The Robot Operator

Looking for free time...

2008-07-06T17:57:00.000-07:00

Free time.... It's something it seems I haven't had in about a decade or so. When I finally do get a moment or two, I have such a huge list of things I want to do, and rather than just pick one, I pace and fret indecisively until I'm weeping in a corner. A good rule of thumb when I'm heading toward that "weeping corner" is to just drink beer and watch a movie. Solid. But there's always so much to do.... huh, boredom? What's that?
Lately I've been living in a wonderful world of robots and monsters... and I think I'll stay awhile. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you haven't been paying attention to Hollywood minutiae. Here's the link to the official announcement anyway:
Here. Go. Read.
So Bob is keeping me extra busy with both words and pictures. He even asked me to help out with boards for another of his motion capture flicks, hence the lack of real free time.
And I really want to play Hellboy and God of War on my PSP.....
Anyway, I spent a month in New Orleans last January, working on film called Cirque du Freak. You should be seeing trailers for it soon enough... and I'll have boards up when it hits theaters. Most of my nights consisted of video games and dvd's, but, seriously, can you really fill a month of your life with that? Ok, so I know a few folks who could handle that. More than a few. Eep. Not me, though. I wanted to try out a new style that I'd been working in since City of Ember- doing concept boards- and wanted to see how it worked with comic characters. I suppose the goal is to one day attempt a comic that looks like these... or maybe do some covers... and I am trying to work out how to get some color into these without losing the nice, graphic, storybook feel.

The first is from a comic I worked on a while back- When Zombies Attack! A fun book that took just too much time for me to keep up with. I had this pinup idea back when I was working on issue 2, and decided it would make a good first attempt, and I could surprise the guys with it. The second I came up with in New Orleans. I hadn't read any of the BPRD: 1946 issues, since I missed the first and wanted to wait for the trade, but I've always loved the idea. (In fact I'm 85% sure I told Mike that the early adventures of Broom would make a great book way back when we were in Prague together) So I incorporated my love of giant robots and monsters into one of my favorite things I've ever put on paper. I'm still waiting to hear if Mike had any thoughts on it.... maybe he didn't get the email.... maybe I should have asked him about it at the Hellboy II screening.... oh well. I still love it.
That's it for Robot Operator updates. No new film work until something comes out. I'm not sure what's first... City of Ember, Trick 'r Treat, or Hotel for Dogs. I'm going to go paint robots now.

listening to: 16 Horsepower
watching: Kamen Rider Den-O

YOU NEED TO GO TO THIS!

2008-05-27T20:34:00.000-07:00

This is just a testament to Paul's brilliant and generous personality. Paul's been working with Ridley for years now, producing the special features for those excellent DVD special editions.... Kingdom of Heaven.... Gladiator.... the fan-fucking-tastic Alien box set.... oh and that Blade Runner briefcase boxset you know you've been salivating over for the past year. There are just so many of us working behind the scenes on these big Hollywood productions, it's easy to be forgotten, lost in the swell.
I'm having a hard time putting it succinctly, but I think it was a sort of pride that I felt when I heard about this special screening. Paul has that effect on people. On Ridley Scott. Paul leaves that solid a mark on you.
Just go, get your ticket, enjoy the show, help my friend out in his time of need. He'd help you. I guarantee it.

See you there.

watching: Ultraseven X
listening to: The Decemberists

Beat to the Punch...

2007-12-18T11:21:00.001-08:00

So it turns out that a few of my Beowulf boards made it online about a month before I could get around to it. Ok, so it's approximately two boards, from the Dragon sequence, that stay on screen for maybe three seconds. Who am I to complain about free publicity, though? It's pretty much how I continue to keep working in film project after project. So it right around the :42 mark...but don't just jump to the glory of storyboards...there's a whole mess of other great art displayed. I really need to see this movie again.

watching: The Shining
listening to: The Promise Ring

Happy Holidays to the Moderately Interested

2007-12-16T22:00:00.000-08:00

So after an insanely crappy holiday party that I actually helped pay for, it's nice to come home, put the kids to bed, and snuggle up with a warm lap full of computer and update one's website. As for the party, I won't go into too much detail, but it was one of those events that, thankfully I won't be going to again. My son, Evan, has been in a play group since he was about three months old. Since he started school we've drifted from the group, but still get together for occasional holiday and birthday gatherings. I loathe these things. Not that I hate hanging out with a group of kids, or even getting left alone to try to wrangle my two little ones while my wife catches up with her friends. No. It's trying to keep my kids from getting killed by the undisciplined hellions who are magically ignored by their oblivious parents. These folks even go so far as to have second children- babies, mind you- and leave them to wander freely, explore the world around them, and find creative new ways to maim and kill themselves. Oh, but wait. I'm there. With my kids. Keeping an eye on them like a RESPONSIBLE FUCKING ADULT. Obviously these morons have decided that Emily and I are perfectly happy to watch their kids as well. Fuck that. I'm tired of clueless parents. What's a real bite in the ass is that I shelled out thirty bucks to cover the catering of this merry gathering....only find no catering....just a pile of bad food. All I'll say about that is the lasagna reminded me of when I had a dog who ate canned food. Remember that yellowish-clear gelatinous goo that would take up residence at the top of the can, only to say, "hello! Boogity boo!" when you opened it? Yeah.

We had a Holiday party. And it rocked. Em's brother, Jason, flew out and made the most unbelievably succulent spread that's ever graced our dining room table. I'm all about homemade sushi these days. Amazing.

So, onto the update. Two films that I helped provide boards for recently saw release. Now, I pass the art onto you. Hopefully those of you with the option were able to see Beowulf in 3D- which is what it was designed for. You can even see it in the boards. Those of you who were really lucky got to see it Imax 3D, and I envy you. Just click on the dragon to head on over to Robot Operator Manuals and take a look at four of the sequences I worked on.

The other film missed out on a theatrical release, but should do fairly well on DVD. I picked it up here, and really kind of liked it. It's essentially a high-B horror film, that slightly suffers from some third act pacing issues and the ever-present face-scrunching plot holes. But I did get to board two small sequences on it, and I got my own credit- "LA storyboard artist". (I hope those guys in Vancouver don't think me pretentious.) Just click on the bird watching the woman run through the snow to see 'em.

So Happy Holidays from the Robot Operator. I'm working on some fun stuff for Cirque du Freak, and may even travel to New Orleans to finish it up. I'll be checking in with my directors to see if I can tease you with some Trick 'r Treat and City of Ember art. And I'm going to try to capture Santa by lacing the cookies and doping the milk. Not quite sure what I'll do with him after that....I certainly won't be dancing around in a black light with bugs in my clothes....that's oogy. I figure I'll just let him go with a stern warning...as long as he gives me a PS3.

watching: The Muppet Show Season 2
listening to: Magnolia Electric Co.

Sea Monsters, Superheroes, & Strikers

2007-11-06T21:01:00.000-08:00

Dig that. That clip appeared on Yahoo about a week ago, and while I'm sure it's an edited clip (there are big sequential gaps in there), it's still badass! I'm particularly partial to seeing Beowulf fight Sea Monsters as it was the very first sequence I ever storyboarded for Robert Zemeckis when I started on the film. In the script it was a paragraph, about two inches of text which basically said "Beowulf fights sea monsters during a race." Bob told me to just have a run at it and have fun.....I followed those instructions to the letter. Even though years have passed since I came up with it, and hundreds of artists added their respective voices to the sequence, many of my ideas are still there. And that makes me feel like a goddamn big shot- just having had some influence.....ok, I'm actually feeling a little sheepish...a small smirk tugs at the corner of my mouth.....that was cool. So, yeah, Beowulf coming up out of the water on the teeth of the monster and jumping off onto another monster, using his sword to tear through it belly....that was me. Neato. They used it. Can't wait to see the finished film. Should be a pip. Too bad that the art of book didn't include any storyboard work, but fear not, after the film is released, I'll put my sequences up.
And speaking of art books- turns out that the Trick 'r Treat artbook IS available. Not through Amazon or any of your local bookstores (you still have to wait until NEXT halloween to get yer mitts on it there), but directly through the publisher, Palace Press. Go pick yourself up a copy. Now. These guys also published the Art of Monster House and they really know how to put together an eye-poppingly beautiful collection of stills and art. Check out these pages.....

What else? Well Japan is keeping me extremely happy by continuing to release both intense and nutty Kaiju television programs that I already need to see right 'effing now. But I'll just have to wait for DVD release. Oh well. First up is this: Yes sir, they brought back Ultraseven. And it's about time. The past few years have seen Tsuburaya revisiting much of their old concepts and characters. Ultraman Max- while being a great new show was still formulaic (but the japanese audience knows what they like, and I SO agree with them),and started a new trend of bringing old monsters from the earlier series back to take on Ultraman. Ultraman Mebius took this a step further by utilizing the entire history of the Ultra series- from Ultraman through Ultraman 80- as a single continuity. When old monsters showed up, the GUYS team (you know, the Science Patrol?) had an extensive database of past kaiju attacks to help the new, inexperienced Mebius take them on. Various Ultra characters returned in different story arcs which culminated in the movie, where the original Ultraman, Ultraman Jack, Ultraseven, and Ultraman Ace returned to help Mebius. Super fucking cool, that was.
So revisiting the character of Ultraseven makes sense. At least to me. The cool thing is that Tsuburaya is breaking formula (something both they and Toho do every couple of years- sort of "experiments" that never really pay off, and they go right back to the old ways) to create more of an adult drama. They did this back with Ultraman Nexus- which was a very dark and complex series that many fans rallied against and I thought was just one of the most brilliant bits of television ever made- with a payoff (after forty-odd episodes) that literally made me jump off my couch in excitement. Ultraseven X looks to be another walk on the wild side for the Ultra series and I'm hoping it works. Sure the music is cheesy and I'm really getting tired of the floofy long hair that Japanese heroes are donning these days, but just look at those monster fights! If you google hard enough you can find the early episodes online already.
On the flip side is Kawaii Jenny. Which is just plain insane. It's super powered dolls.....yes dolls, fighting giant robots and monsters. You can read about it over at Sci-fi Japan. For as goofy as this thing sounds, I'm ever so curious to see how they bring the little Barbie-looking heroines to life. I'm thinking these guys saw Robot Chicken and said, "Yep. That's for us....but let's add some Kaiju suitmation in for good measure." And I just love it, LOVE IT, when they decide to use old robot toys as inspiration for their giant robots.
On a final note, this Robot Operator wants to extend his heartfelt support to all those hard typing writers of the WGA out there walking the picket lines. This is an important issue and I can only hope they get this thing resolved soon. Give 'em hell boys and girls, and give it to 'em quickly. Perhaps you could use red hot pokers and while you're at it heat up that funny brush and the little shovel that rests next to the pokers near the fireplace. I want so much for the Hollywood machine to get its gears in order. This working stiff still needs to keep the monkeys fed.

Listening to: Sunset Rubdown
Watching: Mothra 3

It's Trailer Time- Part 3- The Obscure....

2007-09-26T12:05:00.001-07:00

Here are trailers for two films that I had brief contact with. First up is Trailer Park of Terror: a low-budget troture-porn killer-zombie teens-in-peril romp that actually looks promising. I worked on the comic book that this film is based on....oh, about a zillion years ago with some friends from Pennsylvania. (I was also asked to work on the film, but I can only storyboard so many films at once, and had to pass) Scheduling problems on my part, and a lack of budget on their part resulted in my leaving the book after five issues. Here's a peek at a page from their Halloween Special #1. Check out the rest here. The comics were anthology tales of horror ala Tales from the Crypt, and introduced by the undead Queen of the Trailer Park, Norma. I drew the Norma pages. So I'm sending out eerie good luck vibes to the Imperium Comics guys, and really hope that this film retains a bit of the anthology element found in the books.
Second up is Whisper: a gripping kidnapping thriller with a lesson. The lesson? Never, ever kidnap Damien. It's just bad news for all involved. It seems that said bad news has been following this film for quite a while. Universal shelved it for whatever reasons, and it stayed shelved for a good year or so. But now it's finally allowed to be seen....on DVD. OK, so it's not a big deal theatrical release with premiere parties and internet photos of the well-dressed young celebrities, but I'm still interested in seeing this. And not just because I get all giggly at seeing my name in film credits. Yes, I contributed storyboards to the film- only a few sequences at the request of the producers. Still, it was a fun script, rife with creepy possibilities. Those boards should be up at Robot Operator Manuals sometime in November to coincide with the DVD release. I'll let you know how it is once I've seen it. I'm going to pick up my copy here.
And finally, here's a tease. I've gotten my hands on this....The Art of Trick 'r Treat hardcover book....and it's beautiful. Concept art, storyboards, all sorts of behind-the-scenes fun, and prose. Remeber that? Yup. To accompany the art, the folks at Insight Editions are presenting the four and a half tales of terror from the film in a prose format. See the movie- read the story. Fun. There's also a Sam mask. A SAM MASK! It's just a paper mask, but it's also a beautiful painting by Breehn Burns. You can wear some art and confuse your friends. The BAD NEWS (and the reason this is a tease) is that the book's release has been pushed back to coincide with the film's. So you have to wait a year....but you can pre-order it here. Those of you who just don't have that kind of patience can just ask me. I'm no stinge. I'll let you see my copy- provided you're willing to wear a specially designed endothermic suit inside a cramped hyperbaric watched over by a robotic security system with a bad case of the hiccups. Let me know!
More from me later kiddies.

watching: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
listening to: George Harrison

It's trailer time- Part 2!

2007-07-30T10:21:00.001-07:00

Here it is if you haven't already seen it- the trailer for Zemeckis' Beowulf. Beautiful ain't it? I'm thinking that this is going to be one of those films you NEED to see in 3-D. Back when we were boarding this, the fact that this would eventually be 3-D was an extremely important consideration. Note the arrows flying toward camera....
In other Robot Operator news: In the next few months there will be "Art of" books for both Beowulf and Trick 'r Treat. I can say with some confidence that I will have work feeatured in the Trick 'r Treat book. As for the Beowulf book, we'll just have to see.

Watching: Aliens
Listening to: Of Montreal

It's trailer time!

2007-07-26T10:02:00.003-07:00

Finally, trailers for two films I've worked on have hit the web! Beowulf, which I worked on....seems like forever ago. Right now you can go see it here. I'll be sure to post it here as soon as someone puts it up on youtube..... And Trick 'r Treat, which I hear is back on for it's October release. A decidedly smart move for Warner Brothers.
So Enjoy! And go see these films! You will not be disappointed. And if you are, then there's just something horribly wrong with you. Perhaps you have brain parasites...........

Watching: The Prestige
Listening to: Sleeping People

Garminman! Soowatch!

2007-05-30T17:15:00.001-07:00

My friend Dave Lamb had himself a bad day at work, and when he got home he flicked on the tube and THIS is what he saw. This'll make anyone's day better. It worked for me. It turns out that this was a Super Bowl commercial. Frankly, I'm impressed. I stopped caring about Super Bowl commercials when they introduced "The Pepsi Generation." I'm just glad that there are still people out there in the industry (besides myself) that really understand the cultural significance and visual legacy of Japanese Kaiju Eiga. Those folks need to give me a call.
watching: Eraserhead
listening to: Frontline Assembly

You a winner. Ha Ha Ha. You a Winner.

2007-05-28T20:36:00.001-07:00

I never win anything. Not that I try all that hard to win things. To me, contests are things that other people benefit from. It's always someone from some town in Iowa that I've never heard of. It's a big country, and any time there's a contest that the entire country can partake in, then I'm guaranteed that one minute of disappointment. Oh, never, ever let yourself get invested in games of chance. It happens every time McDonalds starts up a new round of it's Monopoly game. I find myself with a few good pieces, and begin to plot the next time I can super size some fries just to get two new pieces. Sheesh.
But for some reason, I'm lucky when it comes to Godzilla- well at least marginally lucky. When I went to G-con '93, I was lucky enough to be sitting in one of the "special" seats that won me my photograph of the Godzilla statue in Tokyo, autographed by Hiroshi Kashiwabara (screenwriter of Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla). That's framed on my dresser. So when Monster Zero announced a contest for DVD's of the new footage shot for a Godzilla pachinko machine, I figured, what the hey? You don't see cool contests like that very often.
And what do you know? A few weeks ago I received a DVD in the mail. I won a prize! Now it turns out I wasn't a big winner, more like "second place," which was a promotional DVD of behind-the-scenes footage of the new short films. While it was just a five minute promo, it still whet my appetite for what was coming- new Godzilla battles shot by the Hesei master Kiochi Kawakita. What makes these new films so interesting are the decisions to use monster designs that have never been seen together onscreen. In the scene that I saw filmed, the Millenium Godzilla (Godzilla 2000) goes toe-to-toe with the King Ghidorah from GMK: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. Just beautiful. Other monsters featured on the DVD were the Kiryu (the latest Mechagodzilla), the Final Wars Gigan, and the glorious shoulder spikes of Space Godzilla. How these films will fit into a pachinko machine is a mystery to be solved at a later date, on eBay. Or perhaps they'll show up on Youtube. Either way, enjoys these shots from the DVD I won by mailing in a postcard. It can happen to you........

Watching: Pan's Labyrinth
Listening to: Beastie Boys

The Machines Mocked Me at the Saturns

2007-05-14T21:46:00.000-07:00

May 10th was the 33rd Annual Saturn Awards. For those of you only familiar with "televised" awards shows, like the Oscars,the Grammies, the Emmys, the Golden freakin Globes, and the Oh-my-god-could-we-please-have-one-more-award-show People's Choice- The Saturns are for geeks. The good kind. Not the chicken-head biting kind. The kind of geeks who bring you all those wonderful sci-fi, fantasy and horror films and shows. Watch Heroes? It's a geek show. It's a live action comic book.....but don't worry, I won't tell anyone you watch it. So yeah, the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror pays tribute to some really great genre work every year, and throw a pretty good shindig. And I got to go! Monster House was nominated for best animated feature (we didn't win, Cars did. Go figure.), and through Gil Kenan, my most-of-the-time director, I scored tickets. "Totally rad" thanks to Gil and Rebecca for the hook up.
This was my first award show. Nothing too big and fancy, but there were plenty of Hollywood faces for me to point out to friends. I even got to geek out a bit myself at some Battlestar Galactica cast. I tell you, every bit of integrity Edward James Olmos brings to Adama on screen is 100% him. He's too cool. And Katee Sackhoff is just plain adorable. So I got a free meal and even more free drinks and enjoyed watching Hollywood give itself another little pat on the back. Of course I was applauding with all the rest when friends won. A big fat "congrats" to Guillermo del Toro and Mike Dougherty.
Oh yeah, the picture...well a few more drinks and one gigantic bag of geek swag later, my friend Kyle and I made our way to the after-party, which was being held at a bar in the deserted Universal Citywalk. Which, in and of itself, was kind of creepy. If the mall in Dawn of the Dead was lit like Vegas. The After Party was pretty much more free beer, another bag of geektastic swag (where do they get this crap?) and sitting around, because I knew all of five or six people there and mingling was silly. Kyle must have snapped this with his phone while I was busy chickening out of talking to James Gunn and trying to text Mike Dougherty.
Yeah chickening out. Not that big of a deal, but James Gunn IS a director of monster movies (he directed Slither) and I happen to draw pictures for directors of movies (preferably those with monsters). But he looked to be having a good time chumming it up with Nathan Fillion, which was pretty shiny, and I hadn't had enough to drink to be sociable with strangers.
As for texting Mike. I hate texting, but it's the best way for me to get him. In the time it takes me to text "hey what are you doing?", I could have just called whoever and been done with it. What's the damn point of the text message?
Anyway. That was the Saturns. If you ever get a chance, go. You could meet some cool people. I did. Hell, the guy sitting next to me at dinner was sort-of working there, and a huge genre fan, and when I told him I worked on Hellboy his eyes grew wide and he excitedly asked, "Wait....you're not the guy? The guy who showed Guillermo his book and got a job?" Yup. That was little ol' me. The guy. I didn't know I had that kind of folk hero status amongst my fan-boy geek brethren. Boosted my ego for bit. Or maybe that was the beer.
Here's a little bit of news to throw out there. This is the cover to a small-format Hellboy comic that'll be shipped out June 12th with a couple hundred thousand copies of the Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron DVD. Neat, huh? By the way, Theatre of the Dead was the story I provided the art for....feels like a millenia ago. Why it was chosen as the title for this collection? Beats me. So head on over here to check out the DVD and if you want to see some black and white versions of my pages from the comic, go here.
Now this Robot Operator must go kill things in God of War 2.

watching: Ultraman Mebius & the Ultraman Brothers!
listening to: Magnolia Electric Co.

Monsters....Old and New

2007-04-30T17:40:00.000-07:00

Hey little robot operators. Been away for quite a while and if any of you cared enough to send the very best, you'd know why. The rest of you....well, I don't care much for you either. Just here with a bit of a "hooray" for Classic Media and Tokyo Shock for keeping my tongue lolling in the visual delight of Giant Monster movies, remastered and gorgeous. First up is Classic Media's June 5th release date for both, yes both you three headed hordes, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster and Invasion of the Astro Monster! Dig it:
You can head here to read more about it. Go. Read. I'll wait.
Cool huh? I think Invasion of the Astro Monster has been one of my all-time Godzilla faves ever since I can remember catching Godzilla movies on a crappy TV with bad reception and worse chroma in a bright green double-block in Philipsburg.(Everyone has one of these stories about the things they love most. I feel sorry for kids now who are growing up with HDTV and DVD....everything so clear....how are you supposed to remember anything?) Where else does Godzilla dance? Nowhere, that's where.
Oh, and then there's this from Tokyo Shock:
That's right. Frankenstein vs. Baragon! Frankestein Conquers the World! Both! On one disc! Kaiju fans are rejoicing everywhere. This one is coveted...I'm not sure why, but eveyone seems to love this one. I'm included in those ranks....and I can't even tell you why.....I just love that the last 20 minutes or so are just a man dressed as Frankenstein fighting a guy in a monster suit.....and Baragon and those ears. If you've never seen this, then at least give it a rent on a warm June 26th evening! Read about it here.
And now for the new Monster....SAM! Yep, the first teaser poster for Trick 'r Treat has made it online....and here it is:
Yes, you should be excited. From what I've seen it's really coming along nicely. A lyrical dance through Halloween traditions. And I have to thank Mike for this- I've never worked on a film where my storyboards were so accurately shot. It's an honor, and makes me smile all over the place. Sorry 'bout the mess. I'm pretty sure there isn't a horror fan out there who isn't going to eat up the love Mike's feeding them, come next Halloween. There's been such a void in the Horror genre lately, and all the Saws in the world just aren't filling it.....I can only take so much Survival/torture horror. Trick 'r Treat is just that.....a treat. Find more Trick 'r Treat goodies and some candy bars with razor blades here.

SO that's all for now....coming in May...a HUGE Robot Operator Manuals update, as I got my grubby hands on all my Monster House work....so boards, concept art, prop pieces, and all sorts of other stuff that kept me busy for years....and if anyone knows how to compress Quicktime files for online viewing, let me know. I've got a Thou Art Dead treat.

Fifty feet off the ground in a large iron head. Robot operator signing off.

watching: Farscape- the entire series!
listening to: Tom Waits

Gamera the Brave- a great return of the friend to all children.

2007-02-18T15:40:00.001-08:00

Hey folks, just sat down and watched the region free Hong Kong release of Gamera the Brave. The latest, and what I can only hope will be the first in a series of Gamera films. And in spite of the occasional shotty FX piece that one just has to accept in the foreign market, this is a brilliant return to classic kaiju eiga. Gamera is set up as self-sacrificing hero, but also a menace that wreaked havoc in the seventies. Now the son of a Gamera survivor comes across an egg that hatches a small turtle that...well, can fly.
It almost sounds silly. And in certain respects, it is. It's a little turtle...hovering around on a pocket of warm air and blowing fireballs. But it's done so well that none of the silliness bothers you- it's quite endearing. Think of the relationship between Elliot and E.T. and you're going in the right direction. This boy learns to love his troublesome turtle, and refuses to believe that his pet Toto could grow up to become the violent Gamera. Anyway, in beautiful Kaiju tradition- another monster shows up and (here's the BEST part) starts devouring villagers! It's downright terrifying, and this is a kid's film! God Bless the Japanese. You don't need to know much more, one monster versus another, helpless humans in the middle. And the relationships built up throughout- the Boy and his monster- pay off rather well.
I usually find myself slightly disappointed with the final results on recent kaiju flicks. I'm always left wanting just that little bit more, always thinking, "Wouldn't it have been cool if they did this?" And Gamera the Brave was just enjoyable-through and through. I really can't wait to see what they do with this franchise. I'm just giddy. Now if I can just my hands on Konaka's remake of Mirrorman.....

watching: Layer Cake
listening to: DJ Shadow

2 Seconds of 15 Minutes

2007-02-11T20:58:00.000-08:00

So check it out. Last September, Emily, my wife, took our daughter, Ida, and her mom up to Seattle to do something she's always wanted to do- try out for American Idol. Not because she's like a lot of those deluded freaks, but because she thought it might be fun to try out for a television phenomenon. Like auditioning for a game show. It'd be cool to get on, but your heart's not crushed if they tell you no. And she LOVES to sing, so why not? Now, I don't know how much you guys know about the Idol- but it seems that there are auditions that go on before the "judges" see anyone....auditions for the producers. My guess is that the producers go throught the masses and pick:
a) folks they truly think are really quite amazing
b) the absolute worst, freakiest warblers going
c) a smattering of the middle ground- just to have people get rejected who may actually have some talent.

and that's it. But they never show this on TV....viewers are led to think that the millions you see in the stadiums are going to sing for the "big three", (You'll never see those names typed up on THIS blog- forget it.) but I guess it's really more like hundreds.

So, anyway. While Em, Ida, and Shirley were hanging out in the stands waiting to sing, a camera crew waltzes up and films my little girl....and how could they not, she's cute as hell and wearing a "My Mommy is a Rock Star" shirt. And now I was forced to watch the entire episode that dealt with Seattle, in hopes of catching a glimpse of my favorite people on TV. No go. Talk about torture....I'd rather fly on an airplane to Prague with leeches on my wang (it's a LONG flight). And no shot of Em or Ida.

But just this past week, one of Em's friends sent her the pic above....an epsiode where I guess they were re-capping all the audition cities...and Whammo! two seconds of absolute adorableness.

Pretty cool, eh?
Now if I could just get my hands on a tape of the show....or even a Quicktime file.....anybody out there have one?

watching: Batman Begins
listening to: Kind of Like Spitting

Short Bus Creepiness

2007-01-27T22:49:00.000-08:00

So dig this horror fans- the first officially released image from Micheal Dougherty's upcoming film Trick 'r Treat! A nice creepy image- who are these kids? what's wrong with them? why is that mask upside down? and why the fuck am I so disturbed by the blackness of the clown girl's eyes?
Ok, so I can give you the answer to the first two questions, but I'm not going to. It's just more fun that way. Mike's constructed a genuinely enjoyable Halloween-themed horror anthology- much in the vein of Creepshow and the early works of Carpenter- and one that should make any true horror fan giggle at the downright deviance of it. It's disturbing, but in a twistedly humorous way that should come as no surprise to anyone who knows Mike, and as a great surprise to anyone who longs for a bit of the old school flavor in their horror.
And for an added treat- here's a few of the boards that go along with this sequence...I'll be sure to put them all on the potfolio site (including some concept art) come October.

watching: Batman
listening to: Bright Eyes

Best Shirt....Ever.

2007-01-08T20:54:00.000-08:00

That's right. It's a T-shirt bearing the logo of Buckaroo Banzai. After years of being a mere fan, I can now officially be counted among the ranks of the Blue Blaze Irregulars (I just learned that's what they are- I always thought it was the Blue Blazer Regulars, go figure). Thank you Moonstone, not only for bringing back my favorite pulp hero in comic form, but allowing me to walk aroung whistling the BB end theme with pride.
It's funny, you hear about movies achieving cult status, but I'd never found myself a fan of any "cult" films (I don't think Godzilla films really count). That was until I realized that The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension is my favorite film of all time. No questions asked. I could watch it every day, once a day, for the rest of my days. And I don't feel at all ashamed to say I love this film, in fact, I love the looks I get when I put it at the top of my "top 5" list. Even better than Tron (which is at number 2).
I only wish I brought it up when I met New Jersey himself at the Pan's Labyrinth screening I went to....next time. Jeff Goldblum seems to be everywhere.

AND NOW A ROBOT OPERATOR UPDATE:

Took me long enough, but I finally updated my portfolio page to include some samples of the work I did on the Monster House comic book as well as the full set of boards for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles teaser trailer....go, explore, we have all eternity to know your flesh.

watching: The Simpsons season 7
listening to: Wings

Stars in Hollywood? Get out!

2006-12-31T14:54:00.000-08:00

So maybe you've been driving around LA, and you've seen billboards that read "The Universe...by reservation only" or "The Red Planet...by reservation only" and the like. If they intrigued you like they did me, then you must know that after a three-year renovation the Griffith Observatory has re-opened its doors. Now you can't just drive up and see the stars, you need to buy yourself a ticket. A smart way of controlling traffic. You can just park at the LA Zoo and they'll bus you up to the Observatory, and you get to watch some interesting info-videos about the renovation.
I don't know about anyone else out there, but this was just what my planet-obsessed three-year-old was looking for, a place devoted to his interstellar passions. And the place is just gorgeous. We went up a few weeks back on a overcast evening and, still, the view of the sprawl is breathtaking- a mirror image of what you're about to see inside. By far, Evan's favorite spot was the hall of planets- with huge models depicting our solar system as well as little information kiosks that provide all kinds of information about each planet. Want to know what you'd weigh on Mercury? How about how the storm systems on Jupiter are formed? Maybe you want to know how much a turkey sandwich costs at a national park (ok that might be a drawback, but when have you ever taken a trip and not shelled out way too much for food?).
Now it was just too overcast for us to go up into the telescope, and Evan was just aching to see Saturn. And for those with little astronomers, the Planetarium only allows children under 5 to the very first show of the day, so we missed out on that too.....but we're definitely going back. I really want to sit in a darkened room and hear my boy shout out "Uranus!" when it shows up on the ceiling.
Evan did get see Saturn after all.

Watching: Amazing Stories season 1
Listening to: Led Zeppelin

Hear Me Blather.....

2006-10-30T22:22:00.000-08:00

Yes, when I'm not stuffing my face with ear after ear of Mother Nature's sweet sweet corn, I'm working on some kind of movie or another in some informal artistic aspect. In case you're not one of my seven friends who check out what I'm posting here, I'm generally thought of as a decent storyboard artist in the entertainment industry. It is, by no means, a glamorous job (most of the time). I'm usually one of a few guys in a cramped office space drawing picture after picture after picture after picture....you get the idea. Sometimes, however, you get to start your career on a high-profile genre pic and your work is featured in an "Art of" book and suddenly people who are not your Mom's friends know your name. So I occasionally get asked to do an interview.
Head on over to Geek Speak for about fifty minutes of me jawing about all kinds of things I've worked on....Hellboy, Monster House, Beowulf, even my brief stint on TMNT. And I give away absolutely no spoilers on City of Ember and Trick 'r Treat....so don't think you're going to get the info out of me.

Enjoy hearing me not really remember things.

watching: Monster House
listening to: Thunderbirds are now!

Take the House home.

2006-10-26T16:19:00.000-07:00

So as many of you who follow film and dvd releases already know, Monster House came out on DVD this past Tuesday, the 24th. Did you pick yourself up a copy? Well why the hell not? What are you waiting for? No, you can rent Slither. Monster House you WANT to own. Well, because it's a damn good movie (I may be biased, but go ask someone else, they'll tell you) and the DVD is full of a whole mess of special features that'll tell you all about how they go about making one those durn motion capturey type of pictureshows. There are some supposedly good commentaries that I haven't watched yet (but I will, mind you), as well as a splendid Art of Monster House gallery. There is also a scene breakdown (only one? What happened to the deleted scenes we spent so much time drawing?) of our introduction to Horace Nebbercracker, which include a few of my early storyboards. I'm talking boards done during the first week or two of pre-production.....takes me back.

So git. Rent it, buy it, steal it off your pothead roommate and when he asks tell him he must have left it in his car and lock the door when he goes to check forgetting his keys, and laugh.

watching: Minority Report
listening to: Damien Jurado

In case you missed it....

2006-10-13T12:06:00.000-07:00

A while back I was contacted by a director looking for some nice pitch boards. I was recommended by one of my favorites, Jon Liebesman (Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, Rings) so I went to check out this director, Josh Finn. I was amazed with what I saw. Back in 2004 he made an award-winning short film entitled "Time Enough at Last" and after watching the trailer I knew I needed to see more, and knew I really wanted to work with him. Unfortunately, my schedule has been more than hectic, and way beyond full, so I has to pass on it. A bummer because his ideas for what make interesting films are right up there with my own. So we made plans to stay in touch and Josh sent me a copy of the short. I've just watched it a second time, and feel compelled to introduce it to anyone who may have missed it.
"Time Enough at Last" is great, smart sci-fi. A stylish examination of a man confronting the legacy left by his father- a man whose passions were fed by the supernatural. A world of words, a world of mind, not a family. It's a dark twist on a lingering resentment, emotional abandonment, and the Twilight Zone. Just plain good.
Now the DVD is not really commercially available, but if you go here:
http://www.time-enough.com/home.html you can request a copy. So get out there and see it. It's such a skillful use of the short film as an economic means of storytelling. I've been watching the first seasons of Amazing Stories and Masters of Horror and I've become much more appreciative of television as anthology storytelling. Where the overall show is thematic rather than an episodic mythos......we don't really have that right now. Perhaps we should.

watching: Dr. Tran
listening to: Gratitude

Little Girls can be Giant too.....

2006-09-25T17:23:00.000-07:00

So when I saw something like this in Being John Malkovich I thought it was ridiculous.....so did you, admit it. This is where I'm glad that Gil Kenan and I have similar tastes when it comes to scale......Giant things are inherently cool. And when Gil sent me this, this Little Girl Giant, I was loopy. This is what Jim Henson would be doing, were he allowed to live to a healthy 70 (I'm still missing him). I love the way the rigging, albeit huge, virtually disappears as you watch. By the time I'm watching little girls riding on the Giant, and her immense and serene face is simply watching them, I'm lost in it.
I can't wait for more beautiful experiments like this......I think I hear the impact tremor......Daikaiju!!!!!!

watching: The X-Files Season 3
listening to: Thunderbirds Are Now!

Some Herald....

2006-09-12T17:11:00.000-07:00

Is it a scene from the new Fantastic Four movie? No, but it should be. People post some funny shit on Myspace, and somehow Emily keeps finding it, and showing it to me, and I have to post it here......then one of you takes it and posts it on Myspace. It's a big recycling plant of funny.

note: If you go into the church, you'll find the Silver Surfer sweeping up, smoking cigarettes, and leering at the chior girls.

watching: Chronicles of Narnia
listening to: Onelinedrawing

Hooray!!!!! But.........

2006-07-28T10:47:00.000-07:00

Where are the rest? When Classic Media announced the release of the original Godzilla in both Japanese and American formats, they also announced the release of a box set featuring, I think it was, five other films- each given the two disc, Japanese/American, treatment. Amazon was even carrying it, but I now notice that it is absent..... So now it looks like Classic Media is going to play it safe and take each G-flick as it comes. It even looks as though they are going to release their catalog chronologically. So on November 7th we can all rush out and salivate over beautiful releases of Godzilla Raids Again and Godzilla vs. Mothra. Head on over to Sci-Fi Japan to read the Classic Media Press release.

watching: Unbreakable
listening to: American Analog Set

The Turtles are back!

2006-07-27T11:54:00.000-07:00

Hey folks, if you haven't seen it already, head on over to the amazing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles teaser page and enjoy the Turtles at their finest! This film, directed by Kevin Munroe, looks to be a great treat for those out there who remember the original comic series, before the animated show lightened a truly gritty mood. I had the splendid opportunity to actually board this teaser trailer what feels like an eon ago. I would have really loved to have been able to go on and board the film itself, however that was the time I got the call from Zemeckis to help board Beowulf....well what would YOU do?
Anyway, here are some screen grabs from the teaser as well as the boards that inspired the shots....I'll soon be posting the full set of teaser boards over at Robot Operator Manuals....I'll let you know.....I still have to add the Monster House comic stuff and sift through about a thousand pieces of art from the movie to add......sheesh.

In Space.......

2006-07-15T21:56:00.000-07:00

Hear that? Got it from Myspace....yes it IS the music from the web game "Thou Art Dead".

and that's the main character....tee hee. Now what's this all about....well, it's all about Myspace, and the ingenious way that Monster House is being promoted through it. Personally, I never really gave a crap about myspace. Like Friendster, it seemed to be a big waste of time, and an open forum to be harassed by strangers. Constantly. But here's the beauty part...something like a bazillion people a day access Myspace, and some smart bloke at Sony decided to use this to Monster House's advantage. It's beautiful. Monster House has it's own page, which then links you to Myspace pages for almost all of the young characters in the film- DJ, Chowder, Jenny, Skull, Bones, Zee....even Skull & Bones (the band) and Thou Art dead have their own Myspace pages....and it's not just a few images. These are chock full of art from the film (much of it created by me), and very dense, seemingly personal offering from fictional characters....Skull (my favorite by far) is even head of the Official Thou Art Dead Fan club....with a newsletter and everything! The Skull & Bones page has tour dates! Tour Dates!
You could literally spend hours there taking it all in, and becoming very seriously immersed in the lives of these characters......
so go on over to Monster House's Myspace page and enjoy.....
oh, and here's.......

BlasterPong!

watching: The Million Dollar Hotel
listening to: The Court & Spark

Bookmobile!

2006-07-07T10:31:00.000-07:00

If you happen to wander into one of your many local bookstores, you can check out these Monster House books in the kid's section. Wonderful! Since the kids are going to go all loopy over how much they love this film, and with no toys coming out to speak of, these books are great addendums.
First up you've got the novelization, but I've never been much for reading movies after I've seen them, unless they're based on books I haven't read....but it's got a cool lenticular cover.
The 3-D book is just that...3-D. Glasses and all. It includes some choice stills from the film as well as some excellent Chris Appelhans and Khang Le artwork.
Trouble on Oak Street and Dear Diary are fun young reader's books.
And my favorite...Dj's notebook...a pretty good look into the kind of kid we were designing DJ to be. He's obsessed with the house across the street, right down to his scientific method. It's chock full of little doodles and notes we created just as background chaos...never thinking they would be read by the youth of today.....neat.
Oh, and that's one of my Style Guide line drawings on the cover....extra neat!

Fast Food Anyone?

2006-07-05T10:57:00.001-07:00

With Monster House hitting the theatres on July 21, the marketing blitz has begun....and weirder than weird is this. Carl's Jr. kids meals and toys. Extremely surreal to see work I've done, and the work of friends on happy meal bags and toys... I've been aware, ever since I did line art for the Style Guide, that I'd be seeing things like this....it's still a shock to actually hold a Fast food pog:
with one of my house drawings on it. No, I'm not trying to toot my own horn here...I just, nobody KNOWS I drew this stuff but me, and I can't get over the oddity of it.
So dig this pog eating Monster House toy. My son Evan loves it. He puts the pog on the tongue and says, "Bye DJ, Bye Jenny, Bye Chowder (which he pronounces Show-der)," then proceeds to ask me, in that repetitive three-year-old manner, to "Let them come out," of the House. Brilliant!

And now in a week or so I'll be able to get the Chowder Backhoe toy (go to Carl's Jr. to see it), which I'm dying to try out, since I had a hand in designing it. The story is, while we were shooting, the producers came to me to ask for a bunch of different designs and ideas for toys, games, books, etc., and this little Backhoe toy was one of them. Although they didn't go with my favorite design, which was little hollow rubber figures of the kids with their squirt guns- you know, your filled them with water and squirted each other with them. Fun right?
It was a fun few weeks...just coming up with stuff...I wish they would do the board game...I liked that one too.

Oh and the little hand-held maze thing was actually an idea my wife, Emily gave me.

So now I have to get these toys....my kid's going to love all the cheeseburgers and star-shaped chicken nuggets.

And coming soon:

More on this and some of the other books next time.

watching: Firefly
listening to: Magnolia Electric Company

He will EAT your children.

2006-06-27T13:28:00.000-07:00

So it can now be said without any hint of loyalism (he DID get me my start), Guillermo del Toro is the best filmmaker I've ever known. Pan's Labyrinth is flawless del Toro. Paul Prischman and I discussed this after seeing the film last Friday- Guillermo has taken his entire film vocabulary, all those images you love from his other films, and literally poured it into Pan's. You're going to hear many words to describe this film: brutal, harsh, beautiful, magical, disturbing, political, creepy as shit, and they're all going to apply. Oh, and there are monsters in it, staple of any good, "best movie I've seen in the past three years!"

It's just terrible that so few of you will see it before December....I went through this when I saw Kung-fu Hustle a good six months before it came out at a private screening at Sony. So thanks to Frank Darabont for organizing the hottest Hollywood screening this year, and thanks again to Paul for getting me in. It's a truly haunting film that I still find hard to put into words, past the mesmerized feeling that washes over me whenever I think about it. I can't wait to see it again.

And speaking of other good movie news head on over to Aint it Cool to read Harry's GLOWING review of Monster House. Having Harry Knowles love this film makes me feel really damn good about all the hard work we put into it....just you wait for City of Ember......

watching: My Neighbor Totoro
listening to: Walking Concert

yup....he's got LASER EYES.

2006-06-22T11:14:00.000-07:00

Exactly what the hell was going on in the late 1970's anyway? Sure, the seventies played host to the age of "goofy hero" Godzilla and produced one of the most ridiculed of all Kaiju Eiga- Godzilla vs. Megalon. Granted the film's storyline is just plain out there, even for a G flick, and the monster fights are just chock full stock footage, and Jet Jaguar PROGRAMS himself to grow to Godzilla's height....ridiculous. But I love that film, and am apprehensively naming it as my second favorite of the seventies Godzilla films. Megalon was a cool design, almost scary, and Jet Jaguar's evil grin was a great response to Ultraman.
So when the Godzilla series ended in 1975 with Terror of Mechagodzilla, who was left to fill what would be a ten-year void?

Marvel and Hanna-Barbera.

Now I don't know the answer to this question, but, who the deuce gave Godzilla laser eyes? LASER EYES?!?!? Atomic fire and a bad attitude just wasn't enough. So when Sony put out two discs of the H-B original series:

I was as surprised as anyone. I remember bits of this show from my childhood, I even had a little plush Godzilla based on this series, and was pretty excited to re-live some of those moments. As shows go, it's pretty much what you'd expect from late seventies Hanna-Barbera....the plots all take place near some body of water (so Godzilla could be easily summoned to do the bidding of the hapless humans), the monster designs are actually pretty good, and Godzooky....the Scooby-doo added in because H-B couldn't have a show without one. Even in spite of this silly flying beast (is he Godzilla's kid? idiot nephew?), I enjoyed these discs. Coming in a little slim with only four episodes each I was definitely more involved with the Hanna-Barbera take than with these:

These apologetic, "sorry we fucked up your favorite character" cartoons. Yeah, they added fire breath. Yeah, they added monsters for Godzilla to fight. And you know what it's just these additions that make the show remotely watchable. The new kaiju designs are definitely cool, a totally different take on daikaiju. Utilized in the context of this show, they work. The characters, meh. Some of the stories were actually well done. I'm thinking of the "S.C.A.L.E." episode that took place almost totally on Monster Island (my favorite place to be) and told in documentary style, utilizing handheld and security cameras. Kudos to the writers of that episode.

So, plenty of animated giant monster action out there right now, but just wait, just wait.........

HHHOOOORRRAAAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!

See you September 5th!!!!

Watching: Mikazuki
Listening to: Reverend Glasseye & His Wooden Legs

It's official...I've done way too much work on Monster House

2006-06-19T10:47:00.000-07:00

Monster House.... I worked for two and half years on this movie. It's extremely rare that a storyboard artist would stay on a project for more than six months....usually gigs for guys like us are brief and intense. So why is it that I end up on shows for so long? Beats me. Well, on Monster House, I think it was a really strong rapport with Gil Kenan, the director. Things just kind of clicked in our Art department, and we all understood the aesthetic of the film. It worked, and just kept on working. So after we boarded the whole movie, and continued tweaking the boards all throughout the motion capture shoot, Gil got me started on doing all kinds of other artwork....all different forms of 2-D design for backgrounds and props. I worked on:
-the logo
-Thou Art Dead...I designed the characters, their simple animations, the backgrounds...even the storyline
-poster art for DJ's room, including some polaroids (my first regrettable foray into digital painting)
-candy box design (look for them in Jenny's wagon)
-signage and arcade box art at the Pizza Freek
-Blasterpong, Chowder's Atari-type game (not sure if this made it in yet)
-the Encyclopedia of Monsters (from a deleted scene in the movie, you can see the cover on the site) and it's contents

and a bunch of other stuff....I even did a slew of 2-D line art for the style guide(more on this later). And even more of the little bits and bobs that I kind of wrote off are showing up everywhere....on the site, for instance, the flip-books were things I did....and all of DJ's personal notes...... all these little things we did to make the world more believable are finding their way into the advertising....and it's weird.
Well head on over to the Monster House Official Siteto see a bunch of stuff I had my big toe into....you can play Thou Art Dead (and you won't want to stop), HOUSE, a basketball game they had my do the artwork for, play with the costume creator, which I did for a Nickelodeon contest a while back, as well as the usual screenshots, character bios, trailers and whatnot. Soon there will be some Production notes, and a chunk from the Encyclopedia of Monsters all about the Domus Mactibilis...looking forward to that.....go play.

New Book Day

2006-06-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

As of June 14, the Monster House One Shot is out on the shelves, and I couldn't be happier. Now we just need someone to read the book....well, I'm hoping it will be picked up, at least, by the people I told about it and maybe even those who just pick it up off the shelves and enjoy what they see....folks who may even be aware of Monster House from the trailers playing out there.
I think IDW has put out a really nice book here. Some of you might know that we had some problems setting this up at Dark Horse (artistic differences), and IDW came in and let us tell our story, the way we wanted, and got us a brilliant colorist- Len O'Grady, hire him!- and published a damn fine looking graphic novel.
As for my part in it, a very smart French guy said," Avec un style entre Kyle Hotz et Eric Powell, c'est certainement un titre que je vais surveiller de prÃ¨s Ã sa sortie...", which pretty much compares my style to Hotz and Powell. A compliment indeed. Although I have a WAYS to go before ever being able to hang out with them fellers. But still, nice to hear. I'm not sure why it is, but getting compliments on your comic work from Europeans always feels so much more notable....
So a fun book to work on, despite deadlines, and I'm sure more interest will be piqued after the film comes out. Sort of a , "oh, they made a Monster House comic?" kind of thing.
I'm really looking forward to hearing what the readers have to say..So if anyone out there knows of any reviews, good or bad, send them my way.

and now for the preview pages:

welcome.....I think

2006-06-12T20:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, So I'm going to try and get this thing going.....What I'm attempting to do here is to run a relatively frequently updated site here, chock full of artwork, movie news, and any other kind of happy crap I feel like rambling on about....I'll probably end up filling megabyte after megabyte with giant monster pictures. But aside from my unhealthy geekgasms, I'll be announcing any updates to my portfolio site: Robot Operator Manuals right here....in a twisted "I like doing everything twice" kind of way, it saves me time....

So I'll be back...soon

I'll try not to be cranky...