Cartoon Network’s 20th Birthday, part 1 of 4

Cartoon Network celebrated it’s 20th birthday officially earlier this week on Monday, Oct. 1, 2012.

“Unrockable”
Digital color over cleaned scan of India Ink.

I have already contributed my artist skills to the celebration. First with my piece “Monkeys versus Robots” which I have previous posted and discussed. The second was as one of five artists to create, develop and refine the Network’s official art of “a thousand characters”, not literally.

In a fit of “what shall I draw now?”, (they do come in fits) I started musing on the idea of having Tuff-Girl meet some CN characters. It’s a key part of my day job to draw like some one else, and frankly it just seems to be a primary artistic goal of mine (one such expression of which has yet to come in my postings of TAGS).

With all my ambitions, I can’t do 20 idiomatic scenes, but four, I believe, I can do before I start on my Christmas plans.

This first one represents the beginning, the first five years, because why not? The launch of this new 24-hour network began, as most do, with the acquisition of existing content. I was excited, 20 years ago, to have a destination to see again The Flintstones, Johnny Quest, Tom and Jerry and Looney Tunes. I may have been less excited about The Snorks and Yogi’s Space Race.

In almost no time, the Network began producing it’s own shorts and before its fifth year, Space Ghost has his own wacky talk show and Dexter was creating mayhem in his laboratory.

Weather Girl

Tuff-Girl.

conceptual sketch.

 

Do super-heroes wear rain coats? A few wear trench coats, but rain gear when it’s raining? No? Well, I think that they should.

detail.

Sketch Arm Strong

Dragon*Con 2012, Aug. 31 - Sept. 3, Atlanta, GA —

Steampunk Ariel

 Thanks to the folks at Dragon*Con for a great freshman outing at their Artist Alley.

Batgirl (Stephanie Brown)

 Thanks to some of the folks who discovered my table and Unstoppable Tuff-Girl: Richard, Leo, Todd, Ariel, Amanda, John, Bill, Kevin, Brian, Jim, Bob, Elizabeth and Sandra,

Princess Aurora

These are a few of the comissioned drawing I did D*C weekend.

Lady Loki

John Carter

original Dungeons & Dragon avatar

Dragon*Con 2012 - Somewhere in There

Merrill and I will be at table 52 of the Comics Artist Alley to be found in Grand Hall East in the Hyatt Regency.

See ya’ll there.

Keeps on Kickin”

“They’re Not Going To Lick Me.”

Digital mixed media

Here’s more of the art I created for my Dragon*Con announcement, the first time that I’ll have a table at the Atlanta fantasy/ science fiction fan convention. After this year’s Wonder Con show (Anaheim, CA) and Heroes Convention (Charlotte, NC), both of which I depicted city icons, I wondered in what way should I best capture Atlanta.

The answer: “Gone With the Wind”. Points to you if you recognized it as such. The title is a direct swipe from Scarlet O’Hara’s famous line in the movie “As God is my witness, as God is my witness they’re not going to lick me. I’m going to live through this and when it’s all over, I’ll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folk. If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill. As God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again.” The defiant tone is right for Tuff-Girl, although I’m not sure what circumstances would drive her to “lie, steal, cheat or kill.” That, I guess, are things Merrill, I and the readers can look forward to finding out in future adventures. Tuff-Girl’s gesture also borrows from that moment.

However, the layout with silhouetted tree framing the scene and the mansion in the back ground are from a different part of the film.

Get Your Dragon On

Dragon*Con has confirmed that I will have a table this year, which will be the first year that I will be on the opposite side of a table at D*C.

Also, writer Merrill Hagan has confirmed that he will be available to show at my table on all four days of the con!

Actual location and table number is yet to be announced. If you’re looking for us, you may also want to look under “Monster Enterprises” in D*C’s guide book.

UPDATE: (08/31) We’ll be at Comics Artist Alley Table “T52” in the Grand Hall East on the Exhibit Level of the Hyatt Regency, listed as “Bryan Mon” in the program.

This would be the point of my official con post/ notice where I announce that I would be accepting pre-orders for commission sketches. Unfortunately, I can’t with D*C now less than 10 days away. I do expect to have my daily commission schedule wide open during the con, what with being a largely unknown artist with a largely unheard of book.

And speaking of my book. We’re looking forward to premiering issue No. 2 of Unstoppable Tuff-Girl at Dragon*Con!

I hope to see you there!

“Belle” and “Beast”

Convention sketches.

red pencil, India Ink and marker on Comic book backing board.

TAGS June 5, 1994

Sunday, 06/05: Jill’s not impressed.
Black and white: black India Ink on paper as originally published.

As I’ve probably said previously, I tended to use the expanded format of TAGS’ Sunday editions to explore storytelling with more pantomime and less dialogue. This is inspired by I don’t know what. It, I don’t think, was newspaper comic creator heroes, Charles’s Peanuts, Hank Ketcham’s Dennis the Menace or Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes. If I were to site any thing it would be the few story board examples I was exposed to in books like The Art of Walt Disney(1) and The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation(2).

Here Jill (reindeer, 4th appearance) and Vern (horse, 4) spend time in the Impressionists gallery of a fine art museum, and I go for the obvious joke of having Jill do impressions of the other gallery guests to keep herself occupied.

I would some times muse that I should just have made hoofed characters like Vern and Jill wear gloves a la Porky Pig. It would have and still would make little things like gestures easier to draw and be communicative.

In panel 1, I hope that even in this black and white rendition the painting is easily identifiable as a TAGS version of Georges Seurat’s “Sunday Afternoon on the Island La Grande Jatte”.

All of the ancillary characters were inspired by the crittatures that were featured in my defunct BackStage and Stagelights comics, the lunch period doodles I wrote and drew when I worked for Disneyland Restaurants.

(1) Finch, Christopher. Lasseter, John. The Art of Walt Disney: From Mickey Mouse to The Magic Kingdoms and Beyond. Harry N. Abrams, new edition 2011 hard cover ISBN: 9780810998148. Cover price $85.00

(2) Thomas, Frank. Johnston, Ollie. The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. Hyperion Books, 1995 hard cover ISBN: 9789990080506. Cover price $60.00. 2000 soft cover ISBN: 9780786885060. Cover price $29.95.

Monkeys Versus Robots: Fight Card

Because of resolution issues, there’s probably no great way to share this legend for my piece celebrating Cartoon Network’s 20th birthday, “Monkeys Versus Robots: Bobo/ Robo Battle”.

Below is a column of text re-jiggered from that originally in a spread sheet.

It’s not pretty, but it is better than trying to read from the image of the final layout of the fight card.

Monkeys vs Robots

The Epic Bobo/Robo Battle

Main Event:
Mojo Jojo
(The Powerpuff Girls)
vs
Techadon Robot
(Ben 10: Alien Force, #09 “The Gauntlet”)
+
Robo-Dexo 2000
(Dexter’s Laboratory, #06c “The Big Sister”)

Winner: Mojo Jojo


2nd Match
Rainbow Monkeys
(Codename: Kids Next Door, #12b “Operation R.A.I.N.B.O.W.S.”)
vs.
Titan
(Sym-Bionic Titan)

Winner: Rainbow Monkeys


3rd Match
Rainbow Monkey Kong
(Codename: Kids Next Door, #35a “Operation: H.U.G.S.”)
vs.
MEGAS
(Megas XLR)

Winner: Rainbow Monkey Kong


4th Match
Shocksquatch
(Ben 10: Omniverse)
vs.
Ultra-Robot
(Samurai Jack, #18 “XVIII”)

Winner: Shocksquatch


5th Match
Baboon
(I Am Weasel)
vs.
N.E.P.T.R.
(a.k.a. Never-Ending Pie-Throwing Robot)
(Adventure Time, #08a “What Is Life?”)

Winner: N.E.P.T.R.


6th Match
V. V. Argost
(The Secret Saturdays, #35 “And Your Enemies Closer”)
vs.
Robot Jones
(Whatever Happened To... Robot Jones)
+
T.O.M. 3.0
(Toonami)

Winner: T.O.M. 3.0


7th Match
King Raymond
(Johnny Bravo, #13b “Jungle Boy: Mr. Monkeyman”)
vs.
Bobert
(The Amazing World Of Gumball)

Winner: Bobert


8th Match
Windsor Gorilla
(My Gym Partner’s A Monkey)
vs.
Vilgax’s Attack Drone
(Ben 10, #08 “The Alliance”)

Winner: Windsor


9th Match
Dickie Galoot
(The Grim Adventures Of Billy And Mandy, #57a “Hurter Monkey”)
vs.
Mechanical Genie
(The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack, #11a “Mechanical Genie Island”)

Winner: Draw


10th Match
Jake Spidermonkey
(My Gym Partner’s A Monkey)
+
Lazlo
(Camp Lazlo!)
vs.
Larry 3000
(Time Squad)
+
BMO
(a.k.a. Beemo)
(Adventure Time, #25a “Video Makers”)

Winner: BMO


11th Match
Simion
(Dexter’s Laboratory, #03b “Simion”)
vs.
Billybot
(Billy And Mandy’s Big Boogey Adventure)

Winner: Simion


12th Match
Bobo Haha
(Generator Rex)
vs.
Thrasher
(Robotomy)

Winner: Bobo Haha


13th Match
Skips
(Regular Show)
vs.
Mandroid
(Billy And Mandy’s Big Boogey Adventure)

Winner: Skips


14th Match
Miss Simian
(The Amazing World Of Gumball)
vs.
Blastus
(Robotomy)

Winner: Miss Simain


15th Match
Monkey
(Dexter’s Laboratory, #01b “Dial M For Monkey: Magnanamus”)
vs.
Robo-Mama
(Johnny Bravo, #44a “Robo-Mama!”)
+
Mecha-Courage
(Courage The Cowardly Dog, #26b “Courage vs. Mecha-Courage”)

Winner: Monkey


Winners: MONKEYS (9-5-1)

Early casualties:
A. K-999
(The Problem Solverz, #03 “K-999 And Da Little Explorerz”)

B. Rainbow Monkey Doll
(Codename: Kids Next Door, #06a “Operation O.F.F.I.C.E.)

C. Powerpuff Dynamo
(The Powerpuff Girls, #13 “Uh Oh... Dynamo”)

D. H.I.P.P.I.E.-H.O.P.
(Codename: Kids Next Door, #05a “Operation: T.U.R.N.I.P.”)

E. Randy the Robot
(Courage The Cowardly Dog, #14b “Robot Randy”)


STATISTICS:
15x - Monkeys, gorillas, apes and other primates
1x - Monkey horde
24x - Robots, androids, automatons  and other mechanical beings.
1x - Plank
27x - Cartoon Network shows represented
14x - Scattered lettered blocks from the original Cartoon Network black and white checkered logo.

[Final Color]

[Gallery exhibit]

Dragon My Books Around

Atlanta’s famed Dragon*Con will be happening again this year all during Labor Day weekend, Aug. 31 - Sept. 3.  If you’ve never been and are curious at least about the above bill, unlike other comic sci-fi conventions, Dragon*Con happens in the ball rooms, meeting rooms and the very halls of five major participating hotels. Saturday morning has a parade.

Wear comfy shoes.

This very well may be the first time Merrill and I will have a table there. Also, this very well may be where we will be premiering Unstoppable Tuff-Girl Issue No. 2.

Regardless of our fortunes, I direct your attention to these attending artists:

Stephanie Gladden

http://stephaniegladden.com/

Tyson Mcadoo

http://www.tysonmcadoo.com/

http://www.dragoncon.org/

Kimberly M. Zamlich

Tuff-Girl
Artwork by Kimberly M. Zamlich
Tuff-Girl TM and © Bryan Mon

Kim is a painter who has transitioned those skills well to digital media. A soft, storybook quality comes through in most of her work.

Kim is a self-employed illustrator working in both traditional and digital media. She work a stint for the Walt Disney Company.

My association with Kim first came through her husband, Greg.  Greg and I had worked as young character artists at Walt Disney Consumer Products group. Years later when I was at Cartoon Network, the illustration group was in need of some digital artists. We directed some work to Greg and later found that much of the work was being handled by his wife, Kim. She created the above image for “Unstoppable Tuff-Girl”, issue no. 2.

Check out her blog (a.k.a. “LePardine”):
http://kimberlymzamlich.blogspot.com