Norway Here I Come

http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2011/10/fredrikstad-animation-festival-norway.html

Hope to see some of you there!

Ketcham/Fitzgerald Houses

This house is a basically simple design. But it's the dynamic angles they are drawn in that impress.
There is a misleading looseness to these drawings that might make you think they are hastily thought out.
But underneath the sketchy lines are some really difficult angles, killer posing and clever staging. The line style is just Fitzgerald's way of imposing some of Ketcham's style on top of his own unique compositions and designs.
Y'know it's astounding that you never see this art talked about in any of the comics history books.
Until Shane Glines started promoting Owen Fitzgerald on Cartoon Retro, the poor guy had never gotten much (if any) public notice. Yet he has to be in the top 10 or 20 comic/cartoon artists in history as far as talent, style, skill and versatility goes.
He was a very humble guy too. I had been a huge fan of his Bob Hope and Starlet O'Hara comics for years and never knew his name. He ended up doing some work on Beany and Cecil for me, and I didn't realize who he was until somoene later told me. I talked to him on the phone and told him how big a fan I was and he seemed amazed that anyone even cared or knew about his work.
This is the same artist! The guy now known to be one of the best pretty girl cartoonists.http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2008/10/owen-fitzgerald-and-real-drawing-skill.html

If I had to guess Fitzgerald's influences I would say...George Clark, Lichty, Hurst and then all the animation principles he absorbed working on classic cartoons. What do you think, Shane?

To think that he ended up anonymously working on horrible Saturday morning cartoons like Scooby Doo as a layout artist.

Retro

That looks like a Milt Gross house, doesn't it?
Here's what cars looked like when I was a little kid. And here's what they promised us they would look like in the future. The future never came.

The correct way for animators to hold a Chainsaw 4

My friend Spaz (Steve Wiliams) - the man behind the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park - is helping me to see how you really hold a chainsaw because it is hard to draw such a tricky grip and he's sick of us animators being made fun of for being girly-men. A real man should be able to draw a chainsaw grip - while watching Popeye cartoons.
ok, John. this is the correct way to hold a saw. Pay some Goddamn attention for once, will ya? either right handed or left handed. and you don't need eye or ear protection. it's boring and you can't hear the blade turning. when you go to cut wood, attack it with your foot holding it down like you're holding down a hippy. this saw is a Husqvarna 362 and is bad ass. the Swedes made good saws and good clogs. their hockey players are pretty good too, but nothing like Canadian players. Swedes won't fight either.

WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY TEACHING YOU IN SCHOOL?

Spaz

Spaz on Chain Saw Sculpture

i see one of your contributors spoke of "chain saws for sculpture". this is possible , but in my mind not fag art , like ice sculpting. look at this beautiful mantle of oak i carved with this saw. Canadiana and won't melt. then you can hang all your deceased dog collars from it. at Christmas it's the most authentic hearth on the block .. with hanging stockings. that gun is my great grandfathers. i smuggled it across the US/Canada border a few years ago. i built the fire place too. these rocks are from the creek. no one knows how to do this anymore , especially Cal arts animators who think they're tough

http://www.hoytyboy.com/directors/index.htm

random fun

Corbett sent me this picture of a store across the street from George Liquor. I imagine Fred Market is George Liquor's arch rival.
I love these early designs of the Flintstones. That has to have been done by one of the layout artists- probably Dick Bickenbach.
Mary Blair, of course. Don't try to steal this style. No one but she can do it. She has enough bad imitations already.

More Don Martin later and maybe a couple more critiques.

George's basement

More George Liquor BG reference

George is definitely a God-Fearing Man as all Americans should be. God himself is a good buddy of George. He has a tab at George's liquor store. He's always bumming beer off him and George gives God fishing tips on their weekend getaways.
I don't what what denomination he is yet, some kind of
protestant I guess.