Nice to PSP you!

Well the comic I'm working on still is under some heavy revisions so I don't think I'll be posting it anytime soon. But I did manage to cough out this painted BG (Miyazaki style) for use as a PSP background if you please. I'm sure this will be the new format for most handheld devices in the not too distant future, so hopefully this BG will have a longer lifespan then just the PSP.

I created it in Photoshop, no sketch prior, just dove straight in and finished it in about 10 hours total over the course of 3 days. Some burring, some smudging used but mostly just using the concept of color to carve out a 3D space. Also I only ever use your standard round brush, nothing fancy if I can avoid it.

Also, if you haven't got a PSP yet I ask "why not?" (though I can hear the DS fanboys kicking up a fuss right now) Here's the selling points over DS; UMD or downloaded on memory stick movies in 16:9 apsect with excellent sound, Web-browsing with flash support, e-mail and MSN/AIM ability through e-messenger and other utilities, custom backgrounds, digital camera support (potiental for blog updates with picture uploads on the go). I personally think PSP is a great handheld along side DS, both have their perks and flaws but your missing out if you don't have both systems. So for all those PSP people out there, I give you a nice BG to use if you like it.

Enjoy yo self!

-MC-

HO-HUM...

Well seems like I'm heading in a more "cartoon" like direction now in my career which is making me more happy. Though the problem I face now is coming up with funny comics and that's pretty hard...perhaps I'll re-draw some of the ones I've done already. Anyways, I'm working on a small comic for the studio to describe the whole animation process from idea to reel. It's pretty neat, I should be finished sometime this week and I'll post it if I can (gotta talk to da boss on that one).

Anyhoo, I better keep at 'er and make some more cartoons to post...

-MC-

Coffee warms the Soul

I was thinking about this one while lining up for my morning coffee at Timmy's (you know what establishment I'm talking about) and it occurred to me a thought of the bread lines in Moscow. It struck me as funny so I made this little piece about it. I don't know if I captured the line aspect of it but I got the Canadian part right, there's always someone making a crack about how cold it is outside. It's Canada, it's winter, it's supposed to be cold...get over it!

-MC-

Cartoonyness

I've been thinking about a career change recently...

I'm not entirely happy working in the animation industry, lately it's been trying and uninspiring. I thought about when am I most happy? and the usual answer is in doodles I make during the worse points of my day when shit has hit the fan in productions. Not that I'm going to just quit my job, but I defiantely would like to pursue a cartoonist career. Maybe this is one of those "don't quit your day job" ideas, but I should figure out something to move towards now. I really hate office type environments and the higher you get involved inside a studio the more of a desk jockey you become. Meetings, post-it notes and performance reviews...it all makes me sick. I don't want to rant but how many monkey's need to be on peoples backs in the animation industry? I thought it was just a bunch of guys having some fun and making people laugh with some silly little cartoons...maybe it was, but it isn't now and probably never will be.

Anyways, I hope I'll start something this week and just start posting my doodles/cartoon captions. We'll see how it all works out in the end, but something defiantly needs to change because I can't stay unhappy at work forever.

-MC-

A New Years Resolution (too late!)

Here's the poster I made (with Gene's finishing touches with text) for the Fatkat X-mas party which turned out to be a blast even if me and Bev snuck out early from it. Well the new news would be that I own a house now in downtown NewCastle, which is a nice 3 minute walk from the new studio. I share it with my lovely girlfriend Beverly and we love the place, it's a 116 year old house which needs a bit of TLC to make it even better then it is already. If I ever get around to taking pictures of it, I'll post them on here.

That's all for now!

-MC-