Funnies at work

Lately it's all I can do to drag myself out the door to go to work. It's a bit tough at the studio at the moment for a various number of reasons.

So it really helps when there's old school artists there, with interesting things too look at and learn from. One of these guys is a cartoonist (and not to name drop, but also an ex-disney animator, and I mention that because Disney still remains to be my inspiration for animation). From time to time depending on what goes down in the studio, he draws characatures of us. A few of us have saved up a little collection of Newell's cartoons, and I know for myself it's one of the highlights and sometimes the only highlight that makes me look forward to going to work every week.

Walt Kelly's Pogo at a Garage Sale

I finally got around to visiting some garage sales around the neighbourhood this weekend, and the first one I went to, I found a real treasure - for only 2 bucks, a big, cloth bound, 1959 book of all comic strips by Walt Kelly, "Ten Ever-Lovin' Blue Eyed Years With Pogo". I wasn't at all familiar with Pogo, but instantly recognised that beautiful classic drawing style of the late 40's, early 50's. Gorgeous stuff. It inspired me to practise drawing Alice in different poses and expressions.

Birthday Christmas, Christmas Birthday

A hand drawn card. A catrabbit creature, after seeing these in the shop windows all throughout the year around Hobart, I finally own one! And a framed, limited print of a Yoshitomo Nara painting, one of my most favourite contemporary artists. Three wonderful pieces of art for me from my boyfriend, plus a cherry-red limited edition nanopod from back home mostly Roland, and messages banking up on my mobile from my Perth pals, made this birthday away from home, pretty okay. One thing that made it not okay, is this agressive flu I got the day work finished. I've been sick pretty much since Saturday, and this flu seems to consist of making one go through the whole smorgasboard of being sick. Sore throat, achey joints, fever, to sneezing, and now a runny nose and clogged sinuses. oh and a dry cough. ah well. I've been managing to avoid the worst colds and flus all year while working, it was bound to catch up to me in the end.

The talented Beatrix Potter

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Last year, ever since seeing an interview on the news with Renee Zellweger talking about her role in the new film on the life of Beatrix Potter, I have been SO excited and eagerly waiting. I have been a big fan of the Peter Rabbit and friends Tales, ever since Yr 2, when our teacher made a Beatrix Potter week, where we learnt about all the characters and read every book. And I remember on the last day, we had a drawing competition where in groups, we had to draw a character each to make a hanging mobile, and the best mobile would win. The members of my group snuck their pieces of paper over to me and made me draw each of their characters as well as my own, and our mobile won.

I have the big book containing the completed tales.



So the movie Miss Potter is finally just out this week! I'm going to see it on Tuesday. I never knew much about the life of Beatrix Potter until now... and I found myself startingly surprised at how similar my own life is to hers. From the love of natural history illustration, to the pet rabbits and others, and the stories I make up in my head about them, to the dynamics in her home and personal life. I found myself feeling a tear come to my eye every time I watched the preview.

Here's some of the insect illustrations Beatrix Potter did, before the little books ever came out.

Something Eve

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Tomorrow is my Birthday!!!. So is Christmas.
I bought a present for myself yesterday. I had a good wander into the new Peter Alexander store and decided that if anyone asks me what i want for my birthday next time, instead of saying nothing, I'll just say, "anything from the Peter Alexander store please!". I found there hand picked books, and a small tray of toys from kidrobot. and so i bought a small book by Emma Magenta which i'd seen at Planet, and a Dunny bunny and a random donut keycahin, which was fromthe girl of mypapercrane.com
I was going to wait til xmas to open both, but I restrained until this morning, when after an hour after getting out of bed, I went back to my bedroom and opened it.


and was happy to get the Goat Herder Dunny. it's card says:

Goat herder is a sleep guide.

He battles nightmares and guides

you safely through the night.

its awesome and very cute. comes with his own fuzzy goat, and removable stripey cane, and perfect, after i had nightmares two nights ago.
....about being back at Dogstar work and not having enough footage on a Friday afternoon, and Timothy going home with out waiting for me, despite me calling out to him to wait, and then I got held there by a manniquin that came alive and clutched my hair tight. upon escaping i left the building realising i was the last to leave, and had no keys to lock it and couldn't set the alarm. then I got some verbal racial abuse from a lot of street kids who were eyeing me as i waited for the bus in the dying light.

i am putting a bid to get the tokidoki and Bubble love Dunny on ebay.
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Rabbit War comic

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I'm not a big collector or buyer of comics, but once i came across this gem at a stock clearance sale. I've only got Vol 2 and 3, and they are one of my favourite books. "Acopolypse Meow", a graphic novel of a War Story about the Vietnam War, told with animals! We follow Perkins, Rats and Botaski, three rabbit members of Cat Shit One, a special ops group.

The rabbits are the Americans, the chimpanzees and gorrillas are Japanese-American, Vietnamese are Cats, the Russians are bears, the Chinese are pandas, and even Aussies make a guest appearance as a kangaroo and a kangaroo rat in a pub, and there's info on the SAS in the appendix too.

And it being told with animals, is not overlly cutesy at all, but totally original and superbly drawn, so that suddenly war politics, army lingo, and explosions is actually interesting and I digested the books beginning to end without pause.

And I muse that this would be exactly how I'd draw animals if I had to make a War comic.

The talented and humble writer/illustrator Motofumi Kobayashi even dedicates the book to 'all the cats and rabbits in the world'.

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New Yorker and cartoons

I was looking for stickers in Garden City today (to decorate my new handycam after I peeled off the panasonic stickers, and I seem to have reverted back to being 9 yrs old) and I spotted and bought the New Yorker magazine, Cartoons edition, with that distinct cover art (you get a random 1 of 5 parts) of Chris Ware. Mine is cover 3 titled "Family". The rest you can see here.

Its cool to compare the style of other Chris Ware comics from ago. Here's a two pgs from his Jimmy Corrigan comic novel.


Inside the New Yorker cartoon issue, none of the featured cartoons caught my attention except this one. By Matthew Diffee. Interesting angle on nature drawing. I like it! they remind me of my funny pigeons.

I have the new Eloise book

Also on Tim's day, I got myself a present too. I was flipping through the children's book section of a bookshop and after pulling out many nice books, I saw a familiar title, "Eloise" on the spine. I pulled it out and yelled in happy surprise to Timothy. LOOK! It's Eloise!!

See at work, we did something like a show-and-share, where most weeks we would bring in books we just bought, or have, that everyone else would be interested in. It was a ball, because all being animators/creatives of different influence, the books would range all over the place from Disney's Tarzan, to retro ads, to Norman Lindsey sketches. and on one particular week my supervisor Ian Beatty, (who's been the biggest resource of wonderful books) brought in a worn children's book titled "Eloise", bought for 20c at a second hand book sale, to show me. I immediately loved the NewYork apartment world and naughty, silly personality of this six year old "Eloise" girl, that seemed to be Kay Thompson's inner child. And the gorgeous, amusing, humourous illustrations to match by what i thought was a female illustrator, Hilary Knight which i found inspring for the 1950s. (but now i know better, Hilary Knight is actually a He). I made a mental note to put this Eloise book on my searchlist since it was so old. The pictures are truly wonderful can't-wipe-the-smile-off-your-face great.

So happy and surprised I was when I pulled it off the shelf, with a silver detail for the special 50th Anniversary edition with added interviews, photos and sketches from JayThompson and Hilary Knight in the back! Although the wonderful 65 pages of Oh my lord, rawther amusing, story and pictures that Ooooooooo I absolutely love, are well worth by itself.
I do wish we were still at work, so that I could have brought this book to show Ian.