primary focus is “man vs. art”; artists trying to make a living doing what they like to do best, while having to deal with bullshit all the time from greedy or incompetent employers.) Sito, for his part, had an error in the book, describing the cover paintings that Mo Gollub did for Western Publishing titles like TARZAN and TUROK, SON OF STONE as being for paperback books rather than comic books. Gollub was just a guy like us (only talented) who knocked out those beautiful covers in the late ’50s when he was about your age. It was just something he did on the side as he was basically an animator. As for the interior page art, the examples you have are from the garishly colored Darkhorse reprints of one of the early issues illustrated by Rex Maxon, an old-timer that had done the TARZAN full-color Sunday newspaper strip (back when such strips were a big deal) for years starting in 1930, until it was later taken over by Burne Hogarth and the great Russ Manning (who later did MAGNUS,ROBOT FIGHTER for Western Publishing). Maxon’s Turok work looked old-fashioned at the time and while professional, always appeared to be done in great haste, mostly with brush (it’s faster). The finest draftsman ever to work on TUROK, was Alberto Gioletti (correct spelling, this time) a highly trained Italian, who later went back to Rome and established a well-respected comic book publishing firm. Considering how fast he worked and how little he was paid, his work is of a very high illustrational standard; other artists still use his drawings for reference when doing all manner of things like jungle, rocks, caves, etc. His work was always well-researched and had a real look of verisimilitude. All of the living beings, humans, cave-men, dinosaurs, etc., convey a sense of anatomical conviction. Anyway, it is factually incorrect to say that I liked the “Italian artists” that did TUROK; everyone involved with TUROK over the years was American except for Gioletti. (To complicate matters slightly, Gollub’s great covers were done early on when Rex Maxon was still doing interior page art; some other decent, but second-rate guy did the covers later on when Alberto Gioletti was doing the inside pages.)
One last thing, Sito right away knew the cartoonist who did that “Out of the way, swine, a cartoonist is coming!” panel; it is New York artist Bernard “Hap” Kliban, usually known as B. Kliban, and remembered now mostly for his goofy cartoon cats. He died sometime in the ’90s. You need to give him credit for that panel which so perfectly summarizes the way we cartoonists deal with our perpetually shattered dreams and frustrated aspirations. CARTOONISTS RULE!
B. Kliban
Well, I’m getting back to work on my doctoral dissertation now… Good being back in touch with you.
Your pal,
Dana
Also….
Also, with regard to the MAGNUS material you posted, you should say that this was the work of the great Russ Manning, as some of your fan-boy minions will no doubt know this and wonder at the oversight. Check out the way Manning does Magnus’ girlfriend in the finely-pleated, partly transparent mini-dress–very sexy, yet demure. Don’t think he ever did the cover art though.
Here’s some random pages of Russ Manning MAGNUS art for you to pick through. Looked really good to me when I was a teenager!
Oh yeah, before I forget!
Also get a load of the latest Ghettomation Podcast! A fun and crazy animation round table discussion I take part in with Jim Lujan and Kevin Cross!
One last thing….
ManvsArt.com’s Subcommandante Jim Lujan has just released his first DVD Ghettomation Garden. If you like stuff that is different, innovative, and funny then this is for you.
The reviews are in!
“I gushed my chonies….in a good way!”
The Che Guevara T-Shirt.
“I couldn’t stop laughing for hours! And that was just while trying to get the shrink wrap off the DVD case!”
Raul Aguirre Jr.
Total with shipping: $13.00 USD
For less than a 12 pack of Dos Equis! ($13.49)
But just as fun and twice as intoxicating!
Thanks for dropping by!
Ciao.
R.
Man vs. Art Episode 24! Candid Interview with Disney & Filmation Animation Artist Dana Reemes Part 1.
By Raul | June 23, 2010
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:36:21 — 88.2MB)
An appetizer.
Dearest Minions!
Before we get going on today’s guest, I have a special cartoon my guest found a while ago, and gave me. This made me laugh so hard, milk came out my nose. I wasn’t even drinking milk at the time!
Probably one of Funniest Cartoons I have ever seen!
Here is a film I mentioned at the beginning of the podcast that you guys HAVE to see. The 1965 film The Agony and the Ecstasy directed by Carol Reed, starring Charlton Heston as Michelangelo and Rex Harrison as Pope Julius II. A raging era of titans, popes and princes… of conspiracy and conflict… of turmoil and transgressions… of a man among men… of magnificence!
Pope Julius is eager to leave behind works by which he will be remembered. To this end he muscles Michelangelo into painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. When not on the battlefield, the Pope constantly nags the crap out of Michelangelo to speed up his painful work on the frescoes.
The main Course.
Today I am going to introduce to you a very special friend of mine from way back in my Disney days. His name is Dana Reemes and he is the cat’s pajamas!
I used to stay late at the studio every night and work on my own animation projects. You know me, I’m always trying to better myself. I figured I wasn’t going to be at Disney forever and wanted to take full advantage of my time there. Dana worked nights as well and we became friends.
Professor Dana Reemes.
This is Dana in his study. Animator, Film maker, Egyptologist, Professor, Cartoonist, Published Writer, Explorer, and good buddy!
Earliest work.
Dana’s “Artism” manifested itself at age two. Check out the choo choo!
Comic Resume.
This is Dana’s clever as hell resume he used to get his first animation job at Filmation in 1979. He just walked in and showed them this. He was hired on the spot! No portfolio or nuthin’!
Remember Atomic Sit ups in middle school?
Person 1 is conned into performing “the hardest sit-up ever” an Atomic sit up. Person 1 then lies on their back and are told to cross hands on their chest. Person 2 then holds a towel over the face of person 1 covering the eyes telling him sit up quickly with all his strength when he says to. Meanwhile person 3 has removed their pants and is squatting over person 1′s face with out him knowing. Person 2 then tells person 1 to sit up and quickly removes the towel as soon as the sit up begins. The result has person 1′s nose planted into person 3′s ass.
Here Dana has drawn a gag cartoon showing off a automatic atomic sit-up machine!
Caricature of Dana Reemes by Michael Swafford.
I knew Michael Swafford while I was working on Disney’s Hercules in 1997. Mike supervised the animation of Hermes and was truly one of the most talented animators I had ever seen! I mean look at this caricature of Dana he did! EXCELLENT!
Robert Crumb!
Dana met Robert Crumb in 1969 in the flea bag Miramonte Hotel on Mission Street where Robert was staying at the time. Dana brought his sketchbook and Robert kindly went over it with him! Not only that, Crumb gave some sage advice as well as a Crowquill Penpoint! Believe it or not Dana still has it! Behold!
Minions! I got to hold a pen Crumb gave Dana in 1969!
Robert also handed Dana a gel capsule of high grade LSD called Owsley’s White Lightning.
One of the first underground chemists to mass produce high-quality LSD in the 1960′s was Owsley Stanley. .
Owsley produced his LSD in Los Angeles and once he had a huge batch, he drove to the bay area where he supplied LSD to Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters for their acid tests. Through them he also met the Grateful Dead in 1966 and began supporting them both financially and as a sound man.
Owsley’s best-known acid was “White Lightning” (300,000 doses) made in 1966-1967.
Robert Crumb’s music!
Dana Also turned me on to Robert Crumb’s band “The Cheap Suit Serenaders”
They play covers of 1920′s Tin Pan Alley Jazz! Holy cow what find! Highly recommended! A new Man vs. Art favorite!
Here is one of my favorite songs “The Fine Artist Blues” from the album Chasin’ Rainbows.
I dedicate this song to all the Man vs. Art Minions out there!
Thanks Dana for turning me onto these jams! And thanks Robert Crumb for your cartoons and now your music!!
Twinkle Toes Dana the Ballet Pirate!
Okay guys, here are two pics of Dana in a pirate costume from the Sacramento Junior Ballet’s 1962 all-ballet production of Peter Pan! This is how he looked when the teen bathing-beauty nymphets threw his butt in the deep end of the pool. You’ve seen the pictures! You CAN’T unsee them!
My doesn’t he look fierce and manly? ARRRRRRRRR!!!!
Dana’s fave Comics.
Dana really enjoyed Curt Swan’s Lois Lane for it’s elegance and theatrical posing.
Dana Also dug the Italian artists who drew Turok! Son of Stone!
This is beautiful work! Nothing fancy, just good solid drawing! I love these!
Magnus Robot Fighter was another of Dana’s choices!
This is some really good stuff! I love the way he draws the girls! The panel flow is really smooth and each composition is tight!
Filmation!
This is a clean up pencil test of Skeletor from the 1980′s Filmation Cartoon He Man and the Masters of the Universe. My friend Dana Reemes provided the clean up assistant animation on this scene. I just took the photocopies he loaned me, scanned them, and put together this animation test.
Filmation’s early stuff!
Believe it or not Filmation’s first gigs were doing the opening credit sequences for Italian Giallo which were the first sexual thrillers.
Although they did not do the titles for this particular Giallo film, I wanted to share it with you guys because it is just so insanely awesome! Blood and Black Lace Directed by the Great Mario Bava!
Check out the trailer! In bleeding COLOR!
Here are the opening Credits.
The 2010 Geeks Con!
Here is your Man vs. Art probably talking about art. Probably!
Getting some sugar from my babe, The Lovely and Vivacious Hortencia.
Melissa admires the display Hortencia put together for Man vs. Art!
Hortencia did an exceptional job of putting together my display! She matted my prints, bagged the cards and books, and dug up the vertical display things! My stuff looked rad!
Sherm Cohen and I hammed it up big time! It was great to meet him and his wife! Sherm is quite a talented fellow! The poor dude has a bone spur in his foot and hobbled in on crutches! What a trooper! The kids gushed their chonies with his Sponge Bob stuff which looked friggin’ awesome! Get Well Sherm!
John Narcomey is a bigger ham than Sherm and I put together.
The super talented Rafael Navarro is always a stud!
Ted Seko buffed and talented! Dig that sketch guys!
Geo Brawn IV and Nancy. What a nice couple! Love the jewelry Geo! The dark one Geo had the kids gushing their chonies as well, only out of fear!
Javier Hernandez and Jim Lujan, now this is what I call studs!
Geeks Con 2010 was a blast and I can’t wait until next year!
That’s enough for now!
Ciao!
R
Man vs. Art Episode 23! The History of Animation According to Raul Part 2.
By Raul | June 8, 2010
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:41:13 — 92.7MB)
Hola Minions!
Here it is! At long last the eagerly anticipated second part of……
The History of Animation According to me.
But before I get into it I need to let you guys know right from the get go, that this episode of the Man vs. Art Podcast is heavy. I mean really heavy. It clocks in at over 90 minutes. I went balls out on this one kiddos. I started from the 1987 debut of the Simpsons shorts on FOX’s Tracey Ullman show and went all the way to the present day. I made a real effort to touch on as many key moments in cartoon history as I could, with that bombastic fiery passion you all have come to expect from me.
I gushed over the things I love like some sort of braying seal/James Lipton hybrid and I tore into the stuff I hate like a drunken Wolverine slashing into a pack of Ninjas.
In other words, I kept it Raul.
This time it was a little different than part one because this time I was actually there and experienced it first hand for myself as an animation artist. So at times I got a little worked up and perhaps a tad emotional.
FYI, this is a no B.S. zone. Rest assured that I offer the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me Walt.
In producing this episode I learned that there is no free lunch in Animation. Never has been. The first hundred years of modern animation was no picnic! Especially for the Artists.
Producing animation is tough. It takes hard work, devotion, and vision. Even animation that is “phoned in” or “hacked out” requires effort.
Animation has dealt with B.S. and adversity at every turn. But more importantly I learned that the greatest achievements in animation no matter the era, always have the most humble of beginnings.
Do you remember where you were on April 19, 1987? I do. I was watching Animation history being made.
That night was the very first appearance of The Simpsons in a 1:40 minute short interstitial on the Tracey Ullman Show. This little Ghettomation ushered in a new era for cartoons and became one of the biggest most successful animation properties in history.
Don Bluth Corner
Don Bluth Single handedly saved 2D Animation in the early eighties with awesome awesomeness!
Don Bluth’s Space Ace
Don Bluth Draws Kimberly from Space Ace
Notice he is using a yellow Dixon Ticonderoga #2 pencil. It’s no secret Minions! You’ve heard me say it before! The magic pencil is the one you happen to have in your hand.
Here is Don’s youtube channel with some cool animation tutorials!
Disney’s The Black Cauldron 1985
80′s cartoons intro mix!
IMHO the Defenders of the Earth intro was EPIC!
Best Animated Feature Prologue EVER!
Awesome Ghettomation Parody of Saturday morning fun!
Slip and Fail by Jim Lujan
Channel Frederator!
Subscribe Here for Best Free Content on ITunes!
Bloat your IPOD with Channel Frederator’s Cartoon Goodness.
Newest Inductee to the Man vs. Art Pantheon of Awesomeness.
art and text by Mike Garvey
I hereby nominate Benjamin Franklin for the Man vs. Art Pantheon of Awesomeness. He has been one of my biggest heroes for as long as I can remember. Heck, I even named my son after him. My reasons, several, but I’ll keep it to a few. I’ll start with the obvious and then move on to what really makes him great in my book.
His discovery of electricity changed the world as we know it. Steve Jobs has nothing on him. From the light bulb to the internet, electricity may be one of the most important elements in any artist’s toolkit.
Social networking: In 1727 he formed the “Leather Apron Club” (later called “Junto”). Called the Leather Apron Club because of the leather apron he and his fellow printers wore, it was a club that met in tea houses and pubs for the purpose of ‘business, friendship, and conversation’. It became so popular over it’s 30 year span that several spin-off clubs were formed.
He was America’s first cartoonist. His political cartoon “JOIN OR DIE!” (drawn in 1754 in response to the Seven Years War) would become a rally cry during the American Revolution. His cartoon was an inspiration for the people of thirteen colonies to come together and stand against, and amongst, the world’s superpowers of the time. Now that’s the power of art!
He founded the first library in 1731. For the first time ever, access to knowledge, information, poetry, etc. was now available to the general public rather than the few wealthy elite who owned private libraries. Thus enabling everyone, not just the aristocracy, to have an educated voice in the world.
Franklin was so disenchanted by elitist societies of higher learning, that in 1781 when solicited by Royal Academy of Science to submit an essay on his scientific experiments, he responded with a letter which became popularly titled: “Fart Proudly”. The letter discusses scientific means of making farts smell pleasant, and ends with: “…[compared to the practical applications of this discussion, other sciences are] scarcely worth a FART-HING.”
And so, for giving artists the power of lightning to create and unite, for making art that made the little guy feel like a big guy, and for recognizing the importance of every individual in a society, I nominate Benjamin Franklin for the Man vs. Art Pantheon of Awesomeness.
John Narcomey The Man, The Myth!
Indy comic creator and friend of the show John Narcomey had a one man art show at Geeks Comics last weekend and MAn vs. Art was there to check out his gallery and books! That Batman John had on display behind is SICK! I love it!
Geo Brawn IV
was there as well! What a stud! Just in case you are wondering, no He’s not Samoan.
The lovely and vivacious Hortencia looked smokin’ (as always)
I'm a lucky guy.
She makes me look good.
Graciella Rodriguez, Melissa and Hortencia the Geeks Chicas!
John and his soon to be wife Melissa sure make a great couple don’t they?
I gotta give John props on his t-shirt. PURE NARCOMEY!
GEEKS-CON 2010
Everyone is invited!
Javier Hernandez
Tribute gag Promo by
The Che Guevara T-Shirt
click the pic to Jav's Blog!
Last but not least, I am thrilled to announce that the Man vs. Art Podcast is now a proud member of the Visual Artist Podcast Network at visualartistpodcastnetwork.com
