Movies!

Pulp Fiction

Drawings! I watched Pulp Fiction for the first time this past weekend (I know, I know, missed out on movies growing up, terrible tastes back in the day, etc.) and it was pretty cool. Unsurprisingly I'd assume, my favourite parts involved Jules Winfield (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent Vega (John Travolta).

Garden State

Garden State is a movie I used to watch a lot when it first came out on dvd. I hadn't seen it since then (number of years) and was worried it wouldn't live up to what I remembered. It did, albeit in a different way. Not really amazingly shot or anything, but he made good with what he was working with, I think. The emotional core of the movie, which I think is contained in Sam's (Natalie Portman) character was really endearing - she's (I think) extremely likable and I love the way she opens Andrew up to not shying away from life or running from his problems.

Speaking of running.. Nicole, Lissa and I were walking back from lunch whereupon Nicole attempted to catch a piece of dust. Unsuccessful, the dust attempted to retaliate, and tried to attach itself to Nicole like an evil parasite. Nicole ran.
The dust was defeated. This drawing was created as a commemoration to the event.

The Walt Stanchfield books are coming!!! Can't WAIT! Put together by the legendary Disney producer, Don Hahn, check out his site for an exclusive trailer!
Don't know who he is? Clay, Mark Kennedy and Will Finn have posted great accounts about the man himself.
Til next time!

R.

Another post!

Wow, two posts in two weeks. Looks like I'm getting back on track. I was watching the Globes last night, and one of my favourite movies this year won pretty big. Slumdog Millionaire directed by Danny Boyle - who, as a director amazes me with his genre jumping. I'm glad someone actually made a modern "Bollywood" movie that didn't suck. Even the soundtrack was pretty catchy...Anyway, I saw Boyle accepting last night, and felt I needed to caricature him, for obvious reasons.
Also, re-reading everything of Calvin and Hobbes I own and brought with me to L.A., Bill Watterson is genius, as is his strip. For those of you who haven't read it since you were kids and have learned a lot since then, I suggest you read it again. It holds a whole new meaning besides nostalgia. Amazing.

R.

Television and Life

Back again! I decided to do some long overdue caricatures of two of my favourite shows which just started up again for their 5th seasons over the last two weeks. The Office's Dwight Schrute played by Rainn Wilson, and the amazing Dr. Gregory House played by Hugh Laurie. The House sketch still needs some work, and I'm going to keep attempting it - it's his smugness that I find hardest to capture. The third drawing is something I did while at a mall in Montreal over the weekend (went to visit some family) and I forgot my sketchbook in the car, so we were drinking coffee and I took that sleeve thing and just did a few quick sketches on there. Any crits (especially for the caricatures) are very welcome.

Just some stuff around the net I found interesting: James Robertson did a fantastic post about how he thinks about story as he dissected a short from a great film called "Paris, Je T'aime" - his passion for filmmaking and understanding of story and film structure really comes through. Go support him and comment so that he keeps doing them. Special congrats to my friends Vlad Kooperman and James Higuchi for placing first and second, respectively in the Most Promising category in the Teletoon Animation Scholarship which took place in Ottawa this past weekend. Last, but not least, is a little golden book that is now available on Amazon of Pixar's short PRESTO! and is illustrated by none other than the amazing Teddy Newton. That's all for now!
R.