Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog

Marc Boutavant’s amazing Around the World with Mouk (previously) has been made into a pilot. The video is not embeddable, so I took the above screenshots. See the full pilot here.

(via our friend Claire)

I recently snagged a copy of Aaron Leighton’s Spirit City Toronto from Koyama Press.

Inserting drawings of creatures into real-world photos may not be new (see: Monster’s in Real Places, Aaron Brady’s Magic Camera, and Avid Liongoren’s Project 365) but there’s something about Aaron’s simple geometric spirit creatures inserted into the seemingly mundane landscape of urban Toronto that really resonates with me. He manages to turn an environment that’s familiar to me into something otherworldly.

Some excerpts:

Loved this perfectly-staged bit of slapstick from Bird Box Studio.

A bit of animation history to go with Ward’s future-of-animation post. This early unfinished Mickey Mouse short is fun to see, if only for the fact that it is all still in pencils.

(via paul_dini by way of neilhimself)

Trailer for The Eagleman Stag by UK animator Michael Please. I need to see this film.

For a recent screening at the Royal College of Art, Michael set up an installation, featuring bits and pieces from the film:

I had the privilege of being asked to create the poster and postcard for this year’s Jay Kennedy Scholarship. The scholarship, named after the late King Features comics editor, is given out each year by the National Cartoonists Society Foundation at their annual Reuben Awards banquet.

If you are a student in North America who cartoons or draws comics, and you are heading to university or college (it does not have to be art school), you are eligible.

Visit the site for information on how to apply.

Gabrielle Bell’s Comicumentary from the San Diego Comic Con.

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

via BoingBoing

Bonus: Jillian Tamaki at Comic Con.

If you haven’t been reading Sin Titulo by Cameron Stewart – go check it out. The weekly webcomic is about a guy investigating the death of his grandfather and gets sucked into a surreal underworld. It’s over 100 strips deep and it just won the Eisner Award for Best digital comic. I ate the whole thing in one sitting and loved it.

ICameron says the comic is “a series of personal exercises for me, one of which is to allow myself to be comfortable with less-than-perfect artwork, as long as the storytelling is clear.”

He also did a little YouTube walkthrough of his illustration process… (Wacom Cintiq in Manga Studio, then shading in Photoshop.)

Also of interest:
The Other Side by Cameron Stewart
Cameron Stewart Illustration Blog

I’ve been talking to a lot of illustrators lately, and everywhere it’s the same story: times are tough. Extremely tough.

I’m curious to know how other illustrators out there are doing, so I created two quick little (informal and rather unscientific) polls. The first asks how your assignments are doing this year; the second asks how well those assignments are generally paying.

I hope you’ll take a second to, uh, “vote.” Comments are also enabled on both polls at Illustrators: How many jobs are you getting this year? and Illustrators: How well are your jobs PAYING this year? if you’d like to add more information. And if you have ideas on how to make your illustration business profitable during These Hard Economic Times (drink!), please feel free to share them.

I’m sad to report that the phenomenally talented, Ignatz award winning and dear friend to people and pets alike, Laura Park, is in sore need of emergency back surgery (specifically, a discectomy). Even with insurance, she still needs to raise $3500 which she hasn’t got, and that’s where you, Drawn’s faithful and charitable readers, can help.

She has set up a donation page to help offset the cost of the surgery and any amount you can spare will be greatly appreciated. And in return, you will be highly rewarded knowing you’ve helped out an extremely gifted artist return to the craft she loves; creating comics and paintings that are sure to slap a crooked smile on your face and plant an olde tyme song in your heart.

Oddly enough, Laura was featured on Drawn! nearly three years ago to the day, regarding the subject of artists and lower-back pain.

AMAZING UPDATE! Thanks to everyone’s extremely generous donations, Laura reached her goal in less than two days! I know that things are awfully tough right now in this lousy economy, and that’s what makes this miraculous achievement especially touching. Thanks so much from Laura Park and Drawn! for reaffirming our faith in the charitableness of the artistic community.