Lots of Simons

I've been working all day on a "Dash Dashing" run cycle that I hope to finish tomorrow. Taking a break from that I did a whole heap of Simon sketches that I coloured up fast in photoshop


I had to stop working on Simon due to me rethinking the story. I like my concept but I want to deliver it the best way possible and there are a few pieces that don't quite fit and there are a few pieces that are missing.

Anyway, with the 2011 priority shuffle (the dance of the year)Simon is my 'c' project. It needs to be done after everything else

Dash with explosives

I'm still getting used to drawing Dash again. Drawing the cheeks on that turtle last week gave me an idea on how the face works. More experiments are needed to be done.


Just so you know this was done straight in photoshop. Oh some good photoshop advice, dont do your inking on your sketch layer, it takes ages to clean up. Haha oh man that was dumb.

Zoo day double feature (episodes 3 and 4)

Well I'm overlapping my Zoo days and blog posts. So here's a double post!

These pictures are from Friday the 3rd of December and it was just Marcus, Rose (see here pics on her blog) and me. This was one of those days where I started off really well and then slowly started getting worse. I was also really tired that day from memory. At the end of the day we were in the Australian section which is possibly the best set up part of the Zoo. It's funny because that dam cultural cringe kicks in every time someone mentions the Australian section, "ohhh Australian stuff is boring" but it's actually really effin good. I was so tired at that point and I only drew the Tasmanian devil, a koala and a wallaby. I have to go back there again and just spend my day drawing those animals (I guess zoo day 5). Oh yeah the wallaby had a baby in its pouch, I've always wondered if you could stack these animals hopping mouse in a baby wallaby pouch which is in a wallaby pouch which is in a joey pouch which is in a kangaroo pouch. It would be like the clown car of the animal world!



I really liked my lions, that giraffe however... not so much


I really wanted to draw birds that day but when we got to the bird part there wasnt that many there (in the Australian section there were heaps but I was too tired by that point, Rose drew a bunch though). There were 2 Macaws but every time I drew them they looked evil.



Those Tasmanian devils are really funny. The zoo person threw in some fish blood into where they were to stimulate their senses. I could only put up with that smell for so long before I had to move on. That koala was funny to. It's just a ball of fur!


Ok these following pictures are todays pictures, Wednesday the 29th of December. Once again Marcus and Rose were there and we also had some special guests from Melbourne, the very talented Ann-Marie Denham and Adam Duncan. I was a little worried that it was going to be too hot today but it turned out to be ok, reasonable in the shade. I also have to get used to wearing flip-flops as I now have blisters on my feat.


I really like this drawing. I almost felt that I had completed what I wanted to do at the zoo after this first drawing and go home. haha


Lions again. I drew one a little wrong as I tried drawing both the profile and the 3/4 of the head (because the lion kept turning his head) on the same drawing. I then worked out if I did 2 drawings one profile one 3/4 I could just work on one and when he turns his head I could work on the other. Rose and I also saw the cheetah that just had it's head pooped up above the grass sleeping. Roseline drew some great ones of this (better than mine)




This turtle cracked me up, from their funny legs, to their cheeks, to their big eyes. I had to draw a cartoony one at the bottom



Aw man, these monkeys are so funny but they move so fast. You really have to be persistent and just wait them out and draw really fast. I really love how Roseline draws their eyes. It cracks me up, check out her blog later when she posts them up.

Well another zoo day complete!

A few stills from my christmas animation

I really liked some of the designs I did for this, I also liked having fun with the noodle arms.


This guy was originally meant to be a writer for childrens television and I was going to have the cowboy give him a present box but when he opened the box he found the cowboys fist which then knocks him out. As a christmas animation I thought maybe that wasn't the best idea. In the last scene there was going to be a close up of the wanted sign saying something like "for crimes against children" but once again I lost the negative aspect out of the animation


I really love this horse. I've been drawing crappy horses (well Zebras) on my zoo trips so I was thinking about how I could avoid drawing a horse but he just couldn't be a cowboy if he wasn't on a horse. I also like the hole in the Cowboys hat, it's such a cartooning cliché that I had to put it in, that and the wilhelm scream.


This was my first mess around animation with my copy of toonboom so I'm still learning stuff. Making colours is a bit of a slow process but colouring in and changing colours is excellent. I'm also learning how to bring files across from photoshop into toonboom and it seems to handle the large images really well. I also need to learn the graphs as well, probably the reason why nothing has an ease on it. I used toonboom studio on the series 'Wakkaville' and that had an easy ease section where you could just type in a number, I cant find that option in animate. There's a few effects on this animation mostly glows and layer styles which work pretty good. I did originally create a 2 tone (highlight and shadow) on the characters but it didnt really suit the style I drew the characters with their heavy black (Koike/Mignola stlye) shadow.


Working with toonboom you use what is called the network. A spider web of lines that at the start is confusing but the more you use it, the more practical and linear it is. All you have to do is follow the lines and add things (glows/blurs etc) to the line paths, you also can attach (parent) objects together, so move one and you move the other exactly the same. It's actually a lot of fun to play with, you really work your problem solving brain.


This background was based on a lego Sheriff station. That one was bright pink, I thought about keeping the colours and making the film end with the colours from the Thai film "Tears of the black tiger". This is also from the worst camera move I have ever done! haha man it is terrible, you even see the holes in the background of areas I didn't paint. The animation from this scene and the one after I had to rush to finish before I went out for my christmas dinner. I really had fun doing the lipsyncing of the sheriff (even though premier unsynced everything and randomly removed frames) I really love this sheriff, he's like the worlds worst sheriff haha. There were a whole heap of different lines I recorded for the end "this is the true meaning of christmas" "I now believe in santa" but I chose the stupidest most confusing one "You will make a beautiful butterfly" haha.

I did grade and adjust the exported frame sequences (dont make movies out of toonboom, frame sequences are more reliable to render out) in after effects just to give it a bit more polish. After effects is probably my favourite piece of adobe software as it just adds that little bit extra to your film.

It's funny doing a write up for such a short rushed cartoon, but I really liked the design and using toonboom to make a quick animation was a good learning experience. It was a nice test film before I make 'Simon' oh and 'Simon' is a test film/series that I'm making before I make 'Dash dashing'. I'm trying a bit of forward planning with my animated films :P

Well I hope you all had a merry christmas

24 hour comic is printed

I made a video preview




Dang I flicked through that first part too quick, there's some great stuff there. Trust me the book is super great, it keeps distracting me and I keep re-reading it.

If you live in Perth, you can swing by Quality Comics on Hay St as they are selling them for $25. There will be a few more places to buy the comics soon and I'll let you know. You can read more details about the comic and buying the comic from Chris Markle here: http://24hcdperth.wordpress.com/

The other artists who drew 24 hour comics in this book are
Alex Manfrin, Calvin Lin, C. S. Markle, Jessica McLeod, Liam Lucas, Linda Foote, Lucas Travis, Luke Milton, Michael Lombardi, Paul Spencer, Robert ‘Grug’ Forest, Thomas Carter (2 comics!!)and Ushan Boyd

Those that tried the 24 hour challenge but didnt make it were given 4 pages to show off their stuff at the end. Those artists are:
Roseline Lau, Chris Gooch, Jane Chang, Justina Davis, Katie Zhang, Lisa Coffman, Ronnie Ryder and Yip (Sze-Yip) Ng

Printed comics are the best!

Woo Tron!

I saw Tron on thursday and I really enjoyed it. Visually it was fantastic and the music by Daft Punk was top notch. The story was full of holes, there were some awkward lines and poses for the camera (it was a hit and miss affair) but the design heavy world and concept were strong enough to make it a super enjoyable movie (for me).

With my mind overflowing with Tron imagery I had to get a picture out of my head.


It was fun drawing this since it gave me a break from the Simon/Dash Dashing style of squished/compressed bodies and let me do super stretched. Her face doesn't look anything like the actress and more looks like 'The Major' from Ghost in the shell (I've been watching the 2nd gig series recently), so it's funny how another influence came into the drawing.

Their suits are really well designed in the movie, they all have subtle differences. I think what I like is that most of the film is in black and the little light strips on their suits are what give you their body shapes. That's pretty brave design and I dont think they could have made a tron movie without their being a tron movie already made.

Well now I've removed Tron from my head I can go back to making Simon

dino character design

Here's my first go at one of the dinosaur designs. I goofed up a bit and gave him too many fingers as he should only have 3. The legs still aren't quite right (they are meant to be bending the other way..I'm not sure when I changed it). The weight and the volume is in where I like it and I like this arm style as it more fits in with the Simon design.

Simon iPad doodles

Like the title says these are a couple of doodles I did on my ipad while travelling or watching tv



A friend of mine, Christien Clegg has entered a toonboom competition to win a copy of toonboom. You may remember that he was responsible for this awesome poster of Simon.


So if you could support him and get him into the top 10 to win his copy of toonboom. I'm sure he would be producing 100 great animations a year and you life will become better because of it.

vote his entry here http://contests.toonboom.com/

ZOO day 2: The return to the ZOO

Last Friday we (Roseline, Marcus, Andrew and Jesse) returned to the zoo for another drawing outing. We spent some time in the African Savannah section, moved on to the nocturnal exhibit (surprisingly you can see you pages pretty good in there), drew a few birds and then finished with the Oragnutans again. Not my best drawing day but it was a fun outing


We're going to be going to the zoo again this Friday. I'm hoping to draw more birds and hopefully find a bear

The Manly Drawing Challenge!

Yes! the first Manly drawing

The picture was drawn by Air Patsarun. This man is so manly he doesn't just stink of man he is man stink!


WOO second picture! This time by Ben Grimshaw



So manly, he tames sharks and can smoke a cigar while in water. Super Manly!

Bam! two more entries this morning (26/11/2010) and these two are based off the Simon image.

The first one is by Andrew Buckley which is super cool


What's so cool about this is it was an image I've been meaning to draw for Simon, so now I dont have to draw it WOO (haha). I love the 'eye of sauron' eye at the top of the Dinosaur king and I love how the dinosaur drawings I've done are in the pile of dinosaurs that he's standing on.

Now this hilarious drawing is by Marta Tesoro


to quote Marta, "He bludgeons his enemies with a giant piece of meat and uses the blood as ketchup.  The only time he takes a shower is in the tears of the fleet women he has left behind in his wake"

haha! Excellent, that is super manly! I love how he holds up the drumstick in a 'power of greyskull' way haha.

TIME FOR SOME MORE MANLINESS!! (27/11/2010)

This one brought to you from my old friend Robert Lee



to quote Rob "He is riding a space shark on a mission to PUNCH EVERYTHING IN THE FACE!!"

haha I love the idea of someone being hit by this guy, "WHATTHEHELLLWASTHAT!!"
and their lady friend would reply, "I...I don't know...but he was so.....MANLY" *swooooon*

TIME FOR SOME MORE MANLINESS!! (29/11/2010)

A new super manly man by Christien Clegg


How awesome is this! To quote Christien "Imagine if Chuck Norris and Tom Sellick somehow conceived a child. He is standing on the remains of his enemies and he also plays lead guitar in a metal band."

That mullet, the handler bar moustache, the super muscles, the electric guitar and the standing on a pile of bones...dang you cant get more manly than that

and now there's another manly man this time by Daniel Luke


Beer in one hand chainsaw in the other... super manly. The 'king gee' out fit and the mullet also adding some extra manly layers. Love it!

check out Daniels blog as there is a short animation where he has grown from.

I've been enjoying these pictures way too much so I did this quick drawing while I was waiting to see a movie.


I quickly coloured it in photoshop just for fun. I love how in this picture and the other manly picture I've drawn the arms so very wrong, but hey eff it. This is just for fun.


Here's the drawing challenge guide:


1. photoshop or whatever paint the pencil work I've done (you could even just copy and paste the head of simon onto..I dunno a horse to make it more manly)

2. Or just come up with your own super manly drawing, like what Air did.

When you are done, either put it on your blog and write in the comments that you've done it or email me the image at mrmerks AT hotmail.com

City background pencils

Whoa this took ages, fun though. I always loved city drawings in comics like spiderman and films like Akira.


Well now I have to work out how I'm going to colour this. That drawing of everyone standing in a line needs to be composited in and that Simon poster as well.

Speaking of that Simon poster, that drawing challenge hasn't really worked at all haha. 0 entries, no one was man enough to take it on yet (although most people I know are swamped with work at the moment, so that's understandable). I'm going to give it until this coming monday before I call it officially dead.